Michigan's Upper Peninsula Wants to be Shown on Maps

The Upper Peninsula of Michigan can't get no respect. A Michigan lawmaker has proposed a law that would require both the Upper and Lower Peninsulas of Michigan to be shown on all official publications.

According to this article in USA Today:

"Last year, some high school students from Escanaba wrote to a textbook publisher after a map in a history book appeared to exclude the U.P. from the borders of the United States. The map colored the U.P. white — like the void surrounding the country — while the rest of Michigan was shaded light blue. The map identified states by their postal codes; the U.P. was designated "IL," for Illinois — which had no label.

Other maps have shown the U.P. as part of Wisconsin or Canada."

Link to the offending map is here.

1.9 Million Dollar Allowance

How would you like a $2 million allowance from taxpayers. Lawmakers are billing you for all sorts of things like a $2,793 laptop or $24,730 for a hybrid rental car or two 46 -inch

Sony TVs. Your tax dollars paid for all of it.

The Wall Street Journal reported that House members get an allowance of 1.3-1.9 million dollars while U.S Senators get $2.9-4.5 million every year.

The money is often spent on staff salaries, travel and office supplies. Lawmakers expense these reports, some with lots of details, other not so much. Here is the kicker. It's all legal.