Land of Oz

Third World States

Yeah, it's been awhile, but I'm getting back on my blogging horse again.

An article in the Detroit Free Press tells that Detroit students have scored a record low in test scores. The state has the highest unemployment of the United States. More people are leaving the state than ever before (no wonder). I wonder if Detroit has a political office that isn't corrupt and stealing people's money. The whole state is based on an industry that can't seem to figure out how to build a good economical car, and is slowly dissolving into a government-backed organization that keep even keep a boss in office for more than a few months.

And it's not just Detroit. Flint has decided to just bulldoze parts of the city and turn them into parks. The houses are empty except for crack heads and meth labs and feral dogs roam the city in packs. Most of the city of Saginaw looks like a set from an end-of-the-world movie and the gangs run rampant on the east side - and they're slowing working their way into the west side. The law doesn't seem to be able to help. This summer a man rescuing a woman was literally torn to shreds by pit bulls and the dogs owners have yet to go to trial, while he spends more time in an operating room than Tiger does on a golf course. There are "after-hour clubs" in Saginaw that are sink holes of crime and the city is powerless to close them.

Michigan is rapidly becoming a third world state. And now we're sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. A country in name only where they've been fighting each other and strangers for hundreds of years. Why bother? As much as I think we need to be a truly global nation, we really need to spend some time cleaning up our own messes. And why not start with Michigan. And no, I have no idea what to do with us - I'm hoping there's smarter people out there than me who do.

Labels: government, michigan

Taser or 9mm

Here in Michigan over the last few weeks two teenagers were killed when police used Tasers on them. Naturally the kid's families are up in arms. However, they need to look at both sides here. All I know from the news is that the police used a Taser on one drunk teenager resisting and one teenager who resisted while being searched and detained after a car and foot chase -- and that's about all the details I know. Both families are talking about lawsuits and police brutality.

Here's my take on the situations. One is that a being teenager doesn't make you a helpless weakling. Even if they don't have a concealed weapon, a teenager is strong enough to do real harm to another person - even an adult policeman. Both the teenagers were resisting which means they were fighting back. The police have to deal with people everyday who plan on doing some harm to the police or the public at large. The policeman's job is to control the situation, not act as jury. There's no way a policeman can tell if the teenager is just having a bad day, or has just come from a Columbine shooting and has a .357 tucked in his waistband - and he shouldn't have to take that chance.

The way I see it, the police have several options. They can let the poor little teenager go and hope he isn't on his way to a massacare. They can wrestle him to the ground and hope he isn't carrying a razor or a needle full of infected blood. They can shoot him with a firearm. In real-life people don't shoot to wound, they shoot to hit. In the heat of a fight, you're lucky to hit the target at all, let alone shooting him in the arm. Or they can do what they did in these cases and use a Taser. In this case the suspects died, but I'm betting there's a lot more folks survive a taser than survive a 9mm in the stomach.

I feel the sorry for the kids, but I'm glad there's cops out there putting it on line for me and my wife. If my wife is getting assaulted in a parking lot I'm hoping there's a cop near by with a Taser or a 9mm and isn't afraid to use either one.

Labels: crime, michigan

Neighbors

We got a new neighbor who moved in a couple of months ago. He's really not a bad sort, but he does a lot of stupid things that really don't fit in the neighborhood. The house he bought (at nearly list) had one of the best lawns in the area - now it looks like a hayfield. He has this huge riding lawn mower, waits for the grass to get high, then scalps it down and leaves the cut stuff sitting there. There was one pile about 8" high and 8' long in his driveway for a month.

As soon as he moved in he put in a fence. Naturally for the three (large) dogs he has. I've had more than a few evenings ruined by his beasts barking for hours on end. While the stupid dogs could be worse, I shouldn't have to plan my outside time around his. And one dog pretty regularly runs loose. We've planted some shrubs to hopefully block the view of his fence and yard and dogs.

He has two cats that spend more time pooping and peeing in my yard than they do in his yard. And they love checking out my bird feeders. I keep hoping one of my other neighbors will shoot them.

He rarely sorts his trash for recycling. Our area had a cut in trash fees last year because so many people do recycle.

He parks his car in his back yard. He's got a pretty nice set of ruts across the front yard (not that he cares about his yard) where he pulls it in.

His kids keeps their car in the street where the snowplows have to work around them.

The last time he plowed his driveway, he scalped about a two-three square foot of sod up and has never put it back down. Of course this week we had a new snow that buried his sod and he doesn't seem to shovel his drive.

Another new neighbor on the other side of me told me, "I'm glad you live between him and me." One of the older neighbors across the street mentioned she couldn't understand why they moved here.

This guy has cars in his backyard, his yard looks a mess, he parks just about anywhere and he has three dogs who bark too often and snarl quite viciously when I walk past their fence. While we do live somewhat in the country, it's still a subdivision. This guy should have bought some house farther out in the boondocks where he could be the unthinking slob he strives to be.

Labels: freedom, gripes, michigan

VA

I gripe an awful lot here, but once in awhile I do give an attaboy. I'd like to give one to the Veterans Affairs hospital in Saginaw (Aleda E. Lutz VA Medical Center). While I normally use a civilian doctor - mostly just annual checkups - I have used this VA hospital off and on over the years. When I first retired here, I was going to school and used the hospital for a few health odds and ends. Some eye stuff, a heart workup and some other problems. I never had any less that excellent care from everyone here.

