The other day we spoke about an ad from "Getworking" which was 12" x 4 columns "thanking" Mark Schauer for his great vote which will amount to 53,000 jobs in Michigan. No timetable, no area breakdown, no details of any kind. Guess what.
There was an identical ad the next day. But the latest, I was going to say they saved the best for last but there may be more to come, was a two-color full page ad with another thank you for jump-starting Michigan's economy.
I ran out of time today so I didn't go to the websites to double check to see if the signatories had donated to the Schauer campaign and I'm not sure there will be a trail anyway. These folks are getting pretty shifty and instead of making contributions in their own names they donate to a PAC or another organization and the dollars are shifted that way. It's the way the Stryker machine spends millions in the state and more than allowable amounts are funneled to the liberal Democrats who need it especially in targeted races.
During the last election cycle it was obvious that Stryker gave, I think it was $80,000 to Mark Schauer's PAC which then sent on hefty donations to several House candidates and this happened all over the state so the crossed lines looked like those maps you see of airline routes across the country that intersect all over the place.
Now these thank you ads are a new wrinkle. The folks who are thanking Schauer for his vote (which he said he was not sure which way he was going until the last minute) ARE WORKING TOGETHER to pay for the full page ad. Included are America's Building Trades Unions, League of Conservation Voters, Michigan League of Conservation Voters, VoteVets.org, Clean Economy Network and the National Wildlife Federation Action Fund. Now what's the word for that? Oh, yeah-collusion.
It would be interesting to see how many of the other Democrats in Michigan had similar support and thanks. In fact, it would be interesting to see how far across the country this actually traveled. Some of you really savvy cyberspace guys or gals may be able to find out and share a little detective work with us. How about it?
Have a great day! No traffic tie-ups on Wednesday.
God bless............
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
Leonard Pitts Revisited--
from June 24th, as you may recall, was a report on Mr. Pitts painting Republicans with a very broad brush of bigotry to which I responded with a letter to the local paper. At the time I did not tell you that the publisher had sent me a short email indicating that Mr. Pitts has the freedom of speech. The other side of the coin is that I received two calls from complete strangers who were in agreement with my position.
Well, yesterday there was a response to the original letter from an acquaintance of mine. We both belong to the NAACP and have worked on a couple of projects together. But she wrote in defense of Mr. Pitts. You could have knocked me over with a feather! She noted that she really enjoyed reading the opinions of Mr. Pitts. I cannot tell you how disappointed I was that she actually holds such a low opinion of me--my husband sometimes teases me about leading a sheltered life--well, I'd never been called a bigot in public before so he won't say that again.
Anyway, this lady had a bout with cancer and she was in my prayers at the time and I trust she is healthy now. And, incidentally she is Caucasian. She is a staunch Democrat so maybe that has something to do with her opinion because we are both pretty open about our politics. She accused me of vilifying Mr. Pitts. Frankly, I think he did it to himself.
BUT THAT IS NOT REALLY THE POINT...
Both the publisher and Carol did not pick up on my message--perhaps I wasn't clear. The point is that Mr. Pitts is PAID for his words and he is more than an unknown writer=--he is an opinion maker and by publishing his messages and paying for them the paper is certainly by extension approving of what he says. This puts, in my mind, an extra burden on the paper.
To paraphrase Edmund Burke "evil survives when good men do nothing." I'm still hoping the paper does a survey and if more people agree that they want to keep his column in the paper I'll just have to learn to read it or another daily on line.
Anyway, thought you'd be interested in what's going on in little old Jackson.
God bless........
Well, yesterday there was a response to the original letter from an acquaintance of mine. We both belong to the NAACP and have worked on a couple of projects together. But she wrote in defense of Mr. Pitts. You could have knocked me over with a feather! She noted that she really enjoyed reading the opinions of Mr. Pitts. I cannot tell you how disappointed I was that she actually holds such a low opinion of me--my husband sometimes teases me about leading a sheltered life--well, I'd never been called a bigot in public before so he won't say that again.
Anyway, this lady had a bout with cancer and she was in my prayers at the time and I trust she is healthy now. And, incidentally she is Caucasian. She is a staunch Democrat so maybe that has something to do with her opinion because we are both pretty open about our politics. She accused me of vilifying Mr. Pitts. Frankly, I think he did it to himself.
BUT THAT IS NOT REALLY THE POINT...
