Michigan Votes Forum

ever sat on a jury? I was on one and we had a lady that would not put anyone in jail. Took us 4 days to work her over and finally she just gave up. The bailiff then explained to her all the things that were not allowed in court and that we did the right thing. Did you see any of the OJ trial? And you wonder how stupid things happen with juries? I don't ever want to be in front of a jury of my "peers" Most were educated in public schools....

accuses you of a crime and you don't have the money for a real good lawyer, you are probably doomed. This system is the best in the world but it has lots of built in biases. Scary Stuff

absolutely.....thats exactly what I'm saying....thank you for seeing that.

It was her daughter as well....but yes they lied....and we have proof...and yes as of tuesday...his appeal for michigan supreme court was once again denied....so now he heads to federal court......unfortunately as of last night ...I have decided to walk away from my marriage....theres just so many things i can't deal with....his real daughter being the main reason....she has done nothing for her father this whole time....but chooses to make our life more difficult day after day.....Im sorry to have intruded in your time.....but thanks for listening.

Republican Dick DeVos is in FAVOR of Capital Punishment in Michigan. DO NOT VOTE FOR DEVOS! VOTE FOR JENNIFER GRANHOLM!

"I think the voters are really recognizing that if you're looking for things like fiscal responsibility, funding for public schools, affordable health care and stem cell research, then it's Democrats who have been providing that vision." VOTE FOR JENNIFER GRANHOLM. Dick DeVos is FOR Capital Punishment and AGAINST Abortion [women's rights!] ALSO READ [Death Penalty]: www.stateline.org/live/details/story?contentId=98349

DeVos is who Im voting for.......Granholm had her chance and she blew it....

is a bad man. lets take all your employers and run them out of town. lets bash them like dick has been bashed. after all they are no different. they employ people. they give them a job so they can have the american dream. and yes sometimes they have to do cut backs, or, have to devise ways to stay in busniess. after all, they need to survive. where busniess has to have checks and balances. jenny doesn't. she is a polltician. she is NOT dealing why her money. she is dealing with YOUR money. like the ad said on tv, shes WATCHING OUT FOR YOUR WALLET. i don't know about you, but, i like the idea of ME watching out for my own wallet. the other thing is for mr devos to operate a busniess in china he has to build a plant there. yes it supplys job for chinse. but some of the profit comes back here to fund devos childrens hospital which helps this area. i think if you actually met mr. devos and could ask him questions concerning yourself you would find a man of great compassion. not the almighty money mogal. there needs to be more busniess people in government, on both the state, and, national level. after all, where does the state get most of it's tax money ??? hassleing busniess .

She is canadian....she lived most of her life in California...She is not a Michiganian. Why in the hell would anyone vote for her? Wake up people!

made ANY effort to bring conjugal visits to michigan??? any at all??? NO. and she WON'T if she is re-elected.

She said that drug testing for people that want state aid ....was against their rights....excuse me....its ok to ask for free money...but you don't want to do anything to get it?...I did write granholm a letter....ones of her aids called me and told me I should write the paper about my concerns.....alrighty then.....DeVos it is!!!

Republican Dick DeVos is in FAVOR of Capital Punishment in Michigan. [obviously this poster is a democrat, and proud of it, whether any THOUGHT is applied to that decision is yet to be determined. the poster also incorrectly ASSUMES that the majority of voters is AGAINST capital punishment.] DO NOT VOTE FOR DEVOS! [obviously the poster thinks that devos is a danger to all that democrats stand for, and that he will change the "status quo" or the way things are. that may well be the case, as the democrats that have been in charge for the last few years have CERTAINLY done a great job of fouling up the works.] VOTE FOR JENNIFER GRANHOLM! [obviously the poster HASN'T BEEN PAYING ATTENTION to the mess that jennifer has made over the last four years, or how the "i know better than you" attitude has stripped us of our rights and our jobs, and our money.]

