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Chris Savage (aka Eclectablog) posted this on October 22nd, 2011. If there is anyone out there that continues to say that the only reason Barack Obama enjoys such immense popularity among African Americans because he is himself African American, I offer you THIS from Herman Cain’s visit to Detroit:
With the dilapidated Michigan Central Station train depot in the background, Herman Cain made his first visit to Michigan as a presidential candidate and defended his 9-9-9 tax plan as a way to help distressed cities.
“The bottom line, folks, is that 9-9-9 means jobs jobs jobs,” he said to several dozen people gathered in Detroit to hear him speak. “Let’s renew the economy of this nation.”
To be fair, the Detroit News put the number at “more than 100″. They couldn’t say “hundreds” so the next step down is “dozens” and the News seems to enjoy fluffing Republicans as much as possible – so they went with “more than 100″.
Barack Obama’s first rally in Detroit drew tens of thousands. That was, however, in early summer before the election. Maybe Cain is just building up a head of steam or something. By the way, in the 2010 census, Detroit’s population was 82.7% African American.
During his stop, he said that his fabled “9-9-9″ plan would become the “9-0-9″ plan for po’ folk.
Cain took heat over his proposal, which replaces the current tax code with a 9% corporate tax, a 9% income tax and a new 9% national sales tax. Opponents have argued the middle part of the plan would increase taxes on the poor, who currently pay little to no taxes.
But Cain fired back Friday, saying in a Detroit speech that those paying no taxes now would continue to pay zero taxes under his plan.
“If you are at or below the poverty level, your plan isn’t 9-9-9 it is 9-0-9,” Cain said. “Say amen y’all. 9-0-9.”
That’s gonna go over really well with all those Republicans out there who have swallowed the lie that “poor people don’t pay any taxes”, I’m sure.
And, dude, “Say amen, y’all. 9-0-9?” How about “Yay for being poor!”??? Is that what you mean?
Jebus…what a [...]
Patrick Diehl posted this on October 10th, 2011. Matty Moroun photo courtesy The Windsor Star
Seems like I can’t turn on the TV these days without being exposed to Matty Moroun’s disgusting, misleading, offensive commercials.
I wrote back in June, in “Matty Moroun’s Miserable Machinations,” about the Grosse Pointe billionaire and his family spending more than $1.5 million to lobby lawmakers and ensure that the Ambassador Bridge, which they own, remains the only connection between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario.
In fact he’s spent close to $5 million on the television ads, which exaggerate, spin, attack, lie and pander to the lowest common denominator. On October 4, the Detroit Free Press pointed out, “Like the worst political attack ads, the anti-bridge commercials offer a smidgen of fact overlaid with a deep pile of exaggeration and distortion. In the latest one, the only true statement is about the roads being in bad shape. The ad even misspells the name of Gov. Rick Snyder, Moroun’s nemesis who backs the government-owned New International Trade Crossing project.”
The second span – which would be publicly owned but privately financed, built and managed – is also supported by the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and other business and labor groups. And get this: Canada has even offered to front $550 million to pay Michigan’s share of the project costs.
So the unscrupulous guy who wants to maintain his monopoly on the Detroit-Windsor border crossing – more than a quarter of all trade between the U.S. and Canada crosses his bridge – has polluted the airwaves with his specious claim that a second bridge is a boondoggle that would cost taxpayers $100 million a year for something that’s not needed.
Gee, I wonder if the fact that Moroun rakes in $60 million a year in toll revenues and millions more from the sale of duty free gas and goods at his bridge has anything to do with his opposition to this “boondoggle.”
According to Michigan Radio, the Senate’s Economic Development Committee might vote this week on legislation relating to a second bridge. It’s unclear whether the legislation will even make it out of committee, though; the committee’s dominated by Republicans [...]
WeAreThePeopleMichigan posted this on July 26th, 2011.
