Granholm Destroys Michigan

Granholm budget proposal: Cut $2B, hike taxes $1B

Bottled water, tickets to live events and pop out of a vending machine would be taxed and smokers would pay more under a budget plan Gov. Jennifer Granholm released for the first time Tuesday.

The plan calls for nearly $2.2 billion in budget cuts, $1.09 billion in tax hikes and tax credit reductions and about $2 billion in federal stimulus money spending in the next two years.

But fellow Democrat and House Speaker Andy Dillon, in a rare public clash with the governor, called the plan "showboating" and "theatrics" and said it has "no chance of passing."

Granholm's plan is one of the proposals offered in budget talks. She and legislative leaders will work behind closed doors to strike a deal before the new fiscal year starts Oct. 1.

Under her plan, Granholm would cut government spending by 12 percent and reduce business tax loopholes -- including controversial film credits -- by a similar proportion.

As previously reported, the governor would raise the cigarette tax by a quarter to $2.25 a pack; assess the 6 percent sales tax on tickets to live entertainment, vending machine sales and service contracts such as landscaping; and slap a 1 percent tax on bottled water.

No one has enough money to go to live entertainment venues anymore, only the economically deprived are still smoking so in effect it's a tax on the working or non-working poor only, put a 10 cent deposit in bottled water instead of a 1% tax like every other bottle in Michigan and finally I guarantee only the middle or lower class are using vending machines, I almost never see an Onassis or Kennedy at the pop machine.

In exchange, she proposes phasing out the 22 percent Michigan Business Tax surcharge over three years, beginning in 2011. Revenue sharing that local governments use to fund police and fire protection and other services would lose $74 million.

Get rid of police and fire funding.....sheer brilliance...is she nuts?

Also, $22 million would be squeezed out of the governor's pet 21st Century Jobs Fund used to attract business, ( which never worked ) and $12 million would be trimmed from a pot used for road improvements ( which to anyone who lives in Michigan knows, we have the worst roads in the country, so this never worked either ) to support economic development, state budget officials said.

The governor does not propose any reduction in the $4,000 Promise Grants for students who complete statewide high school exams and go on to college. ( because to a state that is already losing over 50% of it's college graduates to other states this would be the death nail to anyone staying in actually unable to move from the state.)

The document does not detail how the tax hikes and spending cuts would affect individuals, but a 1 percent tax on a $1.50 bottle of water would be a penny and a half; a 6 percent levy on a $50 Red Wings ticket would amount to $3.

In the school aid fund, the governor is proposing $290 million in cuts each year ( just how much did the Michigan lottery make last year? ), according to state Budget Director Bob Emerson. Divided by the state's 1.6 million students, that amounts to $181 per pupil in each of the two budget years. The state would use $800 million in federal recovery cash for school aid, budget officials said.

The Lottery was established under the authority of Public Act 239 of 1972 to generate funds to support Michigan’s public school system. The first lottery ticket was the Green Ticket which went on sale on November 13, 1972. On October 7, 1975, the first instant game ticket was sold. Online sales began June 6, 1977 with the introduction of the Daily 3 game. The first multi-state ticket sales for the Lottery were on August 31, 1996 for The Big Game (now called Mega Millions). Since its inception, more than $14.5 billion has been contributed to the School Aid Fund.

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Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, has called for the governor to reveal her budget-balancing plan for weeks. She said this proposal has been on the table in talks with legislative leaders since Aug. 6.

"We have a lot of cuts, some loophole closings and some reforms that will not result in savings for this year," Granholm said after a grand opening ceremony for an IBM applications center at Michigan State University.

Granholm and legislative leaders are working against an Oct. 1 deadline to balance a budget that is $2.8 billion out of whack. Leaders are looking at a similar hole in 2011.

I can figure out HOW it happened...mismanagement by the Granholm administration, it's easy enough to fix, Granholm is at her term limit, that should fix this fairly quickly.

Had she not been positioning herself for a position in the Obama administration and actually trying to do something with the state's financial problems we might not be in quite so deep, but we'll never know...What job will you have in the Obama administration after your tenure as Governor Ms. Granholm?

Will it be worth the level on destruction you have asked this state's citizens to own under your terms?

Matt Marsden, spokesman for Bishop, said the budget balancing can begin in earnest.

Why didn't budget planning begin...oh I don't know...about 4 years ago?

