In Memoriam

Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of Sgt. Curtis L. Norris, 28, of Dansville who died on Dec. 23rd while serving in Iraq.

Curtis L. Norris died Saturday in Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds he received when an improvised explosive device went off near his vehicle, the Defense Department said.

Norris was part of the 210th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), based at Fort Drum, N.Y.

---from the AP

RIP Sgt. Norris

In Memoriam

Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of Pfc. Wilson A. Algrim, 21, of Howell who died on Dec. 23rd while serving in Iraq.

Pfc. Algrim was one of three Michigan men killed on Saturday in a single incident.

They died Dec. 23 in Salman Pak, Iraq, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle during combat operations.They were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 125th Infantry, out of Big Rapids.

Killed were:

Pfc. Wilson A. Algrim, 21, of Howell.

Spc. Chad J. Vollmer, 24, of Grand Rapids.

Pvt. Bobby Mejia II, Saginaw.

---from the Lansing State Journal

RIP Pfc Algrim, Spc. Vollmer, and Pvt. Mejia

In Memoriam

Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of Army Pfc. Andrew H. Nelson, 19, of St. Johns who died on Christmas Day while serving in Iraq.

Pfc. Andrew H. Nelson, 19, and the others died of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle during combat operations Dec. 25 in Baghdad, Iraq. They were assigned to the 9th Engineer Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Schweinfurt, Germany.

But locally he was known as a four-year letter winner on the swimming and diving team. He graduated from St. Johns High School in 2005.

Nelson made the State Journal all-area team as a senior in 2004-05, when he qualified individually for the Division 2 state meet in the 200-yard individual medley and 100-yard butterfly.

“He was very competitive, very driven,” said swim coach Kim Brewbaker. “The kind of kid that wouldn’t back down from anything..."

Nelson’s family could not immediately be reached for comment. Information on funeral arrangements was not yet available.

-- From the Lansing State Journal

RIP Pfc. Nelson

MI-03 has a New WatchBlog!

We are pleased to announce Michigan's newest Congressional District WatchBlog, Eyes on Ehlers, covering the 3rd Congressional District of Barry, Ionia, and Kent counties.

EOE is the fifth CD WatchBlog in Michigan. Word on the street has it that folks in the 9th (Knollenberg) and 11th (McCotter) districts are working on unveiling their own watchblogs. We eagerly await their appearance.

Props to ScottyUrb from MichiganLiberal for undertaking Eyes on Ehlers. We wish him and the entire crew of EOE the best. Here's to educating all of Michigan's voters!

Newspaper has great things planned for Rogers

To show you the kind of conservative media bias we have to overcome here in Livingston County to unseat Mike Rogers, take a gander at a Sunday opinion column by Buddy Moorehouse, the metro editor of the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus.

Now, Moorehouse has been with the newspaper since the early 1980’s, except for a brief period he left to run for political office in 2002. He is a part-time comedian, magician and apparently a politician. As such, his columns are generally funny and entertaining. This commentary is not a knock at Moorehouse, but it’s simply pointing out a fact.

In 2002 he made a run at the state House for an open seat that was just created because of redistricting. He was one of about six conservative Republicans making a bid for the 47th District seat, and he came in third place for the seat in his first attempt at public office. Surprisingly, Joe Hune won by just two votes to beat some well-known people in the county.

At the time, Moorehouse had to resign as managing editor of the newspaper to make his run, and the management publicly said he would never work there again. Maybe they had their fingers crossed when they said it.

But back to Sunday’s column. The column is called “Sending out wishes of holiday joy,” and in it Moorehouse sends out holiday greetings and good wishes to everyone from his family to our newly elected judges. Nothing wrong with that. However, with the budget crisis facing the governor, it would have been nice for him to send out a greeting and good wishes to her. She could use all the help she can get.

He did have a greeting for his fellow Republican, U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers.

“Rep. Mike Rogers, our congressman, who is destined for something much, much bigger. Mark my words.”

To me, U.S. Congress is very, very big. Maybe he can enlighten us on what bigger things the newspaper has planned for Mr. Rogers. This newspaper, with the largest circulation of any newspaper in Livingston County, has had a far too cozy relationship with Rogers since he began his political career. Is it any wonder why Jim Marcinkowski did not get the endorsement of this newspaper?

This is why we have blogs like this.

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays from The Neighborhood!

