Philosophy

MDOT Station Hosts Wild Party

Perhaps we ask the MDOT why the May 5th question failed so badly.

MDOT-BloodThe Michigan Department Of Transportation continues to ‘effectively’ use transportation monies provided by the richest state citizenry in the nation.

But a “wild party?”  OK, maybe just because its usually accompanied by cookies and orange juice.  And yes, as some readers might suspect, I have the sarc switch on.  ‘Effective’ use of our taxpayer dollars might actually mean that we don’t have to face the crony machine kicking into full gear tomorrow. The Steudle led MDOT does indeed continue to spin its wheels and waste our resources in areas not reflected in their mission.

There is no question the good works provided by our blood letting missions will save lives, and continue to provide our hospitals with the perishable commodity that we all share.  Indeed we have need for those organizations who will accommodate blood drive efforts, and we hope those needs will be met.

However, it is neither the mission or responsibility of the Michigan Department of Transportation to manage,, aid, provide assistance, or promote such efforts.  Yet they think it is:

August 17, 2015 — The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) encourages state employees and the general public to give the gift of life by donating blood at the Ishpeming Transportation Service Center (TSC) Aug. 26.

The Upper Peninsula Regional Blood Center will have its mobile collection vehicle at the facility from noon to 2 p.m. The TSC is located at 100 S. Westwood Drive in Ishpeming.

“Making the decision to donate blood can save lives, it’s really just that simple,” said Harmony Michaud, the MDOT employee coordinating the event. “We sometimes take for granted that there will always be blood readily available in an emergency, but what if no one donated? It only takes 10 minutes to donate and it could help save a family member or friend – or someone else’s family member or friend. There are a lot of people who need long-term treatments and donated blood is their lifeline.”

Harmony’s paycheck is from the state (taxpayers),  not the UP Regional Blood Center.

Perhaps her time might be best spent filling out the warranty orders?

Policy Changes:

Making MDOT accountable.

What good are road warranties, if you won’t enforce the ones you have already?

Given that literally MILLIONS were wasted when it was recently reported that MDOT let road warranties expire without any action being taken, legislation should be implemented to hold those accountable. No one would tolerate an employee who simply walked off in million in Michigan Taxpayers money, so why should hiding under the guise of being an appointed official and not doing the job you were hired to do, be any different?

Exactly.

Some things are hard to change, yes?

Some folks expect action to fund more of the same to happen this week.

 

You Betcha! (9)Nuh Uh.(0)

Repentance, Reconciliation, and Restoration

Two apostles can teach us much about handling a current scandal.

For a little over a week now, we’ve been . . . treated . . . to a bit of a media circus revolving around a couple of tea party legislators in the Republican House Caucus in Lansing. Predictably, there has been much hand-wringing and calling for heads coming from key figures within the statewide republican establishment. Also predictably, there has been much hand-wringing and calling for heads from within the statewide tea party movement.

I say “also predictably” because many of the high profile tea partiers in this state have developed a habit of happily piling on any politicos from “our side” who screw up publicly. Given the way that these people are finding fault with every single republican POTUS candidate for 2016, I suspect that Jesus Christ himself could be on the ballot, and two out of every three tea partiers in Michigan would still figure out a reason to crucify him. Speaking of which . . .

You Betcha! (13)Nuh Uh.(3)

Some Other Thoughts

courser-gamratA little unique perspective can be very helpful.

I don’t think any of you need to be told what to think, but it is not hard to imagine that many (like myself), like to hear other well reasoned opinions about the more difficult topics of the day.  Occasionally, we might even have an epiphany.  So when Isabelle Terry wrote RightMi.com with the following:

There is a saying in Lansing: What happens in Lansing after 5 PM stays in Lansing.

It is a small suburb of Vegas in the debauchery sense.

Deals over taxpayer money suddenly turn to deals over acts of heterosexual sex, homosexual sex (likely more rampant than the heterosexual sex judging by the huge numbers of effeminate men romping around the MIGOP) and drugs use. The politicos are sluts in money, power, and physical highs.

Players play, secrets are kept.

That is… unless you are speaking the truth.

You Betcha! (35)Nuh Uh.(6)

And Even More

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.

 

You Betcha! (11)Nuh Uh.(0)

Re-Writing Welfare In Michigan

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.

You Betcha! (10)Nuh Uh.(1)

The Cover-Up Is Always Worse

Did Watergate teach you nothing? (Yet another case of not learning from history.)

I got wind of this via a phone call at around 07:41 this morning, while I was still getting my head screwed on straight (on my first actual day off in about three weeks), and quite frankly, I have no idea how to categorize this one. “Wrong-headed thinking” seems like a solid characterization, and I’m well-aware of the double entendre involved.

You Betcha! (15)Nuh Uh.(0)

The Butterfly Effect

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.

You Betcha! (13)Nuh Uh.(0)

One Does Not Have To Be Catholic

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

You Betcha! (9)Nuh Uh.(0)

The LGBTIQ-crowd tries to screw Michigan Taxpayers just one more time.

Okay, they played the legal lottery and won.

I get that.

I don’t have to like that, but I get it.

We have a Supreme Court Chief Justice whose mental state is seriously suspect. A fellow Supreme Court Justice who is apparently too concerned with “leaving a legacy” than actually following the letter of the law. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the judicial activism displayed by other SCOTUS Justices in preceding rulings (and these) on unrelated cases should also be a cause for concern for any Freedom-loving American. But that is better left for another discussion.

Now, the LGBTIQ-crowd wants to turn the screws just one more time.

Shakedown Flag

Expect to see this flying in Ann Arbor, Royal Oak, Hazel Park and Traverse City sometime soon…

You Betcha! (9)Nuh Uh.(0)

Now how do you suppose THAT got in there?

I’m in the process of looking for a new truck.

No, not something with 14 more wheels than most people are used to driving.

Just something for me to use personally. Impromptu moving vehicle. Grocery-getter. Off-road. Maybe taking on a side job or two plowing. Towing friends cars out of ditches. That sort of thing.

So, like anyone else who is in the market, I like to keep an eye on what to watch out for while walking around the dealer lot.

Then something I was reading caught my attention.

Yes, I am going somewhere with this.

{More below the fold}

You Betcha! (4)Nuh Uh.(0)