The Loudest Cricket

Time for the annual Fourth of July extended weekend.  Happy Birthday America!

Unsurprisingly, the Freep doesn’t like the Supreme Court ruling in the Connecticut firefighter case.  And here’s the problem:

But the race-neutral world the majority envisions doesn’t yet exist — in reality or, for that matter, in the law.

I doubt the majority can even agree on what exactly a race-neutral world would be and I’m certain that the Freeps vision is a fallacy.  As proof I offer:

And, by definition, it [discrimination law] aims to cure the most elusive form of discrimination, the kind that happens without intent.

Discrimination is the act of treating people differently through prejudice.  Prejudice is forming an opinion beforehand.  These, discrimination and prejudice, occur with intent.  Liberals are looking for discrimination where none exists.  In this case, their entire argument is a fallacy.  This is racism pure and simple - favoring black firefighters over white and Hispanic firefighters.  The playing field was level, but the liberals didn’t like the outcome because it shatters their vision of a perfect world - another fallacy.  Those firefighters that studied hard were able to pass the exam.  And that’s all that should matter.

Daniel Howes believe that Detroit can ‘rise from ashes’ now that Conyers is gone.  I’ll believe it when I see the citizens of Detroit off all of the corruptocrats in the city council and keep them off.  Polls showed that a majority of Detroiters would have voted for Kwame again.  Marion Barry was reelected time and again.  Until I see the constituents vote smarter (why is Martha Reeves on the council?) then I’ll hold off on any hope for the city of Detroit.

Finally some good news.  But The Detroit News leaves out the reason GM decided to open a plant in Michigan - tax breaks, huge tax breaks.  Michigan’s tax structure (along with our national tax structure) is too prohibitive for companies to consider doing business here.  We see the same thing in the city of Detroit.  Only when the powers-that-be decide to give companies tax breaks to businesses move into the area.  Michigan needs to rework its tax structure to entice more companies to at least consider the state as a reasonable place to do business.

Instead of combining two redundant unnecessary state departments - Natural Resources and Environmental Quality - let’s just get rid of them.  Or, if we really need a DNR, let’s get rid of the federal DNR and have each state responsible for its own natural resources.

Monica Conyers is going to jail.  Hopefully for a long time.

The Freep thinks that it’s time to get rid of some antiquated voting laws that force some districts to check with the federal government before changing voting rules.  The Voting Rights Act was put in place to keep southern states from intimidating black voters.  I agree that this law has passed its prime, but I wonder why the Freep thought the law to be renewed in 2006, but now thinks it’s no longer needed in 2009.  What happened between 2006 and 2009?  Hmmm….

I don’t care who’s take control of the Detroit schools as long as there is complete transparency so taxpayers can see how their money is being spent.  I bet if we forced the schools to be thoroughly audited every year, there wouldn’t be so many people clamoring to run the schools.  We need to make those who want the responsibility (or rather the money) accountable for the results.

When it’s from the government.  $5 billion for the state, but there are too many strings attached for it to be useful:

Two small human services agencies in Michigan actually rejected federal help because it was not cost-effective for them to devote people to the paperwork needed to qualify for it.

Nothing generates paperwork like government bureaucracy.  What about those so-called shovel-ready projects?

So for those who envisioned Michigan or any state being handed bags of money from Washington to dole out to anyone with a “shovel-ready” proposal, well … “It’s not like we thought it was going to be, either,” says Leslee Fritz, named in February by Gov. Jennifer Granholm as director of the state’s Economic Recovery Office.

Oops, never mind.  But it appears the Recovery Act did create the need for more bureaucrats.  And the Freep finally admits that the act is improperly named:

In fact, much of the money Michigan has received to date might be best described as going toward “easing the pain” instead of jump-starting the recovery.

Most of the money has been used to support those who have lost their jobs - extending unemployment benefits, food stamps, Medicaid, etc.  Of course, the Freep has to put a positive spin on this miserable excuse for legislation:

Michigan may never be able to point to a certain project as its monument to the 2009 Recovery Act, only to the certainty that millions of people in this state, and hence the state as a whole, would have been far worse off without it.

It your children and your grandchildren who will be far worse off, since they will be the ones who will eventually be affected by the multi-trillion dollar deficit.

The Detroit News is too nice when describing the Detroit City Council’s attempts to curb corruption:

Councilwoman JoAnn Watson’s proposal would ban city officials from accepting campaign contributions from no-bid contractors who do more than $25,000 of business with the city. That’s OK for as far as it goes. But it doesn’t go anywhere near far enough.

First, the city’s purchasing ordinance already prohibits no-bid contracts of more than $25,000, so it’s not clear whether Watson’s bill would have any impact.

Sounds pretty clear to me.  It would have absolutely no impact whatsoever.  Watson is either ignorant - she doesn’t know her own rules - or she’s just paying lip service to those calling for action against the most corrupt council in the history of Detroit.  Other council members have some good ides.  Sheila Cockrel proposes that lobbyists should be required to register with the city, as they are with at the state and federal levels.  I had no idea that they didn’t have to register with the city.  This one is a no-brainer and so is the requirement for contractors fully disclosing everyone they’ve bribed, er, paid money to while trying to get city business.  While nepotism should be avoided, but I have no problem with politicians filling their own staffs with family members.  Just don’t appoint your cousins as various directors or hire your dad as a consultant.  (I’m looking at you, Kwame).

This is the problem with run-away government.  No one is holding them accountable - that’s the job of the press, but they seem to be missing-in-action.  And the electorate doesn’t care until after the damage has already been done.  Then they vote in a new set of crooks and we start the process all over again.