Lee Gaddies

Jacob Hacker & Paul Pierson on Engineered Inequality | Moyers & Company | BillMoyers.com

2012-01-17T07:38:00.000-08:00

How have the Rich gotten RICHER?????Jacob Hacker & Paul Pierson on Engineered Inequality | Moyers & Company | BillMoyers.com:

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Detroit IS UNIQUE!

2011-12-13T13:12:00.002-08:00

Occupy Detroit sympathizes with New York protesters

Josh Katzenstein - / The Detroit News

Detroit— The Occupy Detroit movement expressed sympathy for fellow protesters in New York who clashed with police Thursday over the Occupy Wall Street movement.

At least 50 people were arrested in New York as protesters marched down Wall Street, calling for economic reform by large corporations.

"To the extent (the movement) has failed, America has failed," said Rafael Adley, initially a member of Occupy Lansing before joining Occupy Detroit this past weekend.

Lee Gaddies, a member of the Detroit group's media team, said protesting on Wall Street put the New York group in danger of police action.

"The reason New York in particular is getting attacked is because they're closest to the locus of power," Gaddies said Thursday afternoon. "(New York Mayor Mike) Bloomberg is part of the top 1 percent."

Members of Occupy Detroit were concerned for their fellow 99 percenters in New York, but police raids in other cities, including Oakland, Calif., and Portland, have no effect on the local protest.

"Detroit is a very different place. You can't superimpose Oakland and New York on Detroit," Gaddies said. "Detroit is built on relationships. We have a relationship with the police department; we have a relationship with City Council.

"Our strength is the fact that we are Detroiters, and we are loyal when it comes to other Detroiters."

Lucianna Sabgash, another member of the Detroit movement, said Occupy Wall Street has been faced with "endlessly inconsistent" law enforcement, and she felt fortunate to be part of a group that has garnered support from Detroit' government and police.

One reason Gaddies thinks the Detroit group has been successful is the history of the civil rights movement. Citing influences like Grace Lee Boggs, he said this city understands protests, and the group has successfully worked to remain nonviolent since occupying Grand Circus Park on Oct. 14.

Several occupy groups around the country marched Thursday in solitude with Occupy Wall Street, the first major grassroots movement to pop up in the United States regarding the recent economic woes globally.

Occupy Detroit, though, is spending much of the day trying to move supplies from their camp in Grand Circus Park to different locations around the city before their recently extended permit expires Monday night. The group has asked local unions for large trucks to help move out of the park, and Gaddies said they should be out by Monday as long as they have vehicles to assist.

The group is holding a protest today against austerity. Occupiers plan to march to the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center around 4 p.m.

jkatzenstein@detnews.com

(313) 222-2019

2011-12-13T13:12:00.001-08:00

Occupy Detroit sympathizes with New York protesters

Josh Katzenstein - / The Detroit News

Detroit— The Occupy Detroit movement expressed sympathy for fellow protesters in New York who clashed with police Thursday over the Occupy Wall Street movement.

At least 50 people were arrested in New York as protesters marched down Wall Street, calling for economic reform by large corporations.

"To the extent (the movement) has failed, America has failed," said Rafael Adley, initially a member of Occupy Lansing before joining Occupy Detroit this past weekend.

Lee Gaddies, a member of the Detroit group's media team, said protesting on Wall Street put the New York group in danger of police action.

Members of Occupy Detroit were concerned for their fellow 99 percenters in New York, but police raids in other cities, including Oakland, Calif., and Portland, have no effect on the local protest.

"Our strength is the fact that we are Detroiters, and we are loyal when it comes to other Detroiters."

The group is holding a protest today against austerity. Occupiers plan to march to the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center around 4 p.m.

jkatzenstein@detnews.com

(313) 222-2019

Building a movement.

2011-12-13T13:12:00.000-08:00

Occupy: on the move

How a broad-based movement came into being, how it's growing, and who's joining up

CURT GUYETTE

Activist Sarah Coffey

CURT GUYETTE

Lee Gaddies

CURT GUYETTE

Reaching for consensus at a Detroit general assembly.

By Curt Guyette

PUBLISHED: DECEMBER 7, 2011

Occupy Detroit

2011-11-09T10:17:00.001-08:00

Occupy Detroit moving to a better future for Detroit...

Pod cast for Radio about Occupy Detroit

2011-11-03T09:49:00.000-07:00

http://wjr.com/FlashPlayer/default.asp?SPID=6553&ID=2107008

Occupy Detroit has it's own flavor!

2011-11-03T09:46:00.000-07:00

Occupy Detroit kicks off as hundreds march up Woodward

Kim Kozlowski / / The Detroit News

Detroit— Someone beat a drum. Then the chanting began as the grassroots group Occupy Detroit began marching up Woodward on Friday.

"Wall Street got bailed out. We got sold out," protesters chanted.

An estimated 500 people met outside the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center. They were heading to Grand Circus Park, with plans to occupy it indefinitely.

They carried signs that said "Tax the Rich More" and "I'm not a politician or a corporation. I pay my taxes. Let them pay too."

Tom Mahler, a southwest Detroit resident, has served on a committee for the group and plans to camp out.

"This is the only place I felt like I've had a voice in my whole life," said Mahler, 24. "Corporations don't give me a voice. Government doesn't give me a voice. Here, everybody gets a chance to be heard."

Occupy Detroit is a local spinoff of a monthlong protest that started on Wall Street and has since spread around the globe and to scores of communities in Michigan. Protesters also planned an occupation of Flint on Friday; one in Lansing will be held on Saturday.

The group has several concerns but has highlighted what it calls corporate greed and the gulf between the nation's wealthy and middle class and how the recession is still impacting scores of people.

"How many more of my neighbors have to be foreclosed on before we've had enough?" said Lee Gaddies, 41, of Detroit. "How many more jobs have to be shipped overseas before we've had enough? People are finally fed up. The bottom has fallen out.

"This is about regular people who are hurting, and we have to do something about it."

Earlier on Friday, organizers met with police, spoke with City Council members and arranged for food, medical care and Internet access.

After the group arrives at Grand Circus Park, representatives from more than a dozen committees will report to the group and then members of the crowd will be speaking throughout the evening.

Many say they've long witnessed suffering among their neighbors, and in the community.

"The Detroit you see is the Detroit I've always known — vacant, suffering, jobless," said Patience Young, 21, of Detroit. "I don't believe that's human nature. The people have been sitting on their butts and watching their rights and their jobs and their security disappear. It's time to make our demands known."

There are so many concerns, yet there is lack of movement in Congress, said Jacquelin Washington, 80. She's amazed that it took so long for the movement to get started. Even the smallest changes would be a victory.

"If this does nothing more than raise the consciousness," said Washington, a longtime member of Central United Methodist Church, which is supporting the protesters who will be camping nearby. "There's something wrong with the direction of this country and it's got to stop."

kkozlowski@detnews.com

(313) 222-2024

A day in the life of Detroit protest

2011-10-26T21:14:00.000-07:00

http://www.detnews.com/article/20111024/METRO/110240355/A-day-in-the-life-of-the-Occupy-Detroit-protest

Josh Katzenstein/ The Detroit News

Detroit — They're not all hippies.

They're not all anarchists or socialists. They're not a bunch of unemployed, uneducated, homeless people looking for a handout.

The 100 or so residents of Occupy Detroit have different backgrounds and varying political beliefs, but in a week, they have come together through the rain, cold winds and rats in Grand Circus Park because they want what is fair.

It's a broad and simple concept, but they believe with enough support, the corporate greed fueled by a lack of government regulation, as they say, can one day stop.

"I'm here at Occupy Detroit because I want fairness," said Lee Gaddies, 41, of Detroit, one of the founders of the local spinoff of Occupy Wall Street.

"I want fairness in our economic system. I want fairness in our political system. I'm sick of this crony capitalism. I'm sick of banks foreclosing on people's homes. …

"We need to fight for the people in this country who are being oppressed."

A day in the life of the occupiers offers an eye-opening experience of people willing to camp in the heart of one of the most dangerous cities in the United States.

Many of the people have day jobs and spend their nights and free time with the movement. Some have college degrees and others are still attending school. And not all of the supporters stay overnight, as evidenced by the 300-person march to the Bank of America office in the Guardian Building on Friday afternoon.

The encampment is well-organized with more than a dozen committees, including one dedicated to outreach and a few trying to make daily improvements to the "tent city." The facilitation working group gathers people who sit through all committee meetings to ensure they run smoothly.