"We were asking her to come out from behind closed doors. If she's finally done that, great," Marsden said.

Granholm said the House was preparing to pass budget bills starting today. But Dillon said that's news to him. "The governor should know that showboating a proposal that has no chance of passing is not a way to solve the state's fiscal crisis," he said. "All parties need to ... get back to the hard work of negotiating a budget solution." AMEN!

The Senate has passed $1.2 billion in budget cuts, including elimination of the Promise Grants and reductions to many human services programs. And the exodus of citizens continues.

The spending reductions laid out in Granholm's document add up to $464 million in the budget year starting Oct. 1 and $518 million in the following fiscal year. But Emerson said these cuts are in addition to the $500 million in cuts the governor proposed in her budget plan in February. The spending reductions would be carried over to 2011.

Her plan calls for $684.8 million in tax credit reductions and tax increases in the budget year that starts Oct. 1 and $662.9 million in the 2011 budget year.

She would cut the film credit by 12 percent, or $7.8 million in 2010 and $19.8 million in 2011. Filmmakers qualify for a 42 percent tax credit, and the 12 percent cut would bring that to 37 percent. Other tax credits would be reduced by $130 million in 2010 and $156 million in 2011.

The film making industry is the ONLY industry even slightly interested in giving Michigan a chance and for all intents and purposes seems to be bearing fruit....yeah slash that brainiac.

Her plan calls for a liquor license fee increase, a fee for allowing bars to stay open extended hours, a doubled tax on tobacco products other than cigarettes ( which will only effect the people too broke to buy actual rolled cigarettes and are attempting to save a few bucks by rolling their own, yeah lets get those dimes from the poor too...what a lame excuse for fiscal capability this decision is.) and a freeze in the amount of personal exemptions from the state income tax. The exemption, indexed to inflation, is $3,600.

What happens in neighborhoods where people foreclose?

The city raises taxes on the remaining citizens, more people foreclose because of the tax hike, then more leave...its a ineffective paradigm.

Now just extend that same faulty logic to the state level like Jennifer Granholm is doing.

What happens? People leave and taxes go up.

If I can figure it out why can't they?

Cough up your $3,600 bucks folks, oh you don't have a job?

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Welcome To Detroit

Eggs? Check, Bread? Check, Economic Despair? Check.

Census: Michigan's economic rank falls

Median income declines as home values shrink more than U.S. average.

By nearly every measure, Michigan has lost ground economically compared to the rest of the country, according to census figures released today.

The state lost nearly 200,000 manufacturing jobs from 2000 to 2007, according to census figures that paint a portrait of a state that looks far different than it did just a few years ago, when tens of thousands of those workers wouldn't have believed their futures could include a switch from making cars to making sandwiches.

The numbers, released as part of the 2007 American Community Survey, taken annually by 3 million households nationwide, show how quickly the state has transformed. As recently as 2004, Michigan incomes exceeded the national average and its home values, although lower, were rising as well.

The median household income for Michigan slid by more than $7,100 to $47,950 while the national average dipped by just over $1,000 to 50,740. Meanwhile, Michigan homeowners saw more than $4,200 in value slip away while home values nationwide rose by nearly $18,000.

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With statistics like these why shouldn't Michigan either:

A) Secede from the union.

Or

B) Make Granholm pay for her mismanagement out of pocket.


Michigan had been breast fed from the teat of the auto industry for way, way too long.

It made those suckling lazy and unappreciative and those who couldn't get to the teats disgruntled and spiteful.

We have a state society where trying is not rewarded and failure is not to be avoided.

Just look at the auto industry here in Michigan, there virtually was no one here in Michigan who didn't see higher gas prices, performance, reliability and longevity as prime requisites needing attention by the big three and the big three could not break the paradigm of doing it old school even at the cost of their own throats.

But why should they? Failure is rewarded internationally, nationally and locally.

The big three have been lobbying for a financial bail out for quite a while now and why not when everyone is getting a buck from you and I.

How do corporations end up on the dole and those who make the least income pay for it?

The answer is quite easy actually, the U.S. government now serves corporations and not the people it's sworn to represent.

Doubt my words? Prove me wrong.

Well back to Michigan...there are some things we could do locally, painful but the rewards are there.

1) Let the automakers here in Michigan start paying their bills namely taxes.

