Monthly Archives: November 2018

Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion

A Dollar Twenty Five

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Is Michigan's bottle deposit law too much?

A buck and a quarter a year is the estimated loss consumers ultimately bear because of the the bottle law.

Scales gets a H/T on the video – And he may agree with a repeal of the law, and I can understand a number of the reasons.  I suspect the actual cost is in fact MUCH higher because of welfare fraud, as well as compliance which requires automation, added employment, and often extra facilities.

However, in my life, I have watched a change in the road side debris that happened IMMEDIATELY following the passage of the law in the  beginning.  I was delivering the Lansing State Journal, the Free Press as a paperboy in the late 70s and spent much time biking the side roads and streets.  When the law was passed, no more were bottles tossed, and those which were found a home in the bags which once carried newsprint door to door.  This resulted in less trash overall, and the areas I was in began to simply look a little nicer.

And now, would it be too much to expand the law to plastic water bottles as they become the new ‘tossable’ we might find littering our roadways?  Or should we throw up our hands and give up trying to encourage less piggishness?

The legislature may pass this on to the governor’s desk, where he probably would not sign it.

Your thoughts?

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Michigan, Michigan Politics

NPV Debate Thursday

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Thursday November 29 debate on Pros/Cons of the absurd NPV manipulation scheme.

Sadly, there are Republicans in our legislature stupid enough who need more convincing about the perils of a national popular vote.

I’ve said my piece time and again, and apparently its not enough to overcome the Hawaii bribery schemes moving our ‘conservative’ mushheads back on track.  Norm Hughes has challenged NPV Shill and fifth columnist Saul Anuzis to a debate on the merits (or lack thereof) of the NPV.  The debate will happen November 29th at the Pontiac Country club, and the doors open at 6:30PM.

Pontiac Country Club
4335 Elizabeth Lake Rd
Waterford Twp, MI 48328

Doors open 6:30PM

 

 

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Michigan, Philosophy

Giving Thanks

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Happy Thanksgiving from Rightmi.com

Some great works pop into the mailbox from time to time.

Something I personally try to do DAILY, is give thanks to my Maker and Provider.  It costs nothing, it takes no time out of my day, and I can honestly feel the power it gives back for exercising a little humility in the presence of God’s works.

There are others who feel this way.  We are empowered by our faith, our personal culture and most importantly our gratitude for so much that we have been given.  From FEE’s What Ten Lepers in the Book of Luke Can Teach Us about Gratitude:

” In his 2008 book, Thanks! How Practicing Gratitude Can Make You Happier, Robert A. Emmons, who spent years studying gratitude, wrote that

grateful people experience higher levels of positive emotions such as joy, enthusiasm, love, happiness and optimism, and that the practice of gratitude as a discipline protects a person from the destructive impulses of envy, resentment, greed and bitterness.

One would think this would make gratitude easy for us. Who doesn’t want to be happier and more successful? Alas, gratitude, for all its merit, is not something easily embraced, evidence suggests.

The most obvious example, of course, is the presence of the “victimhood culture,” which has turned grievance into a fad. There is indeed something odd and troubling about an ideology that stokes the embers of our resentment, particularly in a time and place enjoying unprecedented wealth and opportunity.

No victimhood message here.  Only full blown gratitude.

Click on the link and read the rest, and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

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2018 Michigan Gubernatorial Race, Conservative News, Elections, Michigan Politics, Republicans, State Convention

MIGOP Wins!!!

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The Michigan GOP Establishment achieves its objective…

The Michigan GOP Establishment achieves its objective…

2010 was a benchmark year for conservatives…”Flip the House” was the Tea Party battle cry, and Nancy Pelosi handed the House gavel to John Boehner…The ensuing MIGOP convention saw Dave Agema elected to the RNC over establishment Saul Anuzis, and the establishment held off a serious challenge to the party leadership by defeating the conservative challengers for the State Chair by 71 votes…The “Old Guard” realized they had a significant problem, and set about to to correct it almost immediately…They infiltrated Tea party groups around the state, neutralizing conservative efforts by gaining control of county and regional Tea Party groups, and rendering them mostly harmless…They packed the State and District Committees with a many establishment types as possible, and began changing the rules, or ignoring the established rules to secure their advantage…Voice votes at conventions were used against conservatives in place of ballot votes the establishment knew they would lose…

