Free Republic

LANSING — Michigan has made several changes to its Foster Youth in Transition Program in light of an audit that found it spent thousands of dollars on iPods, prom dresses, senior trips and a traffic ticket. The audit, released last month, found that the Michigan Department of Human Services did not effectively evaluate and monitor the payments and services it provided to youth transitioning out of foster care. The program is 80 percent funded by federal funds and 20 percent with state general fund dollars. State representatives questioned DHS officials about the audit and changes made during a House committee...

from the sickening dept Reinforcing the fact that Chris Dodd really does not get what's happening, and showing just how disgustingly corrupt the MPAA relationship is with politicians, Chris Dodd went on Fox News to explicitly threaten politicians who accept MPAA campaign donations that they'd better pass Hollywood's favorite legislation... or else: "Those who count on quote 'Hollywood' for support need to understand that this industry is watching very carefully who's going to stand up for them when their job is at stake. Don't ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk...

Imagine if the US government, with no notice or warning, raided a small but popular magazine's offices over a Thanksgiving weekend, seized the company's printing presses, and told the world that the magazine was a criminal enterprise with a giant banner on their building. Then imagine that it never arrested anyone, never let a trial happen, and filed everything about the case under seal, not even letting the magazine's lawyers talk to the judge presiding over the case. And it continued to deny any due process at all for over a year, before finally just handing everything back to the...

Full Title: News that a lawmaker was the target of an alleged kidnapping and murder-for-hire plot sent shockwaves on Friday through Lansing and the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference. Liberal group Progress Michigan makes fun of lawmaker kidnapping plot, takes down post after Democrat Barb Byrum named target MIRS reported that the Michigan State Police had uncovered that a prison inmate was willing to pay up to $500,000 to abduct a lawmaker. But the MSP didn't release the lawmaker's name. But the liberal group Progress Michigan was in a lighter mood, promptly posting on its Facebook page, as reported by MIRS:...

GRAND RAPIDS -- The Westboro Baptist Church -- notorious for twisting scripture to justify persecution of homosexuals and picketing at funerals -- have announced their intent to protest this week's memorial services honoring former first lady Betty Ford in Grand Rapids. On the Topeka, Kansas-based church's website, the fringe group said they will picket services on Thursday because Ford divorced her first husband William Warren prior marrying the late president Gerald R. Ford. In Westboro's eyes, that makes Ford an adulterer who "loved to sit with tawdry reporters and blather about sex." The announcement declares the group's intent to picket...

Electric cars manufactured by Nissan surreptitiously leak detailed information about a driver's location, speed and destination to websites accessed through the vehicle's built in RSS reader, a security blogger has found. The Nissan Leaf is a 100-percent electric car that Nissan introduced seven months ago. Among its many innovations is a GSM cellular connection that lets drivers share a variety of real-time data about the car, including its location, driving history, power consumption, and battery reserves. Carwings, as the service is known, then provides a number of services designed to support “eco-driving,” such as break downs of the vehicle's energy...

Detroit area Internal Revenue Service employees plan to rally in support of federal employees as well as state workers in Michigan, Wisconsin and elsewhere. National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 78 President Debra Carter plans to lead dozens of IRS employees in a rally at 3 p.m. Wednesday in front of the IRS Computing Center in downtown Detroit. The union local said in a statement that members will let people know that a federal government shutdown or steep budget cuts will hurt those who rely on government services. The chapter also says state workers are facing "unprecedented attacks on their workplace...

Righthaven Goes After Pajamas Media, Despite DMCA Agent & Strong Fair Use Case from the thought-righthaven-was-avoiding-those-things dept It's been a little while since we covered what newspaper copyright troll Righthaven was up to, but Eric Goldman alerts us to one recent legal filing from the operation that raises some questions. Historically, Righthaven has been careful to avoid websites that have registered a DMCA agent, knowing that under the DMCA it's supposed to issue a takedown notice before suing. However, this case, in going after the successful blog network Pajamas Media, appears to ignore the fact that Pajamas Media has registered....

This is a 5 minute audio clip of a Detroit Human Services worker's phone mail message as well as two follow-up calls of the worker which were recorded.

This is so sad.