Here's to you and yours, and our best wishes for a wonderful season.

~Your Neighbors at Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood

In Memoriam

Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of Army Spc. Andrew Daul, 21, of Brighton who died this past Tuesday while serving in Iraq.

From the Livingston Daily Press and Argus:

The fallen soldier's family is remembering him as a heroic, strong, patriotic and brave young man who was into bodybuilding and loved to travel.
-snip-
Andrew Daul, who was in his second tour of duty in Iraq when he died, was with the 1st Battalion, 37th Armored Regiment, 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division, based in Friedberg, Germany.
-snip-
This year's Christmas will be extra somber for those who knew Andrew Daul.
"I don't think there will be much of a Christmas this year," Kathy Daul said. "We'll honor Jesus Christ, we'll go to our midnight mass, but as far as truly getting into the commercial aspect of all of that, that probably very definitely will be put aside and the next couple weeks will be strictly in honor of Andrew."

RIP Spc. Daul

Who does Mike Rogers really work for?

"I work for you. Together, we can continue making a difference, one family, one community at a time." –From Mike Rogers' campaign website

As the representative for Michigan's 8th congressional district, Mike Rogers is supposed to work for you. Trouble is, he also works for quite a few Political Action Committees, to the tune of over $662k during the 2005-2006 campaign cycle, in fact.

So, who were some of the PAC's that Mike Rogers accepted campaign contributions from this year? Well, for starters, he took money from Altria Group (formerly Philip Morris), telecos like AT&T, and war profiteers defense contractors like Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, and General Electric, to name a few.

Of course, these days, it's not exactly a shock to learn that corporations from the tobacco, telecom, and defense industries are funding republican camapaigns. Still, when Mike Rogers says he works "for you," it's a little misleading -- his constituents clearly aren't the only people he works for.

A perfect example is the "Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act" of 2005. Here's a little background on the Bankruptcy bill [from TPM]:

...the credit card companies are the driving force behind this legislation. Some in the Senate recognize this.

The bill is more than 500 pages long, all in highly technical language. But the overall thrust is pretty clear:

• Make debtors pay more to creditors, both in bankruptcy and after bankruptcy, so that a bankruptcy filing will leave a family with more credit card debt, higher car loans, more owed to their banks and to payday lenders.

• Make it more expensive to file for bankruptcy by driving up lawyers’ fees with new paperwork, new affidavits, and new liability for lawyers, so that the people in the most trouble can’t afford to file.

• Make more hurdles and traps, with deadlines that a judge cannot waive even if someone has a heart attack or an ex-husband who won’t give up a copy of the tax returns, so that more people will get pushed out of bankruptcy with no discharge.

• Make it harder to repay debts in Chapter 13 by increasing the payments necessary to confirm in a repayment plan, so that more people will be pushed out of bankruptcy without ever getting a discharge of debt.

There are people who abuse the system, but this bill lets them off. Millionaires will still be welcome to use the unlimited homestead exemption. And if they don’t want to buy a home there, they can just tuck their millions of dollars into a trust, a “millionaire’s loophole” that lets them keep everything—if they can afford a smart, high-priced lawyer.

As you can see, this piece of legislation wasn't exactly consumer-friendly. And yet, Mike Rogers -- who received $37,398 from commercial banks and $9,324 from finance/credit companies -- voted for the bankruptcy bill.

Consumers in Michigan are starting to feel the pinch:

More than a year after provisions of the Bankruptcy Reform Act took effect in October 2005, debtors are finding it more expensive and time-consuming to file for bankruptcy protection, said John Pottow, U-M Law professor. The act, however, has not solved consumer financial distress.

"Reform, as it was styled, focused on reducing the number of bankruptcies but paid no attention to their cause," said Pottow, a bankruptcy expert. "The data we see suggest the underlying cause is getting worse: a growing number of Americans still cannot pay their debts."

Debts are likely to increase during the holidays. Consumers rely heavily on credit cards to buy gifts, decorations and other related items, then get debt-induced hangovers in January when they go to their mailboxes to find much higher than expected credit card bills.

If debtors consider filing for bankruptcy protection, they can expect higher costs. Pottow said reports suggest attorneys fees have jumped by 50 to 100 percent in response to the complexity of the new law.

Merry Christmas, 8th District!