The auto industry here in Detroit and Dearborn get huge tax breaks for their gracing us with their presence. That needs to stop, they can start paying their bills just like you and I for although the much publicized poor domestic market in the auto industry is still limping, internationally the big three have never seen better profits.

You won't see that on the news they don't WANT you to know, they want that bailout money, you can't get that by telling the world your Asian and European markets are doing bang up business and costs are down because you outsourced everything from the U.S. it's just not good public relations.

2) Require Michigan (preferably all of the U.S. ) companies that choose to outsource to be liable to hire two Michigan citizens for every national they hire over seas. Make it a penalty to outsource, not a reward.

If they are caught and convicted of circumventing this proposed law, jail time.
No plea deals, no parole....jail time, mandatory.

3) Tax those who make higher incomes at a higher margin, don't be greedy you know it's right to help a society the more you benefit from it just ask Bill Gates or Warren Buffet, they give away millions to the great benefit of many people and don't even have to be asked.

4) Force those responsible for repairing and maintaining Michigan roads to actually do their jobs.

If you have ever driven through Michigan at any point it's like going from pavement to a battlefield as soon as you cross the state line.

Why? Because a long time ago the auto industry somehow convinced (ka-ching) those in the state government to allow a higher weight limit in Michigan to allow the automakers to have heavier trucks to ship cars than they could have in the rest of the U.S in order to keep them in Michigan.

What do you get? Roads that last about 45 minutes after opening. Pay off for Michigan residents? Zero.

The OTHER why? Michigan road service and repair sucks ass. This state department needs a total overhaul and held to a pay for performance criteria...in other words they just plain suck at their job.

I have seen road workers for years not even bother to tamp asphalt into potholes (which is a shit repair to begin with.) and then you get asphalt you bought all over your car you also bought performed by workers you paid to not do a good job.

Asphalt poured into a hole is not a repair...cut the concrete and pour new concrete....they can make landing strips at airports out of special concrete that would last one hundred years before cracking from typical car use...lets just pay a lot once and not need repairs for a century, let the guy who is paid $55k a year to shovel asphalt into a hole get a real job. 

5) Have the state take over the Detroit school system. No explanation needed here if you live in Michigan but for "normals" in the real world outside of Michigan here goes...

Detroit runs their school system separate but equal from the state....ok stop laughing it's true.

While the rest of the state school system has benefited immeasurably from the state lottery, Detroit being separate is not part of that system because they wanted to run their own house.

The results speak for themselves. No pencils, no toilet paper, no books, massive school closings and one of the lowest graduation rates in the Country....yay Detroit.

Detroit would argue that it is their problem not the states, WRONG, when you churn out unemployable social misfits year after year after year that DOES effect the rest of the state through crime and unemployment so we DO have a say how you run your house.

6) Raise licence fees on hunters coming to Michigan from out state to hunt. Michigan has some of the best natural resources left in the country and we could easily change that into our state economy and away from industry and the auto makers in particular.

Taking care of hundreds of thousands of acres of state forest could employ countless Michigan citizens on a myriad of levels. Look at Yellowstone, Look at Custer..there are park systems that are very successful and we don't have to build much infrastructure to start them.

7) Bring in new business, why is this so hard? Kwami Kilpatrick and Jennifer Granholm were and are both dismal failures are doing this, why?

"Give" a business an empty building to get started here, we have enough of them. Doubt that? Pull out the foreclosure list, empty buildings aren't making any money for banks or the citizens, they are just sitting here like magnets for crime and economic despair.

If you can show a financial plan that ensures you will employ 50 or more people for three years or more you get the building for three years free....free!...businesses will be flocking here.

After three years they get a no bid offer to rent at market price locked for ten years so as the economy grows their rent won't for a decade.

Whats the difference? The buildings are just sitting there empty now not making money for anyone.

8) Get rid of the casinos, they do not employ as many people as they promise and they create little to no economic benefit in their wake.

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I could go on but the point being there ARE things that could and should change in order to get us back on track as a state....what are we actually doing?

Welcome To Detroit

Granholm Will Make Citizens Foot The Bill Power Companies Should Be Paying.

State's electric rates going up

Legislature OKs package raising bills by up to 12%, requiring more renewable power sources; gov to sign it.

