Absentee ballot alert!

I was just about to mail in my absentee ballot last week and add the required stamp when it occurred to me that the large envelope might need more than the regular $.44 first class postage.

I weighed the envelope (it was about 1oz) but wondered if the large size might require more postage.

I took it to the Muskegon PO and they measured it (OK) and weighed it, not OK.

The envelope with my ballot weighted 1.1oz and required a $.61 stamp.

The envelope states "add correct postage" or something like that.

There is no suggestion that more than a regular first class stamp is necessary.

Most citizens don't have postage meters in their homes.
The weight of the envelope is VERY close to 1oz, so even if someone weighed it they might not realize the tiny difference that would require more postage.


And MOST IMPORTANT, if the wrong postage is affixed, the letter will be returned and the vote may be lost.


My question is simple:


Why not provide postage-paid envelopes or at least alert the voter that this mailing might need more than a regular $.44 stamp?

I live in Norton Shores and NS has chosen NOT to alert the voters to this problem.


I don't know what other cities/townships are doing but if you want your absentee vote to count, weigh it, measure it and add the correct postage.


And demand that your government officials make it clear or provide free postage in the future.


And tell your friends who vote absentee!

Bell council defiantly defends outgoing officials' high salaries

Bell council defiantly defends outgoing officials' high salaries - latimes.com
"The Times revealed last week that Rizzo was earning a $787,637 annual salary, Adams $457,000 and Spaccia $376,288.
Experts said Rizzo appeared to be the highest-paid city manager in the nation.
He had nearly three years left on his contract, and it's unclear whether the city bought it out or whether he agreed to walk away without compensation."

This abuse will continue to happen if the salary and compensation of public workers continues to be secret from the public.

City Council hearing is set on TV show

City Council hearing is set on TV show detnews.com The Detroit News
"Detroit has gone Hollywood, and some City Council members are none too happy with the results.
Council members have scheduled a 2 p.m. Tuesday hearing to grill producers of the ABC cop drama 'Detroit 1-8-7' about its representation of Motown.
But it's unclear if anyone from the prime time series, which started filming in Highland Park this week, plans to appear."

Nix kicks; Roe gets low - LSJ Blogs: Hey, Joe

Nix kicks; Roe gets low - LSJ Blogs: Hey, Joe
"Kalin Lucas is on schedule to be back on the basketball court in the fall. What about everyone else?
I caught up with MSU assistant strength coach Mike Vorkapich, who spends more time with these guys than anyone else in the offseason.

So let's list it -- Top Ten July 22 MSU Basketball Individual Updates (courtesy of Vorkapich):"

Great insight into our next Hoops season!

Now The Media Demands Context When It Comes to Race

Now The Media Demands Context When It Comes to Race — Are You Kidding Me? - Big Journalism
"Lemme get this straight: the media is talking about context. They want context!
They’ve never cared about context in the past.
When a person talked like a racist there were no excuses, no context, no explanation, no recovery allowed or given.
Ask any conservative who’s been wrongly accused of being a racist knows exactly what I’m talking about.
The list is long.
Limbaugh, Beck, Allen, O’Reilley—on and on."

White Lake area has vivid new sculpture

White Lake area has vivid new sculpture MLive.com
"A colorful addition has been made to the White Lake area. This 22-foot sculpture, “Sailboat-Trees,” designed by George Ramsay, has permanently been placed in Covell Park on N. Thompson Street in Whitehall.

The project was sponsored by the Arts Council of White Lake with generous donations from the White Lake Community Fund and area citizens."

This is the way art should be purchased!

Lt. Col. West 'blacklisted' from charity gala

Lt. Col. West 'blacklisted' from charity gala
"Allen West, a retired U.S. Army officer and GOP candidate for Congress in Florida, claims he was disinvited from a high-profile charity fundraiser after his Democratic rival's wife 'prodded' donors to protest and 'blackmail' the organization."