Here's the problem. It's impossible for us to know with any certainty who/what is truly influencing Mike Rogers' decisionmaking as a legislator, since he's taken so much money -- over $3 million -- from so many different PACs during his career.

Sure, you'd be hard pressed to find a representative from either party in Washington who hasn't taken money from a PAC during their career, but Mike Rogers isn't just any congressman. He's our congressman, and when he says that he works for us, he's clearly not telling the whole story.

Needless to say, we'll be comparing Mike Rogers' voting record during the 110th Congress with his campaign contributions from the 2005-2006 campaign cycle. Stay tuned...

(Cross-posted on Pohlitics, MichiganLiberal, and DailyKos)

The Neighborhood Joins the Block Party

Less than 3 weeks into existence, The Neighborhood is honored to join a national list of respected and powerful congressional-watch blogs, at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee or The DCCC for you wonky-types.

What's the big deal?

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is the official campaign arm of the Democrats in the House. The DCCC is the only political committee in the country whose principal mission is to support Democratic House candidates every step of the way through this critical election year.

The Neighborhood becomes the 48th Blog to make the Congressional Blogroll at The Stakeholder, which is The DCCC's official blog.

'08 Campaigns - Are you listening?

The Internet is the place to reach voters.

The Neighborhood is the place to replace Mr. Rogers.

Rogers loves him some Amway/DeVos

I was poking around on Mr. Rogers' website today, when I found this link to his Congressional Record Statements. These two jumped out at me:

• CONGRATULATIONS TO ALTICOR INCORPORATED
• PAYING TRIBUTE TO A MICHIGAN LEADER, RICHARD DEVOS

Here's the text of that first statement:

Mr . ROGERS of Michigan . Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Alticor Incorporated, on being honored with the 2005 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award. This is an honor bestowed to employers who have gone above and beyond in supporting their National Guard and Reserve employees.

Alticor's communication with its military employees when in action, covering pay differential during deployments and their Military Leave Program are just a few of the many ways the company has demonstrated support for the Guard and Reserves. Alticor has also donated numerous products which have been distributed to deployed units worldwide.

I commend Alticor's contribution to military families. Therefore, Mr. Speaker, I respectfully ask my colleagues to join me in paying tribute to Alticor Incorporated, for being honored with the 2005 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award.

And here's the text of the second statement:

Mr . ROGERS of Michigan . Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the accomplishments of Richard DeVos, a Michigan citizen who exemplifies the American spirit of entrepreneurship and community leadership.

As Richard DeVos celebrates his 80th birthday, we reflect on his many achievements as the co-founder of Amway Corp. with his lifelong friend and business partner, the late Jay Van Andel, as well as his many selfless contributions to his state, community, and fellow citizens.

The author of three books, ``Believe!,'' ``Compassionate Capitalism,'' and ``Hope From My Heart: Ten Lessons for Life,'' Richard also is a public speaker with an international following. After receiving a heart transplant in 1997, he took on the additional responsibility of serving as chairman for the Speakers Bureau for United Network for Organ Sharing.

Richard has owned several professional sports franchises, including the Orlando Magic of the National Basketball Association.

Richard and his wife, Helen, support many hospitals, colleges and universities, arts organizations and Christian causes in their hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and also numerous organizations in their adopted community in Central Florida.A veteran of the U.S. Air Force, Richard and his wife Helen have raised four children and have 16 grandchildren.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Richard DeVos as, on his 80th birthday, we acknowledge his life-long vision, compassion, and commitment to the American people and his home state of Michigan. Richard DeVos is truly deserving of our respect and admiration.

There's really nothing earth-shattering here, but after Gov. Granholm's recent gubernatorial campaign against former Amway CEO Dick DeVos (where mountains of dirt were dredged up about good-ol Amway), it's interesting to learn that Mike Rogers took the time out of his busy schedule in Washington (he's missed votes at least a few times -- ex: 1, 2, 3, 4) to congratulate Richard DeVos and Alticor on the floor of the US House of Representatives. Furthermore, it's an interesting little coincidence that Mike Rogers has received campaign contributions from seven members of the DeVos family during his career, including... Richard DeVos himself.

I suppose none of this is really surprising, since the DeVos family is one of the biggest contributors to the republican party, but it does make you wonder -- who does Mike Rogers really work for? I sure wish Mike Rogers would enter a happy birthday message to me into the Congressional record.