Category: News

Obama cuts into social programs, progressives not amused

I knew this was coming, but it is news: 

WASHINGTON — President Obama next week will take the political risk of formally proposing cuts to Social Security and Medicare in his annual budget in an effort to demonstrate his willingness to compromise with Republicans and revive prospects for a long-term deficit-reduction deal, administration officials say. In a significant shift in fiscal strategy, Mr. Obama on Wednesday will send a budget plan to Capitol Hill that departs from the usual presidential wish list that Republicans typically declare dead on arrival. Instead it will embody the final compromise offer that he made to Speaker John A. Boehner late last year, before Mr. Boehner abandoned negotiations in opposition to the president’s demand for higher taxes from wealthy individuals and some corporations. Congressional Republicans have dug in against any new tax revenues after higher taxes for the affluent were approved at the start of the year. The administration’s hope is to create cracks in Republicans’ antitax resistance, especially in the Senate, as constituents complain about the across-the-board cuts in military and domestic programs that took effect March 1. — Social Programs Face Cutback in Obama Budget – NYTimes.com

Needless to say that the reaction in the progressive blogsphere has not been a good one. Personally, I think that the President has good intentions; but he is cutting the wrong things. I simply do not believe that our Nation’s seniors, like my parents; should be punished because the recklessness of people on Wall Street. We need to get rid of the pork that is laden in these bills that congress just keeps on passing. This will help with the spending problem. 

Furthermore, I believe Obama might be doing some damage to the Democratic Party brand. I mean, this guy promised his base that he would actually stand up to the Republicans and what is doing? Capitulating. From what I have seen, this is not going over well with his base at all. The Democrats should be quite worried about this; this will cuase them problems in 2014, and could very well cause them some serious issues in 2016 as well. I mean, why would anyone get exciting about a Democratic Party Presidental candidate, when the last one folded like cardboard? 

Just my opinion. 😀 

Updated–BREAKING NEWS – Local Story: Eighth grade student brings gun to school, kills himself, because he was bullied – Police and School officials now saying bullying not the cause

I suppose the Gun Control nuts will just love this:

SOUTHGATE — An eighth-grader at Davidson Middle School shot and killed himself in a bathroom this morning, school officials said.

Students told The News-Herald Newspapers the teen said he was depressed because he was being bullied. One classmate, who said he spoke to the student prior to the shooting, said the teen said he was thinking of taking his life.

The school was placed on lockdown at about 8:30 a.m. Although school Supt. William Grusecki was unavailable for comment, his office said the lockdown was due to a “situation with a student.”

A press conference was scheduled for 11:30 a.m. to address the situation.

News outlets are reporting the student shot himself in the head and left a note.

An eighth-grader inside the school said he was in class and heard a shot. He said the it sounded like glass breaking and a teacher rushed to a bathroom.

Students were visibly shaken as they were led out of the school. Parents were called to come and pick them up

via SOUTHGATE: Davidson Middle School reeling from student’s suicide – thenewsherald.com.

What I want to know is, where the hell was the school at, to stop such bullying? For those who do not know; Southgate, Michigan is right next door to my city here in Lincoln Park. It is less the a mile away. I would go over there and see if I could get pictures; but Southgate is a bit of a tough city to outsiders. They are known to arrest people that they do not like the looks of, so I will stay away from the scene.

If I were the parents of this child, who killed himself; I would sue the parents of the children, who did the bullying. I would also sue the school district for not protecting my child from such bullying. It is very obvious that someone, somewhere in that school, knew that this was going on and turned and looked the other way.

Furthermore, I believe that the parents of the children, who did the bullying, ought to be held accountable for their children’s actions. The parents ought to be charged, in the case, with first degree murder.

Now, as for the gun rights people, vs the Gun Rights people; I really do not believe it would have mattered here. Most likely, this kid got this gun from his Dad’s collection, and took it to school and killed himself. No amount of gun laws, would have prevented this one at all. I should also point out, that this school, according to the Detroit News, does not have metal detectors, as it is an older school and not only that; it is a rather nice area. Southgate, Michigan is not really known for school violence; after all, it is not Detroit. Countdown to being called a racist in 5….4…3…..2….