Our national debt would horrify the Founders

Our national debt would horrify the Founders Washington Examiner
"In the period spanning the final year of George W. Bush's second term in the White House and President Obama's tenure to date, the national debt has exploded from $9.1 trillion to nearly $13.2 trillion, reaching 90 percent of the gross domestic product."

Tea party redux in Bell, California

American Thinker Blog: Tea party redux in Bell, California
"Bell, California has become the poster child for greedy public employees, a subject closely related to the TEA (taxed enough already) parties. The City Manager was making almost $800,000 a year, and the Police Chief nearly $500,000 in a city of under 40,000 souls.

Yet, because Bell is heavily Hispanic and lower income, few are making the connection between what happened there last night and the rise of the tea parties.
The two phenomena are closely related.

What happened in Bell Thursday night? Ruben Vives and Jeff Gottlieb of the Los Angeles Times report:"

Power to the people!

The Art of the Ann Arbor City Budget

The Art of the Ann Arbor City Budget [Mackinac Center]
"The debate in Ann Arbor, where firefighters are being laid off due to a multimillion dollar budget deficit, is over an $850,000 piece of art.
That's how much the city has agreed to pay German artist Herbert Dreiseitl for a three-piece water sculpture that would go in front of the new police and courts building right by the City Hall."

Newark Budget Cuts

Newark Budget Cuts


"Things are getting so bad in Newark that the mayor has ordered the government to stop buying toilet paper.

It's part of Newark Mayor Cory Booker's belt-tightening plans that include reducing most city workers to a 4-day work week and shuttering city pools. Booker estimates that the pool closures alone would save $250,000.
He also says that no gas will be purchased for municipal vehicles that are not deemed critically important"

It's about time!
They do shitty "work".
They deserve to pay for their own TP!

Political Hotsheet - CBS News

Bill Cooper posts - Political Hotsheet - CBS News
"Bill Cooper, a congressional candidate in Michigan has updated the famous LBJ 'Daisy' Ad.

Instead of framing the decision to vote around national security and fear of nuclear war, the new ad uses the young girl counting the daisy petals to mark the growing national debt."

Great ad.
Great candidate!

Ballot slogan axed

Ballot slogan axed - JSOnline
"State elections officials Wednesday narrowly rejected a Milwaukee Assembly candidate's attempt to run with the slogan 'NOT the 'whiteman's bitch' ' under her name on the ballot.

Ieshuh Griffin, an independent candidate with a history of feuds with local officials, said in response she would sue the state Government Accountability Board for infringing on her freedom of speech."

The Tax Tsunami On The Horizon

The Tax Tsunami On The Horizon - IBD - Investors.com
"Many voters are looking forward to 2011, hoping a new Congress will put the country back on the right track. But unless something's done soon, the new year will also come with a raft of tax hikes — including a return of the death tax — that will be real killers.
Through the end of this year, the federal estate tax rate is zero — thanks to the package of broad-based tax cuts that President Bush pushed through to get the economy going earlier in the decade.
But as of midnight Dec. 31, the death tax returns — at a rate of 55% on estates of $1 million or more. The effect this will have on hospital life-support systems is already a matter of conjecture."

Chetly Zarko, RIP

Chetly Zarko, RIP [Mackinac Center]
"Michigan has lost forever the contributions of a stalwart freedom fighter: Chetly Zarko was found dead this morning at the age of 39. Reportedly, he slipped away while reading, sitting in a chair in his apartment."

A stalwart soldier AND leader in the struggle for truth in Michigan.

He will be missed.

Our land is less free as a result of his passing.

More:
http://bottomuppolitics.blogspot.com/2010/07/chetly-zarko-is-dead-but-not-forgotten.html

Of Course Oakland Can't Afford These Cops

RealClearMarkets - Of Course Oakland Can't Afford These Cops
"At current levels of compensation, yes, Oakland cannot afford to maintain a police department with 776 employees.
That's because total compensation for an OPD employee averages an astounding $162,000 per year."

