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Blog Bits - July 16, 2006

Blog Bits - July 16, 2006

It was a short walk around the ‘sphere this week …

An interesting article from Murph over at Common Monkeyflower concludes (kinda) with this message: “I saw Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth last week. Dude - if you had talked like that in 2000, rather than being an abject spineless pander bear, I would have voted for you, rather than placing an opt-out vote for Ralph Nader.” The article is hardly about Gore, but it’s very interesting.

When I was little, I used to sit in my grandfather’s lap and watch baseball on tv. It was always at night, because my grandpa wouldn’t sit down until it was dark, and it was always just the two of us, because my grandma went to bed when it got dark. The only light in the room came from the tv, and the volume was down low, so that it wouldn’t bother grandma. We whispered our cheers & jeers.

I don’t remember how old I was, but I fit perfectly in grandpa’s lap. We would watch the game and share a jar of planters salted peanuts. If I was lucky, the peanuts were sprinkled on top of a bowl of ice cream. I don’t remember a single baseball game; I just remember falling asleep to baseball.

TV Baseball has some very distinct sounds. The sound of the announcer. The commercial jingles, like the old “baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet”, and “Faygo remembers …” So much has changed since I sat on my grandpa’s lap, but if I close my eyes and listen to a game, I can remember how it felt to be un-burdened. Seeing this guy again brought back those feelings too. Thank you Cathleen.

Keith’s blog takes me back too … he’s added a Troy mall this week. Keith has a motel blog too, with a few Michigan stops.

Cordelia Lear wished President Ford a happy birthday with this insightful post. Michigan In Pictures has a nice picture of the Gerald R Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids. President Ford has a special place in my heart because he was the subject of my first political-type argument, and the first argument I ever remember having with my mom. She asked me one day “do you know who the President is?” and I answered “Nixon.” She said I was wrong. My grandfather hadn’t told me about any election; therefore, Nixon was still President. (witness the logic of little kids and Neo-Cons) I’ll let you imagine the rest of the story.

(Most) everyone celebrated Google’s announcement to locate in Ann Arbor. It was very good for our Governor, of course, but the GOP is trying to take credit for it as well:

“With Google being a high profit, high compensation company, Granholm’s proposal to tripled the profit component and eliminated reductions for high compensated companies would have “raised” taxes on companies like Google.” Republicans rejected Granholm’s tax increase and tax shift which she called her “proposal to elimate the SBT”.

So they blame Granholm for the job loss, but take credit for job creation.

It’s true that the Governor Granholm’s job is that of a pilot; she steers the ship. She points us in the right direction. But while the Governor is steering, the legislature acts as an engine for the state. Anyone who has ever driven a vehicle knows that sometimes you need to floor it, sometimes you throttle down, sometimes you put it in reverse to pull the ship back from disaster. Engler, Inc. ran the State of Michigan aground. He pointed us straight at the rocks and the engine opened up and went full speed ahead. And they wonder why we’re leaking jobs and people.

Thankfully the people elected Governor Granholm to point us in the right direction, but she can’t get us off the rocks until the legislature cooperates. And she can’t repair the hull and recover all of our losses without the legislature. It’s time for the engine to work with the steering.

Michigan is in the hands of the neo-cons. Republican courts, Republican legislature, and until 2001, a Republican Governor. Nationally, Republicans have been blaming President Clinton for the failures of President Bush, but here in Michigan, Republicans think that Granholm should be held responsible for the problems that she inherited. Is this a double standard? Or do they think that Granholm is the most powerful woman in the world?

While the GOP is banging on about a single state recession, Keninny at Down With Tyranny has an enlightening post about how the economy is really doing. So remember when the GOP tell you that we’re in a single state recession, what they mean is, the rich don’t get richer here in Michigan as quickly as they do in other states.

The Granholm campaign blog is running the 100 Days 100 Reasons promo … head over and participate. After that, head over to her other site and make an investment in your future … “show the gov some love”, as Zack likes to say.

I jumped over to Mouse Musings to read about the Shadow Art Fair … very interesting stuff! I’m sorry I missed it. While at Mouse’s site I found a link to Tim Boucher’s blog and read an article about open source teaching clubs. As Tim puts it, it’s “like blogging in real life.” I like this idea. I really really like it.

The Mayor of Simpleton for President

I stopped by Clever Wot’s place and found this cool link … too funny. (check out “What the Americans saw”) And Lynne has a fun exercise here.

Update: The Flint Journal reported on the efforts of Mr. Mayor here.

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