Here are today's top stories –
Here are today's top news stories…
WILX (with video): State Workers Rally Outside Governor's Office in Detroit - About one thousand state workers from five different unions took to the sidewalk outside Governor Snyder's Detroit office Monday afternoon, hoping to get their point across. "Instead of taking more from the people who are providing services, they can look at the contractors," Ed Mitchell, UAW 6000 president, said. A few months ago, a coalition of state employees released several ideas for streamlining government and saving money, and it didn't include layoffs or benefit reductions.
WLNS (with video): Michigan State Workers Rally in Detroit - Monday, State employees picketed outside Cadillac Place, Governor Snyder's Detroit office. State employees are not happy over some of the concessions he's asking for. Union representatives for State workers say they have a better solution. State workers want to know where the shared sacrifice is. They're out here protesting Governor Snyder's proposed cuts, and they're raising their voices loud and clear.
WXYZ: UAW says negotiations with State of Michigan will fight “anti-worker agenda" - In April, thousands of union members rallied in front of the State Capital to protest the state budget and tax plans that called for layoffs and cuts in benefits. On Monday several hundred gathered again to voice their concerns on the eve of the start of contract negotiations. Governor Rick Snyder has said in the past that many state workers are simply paid more than the state can afford, and that cuts need to be made. The union disagrees. "It's no secret that Governor Snyder wants to dramatically reduce the compensation of our hard-working members, but we know there are more effective ways to save the state money," said Cindy Estrada of Local 6000.
AP: State Employees Protest - Some state of Michigan employee unions rallied at a state office building in Detroit. The midday event at the Cadillac Place on Monday comes as Gov. Rick Snyder's administration seeks $145 million in concessions from state employees to help balance the state budget for the fiscal year that starts in October. Those discussions [...]
WeAreThePeopleMichigan posted this on July 7th, 2011.
Here are today's top news stories from around the state. Don't forget to join us on Facebook and Twitter for all the latest breaking information straight to your inbox in the fight to protect Michigan's people sign up on our website.
WOOD TV: Privatization protests at veterans home
Protestors went public with a message Wednesday evening, upset over proposed changes at the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans… The union representing current workers says privatizing these jobs would impact the care that veterans receive. “Most of the veterans — their biggest complaint is that they don’t feel like they have a voice in this whatsoever,” said Mark Williams, a nurse aid and union president. “They pay out of their VA benefits to live here. They feel that they should have a say in who takes care of them.”
Rachel Godley posted this on July 1st, 2011. Promoted by Eclectablog on July 2, 2011
July 1, 2011 Detroit—
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has announced a broad new plan to overhaul Detroit public Schools (DPS) and create a state-run educational authority. Roy Roberts, who replaced Robert Bobb as Emergency Manager (EM) of Detroit Public Schools (DPS), was named Executive Committee Chair for the new Educational Achievement System (EAS). The announcement was made at a press conference on Monday June 20th at Detroit Renaissance High School and has created much speculation. Sweeping in its scope and highly experimental in nature, the plan intends to target the bottom 5% lowest performing schools in Detroit, then be implemented statewide within 5 years.
At the press conference Snyder announced his initiative to remove more than three dozen of Detroit’s lowest performing schools and place them under the authority of a pilot school district, which will function as an independent entity. Seeking to model the new system after Kalamazoo’s Promise program which offers a four year scholarship to qualifying students, Snyder told the press that a second initiative will be to raise funds and resources from businesses and philanthropic entities and foundations such as the Eli Broad Foundation and Kellogg Foundation to provide funding for students to qualify for at least two years of college or training after graduation. The takeover involves a partnership between Eastern Michigan University (EMU)and DPS and will have an 11 member authority to oversee its five year plan to go statewide.
The Authority:
Two EMU members Two DPS members Seven members appointed by the governor (no word yet on who those members may be.) EM Roy Roberts will act as Executive Committee Chair, with five board members—one member selected by Roberts, one by Eastern Michigan University, and three selected by Governor Rick Snyder. The committee will also select also select a Chancellor for the state-run tax-payer funded system.