In closing: First off, my prayers to the people involved, including the family of the deceased child. 🙁 Also, something needs to be done about bullying, it is just that simple. This is what caused the Columbine school shooting and a few tragic others. It needs to be dealt with and quickly, before anyone else gets shot.

Update: Police and school officials are now saying bullying was not the cause of the Suicide. I hold this is high suspicion, I think someone is trying to cover their behinds. Here is the video of the presser from earlier: (via WXYZ-TV)

Follow up to previous: HotAir.com’s racism towards Detroit

Just a quick follow-up to my earlier posting.

Because my last posting on what I felt was just straight up racism towards Detroit by so-called “Conservatives” was so long, I think the point might have been lost.

So here’s the “straight talk” style point of my posting:

If you have an issue with Detroit: Fine, Dandy — So do I. If you say that Detroit’s problems are due to White AND black Democrats and Detroit leaders, kicking the can down the road for years and years; kind of like what our national leaders are doing now too — I will most likely agree with you, wholeheartedly!

But, if you get in the comments section of a so-called “Conservative” “Christian” blog and you hurl racist invective in the comments section and say that Detroit’s problems are due to skin pigmentation; I am going to call you out for the racist bigoted jerk that you truly are. This is what I did with HotAir.com and I would have done it, if the nonsense would have come from National Review, The American Conservative, VDare or anywhere else — including DailyKos or any of the left-wing websites out there. Period, end of story.

So, there, THAT, and only that is my point of that earlier posting. It was long, it has gotten me some nasty e-mails from some very stupid people on the right. But, you know what? It was worth every last minute of my time and every bit worth of the bandwidth spent to call these idiot hypocritical jackasses out for what they truly are, and that is that they are nothing more than a bunch of minority hating jerks.

I call out haters of white people in the black community and I will call out haters of blacks in the White Community. Because the answer the problems in Detroit is NOT the bigoted stupidity of the White Right, that is for sure. My cousin died in Detroit, because of the corrupt police officers in Detroit, not because of black skin. Did progressive politics play at part in that corruption? Maybe. But for me to sit here and blame the entire city’s downfall on skin pigmentation, is dumb at best. I know there are blacks who do it; and they’re dumb too! They blame “Whitey” for the city’s problems, which is scapegoating. That too, is stupidity on stilts!

Anyhow, I just wanted to clear a couple of things up, that’s all. 😀

Noted cowardly anonymous blogger slams Detroit

hotair
All Racism, All the time?

It’s a pretty provocative headline. But, it’s sorta true and sorta not.

I have written before about Detroit’s problems, so, I know full well of what goes on around here. I also happen to know that Detroit’s Auto companies sales are up too.

Anyhow, I guess Governor Snyder, in between supposedly bringing in jobs for this state, is appointing an emergency manager in for the City of Detroit. Quoting the Detroit News, a right-leaning newspaper, by the way:

Snyder said the city has not been able to solve its financial crisis and that outside help is needed. Today “is a day to call all hands on deck… to say there’s been too much fighting, too much blame, not enough resources, not enough people working together. The key answer I believe all of us want to get to is growing the city of Detroit.”…

The review team found Detroit’s cash-flow deficit is nearly $100 million. That’s on top of an accumulated deficit of $327 million. The city also has $14.9 billion worth of unfunded pension and employment retirement liabilities, according to the review team report. In five years, it needs $1.9 billion to begin making payments on the debt…

Greg Bowens, a political expert and former press secretary for former mayor Dennis Archer, said an emergency manager would be a devastating blow for the morale for the people of Detroit.

“In the end, it means the governor does not have the faith in the people of Detroit to govern themselves in a responsible manner,” Bowens said.

So, yes, Detroit has a cash flow problem and now the Republican statist is now going to try to solve those problems. Ah yes, fake conservatism at it’s finest.

