Detainees don't want to leave Gitmo University extension program!

This is absolutely precious! Many detainees that we keep oversees don't want to leave detention! They want to stay and finish their education. I kid you not! Betsy Newmark points out this irony over at Google: Iraqi detainees refusing to go home. From the story:

An increasing number of Iraqi detainees are refusing to leave detention centres despite being eligible for release because they want to complete studies begun behind bars, a US general said on Sunday."

In the last three or four months we have begun seeing detainees asking to stay in detention, usually to complete their studies," Major General Douglas Stone told a news conference in Baghdad.

The US military offers a wide range of educational programmes to the 23,000 or so detainees -- adults and juveniles -- being held at its two detention facilities, Camp Cropper near Baghdad's international airport and Camp Bucca near the southern port city of Basra.

Some parents of juvenile detainees, too, have asked that their children remain behind bars so they can continue their schooling, said Stone, the commanding general for US detainee operations in Iraq.

The US military, he added, was not encouraging the trend.

At what point will these detainees want to come over here and teach elementary education in the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago?

Turning Skin Cells into Stem Cells

I saw this interesting article over at Wired Science today: Turning Skin Cells to Stem Cells, Without Cancer. From the article:

Like hackers one-upping each others' code, stem cell scientists keep finding better ways to turn flakes of skin into stem cells. And the latest technique could avoid the cancer-causing side effects of previous methods.

In fact, the dirty little secret that the MSM refuses to report is that embryonic stem cells always turn cancerous. Every. Single. Time. So here's the kicker:

The miracle of reprogamming, also known as induced pluripotency, was universally recognized as a research milestone when demonstrated in human cells less than 18 months ago. Adding four development-regulating genes turned adult cells into the near-equivalent of pluripotent embryonic stem cells, capable of becoming almost any other type of cell in the body. (emphasis mine)

SO I ask the simple question: why is Obama going to lift restriction on using my tax dollars to fund the destruction of human embryos? Why not just more funding towards efforts like this one? Doesn't turning adult cells into the equivalent of embryonic stem cells totally bypass the moral issues here? Then again, The One considers the beginning of life to be a punishment, equivalent to STDs:

How sad...

Is Kool-Aid in Florida Rivers?

I wrote a post just yesterday (Something in the water in Clearwater) about some moonbattery going on in Florida. More today. In this case, it's Rush Derangement Syndrome (RDS) on full display. Not by an ordinary citizen, mind you. No. This one comes form a U.S. Congressman. From the Politico comes this: Rep. Grayson won't hold his tongue.

But Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) hasn’t paid much attention to the old adage about being seen and not heard. Just two months into his first term, he’s already making a name for himself with a shoot-from-the-lip style and an ideological edge that some argue is ill-suited for the competitive, suburban Orlando seat that he represents.

On Wednesday, Grayson weighed in on the dispute between the Obama administration and Rush Limbaugh, calling the conservative talk show host “a sorry excuse for a human being.” In January, he referred to Limbaugh as a “has-been hypocrite loser” who “was more lucid when he was a drug addict.”

Looks like Greyson comes from the Joe Biden school for the verbally challenged. How does a kook like Greyson get into Congress? Easy!

During the past election, [liberal blogger and political consultant] Stoller led efforts to recruit liberal primary candidates to challenge moderate Democratic members of Congress throughout the country.

Can't have any more "moderate" democrats, can we now?

“For someone in Congress, he’s really out there. He comes across as a total ideological flake,” said Florida Republican media consultant John Dowless.

Why yes he does. Greyson has already made waves for absolutely lambasting bank CEOs about their million dollar bonuses:

Of course, it's easy to point a finger in front of a camera at bank CEOs for million dollar bonuses. In Greyson's case, however, it's shear hypocrisy of such degree that it's almost unfathomable. Even though he excoriated CEO million-dollar bonuses, the man turned around and voted for both the non-stimulus stimulus boondoggle ($800 billion +$250billion in interest over 10 years) in addition to the $410 billion Obama budget boondoggle that is now held up in the Senate. That's almost $1.5 trillion in wasted spending and it's only 6 weeks into his first term. Can anyone point the finger at him for trillion-dollar wasteful spending???

Coming to an Indoctrination Center Near You

Saw this story over at the Telegraph: Parents face prosecution over school gay week protest. The subline: Parents who took their children out of school in protest at them being taught about gay, bisexual and transgender history could be prosecuted. Nice. Real nice. Of course, this is happening in the U.K., but what happens there comes down the pike over here sooner or later. Just a sign of things to come. From the article:

Council bosses said the protest resulted in around 30 primary pupils missing school and had "taken action" against parents who pulled took their children out of George Tomlinson School in Leytonstone, east London, but refused to state what sanctions are being taken. He said he knew of about 30 children who had been taken out of classes during the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Week after parents objected to their youngsters being encouraged to "celebrates the lives and achievements of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people in the community".

Scary stuff. In places like Germany, it is even illegal to homeschool your kids, a leftover from Adolf (not kidding!). What's even more troubling to me is that the article concerns an elementary school! Why are kids this young being exposed to this stuff? What other reason could there be other than government indoctrination? The U.K was the economic center of the world 100 years ago. Look where they are now. Just a sad, sad situation...

He alone, who owns the youth, gains the Future - Adolf Hitler, 1935

More on the dreaded switch to daylight-svaings time

I wrote a post yesterday about how I dread the "spring ahead" into daylight savings time (I Despise Switching to Daylight-Saving Time). I indicated downsides to doing this, including:

• Debbie J. Frank, co-owner of Sleep Associates Inc. in Saginaw Township, said a National Sleep Foundation Poll revealed traffic crashes increase in the days after the spring switch because people are more sleep-deprived and less alert.
• Shari S. Drake, clinical coordinator for Covenant HealthCare Sleep Center in Saginaw said daylight-saving time exacerbates sleep disorders, and more than 70 million Americans have one.
• A study in Sweden showed more heart attacks during the first three weekdays after daylight-saving time in the spring, perhaps because of sleep deprivation, and a corresponding decrease in the risk during the more-restful fall back of the clocks in autumn.

You get the gist, no? Well, today I see this article from the Jackson Citizen Patriot via MLive: Time to spring ahead, but benefits and savings are unclear.

In 2005, Congress passed the Energy Policy Act, which included a provision to extend daylight-saving time by three weeks in the spring and one week in the fall. The idea was that later hours of daylight would promote energy conservation. Actual energy savings as a result of daylight-saving time remain unclear, however, and the policy may even contribute to additional energy usage — the opposite effect it's supposed to have.

Ah yes - the law of unintended consequences. A good example of what happens when the government gets involved in societal policies with good intentions. Bad results, good intentions. Always seems to be a repeating pattern. Welfare? War on poverty? Medicare? Medicaid? Social Security? Community Reinvestment Act? Affirmative Action? So onto the results of this policy:

One of the most recent extensive studies on daylight-saving time's relation to energy found little evidence the policy actually saves energy.

Yup. Sounds about right. Can we please just get rid of daylight savings entirely and never utter the phrase again? Ever? Please??? Another research group found that

daylight-saving time "increases residential electricity demand." Estimates of the overall increase are about 1 percent. While daylight-saving time did seem to save electricity for lighting, these savings were more than offset by usage for heating and cooling.

