Monday, February 16, 2009

Luge yourself in Muskegon

Luge yourself in Muskegon
"I stayed at the Shoreline Inn, a hulking rectangle turned on its end, dark and ominous against the winter sky.
Indeed, there didn't seem to be a single room with a light on.
I couldn't see the hotel; until my eyes adjusted, I thought I was staring at frozen lake.
In July, the spot is ideal, a hotel on a pier, perfect for boating or dangling your feet from the dock.
But, in January, to enter the lobby of the Shoreline, I had to pry open the non-automatic automatic doors. The staff seemed to number exactly one, despite 139 rooms."

Kan. suspends income tax refunds, may miss payroll

Kan. suspends income tax refunds, may miss payroll
"Kansas has suspended income tax refunds and may not be able to pay employees on time, the state's budget director said Monday.
The state doesn't have enough money in its main budget account to pay its bills,
prompting Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to suggest transferring $225 million from other accounts throughout state government. But the move required approval from legislative leaders, and Republican leaders refused Monday."

This IS Kansas, Toto!

What do we do when the spenders will NOT stop?

Oh yeah, Kalifornya and Meechigan are next in line....

No worries...right?

We are paying too much for too little.

If Michigan local/state government was a restaurant, it would be the old "Sambo's".

Bad service. Bad management. Bad for customers.

And gone baby... gone!

Educators seek input on Promise Zone plan

Educators seek input on Promise Zone plan
"Education leaders in Muskegon County are moving quickly in their efforts to become one of 10 Promise Zones that would capture tax revenues to support college scholarships for local students"

Muskegon restaurant to offer free spaghetti dinner

Muskegon restaurant to offer free spaghetti dinner
"Chris Anderson wants to foster the spirit of volunteerism.
His plan? Throw a free spaghetti dinner for the community at his Muskegon restaurant, The Sardine Room.
Maybe the gesture will get area residents thinking about what they can do to help their fellow man, Anderson said."

How does free food "foster the spirit of volunteerism"?

Union, Granholm pitch different plans to buyout teachers, create openings at schools

Union, Granholm pitch different plans to buyout teachers, create openings at schools
"Hence the Michigan Education Association's proposal to entice thousands of eligible school employees into retirement through a 33-percent increase in their monthly pension."

We tighten our belts so the teachers unionistas can let out theirs.

This is so wrong on so many levels.

Bear Lake Tavern to reopen under new ownership

Bear Lake Tavern to reopen under new ownership
"Lobdell recently opened Alleyways Bar & Grill in the former Topo's pizza location at 2675 Henry in Roosevelt Park. Topo's closed in summer 2007. Lobdell's parents, Wayne and Terry Lobdell, both are Muskegon High School graduates who now live in Traverse City.
Lobdell's Restaurant Partners is adding Bear Lake Tavern to a list that includes Sundance Grill & Bar, Beltline Bar, Bagel Beanery and The Omelette Shoppe in the Grand Rapids area and Boone's Primetime Pub in Traverse City."

Grand Haven office chair manufacturer izzy expanding in Indiana

Grand Haven office chair manufacturer izzy expanding in Indiana
"Grand Haven-based JSJ Corp., izzydesign's parent company, plans to close a plant in Belton, Texas, and invest about $580,000 in expanding the Middlebury plant, which now employs around 140 making chairs under the Harter brand name."

Maybe someone ought to ask them why not expand in Michigan?

Naa, the answer would be too hurtful......

Hamburgers are the Hummers of food in global warming

Hamburgers are the Hummers of food in global warming
"Simply switching from steak to salad could cut as much carbon as leaving the car at home a couple days a week."

"simply switching from steak to salad"!!!!!

SIMPLY SWITCHING?!!!!

Why not just force us to simply switch to eating sand?

Outrage brewing over proposed 1,900% beer tax hike

Outrage brewing over proposed 1,900% beer tax hike
"Five Oregon state lawmakers want to impose a hefty tax on beer and have introduced a bill that brewers say would cripple them......
....The tax would raise revenue for the state at a time when budgets are running in the red. Specifically, the bill says it would fund prevention, treatment and recovery programs for those addicted to alcohol and other substances.
It also defends the tax by claiming alcoholism and “untreated substance abuse” costs the state $4.15 billion in “lost earnings” as well as more than $8 million for health care and nearly $1 billion in law enforcement-related expenditures."


