Category: detroit

I’m Back!

Please note: When reading this, try to imagine someone speaking in a slight southern accent; like I do. It will help to make it sound funnier. 

—

As I told you all, I went out with my Dad today. I went with him to his retirees meeting at the UAW Local that he is a member of. It is in Southwest Detroit, where I grew up; a bit closer to downtown Detroit, than where I lived. However, because I want to continue to live in this house, I will not get into the specifics of what happened down there.

What I can tell you is this:

  • It rained. As in, it rained hard; by the time we got to the union hall, I thought we were going to have to ditch the truck and grab a canoe! My Dad was nice enough to drop me and Dad’s friend Irvin off at the door; and you should have seen me come out of that truck! I come out of that truck, like a lost cat that realized that he had wandered into the dog section of the animal pound —- around lunchtime. Yes, it was like that. Ever watch Scooby Doo? You know, when he stumbles upon a ghost and get the wits scared out of him? Yeah, like that. It came complete sound effects too, with “ooh’s eek’s and aah’s.” Oh, it was a wonderful time. I also, when I made it inside, kindly informed the people in the office that whomever was doing the rain dance, really needed to stop. Because the rain was here, in buckets!

So, finally the meeting was over. My Dad stopped at Vernor Coney Island and picked up some Coney Dogs for lunch for Him and Me and rest of the family here. So, I grabbed me a Diet Pepsi out of the fridge, came back down here to what my Mother calls my dungeon, and proceeded to devour me a couple of coney dogs and catch up on what was happening in the political world, while I was out cavorting with the organized labor movement. (Please Note: When I say cavorting, I don’t mean screwing. Hell, they were a bunch of grey-headed old people. Mostly men, and I do not swing that way, sorry. 😉 I mean hanging around them. It is an attempt at humor. Please, laugh. 😀 )

So, anyhow; I ate my dogs and fiddled around, and putted around and read a little here and little there. The next thing I know, an hour had passed and I realized that I was getting rather tired. So, I figured I would grab me a little nap; and nap I did….:

For Six Long Freaking Hours! 

I woke up, and rolled over at looked at the iPod touch and said aloud, “7 o’clock?!?!” I got up, and stumbled around; and went up stairs. Mom was fixing TV dinners. My Father, ever the funny man; greeted me with the normal greeting: “Well, Hello there, Sleeping Beauty!” I grinned, mumbled a little and went to the bathroom. Six hours of sleeping adds up to lot of urine storage. (Yes, I know, yuck. But, hey, it’s all true.)

So, there you have it. What I have done for most of the day. I hope you have enjoyed this rather funny story, as much as I have writing it. It is all true; my parents will verify it. I like going out with my Dad and his friend Irvin, I could write a book, about those two, when they get together. As well, as the funny stuff that goes on, when my Dad and his fishing friends, get together. Someday, I might write about that stuff. now, I live here, and I do not really want to get sued.

Till next time!

-Pat

 

 

 

 

Uh-oh! Thieves make off with the Secret Service’s truck in Detroit

Oh, this is just what Detroit needs right here…. 🙄

Thieves stole a U-Haul truck in downtown Detroit Saturday night containing equipment for the U.S. Secret Service, which is in town for a Labor Day visit by Vice President Joe Biden.

“It won’t affect the visit at all,” said Secret Service spokesman Edward Donovan. “We would never compromise the security of a visit.”

Donovan said the agency rented the truck to haul equipment, some of which was in the vehicle when it was stolen from outside a downtown hotel, near the intersection of Washington Boulevard and Michigan Avenue. The agents left the vehicle Saturday evening and discovered it missing Sunday morning, Donovan said.

via Truck with U.S. Secret Service equipment stolen in Detroit prior to Vice President Joe Biden’s visit | City of Detroit | Detroit Free Press | freep.com.

Oh to have been a fly on the wall in that truck, when those thieves opened that back door and realized what they had stolen! 😯 Oh man.

I am quite sure that they uttered a couple words that I will not print on this blog. They may have made up a few as they went along as well. I am also sure that somewhere in that conversation that this was said: “How the heck are we going to fence this stuff?”

Proving my long-held belief that criminals might be brave, they might be bold, — but they are not entirely bright. 😉 😛 Believe me, I know what I speak. I have family members who suffer from “Stupid criminal can’t stay outta jail syndrome.” Thank God and my parents that I never turned out like that; I was good kid, who went to Church and did what my parents told me. (Well, most of the time!!) You know what? It shows too. Only interaction I have never had with the police; was when I got speeding tickets, which were all paid, promptly.