DO YOU THINK THAT "DEVOS" WILL BRING US CONJUGAL VISITS? OR GOOD TIME? OR WATCH OUT FOR OUR WALLET? PLEASE! I WILL VOTE FOR ANYONE RUNNING AGAINST DEVOS!!! HE WOULD BRING US BIGGER TAXES AND BIGGER DISASTERS AND HE WOULD TRY TO BRING IN CAPITAL PUNISHMENT! AND AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED, DEVOS IS NOT A GOOD MAN. AND HE WILL NEVER BE AS GOOD OF A PERSON AS JENNIFER GRANHOLM. NEVER.

what's the last thing jennifer did to EARN your vote?

neither jennifer OR devos is going to give you the things you are looking for (single issue voting), then WHY are you voting for jenny again???

SHE IS DEMOCRAT! BETTER THAN REPUBLICAN!

DEMOCRAT. AGAINST DEVOS!

candidate that is running that I don't know about? I didn't think so. Therefore, Jenni is my girl! DeVos would be disasterous! Much worse than Jenni!

he be??? 10,000 jobs lost so far, how many more will we lose if YOU give her another four years to *#&$^% things up?

democrats done to earn your undying trust? did bill clinton NOT lie for you? did hillary clinton NOT hide the F.B.I. files for two years for you? did waco NOT HAPPEN? did jimmy carter NOT have interest rates go to 23% for you? you must pay a LOT in union dues...

WOW. Jennifer Granholm SMOKED DeVos in the 8:00 debate lastnight! She blew his a** right out of the water! AND, he was EVASIVE to EVERY SINGLE QUESTION! C'MON. TELL THE TRUTH, DEVOS!!! AND GIVE A DIRECT ANSWER!!! HOW HARD CAN IT BE?!!! He can't speak any better than George Bush! MY GAWD! And what a little (literally) weasle looking man. Those too-close-together beady-eyes of his... UGH. UNbelievable. He is NO MATCH for Jenni. She answered every single question DIRECTLY AND ACCURATELY. TOO BAD DEVOS CANNOT SAY THE SAME! AND... what's up with those income tax statements of his that he did not release???!!! And his $2,000,000.00 INVESTMENT IN THE ALTERRA NURSING HOME CHAIN THAT ABUSED THEIR ELDERLY RESIDENTS?!!! UHUH. SOMETHING TO HIDE. FOR SURE. and... that FAKE, CONSTANT SMILE [GRIN] OF HIS! Get REAL!!! GRANHOLM HAS GOT DEVOS BEAT BY FAR!!! DEVOS IS DISHONEST, EVASIVE, AND GREEDY! REPUBLICAN. GO FIGURE!!!!!!!!!! A PERSON WOULD HAVE TO BE CRAZY TO VOTE FOR HIM!!! YOU PEOPLE WHO PLAN TO VOTE FOR DEVOS HAD BETTER DO YOUR HOMEWORK AND GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT BEFORE YOU VOTE! OR AT LEAST WATCH THE DEBATES! QUOTE: "The More You Know About Dick DeVos The Worse It Gets! No wonder Michigan's own erstwhile Michael Huffington wannabe is so darn secretive about his financial holdings! What else is the Dick hiding from Michigan's voters? What else is DeVos hiding with his smoke screen on his financial investments? Dick DeVos is the first candidate for Governor in at least the last 60 years who refused to disclose the sources of his income and his actual holdings. But I guess if you profit from abusing senior citizens, you certainly must have a lot other things to hide. Someone with the time needs to check the 527s that Bush used in his effort to abolish Social Security to see if DeVos's RAD PAC or any of his other known holdings helped finance the attack on Social Security. Someone also needs to explore and expose the Dicks relationship to Ed Buckham. There is one sleazy fellow who worked for the Dick and others."

SHE HAS BEEN TRYING TO CLEAN UP THE HUGE MESS THAT ENGLER LEFT BEHIND!!!

My Husband is currently serving time for a crime he didn't commit,(have a signed affidavit from real perp.)Anyway, and I hate to be so blunt, but my biological clock is ticking. I want to have a child with my Husband. It's not right or fair for families not to be together. True enough prisoners should have thought about this before they did whatever they did. But my Husband is innocent and he doesn't deserve to be in Prison. He needs to be home where and so we can start our family.