The last couple of months brought me to the VA again. A few weeks ago, I managed to put a 2" brad through my finger with an air gun. Luckily it missed all the important stuff and healed pretty much on its own. I did however head down the VA emergency room to have it looked at where I got a tetanus shot. I was seen quickly and professionally. Today I went down for a flu shot. When I arrived there was a sign saying they were on lunch until 12:30 which was another 30 minutes. The welcome desk made a call, and directed me down to another office where I quickly (and painlessly!!! - really!) got my flu shot.

This place really does good work.

Labels: government, michigan

Government Bailouts

First let me say that I think the government does have a role in helping out society. I lean towards a certain socialist program in things like health care, mass transit, education and the like. I'm not however so sure of the government's role as a business bailout well. It's one thing to dump a few billion into better meals at schools, but something else altogether to dump those billions into a rundown factory. And we are talking a bunch of billions here.

Like, billions and billions, all the way up to trillions actually, of dollars being tossed around as part of Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) - (To Any Rooting Pig). AIG insurance just got another $40 billion for a total of around $150B (as near as I can tell anyway). The automotive folks want $25B on top of the $25B they already got and I just read that Detroit is looking for $10B. Something like $250B of the TARP funds are going to 67 banks.

American Express (who keep sending me credit card applications) wants $3.5B and Fannie Mae wants even more over the $100B they already got since they lost $29B this quarter. Just how much money can the government (who is us, by the way) keep shoveling into companies who are running into the ground?

I personally don't have a clue here. It doesn't seem right to keep pouring billions into a failing business. To me, since it's failing, it must be doing something fundamentally wrong. On the other hand, it sucks because while the CEO will make out no matter what, the peons working the assembly lines and manning the phones are well and truly fucked when the company goes under. And since they're out of money they won't be spending any to buy other stuff which means more companies going under. It kind of makes you wonder how anyone survived the olden days when credit was as unavailable as it is now (said oozing with sarcasm and irony). In the mid-seventies I had a hard time getting a credit card - and that was while in the USAF making steady money. Now I probably shred half-a-dozen credit card applications a week, and I in 1996 going back to college, fellow students - with no real job - had credit cards to burn. But with saving account interest rates at 1 percent or under, why would anyone save.

Labels: government, michigan

Home Store

OK, I spend a lot of time complaining about stores here, so I thought I'd say something nice for a change. We moved almost out in the country this year. The ironic thing is that after a move from a city to the suburbs we are now within walking distance of some pretty nice places.

Pat's is a combination hardware/grocery/dollar store. The grocery store is Spartan based and the hardware store is Doitbest based. It's about 15 minutes away. The service is very good and the quality of groceries is pretty good as well. Prices range from OK to low to expensive. As a penny-pincher, I've had really good luck with their reduce priced meats.

The hardware store is well supplied although with prices somewhat higher than the big-box stuff. And unfortunately the level of knowledge is about the same as the big-box places. There's one or two older workers who know what is going on, but there's also a couple of younger ones who are totally clueless. Overall, though, it's a nice place to shop and of course, being only 15 minutes walk away, very handy.

There's also a couple of nice places to eat within a couple blocks of Pats for when we get tired of cooking. The Second Street Sports Pub is just what the name sounds like, a small sports related bar. I usually go early on a weekend when it isn't too crowded. They have a very good BLT, that unfortunately was left off the new menu, but can still be ordered.

Another place is Antonio's, an Italian eatery. It's basic mid-west cooking, no fancy Italian stuff, but they offer pizza, spaghetti, lasagna along with burgers and a pretty good breakfast. Nothing fancy, but nice prices and good helpings. Just up the road is the Log Cabin, which to be honest, I have been afraid to go into. Most of the time there's a load of bikers parked outside, so I've just decided to leave it alone. A few blocks further, almost out of walking distance is the Riverside Restaurant. It caters to the older crowd, but is always busy and has good prices and average American food. We don't go here too often, but the pies are pretty good and I've heard the bread pudding is great.

Most everyone around here is nice and friendly and I really like that. A little bit of Leave it to Beaver or Happy Days come to life.

Labels: food, michigan, rave

Joe Six-Pack

And I'm not talking about abs here. I've heard that Palin considers herself to be a Joe Six-Pack kind of person. One of us she thinks. According to her, it's about time us fellow six-packers were represented in the Oval office. Look around you. Think about the fellow six-packers you know. Do you really want of those Bud swilling, pick up driving, Copenhagen chewing folks to be leading the county?

Newsweek: On the phone from McCain's retreat in Sedona, Palin replied: "I think they're just not used to someone coming in from the outside saying, 'You know what? It's time that normal Joe Six-Pack American is finally represented in the position of vice presidency.'

In some ways, I consider myself an elitist snob. I'll drink a six-pack, but it's more often Becks than Bud. My choice of radio station tends to play Celtic and Classical more than Top 40. I don't have cable and would rather spend time in a library or museum than at a NASCAR track. I did make it through high school and college and can actually find my home state and England and Italy on a map. OK, I know finding Michigan on a map is cheating compared to finding West Virginia or Arkansas, but you get the idea.