Both the publisher and Carol did not pick up on my message--perhaps I wasn't clear. The point is that Mr. Pitts is PAID for his words and he is more than an unknown writer=--he is an opinion maker and by publishing his messages and paying for them the paper is certainly by extension approving of what he says. This puts, in my mind, an extra burden on the paper.
To paraphrase Edmund Burke "evil survives when good men do nothing." I'm still hoping the paper does a survey and if more people agree that they want to keep his column in the paper I'll just have to learn to read it or another daily on line.
Anyway, thought you'd be interested in what's going on in little old Jackson.
God bless........
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Counterfeit Shoes Makes for a Sunday Smiley Face
Taken from last week's "Our Sunday Visitor" --
"Even if the goods are counterfeit, the rights holder has final say on whether or not items seized on U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Imigration and Customs Enforcement raids are given to charity.
In the case of shoes, the government agencies have made several donations to charities this year. For example, in February, Customs and Border Protection announced the agencies had seized 254,240 counterfeit shoes worth an estimated $8.1 million from seaports in Los Angeles and Long Beach, CA., and donated them to two charities, including the relief agency that works with Food for the Poor. CBP confiscated another $1 million worth of shoes at the Port of San Francisco in April.
Knockoff shoes are among the top commodities seized, with a domestic value of $102.3 million worth confiscated in fiscal year 2008, according to CBP."
How 'bout that?
God bless............
"Even if the goods are counterfeit, the rights holder has final say on whether or not items seized on U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Imigration and Customs Enforcement raids are given to charity.
In the case of shoes, the government agencies have made several donations to charities this year. For example, in February, Customs and Border Protection announced the agencies had seized 254,240 counterfeit shoes worth an estimated $8.1 million from seaports in Los Angeles and Long Beach, CA., and donated them to two charities, including the relief agency that works with Food for the Poor. CBP confiscated another $1 million worth of shoes at the Port of San Francisco in April.
Knockoff shoes are among the top commodities seized, with a domestic value of $102.3 million worth confiscated in fiscal year 2008, according to CBP."
How 'bout that?
God bless............
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Millions of Jobs? THAT DOES NOT COMPUTE!
We're talking wind turbine farms tonight. Mark Schauer said his vote for the cap and tax bill would result in 53,000 jobs, but didn't say exactly where. Well, I just accessed the websites of the organizations who are tooting their horns for Schauer--Getworkingnow.com and AmericansUnitedforChange.org.
I'll let you in on a little secret. They had forms for sending messages to your legislators, so I filled them out and told Levin and Stabenow that no "comprehensive" plan is complete without nuclear power--that has to be a surprise coming on the letterhead of that outfit. Also sent one, of course after the fact, to Schauer indicating that he should consider the unemployed and retirees on fixed incomes if he has another bite of the apple.
The AUFC site had a video which touted Millions of jobs to be gained by going for wind power. Whoa! I'm not an expert, but common sense goes a long way. There are finite numbers of locations where it is feasible and possible to install turbine farms. Once those locations are all up and running, which I realize might take some years, but after that the only manufactured parts will be maintenance and replacement parts from things like lightning strikes, etc.
Note: the Valero farm in Texas, which is in installation mode now, will need a total of four (4) people to run the site. So please don't tell me that millions of job are in the offing!
If anyone tosses out that number, puh-leeze ask them to break it down. How many areas such as Beaver Ridge are there in the U.S., how many turbines will it take to cover the areas, how many manufacturing facilities will be needed to make X number of parts in a specified amount of time, what is the plan for being sure that most of those facilities will not be obsolete within a short time after filling the initial need, and who has control--private enterprise or the government? I'm sure business men and women out there can come up with all of the other questions that need to be asked before any ivestment is made in a new industry.
I wonder if Mark Schauer every thought to ask these kinds of questions.........
Yeah, right--
I can't handle any more of this, sleep well-
God bless...........
I'll let you in on a little secret. They had forms for sending messages to your legislators, so I filled them out and told Levin and Stabenow that no "comprehensive" plan is complete without nuclear power--that has to be a surprise coming on the letterhead of that outfit. Also sent one, of course after the fact, to Schauer indicating that he should consider the unemployed and retirees on fixed incomes if he has another bite of the apple.
The AUFC site had a video which touted Millions of jobs to be gained by going for wind power. Whoa! I'm not an expert, but common sense goes a long way. There are finite numbers of locations where it is feasible and possible to install turbine farms. Once those locations are all up and running, which I realize might take some years, but after that the only manufactured parts will be maintenance and replacement parts from things like lightning strikes, etc.