Conservatives that managed to get elected to offices within county GOP parties became targets also…Our precinct delegates that nearly stole the State convention were also on the establishment hit lists…The CD1 Chairmanship was rigged to elect Jesse Osmer over Adrian Pelousse by a single vote, the establishment pulled out all the stops in that instance…Party and District rules were ignored, slates were printed on the pencils used to mark ballots that were illegally collected and tallied…Elected officials that owed their office to the conservative movement betrayed the very people that put them there…The list goes on, and for most of you reading this, you know these are the facts…because you were there…Even local politics became tainted with the establishment purge…After helping several candidates for the Kalkaska Commission win their seats, and turn a 5-2 Democrat advantage into a 4-3 GOP Commission, I (and others) was literally blackballed from my own County party…Funny how now and again I still get asked for help…

In 2010 we gave them the US House, we gave them Snyder and both houses in the State legislature, in 2016 we gave them the Senate and Donald Trump…In return they gave us higher taxes and a utility monopoly in Michigan, the perpetuation of ObamaCare, and now recreational pot, bureaucratic redistricting, and no fault absentee voting…Soon to come are the National Popular Vote, and the destruction of the Constitution via a Convention of States…The more Republicans we elect, the more they act like Democrats…The result was predictable, and secured November 6th…With the conservative purge nearly complete, they gave us ballot proposals that only served to attract Democrat votes, and a candidate for Governor guaranteed to lose, not to mention giving the US House BACK to Nancy Pelosi…

Yes, the establishment won…Funny, I don’t see anyone celebrating…

God help us in 2020…

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Government Incompetence, Michigan, Taxes

See, We Told You So.

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No fewer than a dozen warnings that this would happen ..repeatedly.

Scales just commented this grand disaster.

From the people who watch such things, we just wanted to remind you that the fix you thought was there? Wasn’t.  As reported in the Detroit News Detroit schools need mo money:

“Without state support to address its growing capital needs, Detroit’s public school system poses a potential threat to Detroit’s economic revitalization, Moody’s Investors Service said Tuesday.

The rating agency said for fiscal 2019, the Detroit Public Schools Community District has budgeted $9 million in capital expenses, out of a budget of roughly $760 million. Detroit’s school buildings have $500 million in capital needs and deferred maintenance.”

Disappointing, yet not altogether surprising.

Before giving anymore, perhaps Michigan’s investors actually look at who gets da money?

Anyhow, it never should have happened to begin with.

I have solutions for any of these school issues.  If anyone in the game really wants to fix it once and for all, feel free to reach out.  It would take a little courage, but the repair would last forever.

[call me]
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All the Other Stuff, Conservative News, Cronyism, Democrats, Detroit, Government Incompetence, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Rent Seeking

Well, that didn’t take long to go back to their old ways.

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Another chapter in the quest to rewrite history that progressives cannot accept.

When Gov. Snyder and Michigan Republicans bailed out the Detroit Public School System and City of Detroit a few years earlier, many posters on this site (myself included), warned everyone that it wouldn’t take long for inept & corrupt former political structure to reassert itself when the time presented itself.

Well, guess what?

{More information after the fold}

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Liberty, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Philosophy

So, What Do We Do Now?

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We’ve been here before – recently – how we respond will make a difference.

Since Christmas 2016, I’ve posted a grand total of three opinion pieces on this site, which is a very far cry from my usual pace; blame the weird hours of my current work schedule. The interesting thing about working “dawn patrol” is that I get to spend a great deal of time paying attention to my newsfeed. Many credible political pundits, whom I follow on that newsfeed, are referring to last week’s elections outcome as a “split decision” on a national scale. Fair enough. But here in the “Great Lake Effect State” (lots of snow on the ground last weekend), we’re armpit deep in something that isn’t snow.

The Michigan Republican Party seems to be the structurally weakest it’s been since the immediate aftermath of the Milliken Administration (circa 1983), a “rule of empathy” majority now holds the state’s Supreme Court, and an underinformed electorate has just enshrined systemic election fraud into the state’s constitution. Oh, and just in case it matters, the Libertarian Party of Michigan promptly lost their brand-new “major party” status, due to election underperformance. As with the other time something similar happened this century, the key question ought not so much be, “What happened?” as it ought to be, “What are we going to do about it?” . . . because that second question is the one that we must answer if we’re going to accomplish anything constructive going forward.