California Official's $800,000 Salary in City of 38,000 Triggers Protests

California Official's $800,000 Salary in City of 38,000 Triggers Protests - Bloomberg
"Hundreds of residents of one of the poorest municipalities in Los Angeles County shouted in protest last night as tensions rose over a report that the city’s manager earns an annual salary of almost $800,000.
An overflow crowd packed a City Council meeting in Bell, a mostly Hispanic city of 38,000 about 10 miles (16 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles, to call for the resignation of Mayor Oscar Hernandez and other city officials. Residents left standing outside the chamber banged on the doors and shouted “fuera,” or “get out” in Spanish.
It was the first council meeting since the Los Angeles Times reported July 15 that Chief Administrative Officer Robert Rizzo earns $787,637 -- with annual 12 percent raises -- and that Bell pays its police chief $457,000, more than Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck makes in a city of 3.8 million people. Bell council members earn almost $100,000 for part-time work.
City Attorney Edward Lee said the council members couldn’t discuss salaries in public without advance notice."

RealClearPolitics - Video - Hillary Clinton: Pakistani Government Knows Where Bin Laden Is

RealClearPolitics - Video - Hillary Clinton: Pakistani Government Knows Where Bin Laden Is

Lawmaker Says Special Tax Favors Are 'Cronyism' [Mackinac Center]

Lawmaker Says Special Tax Favors Are 'Cronyism' [Mackinac Center]: "If a business is in need of a tax break, the quickest route may be the local politician.
State Rep. Justin Amash, R-Kentwood, recently called out his colleagues for submitting bills that created tax advantages for single businesses.
Amash called attention to Senate Bill 500, sponsored by State Sen. Tony Stamas, R-Midland. That bill was tailored to create a tax break for an electronics building in Gaylord. An expanded version was passed by the House and Senate"

Documents show media plotting to kill stories about Rev. Jeremiah Wright

Documents show media plotting to kill stories about Rev. Jeremiah Wright The Daily Caller - Breaking News, Opinion, Research, and Entertainment
"It was the moment of greatest peril for then-Sen. Barack Obama’s political career.
In the heat of the presidential campaign, videos surfaced of Obama’s pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, angrily denouncing whites, the U.S. government and America itself.
Obama had once bragged of his closeness to Wright.
Now the black nationalist preacher’s rhetoric was threatening to torpedo Obama’s campaign."

True Colors Flying

RightMichigan.com True Colors Flying
"Many folks have been wondering why Rick Snyder won't openly debate the other Republican candidates for Governor."

The Muskegon Comical-Bike time

The Muskegon Comical
"When I got a chance to step back and watch the crowd I did notice something odd, there weren’t many young people.
I’d say the average woman was over thirty and looked kind of like a 7-11 hot dog that’s been on the rotisserie a week too long"

Too funny...too true....

Poll: Faith in Social Security system tanking

Poll: Faith in Social Security system tanking - USATODAY.com
"Battered by high unemployment and record home foreclosures, most Americans seem to have lost faith in another fundamental part of their personal finances: Social Security."

Welcome to the Gameops.com Resource Website

Welcome to the Gameops.com Resource Website
"Most years we get the same handful of nominations for Best Act and the winner is the gold standard who have kept their act fresh or managed to stay in the public eye. This year took a bit of a twist."

Check out "Best Act".....and prepare yourself to be ...HAPPY!

A Popular Principal, Wounded by Good Intentions (and Obama rules)

On Education - A Popular Principal, Wounded by Good Intentions - NYTimes.com
"Ms. Irvine was removed because the Burlington School District wanted to qualify for up to $3 million in federal stimulus money for its dozen schools.
And under the Obama administration rules, for a district to qualify, schools with very low test scores, like Wheeler, must do one of the following: close down; be replaced by a charter (Vermont does not have charters); remove the principal and half the staff; or remove the principal and transform the school."

SHOCK: Video Suggests Racism At NAACP Event

SHOCK: Video Suggests Racism At NAACP Event - wcbstv.com
"The video shows Sherrod speaking of racial considerations being a factor for how much help she would give.