However, my roots are definitely Joe Six-Pack. My dad drank Pfeiffer or PBR. I grew up on a farm with two dogs, a cat and a John Deere tractor. My childhood hero was John Wayne and I still love to shoot guns and make knives.

However, given that background, I assure I don't want a Joe Six-Pack kind of guy (or gal) running my country. I'd much rather have a well-educated, well-traveled individual who realizes that close proximity to the Bering Straits doesn't make them a Russian expert. And I really don't want someone who figures it's god's will to go to war because the other side's god doesn't like our god.

Labels: government, michigan

Rockwell to Hopper

A couple of my favorite painters are a pretty good example of how I'm feeling right now about our new house. Up until a couple of weeks ago, it was like living in a Norman Rockwell painting. Cool neighbors, little kids playing in the street, and beautiful back yards. Then the new guy moved in. I suppose you have to bear in mind that before him, we were one of the new guys.

I got home and the first thing I noticed was the beginnings of a chain link fence. There aren't that many fences around here. It turned out he had three big dogs. The previous owner of his house was a lawn fanatic. Lawn treatments, lots of watering, mowing in precise patterns and times. I always felt a bit ashamed that my lawn was barely average. Not bad, mind you, but not all that great.

The new guy managed to turn it into a hayfield in about a month. I think he's mowed it twice (he has a huge John Deere riding mower - I have a push reel mower) and leaves the grass as is. After this weekend's mowing, you can no longer see the lawn for the dried out cut grass. At least the dogs are somewhat quiet - so far. We bought some holly bushes to try and hide our view of his dogs and fence - oh, and did I mention the broken car he parks in his back yard? It's a Triumph, but still... And he keeps his garbage cans outside his garage next to our house.

I hate to say it, but this weekend for the first time since we moved here, our Sunday papers were missing. Not only ours, but at least four other households in the neighborhood. You can imagine who my suspect is - even though that isn't fair to him. So much for Mr. Rockwell's view of life. Now we're back to Hopper and his bleak views of strangers never looking at each other. Sigh...

Labels: crime, michigan

Election

Right now, all I see are bad choices for president. I can't decide who is the lesser evil. Everytime I do, something changes and makes my choice worse. Since this has happened a few times now, my opinions of the candidates just keeps getting worse. It doesn't help that the majority of their ads keep telling us how bad the other person is and say nothing about what they, themselves plan on doing.

First I was going to vote Democratic, until the Democrats decided they didn't need voters from my state (Michigan) to vote. So I voted in the primary for a Republican. Then the Republican I voted for lost. I thought about the Democrats again, but I really don't trust Hillary.

Once she lost, I was leaning towards the Democrats again, but some of their positions, especially in gun control, really bothered me, so I leaned towards the Republicans again in spite of some of their positions like war and privacy.

Then the Republicans were born again with Palin and I crossed them off my list. She has a way-to-strong leaning towards a theocratic form of government for me. I'd have a gun, but there'd be so many god-fearing pregnant teenagers running around, I'd be afraid to use it. So I figured it'd be best to give up some rights to maybe win others more important that Democrats support like health and welfare issues.

Now I see Barbra Streisand is supporting the common man Obama with a dinner that costs $28,500 a person (that'd better be a damn good meal), followed by a later event that will cost an additional $2,500. You'd think they include the additional event with the $28,500. And I thought I was splurging when I ate at Outback using a $25 for $20 gift card! I'm not too sure I want to vote for a party where Streisand and her ilk have no problem coughing up $31,000 for dinner and a dance.

Labels: celebs, government, michigan

Detroit

What a difference three months can make. Here's two images of Christine Beatty. She's the woman involved in the Detroit mayor fiasco. Mayor Kilpatrick has been the major name in the news, but he wouldn't be in a mess (at least this particular mess) without her. Not that I'm saying either one is less guilty than the other. Based on the below pictures, she doesn't look like she's had a peaceful couple of months.

July 2008	September 2008

Labels: crime, government, michigan

Labour Day

From a Time story:

This Labor Day finds workers in worse shape than they've been in years, according to a scorecard released Monday by Rutgers University. ...more than 10 percent of Americans are unemployed, ... "But there are some bright spots long term," Kruse said, including improvements in workplace safety, a small but growing percentage of employers offering support for childcare and employee wellness programs...

Well, so far, so good for me. It is a Labour Day to celebrate. I have a good job, a good wife, and a good home. Too bad, everyone can't say the same. In my neck of the woods, Saginaw, Michigan and its environs, all the bad stuff of life is high and climbing. Jobs, housing, and crime all pretty much suck.

I now live in a little pocket of Americana, that is still hanging in there. It's a small community with nice neighbors, low crime and easy access to shopping and restaurants. Mind you, it's a pretty small assortment of shopping and eating, but it's within walking distance. This weekend, I got up Saturday, worked around the house, walked to get a haircut, then walked over to a nice local bar - no gunfire or drunks, and then on the way home, stopped to pickup some stuff at the hardware and dollar store. All within a 30 minute round-trip walk.

Not too many miles south of here is an array of closed and abandoned homes, factories and businesses. GM bailed and nothing really replaced it. An article in today's paper showed a closed auto plant that not too long ago that was one of GM's empire that employed 30,000 local folks at good wages. Now there's WalMart and Wendys for $7 an hour. There's a little hope. There's some new high-tech manufacturing moving in. We've got a silicon refiner, and there's talk of a wind power manufacturer moving in. Dow is talking about some expansion and the medical community is going great guns.