Isn't it amazing that everyone in prison is innocent? I have never heard of anyone that isn't. Fry em all.

Too bad not everyone is as perfect as some claim to be....and you know everyone is guilty how?..oh you must be God.....I pray on your judgement day that you have done something better than judge people....thats not your job.

YOur sarcasm is unwanted. More people go to prison every year for crimes they have not comitted because prosecutors would rather not hash these cases out in court and bully these poor guys into taking a plea because not only does this save the government money but it also makes them look good. I pray that you never have a loved one or yourself end up in prison for something you did not do.

It is reeeeal hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys anymore. The prosecutors just want to close cases so they look like they are doing something. If this requires beating a "confession" out of someone then that is what they do. It really doesn't matter if they actually have the bad guy.

HERE IT IS....ALMOST A YEAR LATER AND STILL NO CONJUGAL VISITS....NOT EVEN A VOTE....NOT A STATEMENT...NOTHING...SO AS FAMILIES AND LOVED ONES OF INMATES WE MUST ENDURE THE HEARTACHE AND HARDSHIP OF WHAT MADNESS SOCIETY HAS BROUGHT UPON US....THIS SYSTEM IS BROKE AND NO ONE CARES..ITS ALL ABOUT MONEY...HOW MUCH EVERY MAN OR WOMAN IS WORTH...NOT ABOUT WEITHER OR NOT THEY'RE GUILTY OR INNOCENT....HOW VERY SAD ARE WE.

Listen... my husband IS innoncent and we have all the evidence to prove it. But people are so arrogant and stupid that they don't want to sit down and take the time to find the real perpetrators. It's ridiculous. Not EVERYONE who is in prison is guilty. That just comes from the people like the prosecutors who just want to put people away so they don't have to deal with an open case anymore.

how did he end up in jail? where was this evidence at trial? did he not bring it up? perhaps he confessed to 'make things easier'.

My husband too is in prison for a crime he did not commit and now the real perpatrator is also in prison but what justice does this bring to my husband who has now sat 3 years for something he did not do. The prosecutors are only interested in saving face and not helping the innocent man. If they think you did it you are screwed no matter what you do.

The notion of a conjugal visit sounds fine and dandy to the 'loved one' of the inmates but lets be real. the prison population is statistically high risk for std's so during your fun little romp in the sheets say you give or spread more stds then what, me being a tax payer am supposed to pay for your medication! or if your a female inmate im supposed to fund your medical attention because you get knocked up while in jail with the luxury of a conjugal visit! paaallleeassse! if you are in jail, you are there for a reason! and as far as i am concerned and clearly o i dont know apparently 44 other states (since only six allow conjugal visits) agree that you dont get to have sex with your partner in jail, you dont get to be human when you have done something criminally hainus and have been inprisoned. so forget you

Well, you seem to feel strongly about this conjugal visit thing. But check this out. I don't know anything about prisoners having more std's, but what I do know is that the prisons aren't co-ed. So the longer a man or woman. Is locked up then the more likely they will be to express themselves sexually with whoever the hell is around. Which means a lot of homosexual behavior. So, you would rather have them released back into society as fruity as a fruit loop, influencing your children and perhaps your mate? Or let them get it off every now and then with their spouse? Not to mention who is being punished the spouse or the prisoner? But more importantly, Prison ideally should rehabilitate. Which means corrective behavior. Its expensive and a waste to simply isolate them from the rest of society, just so they can come out bitter and more destructive than they already were. Now don't get me wrong, there should be regulations on the visits. Women should not be allowed to get pregnant, and both parties should be desease free, and sex crime offenders should not be allowed vists, they should pay for the priviledge, like phone calls and such, and perhaps some other things that I have missed. But there are luxeries that prisoners get now that they could do without and probably would gladly do with out for the conjugal visits. One being the cable. On average it costs just as much to house one inmate for 1 ye*r as it does to send s student to college for 4 years. And there isn't any rehabing going on. I think that people need to get their priorities straight. You talk about punishment...well, it's been proven time and time again that positive reinforcement is much more effective than negative reinforcement. The people that go to jail can come out and become assets to society given the right resources. conjugal visits are one of those resources. In most cases prisoners and their families have more than paid for their crimes by the time they are released. Must you also tear their families apart, and their lives after release too. They never seem to be able to repay their debt to society. Imagine yourself In such a sitution. No matter what you do, or how much you've proven that you've changed no one will will give you honest work so that you can take care of the family much less yourself. If the family is even still around after your wife/husband starts to boink some other person.