'The first time I was faced with having to help a white farmer save his farm, he took a long time talking but he was trying to show me he was superior to me. I know what he was doing, but he had come to me for help. What he didn't know while he was taking all that time trying to show me he was superior to me was, I was trying to decide just how much help I was going to give him,' Sherrod said.

'I was struggling with the fact that so many black people had lost their farmland, and here I was faced with having to help a white person save their land. So I didn't give him the full force of what I could do. I did enough,' Sherrod said. 'So that when he, I assumed the Department of Agriculture had sent him to me, either that or the Georgia Department of Agriculture, and he needed to go back and report that I did try to help him.'

In the video, Sherrod also spoke of referring the white farmer to a white lawyer, thinking the latter would be more sympathetic because of race. 'So I took him to a white lawyer that had attended some of training that we had provided because Chapter 12 bankruptcy had just been enacted for the family farm. So I figured if I take him to one of them, that his own kind would take care of him.'"

Columbia University vs. The Murdoch Effect

Columbia University vs. The Murdoch Effect - Big Journalism
part 2
"Why would anyone but a slave pay for such a service?
The fact is, we won’t.

Newspapers and network news are dying.

And it isn’t, as Bollinger would have us believe, because of the internet or any other new technology.

If that were so, Fox News and the Wall Street Journal wouldn’t be thriving as they are.
Mainstream news outlets are dying because they distort the news in the name of leftism—and there’s simply no reason to use a news source that lies.
To combat the Murdoch effect here, Bollinger wants to build the British system that Murdoch helped enfeeble.

If the people won’t pay for left-wing distortions by choice, they must be forced to pay for them through taxation!

Thwarted in their dishonest purposes, the left does what it always does: they demonize the opposition and unleash the brute force of government.

But the fact is, we, the people, do not want their high moral instruction.
We simply want the bloody news."

Columbia University vs. The Murdoch Effect

» Columbia University vs. The Murdoch Effect - Big Journalism
"Columbia University is the place where leftists give leftist journalists Pulitzer Prizes and then tell each other how prestigious leftist journalism is because—wow!—look at all the Pulitzers they’ve won."

Mass. may join effort to bypass Electoral College

Mass. may join effort to bypass Electoral College - Local News Updates - MetroDesk - The Boston Globe
"The state Legislature is poised to give final approval this week to a new law intended to bypass the Electoral College system and ensure that the winner of the presidential election is determined by the national popular vote.
Both the House and Senate have approved the National Popular Vote bill.
Final enactment votes are needed in both chambers, however, before the bill goes to the governor's desk, the Globe reported last week."

Do Not Trust Cornyn or McConnell on Spending Cuts

Do Not Trust Cornyn or McConnell on Spending Cuts - Exchequer - National Review Online
"As you might guess, those appropriations requests are more densely packed with pork than a can of Spam — Kentucky-fried pork, of course. Seems the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant needs $116 million of your money.
The Forage Animal Production Unit needs $4 million.
The biofuel lobby needs a million dollars to be routed to it through the University of Kentucky.
Hopkinsville has a narcotics taskforce with its hand out.
Raytheon wants $12 million to put lasers on 20mm Gatling guns in Louisville — which at least sounds kind of awesome, but President Obama thinks they can do it with $6 million instead of $12 million.
Somebody wants to buy something called Fern Lake and make a park out of it, but they want you to pay for it — $1.2 million.

No, there’s no tab for “Cutting Spending,” but if you add up all the stuff that Senator McConnell lists under FH2011 Appropriations Requests, you come up with just about $600 million.

That’s a lot of cash — and that’s just the special-interest stuff he’s advertising on his website, not the big-ticket items.

So, let’s do some English-major math here: $600 million in feel-good spending multiplied by 100 U.S. senators equals . . . $60 billion, almost enough to pay for those unemployment benefits Senator McConnell is so keen to fight over — twice."