Good ol’ Detroit, where if you don’t nail it down; it will be stolen. 😀

 

 

Quote of the Day

Kwame Kilpatrick is facing 33 counts:

• One count of racketeering conspiracy, punishable by up to 20 years in prison

• Nine counts of extortion, punishable by up to 20 years in prison; $250,000 fine

• Four counts of bribery, punishable by up to 10 years in prison; $250,000 fine

• 13 counts of mail and wire fraud, punishable by up to20 years in prison; $250,000 fine

• Five counts of filing false tax returns, punishable by up to three years in prison; $100,000 fine

• One count of income tax evasion, punishable by up to five years in prison

Interesting Article: Slavery? — In Detroit?

A very interesting article here:

Metro Detroiters love to celebrate their local history, especially when it involves the noble, magnificent and world-class chapters of the past: The auto industry. Motown Records. The Underground Railroad. Diego Rivera. Coney Islands.

On the other hand, local history has its crazy uncles. Those are chapters that might be fascinating and important, but they are hidden in the back room and rarely talked about. Henry Ford’s anti-Semitism, taking land from the Indians, the Free Press’ 19th Century racism and the auto companies’ early abuse of workers come to mind.

Then there is the granddaddy of all forgotten local history. The subject no one talks about, virtually ever. The most neglected topic of all.

Slavery.

via Slavery Is Detroit’s Big, Bad Secret. Why Don’t We Know Anything About It? –  Deadline Detroit.

I highly recommend that you go read the rest of that; it is a very interesting read.

Jobless claims revised up (again)

The Weekly Standard notes that jobless claims have been revised up and makes the following observation:

Americans need to work and not merely to pay the bills. They define themselves by their work and take pride in their work and in doing a good job. “I can outwork anyone,” is a common American boast. John Henry vowed he could drive more steel than a steam engine and he “died with a hammer in his hand.” The government can hand out unemployment checks but even if they cover the bills, it isn’t the same

Mark this on your calendars, because this is the first time that this non-wilsonian conservative will say of the wilsonian Weekly Standard; and that is they hit it out of the ballpark on this one here.

Of course, it would intellectually dishonest of me to not remind them and my readers that we are in this mess because of the idiocy of BOTH PARTIES. With Bush’s wars and Obama’s idiotic keynesian spending; it is a wonder that were not living in subjugation to China now.

So, yeah, that’s the reality of America and its my reality for the last eight years.

UPDATED! Farewell to an old friend

Farewell to an old friend, Detroit Grace Assembly of God — You were there, when I needed you the most. 35 years was much, much too short.

This is one of those personal posts, which will most likely go on for a bit. So, if you will please, permit to share with you my heart a bit. As you all know, I am a born-again Christian of 30 year vintage; which is a nice way of saying that I am old. I am 40, no use trying to deny that.

I found out last night something that ripped my heart out in a very big way. I found out that the Church that I had attended for 10 years of my life; which was from 1983 until 1993 — decided to pack it in, and call it 35 years and close their doors for good. I am referring to no other than Detroit Grace Assembly of God in Detroit, Michigan.

I am not interested in assigning blame or anything silly like that; I just found the news to be a bit unsettling. What I do know is this, after Pastor Johnny D. Saenz retired, most of people that were going there, which was his family members and a few others — left after he retired. This left the Church with two families. Ken Lambert, who was basically the last man standing, decided that leaving the Church open for just two families, just really was not worth it.

I am one of those kinds of people that grow attached to a thing, which is rather strange, considering the fact that I am not really in the Pentecostal Churches anymore. Yeah, that is right; back in 2004, after spending 21 years in those circles; I packed up my memories and called it a good run and got into my little wood canoe, and paddled across the Christian lake to the Baptist beach and started over. What I did not do, was deny the fact that I came those circles, nor did I ever hold any grudges. Thus the reason why finding out that this Church ended just breaks my heart in two. I always thought that this Church would be around until the rapture came. Well, it was not to be.

If I were to sit here and tried to write all of things that I learned, the things that the Lord showed me, the things that were poured into me, by faithful servants of God, who happened to attend that Church; this silly blog entry would be twelve pages long.