These are the happiest people in Detroit, and until someone kicks them out of Grand Circus Park, the smiles will stay.

Morning in the park

At 8 a.m. Friday, two rats fought over food a few feet from the statue of Hazen S. Pingree. Many of the occupiers didn't know when they moved in, but the statue of the former Detroit mayor and Michigan governor symbolizes what they're fighting to achieve.

"He was the first to warn the people of the great danger threatened by powerful private corporations," reads a plaque on the statue, "and the first to awake to the great inequalities in taxation and to initiate steps for reform."

As for those creepy creatures, "We can deal with the rats. They were here before us," said Sarah Coffee, 38, of Detroit's east side.

The rats aren't the only fear. Unknown people pass through the park all day.

"I'd rather camp in Alaska," said Lucianna Sabgash, 30, of Ypsilanti from the LAX on Adams, which opened its doors for campers to meet and use the bathroom. "Bears are more predictable than humans."

Rise and shine

When they wake up on the gray 40-degree morning, a few try to keep bonfires going, including one in a burn barrel where many of the homeless congregate.

They've been accepted into the movement because they help around the camp.

For Justin Thyme, 21, and Jessica Dawl, the 26-year-old self-appointed "camp mom," waking up means it's time to work because they have people to feed.

Dawl didn't even march Friday because she was working the food tent preparing lunch.

Breakfast wasn't much, but everyone was glad to grab a bite of the donated food. Cowboy coffee, cereal bars, yogurt, apples, oranges provide enough energy for the people the morning of their march.

Sabgash was trying to determine the best time to briefly go home to pick up a new battery for her car.

Campers regularly venture home to shower and do laundry.

And though some people haven't bathed for days, there are few putrid smells because everyone wears so many layers of clothing.

Sabgash said she just needs a break because there's been some drama around the camp. Nothing too extreme, but arguments break out naturally between people living together.

For the most part, people check their egos at the barricades.

Marching time

Before the march began at noon, a few people tried to clean the camp because they wanted other protesters to see it in top form. Much of the camp was still wet from rain Wednesday and Thursday, but they wanted it to look inviting to other supporters.

The Diversity Club from Birmingham's Seaholm High School took a field trip to Detroit and stopped at the occupation before the march. History teacher Scott Craig supports the movement and thought it could open some of the suburban students' eyes.

"Thank you guys for what you're doing," senior Maddie Jerge said to a group around a fire.

Peter Solenberger, a 64-year-old computer programmer at the University of Michigan, showed up for the march because he's been in protests before and knows they can be effective.

He's not camping only because his bones aren't what they used to be.

"I think it's time people around the country said, 'Enough,'" Solenberger said. "This is a new generation becoming active. That's inspiring."

The march to the Guardian Building was loud yet peaceful.

"From New York to LA, Occupy the USA," was one of many steady chants.

Tommy Spagetti played an accordion during the march, Matthew Cross beat a trash can like a drum and a homeless man blasted his shiny new trombone.

Marches help energize the group and keep their spirits high for what everyone knows could be a cold winter.

After marching around downtown with Detroit police protecting them all along the way, people ate some bologna sandwiches for lunch.

Thyme decided Friday afternoon was the perfect time to move into a new two-person tent big enough for him, Dawl and her pit bull, Cinnamon.

Others worked to erect a new canopy on a previously vacant portion of the park using tarps and rope.

Bob Williamson, 57, of Warren was one of the people who spent nine hours lifting the tarps that will cover the tents for food, medical needs and a comfort station where volunteers hand out donated clothes, blankets and toiletries.

Nightlife

At 6 p.m. a band played a set as bonfires burned.

Matthew Tommelein, 22, of Detroit sat opposite the fountain asking people if they wanted to take part in a social experiment and put a dot of where they live on a map of Metro Detroit.

If they don't know where they're from, he said, how will they know where they want to go?

Tommelein, known as BOLO — be on the lookout — around camp, hasn't been sleeping at camp but spends all of his free time at Grand Circus Park.

"If you're not down here, you're not going to know what you miss," said the man who works two jobs and always wears a buttoned up shirt and tie under warmer clothes.

Tommelein enjoyed the dinner of cheesy pasta, spaghetti, assorted breads and vegetable soup. It's better food than he can cook.

The donated ribs, potato salad and green beans were also a nice surprise when someone dropped off heaping leftovers from a Spirit of Hope Detroit church barbecue around 10:30 p.m.

Three guys from Occupy Flint showed up to talk to the Detroit camp and share ideas.

They hope to soon have a statewide general assembly so the movement can take off to other areas.

Robert Wido, 25, and Chris DiGacomo, 20, came around 1:30 a.m. to lend a helping hand. "We're the night owls," Wido said.

They've been coming every night and staying until morning to help clean and cook, and Saturday morning they helped prepare eggs and serve breakfast.

And when the sun came out, a sight for sore eyes after three days of gloomy fall weather, people started cleaning and others stood on the street trying to recruit others to the movement.

This is their home. And they want the population to keep growing.

"Everyone here is motivated by a sense of anger or sadness or both," said Shannon McEvilly, 25, of Hamtramck. "We're working toward fixing the things that make us feel that way."

jkatzenstein@detnews.com

(313) 222-2019

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20111024/METRO/110240355/A-day-in-the-life-of-Detroit-protest#ixzz1bx5RcVOB

Metro and State | Occupy Detroit protests against corporate greed | The Detroit News

2011-10-18T16:15:00.000-07:00

Joining legions of like-minded protesters across the country, Detroit became "occupied" on Friday.

Hundreds of grassroots activists marched on Woodward, set up camp in Grand Circus Park and proclaimed they are fed up with corporate greed, social injustice and the gulf between the rich and poor.

Known as Occupy Detroit, most participants said they want a revolution.

"This is about regular people who are hurting, and we have to do something about it."

Occupy Detroit is a local spinoff of a monthlong protest that started on Wall Street and has spread nationwide. Several websites report more than 1,000 communities are in various stages of occupation or planning, including scores of Michigan communities. Local demonstrations have been held this week in Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo and Flint. Today, an occupation is planned in Lansing.

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20111015/METRO/110150352/Occupy-Detroit-protests-against-corporate-greed#ixzz1bB6pUvalMetro and State | Occupy Detroit protests against corporate greed | The Detroit News:

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Wealth inequality as it stands today welcome to the new gilded age.

2011-06-28T14:42:00.001-07:00

Back To The Gilded Age: Inequality in the United States. The Evidence.

Remember the fairy tale I wrote about income inequality? Here's the big revelation:

It is not a fairy tale. It is what is happening right now, here in the United States, and this post is about the evidence.

Now, "evidence" is one of those words which puts people to sleep. That's because we are programmed to do just that. So let's see if we can look at the evidence from some more interesting angles.

Wealth Inequality

Let's begin by looking at wealth. The pie chart for the distribution of wealth in the US in 2007 is shown below. For the time being, forget about it showing wealth. Assume that it is a picture of a giant strawberry-chocolate cake (from above) which is the dessert for a one hundred person block party.

How should we divide that cake between the hundred eaters?

The chart shows us that the wealth cake in the United States is divided in a way which translates to the following slices at our block party:

One guest gets a bit more than one third of the cake, another nine get four tenths between them, and yet another forty guests get to share a quarter of the cake. The rest, fifty guests, are essentially given but crumbs.

What's so bad about this? Perhaps the one person who got a third deserves that third. Perhaps she or he has worked that much harder than any one of those fifty who are now licking the crumbs off the plate? But how likely is that, really? What is the incentive system which would require HALF of all the guests to be given only crumbs? Are half of all Americans so lazy and shiftless? Could it truly be the case that some can work so many times harder than others that they deserve to almost monopolize the cake?

You figure that out. But maybe next year a different person will be the one who gets one third of the cake? Maybe this year's greedy hog will be among the crumb-getters of the future? In other words, what if we had good social mobility so that the winners and losers would change fairly easily? If nothing else, that would give hope to those surviving on crumbs.

Sadly, social mobility in the United States is harder than in most European countries.

Remember the term "ownership economy?" It's a Republican term which tried to make us think that we are all now capitalists, owners of wealth. But we are not, as the next pie chart shows us:

This particular cake is even more unequally divided than the general wealth cake: One person (one percent) gets more than half of it!

An income cake would show similar cutting patterns. They are less extreme in their inequality, because non-labor income accrues mostly to the rich.