If any companies are reading this (never can tell...), you should really pay some attention to this area. Mid-Michigan. Land is cheap, there's a low cost of living and a pretty good bunch of prospective employees waiting for a job. There's a commercial airport nearby, and access to the Great Lakes for shipping. The weather is great - not really too hot or too cold. No earthquakes and a pretty reliable source of water nearby. OK, yeah, we have the occasional tornado, but nothing's perfect. Come on down and bring your jobs with you.

Labels: michigan

Detroitblog

Here is a very cool collection of essays on Detroit. It explores and displays what's left of the glorious past of Detroit. At the same time, it emphasizes what is happening now. This guy has a way with words and pictures to show what's left of what once was. Boarded up wrecks still show flashes of old-time elegance among the winos and drug addicts. This guy brings it to life. It must have been quite amazing to wander the streets of prewar Detroit. For all our accomplishments and advances of today, those days of the 19-teens had some cultural significance that is a major loss.

Like most cities, especially those of the midwest, much of Detroit is collapsing upon itself. What was once known as MoTown and was at one time the center of automotive excellence is now a festering expanse of abandoned and dying neighborhoods and retail areas. Sure, I know there are new developments going on, but much of Detroit looks like the aftermath of a war. A couple of times when I've had to drive there, I made a wrong turn or looked out while motoring down the expressway and have seen buildings and people that are boarded up and have given up. Flint and Saginaw are part and parcel of that metropolitan disease of abandonment to crime and apathy. It is really sad to see just how far Michigan has fallen.

Labels: gripes, michigan, oldies

Stuff

Crime

This week a black car drove by a house in town three times over a couple of hours shooting a different kid on each drive-by. One lady in the area was on the news complaining about the violence and how her kid was shot and killed just last year. Police have no leads because no one will cooperate. Lady; as long people follow that stupid no snitch crap, your kids and neighbors will keep getting shot.

Sales

I stopped at my local Home Depot to pick up some gutter downspout material. After first checking to see they had some (there were five stacked and I need four) I returned after work to pick them up. Four of those were broken so I could only pick up one.

Hummingbirds

In the last couple of weeks I've finally seen hummingbirds in the wild - on our deck. I watched a male buzz and sip at our hummingbird feeder and then watched the female ignore the feeder for some lavendar flowers my wife had planted. They are the coolest birds ever.

Frogs

Two nights ago as I was watching a DVD from Netflix, while taking a break from cooking beans. I happened to look out the window and saw a rather large frog clinging to the screen - strange. Did I mention all the tiny toads that scatter every time I open our garden shed?

Hoppin' John

Our company recently had a July 4th shindig and I volunteered to bring in some Hoppin' John (see the recipe here). That morning I put it in the back of my car and navigated 11.3 miles of the 11.4 to work of neighborhood roads, four-lane highways, and a shopping street stretch of stoplights and potholes. As I braked into my parking spot at work, the slow cooker rolled over and spilled beans and rice all over the trunk.

Mosquitos

Ye gads and little tadpoles! There are a bunch of shin loving mosquitoes running rampant around our little country home. I read where Chicago has five times their normal allotment and water-logged Iowa has hundreds of times more. Here in wet Michigan, all I know is that they are hungry.

Manual Lawn Mowers

No - not as in gas powered, but pushed. But as no gas or electric. I have a Scott reel lawn mower (bought a few years ago) I use on our lawn (under .24 acres). With the amount of grass we have to cut it takes me just under an hour to do the front and back. The only drawbacks are it doesn't do well with wet grass, and it doesn't do well with long grass. Best advantages? It's very quiet and doesn't smell of gas and oil, oh, and people keep stopping me to ask about it, as in, "Wow, I haven't seen one of those since..."

Labels: michigan, misc

Ethics

Gosh, another scandal strikes the Obama campaign. It seems one of his staffers did naughty things with a mortgage company. Gee - willickers, who would've guessed. Have you noticed that a lot of people, not just politicians by the way, find a lot things just fine to do, until they get caught doing it?

Obama seems to have no problem dropping anyone who comes up negative once that person is outed. He thought it was perfectly fine to go to a church for twenty years, but all of sudden dropped it as being wrong. Just like the guy somewhat earlier who just happened to get Obama a good deal on a house and connected lot back in Chicago - not that any political shenanigans go on in Chicago.

Governor Spitzer's another dude who while passing legislation against hookers was using them. And what about that wide stance dude from the Northwest? Oops, I'll bet he doesn't support much legislation against shorter stall walls.

Non political ethics...
Which are sucking as well. Yes, I understand that people are paying more and making less and I'm one of those. But! Why on earth are people stealing everything now? I just read where farmers are getting ripped off big time by diesel fuel chiefs. And those goddamn metal thieves are running rampant. This past week they've stolen crosses, flower pots and medals from graveyards. Not to mention a roof from a mausoleum.

Around here, they're cutting catalytic converters off cars parked in apartment complexes, air conditioners from offices, and copper water pipe right out of the walls of houses. A new hotel going up near here had 22 flat screen TVs stolen to the tune of $24,000.

