private sector - non union
12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. In the current political and social client, I would argue that this is more relevant than any other experience, offering in support such notion the undeniable collective insanity of legislative bodies and the public that denies that the vast majority of legislators obtained that status by lying.
WDYTTIR? Why do you think this is relevant? Are we to believe that someones opinion on a matter is better served by courses attended and degrees received, or should we consider that such may serve them a greater ability to lie and mis-inform the public about those issues to which they sound "more educated" and about themselves in general? Knowing what I know now about higher education, I am actually somewhat embarrassed how I naively participated in the "higher education racket" or "rat race".
What is "Involvement" and what is "Calculated Political Pandering" ? Was Myshkin involved in the community of St Petersburg?
WDYTTIR? Why do you think this is relevant? Would there be a problem if I were gay?
WDYTTIR? Why do you think this is relevant? Again, why are you so hung up on my familial orientation?
I endorse consumption being determined by those who produce that which is to be consumed. I endorse the individual's right to work and right to hire without third party interference in the form of a bureaucratic determination of what work can be performed, when, in what manner, and how much should be paid. I endorse the right of all persons to possess and carry such arms as in their reasonable judgement they deem necessary to protect themselves. I endorse the right of all individuals to put away known, edible health hazards, and behaviors so that they may best live a long life without ingesting a never ending prescription of pharmaceuticals. I endorse the right of my community to determine "community" standards without impingement by any State or National government, or any International or Corporatist interest. I endorse a right to trial by a fully informed jury of one's peers. I endorse the right of persons to eat what they can grow, imbibe what they can ferment and fully inhale that which they can cultivate on their own property or otherwise obtain through free trade with their neighbor. I endorse the right of young men and women to refuse to serve in foreign wars. I endorse the right of all persons to audit any class at any institution of higher learning without need for admission to any "degree" program or payment of any fees. And last but not least, I endorse a child's Right to Life.
The Federal government is a fundamentally dysfunctional kleptocracy. Michigan/Ann Arbor needs to use the 10th Amendment to "disengage" from the national government the way a battered women might use a personal order of protection disengage a soon to be ex-husband. Look at what the Federal Government is doing to the gulf states in their hour of need - preventing them from cleaning up a federally licensed disaster that I believe was more intentional than accidental.
Noting that job growth has occurred in Right to Work States even while it has diminished in those State that are most heavily Communized.....errr...Unionized..... the obvious correlation to draw is that eliminating the Union dominance would in fact increase opportunity for the "STRIPED" collar class of workers. As a child, my highly educated, but less than motivated Marxist parents determined to relocate from Texas, to a state that succored those suffering from such a lack of work related, economic ambition. Thirty years later that state (California) suffers from a deficit that would still make Michigan blush. One of the forms of aid that inevitably increases the "STRIPED" collar class is subsidized or as it was formally known, "SOCIALIZED HOUSING". Refusing federal housing money and transfer payments that are disbursed via state agencies would shortly result in the depopulation of Michigan by those who would migrate to those states who desired them - like my parents.
I believe it fair and long overdue for the overseers of "Plantation Michigan" to experience the high cost of health care and benefits that they have been all too happy to suffer on the private sector and self employed. Slave labor, in the form of excessive taxes creates an unsustainable economy and cultural environment that when studies is remarkably similar to the economic circumstances that led too the civil war and resulted in the states whose population was engaged in "free" enterprise economy, winning over the states whose economy was in large part based upon slave labor. We are currently seeing this in the form of population and GNP growth of states and countries that have a lower "slave/tax" basis than Michigan and the US as a whole.