Taxes and Transfers

All that talks about wealth in general and its unequal distribution. But we know that the rich pay more taxes, that the government transfers some money to the poor, that there are (or used to be) support systems such as Social Security, Medicaid and Food Stamps. The value of those should be taken into account before we compare final measures of inequality.

This graph compares the taxes and transfers in a bunch of countries. The horizontal axis measures reductions in income inequality that are achieved through these means. Note where the United States stands.

Mmm. And here's what has happened to the taxes over the last fifty years:

Which partly explains why:

Inequality Is Rising

Like this for income in general:

Or like this for the distribution of wealth:

Or to sum it roughly as my source did, the rich are getting richer and everyone else is getting poorer or running much faster just to stay put.

But don't we all read about the need to attract more firms to the United States? To cut corporate income taxes, to reduce regulation, to lower labor costs? Isn't all this inequality just a necessary part of the new global economy?

The Global Competitive Imperative

This is total hogwash. First, the actual taxes paid by firms in the US are among the lowest in the OECD countries, whatever the initial tax percentage might be, because of all those clever deductions which are allowed. Second, the regulation here is certainly no tighter than in those European countries which somehow manage to have much less wealth and income inequality.

Third, and finally, the US system gives workers far fewer legal benefits than those regarded as obvious in other countries. Take the example of paid maternity leave. Here is a map showing where the United States stands with respect to such a horrible labor-cost-increasing requirement:

Or the case of paid annual vacation days:

How terribly unfair to force American firms to compete against foreign firms which actually have to pay their workers for vacation time and parental leaves! So unfair.

What About The Rising Tide

Does a rising tide lift all boats? That's the saying which means that if we could just increase the societal strawberry-chocolate cake enough, then even a very thin slice would be plenty. But it doesn't quite work that way if the top on percent keeps hogging a bigger and bigger slice whenever the cake grows (if it grows). And remember that we are not just the eaters of that cake but also its bakers. Those who own the bakery see their profits rising while those of us who work near the hot ovens see their incomes either fall in real terms or stay stagnant.

Or put into yet different metaphoric terms: The rising tide floats the yachts real well but the waves this causes drown all the smaller sea vessels.

Jon Stewart v. Fox News Continues: Who Are the "Crybabies" Now? | AlterNet

2011-06-28T14:42:00.000-07:00

John Stewart shows why fox news is just a propaganda arm of the Republican Party and can't stand up to a real fight of ideas. Jon Stewart v. Fox News Continues: Who Are the "Crybabies" Now? | AlterNet

Homeless man gets 15 years for stealing $100

2011-06-27T21:12:00.000-07:00

If this isn't an example of the two Americas that we live in when it comes to our justice system both separate and unequal to their core. Homeless man gets 15 years for stealing $100

A homeless man robbed a Louisiana bank and took a $100 bill. After feeling remorseful, he surrendered to police the next day. The judge sentenced him to 15 years in prison.

Roy Brown, 54, robbed the Capital One bank in Shreveport, Louisiana in December 2007. He approached the teller with one of his hands under his jacket and told her that it was a robbery.

The teller handed Brown three stacks of bill but he only took a single $100 bill and returned the remaining money back to her. He said that he was homeless and hungry and left the bank.

The next day he surrendered to the police voluntarily and told them that his mother didn’t raise him that way.

Brown told the police he needed the money to stay at the detox center and had no other place to stay and was hungry.

In Caddo District Court, he pleaded guilty. The judge sentenced him to 15 years in prison for first degree robbery.

Now contrast that story with the story of Paul Allen who stole three billion dollars and only get three years in jail ,we have a legal system that there's no justice in it .

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/22/mortgage-fraud-ceo-prison-paul-allen_n_881946.html

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The CEO of what had been one of the nation's largest privately held mortgage lenders was sentenced Tuesday to more than three years in prison for his role in a $3 billion scheme that officials called one of the biggest corporate frauds in U.S. history.

The 40-month sentence for Paul R. Allen, 55, of Oakton, Va., is slightly less than the six-year term sought by federal prosecutors.

"I messed up. I messed up big," Allen told U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema before he was sentenced, apologizing to his family and "the entire financial community. "There was no excuse for my behavior."

Allen was chief executive at Ocala, Fla.-based Taylor Bean & Whitaker, which collapsed in 2009 after the criminal investigation became public, resulting in its 2,000 employees losing their jobs. The fraud also contributed to the collapse of Alabama-based Colonial Bank – the sixth largest bank failure in U.S. history – after Colonial bought hundreds of millions of dollars in Taylor Bean mortgages that had already been sold to other investors.

Two other banks – Deutsche Bank and BNP Paribas – lost nearly $2 billion after buying corporate paper from Taylor Bean that was not properly backed with collateral, authorities said.

Taylor Bean and Colonial also tried to obtain more than $500 million from the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program but ultimately never received any funding from the program also known as TARP.

Neil Barofsky, who served as TARP's special inspector general, said the Taylor Bean case was the most significant criminal prosecution to arise out of the nation's financial crisis. The convictions of company chairman Lee Farkas and Allen represent some of the most high-profile executives in the housing and financial industries to receive prison time in the aftermath of the housing sector meltdown.

Allen's lawyer argued for leniency on the theory that Allen was CEO in name only. The real mastermind was Farkas, who kept Allen out of the loop on much of the company's day-to-day operations, according to trial testimony.

But Brinkema said Allen's title was significant, adding Allen's reputation in the industry lent credibility to Taylor Bean that it otherwise would not have had. Even worse, Brinkema said, Allen had subordinates who were reporting the problems to Allen, but Allen left them to fend for themselves. One of those Taylor Bean employees, Sean Ragland, also was sentenced Friday to three months in prison and nine months of home detention for his role in the scheme.

"Mr. Allen was not treated as a CEO. He did not function as a CEO," said defense lawyer Stephen Graeff. "Sentence Mr. Allen the man, not Mr. Allen the title."

"I can't understand why in the world you didn't stop it," Brinkema told Allen.

Allen, for his part, apologized to his family and to "the entire financial community."

By the time Allen became CEO in 2003, the fraud was already under way, and Taylor Bean owed more than $100 million to Colonial. Allen's part in the schemes, came later, especially in the commercial paper loans from Deutsche bank and BNP Paribas that eventually grew to become the largest part of the fraud.

Ragland and Allen are the fifth and sixth persons to be sent to prison as part of the Taylor Bean-Colonial fraud, and investigators say the investigation is continuing. Sentences have ranged from three months to eight years.

All six received credit on their sentences for cooperating with investigators and testifying at Farkas' trial.

"Mr. Allen's sentence reflects his ultimate cooperation with this investigation, but also sends the message that unless executives expose and stop fraud when they first learn of it, they will be punished," said Neil MacBride, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Farkas is to be sentenced next week, and prosecutors have indicated they will seek a significantly longer sentence for Farkas than for his co-conspirators.

NOVA | A One-Way Trip to Mars?

2011-06-20T12:56:00.000-07:00

How great it would be to be the first human beings to live out your life on Mars. To be the first person to discover all the things that are discoverable on Mars? To live a life of daily adventure and exploration on new world how glorious! NOVA | A One-Way Trip to Mars?: "'There will always be people who want to have an opportunity to take part in the creation of something grand and new, to be the creators of their own civilization, not just the inhabitants of one that already exists,'"

Big Business "Cries Wolf" Over Jobs, Economy; New Progressive Group Fights Back | AlterNet

2011-06-17T14:00:00.000-07:00

The only ethic that applies to a Corporation is to make a Profit. Truth is never allowed to compromise the goal of Special Interest.Big Business "Cries Wolf" Over Jobs, Economy; New Progressive Group Fights Back | AlterNet

Big Business "Cries Wolf" Over Jobs, Economy; New Progressive Group Fights Back

Big business has a long history of “crying wolf” to protect its own narrow interests at the expense of the wider public. Name a progressive achievement that seems sacrosanct today—clean air regulations, the minimum wage, child labor laws—and you’ll find that almost every attempt to achieve those goals was met by a storm of inflammatory and misleading rhetoric.

Today industry stakeholders and their political allies still capture the rhetorical high ground by alleging that progressive change will kill jobs or curtail economic growth. Every injustice and inefficiency that scars America’s policy landscape is guarded by powerful interests who profit from the status quo. They will not hesitate to employ underhanded tactics to preserve their domains. Anyone even passingly acquainted with the recent debate around health care reform should be familiar with this concept.

