Message from Governor Granholm to college students

Governor Jennifer Granholm has issued an open letter to college students across the state regarding the budget crisis. It reads, in part:

August is underway and that means friends are moving into their first apartments in Ann Arbor and Mt. Pleasant, parents are taking their sons and daughters to back-to-school sales in East Lansing and Grand Rapids, and freshmen are finalizing their first classes in Marquette and Kalamazoo. All across our state, this is a time when students should be excited for the start of another year at Michigan's top-notch colleges and universities. But, instead, recent spikes in college tuition rates have left Michigan families worried about how they're going to afford school and still keep gas in their tanks and food on the table. Many of you are just plain mad.

You should be. And I am, too.

As a parent, I'm mad about the dent these tuition hikes will put in our pocketbooks. Like many of you, my own daughter is starting college this fall. The dramatic rise in tuition and fees was an unwelcome surprise for our family and, most likely, for yours.

When you're opening your tuition bill in the coming weeks, it might seem easy to blame your school for the sharp increase. But the real problem is in Lansing. Michigan is in the middle of an urgent budget crisis and, so far, our legislature has failed to act.

The full letter is available here.

Here are a few other ways you can take action:

• Join the Facebook group Lower MI Tuition.
• Post a video on YouTube regarding the budget crisis.
• Print up one (or more) of these posters.
• Contact your state lawmakers.

Republicans Fail to Act, Students Pay the Price

Our legislature has two choices as to how to deal with our state’s budget crisis. They could either increase revenue to ensure that our state's Higher Education remains well funded, or they could balance the budget by cutting from Higher Education. Governor Granholm and the Democratic-led State House agree that revenue needs to be increased. Republicans in the State Senate, however, believe that cutting from higher education would be the easiest and best way to balance the state budget, even though the facts suggest otherwise. Because of this disagreement, the state budget has not yet been passed.

Year after year, colleges such as CMU are forced to raise tuition in order to maintain the quality of the education they provide. But while tuition increases are an unfortunate fact of life, the controversy surrounding the state budget has caused a massive 21.1% tuition increase. It has gotten so expensive that tuition for CMU freshmen is now twice what it was in 2003, and the fourth-highest in the state. This is due to the fact, that for the last decade, Republican leadership in our state worked to decrease revenue to the state. Now that our state has run into some hard times, revenues have dropped even more. Because of this, our state legislature has had to cut revenue to our most vital resources, such as higher education, in order to keep Michigan out of debt.

Our legislature cannot take money from just anywhere, however. Certain funds are by law designated to be spent on certain programs; i.e. revenue earned by the state Lottery goes to K-12 schools, etc. (This is called earmarked revenue). So lawmakers must cut from programs that depend on un-earmarked revenue. One of those things that depend of these un-earmarked taxes is funding for our state's higher education system.

So why does this matter to us as CMU students? This uncertainty has lead our Board of Trustees to become very uncertain as to how much revenue they will receive. In order to compensate for this uncertainty, they increased tuition for freshmen by 21.1 percent. What's worse, the future of the CMU Promise is uncertain, meaning upperclassmen who have been protected by the CMU Promise might soon have to deal with higher tuition as well.

How can we ensure that tuition does not continue to go up and that the CMU Promise will survive? We must take action and let the Senate Republicans know that we will not take this lying down. Call Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop at (517) 373-2417 or e-mail him at SenMBishop@senate.michigan.gov. You can also go to senate.mi.gov and click on Find Your Senator (on the left) for your state senator's contact information.

For all the latest on the budget situation you can visit michiganliberal.com or superseed. Plus, Check out the Facebook group "I'm Pissed that Mike Bishop is Raising My Tuition".

The war's toll on Michigan

As you undoubtedly know, the cost of the Iraq war has gone through the roof - in terms of dollars, American and Iraqi lives lost, and wounded servicemembers, among many other statistics. Furthermore, with the money that has gone to fight this catastrophic war, millions of children could have been insured, or thousands of schools could have been built.

The National Priorities Project has released a two-page PDF document detailing the cost of the war to the state of Michigan as a whole as well as to each Congressional District.

According to the NPP, this war has cost our state roughly $12,100,000,000 - more than $1,200 per person - so far. That money could have been used to insure more than two million uninsured children. Or it could’ve paid for the construction of nearly 1,100 elementary schools.

How much has the war cost your congressional district? Click the link to find out.

A Look at the College Republicans for What They Really Are.....CHICKENHAWKS!!

Max Blumenthal an upcoming blogger created a youtube documentary of the College Republicans National Convention. It cuts the core of their disturbing desire for war. Meanwhile an even more disturbing desire not to serve in it. Please take a few minutes to check this video out.

Also, take a close look at Max Kues the Student from Christian High School. He would serve unless he becomes a really good speaker! WTF!!!! Max is a human highlight reel for stupidity.

Dodd-1, O'Reilly-0

Go Dodd!!!

You are cordially invited

You are cordially invited
To help determine the future of your community

Who: The voters of Michigan who were registered to vote by July 9

What: Primary elections for Mayor and City Councils, as well as millage questions.

These primaries are non-partisan. In a partisan primary, voters narrow down the number of candidates to one candidate per party. Nonpartisan primaries only occur when three or more candidates are running for one seat. In a nonpartisan primary, if one candidate receives 50% of the vote, that candidate is declared the outright winner; otherwise, the top two candidates advance to the November election (which is called the general election or runoff).

When: Next Tuesday, August 7. Polls are open from 7AM to 8PM.

Where: Communities across Michigan. Click here to see if yours is among them.

Why: City officials make important decisions. Funding for police and fire departments, as well as parks, usually comes from city and township governments. Decisions made by local governments often have an even bigger impact on our day-to-day lives than those made by federal or state government.

What's more, your vote has a greater impact. Voter turnout in city elections is far lower than it is in, say, Presidential or gubernatorial elections.

Not convinced? Many future political leaders are running. Today's City Councilperson or Mayor is tomorrow's state lawmaker. My Republican State Senator, Bill Hardiman, was mayor of my hometown of Kentwood for many years. State Senate Democratic Leader Mark Schauer was a Battle Creek City Commissioner, while Senators Martha Scott, Liz Brater, Glenn Anderson, and many others have served on City Councils.

Please RSVP by August 7, 2007 at 8 O'Clock P.M.

Note: Some cities, such as Kentwood and Grand Rapids, call their city councils 'city commissions.' Though the names are different, they essentially serve the same purpose. For simplicity's sake, I have decided to use the term 'city council' throughout this post.