An energy package that will raise residential electric rates by up to 12 percent, require more electricity to be generated by renewable sources and put a cap on competition to the major utilities won final passage in the Legislature Thursday.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who has been pushing for expansion of renewable energy for months, will sign the two bills in the long-awaited energy plan "as soon as they reach her desk," spokeswoman Liz Boyd said.

DTE officials said the average ratepayer who has a $75-a-month electric bill will pay an additional $6 to $6.50 monthly next year and $8 to $9 a month in the fifth year as a result of the legislation.

Consumers Energy plans to put up a $2-billion coal-fired plant and DTE wants to construct an $8-billion nuclear plant.

Competition from alternative electric companies will be limited to 10 percent of the total market. "The legislation has provided the certainty necessary to construct new power plants," said DTE Chairman Anthony Earley Jr.

The strict limits on competition "will create the largest residential rate increase in Michigan's history," said Barry Cargill, executive director of the Customer Choice Coalition, a group of businesses that favor competition. He estimates the overall impact of the two bills will be an increase of $475 million a year for utility customers, which amounts to $13 a month for DTE customers and a little less for Consumers ratepayers.

Sen. Wayne Kuipers, R-Holland, who voted against the bills, said: "This will result in massive rate hikes at a time when we can least afford it." He said in the wake of 8.9 percent unemployment in the state "what do you say to those who have just lost their jobs and now ask, 'How can I pay for this?' "

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WTF Granholm !?!?!

9% of the state is unemployed and as much as 11% of Detroit and you will raise our price on power 12% ?

Do you have a growth on your brain or something?

Why the hell should Michigan citizens be DEMANDED to foot the bill for new power plant construction that the power companies should be paying....Ford, GM and Chrysler don't ask me for money for new plants....oh wait bad example, yes they do....banks don't demand money from me when they have foreclosed loans....uhmm wait another bad example.

I guess nationalising everything IS the way to go.

It would just be wrong for us to ask poor poor power companies known for never making a profit large enough to pay for their own improvements and to further ensure they remain a monopoly by changing the law to limit competition of new alternative energy improvements facilities to a mere 10%.

How very far sighted Jenny...why didn't you offer massive tax breaks for those up and coming breakthrough companies to COME to Michigan and invest in its people and technology...why do you think Compuware and GM are in Detroit,?

The beautiful scenery?

No they are here because Detroit makes massive concessions to get and keep them here.

Jenny do you have stock in the current power companies or what?

The amount of jobs to be gained by making them a virtual monopoly is so ridiculously low that it will never justify you signing this bill into law.

Nice to know you can destroy a few more lives before leaving office.

And by the way to those folks who see me bashing Republicans constantly , Jennifer Granholm is a Democrat, a crappy, back dealing, self serving Democrat but a Democrat none the less....what a embarrassment to the party.


Welcome To Detroit

No Need To Panic About Gasoline, We'll Just Get More Dinosaurs

Granholm: No need to panic about gasoline

Gov. Jennifer Granholm, in an unusual Friday evening news conference, sought to calm fears about the availability of gasoline and skyrocketing costs and vowed to go after service stations that take advantage of Hurricane Ike to overcharge customers.

"We want to make clear that the storm has not affected the price of gasoline, nor should it affect the price of gasoline, in Michigan right now," Granholm said. She noted that she had heard rumors of gas prices at $5 or $6 a gallon in some areas of the state, but was unable to confirm them.

"Please do not panic. There should not be a rush to gas stations." Advertisement Wholesale gasoline prices on the Gulf Coast moved even further into uncharted territory to around $4.85 a gallon on fears of vast fuel shortages as the hurricane honed in on the mass of refineries that line the upper Texas coast.

The region accounts for about one-fifth of the nation's petroleum refining capacity. At least eight refineries had shut down or were powering down as Ike prepared to strike.

Experts say they can't predict the full extent of the hurricane's effect on prices in Michigan but said a temporary hike of 20 cents or so per gallon was the most likely scenario, barring any catastrophic damage to the petroleum supply infrastructure.

In Metro Detroit, some stations Friday night posted prices above $4 a gallon, but most were still selling unleaded in the $3.80 to $3.90 range.

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I had heard that in Tennessee gas was $5 a gallon 9/12/08...it's jumped here in Michigan already.

When I was speaking with a friend about it yesterday he had said "we'll if we were drilling for more we wouldn't have this problem."