Progressives need to construct a counter-narrative that demonstrates that in many cases these claims have been, and continue to be, grossly exaggerated. The Cry Wolf Project’s wants media, opinion leaders, and policy makers to respond “There they go again!” when industry “cries wolf.” Such a refrain will undermine the credibility and arguments of organizations and individuals that use these claims of economic disaster to undermine progressive reform.

When real reform is delayed, weakened, or defeated, there are real consequences for families, communities, and the environment. Workplaces remain unsafe, poverty increases, our natural environment is devastated, and public health is jeopardized.

The Cry Wolf Project identifies instances, in recent years as well as in the distant past, in which “cry wolf” scare tactics were used by industry executives, shilling politicians, and demagogic pundits before the adoption of laws or regulations that have since become overwhelmingly popular (Social Security, anyone?).

We identify reform opponents and find their exact historical “cry wolf” claims in newspaper and Congressional archives, and then we find existing research that demonstrates the real world outcomes of the policies they tried to sabotage. We’ve made all this information available and accessible to advocates, policymakers, and the media on our website, which you can find here:http://crywolfproject.org/

If you have any questions about the website, suggestions for areas of research, or if you’d like our help crafting an article or blog post please send an email to crywolfproject2@yahoo.com

By Jake Blumgart | Sourced from Cry Wolf Project

Posted at June 17, 2011, 10:01 am

Looking out for Pookie - News & Views - Detroit Metro Times

2011-06-01T10:52:00.000-07:00

Does the new city charter give the citizens of Detroit, what they need to have accountable representation in city government?

I think that if you switch to districts that 11 member City Council would have given us even more representation inside of the district's system. But I'm willing to settle for nine City Council members seven and districts into being elected at large. Looking out for Pookie - News & Views - Detroit Metro Times

News Hits has witnessed some odd meetings over the years, but not many have pushed the weird-meter into the red zone the way last Saturday's gathering of the Detroit Charter Review Commission did.

It started with Commissioner Rose Mary C. Robinson refusing to declare herself present when the roll was called, saying that she had concerns that the meeting might be in violation of the open meetings act.

Was this a continuation of the previous week's public hearing, or a new one, and had it been properly announced beforehand were questions Robinson raised. Commission Chair Jenice Mitchell Ford's declaration that all was proper didn't suffice. Eventually, after saying that she'd been assured by the commission counsel that all was on the up and up, Robinson consented to have her presence at the meeting officially recognized.

Things kicked off with a public hearing, with several residents voicing concerns that the proposed new charter — with some number of City Council members being elected from districts (instead of at large, as they all are now) — was opening the door to what they feared would become a widening chasm between two Detroits.

The downtown, midtown and Wayne State areas — well represented with lots of financial clout — would be allowed to prosper and benefit from adequate services while other neighborhoods across the city would continue to deteriorate.

The plan, said resident Tyrone Travis, is to "create a white downtown."

Those concerns found a sympathetic ear with Commissioner Reggie Reg Davis, a former radio personality who gave up his seat behind the mic to take the nonpaying Charter Commission job (and make an unsuccessful run for the state House).

Sounding much like someone contemplating another stab at public office, Davis talked about being the commission member representing the city's downtrodden: "the working poor forced to ride buses, the young men returning home from prison, the have-nots."

In short, the people not living, as he said, in downtown or midtown or Corktown.

Saying he was there to look out for the interests of "Pookie and Ray-Ray," Davis attempted to have the commission consider changing the proposed number of City Council members from seven (with five representing districts and two elected at large) to 11, with nine representing districts.

Only a week before, Davis had joined a 4-3 majority in voting to reduce the number of council members from nine to seven. Now he was trying to get 11, saying that the larger number — with candidates representing smaller districts — would open the door wider for more grassroots activists without big financial backers to find their way onto council.

With Davis unable to find support for that position, much parliamentary maneuvering ensued — with Davis playing a decisive role — to clear the way for another vote on the nine-member council.

"You just sold out Pookie and Ray-Ray," someone in the audience shouted out.

With two commissioners absent, the nine-member configuration — approved of by voters in a 2009 ballot measure — was approved on a 4-3 vote, with Davis joining the opposition.

Another major concern expressed during the public hearing portion of Saturday's meeting concerned the timing of all this. Making major changes and clarifying language up until the last minute, the commission was seeking to have a final draft of the charter ready to send to the governor and attorney general for review on Tuesday, May 31.

"What's the hurry?" asked resident Les Little, echoing the concern of others that the initial release of the draft charter less than three weeks earlier didn't give the community an adequate amount of time to consider and debate the proposed changes in a document that serves as the primary guiding force for city government.

Commission Chair Ford responded by saying, "There is no rush, but there is an impetus to have the city not have to fund a special election."

To make it onto the Nov. 8 ballot, the draft charter would have to be in the hands of the City Clerk by Aug. 30. And with the guv and AG allowed 90 days to review the proposed charter to ensure its elements are in compliance with state law — and give the commission a chance to make final changes if there are problems — the document had to be delivered to their offices Tuesday.

So, it appears that the stage is now set to have a public vote on the revised charter in November, with 70 days available for public debate about the document.

It could be a contentious election. Among the hot-button issues is a proposal to change the Board of Police Commissioners from a five-member oversight body composed entirely of mayoral appointees to an 11-member board with four members appointed by the mayor and seven elected members.

On Saturday, Mayor Dave Bing's office went on record as opposing that provision, expressing concern that the proposed new structure would unduly "politicize" police oversight. That, combined with concerns about a proposed provision that would give council new power to approve mayoral appointees to several department head positions, creates a situation where the mayor might oppose the revised charter.

Even if that doesn't happen, there's no guarantee voters will approve the proposed new charter. If they do give it a thumbs-down, what's next?

Well, it would be possible to hold a special election — at significant expense to the financially struggling city — before the end of the Charter Revision Commission's tenure in May 2012.

Or the commissioners could prepare one last version of a revised charter before the commission is disbanded, with that document going before voters in August 2012, when primary elections will be held.

And since voters are allowed three cracks at approving a new charter, the commission could hold (and lose) a special election and then piggyback on that August primary.

Hold on, folks. This strange ride on the twisting road to a new charter is far from over.

C.I.A. Closes Unit Focused on Capture of bin Laden - New York Times

2011-05-11T09:10:00.000-07:00

This is why George Bush cannot take credit for the killing all OSama bin Laden and why he didn't show up at ground zero C.I.A. Closes Unit Focused on Capture of bin Laden - New York Times

C.I.A. Closes Unit Focused on Capture of bin Laden

By MARK MAZZETTI

Published: July 4, 2006

WASHINGTON, July 3 — The Central Intelligence Agency has closed a unit that for a decade had the mission of hunting Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants, intelligence officials confirmed Monday.

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The unit, known as Alec Station, was disbanded late last year and its analysts reassigned within the C.I.A. Counterterrorist Center, the officials said.

The decision is a milestone for the agency, which formed the unit before Osama bin Laden became a household name and bolstered its ranks after the Sept. 11 attacks, when President Bush pledged to bring Mr. bin Laden to justice "dead or alive."

The realignment reflects a view that Al Qaeda is no longer as hierarchical as it once was, intelligence officials said, and a growing concern about Qaeda-inspired groups that have begun carrying out attacks independent of Mr. bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Agency officials said that tracking Mr. bin Laden and his deputies remained a high priority, and that the decision to disband the unit was not a sign that the effort had slackened. Instead, the officials said, it reflects a belief that the agency can better deal with high-level threats by focusing on regional trends rather than on specific organizations or individuals.

"The efforts to find Osama bin Laden are as strong as ever," said Jennifer Millerwise Dyck, a C.I.A. spokeswoman. "This is an agile agency, and the decision was made to ensure greater reach and focus."

The decision to close the unit was first reported Monday by National Public Radio.

Michael Scheuer, a former senior C.I.A. official who was the first head of the unit, said the move reflected a view within the agency that Mr. bin Laden was no longer the threat he once was.

Mr. Scheuer said that view was mistaken.

"This will clearly denigrate our operations against Al Qaeda," he said. "These days at the agency, bin Laden and Al Qaeda appear to be treated merely as first among equals."

In recent years, the war in Iraq has stretched the resources of the intelligence agencies and the Pentagon, generating new priorities for American officials. For instance, much of the military's counterterrorism units, like the Army's Delta Force, had been redirected from the hunt for Mr. bin Laden to the search for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed last month in Iraq.

An intelligence official who was granted anonymity to discuss classified information said the closing of the bin Laden unit reflected a greater grasp of the organization. "Our understanding of Al Qaeda has greatly evolved from where it was in the late 1990's," the official said, but added, "There are still people who wake up every day with the job of trying to find bin Laden."