And then there's the real idiots who do armed robbery of 7/11s and dollar stores. If you're going to risk going to jail, at least do something worth the time - $50 at a 7/11 isn't one of them. And I'll bet these robbers would be the first to gripe after being tased by a policeman. And in this case, I much prefer a cop using a .45 to put one of these guys down than bothering with a taser. By the way, does it cost more to tase a guy or shoot them?

Labels: crime, government, michigan

The American Worker

There's a company in Michigan, American Axle, that has been on strike for several weeks. Here's some of what they end up agreeing to: workers who were once eligible for 200 hours would top out at 160 hours of vacation time; holiday bonus: cut from $1,000 a year to $500; holidays; Five fewer; cost of living: new hires are not eligible; shift premium: Reduced from 5% and 10% for second and third shifts, respectively, to 55 cents and 80 cents per hour; breaks: Cut from two, 23-minute breaks to two, 15-minute breaks.

For instance, a skilled-trades worker who was paid about $33 an hour, including a cost of living increase in the last contract, would see their pay drop about $7, to $26 an hour. That buy-down would be about $55,600. Some pay is dropping down to $10 an hour.

And all this in a time when food and fuel are skyrocketing.

Labels: gripes, michigan

The 'creaking' US airline industry

Like much of America these days, the airline industry feels tired, worn down, and old.
That is surprising in a country that often likes to think of itself as the best.
Arguably, it once was, but the airline industry - like the health system, like schools, roads - you name it, feels like it is just creaking along and leaving its passengers ever more frustrated.

That's a recent quote from a BBC reporter.

That should bother you, assuming you're an American, quite a bit. Not that it should surprise you, just bother you. If you read this very often, you'll see I've already talked about the 30% graduation rate in Detroit's schools. Half of this city looks like a set from Dawn of the Dead with abandoned buildings and weed covered lots - and that's downtown. A road here in Saginaw recently won a statewide competition for the biggest pothole. Also here in Saginaw we just finished a trial where a bunch of teenagers were convicted of murdering a 14 month old kid in a drive by shooting. Every street around the area has houses on sale - and some of those have their copper pipe or aluminum siding stolen and sold.

Yeah, we've got people doing good stuff here, but there is so much doom and gloom. It seems like for every teenager who works for Habitat for Humanity there's three others who are dealing guns and drugs. Did I mention the 75 college kids recently busted for drug dealing in one college in California this week? How about the three cops who were videoed beating up some suspect? Yep, we have our postal service running a charity drive this weekend while at the same time they have to stop service to some homes because it's too dangerous to deliver mail. Think about that - it's too dangerous for a mailman to deliver a letter in broad daylight.

What the hell is going on?

Labels: crime, government, gripes, michigan

Weekend shootings kill 6, wound 23

Nope, not Baghdad or Tibet, or even Detroit. This weekend it's the idiots in Chicago who have nothing better to do that shoot each other. I read that last summer, the My Kind of Town city had 23 shootings every weekend. Not my kind, I'll tell you. And the headline just below it? More felons allowed to enlist in Army, Marines. I guess they figure they need more people from Chicago and Detroit to serve. I can remember when having a misdemeanor meant having problems getting in - although that was the Air Force, which coincidently perhaps, was just blamed for not doing its fair share in Iraq - as if they can decide when and where to protect the USofA on their own??

And on a related issue, it seems like Michigan finally has an industry where, unlike the automotive industry, has more customers than they know what to do with. It's nice to know that once again Michigan is in the top ten rate for violent crimes and incarceration rates. And considering that half the state is woods, that's saying something.

Labels: crime, michigan

President

This year's election is the pits. My original plan was to vote Democratic. However, I live in Michigan and the Democrats decided that Michigan voters don't really count. That got me to thinking why should I vote for a party that has already decided to abandon us Michigan voters? That leaves the Republicans (let's face it, we don't have a multi-party system). That party's leader has gotten so Big Brother thinking, that they downright scare me. Can McCain be better - or will he continue the police state we're working up to. After all, he has said he sees the war going on for another hundred years.

Even if the Democrats hadn't abandoned us, these two candidates are scary. One compares herself to a war-story telling combat vet - that not only pisses me off, it disgusts me. Sniper fire indeed. Before that, there's just something about her, that bothers me. I can't really put my finger on it, but there's no way I'd vote for her. It's not that she's a woman, I did vote for Ferraro in '84. And being Clinton doesn't bother me, I did vote for her sometimes husband.

The other Democrat bothers me as well. As much as I hate to say it, I'm sure race has something to do with that. Ever since leaving the USAF and moving into Saginaw, my racial outlook has been deteriorating amidst shootings, drug deals and arsons. But that's not all it is. The fact that Obama can follow a hate-preaching, anti-American preacher for twenty years and then dump him once the preacher becomes a vote hindrance really bothers me. Do I believe Obama's past twenty years of belief, or his past twenty weeks. I'm not too pleased with Obama's choice of realtors either.

On a practical side, I don't think he has much in the way of political or life experience. Granted, the current President shows you don't need much knowledge to be president, but I'm hoping for a change to something better.

There you have it. The three current candidates; none of whom I'm really forward to as the leader of our country. Maybe I'll just move to Taiwan with my wife under President Ma.

Labels: government, michigan

Politics Suck

The noble profession known as politics. What a bunch of choices we have this year.