The Plan:
2011-2012 Start-Up: Establish EAS operating infrastructure. Phase 1: 39 low performing schools in the Detroit Public School District. Phase 2: Expansion broadens to takeover 12 low performing districts, starting in South East Michigan. Phase 3: Expands authority beyond SE MI to additional ‘high priority [...]
Wizardkitten posted this on November 30th, 2010. Tue Nov 30, 2010 at 14:26:25 PM EST
This was surprising, considering the time frame. The Michigan unemployment rate hit its peak in December of 2009, and yet at the same time apparently Detroit was starting to experience a return in economic growth as well. Or, at least was doing a lot better than other metropolitan areas across the world. Check these numbers – and then stop and think about how important manufacturing is.
The Detroit metropolitan area was rated seventh among U.S. metro areas in economic growth from 2009 to 2010, according to a new global study by the Washington-based Brookings Institution.
Ranked 46th in the world in the study, Detroit was mentioned as a metro area undergoing a recovery based on a rise in U.S. manufacturing.
Detroit ranked 146 out of 150 during the recession and 147th prior to it.
The study was done by Brookings in conjunction with the London School of Economics. It examined the global economy based on the performance of the world's largest metropolitan areas prior to the recession, during the recession and during the current recovery period.
The study reports that overall the US is lagging in growth, especially when compared with China, and that there are only a few metro areas in the US that are starting to see significant recovery – but Detroit is definitely one of them.
Detroit was rated 147 out of 150 during the "pre-recession" period from 1993 to 2007, then rated 146 during the "recession" period from 2007 to 2010.
In the "recovery period" from 2009 to 2010, Detroit was rated 46, and trailed just six other U.S. cities.
The dates of the recovery and recession periods overlap because many areas are still in the midst of the recession while others are emerging, the study reported.
Detroit and 11 other U.S. metro areas were classified as being in a road to full recovery, while only San Antonio, Texas, was rated as having a full recovery. Most cities are either still early in a recovery or still in decline.
Not sure what they qualify as "full recovery", but whatever it is, we [...]
John Cherry posted this on August 1st, 2008. Tuesday was an amazing day on the Detroit River. My first visit was to the Rouge Oxbow Project at the Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan. In its original course, the Rouge River meandered through the farm that became the grounds of the Henry Ford Museum and Historic Greenfield Village. Then in the 1970's, to prevent flooding in the river basin, the Army Corp of Engineers constructed a flood control project through a concrete realignment of the river for approximately nine miles. The effect of the realignment was to isolate several "oxbows" in the old river bed.
These "oxbow" ponds suffered from the same degradation that plagued the Rouge River itself. They became littered with trash and other discarded remnants of modern living, not to mention the pollutant loadings from the industrial runoff from surrounding facilities. These waters were unsightly, hazardous, and there probably are not enough adjectives to fully describe the condition they fell into.
At least until 40 communities along the Rouge coalesced with three counties and the Wayne County Airport Authority to form the Alliance of Rouge Communities. The Alliance along with Ford Motor Company, The Henry Ford, Henry Ford Community College, and the University of Michigan- Dearborn launched the Rouge River Gateway Ecosystem Restoration Project. On their website The Project has this description:
"Under the guidance of the Partnership, a master plan was developed that encourages people, ecology, and economy to coexist equitably and sustainably in the landscape. The plan includes a number of projects that restore relationships between the Rouge and its natural and social systems. Ecosystems are strengthened by plans for greening of the Ford Rouge Center, restoration of an oxbow at The Henry Ford: America's Greatest History Attraction, bank stabilization at Henry Ford Community College, a state funded Environmental Interpretive Center, and a fish ladder around an historic landmark dam at the Ford Fair Lane Estate on the University of Michigan – Dearborn campus. The Army Corps of Engineers is studying models for partial removal of the concrete channel to create new fish habitat and natural riverbanks."
The Oxbow Restoration Project is unique in the elements it ties [...]
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