No mention ANYWHERE in the article of which political party these fine statesmen are members of.

Of course they're democrats!

GOV'S HY-PAY-CRISY

GOV'S HY-PAY-CRISY
"Gov. Paterson has secretly granted raises of as much as 46 percent to more than a dozen staffers at a time when he has asked 130,000 state workers to give up 3 percent pay hikes because of the state's fiscal crisis, The Post has learned"

Sunday, February 15, 2009

You Mean We Have To Pay For It?

You Mean We Have To Pay For It?
"Like the hangover which inevitably follows the drinking binge, the realization is setting in that now we have to pay for the $787B just spent – which will really grow to more like $3 trillion with interest and a bank bailout thrown in. (Yes, it sure does add up.)"

Obama's pork barrel is open – and it is stinking - Scotland on Sunday

Obama's pork barrel is open – and it is stinking - Scotland on Sunday
"STIMULUS is one of those neutral, unexceptional words that is suddenly appropriated by politicians and debauched, so that ever after it will have connotations that are sinister, ironic and sleaze-ridden. Barack Obama's 'stimulus' plan will be long remembered as the occasion when political euphemism triggered economic disaster."

Deal to Close California Budget Gap Stalls - WSJ.com

Deal to Close California Budget Gap Stalls
"One vote shy of a budget deal, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday pressured reluctant Republicans in the Legislature to pass a complex plan to close the state's $42 billion deficit."

Edumication - Alive and Well and Living in Muskegon

Edumication - Alive and Well and Living in Muskegon
"A view from the Gaza Strip, providing jail jumpsuit candidates for the future - The Muskegon Bored with Education Member who came up the ingenious plan for insuring sports victories by not havinng the 2.0 Grade Point requirement should be promoted to Stuporintendant of Schools."

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Lawmakers Add $250 Tax Credit For Retired Public Employees

Lawmakers Add $250 Tax Credit For Retired Public Employees
"Retired public employees in states including Massachusetts, Ohio, Colorado and California won't miss out on a $250 stimulus payment, thanks to a last-minute change to economic recovery legislation Congress is expected to approve by the weekend.
'This is teachers,"

We tighten our belts so they can loosen theirs......

CARPE DIEM: Another Bike-Sharing Program is Failing: Paris

Another Bike-Sharing Program is Failing: Paris
"Making matters worse is a YouTube sensation/trend known as “Velib Extreme” where people are taking the bikes down staircases and on BMX courses just for kicks,"

An Afterthought...

CRACK'D MUSKEGON NEWZ
An Afterthought...: "He looks lakeward, 'This place, in winter, looks like one of those after-the-nuclear disaster movies. Last summer it appeared only marginally better than in winter-time...' ."

2+2=5?

live dangerously be a conservative
"Give people what they want ??
Give people what they need ??
Better yet, talk people into wanting what they need ??"

A Conservative Teacher: A Partial List of Spending in the Destroy America Act of 2009

A Conservative Teacher: A Partial List of Spending in the Destroy America Act of 2009
"Just a couple comments to this insanity. Why would a fully funded Census Bureau need an additional billion dollars- what kind of a game is this hiding? I thought Amtrak and Smithsonian were going privatized- how did they suddenly get back on the nationalization path? It's interesting how many palaces government is building itself- 'green' buildings I imagine are very beautiful to look at. Am I correct in seeing that $10 million is going to build 'urban canals'- what the poop is that about? Seriously, they should just include an item for '$10 billion just to piss away' and stop with the pretend items."

“Speechless: Silencing Christians”

Hello Michigan: “Speechless: Silencing Christians”
"This is disgraceful and a bit local to me here. This comes via the Detroit Free Press:

WOOD-TV 8 has decided not to air a controversial, one-hour paid program sponsored by the American Family Association due to criticism from the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community."

