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Not in today’s market.

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While still remaining cautiously optimistic on the results of today’s vote, I would still like to take the high road here and avoid doing “a victory lap”, even one that is well deserved.

That been said, one of the pat responses that I can practically guarantee will come from Lansing in the coming days is the worn out lament that “there is nowhere to cut”.

You know that this is bunk.

I know that this is bunk.

The answers are there.

The clip below is just one example of where substantial savings can be found from Lansing.

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So, this was what we were missing?

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Just dusting off one of a few old projects that I’ve had one hell of a time trying to finish up over the past few weeks.

Composing a post on a tablet is relatively easy compared to trying to edit something on video. Even moreso when the truck is moving

Watching the local news this afternoon gave me the final push to finish things up before tomorrow.

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So what exactly is going on here?

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This better have something to do with Plan “B”.

 

‘Nuff said!

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Cost of Lies Rising – Has the Threshold of Pain Been Reached?

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Has MITA's Spending Now Slammed Into Its Members' Financial Limits?

liar-liar-pants-on-fireMITA (Michigan Infrastructure & Transportation Association) just added $ 205,000 to the SafeRoadsYes! war chest yesterday.  Not much when you consider that they have already lavished $ 5.19 million on SRY. The Detroit Regional Chamber‘s ‘Powering the Economy’ PAC political committee, on the other hand, went one better and added $ 250,000 to the SafeRoadsYes! war chest yesterday. Dwarfs their $ 125,000 in contributions during the regular reporting period. The Detroit Regional Chamber contribution far exceeds the $ 17,105 DRC reportedly had on hand only a few days ago. Someone has given Powering the Economy a lot of money this week, but we won’t be privileged to know whom for three months. Both of these contributions were made to SRY on April 27th, three days after the closing date for the SafeRoadsYes! pre-special general report.SRY Late Contribution Report - 2015-04-28

SafeRoadsYes! has evidently burned through the $ 8 million plus they received in contributions during the regular reporting period and is now heading towards a $ 9 million cash burn.  Hard to tell how much SRY have spent with any exactitude, the latest figures from April 24th show expenditures of $ 7.212 million.  But they had a balance of $ 843,482 on that date which is presumably gone or going quickly.  Expect more thrilling stunts and stimulating advertising in any event.  Their war chest just got reloaded.

The paltry late contribution from MITA, taken together with the outsized contribution from the Detroit Regional Chamber, suggests that MITA is scraping the bottom of their member’s bank accounts.  Or that they are employing a new form of campaign contribution concealment, feeding contributions through DRC’s Powering the Economy so contributors’ identities won’t be reported until after the election.  Their servants in Michigan’s media reported the outsized involvement of road constructors in pushing Proposal 1 this week and it hasn’t played well with the voting public.

Will the Proposal 1 fight decapitalize Michigan’s road constructors?  Will they raise their bids to recoup their political expenditures, further draining Michigan’s road funding?  Are MITA and DRC gaming Michigan’s campaign finance laws to avoid any further embarrassing disclosures?  Or have we just found out what $ 1.2 billion in additional annual contracts are really worth in profits to Michigan’s road constructors?

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Proposal 1 Liars Club Expands

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Crushed School Bus
Not willing to be out lied by their frenemies in Michigan’s business community, the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) created an entirely bogus propaganda by crushing an old school bus with a piece of bridge, complete with guard rail.  It will be a featured propaganda for their ‘Getting Schooled in Infrastructure’ tour which commenced in Flint today.  You are allowed to speculate on their altruistic motives.

Note the ‘white shirt’ law enforcement officer congratulating these union pranksters. Saginaw County Sheriff William L. Federspiel with a new dye job?  The same Sheriff who bailed on this year’s Ann Arbor Hash Bash at the last minute?  His ‘honor students’ in Saginaw took a breather so the good Sheriff could visit the only county in Michigan with a higher murder rate?  Oh, I forgot, he doesn’t want any of his sensitive deputies exposed to the horrors of Saginaw, the city.  Unless they can ride around in an MRAP.  How much damage does an MRAP do to our roads, might you ask?

You can bet dollars to donuts he won’t sic a motor carrier officer on this illegal, unsecured load.  Under any other circumstances, a trucker hauling this load around Michigan would get an impressive collection of ‘green stamps’ and an overnight stay in the crowbar hotel.  An opportunity to try on Federspiel’s natty new black and white jail attire.  Who said political convenience doesn’t tip the scales of justice in Michigan?

Favoritism never crosses the mind of our Michigan leaders. Too busy engaging in media opportunism.

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Today’s Mystery

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SafeRoadsYes! Has A Phantom Contributor

Mystery Money

Today was the deadline for the last campaign finance filings with the Michigan Secretary of State before the May 5th vote on Proposal 1. SafeRoadsYes! filed five late contribution reports and a pre-special general report. Contributions supporting Proposal 1 now exceed $ 8 million and, as you might expect, the roster of SafeRoadsYes! contributors reads like a Michigan road constructors’ directory. SafeRoadsYes! expenditures now exceed $ 7.2 million, and SafeRoadsYes! still has more than $ 843,000 yet to be spent.  Of course there may be massive contributions yet to be made which would not be reported until after the election.

MGM Grand Casino and FireKeepers Casino contributed $ 50,000 each, presumably to curry favor with the Lansing power elites. BlueCross/Blue Shield and the Michigan Township Association each threw in $ 100,000 which was picked from your pockets by ObamaCare and your property taxes, respectively. Dick DeVos, after having his stooge knife Representative Gamrat for not supporting Proposal 1, got in late with a $ 50,000 contribution from his Alticor investment group.

