MAPPING THE PROBLEM: This map by the Center for Investigative Reporting details the magnitude of delays in various Department of Veterans Affairs processing offices around the country. For full details, go to http://cironline.org/reports/map-where-veterans-backlog-worst-3792. Under fire for its growing backlog of disability benefits claims, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs last July set itself a goal: […]
Congress
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
BELIEVE OR LEAVE: A woman says U.S. immigration officials tell her that she has to join a church or her bid for citizenship will be rejected. (courtesy photo/used under Creative Commons license) *Land of the free?: “Margaret Doughty … is being told by officials that her application to become a naturalized U.S. citizen could be […]
Posted inPhil's Column
Dingell is potent reminder of true public service in this hyperpartisan era
Phil Power is founder and chairman of the Center for Michigan. Let us now praise famous men, and our fathers in their generations. The Lord apportioned to them great glory, his majesty from the beginning. There were those who ruled in their kingdoms, and were men renowned for their power, giving counsel by their understanding, […]
Posted inGuest Commentary
Guest commentary: Survey finds hostile political rhetoric erodes trust in government
By Tom Ivacko/Center for Local, State and Urban Policy Oakland County Executive Brooks Patterson uses a comb to make a comparison between House Speaker Jase Bolger and Adolph Hitler during a recent taping of WKAR’s “Off the Record” program. Tom Ivacko argues that a Michigan survey shows that hostile political rhetoric damages trust in government. […]
Posted inBrunch with Bridge
A country’s anger pierces even the silence of the forest
We live in the Manistee National Forest where, each year, as spring first creeps and then roars to life all around us, I think about death. It isn’t religion’s observance of Passover’s Seder or Easter’s resurrection that does this. It’s the land. ANGER WAFTS IN: The national anger and frustration over the behavior of elected […]
Posted inPhil's Column
As special interests drag down government, private entities move to public’s aid
Phil Power is founder and chairman of the Center for Michigan. If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times: The biggest barrier to a prosperous American economy is the U.S. Congress. Cynical, no doubt. But true in important ways not seen for generations. The Economist, an internationally respected news magazine, recently ran a […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Democrats slug way to fouls in congressional primary, Truth Squad finds
Who: Democratic 3rd Congressional District candidates Steve Pestka and Trevor Thomas What: Television ads, candidate websites and candidate debate Truth Squad call: Technical fouls on Pestka and Thomas Steve Pestka, a former state representative, Kent County commissioner and Kent County circuit judge, is battling Trevor Thomas, a former staffer in ex-Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s administration, to […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Pro-casino claims go a bit too far, finds the Michigan Truth Squad
What: Citizens for More Michigan Jobs radio interview Who: Emily Palsrok, Citizens for More Michigan Jobs spokeswoman Truth Squad call: Technical foul Backers of a proposal to add eight private casinos in Michigan sell it as a jobs plan for the state. They promise up to 16,000 in construction and casino jobs and $300 million […]