The law of unintended consequences (which itself is a corollary to the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics)... Intend to save the environment (good intention), put a bigger load on it instead (bad result). What else do politicians need???

Another Example of Wind Power That Will Never Pay for Itself

I made several blog posts regarding Meijer's publicity stunt in mounting some small-scale wind turbines on their headquarters (here and here). I pointed out in those posts that the project is patently economically infeasible; that is, the turbines cost more than the benefits received over the lifetime of the turbines. Today comes this story from The Grand Rapids Press via MLive: wind turbines surprise church, school with lower bills, small size and quietness. From that article:

Today, the rooftop wind turbine spins with the breezes, lowering the electric bills at the Catholic church and school with every revolution. An identical one does the same atop Grand Rapids City High/Middle School.

Here's a pic of one of the turbines:

Further:

"When the environment and education come together, those are some of Mr. Wege's favorite projects," said Ellen Satterlee, executive director of the Wege Foundation, which funded the purchase and installation of the Swift Wind Turbines, built locally by Cascade Engineering.

Cascade Engineering is the same firm that is installing identical Swift turbines for Meijers. What's missing up to this point in the article is anything quantitative. But then you get to this:

The turbines, which cost $10,000 to $12,000 including installation, can spin their way to about $200 in energy savings each year, Cascade Engineering's Michael Ford has said.

The numbers are identical to what they said about the Meijers installation. I checked into these numbers as I did in the prior post and found this: if you do the math, the payback period is 55 years! Apparently, the author of this article didn't have a simple calculator that would show this to be a bad investment based on the fact that the turbine is rated to last 20 years. Worst yet, that's assuming the $10,000 investment remains static over the 55 years. As a matter of fact, should one choose to put it in a certificates of deposit instead of a wind turbine, the numbers look even worse. Assuming a long-term cd at 3% yearly interest rate compounded monthly would yield $57,158.96. So the payback period is even longer. Even if you factor in electricity rate increases, it's not a pretty picture (the increased electric costs are somewhat offset by maintenance costs).

So what this article proves is that the Wege Foundation just wasted $20,000 on two turbines that have zero chance of paying for themselves. Can writer do simple math?

UPDATE: A commentor over at MLive said that it's the environmental impact that matters, not the lectricity offset. I beg to differ and have already said much about the subject: freep: Coal plants ban has public's interest, federal policy on its side.

Granholm throws away job potential into the wind

This post could be titled "Granholm tells Ann Arbor audience that alternative energy push is about jobs; Part Deux"

I wrote a post earlier today calling Granholm out on a few things she said and did. The gist of her speach in Ann Arbor was that she's pushing alternative energy to create jobs. nice platitude, abysmal results. That notwithstanding, I focused primarily on the tax implications. My hypothesis was as follows:

1. "green jobs" are only created at the cost of higher energy rates
2. Green jobs, in turn, will cost us more than they generate in revenue
3. Proof can be found recently in the Hollywood tax abatement, which "created" "smug jobs
4. The "smug jobs" cost $17,142 per, and they were temporary

In retrospect, after rereading the original article from The Ann Arbor News via MLive, I have come to the conclusion that I was far too kind to the Governor, even after pointing out the disastrous job numbers during her tenure. There's an undercurrent of hypocrisy in the article that somehow escaped my first glance, but alas I make up for it here. From the article:

Gov. Jennifer Granholm wanted to be clear about it. Green is a good, but all the buzz lately in Michigan about battery powered cars and alternative energy is really about one very practical thing.

"In Michigan, we don't even use the words global warming or climate change," Granholm told an audience at an environmental summit in Ann Arbor on Thursday. "This is all about jobs. I just want to be really pragmatic about it." (emphasis mine)

Uh - all about jobs? Really? I'm calling BS on this in totality with a coating of hypocrisy to top it off. Why, you may ask? Because if she was serious about "creating" jobs, why is she insistent on putting a kabosh on new coal power plants which would bring more 'stimulus' to Michigan jobs than the non-stimulus stimulus boondoggle that was signed into law. As a matter of fact, I pointed out how much stimulus there was in coal in a prior post (The Michigan Coal Stimulus). Here's an excerpt from that prior post:

"Gov. Jennifer Granholm overstepped her bounds when she ordered new legal requirements related to coal plants in the state, Attorney General Mike Cox said Friday. That was welcome news at Jackson-based Consumers Energy, which is planning to build a $2 billion, 800-megawatt advanced supercritical pulverized clean coal plant near Bay City."

$2 billion. Quite an "investment" in Michigan, wouldn't you say? In fact, let's compare numbers here, shall we? The non-stimulus stimulus boondoggle will yield $5.5-7 billion for Michigan in pork (apparently, someone is still reading the bill that had to be rushed through immediately with no debate to prevent a national calamity, and was signed a full 4 days later after Obama came back from a long-weekend vacation).

In any case, here we have a private company willing to invest $2 billion in Michigan, with no stings attached (unlike the "stimulus"), putting Michigan moms and dads to work to fix a crumbling infrastructure - almost a full third of what we are to be getting from porulus. In fact, if you consider the other licences applied for to build modern, cleaner coal power plants in the State, there's more "stimulus" money there than porkulus offers, won't put our children and grandchildren in debt, won't add to the national deficit, won't cause inflation to limit economic growth, and it will be home-grown right here in Michigan.

Moreover, the power plant to be built in Bay City is an "advanced supercritical pulverized clean coal plant." That's right - much better for the environment than the old dilapidated plants that pump out power for our homes now. This is a win-win for consumers in this great State.

Indeed... Instead of thinking of these new power plants as "investing in our decaying infrastructure" - you know - "creating jobs," the hammer has instead come down and put a kabosh on the whole of it. So I ask - why? Why throw that much job potential into the wind (I realize the pun here and yes - I did intend it!). What other reason would there be than global warming and climate change? So much for being pragmatic...

So here are the facts as laid out:

1. Each of the 6 coal power plants would "invest" about $2 billion in Michigan
2. This is far in excess of the so-called "stimulus" money
3. This is a long-term investment and won't expire in a year or two
4. No strings attached
5. There is no reason to put up roadblocks on said plants unless you main concern is non-existent global warming
6. What Granholm said earlier in this post cannot be true
7. Granholm's push is not "all about jobs"

There. Now I'm satisfied and can sleep well tonight. By the way, who sponsored Granholm's speech in Ann Arbor? The article says:

The summit, sponsored by both the Royal Danish Embassy and The Climate Group, an environmental policy organization, was called to discuss reducing industry carbon emissions and investing in alternative energy technology. (emphasis mine)

Q.E.D. So much for "all about jobs."

There's one more thing that irked me about the speech (I just can't stop!), and that was the mention of new technologies that Granholm wants in Michigan:

Michigan has been pushing to shift its economy from its heavy reliance on traditional auto manufacturing to high-technology jobs. Alternative energy technology, in particular the production of lithium ion batteries for cars, has emerged as leading potential job creators. (emphasis mine)

So here's my question - if we have all these lithium ion batteries in cars, HOW WILL WE CHARGE THEM WITHOUT MORE POWER PLANTS??? Huh? How??? As I pointed out in another prior post (Granholm: HIGHER ENERGY COSTS FOR YOU!!!),

Michigan utilized about 11,000 kW-hr of electricity per capita per year (data here). For a population of roughly 10,000,000, we're talking an energy need of 110 Billion kW-hr per year. That's a LOT of power. The natural gas and transportation fuel energy per capita is roughly quintuple our electrical usage. Since plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles are coming down the road (the governor talked about battery production in her State of the State address), our electrical needs could dramatically increase in a short time span (transportation alone would be add about 35,000 kW-hr per capita annually(!) already quadrupling or electric power needs).