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Michigan Politics, Republicans

Rick Snyder Republicanism Died an Ugly, Well-Deserved Death in Midterms

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Image result for snyder calley schuette

We have all been licking our wounds for this past week, but the time has come for serious introspection about where we are going to take the Michigan GOP in the years to come. We cannot afford another electoral disaster in 2020 because that could easily surrender the Presidency back to the radical left whether it’s Hillary, Pocahontas, Biden, Kamala or whoever else taking the reigns.

While we were fortunate to keep the Michigan House and Senate, last week’s election was especially catastrophic because of the passage of the proposals. In particular, Proposals 2 and 3 will allow Democratic control over the entirety of our state government. By surrendering control over redistricting to an “independent” commission (please note that Bernie Sanders and the ACLU are technically “independents”) and making it easier for felons and morons to cast votes, the writing is on the wall for what Michigan will become in the upcoming decades. We all hope that the Republicans have lawyers working overtime on challenges to these amendments, otherwise Michigan will pretty much inevitably become California at some point.

Let’s not beat around the bush. Last week’s nightmare happened because of the top of the ticket. Bill Schuette felt he was entitled to this position, and it showed on the campaign trail. Because Schuette did such a lousy job during his run for Governor, we have literal Soros activists serving as Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of State now. We have an LGBT Attorney General who will use her power to punish Christian conservatives and obstruct the President’s agenda. We may ultimately lose the state for good, and the blood is on Schuette’s hands for all of this.

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Conservative News, Democrats, Economy, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Republicans

A Bump In Michigan’s Economic Road Ahead

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First Fallout From The Midterm Elections


The automobile assembly and automotive parts supplier sectors have been key to Michigan’s recovery from the Great Recession, and the increased tax revenues collected by Michigan’s many units of government. These sectors have been riding a wave of expansion – and hiring – in Michigan since President Trump announced his intentions to impose higher tariffs on European vehicles and parts on May 23rd.

Although these tariffs were proposed under national security statutes, Trump clearly intended to retaliate against the 10% tariff the EU imposes on all American-built vehicles and parts. The U.S. currently imposes 2.5% maximum tariffs on European cars, trucks, and parts. so European made vehicles and parts enjoy a 7.5% advantage over American vehicles and parts in direct trade.

It now appears that the Trump Administration is going to delay or abandon these proposed tariffs. A Bloomberg article posted last night reports on a meeting held at the White House Tuesday which put off automotive tariffs for the foreseeable future. A draft report on U.S. – European trade was sent back to the Commerce Department for reconsideration, a polite way of killing it. That report must be issued before any tariffs can take effect.

The November 6th election outcome just killed that.

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2018 Michigan Gubernatorial Race, 2018 US Senate Race, All the Other Stuff, Conservative News, Cronyism, Democrats, Detroit, Government Incompetence, Liberty, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Philosophy, Republicans, Taxes

Are they even aware of what they’re selling?

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So in the midst of all of the post-election analysis, we’ve heard the “experts” from other outlets drone on about why the 2018 Election went the way it did.

We’ve heard them tell us that this is the vaunted “Blue Wave” sweeping across America. Despite the rash of ballots “miraculously” showing up in places like Florida (and apparently now here) along with Arizona, democrats still only control the House.

We’ve been told that this is the year of the woman. Yet, I’m waiting to hear why superior candidates like Lang and Epstein didn’t benefit from this?

Finally, the media (or infotainment complex…take your pick), dredges up their favorite rationale for last Tuesday Night’s results: It’s all President Trump’s fault.

If you get past their self-created echo chamber, you might have noticed the marked lack of coverage of the rise in America’s economy that has taken place since the ‘16 election (far higher than any democrat or their sycophants claimed was possible) , unemployment numbers falling ACROSS THE BOARD, and a newfound respect for America around the world since a certain Chicago street hustler was no longer in a position to embarrass our Republic by bowing down to foreign leaders at every opportunity and generally showing no backbone with the same by conceding at every opportunity.

I’m going to bring up a topic that the so-called conservative policy wonks running the multitude of losing campaigns are loath to ask themselves.

{Post continues after the fold}

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