I think this is extremely short sighted, even by drilling at the beginning of this year it would be years before any relief was seen.

When you start running out of lemonade do you start sucking on the Lemon harder and faster?

We need to be free of this oil addiction, I also mentioned this to my friend that if we were off oil we would be in a better condition economically and politically, to which he replied " it won't happen in our lifetime".

Man am I glad I didn't count on him for the moon landing...his attitude secretes failure like a snail excreting mucous to escape a predator.

My friend is of course, a conservative republican or what I like to call a special needs friend.

(Yes I cavort with the enemy.)

We fight like brothers over this of course, sometimes bitterly.

But we decided a long time ago that it was more important to remain friends than it was for him to admit he was wrong...cough cough I mean for us to not agree on politics.

What I am pointing out though is what I see as a philosophical difference between those who look at the long view ((liberal in general) and those who look at the short view. (conservative in general) plenty would argue with me on this definition, just humor me on this)

Regardless of oil reserves and the ability to offshore drill, it WILL run out.

Earths energy needs will only grow exponentially especially as other countries transform from third world to first world economies.

There is a finite supply of oil period, get over it.

It is a uncomfortable reality and those of us whom are taking the long view will be the ones to resolve it in the end.

We need to drive for other energy resources and technologies, the reason my friend doesn't think it will happen in our lifetimes is that it isn't price worthy, or worth the price to develop.

I disagree, when gas rises to $8 bucks a gallon or so, people will be trying to burn farts and rainbows in their cars in order to get off gasoline....this kind of motivation drives technology.

It's what I like to call the "porn curve".

What is the porn curve?

Simply this, technology for years has been driven by the "porn curve".

First to develop VHS cheaply? The porn industry.
First to distribute DVD's en masse? The porn industry.
First to utilize desktop publishing? The porn industry.
First to market CD software geared towards gaming? The porn industry.

First on BBS's and the web for image transfer format and development? The porn industry.

I could go on and on but you see my point.

What drives the porn industry to succeed? The consumer, the nasty, horny consumer but the consumer none the less.

The public wanted and the market reacted and provided, gasoline or I should say alternative energy source demands will and are reaching this critical "porn curve" level currently.

Someone will develop a battery to store enough power to run a car economically.

You would be a fool to think inventors large and small are not currently and fervently working on this...whomever does it gets the brass ring, be the new "Microsoft" if you will, on the energy market.

So how do I argue this point with conservative republicans? I don't.

I live by conservative republican standards, I find this is best because it shows everyone by example their ideals are flawed.

You see I have no children so I use as much energy as I want and then some.

I throw out perfectly good food.

Leave my appliances on all the time.

Recycle? Never heard of it.

I use resources like there is no tomorrow because after I die who gives a crap what happens to the world? I have no children to hand it down to, just yours.

I plan on running up national debt as much as I can because my children won't be stuck with the bill, yours will.

I drive my car sometimes just because I want to emit greenhouse gases and clog up the road. Why not?

Global warming is a bunch of hooey and if I am wrong, who cares? My descendants won't be here to deal with it, just yours.

I say rape the planet for all it's worth because I have no vested interest in the future.

Polar bears going extinct? Big deal, I have seen plenty of them.

If your grandchildren don't get to see a polar bear alive, who cares?

That is what museums are for, providing you haven't cut off funding to your museums after I'm gone.

Food riots, fuel riots, massive unemployment, severe class structure differences....so what? Your kids can deal with it, I don't have to.

Living like a conservative republican is fun and easy, just watch me.

Welcome To Detroit

Stupid Detroiters On Parade

Kilpatrick supporters, one sandwich short of a picnic

Source

A steady stream of people flowed in, out and around Cadillac Place on Wednesday as a hearing proceeded inside to determine whether Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick should be removed from office.

Some came to the building in the New Center area to watch history unfold. This is the first time a Michigan governor has begun the process to remove a mayor.

Calleen Jones of Detroit said she does not understand how the mayor can be kicked out of office without having been convicted of a crime.

"I don't understand how we can have hearings to oust the mayor before he is convicted of an alleged crime," she said. "I am annoyed with the news. I know there are other things going on in the state that we should be focusing on more than this."

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Ok Calleen, Let me explain this mystery to you...its the city council's right and prerogative...they can ask the Governor to remove the Mayor if they feel Detroit City business cannot get due attention from his office due to circumstances...such as the text scandal. 

