Jason

All the Other Stuff, Conservative News, Cronyism, Detroit, Michigan, Opinion, Philosophy, Rent Seeking, Republicans

And Even More

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blight-eliminationAs I pointed out the other day, the flow of federal funds used for welfare is, and has been huge in our state.

I also hinted at the ka-ching of ‘excess moneys that local communities get to use.  It keeps them on board and in line. For example, in this case:

In July 2010 Michigan received $498.6 million in federal Hardest Hit Funds (HHF) in response to the housing crisis that led to an unprecedented decline in home prices and high unemployment. MSHDA created the Michigan Homeowner Assistance Housing Corporation (MHA) to oversee distribution of the funds through a program called Step Forward Michigan.

“The Step Forward program has helped unemployed and under-employed people remain in their homes and in our state as they searched for new jobs as our state recovered,” Gov. Rick Snyder said. “That’s important for families who were struggling as our state started its recovery.” 

While the title reads:

“Michigan’s hardest hit families have received $241M worth of assistance since 2010″

Efficient distribution, yes?

Just sayin.

 

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All the Other Stuff, Conservative News, Cronyism, Liberty, Michigan, Opinion, Philosophy, Rent Seeking

Re-Writing Welfare In Michigan

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Read between the lines or around the 'strikeouts.'

blight-eliminationDon’t get me wrong.  I personally like some of the players in the bureaucratic mess we know as state government.

Elsenheimer in this story for example, is a relatively right of center guy.  Yet he has to feed the family, and the overly high taxes on his estate in GT County have to be paid. It would be an extraordinary act of courage to sit as executive director of a redistribution agency and wind it out of existence.  Even declining such an appointment might actually lead to worse people occupying the position and if market forces work, perhaps even be paid more.

How we can eliminate this type of government interference and theft, and return the high wage lackeys of ‘social justice’ back to honest wealth creation is the hard part.  In the meanwhile, ‘givers’ gotta give, and making the inexcusable seem oh-so-reasonable is just part of the job.

As an example of how words matter, one might look only as far as the most recent press releases propaganda from MSHDA.

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Michigan

Meat Wagons

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State of Michigan Cautions human carnivores ..

Meat-racoonBeware the meat trucks!

The state has made an exceptionally important announcement for those who would consider buying from an unknown person who shows up at your door selling ..meat.

“Although door-to-door meat sales can offer the ease of being able to shop at home, these types of transactions can also provide an opportunity for some bad actors to take advantage of their customers,” said MDARD Director Jamie Clover Adams. “Consumers should always do their homework before making a purchase, to safeguard their health and their pocketbooks.”

Adding.

Never buy meat from an unrefrigerated vehicle or from the trunk of a car.

This taxpayer funded intellectual exercise brought to you by a full time bureaucracy, funded by a full time legislature that is too busy planning gas tax hikes.

And if the meat doesn’t taste so fresh?

Door-to-door meat sales are also regulated by the Michigan Home Solicitation Sales Act, Public Act 227 of 1971, which outlines your rights as a buyer and your right to cancel the sale and return the product within three business days. Details of this law can be found at http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-Act-227-of-1971.

“Excuse me, I would like to return this raccoon meat you sold me a couple days ago”

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Michigan, Michigan Politics

For All The Wrong Reasons

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Trump and the 16 dwarfs

Reposted from Redstate.com For permanence. ( I am again deviating from the ‘Michigan’ centric mission of this site for obvious reasons – JG)

The talking heads and putative conservative pundits have it very wrong.

A palpable fear of Donald Trump becoming the Republican nominee consumes the media from left to right. Fox host and debate moderator Megyn Kelly’s first question to Donald Trump “You’ve called women you don’t like fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals. On your Twitter account, your Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women’s looks,…” might well have been asked by Candy Crowley, or nearly any other left wing operative determined to ruin a GOP debate.

Kelly wasted Trump’s – and our – time by advancing the theme that ‘Trump is too brash, and says things that are hurtful or boorish’. By focusing on his periodic extravagant statements, perhaps she felt the viewers would be persuaded to abandon Trump and his candidacy. ‘The Donald’ can indeed be brash and say things that are both hurtful and boorish, but with 10 candidates to evaluate and a two hour time limit, it just wasn’t a productive line of questioning.

Kelly and many other talking heads who profess conservatism seem to think that ‘brash and boorish’ is a fatal flaw in Trump’s candidacy. Civil discourse, in their opinion, is the only acceptable path to the Presidency of the United States. Trash talk, such as calling people “stupid,” “moron” or even “disgusting animals” does not elevate the campaign discourse to the level they seek.

