Philosophy

The Cronies Have Their Fingers in the Till at Every Turn

What is it with Rick Snyder, and all these no-bid contracts that surround him? If it’s not Wisconsin’s rejected trains, then it’s his cousin’s furniture contract. Now, we have another no-bid contract driven by Snyder’s Medicaid Expansion.

But a Snyder administration official said the timing “was a coincidence” as the contract increase had been in the works for more than a month before the governor’s fundraise at the Muslim Unity Center.

See that? Yet, another Snyder related “coincidence”.

Campaign finance records show the Shaya family, which owns and operates the J & B Medical Supply, has donated more than $65,000 to Snyder’s campaign over two election cycles. On June 9, the family threw a fundraiser for Snyder that cost more than $19,000 — the most expensive shindig for the governor this election cycle — and generated nearly $74,000 in campaign cash, records show.

That doesn’t look too good, does it?

LorenBennettDonors included former state Sen. Loren Bennett, contract manager for J & B Medical. Bennett and two other company officials did not return messages Monday seeking comment.

Ho, ho, ho, look at what slithered out here. Dick Posthumus’ old toady. Yes, the same Bennett who not long ago said, “Michigan’s 11th Congressional District faces an unusual situation, as its incumbent congressman failed to get enough petition signatures to qualify for the ballot — thus denying Republicans in the district a qualified nominee”. Loren is a real piece of work, yes? Thank God, Bentivolio was sent to Washington, and not that corruptocrat

So, what’s a Nerd supposed to do when caught in another no-bid series of contracts that netted him $93,000 worth of re-election freebies? Use his playbook on deflection.

“People are trying to make something out of it,” Snyder said. “Basically, they’ve had an agreement with the state going back to before when I was governor. Healthy Michigan (Medicaid expansion) has been going so well, we needed to keep things going.”

Wait a minute, I thought Snyder said he didn’t blame others. So, the Democrats “are trying to make something out of it”? Really? Well, let’s see…

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Freewill

Looking at NOTA a little differently.

election-sheetDecision making can sometimes be extraordinarily trying.

On a personal note, this election cycle has left me as uninterested as I have ever been in who wins the day in far too many races.  Try as I might, looking for the half full glass choice escapes any reasonable satisfactory result.  Even by leaving a selection blank, it seems as if we cannot do enough to record our dissatisfaction with the choices made available to us. In fact, In 1980, the Canadian rock band Rush, reminded us

“If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice”

But even that ‘choice’ eludes us as an effective solution.

Local (Northern Michigan) writer Tom Kachadurian offers some thoughts worth considering.

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Gridlock Is Good?

Bill Ballenger, Kyle Melinn make the point that might have to be considered in this election.

Video found at VoteForGridlock.com

Its pretty bad when our BEST alternative comes from tying the hands of our lawmakers so that they might accomplish none of their goals. Its bad when either gubernatorial candidate represents a regressive or potentially dangerous path for our state. Its uncomfortable to have to advocate such a position, but Ballenger, and Melinn get it.

Look, its not as if we didn’t warn of the poison infecting the Republican party before. Mark Schauer is BAD NEWS. But Rick Snyder, beyond whatever reasonable reforms already made, has his own plans that we will not, and can not support any more than the Democrat’s own.

If Snyder loses, (which appears to be less probable the more folks see Schauer) it must be seen as a clear repudiation by conservatives, and a loss of the base. Don’t think the flags wouldn’t be raised for broader support of the Schauer (leftist) doctrine. As we have seen already, the Romney loss and subsequent misplaced blame was a severe example of denial by party leadership.

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They all lie

***UPDATE BELOW***

What utter crap Lansing, and Snyder’s talking-heads are peddling to these nurses.

Nurses in Michigan and nationwide charged Wednesday they are not adequately prepared to care for Ebola patients, lacking both the training and proper equipment to deal with the deadly disease.

The Michigan Nurses Association called on Gov. Rick Snyder for greater leadership, even as state agencies and the Michigan State Police stepped up efforts to prepare for a possible outbreak.

alphalogicSnyder spokesman Dave Murray said the administration is pushing the group for details about the complaints because its “statements are very general and broad.”

The state Department of Community Health said Wednesday it continues to follow the situation in Texas.

“The governor was 100 percent correct when on Oct. 9 he said all hospitals were equipped to do isolation work per the Centers for Disease Control requirements at that time,” department spokeswoman Jennifer Smith said.

CDC? Oh, that’s rich. The fact is The State (government) is lying to everyone.

So let’s look at that infrastructure.
There are, in fact, a total of four medical isolation units in the entire United States, as we noted yesterday, that are capable of handling infected Ebola patients near endlessly.
Where are they, and what can they handle?
Emory University’s Serious Communicable Disease Unit is in Atlanta, GA. That’s where Brantly and Writebol were treated. It has three beds.
St. Patrick Hospital’s ICU Isolation Unit is in Missoula MT. It has three beds.
The National Institute of Health’s Special Clinical Studies Unit is in Bethesda MD. It has seven beds.
And the biggest, the Nebraska Medical Center’s Biocontainment Unit is in Omaha NE. It has ten beds.

3+3+7+10=23 beds, coast to coast.

MORE

So, where did they just transport Dallas Nurse #1? If you guessed Maryland – Bingo!

More… this Ebola stuff sounds like a whole bag of fun, yes?

H/t Wirecutter

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WTF! Now it’s Speed Cameras?

Yet another good argument for a part-time legislature.

“I signed on to this bill because it was presented to me as something to protect the safety of children,” Sen. Jones continued.

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AbsurditiesThat is perhaps one of the dumbest walk-backs I’ve seen in a long, long time. Hello? Who was the sponsor of the bill? Senator Jones, your village called the offices of RightMi.com looking for their missing idiot. Please return to your district ASAP.

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