You can be "annoyed at the news" if you want but it is akin to being annoyed with the messenger but not the message. 

Journalists didn't make this mess, the Mayor and his upper echelon of staff did...be annoyed with them.

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Aisha Bowen, a 63-year-old Detroiter, does not like the governor presiding over the ouster hearing.

"This is our house. If you aren't a registered voter in the City of Detroit, you have no business with our city," she said of non-Detroiters making decisions that impact Detroiters.

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Ok Aisha...since it's your house I hold you responsible...why didn't you do anything?

Let me edumacate you Aisha...Michigan State Law supersedes any city ruling or decision. 

What is being done is legal, judicial and proper...just because its beyond your comprehension does not make it any less correct and appropriate.

And by the way...the pathetic rundown way "your house" has been governed effects the whole state, so yes, those who don't live within the city but still reside in Michigan DO have a say and a right to see justice served.

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The mayor's aunt, Marsha Cheeks, said she will come out to support Kilpatrick every day, if necessary, as she handed out fliers claiming the "Governor continues to slap Detroit."

"When you relinquish local control to the state government, what message does that send?" she asked. "We are appalled that an elected governor would come and call a hearing and diminish our votes. She (Granholm) has clearly indicated she does not respect due process. It is a voting rights issue."

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I fully expect this from the unusually small Kilpatrick gene pool...Marsha dear? It's called the law...your family may not be familiar with it but the rest of Michigan is and abides by it.

The Governor should not only slap Detroit but spank it and send it to bed without supper.

The Governor didn't call the hearing...the Detroit City Council requests his removal hearing...the city council....you know the ones YOU elected...what a load of idiots these Kilpatricks are.

Marsha, Can't the Kilpatricks find another city to go destroy? 

There is nothing left in Detroit to steal, sell, exploit, use, pollute, destroy, mutilate or annoy....your work here is done.

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Welcome to Detroit

Granholm Due To Act....Maybe...Sort Of...We'll See

Gov. may decide on ouster hearing today

Gov. Jennifer Granholm is expected to announce today whether she'll proceed with hearings next week that could remove Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick from office, amid continued speculation that a plea deal could still be in the works for the embattled mayor.

Granholm is expected to announce her intentions after reading final legal arguments submitted Monday by attorneys for Kilpatrick and the City Council.

In the briefs, council attorney William Goodman argued Granholm would "set a dangerous precedent" if she fails to act or delays hearings. The mayor's general counsel, Sharon McPhail, accused the council of engaging in a disingenuous power grab.

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"The Detroit City Council has wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars paying for an attorney to conduct a political witch hunt against the Mayor," McPhail wrote, a reference to Goodman, who has a contract for up to $260,000.

"(The mayor) respectfully requests that the Honorable Jennifer Granholm decline to join the lynch mob: That she stand up for the rule of law and dismiss this factually inadequate and politically motivated petition."

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I don't know what dirt the mayor has on McPhail but she certainly has changed her tune on Kwami.

Get in the way back machine again Mr. Peabody, this is going be a fun one.

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"....She didn't mention that she was one of the mayor's biggest critics when she served on the council, once calling him a "thug" and claiming he tried to electrocute her."

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Yeah....Cuckoo....Cuckoo

Sharon McPhail is either A) as nutty as they come or B) The mayor has dirt on her he has threatened to use...seriously what else could it be to cause the crap to flow from her mouth like an artisan spring from the anus.

Maybe Kwami has magical powers over women and that's how he got Christine Beatty's knee a-knockin.

Welcome to Detroit, The circus is coming to town.

Jennifer Granholm - Excuse Tool

Dems tap Granholm for alternative energy session

Gov. Jennifer Granholm will play a role in the Democratic National Convention in Denver after all: She'll moderate a town hall meeting Tuesday night on alternative energy, one of her favorite topics.

The governor was contacted late Thursday by the Barack Obama campaign about leading the energy discussion, and unveiled the plans at a news conference Friday.

"Michigan was selected for that because we have been focused on alternative and renewable energy," said Granholm.

Details of the energy session -- time, place, participants -- haven't been determined, the governor's office said.