John Conyers III, the son of U.S. Rep. John Conyers, says laptop computers and concert tickets were stolen from a government-registered vehicle last Wednesday in downtown Detroit, according to a police report obtained by Fox 2. The Congressman's son told police he parked the 2010 Cadillac Escalade at Brush Street and Congress around 11:30 p.m. When he returned an hour later, he noticed scratches on the side door and said two Apple MacBooks and $27,000 in Fillmore concert tickets had been swiped. The police report raises a number of questions. None more concerning than this: Why was the son of...

More than 6 million Americans have been out of work for more than six months and they're stepping up efforts to join together in support of increased help from the federal government, writes Annie Lowrey of the Michigan Messenger, who's written several in-depth stories on the problem of long-term unemployment. "99ers" — those long-term unemployed who have exhausted all available 99 weeks of unemployment benefits — have formed the American 99ers Union to lobby Congress to create a Tier V of federal unemployment benefits, she reports. The coalition is comprised of a number of groups: Advocacy For the Long Term...

The Oakland County Democratic Party says it has requested and accepted the resignation of operations director Jason Bauer in the wake of accusations he notarized campaign filings for a fake Tea Party candidate. "We are saddened by this situation, but cannot condone his alleged actions," the OCDP said Sunday in a released statement. "For the sake of the organization, we must part ways effective immediately." Oakland County Clerk Ruth Johnson, a Republican candidate for secretary of state, announced the allegations against Bauer on Friday, noting she had turned over documents to the county prosecutor and Michigan Attorney General's office for...

Righthaven, the company "grubstaked" by the Las Vegas Review Journal, which is basically going around suing any and every site that posts any of its content, continues to up the ante in abusing copyright law. Every week, it's filing more lawsuits. We've actually been hearing from some of the sites that have been sued, and many are lawyering up to fight Righthaven, because the claims are getting increasingly ridiculous. Righthaven appears to not take into account any of the context of the pages on the sites it's suing. For example, many of the sites it's suing involve users -- not...

Talking about his refusal to endorse the Volt on air and the NYT article.

The federal government could soon be paying for lunch for entire communities of children under a new plan in the U.S. House of Representatives. Christina A. Samuels of Education Week reports that the Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act of 2010 would allow schools in high-poverty areas to be covered under a “community eligibility” option that allows free meals to all students without the traditional paperwork to determine eligibility. That would mean free meals for an extra 20 percent of students in Grand Rapids, where eight of 10 students already meet income levels to qualify for free or reduced-price meals....

Ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has been indicted on federal fraud and tax charges. Federal prosecutors say the alleged scheme is related to the Kilpatrick Civic Fund, a tax-exempt fund that was supposed to pay for voter education and other purposes. Instead, Kilpatrick is accused of using it as a slush fund to take cash payments for himself, friends and relatives. In an indictment filed Wednesday, he's accused of failing to report at least $640,000 in taxable income between 2003 and 2008, which includes money, private jet flights and personal expenses paid by the civic fund. The government says he used...

DETROIT -- School board members refused Friday to reinstate the group's former president, who resigned a day earlier following allegations he fondled himself repeatedly in front of the district's general superintendent. The board members gave Otis Mathis a letter stating his request for reinstatement has been denied. Vice President Anthony Adams said Friday that Mathis submitted a letter of resignation to the board Thursday afternoon -- the same day district Superintendent Teresa Gueyser filed a complaint of improper behavior. Gueyser alleges that during a meeting in her office, Mathis had his hands down his pants and was fondling himself for...

Obviously, there's been lots of talk about Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan in numerous areas. There have been various reports concerning Kagan's supposed views on copyright, but those seem pretty blown out of proportion from what I've seen and in talking to folks who know Kagan. She was a big supporter of the Berkman Center at Harvard, but that was part of her job. Other than her recommendation in the Cablevision case, there doesn't seem to be much to go on. In fact, I'm considerably more concerned with the idea that one of the leading contenders for Kagan's current job...

Authorities say a brick hurled through the window of an office of the Michigan Republican Party had the words "Long Live the USA" and "God Bless the USA" scrawled on it. Michigan GOP spokeswoman Jennifer Hoff tells the Detroit Free Press that the vandalism was discovered Monday morning by staff at the office in Howell. Hoff says no was injured. Both Democratic and Republican officials nationally have reported vandalism following the passage of national health care reform bills. Detective Gary Childers of the Livingston County Sheriff's Department said the Howell incident is under investigation. He says the words on the...