Tag Archives: Michigan

More Republican shenanigans here in Michigan…

Well…I really shouldn’t be surprised at the behavior of the repubs here in Michigan but then they do something that just whacks me in the side of the head and makes me realize that the pit where they get their shenanigans has no bottom. Let’s back up a little for some context…as soon as the repubs gained control of Michigan, they passed one of the most undemocratic laws ever seen here…the so-called “emergency manager” law that would take the governing of some cities and townships that are in fiscal distress out of the hands of the elected officials and hand it to an appointed “czar” that could then fire anyone they want, abrogate union contracts, and run the city as they see fit, not as the people of that region want. Again, more of the hypocrisy that oozes from every pore of the repubs across the country, where they cry about the left trying to kill democracy and then try to nullify elections by the phony cry of voter fraud and this type of law. When the outraged citizens of Michigan decided that they didn’t vote for the type of nonsense included in this law, they did what they always do, getting a petition drive started to put the measure on the ballot in 2012. What was the repubs response to this perfectly proper use of citizens power? When it began to look like the signatures would be easily collected, the repubs again tried to game the system and silence the voice of the people by rescinding the law and replacing it with another so the petitions would be invalid. This is the type of nonsense you get from these folks…they don’t give a damn what the people of Michigan want, just what their ideology driven masters want…the total destruction of unions and the middle class….geez….

Nolan, Nolan, Nolan….

Well…if you had any doubt that the attacks from the right on the middle class and poor are a coordinated message, let’s look at the latest nonsense from ole Nolan Finley in today’s Detroit News…yeah, I know, like shooting fish in a barrel but hey, I need and easy one once in a while and ole Nolan has obliged today. His screed in today’s paper center on this contention that people on unemployment don’t work hard enough looking for a job so they should be forced to “volunteer” their time to do various jobs that are now being done by unionized labor…can you see a theme here? Just reference ole Newt’s comments that we should eliminate unionized janitor’s jobs and have poor kids do them. So, Nolan, it’s not stressful enough to be unemployed in this market, now you want to take time away from the job searches that people need to perform to get new jobs and lock them into the declining spiral of minimum wage “volunteer” jobs until they lose their houses, cars and and hope for retirement? I just hope you lose your job at some point, you hack, and then we’ll find a volunteer job for you cleaning sewers since you seem quite familiar with them….geez….

Where are the jobs governor Snyder? Where is the jobs plan republicans?…still not one jobs bill in over a year of your control of the House….

More nonsense from Michigan Republicans…

Well…this is going to be a little short one…just wanted to make you guys aware of the nonsense that has been added to the rest of it that has been perpetrated on the people of Michigan by the republican majority. With all of the suffering and joblessness that has spread across out state, we have the repubs in the Michigan senate taking on one thing that will get people back to work…a bill that would require that schoolchildren say the Pledge of Allegiance every morning. Yep, that is going to put thousands back to work…maybe printing the pledge? Are these guys just stupid? There have been numerous court cases, including at least one that reached the Supreme Court, that have held that making the pledge mandatory is against people’s first amendment rights. It just shows the repubs contempt for the law when they are trying to push their far-right agenda on the American people…why do they hate the Constitution so much? Geez…

Okay… a little sports…

Well…it’s 9:04 and I have everything done that I was going to do today so I’m back here to do the sports one that I thought about earlier…there are some things I wanted to comment on before I forget…and that is happening more lately so I’d better get going…first up, the Lions…I was right to not get carried away about them this year even with the outstanding start they had…as always, no matter who is coach or who the players are, the Lions self destruct and go back to their old ways…I don’t think they will even make the playoffs this year and that will be a shame…one other thing…someone has to take Suh aside and tell him how an adult acts even playing the violent game of football….I think he is showing a lack of respect for himself, the rest of the team, and for the league that has made him a very rich young man….I do understand that is still a young man but he should have been taught right from wrong no matter what the context…and stomping on an opposing player is wrong…no shades of gray there.

Now, let’s get to the Red Wings…as you know, a month or so back I was quite disappointed with the play of the Wings and thought they looked slow and uninterested….that was when they had lost 6 in row and were almost at the bottom of the western conference…well…what a difference a month makes…after last night’s game, a 4-1 win over Nashville where we saw what the Wings can be, they are now in third in the west…only a couple of points out of first and riding a 5 game win streak into Tuesday…so, at least one of my teams is making me smile….oh, that’s not true…Michigan finally beat Ohio State after 7 years of losses…a nail biter of a game that had my heart racing at times and was so up and down that I think I used up a weeks worth of emotion in 3 and half hours….and I love Hoke’s comment at the end of the game…that the win wasn’t about him or how he felt..it was about the kids that played the game….classy…that’s about it for now….there are more sports to talk about but I don’t feel like it right now….