That's a lot of extra energy. A LOT! We simply will never be able to generate enough from wind, for a variety of reasons that I have laid out in many prior posts (search tool!). Deep breath. For the sake of brevity (yeah - right), I won't even get into the Danish angle, since I posted on that recently also (More Democrat Hypocrisy on Taxes). Hypocrisy for everyone! Woohoo!!!

Something in the water in Clearwater

Clearwater, FL seems to be a strange place. In 1993, Clearwater lost a case that began when it fined a car dealership for flying too many American flags. A federal appeals court ruled against the city, invalidating the city's sign ordinance as "facially unconstitutional." And now that same Clearwater is fining a businessman $500 a day for displaying Bill of Rights, artwork. Here's the artwork and banner:

Offensive, no? From WND:

A federal judge is now deciding if government officials are going overboard in fining a Florida bait and tackle shop owner $500 a day for displaying the First Amendment atop a mural of marine life on his building. According to the lawsuit, city spokeswoman Joelle Castelli was quoted as saying the artwork "depicts what he's selling and that's considered signage. If it was a mural of kids playing in a park, that would be acceptable."

Only problem is, the shop doesn't sell fish, especially the exotic variety. It's a bait shop. No bait is depicted o the mural. But there was a ray of hope in the article:

Early in today's proceedings, the judge did not appear to be impressed with attorneys from the city or the ACLU.

Can we get rid of both entities? Please? I sure hope the owner sees justice and that the city gets slapped with something quite punitive for this offense. Just what is in the water in Clearwater?

Yet another bad decision by the Obama administration. This one is nuclear

Obama's energy chief: Nuclear waste won’t go to Nevada site. The Nevada sight is Yucca Mountain, an uninhabited chunk of rock. From the AP via the freep:

For two decades, a ridge of volcanic rock 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas known as Yucca Mountain has been the sole focus of government plans to store highly radioactive nuclear waste. Not anymore. Despite the $13.5 billion that has been spent on the project, the Obama administration says it’s going in a different direction.

I mean - what's $13.5 billion these days? Chump change compared to the $2.5 trillion hole Obama dug for us in a mere 6 weeks. Obama slashed Yucca funding in his budget proposal. What's the different direction, you might ask?

Instead, Chu (Energy Secretary) said, the Obama administration believes the nearly 60,000 tons of used reactor fuel can remain at nuclear power plants while a new, comprehensive plan for waste disposal is developed.

Uh - isn't the current problem that that 6,00 tons of waste is being stored in places not designed for long-term storage? Wasn't that the entire point of Yucca Mountain? And here's the kicker in the article (at least for me):

At the hearing, McCain and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said the decision not to pursue the Yucca Mountain project threatens the expansion of nuclear energy because the government can give no assurance on waste disposal. (emphasis mine)

Just great. No coal. no nuclear. Uh, now what? But there's even more:

Congress in 1982 declared that the government must assume responsibility for reactor waste from commercial power plants. Courts have upheld what they call a binding contract with the nuclear power industry. With no lawmakers wanting a nuclear waste dump in their state, Congress five years later declared Yucca Mountain in Nevada as the only site to be considered.

Again, now what? (crickets chirping) As usual, not a single detail from the Obama administration...

Kook Radio Personality Stephanie Miller Wants Limbaugh Executed

Nice. Keep it classy Stephanie! Here's the video:

WND reports:

Radio talker Stephanie Miller, outraged that Rush Limbaugh wants Barack Obama's policies to fail, has called for the nation's top talk host to be charged with treason and executed. She made the call, not on her rather obscure radio program but on CNN's "Larry King Live" show Tuesday. King seemed unfazed by the suggestion, neither following it up with a challenge or a question.

HotAir adds:

Gee, I wonder what King would have said if Rush, Sean Hannity, or anyone else had appeared on his show in spring 2007 and called Harry Reid’s declaration of defeat in Iraq on the Senate floor treasonous. Somehow, I think he would have given that person the Jindal treatment, and not the pass he gave Miller on Tuesday. Contrast the vastly different ways in which King handled Jindal and Miller this week, and the word hack comes quickly to mind.

Indeed. Just never, ever suggest that the media is biased! Moonbattery gave Miller the "pea brain" award.

How to use "very scary language" to get what you want

Here was a headline I read over at MLive earlier today: GM audit report's 'very scary language' may spur action by President Obama's automotive task force. The implication is a bit amusing, if not downright sad. "Very scary language" = more money. Funny, because isn't that similar to what the President is doing these days? Using "very scary language" to push through an agenda that would otherwise never pass legislative muster? In any case, onto today's article:

An ominous statement by General Motors Corp's auditor about the automaker's future and a gloomy jobs report suggest Michigan's chronically ill economy is headed for the critical list.

Heading there? We've been there. 6 years running. Things might get worse, but it's been pretty bad in this state. More:

While Thursday's statement wasn't surprising, analysts said the dire GM warning could prompt President Obama's automotive task force to speed up efforts to restructure GM, Chrysler LLC and their troubled suppliers.

Who's running the task force? Why none other than Turbotax Tim Geithner. Wasn't Geithner overseeing the New York Fed? How did that turn out? Great... So what's the prognosis? Well, there's good and there's not so good:

But one corporate turnaround specialist said a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization is the best way for GM to restructure labor contracts, dealer franchise agreements and its vehicle line-up.

"For Michigan, that's going to mean pain and the loss of more jobs," said James McTevia, managing partner of McTevia & Associates in Bingham Farms. "But it also means the survivability of the auto industry."

Brace for some tough times!

UPDATE: HotAir has some interesting tidbits on Geithner today:

If anyone in the US media had thought to ask a former Australian prime minister for his assessment, they would have heard a different view. And they would not have been so surprised at Geithner’s performance since.

In a speech to a closed gathering at the Lowy Institute in Sydney on Thursday, Paul Keating gave a starkly different account of Geithner’s record in handling the Asian crisis: “Tim Geithner was the Treasury line officer who wrote the IMF [International Monetary Fund] program for Indonesia in 1997-98, which was to apply current account solutions to a capital account crisis.”

In other words, Geithner fundamentally misdiagnosed the problem. And his misdiagnosis led to a dreadfully wrong prescription.

Nice...

Non-surprise surprise: having breakfast helps

Well, duh! Here's the title of an article I saw over at MLive this morning (incidentally, while I was eating breakfast): Having breakfast before school starts helps students perform in class. Begins the article:

Cinnamon Roll Day brought in a crowd of hungry students and parents for breakfast at Northwest's Parnall Elementary School on Wednesday morning. Now, I sure don't recommend cinnamon buns as a breakfast.

