Happy Anniversary!

We designated conservatives must be a light in the darkness, wherever we may be.

I live in a one-party neighborhood in a one-party community. All local elections are settled in the Democratic Party primary, not in the general election.  The last Republican to hold local elective office here was booted out more than 20 years ago.

Am I discouraged?

VICTORY UPDATE: Washtenaw County’s Taxation without Representation

To our liberal, teachers union friends who spouted gloom and doom if this WISD millage failed:

24,114 residents of Washtenaw County voted for the WISD millage for public schools yesterday.  Now, this designated conservative suspects that they were voting for a tax hike on the assumption that other “rich people” would pay the bill, but in the hope that they were willing to put up their share I offer the following suggestion:

If all 24,114 “yes” voters each donated just the $200 per year that they said the tax would cost the average county homeowner, they alone would provide over 80% of the $30,000,000 that this new tax was projected to provide to the schools.  Considering that this voluntary method would minimize collection/administration costs associated with the tax process, I suspect that their voluntary contributions would actually provide MORE funds to the schools than any tax.  Come on “yes” voters – it’s time to get your checkbooks out and support the schools!

THANK YOU!

To all our designated conservative friends in Washtenaw County, thank you for coming out yesterday in overwhelming numbers to say “NO!” to the flawed WISD “enhancement millage!  Thank you to all those that spearheaded the “Vote No” campaign!  Great job.

Now comes the hard part:  It’s time for designated conservatives to step in and lead our local public schools away out of the slow-death spiral the Michigan Education Association (MEA)-sponsored “leaders” have created for our children and grandchildren.

This Designated Conservative encourages like-minded folks to write to your school board members, district superintendents, and elected state representatives and tell them the unaccountable tax-and-spend, “this is the way we’ve always done things” mentality is no longer acceptable if we are to have a strong and vibrant public school system in Michigan:

10,000

The Designated Conservative would like to thank our loyal readers for carrying this blog up and over a significant threshold: 10,000 pageviews.

For a young blog born less than a year ago in the disheartening aftermath of a disastrous Presidential campaign, it’s great to have garnered so much interest.

I would also like to thank President Obama for helping to keep our material fresh and interesting.

Some of the best Obamanation posts can be found…

Michigan’s (R)-Lite Campaigners on Display

MidlandRepublican has posted video evidence on RightMichigan.com of candidate Rick Snyder’s blatant move to buy votes and manipulate the results of the straw poll at the Michigan Republican Leadership Conference on Mackinac Island (click here to view the video).

It appears that Mr. Snyder’s own handlers are acting like he is a bit too (R)-lite of a candidate right now. Why bother going to the Republican Leadership Conference if you need to hire a bunch of college kids, pay for them to attend the conference, AND hold their room keys hostage to get their votes in the straw poll for MI Governor?

The Detroit News has weighed in on this topic with an article entitled, “Students’ Behavior at GOP Event Questioned.” Here’s an excerpt:

Questions continue to be raised about the behavior of college students at the state Republicans’ leadership conference on Mackinac Island with some asked to vow to vote for their candidates or risk losing their rooms and others charging that underage drinking was rampant.

Gubernatorial hopeful Rick Snyder has been accused of capturing the top spot in an exclusive Detroit News/WJR NewsTalk 760 AM straw poll during the Sept. 25-27 gathering by having students sign a letter vowing to vote for the Ann Arbor businessman in the poll or risk losing the free hotel rooms and island ferry rides.

Some of the hundreds of bright-green clad students who Snyder brought to the island were asked to sign a “contract” which reads, in part: “I have read the above and understand that my staying in a Rick for Michigan sponsored hotel room and traveling on a Rick for Michigan ferry is contingent upon voting for Rick Snyder in the straw poll.”

Snyder campaign spokesman Jake Suski said the form was created to help ferret out “infiltrators” from other campaigns who were trying to get a free trip and didn’t support Snyder.  He also noted the island was swarming with volunteers sent by other candidates, lobbying firms and the Republican Party.

“To come up with our group and not to support Rick or to support other candidates would have been…

The Next Attack on America

The Old Jarhead has posted an essay describing a hypothetical next attack by Al Qaeda on America.  I encourage every American to read this post.  Here is an excerpt:

Essay: The Next Terrorist Attack on America

The House that Americans Built

These are the rules that inspired the man who lives in the house that Americans built:

UPDATED: Healthcare is a Right? Since When?

“Rights” were once something retained by an educated citizenry, and the government was restrained by the Constitution from infringing upon those rights. Now, apparently, “rights” are things that the someone has and someone else wants, and the enraged citizenry demands that the federal government secure those “rights” for them.

Well, I want my…

UPDATED: Summarizing the ObamaCare Bill for Rep. John Conyers

UPDATE:

John Stossel and 20/20 explains CanadaCare (in words and images even a Congressman can understand), and why America’s private, profit-based, individual choice healthcare system breeds inovation and attracts people from Canada and around the world who can’t get care under their government-run, “free healthcare” systems:

Certain members of our Demcrat Congressional leadership seem to be having great difficulty distinguishing between paid union thugs and actual constituents. Some have taken to calling citizen participants in our democratic process (i.e. protesters at congressional town hall events) “mobs.” To help Rep. Conyers and others reacquaint themselves with their voters, here is a great post with lots of annotated pictures of the “mob.” (http://thedanashow.wordpress.com/2009/08/06/meet-the-mob/)

ORIGINAL POST:

Students Accept Majority Tyranny

The following commentary about the state of learning and teaching of government and political science in our public schools (excerpt below) crossed the Designated Conservative’s digital desk this week.   It is another excellent posting by…

Fairness Doctrine Moment – a liberal perspective on American Independence

UPDATE:

This editorial cartoon came across the Designated Conservative’s digital desktop this afternoon.  More from the liberal left who don’t understand America:

UPDATE: Pam Byrnes’ Quixotic Quest to Overturn Michigan’s “Proposal 8″

Here we go.  Thanks Pam Byrnes!  Of course, it has to be our fine Ann Arbor area state reps who once again lead the way into the type of chaos and contention visited upon California until Proposition 8 was upheld….  It’s great to see our legislators working hard to stir up trouble and spend more of the state’s bountiful financial resources on stuff we don’t need….  Pam, this is settled law in Michigan, and the 30 or so other states where the voters have actually had the opportunity to vote on the subject.  Please don’t re-open this can of worms….

2010 Clean Sweep Congress

This Designated Conservative is tired from holding the keys of so many Washington D.C. Kool Aid-enebriated Republicans in the U.S. Congress, especially the U.S. Senate. I’m exhausted from fending off senato(R)s and (R)epresentatives who drank too much of the Pelosi/Obama spiked Kool Aid and still want to drive the policy bus.

In fact, my pockets were so full that I have to admit relief when My Beloved Friend and Highly Esteemed Colleague The Honorable Senior Senator from the Great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Arlen Specter came to me last week and said that he was leaving the party.  I gave him his keys after he promised that he was just going to walk across the hall to go home.  The Honorable Senator Specter has been such a high maintenance partier (always making a scene and wanting things his way) that I’m hoping that he doesn’t come back!

After the disastrous 2006 Republican majority and mortifying 2008 Democrat majority, I propose a new voting scheme for 2010:

Stop Governor Granholm before she plans our economy again!

Nick over at RightMichigan.com recently posted the following news item:

Unemployment rate hits 9.3% (!!!) while 74,000 Michiganders lose their jobs

Remember back during the 2006 campaign when Jennifer Granholm and John Cherry traveled the state telling folks they had a plan and they were “working that plan and we’re working it and we’re working it and we’re working it?”

Whatever that meant.