Note: the Valero farm in Texas, which is in installation mode now, will need a total of four (4) people to run the site. So please don't tell me that millions of job are in the offing!
If anyone tosses out that number, puh-leeze ask them to break it down. How many areas such as Beaver Ridge are there in the U.S., how many turbines will it take to cover the areas, how many manufacturing facilities will be needed to make X number of parts in a specified amount of time, what is the plan for being sure that most of those facilities will not be obsolete within a short time after filling the initial need, and who has control--private enterprise or the government? I'm sure business men and women out there can come up with all of the other questions that need to be asked before any ivestment is made in a new industry.
I wonder if Mark Schauer every thought to ask these kinds of questions.........
Yeah, right--
I can't handle any more of this, sleep well-
God bless...........
Friday, July 10, 2009
MARK SCHAUER-THE SPIN STARTS WITH HIM
I'm sorry Nick, I'm finding it impossible to put on a smiley face for Friday. Not after there was an ad in the local paper today paid for by the Getworking.org coalition praising Mark Schauer for his yes vote on the cap and tax legislation.
He really thinks we are buying the "creation of jobs and reducing energy bills" he and that group are trying to sell. This is the same bunch who thanked him in the paper a couple of days ago.
Do they really think we are so naive that we can't see that for their contribution to Schauer's campaign he has made at least a partial payment by that vote? I'm not sure what the going rate is for a vote these days, but they must figure they have gotten their money's Worth by paying for a newspaper display ad 4 columns wide by 12inches and that's not cheap!
You guys are not fooling anyone. On Monday after the vote when Schauer so coyly kept saying he hadn't made up his mind, yeah, right-- On the WKHM morning call-in show there were about 30 calls from angry constituents to one who agreed with him.
He even sent a letter to a constituent who had urged a no vote which was a propaganda piece from beginning to end. She sent me a copy and was outraged!
The other thing that makes me sad rather than smiling is the news that the International Planned Parenthood Foundation pays its CEO $480,000 a year and their income is mostly derived from government grants. As upset as Obama is about the exorbitant salaries of some of the TARP recipients wouldn't it be more consistent if he put these "non-profit" money grabbers in the same category?
On top of that the Planned Parenthood gang in the U.S. is so anxious to steer 14 year olds to abortionists that they found ways around the fact that they broke the law by not reporting cases of statutory rape because the minor told the "counselor" that her boy friend was 31. There are no words to describe what we should be feeling at hearing this news.
This is certainly an example of using the blog as therapy--now that I have gotten this off my chest, perhaps I'll be able to sleep tonight.
God bless.........
He really thinks we are buying the "creation of jobs and reducing energy bills" he and that group are trying to sell. This is the same bunch who thanked him in the paper a couple of days ago.
Do they really think we are so naive that we can't see that for their contribution to Schauer's campaign he has made at least a partial payment by that vote? I'm not sure what the going rate is for a vote these days, but they must figure they have gotten their money's Worth by paying for a newspaper display ad 4 columns wide by 12inches and that's not cheap!
You guys are not fooling anyone. On Monday after the vote when Schauer so coyly kept saying he hadn't made up his mind, yeah, right-- On the WKHM morning call-in show there were about 30 calls from angry constituents to one who agreed with him.
He even sent a letter to a constituent who had urged a no vote which was a propaganda piece from beginning to end. She sent me a copy and was outraged!
The other thing that makes me sad rather than smiling is the news that the International Planned Parenthood Foundation pays its CEO $480,000 a year and their income is mostly derived from government grants. As upset as Obama is about the exorbitant salaries of some of the TARP recipients wouldn't it be more consistent if he put these "non-profit" money grabbers in the same category?
On top of that the Planned Parenthood gang in the U.S. is so anxious to steer 14 year olds to abortionists that they found ways around the fact that they broke the law by not reporting cases of statutory rape because the minor told the "counselor" that her boy friend was 31. There are no words to describe what we should be feeling at hearing this news.
This is certainly an example of using the blog as therapy--now that I have gotten this off my chest, perhaps I'll be able to sleep tonight.
God bless.........
Thursday, July 9, 2009
T. Boone Pickens vs. Al Gore?
Do you remember when we talked about old T. Boone's website and how he hornswoggled all those people into writing letters to the editor to convince the public that wind power is where it's at? And because of his stature in the energy field, you have to wonder how many of his followers may have lost some of their remaining nest egg following his lead and investing in wind turbines and wind farms------
So today he's all over the news telling anyone who will listen that there is this glut of natural gas and we should all be buying the only car that's on the market now, and by the way, you need to live in California or New York to be able to buy the fuel for it.