I do recommend some fruit, protein and fats. Fruit to fill up your liver glycogen stores, which were likely depleted overnight. Grains won't do this as well as fruit will. Save the complex carbs for later. Get some protein and fats in you to get you out of a catabolic state and suppress catabolic hormones (the hormones that tell your body you are starving and to change things up - slow down metabolism, begin tissue cannibalism, etc).

The school in this article didn't get that memo. They're feeding their kids sugar. Cinnamon buns. Trix cereal. Nice. All the kids will start to crash in about an hour. Should the school reconsider and go with eggs and sausage, with a side of milk, the administrators might find that it holds the kids until lunch without an energy spike and a subsequent crash. That being said, it's likely better to have something than nothing at all.

This should come as no surprise. Next, they'll be telling us that working the nightshift makes your metabolism go haywire. Sheesh... Just have some Brawno already...

If you don't get the "Brawndo" thingy, you'll have to watch this (it's not that good). And drink your electrolytes!

History channel recruiting "300"

Not 300 employees, but the theme of the hit movie 300. And they're doing it with a local Professor from Grand Valley State University - Mark Schwartz. From the The Grand Rapids Press today via MLive:

Welcome to "Battle B.C.," a new TV series in which animation, graphics and real people are mixed in a graphic novel-style show to recreate great battles.

"Graphic novel-style." Cool. Check out a preview here:

Nice. Although I wouldn't put it past the history channel to insert liberal wishy-washiness into the script somehow. Other than that, tough, it looks like a manly show, no? How long before liberals and feminazis denounce the series as they did 300?

I Despise Switching to Daylight-Saving Time

It's coming this Sunday. Again. Right after my kids get up about 7:00am right now without an alarm clock. Now I have to wake them up in pitch black at 6:00am and pretend that it's 7. groan... My reminder today was this article that I saw over at MLive: Daylight-saving time can take the spring out of your step. Yeah - no kidding! From the piece:

Here's the message from experts on how to adjust to the 2 a.m. Sunday change of clocks: Go to bed early tonight and Saturday night.

Gee - thanks. I'm sure I can get the kids to bed even earlier. And then wake them up a 6 on Monday and explain to them that it's actually 7. More:

Debbie J. Frank, co-owner of Sleep Associates Inc. in Saginaw Township, said a National Sleep Foundation Poll revealed traffic crashes increase in the days after the spring switch because people are more sleep-deprived and less alert.

"Sleep Associates?" huh? Apparently, they are "Board Certified Sleep Physicians, Adult & Pediatric Sleep Testing ." (I Googled them) Well, OK. Here's another snippet:

Shari S. Drake, clinical coordinator for Covenant HealthCare Sleep Center in Saginaw said daylight-saving time exacerbates sleep disorders, and more than 70 million Americans have one.

See a pattern yet? If not, read this and connect the dots:

A study in Sweden showed more heart attacks during the first three weekdays after daylight-saving time in the spring, perhaps because of sleep deprivation, and a corresponding decrease in the risk during the more-restful fall back of the clocks in autumn.

Got the pattern now? So I have a suggestion: GET RID OF IT! Can't we all just decide to not set our clocks forward and keep it just like that - like forever??? Who's doing this to us? This is who:

The federal Transportation Department administers National Daylight Saving Time as an energy-saving measure.

Time to grab the torches and pitchforks. The government already deprived my kids of liberty and freedom to a large extent, spent money that they haven't eared yet, and now they want to deprive us all of sleep. No way! And here again we see the law of unintended consequences rear its ugly head. Save energy (although I doubt it does any such thing) at the cost of health and possibly life. Thanks but no thanks. I want a pass...

Local Businessman Makes Sense on Financial Crisis

It's nice to see some sanity out there. I made a post on the housing "crisis" a while back pointing out an excellent explanation by Glenn Beck:

The point of Glenn's graphic was that the housing boom was smoke and mirrors, and that we cannot, and should not, try to reestablish the bubble. Things need to settle down and will do so on their own. Today, I read a piece by the Kalamazoo Gazette, via MLive, regarding a lecture by Kalamazoo businessman William D. Johnston. Here were a few snippets:

"If you came here tonight wanting good news, I don't have much of it,..."

Public policy is much to blame for the housing crisis, Johnston told a crowd heavy with economic students, alumni, faculty and trustees at K-College's Dewing Hall.

"We have established public policy that encourages home ownership," he said. "But our income as a country is flat and population is growing less than 1 percent a year, so the housing boom that we experienced took place on a facade of sand. It was all debt." (emphasis mine)

I cannot emphasize the last point enough. The housing boom was bought on debt. On debt! How do you rebuild that? Why would anyone want to? In addition, I've made several posts about the cause of the housing crisis (The True Origins of This Financial Crisis). Here's a snippet that I pointed out in that post from Discriminations:

The original CRA, in short, required something similar to the original version of affirmative action. Later, as with affirmative action, a determination to eradicate an exaggerated amount of discrimination led to the lowering of lending standards for certain preferred groups of borrowers, and this degradation of standards then spread throughout the system.

The result: a multitude of affirmative action borrowers mismatched with mortgages they could not afford. The determination to extend home ownership to far more people than market forces could support initially led to record numbers of homeowners ... and then, when the government inflated bubble burst, led to record numbers of foreclosures.

There's the public policy that William D. Johnston is referring to (at least, I think). Unfortunately, Johnson then goes off the rails (orb of confusion?) with comments like this:

Direct assistance to homeowners struggling to make mortgage payments is necessary to turn the crisis around, Johnston said.

"Keeping people in their homes is critical, whether it's by lowering interest rates or by increasing the duration of the mortgages," he said.

Up to that point, he was doing so well! What happened??? He just said that the problem was that the boom was built on debt, but then suggests that mortgages get bailed out, which is in the pipe right now at the cost to the taxpayer. Isn't that debt as well? Go back and look at Glenn's visual in this context. Just a bad, bad idea - to spend more to try and save what was purchased on debt.


I don't know Johnson's political affiliation, but since the current dems glorify FDR and his spending, it's appropriate here to look back (again!)to 1939, when Roosevelt's own Treasury secretary, Henry Morgenthau, had realized that the New Deal economic policies had failed. Said Morgenthau,

"We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. . . . After eight years of this Administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started. . . . And an enormous debt to boot!"

You know what they say about those that don't learn from history... Of course, that's assuming those with the microphone know their history!

Granholm tells Ann Arbor audience that alternative energy push is about jobs

Well, jobs and taxes. Of course, you never hear the latter. I pointed this out in a prior post and made the following comments:

"The new laws mandate that power companies provide 10 percent of their power from renewable sources -- windmills, biomass, solar -- by 2015." The renewable energy portfolio standard. That old chestnut. A big disappointment from my end was that some Republican senators voted for that pie-in-the-sky, including my senator Mike Bishop. I like Senator Bishop very much, but can't disagree with that vote any more than I do. Just can't. It makes no sense, and will essentially put a "renewable tax" on every energy consumer in this state, a smaller version of the "cap-and-trade tax" coming down the pike at the federal level.