Established in 1996, when Mr. bin Laden's calls for global jihad were a source of increasing concern for officials in Washington, Alec Station operated in a similar fashion to that of other agency stations around the globe.

The two dozen staff members who worked at the station, which was named after Mr. Scheuer's son and was housed in leased offices near agency headquarters in northern Virginia, issued regular cables to the agency about Mr. bin Laden's growing abilities and his desire to strike American targets throughout the world.

In his book "Ghost Wars," which chronicles the agency's efforts to hunt Mr. bin Laden in the years before the Sept. 11 attacks, Steve Coll wrote that some inside the agency likened Alec Station to a cult that became obsessed with Al Qaeda.

"The bin Laden unit's analysts were so intense about their work that they made some of their C.I.A. colleagues uncomfortable," Mr. Coll wrote. Members of Alec Station "called themselves 'the Manson Family' because they had acquired a reputation for crazed alarmism about the rising Al Qaeda threat."

Intelligence officials said Alec Station was disbanded after Robert Grenier, who until February was in charge of the Counterterrorist Center, decided the agency needed to reorganize to better address constant changes in terrorist organizations.

Bloomberg: Send the immigrants to Detroit « Hot Air

2011-05-04T06:53:00.000-07:00

I don't think Mayor bloomberg's comments are that far off the mark. If you think about it Detroit is a city built for two million people we have 700 and 13,000 people living your right now, if we allowed immigration of people from Japan that has been ravaged by a tsunami an earthquake and a radioactive nightmare, people that willingly wanted to come to Detroit and live and bring with them their businesses, their families, and some great social etiquette I would gladly welcome them as neighbors. I think that Canada has given us a great blueprint to build on I mean look at what they did for Hong Kong. Now you have wealthy Canadian citizens that used to live in Hong Kong they brought with them their businesses, their families, and their money. Although I feel that we need comprehensive immigration reform to allow an easier path for people that want to move to the United States to be implemented in case of emergencies like the one in Japan exception should be made, or at least a fast track method of bringing Bloomberg: Send the immigrants to Detroit « Hot Air

Building An Economy From The Ground Up: Community Enterprise

2011-05-04T06:36:00.000-07:00

This I think is one the best ideas for how to rebuild Detroit was worker-owned corporations. When you think about it workers won't vote to move their jobs overseas. I think that we can use this as a starting point to anchor jobs in communities and provide services to that community needs. Building An Economy From The Ground Up: Community Enterprise

ZCommunications | How to Create 15 Million Jobs by Jack Rasmus | ZMagazine Article

2011-04-09T09:19:00.000-07:00

Those suffering the worst are the 25 million unemployed, the 10 million homeowners who have experienced foreclosures and bank seizures of their homes, the tens of millions of workers confronted today with declining real wages, with rising double-digit health-care premiums, millions of students' overwhelmed with accelerating education costs, and shrinking pension balances for tens of millions. About to join their ranks are millions of public employees who will find themselves hammered on all fronts in 2011. And all 115 million households in 2011 will face accelerating costs for food, gasoline, and local government taxes and fees.ZCommunications | How to Create 15 Million Jobs by Jack Rasmus | ZMagazine Article

DETNEWS | Weblogs | Detroit City Hall Insider

2011-03-30T09:14:00.000-07:00

This would be a great Idea if the Mayor really wanted to turn the city around but he only gives lip service to great ideas but buys bad ones whole sale.

DETNEWS | Weblogs | Detroit City Hall Insider

Census 2010: Detroit population plummets to 713,777, lowest since 1910 | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

2011-03-24T06:37:00.000-07:00

Census 2010: Detroit population plummets to 713,777, lowest since 1910 | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

You give me lemons and I'll make lemonade: There will be millions of Japanese looking for a non radiated place to live Detroit has plenty of extra non radiated land water and housing. Let them immigrate to Detroit and bring there work, science tech and social skills to help make Detroit a much better place.
Problem solved ....your welcome.

Detroit fights back against plummeting population - CSMonitor.com

2011-03-24T06:22:00.000-07:00

Detroit fights back against plummeting population - CSMonitor.com

Gov. Rick Snyder's tax reform proposal

2011-03-16T13:37:00.001-07:00

Monday - 10:53AM
LANSING -- Gov. Rick Snyder's tax reform proposal would slice business-tax contributions to state revenue and shift the burden largely to increases in individual income taxes.

Under Snyder's plan, Michigan's main business tax would generate 4.3 percent of the state's general fund and School Aid Fund revenue -- a major shift from the nearly 11 percent that the current Michigan Business Tax supplies.

The net business-tax revenue in fiscal 2013 is even lower -- 1.6 percent of general fund and school aid revenue -- if tax-credit payouts are factored in, according to a recent analysis by Gary Olson, a senior fellow at Public Sector Consultants Inc.

But increasing, from 31 percent to 41 percent, would be the amount of state revenue generated from individual income taxes.

Snyder's plan would drop business-tax revenue from $2 billion to $792.7 million in fiscal 2013, when changes are fully phased in, equating to a 60.8 percent tax cut.

Beyond that, the state would pay out $500 million in previously granted tax credits that year, further reducing business-tax contributions to the general and School Aid funds to a net $292.7 million, or an 85.5 percent drop from the current MBT.

By comparison, general fund and School Aid Fund revenue from individual income taxes would increase some 32 percent, Olson said. Proposed changes include taxing retirement income and eliminating most credits and deductions related to the individual income tax.

The governor's office on Friday was unable to verify Olson's figures and calculations, but deputy press secretary Ken Silfven said the "shift we're proposing is fair, and there is a whole universe of taxes that businesses are still paying. We're trying to bring some fairness to the tax structure."

In a recent interview, when asked why businesses should receive more favorable tax treatment than individuals, Lt. Gov. Brian Calley said "individuals want jobs more than anything" and the focus of the proposal is on job growth.

"What we're saying is that the more evenly you distribute the tax burden across the system, making it more simple, fair and efficient, the more competitive that tax system will be," he said.

Snyder's plan would eliminate the MBT and impose a 6 percent corporate income tax only on "C" corporations, which include most public companies and many large privately held companies, as well as some smaller companies.

The plan would eliminate an array of state tax credits that are baked into the MBT structure or awarded by the state, affecting businesses that benefited from those credits. Examples include brownfield tax credits and Michigan Economic Growth Authority incentives as well as credits for wages, investment and personal property.

But most businesses appear winners under Snyder's plan.
Tax hike for some businesses
Of the 136,706 businesses that pay the MBT based on the most recent Treasury data, 95,251 are so-called "pass-through" entities, Calley said. Those sole proprietorships, LLCs and other individually owned businesses would not be subject to Snyder's new corporate income tax and would pay only individual income tax.

Among the 41,169 C corporations that would pay the new 6 percent corporate income tax, some 4,310 might pay more than they do now by virtue of smaller refunds or higher liability, Calley said.

Manufacturers represent about 31 percent of the 4,310 corporations, while service businesses make up about 29 percent. Retail trade represents about 11 percent and construction businesses, about 9 percent.

Calley said the state now writes checks totaling about $95 million annually to businesses that have had their MBT liability offset by other incentives or credits or are getting rebates of personal property taxes they paid.

"For those who do achieve a positive tax liability in this plan, I think you would see the companies that hit on most of the existing credits and have a high local personal property tax are the ones that would likely ... either get fewer credits back or pay more tax," Calley said.

"For the vast majority of companies in the state, it comes out much better. This proposal doesn't have the credit features that allow you to pay zero and still get money back. That's the difference."

Olson, former director of the Senate Fiscal Agency, said that while "no one would argue that cutting businesses taxes by 86 percent won't help business," there's a question of the extent to which it will increase Michigan business activity.

He said Michigan needs to also consider the potential economic impact of raising income taxes, such as causing individuals to reduce spending.

No more gross receipts tax
The new tax plan would eliminate an MBT that has at its base a 4.95 percent business income tax and a 0.8 percent modified gross receipts tax, the latter of which generates some 70 percent of MBT revenue.

Factoring in the 21.99 percent surcharge on the MBT, tax experts said the effective rate of the gross receipts tax is 1 percent, while the effective rate of the business-income component of the MBT base is 6 percent -- the same level as the new tax.

"Nobody will be subject to the 1 percent gross receipts tax. And from the perspective of income tax, S corps and partnerships will not be subject to a business-level income tax, and C corps will remain subject to a 6 percent income tax," said Curtis Ruppal, partner of state and local tax in the Grand Rapids office of Plante & Moran PLLC.