What I can tell you is this — even though the work of Detroit Grace Assembly of God is done, and the old lighthouse operators at 1953 Military Street have stood down from their positions and have handed the controls to some new and very energetic people who wish make a difference. The message has not changed one bit. That message was first was heralded first by St. Patrick’s Church, who built the building and then by Detroit Grace Assembly of God, who bought it in 1978, is still the same as it was some 2012 years ago.

That message is that Jesus Christ came to this earth, born of a virgin, lived a perfect life, never sinned, was crucified on the cross at Calvary. Then on the third day — literally and physically rose again, appeared to his disciples, and then ascended to his Father and now sits at the right hand of the Father. The message is also that anyone that decides that living the life of a hell-bound sinner is a lousy idea, now has a choice and a chance to spend the rest of his life in eternity with God; all he has to do —- is to accept that love gift given to him.

The mission of Grace Assembly of God for 35 years and now with Courage Church will be to continue to make that message known to those living in that area; that was the mandate given to that Church by the Lord and it is now the mandate of Courage Church. Now we as former attendees of Grace Assembly of God really wanted to see that Church carry on. However, I believe in appointed times by God. I believe that Grace Assembly of God was appointed a time to start and a time to end.

During that time, God literally transformed a good number of people, not only by salvation, but also by transformation, that comes by applying the Word of God to one’s life. I was one of those people, someone who came out of an awful mess at a Baptist Church in the area, and came to Grace Assembly of God and found out what serving Jesus was truly about. Which was not about, as I found out, wearing a suit and tie and carrying a huge Bible.  But about Jesus and what he did on the cross of Calvary and what Jesus could do the heart of someone who is open to him coming and making needed changes.

It should be known, that there were some were in much worse shape than I was —- Drugs, broken families, broken marriages, children out of wedlock —- the usual sort of gruel that Satan and this World can offer, that most Churches, would turn their nose up at, and you know what? The Lord met these people, where they were and brought them out of their mess, transformed their lives and prospered them in mighty ways. All of that in a space of 35 years.

To the memory and legacy of Detroit Grace Assembly of God!

-Charles Patrick Adkins

Grace Assembly of God – Detroit, Michigan — Alumni 1983 – 1993

Lincoln Park, Michigan

UPDATE!  Courage Church is now Santos Church.

Detroit’s fiscal chickens come home to roost

I really hate having to write blog entries like this; I really do.  For those of you, who actually read here; I was born and raised on the southwest side of Detroit. I left Detroit, with my parents, in 1989. Our house was burglarized by a family member’s friend and yes, he was involved too.  As much as it greatly pains me to say this; the city and that part of the city, where I grew up, is not what it once was. I have very fond memories of growing up in Detroit; hanging with my buddy Joe, who now lives in Lima, Ohio —- going to Church over on Military Street off of Vernor Highway —  just a good place to grow up. I realize some of you might find it hard to believe, that growing up in Detroit was a good thing; but, believe me it was. I would not trade my childhood for nothing at all.

The reason why I do not like writing blog entries like this, is because it just makes the City of Detroit and Michigan look bad. I always get my feathers in an uproar, when people, who do not even live around here, begin writing articles about this area, like they are some sort of expert on this area.  The way I see it, if you have never lived here, worked here or worshiped here; you ought to just keep your mouth shut. I know, it sounds a bit gruff; chalk it up to a ghetto attitude, a Detroit attitude or just someone who is not to keen on outsiders running their mouths, when they ought to just keep out of the city’s business.  Whatever it is, when I see the mostly woefully uninformed criticism, my defenses kick in.  Yes, I know who runs and controls Detroit now; I do not like it anymore than anyone else. But to say that skin pigmentation has a thing to do with the city of Detroit’s problems is asinine at best.  There seems to be a bit of that, on the right, at sites like this one here.

The Nation is in a horrible recession, some would even say a “double dip” recession. This is the thing that is causing Detroit’s fiscal problems; it  is what is known as “kicking the can down the road.” America as a Nation, has done it for decades. Detroit has done it since about the 1970’s; and now they are at the point where the road that they have kicked said can down —- is at the gates of hell and they are now trying to figure out a method of escape. Sort of like what is happening in Washington DC at the moment.

So when I see this story in the Detroit Free Press, a very liberally biased paper; I have to smirk a bit. Because now, the socialists who have controlled Detroit for years are now at place of, “Where did all the money go?”

Quoting the Paper:

The emotions of labor leaders and city workers were eclipsed Monday by the harsh reality that there appears to be little that can stop a 10% wage cut and major changes to employment terms for Detroit’s unionized workforce.