Indeed. Encourage renewable energy which *might* increase jobs, but at the cost of higher energy rates for every consumer in Michigan. I'd like to see the numbers as to how much each one of these "green jobs" costs us. My guess is it will be more than what it's worth, similar to the Hollywood tax abatements that I blogged about a few days ago (Filmmakers add jobs, cash to Michigan economy, but at what cost?) where the numbers come out to $17,142 for each of the 2800 *temporary* jobs. Nice. Where's the MSM on this? Other than Frank Beckmann that pointed out the Hollywood angle on his morning show, it's not getting much play elsewhere. Almost as if the MSM is towing the line for the Governor. Hmmm. Here's what Granholm had to say in Ann Arbor:

"In Michigan, we don't even use the words global warming or climate change," Granholm told an audience at an environmental summit in Ann Arbor on Thursday. "This is all about jobs. I just want to be really pragmatic about it."

How's the alternative energy push to create jobs going for Granholm? Here are the employment numbers since she's been in office:

• 2003: -63,800
• 2004: -3,100
• 2005: -28,100
• 2006: -79,500
• 2007: -67,300
• 2008: -81,000 (not yet official)

The projections for 2009 and 2010, before the non-stimulus stimulus bill was signed into law are follows:

• 2009: -108,000
• 2010: -24,000

January and February have been abysmal. Yet the push continues...

Butterfly Collector Going to Jail for Collecting Butterflies

I reported on this story last month (The Examiner: Mich. dentist with winged hobby accused of crime). I pointed this out in that prior posts and made the following comments:

A Michigan dentist who collects dried butterflies is charged with failing to tell the government about imports from other countries. Rucinski says the government took butterflies from his home and office, even ones collected as a boy.

Meanwhile, Turbotax Tim Geithner didn't get charged for his tax evasion. In fact, he is now our Treasury Secretary, overseeing the IRS. In all fairness, maybe Obama can get Rucinski a stint running the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service?

Well, no cabinet position came to the dentist. In fact, the guy is probably going to jail and paying a hefty fine. The Saginaw News reports, via MLive:

Rucinski will pay a $15,000 fine, $5,000 in restitution and give up the insects,
mostly butterflies. He also faces a maximum sentence of a year behind bars. "His sentence very likely will include a term of imprisonment," the plea deal says.

Nice. What's Turbotax Tim Geithner doing these days? Here's the headline just a few days ago from Michelle Malkin: Priceless: Tax cheat Treasury Secretary to chase after…tax cheats. From Michelle's post:

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told the House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday that Obama will propose legislation to limit U.S. companies’ ability to shelter foreign earnings from taxation in the U.S. He also said the administration will try to limit wealthy Americans’ ability to use tax havens to avoid taxation.

He did not immediately provide details.

As usual, no details. So the moral of the story? Cheat on taxes. But don't collect butterflies.

Scorched Earth Strategy in Pontiac, MI

From the Freep this morning: Proposal before Pontiac School Board: Lay off everyone, then call back some. From the article:

Laying off everyone in the Pontiac School District and then calling back only those needed for next school year may be a technicality in the district’s restructuring. But that doesn’t make the downsizing proposal any easier for the district’s educators and personnel to deal with what one calls “a sign of the times.”

Again, this is what liberal policies over long time periods has wrought. Do you think this would be happening if all parents had school vouchers which gives them school choice? There wouldn't be a bureaucracy looking after failing schools. Each school would compete on its own to retain and gain students. Parents choice. Kids win. The Pontiac School District isn't exactly a model for AAA education. Yes they're ahead of DPS, but that's not saying much, is it now?

Free the children!

Think "scorched Earth" will fly in Detroit? Shake things up? Don't hold your breath.

MI unemployment hits 11.6%, U.S. at 8.1%

When the bottom falls out, the bottom really falls out. First, Michigan. From the DetNews this morning:

Michigan's jobless rate, which soared to a 25-year high at 11.6 percent in January, is driving a record number of state residents to sign up for Medicaid, the state's health care plan for the poor.

Boy, was I close with my prediction the other day. Almost nailed it. From my prior post (No kidding! - Granholm: Feb unemployment is the pits!) I predicted this:

Wanna bet we get to 11.5 in February?

So once again I ask - what happened to the 109,000 jobs we were supposed to get from the non-stimulus stimulus boondoggle? Nick over at RightMichigan has more on the State's woes today in his article titled (Cast into the morning headlines where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth). Then the national news, again in the DetNews this morning:

The nation's unemployment rate bolted to 8.1 percent in February, the highest since late 1983, as cost-cutting employers slashed 651,000 jobs. Both figures were worse than analysts expected and the Labor Department's report shows America's workers being clobbered by a relentless wave of layoffs.

Is there a better illustration of what liberal policies can reap? Granholm at the state level. Obama at the national level.

Will the mortgage boondoggle help ANYONE in Michigan?

Actually, would it help anyone at all? They say that the devil is in the details. Here are some interesting details in the mortgage boondoggle making it's way through the banking system. From the freep:

the refinancing will be available only to people whose outstanding loan amounts are 105% of the current value of the home. (For example, on a home with a current market value of $100,000, you could owe up to $105,000.)

If you qualify, call the company that sends you the monthly statement and tell it you're interested in the Home Affordable Refinance application process.

105%? 105%??? Excuse me, but housing prices have dropped so precipitously that 105% is not likely to cut it for about anyone who bought their house in the last 6 years under terms of an ARM, many of those ARM handed out with no down payment whatsoever. Sure doesn't sound like anyone in Detroit will get a piece of this deal. As I pointed out a few days ago,

If you want to know how low the city of Detroit can go, consider this: Houses in Detroit now cost about the same as a Detroit resident's car insurance policy. Because the neighborhoods and housing stock in the city have deteriorated so dramatically, the median sale price for a foreclosed home in Detroit has dipped to $7,750. At the same time, auto theft, insurance fraud and vehicle burglaries are so rampant that the average car insurance policy carries a price tag of $5,072.

My guess is that Detroit residents are not gonna cut muster until they raise the cap from 105% to 1,005% - maybe. The other infuriating things about this is that you have to have trouble paying your mortgage. So if you are one of those suckers like me, who pay on time every single month, you're not going to get any help. Zip. Zero. Zilch. Nada. How does this not reward bad behavior?

And it's not just Detroit, home values all over Michigan have just tanked. Case in point is this story over at the freep:

The way Ted Widlund sees it, the values of his homes in Birmingham and Bloomfield Township have dropped so drastically, he probably won't make the cut for President Barack Obama's proposals to rewrite as many as 9 million loans nationwide. Doesn't mean he won't try, though.

My guess is that the gummint will say "No soup for you!" In yet another related freep article comes this:

A day after the Obama administration issued its guidelines to financial institutions for complying with its foreclosure mitigation efforts, confusion reigned. Many Michigan homeowners contacted the Free Press throughout the day today with word that lenders and loan servicing companies seemed to lack an understanding of what the Obama plan hoped to accomplish. Some were told they were not eligible when, under the guidelines, it appeared they might be; others were told that since they’d already gotten a loan modification earlier, they wouldn’t be able to get another – a premise the Treasury Department flatly denied to the Free Press on today.

Mass confusion. That's the thing about government. Good intentions make for disastrous results. Let's set aside the fact that many of the homeowners are under water because they bought more house than they could ever afford. The law of unintended consequences comes into play here. If you do happen to be at about the 105% threshold, here's an incentive to help yourself that just sound ridiculous on its face: businessman says stop paying your mortgage.