We have one dude who has been listening to some preacher bad mouth the USofA for 20 years, and just now decided that's a bad thing - ooh, do you think now being an election year has any bearing on his feelings?

We also have a dame who can't remember the difference between running across an airfield under sniper fire and greeting some little kid in front of TV cameras. Oh yeah, she also claims to have brokered the Irish peace treaty - more or less; or at least had a lot to do with that, or heard of it anyway.

There's another dude who plans on a 100 year Iraqi war. And the way that party has been going for the past eight years, may just end up with a thousand year Reich instead.

We have a current president who wasn't aware gasoline prices were approaching $4 a gallon and thinks thousands of foreclosures and major banks going bankrupt make for "interesting times."

The vice-president, who is in power to serve the people of this country, when told the people don't think the war in Iraq is a good thing says, "So?"

There's a mayor in my home state who feels he's been sent by god to lead the city and just coincidently has no problem with committing adultery. He also apologized to his wife and the city for the act, which he also claims he didn't do.

There's a governor who got caught with his, er, stuff, in a (more than one?) prostitution ring - at $4,500 a night, or over $80,000, and was replaced with a fine upstanding politician who immediately confessed to having several affairs - and so did his wife. I wonder who apologizes to who in that case. Oh, did I mention this shiny new governor also confesses to using heroin and coke?

Isn't it nice we have such an all-American, apple-pie clean sport like baseball to fall back on?

Labels: crime, government, gripes, michigan

Michigan and the Democrats

"I am here for one simple reason: to make sure Michigan's votes are counted and your voices are heard in this election," the New York senator [Clinton] said.

I find it interesting that when she was favored earlier, she didn't much mind that the Democrats had written off what Michigan had to say about the candidates. I don't know the entire story behind this mess, but as I understand, someone in Michigan decided to hold the state's primaries early and the Democratic party said, "screw you," and we don't care what the Michigan people think so we're going to use your representatives as we see fit.

Now that it's a couple of months later and Hilary needs to scrape up some delegates to stay in the race, she's all of sudden decided that Michigan should really vote - again.

P.S. I had planned to vote Democratic in the primary until the Democrats decided they didn't care what I thought. I'll probably just go ahead and vote for Ru Paul now. At least there's no confusion there.

Labels: government, michigan

Directions

Why do they make directions so complicated. I live in an area called Freeland, that is between the cities of Midland, Bay City and Saginaw Michigan. There's a couple of ways to get from where we live to Midland, but the road names make no sense. Some examples:

One road you take to get to Freeland is called Freeland Road, except when it's in Freeland, where it's called Washington. Then from the Freeland/Washington Road, you turn north on Midland road to go to Midland, but on the way there, you have to turn off the road you're on to stay on Midland Road, which becomes Saginaw Road. Which if you drive it long enough, goes from South Saginaw, to North Saginaw and as you get farther west, becomes East Saginaw road - all the time get farther away from Saginaw City and County. Eventually, it becomes West Saginaw Road, before changing back into North Saginaw Road until if changes into East Railway Street.

And by the way, when you're southbound on Midland Road, it turns into State Street unless you turn off of it to stay on Midland Road.

Labels: driving, michigan

Detroit schools grad rate: 32%

That is the number of ninth graders who graduate in four years in Detroit's schools. For males, it's 25%. I'm pretty sure Saginaw isn't far behind - or for that matter may be leading. That has to be one of the major problems not only in Michigan, but any other state as well. If education was improved, I think that much of the bad stuff in Michigan would decrease. You just don't get that many college, or even high school grads, knocking over 7/11 stores.

More jobs for the state? Why are companies going to come to a state where the majority of kids in its biggest city can't complete high school? If they can't figure out how to make it through high school, how can they be expected to hold a job any more complicated than flipping burgers? (How often have you seen that person behind the counter befuddled as you hand them a twenty, a one and three cents for a $6.03 bill - or if you do mess up a penny, they hand you 4 singles and 99 cents in change?)

However, check out the Detroit News or the Detroit Free Press and more often than not, you'll find sports news the number one or two article in the front page. For a month, the headlines should read, 34 Dropouts Today! instead of some steroid-using baseball player and his bazillion dollar salary who's unhappy with his team's treatment of him. Nothing promotes education like some drug-using baseball player who makes $1.7 million a season throwing a ball around.

Labels: crime, government, michigan

Foreclosures

Big, big news lately. And today, yet another government program to save those in foreclosure has been announced. Now I don't mean to sound cold-hearted, but some of those folks shouldn't get saved. They were greedy and stupid. We recently went through a bout of home looking. It's amazing the kind of house we could've bought. And I don't mean because we could've gotten a much higher mortgage - although we could have. And I also think that getting a mortgage too big is what put a lot of these folks in the hole in the first place.

Because the housing market is so bad in this area, there are a lot of low-cost (relatively) and foreclosed houses on the market. We looked at a couple over 3000 square feet that probably could have been bought for under $200,000. We also looked at some real nice homes near $200,000 that we could have easily purchased.

It's not all price and square feet (or meters) that should be included in the purchase plan. One of the things I thought of when looking at the +3,000 sq. ft. of empty rooms was what I'd have to pay to heat and maintain it. The realtor said $140 a month for utilities - right. My wife thought about how much we'd have to pay to furnish that castle. Let's face it; a 3000 sq. ft. house is going to take about twice as much furnishings as a 1600 sq. ft. house (which is what we ended up with). Cathedral ceilings are nice but why pay to heat those upper ten feet or so where no one is.