That’s not what’s half bad about it; you have this anonymous coward blogger, from the state who’s mayor wants to ban everything that is good and enjoyable by its people. Said coward writes:

Why … yes, that’s what it means. I can’t believe there’s any serious constituency outside Detroit that would disagree, and Detroiters themselves would disagree only out of pure pride. The city’s a byword for terminal liberal sclerosis. How can this be a blow to their morale when their morale’s already reached this point? Look no further than their statuary to see that they’re desperate for a savior to ride in and impose order on a dystopian nightmare.

Yeah, and I suppose your little city up there is a capitalist utopia too right, Jeremy? Please. 🙄  The only reason why the Communist Party of America is not running New York City is because the citizens of the suburbs would not allow it and the Republican Party of New York State would stage a massive revolt. I suppose the only thing the City of Detroit’s people should do is just hang their hands and allow an outsider come and run roughshod over the City and impose his Faux-Republican style of Nanny-State Government. What a moron! 🙄

What’s more: Check out some of the racist comments over on HotAir, now:

Continue reading “Noted cowardly anonymous blogger slams Detroit” →

Good News: Detroit automobile sales are up!

As a son of retired General Motors worker, this always strikes me as very good news:

DETROIT- General Motors Co. announced today that it sold 224,314 vehicles in the United States in February, up 7 percent compared with a year ago.

Retail sales and fleet sales were both up 7 percent. The fleet mix was 25 percent of total sales, equal to a year ago, officials said.

“The housing sector has now joined auto sales in propelling the U.S. economy forward,” said Kurt McNeil, vice president of U.S. sales operations. “More importantly, the recovery in new home construction is reinforcing the underlying improvement in auto buying conditions, especially for pickups.

All four GM brands posted higher year-over-year sales: Cadillac was up 20 percent; Buick was up 15 percent; GMC was up 10 percent, and Chevrolet was up 5 percent.

via GM: Cadillac, Buick lead to 7% February sales increase | MLive.com.

This is great news. I just hope the Detroit can keep up the sales and help spur the economy back to what it was, or at least as close as we can get it.

 

The Price of Fascism

Please note: When I write this here, I am not doing it to bad mouth anyone at all. Least of all the UAW or the General Motors or Chrysler workers. It simply is not their fault that the companies that they work for were horribly mismanaged for many years and are now not doing so hot.

As much as I like the fact that my Father did not lose his retirement from General Motors and gets his medical benefits via the UAW’s program that they set up for him. I must acknowledge the truth and the truth is that General Motors and Chrysler were bailed out by the United States Government. One of the tenets of fascism is, in fact, the mingling of private industry and Government.

When the mingling of private industry and Government take place a price is paid. First of all, a company loses its freedom to conduct business as it sees fit. Second of all, the people of said Country usually pay a price in their wallets. Such as the case with General Motors, which happens to be because General Motors was and still is a poorly managed company.

The story via The Detroit News, which is a Conservative/Libertarian slanted newspaper:

Washington — The U.S. Treasury has begun selling the remainder of its 19 percent stake in General Motors Co.

On Jan. 18, the Treasury filed a written trading plan to sell its remaining 300 million shares of stock in the Detroit automaker. It plans to exit completely by March 2014 and said it could immediately begin selling small numbers of shares on the open market.

In a report to Congress, the Treasury said it had net proceeds of $156.4 million in January for the sale of GM stock during eight full trading days.

GM’s stock price ranged between $27.61 and $29.16 during the period, meaning Treasury sold at least 5.4 million shares, depending on the prices it received.

On a quarterly basis, the Treasury plans to disclose how many share of GM stock it has sold and will report monthly its proceeds from the sale.

In December, the Treasury sold 200 million shares of its GM stock to the Detroit automaker for $5.5 billion, or $27.50 a share.

But, of course, there is a cost:

The government needs to get $72 per share for its remaining shares to break even on its $49.5 billion GM bailout. It initially held a 61 percent stake before selling about half of its shares in GM’s November 2010 IPO at $33 a share.

At current prices, the Treasury would lose more than $12 billion on its GM bailout.