Snails Emit Laughing Gas 300x more Potent than CO2

Good grief! Now snails are ruining our planet too? As I kept reading, the story just got funnier and funnier. Maybe they emit laughing gas over the internet? Of course, this story comes from across the pond in Denmark, the wind turbine capital of the world. Politiken (via WND) reports:

A new Danish scientific report says that snails and other small animals emit worrying amounts of laughing gas into the atmosphere.

A "worrying" amount? Don't we have bigger fish to fry these days? More:

A recent proposal from the Danish Tax Commission unsuccessfully proposed imposing a flatulence tax on ruminants because of their greenhouse gas emissions. That proposal was not part of the final tax reform agreement announced on Sunday.

Now, new Danish scientific research shows that small animals such as snails, worms, larvae and crustaceans emit large and worrying amounts of nitrous oxide – also known as laughing gas – into the atmosphere.

Uh - how does one tax a snail? "Excuse me, Gary the Snail, I need to take a piece of your shell as collateral. Or something." Huh?

Or taxes on crustaceans, larvae or worms? Are these people serious? Who are these people? Maybe there's a silver lining to this story, though. If we can get enough snails together in one place, then maybe we can decrease our need for so many cats:

By the way, how's that wind turbine thing going in Denmark? This is how:

According to Wind Watch, the people in Denmark are not very happy with their wind power:

Denmark is the world’s most wind-intensive nation with more than 6,000 turbines generating 19% of its electricity. But consider this:

• Not one fossil fuel power plant has been closed
• 50% more coal-generated electricity is needed to cover wind’s failings
• Pollution and carbon dioxide emissions rose 36% in 2006 alone
• Danish electricity costs are the highest in Europe

Coming soon? Flatulance tax!

Kalamazoo Student Attacks Bus Driver (With Video)

Unbelievable. A 16-year old caught on tape assaulting a bus driver for Kalamazoo Public Schools. First, the video, made available by the Kalamazoo Gazette via MLive: (*warning* - the video is pretty graphic. You've been warned! Scroll down to the bottom)

Is this where we are at this time? A culture of this much disrespect and callousness? Apparently so. Shouldn't be surprising either. Where I live, closer to Detroit, sad situations of a tragic nature crop up all the time. I wrote a post not long ago (The decline of moral values) about such situations in Detroit. A man shot for urinating on someone's building. The human popsicle. This is just another in a line of incidents that points to the moral decline in our society. I wrote this in that prior post:

Is this surprising in this day and age? I don't think it should be. This nation has been in decline ever since it turned its back on God. We the People are endowed with inalienable rights by our Creator. Not by the state. That has changed. Schools banned the Bible, kids are being indoctrinated to think they are all just accidents of chance, the agenda of every deviancy known is being rammed through the curriculum. Our senior citizens and disabled are being put to death (Terry Shiavo anyone?), their lives devalued to the shirt on their back. Abortion on demand has been foisted on this country through judicial fiat. You think the above photograph is disturbing? Search Google, if you dare, and look at the remains of an aborted baby. Evil is called good, and good evil. Evil is upon us, and most are hardly aware of it. It is a natural progression of decay of our society dictated by the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics; all natural processes progress in a direction that increases the disorder of the universe.

We are subject to the law of decay. Without prudent decisions, the slide of society will continue. The current administration appears intent to accelerate this natural progression.

The teen in the Kalamazoo incident is going to be charged (duh!). Here's what the KG had to say about that:

The teen, whose name has not been released, is charged as a juvenile with assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder, Kalamazoo County Assistant Prosecutor Karen Hayter said Wednesday. The boy, who was being lodged at the Kalamazoo County Juvenile Home, is scheduled to appear April 3 in the Kalamazoo County Circuit Court Family Division for a pretrial hearing.

Sigh...

Kalamazoo school bus beating (sound fixed)

A Video For A Good Laugh - ObamaLand

The crew over at the Minority Report have been on fire today. I think this might be the 3rd item attributed to their steady eye on this day alone.

This is like the movie 300, but instead of rebuking the Persian emissary, you can yell out "THIS IS MADNESS!!!

Climate "Expert" Compares Global Warming to Slavery!

So says David Archer, a leading climate researcher who teaches at the University of Chicago, and who has written a book that postulates CO2's "long tail" and what it means for changes on Earth in the distant future. Like, really distant! From the Miami Herald Report (HT: the Minority Report):

If the world continues its heavy use of coal over the next couple of hundred years until it's essentially used up, it would take several centuries more for the oceans to absorb about three-quarters of the carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere. In those centuries, there would be a "climate storm" that Archer says would be significantly worse than the forecast from now to 2100.

The remaining carbon dioxide - the long tail - would stay in the atmosphere for thousands of years, leaving a warmer climate. About 10 percent of it would still be in the atmosphere in 100,000 years, Archer wrote in "The Long Thaw: How Humans Are Changing the Next 100,000 Years of Earth's Climate."

Because of the long life of CO2 from fossil fuels, the climate impacts would last for many thousands of years. Ice sheets would melt, raising seas high enough to swamp 10 percent or more of the world's agricultural land. Other climate impacts could include uncomfortable heat and drier continental interiors, Archer tells his readers. "In the long run, it could be a steep price to pay for a century or so of fossil fuel energy."

Blah, blah, blah - the planet's destruction. Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes... The dead rising from the grave! Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria! The deliberate and systematic destruction of ALL LIFE on Arrakis! This guy has Al Gore-caliber hot air coming out of his trap that is doing more danger to the environment than SUV's, red meat, or cow farts.
But if you think any of the above is over-the-top, especially in light of something we in the science community call "observable data," get a load of this quote:

"The question may come down to ethics, rather than economics," Archer wrote, much as the issue of slavery did more than a century ago. "Ultimately it didn't matter whether it was economically beneficial or costly to give up. It was simply wrong." (emphasis mine)

That's right. Global warming = slavery! We're lynching Gaia!

We must shed our CO2 sins, turn north, face the Aurora Borealis, and say prayers to Gaia asking for forgiveness. Because - you know - "human beings are a disease. A cancer of this planet. A plague:"

Pay your indulgence now before it's too late!

Video that you will likely never see in the MSM

I wrote a post not long ago (WaPo: Voucher Subterfuge) regarding the voucher program in D.C. that allows poor kids to get a private education rather than to stay in a failing public school. The program has been a huge success so far, which is exactly why it's been on the chopping block. The teachers union is threatened by vouchers, and we can't disturb the monopoly, now can we? The Wapo wrote this, in part, not long ago:

Democrats want to mandate that the District's unique school voucher program be reauthorized before more federal money can be allocated for it. It is a seemingly innocuous requirement. In truth it is an ill-disguised bid to kill a program that gives some poor parents a choice regarding where their children go to school. Many of the Democrats have never liked vouchers, and it seems they won't let fairness or the interests of low-income, minority children stand in the way of their politics. But it also seems they're too ashamed -- and with good reason -- to admit to what they're doing. (emphasis mine)

But... I thought the dems were fair! Nope. Just a silly fairy tale. They are bought and paid for by the unions and will do whatever they are told to keep the monopoly going. It is the poor and downtrodden that will be hurt, of course. I was surprised that it was the WaPo that broke the story, since they are also bought and paid for by the unions and their sycophants in the Democrat Party. In any case, I ran across this video over at the Minority Report:

What do you think this video would do if someone were to air it as a commercial throughout the D.C. area? Pretty compelling, no? I predict that that will never happen, for the same reason that the "video of truth" that I blogged about previously has been banned by NBC and CNN. Here was that video:

Offensive, no? So much so that NBC gave it the boot before the SuperBowl and CNN has declared it a nuclear waste site, not to be touched or even talked about. Very powerful stuff, which is exactly why the dems and their media buddies never want the public to see either.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - National Edition

In national terms, it would be the Good, The Bad, and... Oh just see below:

HT: the Minority Report

More tax increases on the way in Michigan? But... the Governor promised!