During a nearly three-hour Detroit City Council meeting, Mayor Dave Bing’s administration laid out its case for $102 million in savings through cuts, including reduced pensions and higher out-of-pocket health care costs, in addition to wage cuts.

Officials painted a dire picture: Without savings from what the city now is calling employment terms, Detroit could run out of cash as early as October.

It really should not be of any surprise to anyone, but the usual gang of suspects are now lining up with the grievances; complete with class warfare and so forth:

Councilwoman JoAnn Watson said Bing’s administration made no effort to bargain with Detroit’s 48 unions as the city charter requires and is balancing the city’s debts on the backs of its workers.

Watson said she wants to see as much effort put into restructuring Detroit’s debt as Bing has put into reworking city labor contracts.

“You all want to get tough with the working people, but you don’t want to get tough with the Wall Street bankers,” she said.

As much as I hate to make a funny, at someone’s expense; but, did someone relocate Wall Street to Detroit? I do not recall the notice that stock exchange was leaving New York. Funny nonsense aside, I know the point she is trying to make, a rather moronic socialist argument, that somehow or another businesses in Detroit ought to be punished for the idiotic management of a socialist city. Which is essentially that same stupid argument that President Barack Obama is making as well. It is a flawed mentality and one that usually bankrupts a city and eventually a Nation. America’s clock is ticking and eventually, we are going to end up like Detroit — broke. Some would say that we are already broke and China is our real masters.

As always the Unions are having their say as well:

Al Garrett, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 25, the city’s largest union, said city officials “have gone too damn far,” and urged the council to reject the contracts and force Bing and the financial advisory board to impose them.

“It’s the only influence you have,” Garrett said, addressing the council. “Otherwise your sitting there serves no purpose. Please don’t vote for it. … Stand up and be accountable for the seat.”

[…]

Gerald Thompson, president of the AFSCME Local 1220, representing city clerks and security guards, criticized the council for approving a fiscal stability agreement with the state that left the council powerless to stop draconian union cuts.

“This is what happens when absolute power corrupts,” Thompson said. “This is not fundamental fairness in democracy. It’s tyranny.”

Mr. Thompson? You want to see tyranny? Try looking in the White House; if that is not a text book example of power corrupting someone, I do not know what is.  Furthermore, I find it absolutely amusing that a socialist liberal would cry “Tyranny!” when the odds are not in his favor. It is a totally partisan hack move and I believe it should be condemned by the Mayor of Detroit. But, of course, we all know that will never happen.

Finally, in this story, a bit of sanity:

Chris Brown, Bing’s chief operating officer, acknowledged that the contracts, expected to be imposed no later than next month, were crafted with no union input.

“Things are not the same,” Brown said. “We’re not going to sit here and say we collectively bargained. We didn’t. It may not be fair, but it’s necessary.”

I highlighted that one, because I am amazed that someone in Detroit sees the trees, in spite of the forest around him. I pray that Detroit is able to steer itself out of the mess created by the downturn in the economy. Because as goes the City of Detroit; so goes the rest of the state and eventually the Country. I believe we can make it out of this mess, there just has to be some adults in the room. I just wish some of those adults were in the room in council chambers in Detroit.

 

Why Scott Walker Won and the Democrats in Wisconsin lost

I was going to try avoid writing about this, but I am seeing some rather silly stuff being written about this win; So, I thought I would offer my thoughts as a former Democratic Party voter. Update: Greg Sargent over at The Washington Post hits the post a bit, but fails, as most progressives do; to see the full picture.

Putting it plain and simple, The Democrats in Wisconsin picked a fight that they could not win. — They were outspent, out-organized, and out-boxed; the Democrats had zero chance of winning this recall election at all. But yet, they still decided to fight for a recall election. They should have taken their cues from Michigan and left well enough alone. The Democrats in Michigan tried unsuccessfully to get Governor Snyder recalled here twice and both times they failed horribly. This is because residents of Michigan knew that the former Governor of Michigan was a incompetent moron who could not Govern worth a damn and they did not want a Democrat back in office again. Thus, the Democrats wisely dropped the issue and decided to try and win the 2012 election.  Wisconsin should have followed their lead, but they did not and decided to try and force their hand and failed.