Granholm has been pushing an energy package that includes a mandate that 10 percent of the state's electricity be generated by renewable sources by 2015. But the legislation hasn't passed the Senate. She has said the location of alternative energy businesses here depends on passage of the bills.

She blamed Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, for blocking the measure.

"Who's holding this back? It's one man. His name is Mike Bishop," Granholm said. "We got a bipartisan package out of the House."

Matt Marsden, spokesman for Bishop, said the senator has been available all summer to work out a compromise on the energy package.

"He hasn't heard from the governor since June," Marsden said. "It's the governor's failure to step up and lead that's the problem here despite what she says to her buddies in Denver."

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The governor again declined to say whether she would like Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to attend the convention -- he, like she, is a super delegate by virtue of his high standing in the party -- and refused to field any questions about the mayor's legal problems or the Sept. 3 removal hearing in Detroit that Granholm will conduct.

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I agree with Matt.


I don't know about all this jazz, I haven't seen Granholm do one thing positive for the state during her whole tenure...now she is going to blame someone else...try and get everyone on the "party card"

She can't even decide to dethrone Kwami Kilpatrick when the whole state cries out for it.

What alternative energies?

Farts?

We have jack squat for alternative energy policy, progress or projects in this state who is she trying to kid?

Oh yeah....you and I.



Welcome to Detroit

Governor Granholm Profile Of A Canadian Tool

It was recently reported that Michigan's Governor Granholm rode a bicycle and took a bus to work. This was touted as a way to save money for the state.

Is she serious? What did she save aside from private money on a PR campaign? 10 bucks in gas?

There are people in Michigan who take the bus daily to work Governor, those who have jobs but still cannot afford a car because they are putting food on the table.

Would the Governor wait for 45 minutes at a bus stop in below freezing weather to go to work like so many Michiganders do daily in winter? I think not.

It was also proposed earlier this year for the state governing bodies work for 4 days a week instead of 5 to save money the state doesn't have. What a crock of shit! How about working 20 days a month without pay to get some business in the state?

Save the bike ride Governor, I'll give you the 5 bucks in gas money to make sure your butt is in the office as long as you do your job and bring some business to the state.

What a tool.

As a side note for those who may not know:
Volkswagen chose Tennessee for their new billion dollar plant location and not Michigan, good job Governor!


Welcome to Detroit

Thank You Democrats

To be an equal opportunity critic, let me tell you about the Democratic party and Michigan.

Jennifer Granholm, she has been in office two terms since 2003, she has done nothing to assist Michigan's economy, NOTHING. I am sure her office representative would beg to differ but she has had 5 years and Michigan is such an economic crap hole it isn't even funny.

I am not usually one to criticize how someone looks, Jenny is pretty hot actually. But those moles? What the #$%& ... doesn't she make enough money to have those things froze off? This has just GOT to be a point of honor with her or something to show she is beyond vanity or some such nonsense. I haven't met a woman beyond vanity, but lets face it, she just looks like she is too cheap or too stupid to have them whacked.

OK....Mole diatribe over, I voted for her so I am partly responsible.
Michigan, I apologize.
Jenny didn't get anything done and appears unable to get anything done. It won't happen again with my vote.

If a mentally ill, felonious, illegal alien runs against her this next term I will probably give them a serious look based on Jenny's poor ass record of ineffectiveness.

Now onto the Detroit city council and mayor, I can't even believe these crooks.

Unless you haven't seen any comedian's monologues this year or watched any news what so ever let me bring you up to speed.

The mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, is accused of using city money (tax payer money), 9 million, to settle a lawsuit for wrongful termination of two police officers investigating alleged crimes that involved the mayor and his entourage and would have exposed his alleged infidelity with Detroit Chief of staff Christine Beatty.

Now five I believe of the nine members of the Detroit city council appear to be involved in a scandal with Synagro(a waste management company), some of which have been filmed excepting monies presumed to be bribes by the FBI because Synagro got the deal approved via the Detroit City Council.

But wait, it gets better, a local news caster, Fanchon Stinger, exhibited extreme journalistic integrity by whipping together a promotions company that did some PR work for Synagro, A big news reporter no-no.

The news station fired her or she has since quit, it still isn't clear because no one is talking. I assume she never expected to be the story instead of reporting on it.

Thanks to the FBI, who are investigating all this crap, it's just too late in my opinion, the damage is done and will take probably decades to be resolved.


Welcome to Detroit