Save Our Ship

Earlier this month, the world watched in horror as the Costa Concordia cruise ship veered off course and capsized after hitting a rock. The multimillion-dollar ship was huge and impressive; no one had thought to question its safety before the accident. The captain, who had absolute control, chose to ignore reality.

With Steve Israel at the helm this cycle, the DCCC's resemblance to the Costa Concordia is getting stronger by the minute.

A quick glance at the Red to Blue 2012 list shows that the D-Trip is once again tying its own shoelaces together, ignoring viable candidates who stand up for their beliefs.

Down With Tyranny talked with Joshua Grossman at Progressive Kick, who defines "swing district" in a very different way: as "an assessment of the district itself, not the strength of the incumbent in the district." Grossman pointed out that only 154 seats have been rated as Strong Dem -- well short of the 218 seats needed for a majority.

Progressive Kick included MI-08's own Lance Enderle in its list of swing districts to watch:

Other excellent targets on the list include Charlie Upton (MI-6), Mike Rogers (MI-8) and Frank Guinta (NH-1), being challenged by, respectively, progressives John Waltz, Lance Enderle and Carol Shea-Porter, independent-minded grassroots Democrats whom Steve Israel fears.

Keep MI-08 from running aground in 2012 -- steer us away from those treacherous Rogers reefs and support Lance Enderle.

Job Killer on the Loose!

Mike Rogers really enjoys talking about "defending" small business from the "job-killing" actions taken by the oogey-boogey Democrats:

• "Health Bill's Taxes, Regulations [sic] Kills Jobs"
• "EPA 'Cap and Trade' Regulations are Job-Killers"
• "Job Killer Health Bill By-the-Numbers"
• and, of course, the tanning tax that "kills jobs, hurts women and college students."

Leaving aside the healthy dose of hyperbole -- and the fact that Michigan has lost roughly 860,000 jobs since Mr. Rogers first went to Washington in 2000 -- you'd think that he would be willing to support a bill that supports small business.

Well, you'd be wrong.

Mr. Rogers voted AGAINST the Small Business Lending Funding Act of 2010 (H.R. 539).

The House concurred in the Senate amendment to H.R. 5297, to create the Small Business Lending Fund Program to direct the Secretary of the Treasury to make capital investments in eligible institutions in order to increase the availability of credit for small businesses and to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide tax incentives for small business job creation, by a yea-and-nay vote of 237 yeas to 187 nays, Roll No. 539. [emphasis added]

While it's a safe bet that Mr. Rogers will come up with some emotion-filled excuse for saying no, the fact is that America's small businesses in a tough situation.

At a Federal Reserve meeting in July 2010, Fed Governor Elizabeth A. Duke discussed the importance of support for small business in a larger context:

Finding solutions to small business financing issues is not only an important component of the economic recovery, it is also important to the restoration of communities that have been hard-hit by foreclosures and job losses.

In other words, when small businesses get a little help with financing, they can hire more people.

When you see Mr. Rogers,* be sure to ask him why he voted against small business owners and private sector job creation.

*Just kidding! You won't be seeing Mr. Rogers in the district this fall unless you pay for the privilege. He's too busy to talk to actual voters... or his opponent, Lance Enderle.

Do's and Don'ts

As we get closer to election time (six weeks from today!), it's worth remembering what Mr. Rogers has -- and hasn't -- been doing in Washington.

On the "Do" side, Mike Rogers has been:

• enjoying breakfast, lunch, happy hours and 80s nights,
• working hard to help GOP incumbents keep their jobs,
• hosting a "safer, friendlier and more balanced" video game night,
• writing nice letters to Tom Izzo,
• appearing on TeeVee multiple times, and
• standing up for the tanning salon industry.

On the "Don't" side, Mike Rogers said no to

• extending unemployment benefits,
• children's health insurance (for the fifth time),
• the stimulus bill (after he added $17.6 million to it),
• increasing available credit for small businesses, and
• allowing the FDA to restrict tobacco sales to minors.

Seems to me that Mr. Rogers has been in Washington a little too long -- after ten years, he thinks his job is to represent special interests instead of Michigan interests.

Want a representative who will actually represent us?

Vote for Lance Enderle on November 2nd.