Two Delphi white-collar retirees seek others to protest benefits cut

Two Delphi white-collar retirees seek others to protest benefits cut
"Conger figures about 4,000 of the Troy-based auto parts maker's 15,000 present and future salaried retirees have Great Lakes Bay Region ties, either as residents, owning vacation homes or having worked in a Flint of Saginaw County Delphi facility."

Remember this.

If these folks win their lawsuit, we taxpayers will do the payin'.

Incoming MEDC leader's goals: fuse entrepreneurialism, technology and capital

Incoming MEDC leader's goals: fuse entrepreneurialism, technology and capital
"Greg Main said the state's task ahead lay in figuring out how to combine entrepreneurship, technology as a source of innovation, and capital resources to benefit existing companies and to create new ones."

Michigan business OWNERS tell everyone that over-regulation, high taxes and thuggish unions are the reasons they are leaving, cutting back or closing shop in Michigan.

And now we hire this fool who promises to address none of the real problems?

We're doomed!

Mother of children killed in Fruitport Township fire, Tosha Captain, blames gas company

Mother of children killed in Fruitport Township fire, Tosha Captain, blames gas company
"But a DTE Energy spokesman says the company tried repeatedly to contact the family to arrange a payment assistance program after months of unpaid bills.
DTE spokesman Len Singer said the company shut off natural gas to the home Jan. 28 because the customer had not paid any bill since September."

Indeed a tragedy.
But there were 5 adults living in the home. And the gas bill, split 5 ways wasn't paid?

I'd be interested in how many cell phones and cable TV add ons they had.

Muskegon school district seeks public input on millage vote

Muskegon school district seeks public input on millage vote
"Three public meetings have been scheduled by the Muskegon school district to discuss an upcoming millage vote.
The meetings this month and in early March are designed to inform voters about the plan to pay for $12.7 million in improvements by delaying a tax reduction."

Understand this. The school system says it's out of money.

Not because their total amount of money "IN" is decling. It's because the teacher's union members took all the maintenance money for themselves.

So now it's our fault. Our wallets that must be emptied.

Everyone else and every tax paying business is cutting back. But schools continue to expand, spend and figure new ways to spend.

Oh yeah, the teachers always get their COL and step-up in pay every year.

But the rest of us gotta tighten our belts so the teacher's union members can loosen theirs.

Norton Avenue KFC restaurant closed for good

Norton Avenue KFC restaurant closed for good
"Closing the restaurant, 715 W. Norton, was based on financial reasons,"

This is actually old news as the KFC closed about 2-3 weeks ago.

But Muskegon has lost at least 15 restaurants in the last year.

Why note this closure and none of the others?

Federal obligations exceed world GDP

Federal obligations exceed world GDP
"As the Obama administration pushes through Congress its $800 billion deficit-spending economic stimulus plan, the American public is largely unaware that the true deficit of the federal government already is measured in trillions of dollars, and in fact its $65.5 trillion in total obligations exceeds the gross domestic product of the world.
The total U.S. obligations, including Social Security and Medicare benefits to be paid in the future, effectively have placed the U.S. government in bankruptcy, even before new continuing social welfare obligation embedded in the massive spending plan are taken into account."

Thursday, February 12, 2009

D.C. voting rights advances in Senate

D.C. voting rights advances in Senate
"A Senate committee voted 11-1 Wednesday to give the District a full voting seat in Congress, adding momentum to legislation that would end decades of frustration for residents of the nation's capital. Backers declared that they have enough support pass the measure, while critics expressed concern about its constitutionality."

Clearly unconstitutional... and clearly the demo-crooks care not.

CARPE DIEM: Off the Deep End


CARPE DIEM: Off the Deep End
"We aren't deficit scolds, but these levels are uncharted territory,"

CHARLES PLATT GOES UNDERCOVER AT WAL-MART

CHARLES PLATT GOES UNDERCOVER AT WAL-MART
"Some people, usually community activists, loath Wal-Mart.
Others, like the family of four struggling to make ends meet, are in love with the chain.
I, meanwhile, am in awe of it."

Fascinating!

P-P-P-PORKY AMENDMENTS

P-P-P-PORKY AMENDMENTS
"Schumer, again, this time updated and.....enhanced."