Last week, the Treasury Department said its estimate of losses on the $85 billion auto bailout fell by 16 percent, or $4 billion, in large part because of a rebound in General Motors Co.’s stock price.

The Obama administration said in a report to Congress that its projected auto losses fell to $20.3 billion, from its prior quarterly estimate of $24.3 billion.

The Treasury in 2009 initially forecast it would lose $44 billion on its bailout of GM, Chrysler Group LLC and their finance arms. That forecast fell to $30 billion by the end of 2009 and fell as low as $14.3 billion in 2011.

The Treasury still holds a 74 percent stake in Ally Financial, the Detroit-based auto finance firm, as part of a $17.2 billion bailout, but hopes to eventually break even. Ally is shedding its foreign operations as part of its efforts to repay taxpayers.

I bolded some parts of the quoted text above to give you idea of what I am talking about. Up there where it says, “The Treasury”, that means really “The American Taxpayer.” Anytime the United States Treasury is involved in any sort of bailout of private industry, your tax dollars are being used to bail out said company. That is not hatred of President Obama or the Democrats, that is the honest reality of the situation.

Again, this has not about having an axe to grind with the UAW, GM or Chrysler. This is simply a explanation of what happens when Government gets involved with the rescue of two auto companies that were in fact, headed for bankruptcy. The truth is that the American people lost on this deal and lost bad. As much as I respect the history of the UAW and of General Motors, in regards to my family — I must write the truth and this my friends, is the ugly truth.

Yes, and send me a few hundred million too!

I guess it is the wealthy’s job to bail out Detroit, which is swirling the drain.

DETROIT, MI – This city apparently has a friend in actress Mia Farrow who believes its times for the nation’s wealthiest people to help save the Motor City and other cash-strapped municipalities.

Farrow posted on her Twitter page Wednesday morning that “Detroit is near bankrupt” and that “now is the time for all good billionaires to come to the aide of our country” and “invest in USA and our youth.”

via Mia Farrow orders ‘all good billionaires’ to help cash-strapped Detroit, other cities facing fiscal woes | MLive.com.

 

This is the tweet that I sent back to Mia Farrow:

How much you want to bet that she will not respond? 🙄

This is why I do not watch Fox News Channel much anymore

As a rule, I am not much into playing the “Race Card.” Because the left tends to do that a bit much, even with the Nation’s first black President. But, this here was just incredibly stupid and yes, it did sound racist.

The Video:

The Story:

Via Huffington Post:

Desiline Victor, a 102-year-old woman, received a standing ovation during the State of the Union on Tuesday for her resolve to vote. Fox News hosts Brian Kilmeade, Martha MacCallum and Bill Hemmer, however, wondered what the “big deal” was.

Victor made two trips and waited three hours to vote in Miami in November. President Obama spoke about the need to protect voting rights during his State of the Union address on Tuesday, and pointed to Victor, who was there as a guest of Michelle Obama, as an example.

Kilmeade, MacCallum and Hemmer did not seem to think she deserved one, though. Speaking on Kilmeade’s radio show on Thursday, MacCallum said that the issue had no place in the State of the Union because it could be handled on the “municipal level… Get the town council on that one.”

“How long was she on line?” Hemmer asked.

“What’s the big deal? She was happy,” MacCallum argued. “She waited on line, she was happy that she voted.”

“They held her up as a victim!” Hemmer alleged. “What was she the victim of? Rashes on the bottom of her feet?”

Oh yeah, that is weapons-grade stupid right there and a bit racist . Digby, who blogs at Hullabaloo; whom I am not a huge fan of — but when she is right, she is right, says the following and man is she ever right here:

The woman is 102 years old! Rashes on her feet! My God, that anyone had to try more than once to vote is shocking but that it happened to a woman who was born nearly a decade before women had the right to vote — and spent most of her life being denied the right as an African-American by jerks like these three privileged white people — is shameful.

These people represent the lizard brain of the Fox News base: heartless, petty and relentlessly, overwhelmingly stupid. This is Roger Ailes’ legacy.