"From an overall tax structure perspective, all business entities will win on a pre-credit basis. So what's dictating winners and losers is the elimination of the credits."

In some instances, it may not be the elimination of tax credits that could cause a business to pay more under the new tax structure; it could be their past losses.

Companies are currently allowed to take losses against the income base of the MBT, but the governor's plan as introduced makes no provision for companies to carry forward losses generated during MBT years into the new corporate income tax, or CIT, said Greg Nowak, partner in the Detroit office of law firm Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone PLC and chairman of the Michigan Association of Certified Public Accountants.

"If a company becomes profitable in 2012, and they had been generating losses in prior years, they would not be able to carry those losses forward. You could have companies, by virtue of becoming profitable, paying more under the CIT because they wouldn't be allowed loss carryovers," he said.

With a business-tax cut that eliminates gross receipts tax and leaves a tax structure reliant on corporate income, some say Michigan is shrinking its business-tax base to a smaller revenue stream that is inherently more volatile because it is tied to profits.

Factor in the tax-credit agreements that the Snyder administration plans to honor, and "you could very likely get into a situation where you're actually paying out more in credits to business than you're collecting from the business tax," said Mitch Bean, director of the House Fiscal Agency.

Calley said he sees the possibility that the state might see zero or negative corporate income tax collections as "an unlikely scenario." He said "there is no revenue stream that is recession-proof," but the state's overall revenue base will be more stable than it is currently.

But, he said, "no matter what your business tax base is, when you have credits as massive" as Michigan's, "you always have some risk of having a negative tax collection, no matter the tax rate."

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20110313/SUB01/303139970/snyder-tax...

Social Media Tips on Blog Talk Radio blog

2011-03-02T05:42:00.000-08:00

I'm gonna start up a talk show on this blog I will keep my fingers crossed.

Social Media Tips on Blog Talk Radio blog

Lee Gaddies New Age Policy on Vimeo

2011-03-01T11:33:00.000-08:00

I see this as an example of the type of show that I would like to create that has content that both informs ,educates and entertains the community. New Age Policy on Vimeo

Where there's smoke - News & Views - Detroit Metro Times

2011-02-28T09:45:00.000-08:00

So who are you gonna believe john prymack or the people that audited his department? Where there's smoke - News & Views - Detroit Metro Times

Might Rail? - News & Views - Detroit Metro Times

2011-02-28T09:35:00.000-08:00

Might Rail? - News & Views - Detroit Metro Times

After after reading the story I don't think they understand that for light rail to work in Southeast Michigan you need to have a regional transit authority (RTA)that is self funding be it form a sales tax or through another type of Financial Investment in the system. There is no mass transit system in this country that is self funding.

High-risk investments cost Detroit $408 million | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

2011-02-28T08:28:00.000-08:00

High-risk investments cost Detroit $408 million | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

I would like to know who the hell is moving Norm White from the transit department to managing two billion dollars in city money? More importantly who is paying Norm White to make these shady investments? This is an example of Naomi Klein's disaster capitalism you create a disaster and then bring in the solution of privatization.

Bye, Bye, Miss American Pie - Salem-News.Com

2011-02-28T08:25:00.000-08:00

Bye, Bye, Miss American Pie - Salem-News.Com

This is something that I've been talking about for some time. If you look at America at its most prosperous, it is when we had a clear separation of our Investment Banks and our savings banks when the union labor force was 35% of the American workforce, and when we had tariffs on imported goods. This article outlines the clear and present danger in American democracy as we will move towards a plutocracy, or maybe even and oligarchy

You want to get married.

2011-02-16T13:37:00.001-08:00

You want to get married. It's taken a while to admit it. Saying it out loud -- even in your mind -- feels kind of desperate, kind of unfeminist, kind of definitely not you, or at least not any you that you recognize. Because you're hardly like those girls on TLC saying yes to the dress and you would never compete for a man like those poor actress-wannabes on The Bachelor.
You've never dreamt of an aqua-blue ring box.
Then, something happened. Another birthday, maybe. A breakup. Your brother's wedding. His wife-elect asked you to be a bridesmaid, and suddenly there you were, wondering how in hell you came to be 36-years-old, walking down the aisle wearing something halfway decent from J. Crew that you could totally repurpose with a cute pair of boots and a jean jacket. You started to hate the bride -- she was so effing happy -- and for the first time ever you began to have feelings about the fact that you're not married. You never really cared that much before. But suddenly (it was so sudden) you found yourself wondering... Deep, deep breath... Why you're not married.
Well, I know why.
How? It basically comes down to this: I've been married three times. Yes, three. To a very nice MBA at 19; a very nice minister's son at 32 (and pregnant); and at 40, to a very nice liar and cheater who was just like my dad, if my dad had gone to Harvard instead of doing multiple stints in federal prison.
I was, for some reason, born knowing how to get married. Growing up in foster care is a big part of it. The need for security made me look for very specific traits in the men I dated -- traits it turns out lead to marriage a surprisingly high percentage of the time. Without really trying to, I've become a sort of jailhouse lawyer of relationships -- someone who's had to do so much work on her own case that I can now help you with yours.
But I won't lie. The problem is not men, it's you. Sure, there are lame men out there, but they're not really standing in your way. Because the fact is -- if whatever you're doing right now was going to get you married, you'd already have a ring on it. So without further ado, let's look at the top six reasons why you're not married.
1. You're a Bitch.
Here's what I mean by bitch. I mean you're angry. You probably don't think you're angry. You think you're super smart, or if you've been to a lot of therapy, that you're setting boundaries. But the truth is you're pissed. At your mom. At the military-industrial complex. At Sarah Palin. And it's scaring men off.
The deal is: most men just want to marry someone who is nice to them. I am the mother of a 13-year-old boy, which is like living with the single-cell protozoa version of a husband. Here's what my son wants out of life: macaroni and cheese, a video game, and Kim Kardashian. Have you ever seen Kim Kardashian angry? I didn't think so. You've seen Kim Kardashian smile, wiggle, and make a sex tape. Female anger terrifies men. I know it seems unfair that you have to work around a man's fear and insecurity in order to get married -- but actually, it's perfect, since working around a man's fear and insecurity is big part of what you'll be doing as a wife.

2. You're Shallow.
When it comes to choosing a husband, only one thing really, truly matters: character. So it stands to reason that a man's character should be at the top of the list of things you are looking for, right? But if you're not married, I already know it isn't. Because if you were looking for a man of character,you would have found one by now. Men of character are, by definition, willing to commit.
Instead, you are looking for someone tall. Or rich. Or someone who knows what an Eames chair is. Unfortunately, this is not the thinking of a wife. This is the thinking of a teenaged girl. And men of character do not want to marry teenaged girls. Because teenage girls are never happy. And they never feel like cooking, either.

3. You're a Slut.
Hooking up with some guy in a hot tub on a rooftop is fine for the ladies of Jersey Shore -- but they're not trying to get married. You are. Which means, unfortunately, that if you're having sex outside committed relationships, you will have to stop. Why? Because past a certain age, casual sex is like recreational heroin -- it doesn't stay recreational for long.
That's due in part to this thing called oxytocin -- a bonding hormone that is released when a woman a) nurses her baby and b) has an orgasm -- that will totally mess up your casual-sex game. It's why you can be f**k-buddying with some dude who isn't even all that great and the next thing you know, you're totally strung out on him. And you have no idea how it happened. Oxytocin, that's how it happened. And since nature can't discriminate between marriage material and Charlie Sheen, you're going to have to start being way more selective than you are right now.
4. You're a Liar.
It usually goes something like this: you meet a guy who is cute and likes you, but he's not really available for a relationship. He has some condition that absolutely precludes his availability, like he's married, or he gets around town on a skateboard. Or maybe he just comes right out and says something cryptic and open to interpretation like, "I'm not really available for a relationship right now."
You know if you tell him the truth -- that you're ready for marriage -- he will stop calling. Usually that day. And you don't want that. So you just tell him how perfect this is because you only want to have sex for fun! You love having fun sex! And you don't want to get in a relationship at all! You swear!
About ten minutes later, the oxytocin kicks in. You start wanting more. But you don't tell him that. That's your secret -- just between you and 22,000 of your closest girlfriends. Instead, you hang around, having sex with him, waiting for him to figure out that he can't live without you. I have news: he will never "figure" this out. He already knows he can live without you just fine. And so do you. Or you wouldn't be lying to him in the first place.
5. You're Selfish.
If you're not married, chances are you think a lot about you. You think about your thighs, your outfits, your naso-labial folds. You think about your career, or if you don't have one, you think about doing yoga teacher training. Sometimes you think about how marrying a wealthy guy -- or at least a guy with a really, really good job -- would solve all your problems.