Okay…it’s just noodling around…

Well…it’s been an okay day today and I got tons of stuff done so I don’t really feel that bad about not doing a political one today…I do have another Manny Lopez one for tomorrow that I should have done today but I didn’t really have the outrage necessary to do it justice…I did get a charge out of the demonstrations in NY last night that saw over 10,000 people come out to protest… a large amount of people for a movement that the right has been declaring is dead for the last couple of weeks…but when have they ever been right on anything? Oh, there was a nice little piece in all of the newspapers yesterday that showed what is really happening on taxes here in Michigan… we are now one of only three states that are raising taxes on the poor while giving tax cuts to the rich and corporations…doesn’t anyone else see this as immoral? Okay…..the repubs don’t think it is but how about anyone else? This is just one of the reasons for the “Occupy” movement that the right just doesn’t get. It just isn’t fair that the poor have to have their taxes rise so ceo’s can get bigger bonuses…geez…

Where are the jobs governor Snyder? Hey…I guess this one was a little political…see what noodling can do for you?

More nonsense from the republicans here in Michigan…

Well…I think most of you should be glad that you don’t live here in Michigan with the nonsense that is going on in the repub controlled senate….in case you haven’t heard…a couple of repub senators inserted language into an anti-bullying law here that would allow bullying if it was a result of “a deeply held religious conviction”…yep, you heard it right…in a bone thrown to the religious conservatives here, these two idiots gutted the anti-bullying law that had support on both sides of the aisle just to make sure they continue to have the support of the tea party crowd…never mind the fact that religion should have nothing to with any law here in the US, these are the same people that introduced legislation preventing Sharia law from being used as the basis for any legislation here in the US…but, I guess it’s okay to have religious law if it is Christian law…again, nonsense and hypocrisy from the repubs here and across the country….

More Snyder taxes on the people…

Well…the latest move by our gov here in Michigan is another slap in the face for the working people here…in case you haven’t heard, his latest proposal to transfer all of the tax burden here to the people of Michigan comes in the form of a proposal to pay for all of the road improvements that are sorely needed by raising the fee to register a car here by $160 per car. Yep, you heard it right…he wants to install another regressive tax on individuals in this state that can’t even afford what the fee is now…and this will be in addition to the current fees that can run upwards of $200 per car. All of this to raise 1.4 billion dollars that is necessary to fix our roads….all this after he raised the taxes of everyone but corporations…all of this after he gave away 1.3 billion dollars to corporations to create jobs…and guess who doesn’t own cars? So, all of the damage being done to the roads by trucks that carry to goods for corporations is going to be paid for by you and me? What does he want next….for us to build factories and offices for them? Oh, that’s right…we’re already doing that with the 1.3 billion in tax cuts that you and I are paying for….can you say class warfare again? Geez…

Where are the jobs Governor Snyder?

Just some stuff..

Well…I wonder when the general public is going to wake up and get it that the repubs idea of fairness is to tax the poor and middle class while giving more and more breaks to the rich? The latest folly is ole Mitt’s idea of reforming the tax code by replacing it with a flat tax…and idea that came and went a long time ago that would be a tax cut for the rich while raising taxes on everyone else…just like ole Herm’s 999 plan. Why do the repubs hate the poor and middle class so much? That is evidenced here in Michigan by the scramble of the repubs to take away the last vestiges of the safety net by throwing people off welfare and limiting unemployment and food stamps for the newly poor. And those moves were supported by a sense of urgency, like the entire state will disappear if we don’t save a few million dollars by attacking the least of us. But, when it comes to cutting their own benefits to help with the state budget deficit…like the lifetime healthcare legislators get after just one term in office, that can wait until 2014 when most of this current crop of thieves will already be retired…just more and more of the “I’ve got mine, the hell with everyone else” attitude that has been the repubs mantra for the last thirty years….when are we going to get tired of this nonsense?

Haven’t done a sports one in a while….

Well….it’s been a couple of weeks or so since I did one on sports so I guess it’s time to go over a few things….one really cool thing that happened this weekend was all four of the teams that I regularly follow won..Michigan, the Tigers, the Lions, and Man U…but the greatest one was the Michigan win where they scored the winning touchdown with 2 seconds to go…and they beat Notre Dame which was just a huge bonus….and then we have the Tigers who have won 11 in a row and are 11 1/2 games up with the magic number being 6…and they are making me smile when I see them play…the Lions even survived their huge mistakes on defense to beat Tampa….but they should have beaten them by at least three touchdowns….I can’t wait to see how they do this week….

But, right now..or in about an hour…Man U plays a match in the Champions league against a team I’ve never heard of so it may be another rout…8-0 would be nice with another hat trick by Rooney or Chicharito….maybe more later….or maybe not…I did get 5 resumes out today….and I’m feeling better so maybe things are looking up? Oh, and I caught up with this one so maybe things are getting better…

How about a little more sports?

Well….it was a strange day in Michigan sports yesterday and I thought I’d comment a bit….first, the Michigan football game was a chance to see if the Brady Hoke era is going to be better than ole Rich Rod and, at first glance, they do look better but I still cringe every time they are on defense…I think Michigan did figure out later in the game that you can’t give a good quarterback time to set up and throw…once they started to bring the blitz on almost every play, Western’s offense stalled…and scoring two touchdowns with the defense in one game was a neat little bonus. The big thing yesterday, though, was the Tigers come from behind victory over the Sox with two homers in the bottom of the ninth…coming back from being down 8-1 to win it 9-8….6 1/2 games up on Cleveland and still playing….it has been a fun summer watching them some…I think this is the first year in a long time that I have actually been looking forward to seeing the games…

No Red Wings or Lions today….