Like it's not bad enough in Michigan yet. I just mentioned yesterday that Granholm is eyeballing a gas tax increase (No kidding! - Granholm: Feb unemployment is the pits!). I pointed out this quote and had the proceeding follow-up:

"Noting that state roads are “the pits,” Gov. Jennifer Granholm says she supports changing the state gasoline tax to raise more money as gas prices rise."

Raising more money means raising taxes, in a time of recession. In an time where Michigan moms and dads are wondering if they'll have a job tomorrow, if they can pay their mortgage, if they can provide food for their children. Who sais you can't kick a Michigander while he or she is down? Surely not the state government! Note also part of what the governor said "to raise more money as gas prices rise." Does she know something we don't?

I then pointed out the attack on big oil that the Obama administration undertook, ostensibly punishing big oil for non-existent global warming. Well, more on the story today by the Detroit News:

"What we want to do is take the tax that is right now a flat tax and transform it into a percentage tax." Under a price-based tax, consumers would benefit when gas is cheaper, she said.

Of course, what are the chances that gas remains cheap as the Obama administration begins waging war on exploration, declaring off limits the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, the Bakken fields in the Dakotas, shale oil in Colorado, the Alberta oil sands, ANWR, etc.? Plus cap-and-trade? Granholm knows as well as anyone what's coming down the pike: higher energy costs through punitive taxation. Simple as that. Here a good quote also:

Granholm said she wants the new tax to be "revenue neutral" at the start -- meaning it wouldn't increase taxes right away.

(canned laughter) That's a good one! "Revenue neutral." Note the end of the sentence - "right away." That's right, the tax won't go up "right away." It'll just start going up once Obama punishes energy producers. Then the price of gas will increase as will the tax on that gas. More:

"It will not be a tax hike on the day that it passes," said Granholm, who promised in February that she would not support higher taxes this year.

So much for promises. Lasted all of a couple of weeks? That's the shelf life of a Granholm promise these days? What else is Granholm after? Higher vehicle registration fees. How is that not a tax, exactly? Same difference to you and me. How is a higher gas tax and a higher vehicle registration fee going to help the Big 3 get out of this economic funk they're in? It won't. Quite the opposite in fact. From the DetNews this morning: GM auditors raise doubts on automaker's viability. From that article:

General Motors Corp. says there is "substantial doubt" about the company's viability and that bankruptcy is possible unless it can implement a broad restructuring plan, according to a regulatory filing today. The report says GM's ability to survive largely hinges on a rebound in vehicle sales.

Uh - that will simply not happen any time soon. People are worried about their jobs, how they will pay mortgages that are adjusting upwards, how they will put food on the table. A new car is just not an option. More:

GM has assessed and rejected the option of filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy, saying it would further hurt sales. The automaker also said it would need as much as $100 billion in government aid to operate after filing bankruptcy.

$100 billion! $100 BILLION! That used to be a lot of money to Dr. Evil:

Apparently, that has become chump change these days. The deficit this year will exceed $2.5 trillion. Say that with a pinkie in your mouth!

Remember your first big roller coaster ride? The scariest moment is right after you get to the top, just before you go over that big edge. Well, economically as a nation, we're there.

Saginaw River Off-Limits for St. Patricks Day Says DEQ

You know how some communities dye the river green on St. Patrick's Day? (Chicago is a good example) They're all good, except for the community around the Sagnaw River? Why? The freep reports this morning:

Brad Meyer, a 23-year-old shoe store manager, had trouble getting approval for his plan from the state Department of Environmental Quality, the Bay City Times reports. Meyer wanted to dye the river green to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and was backed by Bay County Executive Thomas Hickner, among others. But the state questioned whether dyeing the river would serve any scientific purpose.

The environmental impact of the dye? Zip. Zero. Zilch. Even so, the DEQ says "No Dye for You!" You can't do any such thing any more without it serving a "scientific purpose?" Is this going to someday affect Christmas trees and Easter bunnies? What a bunch of scrooges!

Not long ago, there was this also:

Via Snapped Shot and STACLU comes news that Iowa state officials have banned the use of tea by Tea Party protesters holding an event tomorrow in Cedar Rapids. The tea violates environmental standards because it will discolor the water. (HT: Michelle Malkin)

We are approaching a day when you can't walk out of your house without a permit of some sort...

Bad Eating Habits of Kids

This article in the freep raised an eyebrow today: For many kids, 'eat your veggies' means fries. So I wondered, where do these kids get their fries from. Of course, mom and dad. Which begs the question: if you don't buy french fries all the time, will the kids main veggie be french fries? Thus, the problem - parents buying crap for their kids to eat. My solution? Easy - stop buying crap.

It may be slightly more expensive, but you can get some great deals on apples, oranges and grapes now and again. Plus, greenbeans seems to be a veggie that kids like. Anyway, back to the freep article:

findings reported in the March Journal of the American Dietetic Association:

• French fries are the most common vegetable children eat. Fries account for about one-quarter of children's vegetable intake.
• Juice makes up about 40% of kids' fruit intake.
• Fruit and vegetable consumption is greater in families with higher incomes. Earlier research has shown that this is because fresh produce can be expensive, and there often aren't stores that sell it in low-income neighborhoods.

You know, juice is such a waste of money that it's not even funny. I haven't bought that for any reason for a very long time. Milk is cheaper, has no simple sugars (lactose is more complex than glucose or fructose), has a good quality protein, and some fat which kids need for good health. Wanna keep your kids from drinking juice? STOP BUYING IT!!! No more juice. No more french fries. What IS it with people these days anyway?

By the way, on that last point, WalMart offers some great deals on produce. You can find apples and other fruits for less than $1 per pound. It's cheaper than ice cream, a bag of chips, popcorn, or a whole host of snacks that kids shouldn't eat ad infinitum. Take some responsibility parents!

Supersize me!

More Democrat Hypocrisy on Taxes

A repeating pattern has emerged over the last 6+ years under the Granholm administration - an administration that is nothing if not a tax-and-spend administration. Increased taxes and fees are on the horizon again (!) this budget cycle. But then you read story after story of how the administration lures businesses into a state that has been in a recession for the entirety of the tenure of the current administration. What's the lure? Tax breaks. From the DetNews this morning: Michigan to juice incentives to draw battery tech firms. From the article:

State lawmakers plan to add $200 million in tax inducements to draw advanced battery technology firms to Michigan. Refundable tax credits worth $335 million already are available through a bill signed into law by Gov. Jennifer Granholm in January. Michigan's total of $535 million will be the nation's richest pot of money available to companies involved in all aspects of advanced battery technology, according to House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford Township, and Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, who said they're working together on the bipartisan proposal. "These tax incentives will ensure that Michigan becomes a magnet for businesses in these emerging high-tech industries, creating high-paying jobs for Michigan workers now," Dillon said.