Powering the Economy SRY Late Contribution Report 4-24-15There is one phantom entity in the SafeRoadsYes! late contribution reports which is worth investigating. An organization called ‘Powering the Economy’ gave $ 75,000 on 22 April. The problem here? ‘Powering the Economy’ doesn’t exist in either the Michigan LARA corporate database or the Secretary of State’s searchable PAC database. So who are they?

Best guess, the merry screw ups at the Detroit Regional Chamber have created a new ballot question PAC to replace their recently terminated – and heavily cited – ‘Detroit Regional Chamber PAC II‘ ballot question PAC. DRC PAC II earned eighteen citations from the SoS since 2013 for filing screw ups. DRC PAC II filed a dissolution notice on 02 April and paid the $ 875.00 dissolution fee on 07 April. ‘Powering the Economy’ has the same address as the Detroit Regional Chamber, One Woodward Avenue in Detroit – which used to be known as the MichCon or ANR Building before Dan Gilbert bought it. And DRC has trademarked ‘Powering the Economy’ as one of their signature catch phrases.

Somebody is ignoring Michigan’s campaign finance laws. Not just ignoring them, trampling them. But this has been a routine practice during the Proposal 1 proponents’ campaign. Our Attorney General is supposed to enforce these laws, but he hasn’t been exactly active on this front despite Schuette ostensibly opposing Proposal 1. So all we can do at this late date is tell you about another scam behind Proposal 1 and let you spike this dragon at the ballot box. Sweet revenge is $ 9 million of your opponents’ money down the drain. Vote May 5th.

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Conservative News, Cronyism, Democrats, Detroit, Elections, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Philosophy, Proposal 15-1, Rent Seeking, Republicans, Taxes

Are you suffering from lawn envy?

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Admit it. Your front lawn is bland.

It needs something to “jazz it up”  a little.

Lawn Gnomes won’t do the trick.

Neither will gazing spheres, solar powered lawn lights or tiny banners displaying the upcoming holiday.

Why not try this?

{Find out about the wonder item that everyone will be clamoring for below the fold}

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Conservative News, Democrats, Detroit, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Proposal 15-1, Rent Seeking, Republicans, Taxes

When It Becomes Serious, You Have To Lie

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TRIP Boosts Their Lies 109% to Get Your Vote

dozer-money

The proponents of Proposal 1 never envisaged the losing position they now occupy two weeks before the vote, so their media shills have resurrected the titillating lies projections of a road builders’ organization called TRIP to bolster their case. Here are the most visceral quotes from Michigan’s two largest newspapers, demonstrating their well-honed propaganda skills:

Detroit Free Press

“Michigan’s poor roads threaten to derail its economic recovery, according to a new report by a national transportation research group.”

“The report says that 38% of Michigan roads are now in poor condition, up from 23% in 2006. It also found that 45% were listed in fair condition and 17% were listed as good.”

“The report estimates that Michigan motorists pay an average of $686 in increased operating costs, including vehicle repairs, because of the state’s poor roads.”

Detroit News

“By 2025, the share of major roads in poor condition is projected to increase to 53 percent,” TRIP said in its report. “Keeping roads in good condition by performing minor maintenance is far more cost-effective than waiting until roads are in fair or poor condition when it becomes far more costly to make needed repairs.”

“According to TRIP, driving on rough roads costs Michigan motorists a total of $4.8 billion each year in the form of extra vehicle operating costs, representing an average cost of $686 annually per motorist.”

”That’s the conclusion of a report released Monday by TRIP, a Washington-based nonprofit organization that researches, evaluates and distributes information on surface transportation issues.

The Detroit Free Press only identified TRIP as “a national nonprofit transportation research group” in this pivotal story.  They were a little more candid in a previous story, so they can’t claim not to know what TRIP is.  The Detroit News identification of TRIP was every bit as dishonest.  Only our ‘newer’ media is more truthful, if still not entirely accurate:

Mlive.com

“The annual TRIP study, conducted by a national research group funded by transportation industry interests, pegs the yearly cost at $686 per Michigan motorist.”

“TRIP findings have long been cited by road funding advocates, including Gov. Rick Snyder.”

TRIP obligingly released a raft of new lies in a series of press releases on Michigan roads at the Detroit Regional Chamber (a kindred IRS 501(c)(6) organization, more on this below the fold) on Monday. These stories are an update to TRIP’s January 2014 lies which we covered in January. The comparable examples of TRIP’s 2014 lies (since removed from the web) are:

  • An inadequate transportation system costs Michigan residents a total of $7.7 billion every year
  • Driving on rough roads costs Michigan motorists a total of $2.3 billion annually in extra vehicle operating costs
  • Driving on rough roads costs the average Detroit urban area motorist $536 annually in extra vehicle operating costs
  • Driving on rough roads costs the average Michigan motorist $357 annually in extra vehicle operating costs

TRIP’s 2015 report on Michigan annual excessive vehicle costs is a $ 2.5 billion (or $ 329 per motorist) increase above their 2014 lies projections.  A 109% increase above their 2014 lies.  Far beyond any assessment of the 2014 to 2015 deterioration of road & bridge conditions in Michigan – even the totally bogus PASER ratings.  Since the $ 2.3 billion (or $ 357 per motorist) 2014 TRIP number didn’t move you to vote for Proposal 1, the new and improved $ 4.8 billion (or $ 686 per motorist) lie is expected to change your mind on Proposal 1.  They think you are that dumb.

So is TRIP a “nonprofit transportation research organization”? Sounds like an independent, credible source – right? Do the adjectives ‘nonprofit’ and ‘research’ give you a high level of confidence in their pronouncements?  Does ‘organization’ or ‘group’ give you the impression that hundreds of researchers are assessing road conditions across the country?  Perhaps you should dig a little deeper than our lazy, lying media scribes.

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