Not So Funny

The Neighborhood knows that Mr. Rogers shows up on Fox and MSNBC with great regularity. Once the camera light comes on, he starts in with the scary, drama-filled and highly conditional phrases (See Iran, evidence-based medicine, tanning salons).

Mr. Rogers' latest rant: advocating the death penalty for alleged Wikileaker Army Pfc. Bradley Manning.

That's right -- the guy who kept his mouth firmly shut when the Vice President of the United States and assorted other turd blossoms deliberately exposed the identity of a covert CIA operations officer as political payback is now baying for the blood of someone who leaked information about the not-so-great inside story of the Afghan War.

Thanks to Mr. Rogers' penchant for drama, residents of MI-08 can also see their congressman on Comedy Central.

Too bad there's nothing funny about a hyper-partisan, hypocritical representative.

Do the Write Thing

The Neighborhood is pretty excited about Tuesday's primary! On August 3rd, the voters of MI-08 have a chance to make history by writing in Lance Enderle as the Democratic candidate for Congress.

Long story short, the original candidate quit in June -- too late to have his name removed from the ballot.

Lance registered to run as a write-in, because he believes that

After a long dark decade of living in "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood", the good people of Michigan's 8th District deserve much better than this.

They must have a REAL choice at the ballot box on November 2nd

Learn more at Daily Kos (please rec both posts) and Lance's website.

Donate to Lance's campaign -- he's not taking any PAC money.

Promote his Facebook page to your friends.

And definitely do the write thing on August 2nd: write in Lance Enderle!

Reflexive Response

Far from being idle in DeeCee, Mr. Rogers has been busy saying "no" to some pretty common-sense bills, and his knee-jerk opposition is just, well, jerky.

Mr. Rogers voted against the Flood Insurance Reform Priorities Act, which pretty much does what it says: extends authorization for the national flood insurance program and identifies "priorities essential to reform and ongoing stable functioning of the program."

Perhaps Mr. Rogers needs a peek at FEMA's list of 2010 flood disaster declarations, which sadly is a long one, to reinforce the importance of the federal flood insurance program.

Michiganders are lucky to have escaped the severe flooding that affected nineteen states and Puerto Rico so far this year, but that doesn't mean we think more efficient federal flood insurance is a bad idea...

Mr. Rogers also voted against the Telework Improvements Act, which would

set standards for federal employees working remotely. It would require the head of each federal agency to establish and implement a policy that would allow employees to work remotely as much as possible without diminishing agency operations or performance.

My guess for his no vote: he can't understand why anyone would want to work from home instead of on Capitol Hill. (The dinners! The happy hours! The PAC money!) We all know that Mr. Rogers is none too fond of being in Michigan, since he has to pretend he likes talking with constituents.

The bottom line: Mike Rogers doesn't represent anyone but himself.

If you'd like someone to represent you for a change, write in Lance Enderle for Congress on the August 3rd primary ballot August 3rd.

We'll all be glad we did!

Rogers: tax worse than cancer and mustard gas

The Rogers Newsletter, AKA the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus, carried a Mike Rogers press release today entitled “U.S. Rep. Rogers: Get your tan now” about the 10 percent tax on tanning beds that went into effect on July 1 as part of the historic health care insurance reform passed last March.

The Brighton Republican says “the 10 percent tax "kills jobs, hurts women (and) college students." Perhaps someone should tell Mr. Rogers about the harm caused by tanning beds to women and college students, as well as men and non-college students.

In fact, experts at the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, the cancer arm of the World Health Organization, “moved tanning beds and other sources of ultraviolet radiation into the top cancer risk category, deeming them as deadly as arsenic and mustard gas."

The good news is they will now have health care to treat the cancer, and people can no longer be denied health care coverage because of the pre-existing condition of cancer.

Tan-mageddon!

Summer is in full swing, so Mr. Rogers has shifted his Doom'n'Gloom pronouncements from health care to tanning salons.

That's right: the new health care reform bill included a 10% tax on tanning salons, which went into effect yesterday. The tax is expected to raise $2.7 billion over the next decade.

Mr. Rogers promptly sent out a press release screaming that the tax would

"kill[s] jobs, hurt[s] women (and) college students."