So what everyone is saying is that tax cuts spur businesses. By extension, then, can't one say that lowering the tax burden on businesses already in Michigan help make those businesses more productive and profitable. And perhaps stave off bankruptcy in many cases? But this is not the tact that Speaker Dillion or the current administration even considers. Instead, as part of closing a budget gap not long ago, Dillon and Granholm foisted upon all small businesses a significant surcharge. Why such hostility for businesses already in Michigan while doing just the opposite, with pride to boot, on businesses not yet in Michigan?

Here's my other issue with this article, and with Democrat hypocrisy:

Advanced battery technology is crucial to the production of new electric vehicles, such as the Chevy Volt. The legislation authorizes the Michigan Economic Growth Authority to provide refundable tax credits for battery pack assembly, research and engineering support for battery use in alternative vehicles, engineering toward advanced battery technologies and the construction of battery manufacturing plants.

So we want to prioritize new battery technology to spur electric vehicles. Fine. But here's the problem, and I touched on this in another prior post:

at the same time that tax breaks in the millions are given to GM to build batteries for the Volt, the Granholm administration put the kabosh on new power plants that are going to be needed to charge these very same batteries! It would be funny if it wasn't so sad at the same time. It seems no matter what private industry tries to do, the government is there to trip it up somehow. No matter the innovation, the administration is giving the same look (no nukes, no coal, no power). The same look! I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!!!

Crazy pills indeed. In fact, I wrote another post about what our energy needs would be should we go with all-electric vehicles:

Michigan utilized about 11,000 kW-hr of electricity per capita per year (data here). For a population of roughly 10,000,000, we're talking an energy need of 110 Billion kW-hr per year. That's a LOT of power. The natural gas and transportation fuel energy per capita is roughly quintuple our electrical usage. Since plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles are coming down the road (the governor talked about battery production in her State of the State address), our electrical needs could dramatically increase in a short time span (transportation alone would be add about 35,000 kW-hr per capita annually(!) already quadrupling our electric power needs).

Quintuple. Where do we get such power? This will simply not be powered by solar or wind.
We will need more conventional power plants. Even with the push for more wind in Michigan, whatever wind capacity is installed will have to be backed up by conventional sources anyway. In fact, I just saw this over at motorcitytimes the other day:

If you want to get a glimpse of where the state of Michigan is heading. Take a look at Denmark. According to Wind Watch, the people in Denmark are not very happy with their wind power:

Denmark is the world’s most wind-intensive nation with more than 6,000 turbines generating 19% of its electricity. But consider this:

• Not one fossil fuel power plant has been closed
• 50% more coal-generated electricity is needed to cover wind’s failings
• Pollution and carbon dioxide emissions rose 36% in 2006 alone
• Danish electricity costs are the highest in Europe

Ouch. More on wind power from my end here. So yes, hypocrisy on taxes, hypocrisy on energy. The dems are talking out of both sides of their mouth, and nobody in the MSM is calling them on it. Crazy pills!!!

UPDATE: (actually, updated and bumped) Here's a pie-chart showing where we get our elecrtical power from in Michigan:

Who can terminate their state first?

From the Detroit News today: Granholm and Schwarzenegger to speak at the Gridiron dinner. Two Democrat tax-and-spend liberals in one place. Good thing they didn't pick a conservative Republican to speak there. That much matter and antimatter in one place just wouldn't be a pretty thing to witness. From the article:

Granholm's spokeswoman, Liz Boyd, said Tuesday the invitation for the governor to be the yin to Schwarzenegger's yang arrived "recently."

Yin to the yang? Isn't it more like yin to the yin? I know the Governator has an "R" next to his name for whatever reason, but come on now! I think the two governors have a secret bet as to who can run their state into the ground first.

Gotta give the upper hand at this point to Cyberdyne Systems Model 101 running California into the ground first. If you think about it, a Terminator sent back in time can do a lot more damage to the human race by becoming a liberal governor and spending their state into the ground, rather than shooting people one at a time. Brilliant!

No kidding! - Granholm: Feb unemployment is the pits!

Uh - what happened to the 109,000 jobs we were supposed to get from the non-stimulus stimulus boondoggle? The DetNews reports today:

Michigan had the nation's highest unemployment rate in the nation in January, at 10.6 percent.

Wanna bet we get to 11.5 in February?

Let's just look at the job numbers in Michigan since Granholm took over:

• 2003: -63,800
• 2004: -3,100
• 2005: -28,100
• 2006: -79,500
• 2007: -67,300
• 2008: -81,000 (not yet official)

The projections for 2009 and 2010, before the non-stimulus stimulus bill was signed into law are follows:

• 2009: -108,000
• 2010: -24,000

We'll soon see what February looks like after a horrible January. I'll place bets that the 2009 projection is about correct, even with the "stimulus" boondoggle. Not. Good. In the pits as it were.

Speaking of pits, what to do with pot holes all over our roads? Why raise taxes of course! From the freep today:

Noting that state roads are “the pits,” Gov. Jennifer Granholm says she supports changing the state gasoline tax to raise more money as gas prices rise.

Raising more money means raising taxes, in a time of recession. In an time where Michigan moms and dads are wondering if they'll have a job tomorrow, if they can pay their mortgage, if they can provide food for their children. Who sais you can't kick a Michigander while he or she is down? Surely not the state government! Note also part of what the governor said "to raise more money as gas prices rise." Does she know something we don't?

Coincidentally (then again, maybe not), Turbotax Tim Geithner attacks oil, gas companies for 'global warming' today. Global warming, cap and trade, higher energy taxes through higher energy prices. Great. Just great. Our roads will get fixed but we won't be able to afford to drive on them. Plus, we'll struggle paying our much higher electric and gas bills at home, thanks to both Obama on the national level and Granholm here in Michigan (with the blessing of environmental moonbats).

So how bad will the unemployement numbers be? However bad they are, they will get even worse in the coming months. Here's one reason: No bottom seen for auto sales. From that freep article:

A deepening recession and growing consumer anxiety sent U.S. automobile sales plummeting in February to levels one executive called "unsustainable." Overall industry sales plunged more than 41 percent, from nearly 1.8 million vehicles in February 2008 to 688,909 last month, putting more pressure on General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC as they scramble to convince the federal government they are worth saving.

Instead of 16 million car yearly demand, we're likely looking at less than half that. Probably unsustainable with how the companies function now, but sustainable after major restructuring. If you really want to get depressed, read the rest of that article. I'm mostly an optimist, but it's going to get worse before it gets better. The "stimulus" will not make any positive difference, and will just put us into a debt hole. Speaking of debt hole:

In The Know: Should The Government Stop Dumping Money Into A Giant Hole?

Just so I don't leave this post on a down note, there's good news. Granholm created a website to help businesses. Let's leave aside the fact that this is done about 8 years too late, but anyway... Of course, it doesn't help a business if it's going out of business. Might I suggest tax cuts? A repeal of the business surcharge? Helloo? Bueller???