Howevs, a good wife, even a halfway decent one, does not spend most of her day thinking about herself. She has too much s**t to do, especially after having kids. This is why you see a lot of celebrity women getting husbands after they adopt. The kids put the woman on notice: Bitch, hello! It's not all about you anymore! After a year or two of thinking about someone other than herself, suddenly, Brad Pitt or Harrison Ford comes along and decides to significantly other her. Which is also to say -- if what you really want is a baby, go get you one. Your husband will be along shortly. Motherhood has a way of weeding out the lotharios.
6. You're Not Good Enough.
Oh, I don't think that. You do. I can tell because you're not looking for a partner who is your equal. No, you want someone better than you are: better looking, better family, better job.
Here is what you need to know: You are enough right this minute. Period. Not understanding this is a major obstacle to getting married, since women who don't know their own worth make terrible wives. Why? You can fake it for a while, but ultimately you won't love your spouse any better than you love yourself. Smart men know this.
I see this at my son's artsy, progressive school. Of 183 kids, maybe six have moms who are as cute as you're trying to be. They're attractive, sure. They're just not objects. Their husbands (wisely) chose them for their character, not their cup size.

Alright, so that's the bad news. The good news is that I believe every woman who wants to can find a great partner. You're just going to need to get rid of the idea that marriage will make you happy. It won't. Once the initial high wears off, you'll just be you, except with twice as much laundry.
Because ultimately, marriage is not about getting something -- it's about giving it. Strangely, men understand this more than we do. Probably because for them marriage involves sacrificing their most treasured possession -- a free-agent penis -- and for us, it's the culmination of a princess fantasy so universal, it built Disneyland.
The bottom line is that marriage is just a long-term opportunity to practice loving someone even when they don't deserve it. Because most of the time, your messy, farting, macaroni-and-cheese eating man will not be doing what you want him to. But as you give him love anyway -- because you have made up your mind to transform yourself into a person who is practicing being kind, deep, virtuous, truthful, giving, and most of all, accepting of your own dear self -- you will find that you will experience the very thing you wanted all along:
Love.
Tracy McMillan is a TV writer whose credits include Mad Men and The United States of Tara. Her memoir I Love You and I'm Leaving You Anyway is now available in paperback from Harper Collins/It Books. She lives in Los Angeles with her 13-year-old son.

The Charter Commission needs your input

2011-02-10T06:59:00.000-08:00

Here are some things that you need to know about the charter commission, have you had a chance to have your voice heard? did you know that the charter commission meets three times a month, everyone needs to have a voice in this process because everyone is affected that means you people get up off your chairs and get involved.

· issues surrounding the organization of city council-by-district;
· The pros and cons of the strong mayor/council organization of government and service delivery, the strong council/city manager form of government, and hybrid models
· The role and duties of inspector general vs. ombudsman
· How to address the conflicts that arise with the law department’s dual accountability to the mayor and city council
· Development of a strong ethics code
· Financial planning and management with constrained city resources
· Coordinating the city’s planning and development functions
· Coordinating the public safety departments (police, fire, EMS)
· youth and senior citizen services
· What can and/or should be included in a city charter
· Tax policy
· Privatization
· Transportation
· Public Health requirements in the charter
· Economic development
· Neighborhood and community development
· City department consolidation
· Servicing Detroit’s infrastructure

http://2009dcrc.org/default.aspx

WOODWARD AVE. LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT PROJECT PUBLIC HEARINGS

2011-02-01T13:41:00.000-08:00

WOODWARD AVE. LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT PROJECT PUBLIC HEARINGS SLATED FOR
FEBRUARY 12
Public Participation Period Runs through March 14

The public is invited to attend the Woodward Avenue Light Rail Transit
Project public hearings sponsored by the City of Detroit and the U.S.
Department of Transportation Federal Transit Administration on Saturday,
February 12, 2011. There will be two hearings: The first from 11 a.m.
to 1 p.m. with a presentation at 11:30 a.m.; the second from 6 p.m. to 8
p.m. with a presentation at 6:30 p.m. The public may participate in one
or both events, which will be held at the Main Detroit Public Library,
Lower Level Auditorium, 5201 Woodward Avenue.

The purpose of the hearings is to give interested parties opportunities
to provide comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS).
This includes the project’s purpose and need, the alternatives
considered, the potential environmental and community impacts evaluated,
and some preliminary measures proposed to mitigate those impacts.

Project staff will be available to informally discuss the DEIS and the
proposed project, beginning 30 minutes before each presentation. Copies
of the DEIS are available at several municipal buildings and will be
available for review at the public hearing. The Notice of Availability
period for public participation and comments ends on March 14, 2011.

Hearing materials will be available in English, Arabic and Spanish and
translators will be on site. Individuals with special needs or who
require an accessible format version of the public hearing invitation
should contact eaa.inform@gmail.com

For more information on the Woodward Light Rail Transit Project, go to
the project Web site at
www.woodwardlightrail.com or call (313) 933-1300.

The Goldman Sachs board tripled the CEO's salary to $2 mln

2011-01-31T11:15:00.000-08:00

Blankfein's pay hike looks hard to defend
The Goldman Sachs board tripled the CEO's salary to $2 mln and is paying him and his top lieutenants a $12.6 mln 2010 bonus. But Goldman's earnings, return on equity and reputation all fell last year. Breakingviews pens an imaginary letter to the board from an irate shareholder. -- The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own --

By Antony Currie
NEW YORK, Jan 31 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Breakingviews pens an imaginary letter to Goldman's directors from an irate shareholder.

To the Directors of the Board:

And here it seemed the smart people at Goldman Sachs had learned from their mistakes. The business ethics report published at the start of the year offered some sense that a gradual shift was underway. But now the firm is lurching intoanother fiasco. On pay. Again.

First, there's the $12.6 million bonus awarded to the top brass for last year's work. It may be chump change to Mr. Blankfein, who earned five times more in 2007. And it's less than Wells Fargo and JPMorgan paid their chiefs lastyear. But how can a 42 percent increase from 2009 be justified? Goldman's net income fell by more than a third and return on equity nearly halved. Meanwhile, it seemed like Mr. Blankfein and the firm made headlines every day, getting lambasted for one transgression or another. One even required turning over $550 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Some bosses get shown the door for less. But this board sees reason for extra rewards. And even though for more than a decade $600,000 has been deemed an ample salary for senior executives with a claim to the firm's special partner bonus pool, now was somehow the right time to triple that figure. It's nice that the senior-level bonuses are locked up in stock for five years. And it's true regulators have been seeking to rebalance the compensation structure in banking.
But executives have spent much of the past year or more trying to convince authorities, investors and the taxpayers whose funds have underpinned the financial industry that they understand the outrage about excessive Wall Street pay and that Goldman only rewards performance. This latest decision sends precisely the opposite message.

Yes, Citigroup's boss Vikram Pandit is getting a massive increase in pay. But the poor chap was only taking home $1 a year. And he at least has some claim to earning it. Citi's stock, despite a massive overhang as the government unleashed its flood of shares on the market, was up 43 percent last year. Goldman's, meanwhile, flatlined. And with no dividend increase, shareholders are playing second fiddle to Goldman employees yet again.

It sure sounds like directors have a tin ear when it comes to issues related to pay. Releasing details of a decision taken three weeks ago on a Friday night also suggests an attempt to bury the news. Normally, this whole affair would be one to take straight to the chairman. Alas, that would only lead right back to Mr. Blankfein's door.

Respectfully,

G.S. Holder

CONTEXT NEWS
-- Goldman Sachs disclosed in filing to securities regulator on Jan. 28 that it was more than tripling the base salary of several of its senior executives. Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein's will increase from $600,000 to $2 million in 2011.
-- Being paid $1.85 million annually will be Gary Cohn, president of investment banking; David Viniar, the chief financial officer; Michael Evans, vice-chairman and new head of emerging markets; and John Weinberg, vice-chairman.
-- Goldman, in a separate document, disclosed that all five men received a bonus for 2010 of 78,111 of restricted shares worth $12.6 million.
-- Michael Sherwood, who runs the firm's European operations, received a 2010 bonus of 89,270 in restricted stock, worth $14.4 million.