People should educate themselves before speaking. 1.Violent offenders, those serving time for sex crimes, and lifers arer not entitled to "family visits." So, someone who is serving time for........hum......let's say DWI should be viewed and treated the same as someone who has sex with their own daughter? Oh......all right. 2. Family visits are earned by good behavior, running program, and not getting in any trouble or write-ups. It is a part of the "rehabilitation" progam within the REHABILITATION program. 3. Inmates, and those spouses participating in family visits are not ingnorant. Should they decide to use protection during intercourse, I'm, pretty sure that the spouse not locked up is capable of going to the store prior to the visit and purchasing the up to 10 condoms.....which are allowed. 4. Family visits implies family visiting. Children, mom, dad, sister, brother of inmate may also participate. The whole theory is to keep families united and as one unit. It also keeps the inmate focused while serving his / her time before going home. All of the uneducated posts were not only entertaining, but made me thankful that I do my research before popping off.

 Family visits: I know that there are many views on the subject and those who do not live day in and day out with their loved one can not fully understand the need for just the simply touch. There are many that are quick to not want prisoners to get any additional priveleges but what about the wives children etc.. who did not get that choice and are innocent but yet have to  pay for the same sentence. The MDOC does not only sentence the ones who actually have committed the crime but the entire family. As a wife of a prisoner it would benefit a continued marriage and also help with keeping my husband at wanting to do the things necessary to come home.

I am not disagreeing with stipulations to what needs to happen on his part in order for the family visits to take place but i think it is beneficial in helping with the rehabilitation process and integrating back into feeling as a part of the family.

 

 How can we fight for this?? Anyone intereted in getting this bill back into the house?

 my husband is also in prison in michigan. I don't understand why they do NOT allow conjugal visits for married couples. Our families are just as important as the "normal" family unit. I believe that there would be less violence and rapes in michigan prisons because sex is the number one stress reliever. Its hard enough for the wives of men in prison, without having the God given marriage right and the rights of "normal " married couples in the U.S. Intimacy is a HUMAN right as well as a democratic right and to deny these couples that right is INHUMAN! My husband and I are christians and although society sees our men as "lowlifes and men who don't deserve anything",God sees sin as sin and no one on this earth is without it. I don't care if you're in for CSC, murder, or dwi you deserve fair treatment!  I just read where in some states, they allow conjugal visits for Homosexuals! Why should they be treated better and with more respect than that traditional spouses?! Just because its Politically Correct?? I don't think so. How can we shake up the legislators of Michigan to allow this democratic and God given right?

 I agree with you! My husband got a fifteen yr sentence for somthing that was not physically proven! I hate the prosecutors and judges in Gratiot county and all the other counties in this state because all they want is to get re-elected and the judge who sentenced my husband actually LAUGHED when my husband got threatened in court and when he OVER sentenced him but of course we, as wives and families of the accused can't report these tragedies because the state govt doesn't want to hear from us and they all stick together anyway! I used to believe in justice until I saw first hand how they lie just to get a conviction so they will get re-elected!! Does anyone know what we are to do?

 some could make the case that homosexuals are the 'preferred class', and that heterosexuals are the 'abnormal class'. these people would be democrats. they care not for your rights, only for re-election. they are feeders off of the 'gimmee' group as it has come to be called. if you want something, they will promise it to you if you will elect them.

look into yourself, and your loved one. if he is truly innocent, then fight for him.