So I wonder just what kind of ideas were going on in the minds of the folks who are looking at mortgage payments they can no longer afford. Do that many people get into a mortgage not knowing what they will have to pay in three, or five, or seven years? Or did they just figure, since I can get the mortgage, I must be able to afford the mortgage. To be honest, the house we are now in, a nice 1600 sq. ft. normal house, is definitely cheaper than we could have ultimately bought. But it is also definitely one that we can afford.

Labels: government, gripes, michigan, scams

Michigan Woes

If Michigan doesn't have enough problems, the biggest city has a mayor who also figures on creating a theocracy. This is the same mayor who was just exposed as lying to a grand jury about his extramarital affair with his chief of staff (who has resigned). I just read an article that states "The mayor said that he believes he is on assignment from God to run the city of Detroit and he has no plans to resign."

Man, who's god is this guy praying to? It must be a new god who support playing around on your wife and the chain of command. I haven't seen any ethic regulations from city hall, not that it seems it matters, but usually screwing around with your underlings (and yes, take the sentence however you wish to) isn't normally considered one of the better business practices. These god quoting hypocrites piss me off to no end.

Labels: government, gripes, michigan

Michigan the Leader Again

Story from Forbes about "America's Most Miserable Cities":

Detroit in the top spot, with its sister city Flint ranked third, is probably not a great shock.

Once again Michigan hits the top of a list and once again the list sucks. Actually, if you're one of those with a fairly decent job and don't live in one of the big cities, Michigan is a pretty cool state to live in. The scenery is great with lots of green big trees and blue water all over and the climate isn't actually that bad. Sure you can live in the Upper Peninsula you can wade through several feet of snow at a time or see regular below zero temps, but all-in-all, it's not bad.

The Flint area really has great weather. We get snow, but not usually a lot. It gets hot and humid in the summer, but not really for long. And it's cold in the winter, but again, the serious cold doesn't last. I don't know about you, but having four seasons is pretty neat. And no earthquakes, mud slides or forest fires around here to worry about either. We do have wild fires now and then, but honestly nothing to really worry about.

If we could just get the kids from killing themselves off and manage to move a few more jobs into the area, it would be pretty close to a perfect place to live.

Labels: gripes, michigan

My Hero

One of the rooms (our computer room) in our new house has some strange acoustics. For whatever reason sounds from certain areas outside are much louder in this room that anywhere else, including outside. For example, when they are plowing snow on the highway (about .6 miles away) it often sounds like the plow is right outside the window. Same with a local dog. You can't hear it bark from any other room and can hardly hear it from outside the house, yet it comes in clear in the computer room. I think part of if may be the way the gable vent is situated and another might be the fact that there is an almost completely clear corridor from the computer room window to the highway (tracing it out on Google earth).

Anyway, the important thing in this story is that the other day my wife was in the computer room when she heard someone yelling for help. She first looked to see if it was the radio or TV, then looked out all the windows around our house. She thought it was kids playing. Finally she put her coat on (it was about 24F yesterday) and went outside to see what was going on. It turned out that the grandmother of the neighbors across the street had fallen on the ice and couldn't get up. She had been yelling for help for almost a half-hour. My wife managed to help them out getting her up and on her feet, by contacting the daughter and another neighbor. I'm not saying someone wouldn't have heard her sooner or later, but my wife sure helped shorten the time and get things helped out.

Her daughter in the house the grandmother was just outside of couldn't hear her and neither could the neighbor right next door who was home; but my wife across the street in the house sitting in front of computer with a fan running could. These aren't cheek-by-jowl city houses either. There are two large lawns and vehicles and a street between our two houses.

My wife doesn't think she did too much, but she easily could have saved the lady from getting frostbite or even freezing to death. An older woman on the ground in sub-freezing weather doesn't really have a lot of time.

Labels: michigan, rave

Michigan's Primary

Politics is so full of crap. It's very unfortunate that politicians are needed -- in all their backstabbing, lying, two-faced ways. Politicians have to lie - it's the way they work. Unfortunately, that means you can't trust them any further than you can through a railway car full of crap. You have to wonder if any of them even know what they themselves actually think after a campaign. Almost all of them promise to decrease taxes and increase services - bullshit - it can't be done. Somewhere the money has to be found to pay for stuff. You may not pay it in a tax next time, but rest assured, you will pay for it. Want your house tax to decrease? No problem, but be prepared to pay more for trash pickup and water delivery. Want cheaper taxes on gasoline? No problem, but look for higher tolls on bridges and more expenses to fix your car after hitting a pothole.

I do find it interesting that the Democrats have basically written off Michigan from their slate. It seems there's some powerplay among the Democratic party that has effectively cancelled the Democratic presidential primary from the state's elections. It's as if they've decided that Michigan is so screwed up now, they don't even what to appear to try to fix it.

My letter to the local newspaper:

I used to tend to vote for Democratic candidates. But now that Michigan is among the top states in crime, foreclosures, unemployment and other problems, it seems the Democrats have decided that the opinions of Michigan in the upcoming presidential election aren't worth bothering with. Well, I can think of other things that aren't worth bothering with as well, like the Democratic candidates.

