My morning routine is pretty well established at this point.  About 5:30 I roll out of bed, or off the couch (its comfy and I'm a bachelor, sue me), do the whole wake-up song and dance, brush my teeth, the shower, shave... if I feel like it... spend some time praying and in the Word and then I'll sit down with a bowl of cereal and a glass of OJ and I'll browse the morning's headlines.

By eight or nine I usually have a splitting headache.  I could never figure it out but I finally caught it.  Lately, when I read the news, I grind my teeth.  I'm not talking a little bit but a full bore, gnashing sort of a grind.  

I suppose that means that it is officially painful to read the headlines here in Michigan.  Don't know why I didn't notice it before.  Take this morning for example...

The Detroit News tells us: State jobless rate hits 11.6%

Only gets worse when you read the article and realize that's the worst its been in twenty-five years and is about 150% higher than even the national average.

The Lansing State Journal: GM's future in doubt, auditors say

They're talking bankruptcy here, people.  And yeah, mathematically that might make a lot of sense... heck, that kind of tough medicine might even save ten or twenty-thousand jobs by the time its all said and done but at what price... We're talking surgery without anesthesia type painful.  Yeah, you can do it but boy is it going to hurt.

Then there's the Macomb Daily which opines: New director hopes to give State Fair a great send-off

Yes, the State Fair has been eliminated, scratched from the budget.  And yes, apparently it just received a brand spanking new "director" to the tune of $97,000 a year.  

OK, so that one might be more open-hand-slap-to-forehead than grind-your-teeth but either one will send you screaming for the ibuprofen.  

None of those are nearly as cringe inducing as the latest act by the Democrats on the Detroit City Council, though.  

Read on...