I got news for Digby, If she doesn’t think that Rupert does not encourage such stuff, she is crazy; of course he does. …and to think, I used to be right in there, blogging along with these people that believed this very thing. Because I was actually foolish enough to believe that with this people, it was not about race, but simply about the issues that I disagreed with, when it came to blacks and Obama. Soon, I started to realize that it was not about the issues; it was about a resentment towards blacks. It was not outward or outright racism, but rather nuanced racism and resentment. Here’s a perfect example of it here, which is in the blogosphere, but it is the same mentality.

Now, let me be clear; I do not believe that ALL Conservatives are racists. However, I do believe that there are a good enough number of them that are racist, and this should worry anyone in the Republican Party. The reason these people believe that they are justified to be able to joke around about stuff like this, is because they happen to believe that the Republican Party was on the right side of the slavery issue, which is factually correct — and because they happen to reject the idea of “Political Correctness.” Something that I entirely understand as a Non-PC person myself. However, this here goes well beyond political correctness, and ventures off into bigotry and racism. It is a line that Fox News should not cross at all.

Also too, and I am just going to break the silence and speak my mind. This stuff right here folks is why Mitt Romney lost the election. Yes, I know about changing demographics and such. But the truth is, this here and some of the goings on with the Kristol and Podhoretz crowds, is why we lost the 2012 election. People know when they are being sold a line of bullshit and that is what was being sold by the right and people knew it. It was little things, like this here; and people saw that and said, “I do not want someone in the white house who believes that sort of a thing.” Because of that, we lost and we lost big. I say, “We” because I voted for Mitt Romney in the 2012 election. I do not regret that vote either. I stood for what I believed in; and it was not this sort of crap here, that is for sure.

Here is hoping, that by 2016, the GOP does learn its lesson on stuff like this, and the Fox News Channel gets its stuff together by then. Although, to be quite honest. I just do not believe that they have it in them to change. You just cannot retrain Bull Conner’s brain. It is just that simple.

Own too much stuff? Your city can call you a hoarder, set your house on fire and tear it down

This is unreal.

Check the video:

The local story via The Downriver News Herald:

TAYLOR — Cleanup after an early morning house fire continued throughout the day today on Goddard Road near Oak.

The house in the 23300 block of Goddard, across from the main fire station and City Hall, continued to smolder as it was being torn down at 11 a.m.

The house had been vacant for 20 years and was filled with debris in what Fire Chief Bob Tompos called a “hoarder situation.”

The fire started at 5 a.m. in the basement, Deputy Chief Dan Reynolds said, although the cause is still being investigated.

Debris inside was at window level on the main floor and about 6 inches from the ceiling in the basement. The attic also was filled.

Once the fire began, entry to the residence was obstructed by the items inside, which Reynolds estimated were 85 percent garbage.

With no one inside, responders contained the fire and poured water on it, Tompos said.

A section of the first floor was found collapsed into the basement due to the weight of the debris and fire damage inside, Reynolds said, contributing to the decision to raze the structure.

The fire burned for about two hours before being extinguished, although numerous hot spots smoldered and continued to crop up, delaying the demolition.

So, there you have it. Like to collect stuff? Don’t do it in Taylor, Michigan. because if you do; they’ll tear your house down. I got $5 that says someone from the city had that house torched, because someone was complaining about it and the city was powerless to do anything about it. So, about five in the morning, someone, most likely paid by the city, torched the house.

Just to be honest, I cannot prove my allegations at all. But I can tell you this; I have friends who live over in that city and the corruption in that it city is quite well known, and has been going on for years. Why do you think that the city is having so many problems? Because the past leadership over there was horrible corrupt for years— just like Ecorse and Detroit.

Even it is was a “hoarder,” does not that city have to get permission from the owners to tear it down like that, whatever happened to property rights? Whatever happened to getting a order from a court to tear something down, before just barging onto someone’s property and razing a building? Could not the fire dept just stay out and keep the fire from spreading? It just sounds like progressive leadership and city gone horrible wrong, if you ask me.