From a story about the Michigan primary in the BBC World News: "Michigan and its main city Detroit used to be famous for making cars. But it now has the highest unemployment rate in the US." It's nice to know how the world now thinks of us.

Labels: government, gripes, michigan

US Auto Makers

I don't have the best economic mind in the world. In fact, my economic sense is pretty crappy. I can buy an old truck for $600, put a couple of hundred bucks worth of parts in it and then sell it for $100. My housing sense isn't a lot better. However, compared to Ford, I'm a wimp in the buy high - sell low market. Check out this story from CNN.

Basically it goes like this. For bought Jag and Land Rover for $5.2 billion (with a B) and now they're getting ready to sell them for $2 billion (at least it's still a b. Is it any wonder that Ford lost $12.6 billion last year.

"Ford bought Jaguar for $2.5 billion in 1989 and Land Rover for $2.7 billion in 2000, which with Aston Martin and Volvo, made up its Premier Automotive Group.

Last month people close to the negotiations told The Associated Press the potential suitors had submitted bids that ranged from $1.5 billion to $2 billion."

For those who may have missed my earlier article, I still think that Jaguar used to make the most beautiful cars in the world.

Labels: driving, michigan

Killing

Here we go, another bomb, another couple dozen folks killed. It's bigger news this time because of the target - Benazir Bhutto. It got me to wonder about killing. The USofA is often in the news as a kill-crazy country. We have our share of Columbines, Colorado ministries and shopping mall shootings that make big news. However, we don't have the indiscriminate bombings that happen in so many other countries. (If I said, Muslim countries people would complain, but let's face it, they have more than their share of bombings).

The big difference is that in the USofA we usually kill strangers up close and personal. Not for us is the impersonality of a bomb in a crowd - we want to see the face of our victim as the .38 slug snuffs them out. I wonder why that is? Some people blame our cowboy and outlaw west, but I don't agree. Most killers today couldn't identify when and what was the cowboy west, let alone be influenced by it. The only good thing about suicide bombers is that you don't have to waste any time and money prosecuting them and then watch them go free because of some law technicality. That happens way too much in the USofA.

By the way, in the Detroit Free Press today, they say there's a 2 in 3 chance that if you murder someone you won't be caught. How would you like odds like that on a race horse? Think about those numbers! For every three people killed; two of the killers are going to be free to kill again. Think about that the next time you visit Detroit, er, for whatever reason you'd want to anyway.

By the way, CBS News had the seriously redundant title Bhutto Killed In Deadly Suicide Blast. How could killed and suicide be anything else but deadly?

Labels: crime, government, gripes, michigan

Drivers and Gas Stations

Here's an intersection that causes me no end of problems. I's pretty simple actually. There's a three lane, one-way street (Davenport) that runs east to west and it crosses a two lane, two-way street (Bay Road) that runs north and south. By Saginaw standards, it's pretty busy. The biggest problem is a gas station (whose brand slips my mind right now) that sits in the southeast corner.

First, the gas station itself. It has sold bad gas at least twice in the last couple of years. I mean bad enough that it made cars quit running and require pretty expensive repairs. Again, not just once, but at least twice that has been publicized. Yet people still stop there. And the price isn't that low. And since it's just a stop and shop, there isn't any service quality advantage that I can see. But people keep stopping. And to stop there, they have to cross lines of traffic. And herein lies the problem.

These idiot drivers can't be bothered by the fact that letting part of their car hang out into a busy lane of traffic while they wait to enter the station is bad. The south part of the intersection has a left-turn center lane and that's where most problems happen. People try to leave the station and cut across two busy lanes to the get to the center lane and then don't leave themselves enough room to clear the busy lanes. Or they see some other idiot in half-way in the turn lane and then swerve around them (and into you) in their lame attempt to merge.

I wish drivers would realize that there is no way to conveniently leave the station of bad gas and go east or south. Just go with the logical flow of west and north and quit driving across all lanes of traffic. Or better yet, just buy gas at a station with higher quality and easier access and let this one die a slow death. I don't normally wish ill will on a business, but in this case I'll make an exception.

Labels: driving, michigan

Michigan Tops

All right. Michigan hits another top ten list, in fact, we've made the top three list -- of most dangerous cities. Seems Detroit is number one and Flint, just 30 miles south of where I'm typing this, is number three. You can tell the state is really concerned too. The number one and two headlines for Sunday's online Detroit paper was about a football couch retiring.

The state ranks among the top in unemployment, foreclosures, dropping house prices, jobs leaving the state and now crime, and the paper is concerned about some guy retiring from coaching football. And we all know how much football contributes to Michigan's quality of life.

Now, I'll admit to enjoying a good game of football, but how about taking some of the time, effort and money that people spend on football and try to fix this trainwreck of a state. And not just the state, since the cities aren't going to do much good in a state that is getting so bad. Our grand old town celebrated the fact that using almost 1000 volunteers and extra state and local law enforcement and fire fighters we only had 9 arsons on Halloween.

Think about that. It took almost 1 out of every 50 people in this city to limit ourselves to only 9 arsons. One of which was just about six houses away from mine. This summer there's already been at least four house set afire on my street. Two of those have been razed, and the other two sit abandoned with broken windows and doors - and I'm in the good section of town.

Michigan - what happened to you?

Labels: crime, gripes, michigan