I don't believe the general public has experienced enough economic, social and political pain YET, to cause them to become informed enough to self govern or come up with a piece of legislation that would enable them to self govern. Generally speaking, I don't know if the voting public is more aptly described as "completely ignorant" or "completely corrupt" in the way that the majority vote not their own pocketbook, but rather what they can obtain for nothing from another man's pocketbook. The state is so full of hucksters and thieves (sure Ann Arbor is significantly better than Detroit) but on a state level, Ann Arbor has to get into bed with and pay off the likes of Detroit to get anything passed that might be generally considered "informed" and "legitimate". I suggest that Ann Arbor/Michigan "spin off" Detroit, the way Goldman & Sachs "spun off" non-performing MBS i.e. HB 4961 - Detroit River Crossing Bridge) and allow the Canadians and MDOT to take over all of Detroit.
Oh yes. We have such an excellent class of bureaucrats involved in this sort of market manipulation....errr....planning. Think of it as a jobs retention program for bureaucrats. God forbid we lose their knowledge base to another state.
Let's imagine that I moved in on your block and said, "You all are going to have to start paying me money." And I am a big guy and individually you are all a bunch of wimps, so you just knuckle under and pay at my knock on the door each week. But funny how each week you are complaining about how business is down and can I cut you some slack, and some of you have put up your properties for sale.....and no-one seems anxious to buy them. And some of you have even gone out of business altogether and have moved across town to a block that is not "controlled". So now, my revenue is down and I can't cut those who are left any slack, in fact, to keep up the same level of revenue, I now demand that each of the remaining businesses play more. This story has played out for thousands of years, generally ending in violence perpetrated by the "governor" whether it is Ramesses II against the Israelites, the Genovese Crime Family, or elected "so called" representatives.
I think people in Lansing should take care of the schools in Lansing and people in Ann Arbor can figure out what they need to do if they are not running like Lansing and DC, like crack-heads to the dope dealer, to get another hour of rock on credit. Every crackhead I knew would tell you that doing that lead to 1 of 2 options. If they were a guy, they were going to end up "selling rock for rock", and if they were a girl they were going to end up "walking the block for rock". So locally, our school districts are now a bunch of whores working for pimps and pushers.
Nice shell game that the public and the media, fell for there. Or maybe most did not fall for it as they knew it was a corrupt game, they just thought they had an angle - like those who lent, sold, borrowed, underwrote and in any way participated in the sub-prime mortgage game. Shame on all of you.
Michigan has reached the tipping point where a whole "productive" class of people and industry cannot justify the cost of locating to or maintaining a location in Michigan, knowing the social welfare structure that they and the business will be required to support. Logical analysis concludes that they will not be able to compete in a global marketplace the way a business located in N. Carolina, Texas, Mumbai or Bejing will be able to compete. The only option for such business is to use the threat of another such suitor to entice the State of Michigan to offer them special incentives which further erode the overall Michigan tax base and place a greater burden on the companies already in Michigan. It is a vortex and the only way out of it is to radically reduce State spending across the board.....or bankruptcy, which I think is necessary to reduce future obligations which are not mathematically payable.
No. Michigan should continue to use public resources to protect a privileged class that has manipulated the laws of the state for their own private gain.
Having observed politics for more than 30 years, I no longer believe that electing representatives and sending them to Lansing or Washington will make any difference. As pure of heart as they may have been while in our communities, they become a different beast once initiated into the seats of power and care more of how they are though of within the halls of power than how they are known to those who live on their Main Street.
I always thanked Ron Paul for running, even though he and everyone else knew that he was not going to win. His being on the ballot gave my political beliefs a potency that they did not have so long as there was no candidate with such beliefs on the ballot.
11/2 Jeff Irwin and Rebekah Warren will represent Ann Arbor in Michigan House and Senate
10/22 Christine Green and Mark Ouimet lead the way, spend $108,000 in latest campaign finance reports
10/15 Republican Rob Steele a no-show at candidate forum, but John Dingell still finds a strong critic
9/29 Ann Arbor Republican Chase Ingersoll takes stage alone in 53rd District state House debate
Meet the candidates and watch hot races in your Voters Guide
Canham Natatorium is one of the University of Michigan's venues that athletic director Dave Brandon would like to renovate. Melanie ......
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