Mother Jones has some good ideas as well:

1) Campaign Money is King

Walker crushed his Democratic opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, in the political money wars. The governor raised $30.5 million while Barrett pulled in $3.9 million—a nearly 8-to-1 advantage in candidate fundraising. Walker banked on in- and out-of-state donors, including heavyweight GOP contributors such as Houston homebuilder Bob Perry and Amway heir Dick Devos. Walker was able to raise so much money because of a quirk in state law that lets candidates potentially facing a recall raise unlimited funds for their defense. (The normal limit for individual donors in $10,000.) Barrett did not get to raise unlimited funds in his recall campaign—which placed him at a great disadvantage.

All that money helped Walker pound Barrett in the ad wars. An analysis by Hotline On Call found that Walker and his GOP allies outspent Barrett and his backers 3-to-1 on TV ad buys in the three months before Tuesday’s recall. The dark-money-peddling Republican Governors Association itself spent $9.4 million to keep Walker in office.

Just as the political money advantage proved crucial to labor’s win last year in repealing Ohio’s anti-union SB 5 law, campaign cash appears to have played a pivotal role in the GOP’s Wisconsin wins .

2) The Candidate

Filing nearly one million signatures to trigger a recall election, Democrats and union leaders and members had their sights trained on the governor. The recall election’s Democratic primary forced them to take their eyes off the prize. A primary fight between Barrett and former Dane County executive Kathleen Falk splintered the labor movement. The major unions endorsed Falk early on, sometimes over the opposition of their own rank-and-file. Several other unions held out until late March, when Barrett entered the race, and then endorsed the mayor. This primary drama knocked the anti-Walker effort off course for weeks, if not a month, in a race where every single day counts. It divided a unified movement into Barrett supporters and Falk supporters.

3) No New Ground

Democrats and labor unions touted their massive get-out-the-vote operation, which was supposed to tip the scales in their favor. Turn-out was way up in the elections, at 2.4 million, but the left failed to win over the types of people who elected Walker in 2010. As the Milwaukee Journal Sentinelnotes, Walker’s Tuesday win is a mirror image of his 2010 victory—just with more voters. He won men and lost women; won independents and lost moderates; and won suburban and rural voters but not urban voters.

More notably, Walker won 38 percent of votes from union households—an increase of 1 percent from 2010. Remember, union members or their spouses didn’t know in 2012 that Walker planned to target them after the election with his anti-union “budget repair” bill curbing collective bargaining rights. Yet 16 months after Walker launched his attack on unions, just as many people in union households voted for him. The unions failed to rally their own ranks.

My thoughts on the Unions — One of the main reasons why the unions failed; not because of a lack of members or money. The unions failed because for the following:

  1. They over played their hand, by storming the capital building and occupying it. This made them look like total buffoons in the eyes of the people, not mention the heavy handed tactics that were on par with communist gulags.
  2. The second reason is a rather simple one; not all union members are on board with the progressive movement, just because someone has a union card, does not necessarily make him a Democrat. Some union members are free thinkers and some of them resent being culled in together with the socialist crowd.
  3. The last reason is this; some union members are just not happy with the Democratic Party and with Obama. I believe Obama fatigue played a big part in the loss in Wisconsin. I believe it will also play out in November as well.

Needless to say, Scott Walker won big and the Unions and Democrats lost big. The results of this will be far-reaching and the Democrats in Wisconsin would be wise to lay low and try to hang on in 2012. But if they do not, they should learn the lessons of the massive over-reach that took place in Wisconsin and with the Democratic Party as a whole. However, knowing Democrats like I do; they will not learn a thing from this.

 

Excellent Michigan Blog

I like to help other bloggers out.

There was a time; about 7 years ago, when I was a new blogger and no one knew who the heck I was, and could have otherwise cared less. but, nonetheless, I kept plugging away.

Along the way, I befriended bloggers and some of them helped me out, by adding me to their blogrolls and because of that, my site grew in readership.

So, I am returning the favor.

I was contacted by a Jeremy from MichiganStandard.com. I was looking around at his site and it seems to be something that I would be interested in reading. I encourage you to do the same. I give Jeremy credit, he is brave soul, anyone who dares to blog about Detroit and Michigan’s ills — while being white — is a brave person. 😯 I tend to avoid it, as you end up being accused of being racist. So, I tend to shy away from it.

Anyhow, thanks to whomever it was that contacted Jeremy about my site. I really do not see my site as being anything that great. Compared to some of these other sites, which are written by political insiders; I consider myself to be quite low on the totem pole.

So, there you are, a blog promo posting. Go check out MichiganStandard.com. The home of Jeremy, the bravest white man on the planet! 😉 😛 😀 😆