And according to the WSJ he is trying to peddle 687 wind turbines he ordered just over a year ago to other countries or other investors. His project in Pampa, Texas is pretty much belly up at this point. Also, the transmission of the energy from the wind farms to the market plus the difficulty in finding financing are presenting problems for his projects. Would you believe that Congress is working on the problem? Really? More government assistance?
A quote: "The Senate is working on legislation that would give the federal government greater authority to authorize new transmission lines, which could help overcome some delays caused by state-level planning." But I'm sure if we asked him the President would say that he really doesn't want to control the energy/power industry, right? Is there nothing he doesn't want to control?
Item-Mark Schauer was complimented for his Cap 'n Trade/Tax vote by a lobbying group so now he has paid them back, at least in part, for their support. Also, a friend shared a letter from Schauer responding to her comments on that issue. Wonder what it takes to get a timely response? I'm still waiting for my questions on the Chrysler deal and a healthcare suggestion.
Item-The ninth question for the Attorney General Candidates will be: Do you have a pet peeve about state government or the Attorney General's office which we didn't ask about that you would like to address?
Sleep well-
and God bless........
So today he's all over the news telling anyone who will listen that there is this glut of natural gas and we should all be buying the only car that's on the market now, and by the way, you need to live in California or New York to be able to buy the fuel for it.
And according to the WSJ he is trying to peddle 687 wind turbines he ordered just over a year ago to other countries or other investors. His project in Pampa, Texas is pretty much belly up at this point. Also, the transmission of the energy from the wind farms to the market plus the difficulty in finding financing are presenting problems for his projects. Would you believe that Congress is working on the problem? Really? More government assistance?
A quote: "The Senate is working on legislation that would give the federal government greater authority to authorize new transmission lines, which could help overcome some delays caused by state-level planning." But I'm sure if we asked him the President would say that he really doesn't want to control the energy/power industry, right? Is there nothing he doesn't want to control?
Item-Mark Schauer was complimented for his Cap 'n Trade/Tax vote by a lobbying group so now he has paid them back, at least in part, for their support. Also, a friend shared a letter from Schauer responding to her comments on that issue. Wonder what it takes to get a timely response? I'm still waiting for my questions on the Chrysler deal and a healthcare suggestion.
Item-The ninth question for the Attorney General Candidates will be: Do you have a pet peeve about state government or the Attorney General's office which we didn't ask about that you would like to address?
Sleep well-
and God bless........
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Do You Have Additions or Fine Tuning of Questions for Atty General?
Rough Draft
The questions will be prefaced with: Please assume that most people have only a foggy notion of the duties of the Attorney General.
1-Is it possible to briefly describe the duties of the Attorney General? Please try.
2-What would be your top priority as Michigan's Attorney General?
3-Would you be more concerned with consumer protection or the prosecution of fraud and corruption in the public sector?
4-Is it mandatory or common practice for legislation to be screened by the office of Atty Gen for possible legal problems? If not, why not or in your opinion, should it be?
5-Please describe any changes you have in mind for staffing and budget emphasis.
6-How do politics influence the choices of the Attorney General in making staffing decisions?
7-If the Governor and Atty Gen are from differing political parties, should provision be made for personal counsel for the Governor?
8-What particular experience would you be bringing to the office?
9- This question to be determined by comments or suggestions from readers
10-If you could be King for a Day what would you do--
a-on a professional level
b-on a personal level
Please let me know what question(s) you think I may have missed and thanks.
God bless.........
The questions will be prefaced with: Please assume that most people have only a foggy notion of the duties of the Attorney General.
1-Is it possible to briefly describe the duties of the Attorney General? Please try.
2-What would be your top priority as Michigan's Attorney General?
3-Would you be more concerned with consumer protection or the prosecution of fraud and corruption in the public sector?
4-Is it mandatory or common practice for legislation to be screened by the office of Atty Gen for possible legal problems? If not, why not or in your opinion, should it be?
5-Please describe any changes you have in mind for staffing and budget emphasis.
6-How do politics influence the choices of the Attorney General in making staffing decisions?
7-If the Governor and Atty Gen are from differing political parties, should provision be made for personal counsel for the Governor?
8-What particular experience would you be bringing to the office?
9- This question to be determined by comments or suggestions from readers
10-If you could be King for a Day what would you do--
a-on a professional level
b-on a personal level
Please let me know what question(s) you think I may have missed and thanks.
God bless.........
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