"In Michigan, where we've lost more jobs than any other state and led the nation in unemployment for more than four years, this tax is another job-killing burden on small businesses," Rogers said.

"The tax targets a service provided by mostly small entrepreneurs, many of them women, and it unfairly hits working women and college students, who make up the majority of tanning customers," he added.

Awww! Mr. Rogers is sticking up for working women and college students! (Do you feel all warm and fuzzy yet?)

Funny, but Mr. Rogers didn't worry about college students when he compromised their voting rights or voted to keep big banks skimming the student loan process.

Come to think of it, he hasn't shown too much concern for workers, small business owners or women's health, either...

Mr. Rogers' drama aside, will the new tax hurt the tanning industry?

An ABC news report finds that

no one thinks a few extra dollars is going to come between diehard tanners and their bronzing. Legislators in favor of the new tax cited health concerns. The industry itself, however, couldn't be healthier.

This is just another example of Mr. Rogers' Olympic-level ability to bring the tears and sell the trauma from a piece of legislation he doesn't like.

Mike Rogers has been in Washington for ten years now -- and our state has lost nearly 800,000 jobs. The next time he starts in on the "job-killing" rant, let's ask him exactly what he's done to grow jobs in Michigan.

Want a REAL representative in 2010?

Write in Lance Enderle for Congress on August 3rd, and let the sun shine in!

Where's the Representation?

It's been a busy week for Mr. Rogers!

Immediately sharing his thoughts on Gen. McChrystal's Rolling Stone interview with MSNBC and the Press & Argus, Mr. Rogers intoned

“you can’t have military commanders out there working against the policy of presidents, even if they’re wrong. “That’s my job,” the Brighton Republican and Army veteran said

Now, you may have thought that Mr. Rogers' job was to represent his constituents in Washington.

Oh, you big silly!

In addition to working against the policies of the President of the United States of America, Mr. Rogers has many serious responsibilities in DeeCee.

For example, on Wednesday he co-hosted the first Capitol Hill Family Game Night to educate families on

“how to enjoy video games and online media in ways that are safer, healthier and more balanced.”

Don't worry -- Mr. Rogers is working on lots of other crucial issues, too:

* he wrote a letter to MSU basketball coach Tom Izzo imploring him to stay in Michigan

* he continues to run his cash-raising machine with a string of foodie fundraisers

* he voted against H.R. 5175, which would

prohibit foreign influence in Federal elections, to prohibit government contractors from making expenditures with respect to such elections, and to establish additional disclosure requirements with respect to spending in such elections

* last but not least, he voted against H.R. 4213, which extended unemployment benefits and provided tax relief for individuals and businesses.

Got all that?

Michigan has led the nation in unemployment since April 2006 (as of last month, we slipped to Number 2, behind Nevada). We've lost nearly 800,000 jobs since Mr. Rogers first went off to Washington.

Given Michigan's devastated economy, why does Mr. Rogers think it's more important to work against the President, fight government transparency, screw over the unemployed and keep video games safe for families?

The bad news: this is just more proof that Mike Rogers doesn't give a rat's patootie about MI-08.

The good news: you have a choice this year!

East Lansing educator Lance Enderle has filed to be the write-in candidate for the Democratic nomination in the August 3rd primary.

Write him in, and see the difference a REAL representative can make!

Breakfast of (Fundraising) Champions

A major shout-out to That's My Congress for today's post, "Mike Rogers Breakfasts With Lobbyists"

Michigan’s Mike Rogers doesn’t live like you and I do. While we get up and pour ourselves a bowl of cold cereal for breakfast, Congressman Rogers goes out to eat his breakfast. Rogers doesn’t go to just any old place for his bacon and eggs either. [skip]

An invitation sent out by the Mike Rogers re-election campaign asks individuals attending the breakfast to come with at between 500 and 1,000 dollars to give to Rogers. Political Action Committees seeking some attention from Rogers are being charged between 1,000 and 2,000 dollars.

Where I come from, we don’t charge people thousands of dollars for the privilege of sitting at our breakfast table. Of course, where I come from, no one sits on a powerful congressional committee that has influence over government regulations. Mike Rogers does have that kind of position, and it seems that he’s willing to take a good deal of money from lobbyists in order to keep his hold on power secure.