Perhaps our self appointed media censors should reassess ‘The Donald’ in light of our current predicament.

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All the Other Stuff, Conservative News, Elections, Michigan, Opinion, Philosophy, Republicans

The Butterfly Effect

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What happens when a radically unique species is introduced into a 'stable' environment?

Truthfully, its hard to not appreciate ‘The Donald.’

Sure, he’s given vast amounts of money to the bad actors over the years, been a buffoonish character on the ‘tele.’ and has pretty much enjoyed cronyism in his business dealings over the years with great success. Normally, one might expect all of this to be objectionable to conservative stalwarts who respect common sense and real free markets.

trumpedSomehow, the largely forgotten weaknesses in the Trump character is conveniently overlooked as he lambastes the existing federal mess of allowing importation of criminals through our porous borders, as he pummels current foreign policy (specifically handling of ISIS and China), and all the while reminds us of his fabulous wealth. He is indeed a self reliant, self promotions artist.

“I don’t need anybody’s money. It’s nice. I don’t need anybody’s money. I’m using my own money. I’m not using the lobbyists. I’m not using donors. I don’t care. I’m really rich”

And yes, yes he is. Even by Michigan’s ‘wooden shoe ghey mafia’ standards.

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Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Philosophy

One Does Not Have To Be Catholic

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One does not even have to be religious or overly traditional ..

To see this as losing the culture war.

Satanic worshipers gather in an unprecedented way to demonstrate their foolishness. Detroit is already a perfect example of what happens when evil is portrayed as good, when force masquerades as charity, and now when ‘tolerance’ is used to usher in a perfectly harmless and ‘innocent’ way to throw off the ‘yoke of Christianity.’

These folks really have no idea of what they are doing.

H/T Church Militant

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Conservative News, Cronyism, Detroit, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion

Why Did It Take So Long?

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And how much taxpayer money has been lost to cronyism over the last 7 years?

kwamewoodWe’ve been lied to.

Michigan politicians have been telling us that the film credits were needed to compete with other states for years. Its just not so.

People in the industry have been remarking how successful other states have been by giving filmmakers taxpayer money to ‘create’ jobs in those states; all the while competing against Michigan’s excessive subsidizing of the vanity industry which HQs in Hollywood.

But the bottom line?

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Cronyism, Elections, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Taxes

15 Million Dollars Worth Of Dark Sky

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Emmet County commissioners are apparently out of touch with the electorate.

I Could have predicted this.

Perhaps I would have; if I lived in Emmet County.  However, there should still be nothing surprising about an apparent divergence of priority between the voters and the elected numbskulls who ‘serve’ them.  The same type of thinking that drives the nonsense in DC can be just as bad locally, and have a more immediate financial effect.

Reading the bills, or allowing a real debate to happen before committing millions of dollars extracted forcefully from taxpayers should be paramount.  The latter option was never allowed to happen however.  A year ago, Emmet County commissioners jacked the electorate without the chance to object, leaving them to foot the bill for a $15 Million boondoggle.

As quick as a shooting star, Emmet County commissioners (pictured above) approved a sale of $15 million in bonds with nearly half of the proceeds being used to build an observatory and a new event building at the Headlands International Dark Sky Park in Mackinaw City.

Without the chance to object.

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Conservative News, Cronyism, Elections, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Rent Seeking, Republicans

Well THAT Was Disappointing ..

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What at first appeared to be a reach out to get input for a post-SCOTUS ruling direction was just a scam.

Not at all surprising however.

Given that it was from team Benishek. I though perhaps he was noticing how folks have lost all respect for him, and as contrition, was reaching out to see what would make folks a little more confident in his future performance.  Gosh, maybe it was in response to my put up or shut up articles!

The email arrived with this heartfelt message:

” Jason,

With more than three decades in the medical field, I know how important it is for our healthcare system to empower patients and their doctors, not federal bureaucrats in Washington.

Too often, Washington politicians try to pass laws without talking to the people who have to live with the consequences. Any doctor will tell you that listening to your patients is one of the most important parts of medicine. I believe this is true in politics as well.

That’s why I want to hear from you.

Jason, please take my survey to let me know what you think of ObamaCare, and how we can build a better healthcare system.

Our current system isn’t working, and I know we can do better. With your support, we can fight for a bottom up healthcare system that empowers people not politicians.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts,

Dr. Dan”

So I clicked the link.   I diligently filled out the form answering the ready-made questions, and then I offered offered some “other thoughts” that were being solicited at the bottom.  I typed in:

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