LSJ Blogs: People's Politics

If you seek a pleasant bunch of unseated delegates, look around you!

Over six months of non-stop campaigning, nearly two dozen debates, all the primaries and caucus meetings . . . and still the Democratic Party is without a nominee. However, tomorrow and Saturday, the DNC’s Rules Committee congresses in Washington to decide who gets the delegates, and how—and they’re going to need our advice! What do you think should happen to the Michigan delegation when the party convenes in August? Write in and let America know your solution!

Here are the best half-dozen ideas I’ve come up with so far:

Kwame, the Musical, Part 2

"Hey, Big Spender" as sung by Bobby Ferguson

The minute you took over Detroit,
I could see you were a man of corruption,
A real big spender,
Graft seeking, so defined.
Say, wouldn't you like to know
That I am likewise inclined?

Kwame, the Musical

Kwame (to the tune of Swanee), as sung by Christine Beatty

Chorus:

Kwame, how I love ya, how the money
Makes me want Kwame

McCain 2013: the Rest of the Speech You DIDN'T Hear

John McCain delivered a speech in Ohio last week in the seldom-heard presumptive present perfect. He imagined a very different world in 2013, one buoyed by the many things he “would hope to have achieved at the end of [his] first term as president.” McCain the futurist told his audience, “By January 2013 . . . The Iraq war has been won. Iraq is a functioning democracy.” He also happily described the salubrious effect his presidency will have (sorry, I mean has had) on the national and world economies; Iran, Afghanistan, and Sudan (the ends-with-‘an hat trick!); America’s dependence on foreign oil; the health-care crisis—anyway, point is, it’s going to be a great (and apparently really busy) first term. Maybe you’re thinking these prognostications are a little too sanguine (or divorced from reality), but then you probably didn’t read the rest of the speech that wasn’t reported by the liberal media. Here it is at last . . .

Government in Michigan

There is something baffling about the political structure, in addition to the people that fill political positions, within Michigan that I believe should be changed.

There are currently 1,242 townships in Michigan which vary in size considerably, from the 10 in Pointe Aux Barques to the approximately 95,648 people in Clinton Charter Township.  Each of them presumably has their own township boards consisting of (by law) either five or seven members.  The townships can, and do, pass ordinances controlling how people can conduct themselves within the township limits.

Tort reform

Admittedly, I have a strong animus toward the legal profession.  This is in spite of brother-in-law being one; he is a good guy who is apparently the exception that proves the rule.  It strikes me there is something wrong when the more you can obfuscate or lie, the better litigator you are and the more money you make.  While being at the top of ones profession is typically a noble goal, in the case of lawyers it doesn’t seem to be the case.

It Helps to Have Friends in High Places

I'm don't know which is more disturbing to me:

• the fact that Meijer corporation's Political Action Committee (PAC) gave Republican Mike Cox's Attorney General campaign committee $2500 while Cox was deciding whether to criminally prosecute Meijer for campaign finance law violations, or
• the fact that Mike Cox took the money while he was deciding whether to prosecute Meijer.  (Guess what he decided about prosecution.)

If you haven't heard about this, don't feel bad.  It hasn't been in print anywhere yet.  But I just saw the Meijer PAC report, and it's true.  Meijer PAC CFR 

There is so much wrong with this, it's hard to know where to start...

Nancy Pelosi Again

Nancy Pelosi on February 15, 2008 decided it was more important for her hard-working democrat friends to take a vacation rather than voting on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) which had expired on February 1, but got a 15 day reprieve.  At the time it was “a matter of days” before this was passed and a conference committee between the House and Senate resolved the problem.

Throw Them All Out

I saw an interesting article in the LSJ today. It seems that any taxpayer who filed jointly with a person having no social security number will not be receiving one of those wonderful economic stimulus checks. Now let’s forget for a moment that the checks are really just politics as usual, and not a great idea in the first place. If they’re going to be distributed, shouldn’t they at least be distributed equally to all taxpayers?

Smoking ban

Last Friday, the Michigan Senate voted to ban smoking in bars, restaurants and even casinos and bingo halls.  This was somewhat of a surprise action since in December they shelved the idea although the Michigan House was pushing a lame bill similar to the Senate's.  This is another example of the government, this time at the State level, overreaching their mandate and playing nanny to the public.