-- Goldman Sachs salary and bonus filings:
http://www2.goldmansachs.com/our-firm/investors/financials/index.html

((antony.currie@thomsonreuters.com))
(Editing by Jeffrey Goldfarb and David Evans)

Environmental Justice meetings

2011-01-31T11:12:00.001-08:00

Tuesday Feb 1, 2011

Mtg: Dan Jourdan, Policy staffer in DC office for Sandy Levin

Where: EMEAC office – 87 E. Canfield, Suite 5600 – Detroit, MI 48202

Internal Prep Mtg: 10:00am

Phone Conference Mtg: 10:30am

Confirmed Advocates Attending:

Alisha Deen-Steindler – EMEAC

Margaret Weber - ZWD

Lynna Kaucheck – Food & Water Watch

Sarah Mulkoff – Clean Water Action

Wednesday Feb 2, 2011

Mtg: Congressman Gary Peters (20 min) and staffer Alex Greenfield

Where: 560 Kirts Blvd Suite #105, Troy, MI 48084

Meeting at 9am – Be there at 8:45 at the latest!!

Confirmed Advocates Attending:

Alisha Deen-Steindler – EMEAC

Bran van Guilder – Ecology Center / ZWD

Sarah Mulkoff – Clean Water Action

Margaret Weber – ZWD

Thursday Feb 3, 2011

Mtg: Congressman Hansen Clarke

Where: 87 E. Canfield, Suite 5600, Detroit, MI, 480202

Meeting at 9am – Be there at 8:45 at the latest!!

Confirmed Advocates Attending:

Alisha Deen-Steindler – EMEAC

Sandra Turner-Handy – MEC

Lottie Spady – EMEAC, Food Justice Task Force

Please e-mail any handouts, or factsheets to me by Monday Feb 31st so that I can include in Legislator Packets. Otherwise, if you have glossy, fancy handouts already printed, please bring 15-20 copies to me by Tuesday morning at the latest.

Thanks so much!!! Feel free to call me with any questions or concerns.

Alisha Deen-Steindler

Policy Coordinator
East Michigan Environmental Action Council
www.emeac.org

87 E. Canfield St., Ste 5600
Detroit, MI 48201
248-258-5188 (office)
248-269-3662 (cell)
248-731-0040 (fax)

The revolving door between the White house and J.P. Morgan Chase bankers.

2011-01-06T14:30:00.000-08:00

JP Morgan’s Daley is OBama’s next chief of staff

Washington: William M Daley will be the next White House chief of staff, Obama administration officials said Thursday. Currently a senior executive with JP Morgan Chase, and formerly a commerce secretary with the Clinton administration, Daley is expected to bring an outsider’s voice and decades of business experience to the West Wing. Pete Rouse, the interim chief of staff and a longtime friend of the President’s, will become a counselor to Obama, officials said.

Fox boss caught slanting news reporting

2010-12-13T05:29:00.000-08:00

LEAKED EMAIL: Fox boss caught slanting news reporting

December 09, 2010 7:31 am ET by Ben Dimiero

At the height of the health care reform debate last fall, Bill Sammon, Fox News' controversial Washington managing editor, sent a memo directing his network's journalists not to use the phrase "public option."

Instead, Sammon wrote, Fox's reporters should use "government option" and similar phrases -- wording that a top Republican pollster had recommended in order to turn public opinion against the Democrats' reform efforts.

Journalists on the network's flagship news program, Special Report with Bret Baier, appear to have followed Sammon's directive in reporting on health care reform that evening.

Sources familiar with the situation in Fox's Washington bureau have told Media Matters that Sammon uses his position as managing editor to "slant" Fox's supposedly neutral news coverage to the right. Sammon's "government option" email is the clearest evidence yet that Sammon is aggressively pushing Fox's reporting to the right -- in this case by issuing written orders to his staff.

As far back as March 2009, Fox personalities had sporadically referred to the "government option."

Two months prior to Sammon's 2009 memo, Republican pollster Frank Luntz appeared on Sean Hannity's August 18 Fox News program. Luntz scolded Hannity for referring to the "public option" and encouraged Hannity to use "government option" instead.

Luntz argued that "if you call it a 'public option,' the American people are split," but that "if you call it the 'government option,' the public is overwhelmingly against it." Luntz explained that the program would be "sponsored by the government" and falsely claimed that it would also be "paid for by the government."

"You know what," Hannity replied, "it's a great point, and from now on, I'm going to call it the government option."

On October 26, 2009, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced the inclusion of a public insurance option that states could opt out of in the Senate's health care bill.

That night, Special Report used "public" and "government" interchangeably when describing the public option provision.

Anchor Bret Baier referred to "a so-called public option"; the "public option"; "government-provided insurance coverage"; "this government-run insurance option"; the "healthcare public option"; and "the government-run option, the public option." Correspondent Shannon Bream referred to "a government-run public option"; "a public option"; "a government-run option"; and "the public option."

The next morning, October 27, Sammon sent an email to the staffs of Special Report, Fox News Sunday, and FoxNews.com, as well as to other reporters and producers at the network. The subject line read: "friendly reminder: let's not slip back into calling it the 'public option.' "

Sammon instructed staff to refer on air to "government-run health insurance," the "government option," "the public option, which is the government-run plan," or -- when "necessary" -- "the so-called public option":

If I wanted a Moderate republican i would have voted for one. Why is President Obama ACTING MORE like Nixon then Roosevelt?

2010-12-03T11:10:00.000-08:00

OP-ED COLUMNIST

Freezing Out Hope

By PAUL KRUGMAN

Published: December 2, 2010

REPRINTS

After the Democratic “shellacking” in the midterm elections, everyone wondered how President Obama would respond. Would he show what he was made of? Would he stand firm for the values he believes in, even in the face of political adversity?

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

Paul Krugman

Go to Columnist Page »

Blog: The Conscience of a Liberal

Readers' Comments

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Read All Comments (669) »

On Monday, we got the answer: he announced a pay freeze for federal workers. This was an announcement that had it all. It was transparently cynical; it was trivial in scale, but misguided in direction; and by making the announcement, Mr. Obama effectively conceded the policy argument to the very people who are seeking — successfully, it seems — to destroy him.

So I guess we are, in fact, seeing what Mr. Obama is made of.

About that pay freeze: the president likes to talk about “teachable moments.” Well, in this case he seems eager to teach Americans something false.

The truth is that America’s long-run deficit problem has nothing at all to do with overpaid federal workers. For one thing, those workers aren’t overpaid. Federal salaries are, on average, somewhat less than those of private-sector workers with equivalent qualifications. And, anyway, employee pay is only a small fraction of federal expenses; even cutting the payroll in half would reduce total spending less than 3 percent.

So freezing federal pay is cynical deficit-reduction theater. It’s a (literally) cheap trick that only sounds impressive to people who don’t know anything about budget realities. The actual savings, about $5 billion over two years, are chump change given the scale of the deficit.

Anyway, slashing federal spending at a time when the economy is depressed is exactly the wrong thing to do. Just ask Federal Reserve officials, who have lately been more or less pleading for some help in their efforts to promote faster job growth.

Meanwhile, there’s a real deficit issue on the table: whether tax cuts for the wealthy will, as Republicans demand, be extended. Just as a reminder, over the next 75 years the cost of making those tax cuts permanent would be roughly equal to the entire expected financial shortfall of Social Security. Mr. Obama’s pay ploy might, just might, have been justified if he had used the announcement of a freeze as an occasion to take a strong stand against Republican demands — to declare that at a time when deficits are an important issue, tax breaks for the wealthiest aren’t acceptable.

But he didn’t. Instead, he apparently intended the pay freeze announcement as a peace gesture to Republicans the day before a bipartisan summit. At that meeting, Mr. Obama, who has faced two years of complete scorched-earth opposition, declared that he had failed to reach out sufficiently to his implacable enemies. He did not, as far as anyone knows, wear a sign on his back saying “Kick me,” although he might as well have.

There were no comparable gestures from the other side. Instead, Senate Republicans declared that none of the rest of the legislation on the table — legislation that includes such things as a strategic arms treaty that’s vital to national security — would be acted on until the tax-cut issue was resolved, presumably on their terms.

It’s hard to escape the impression that Republicans have taken Mr. Obama’s measure — that they’re calling his bluff in the belief that he can be counted on to fold. And it’s also hard to escape the impression that they’re right.

The real question is what Mr. Obama and his inner circle are thinking. Do they really believe, after all this time, that gestures of appeasement to the G.O.P. will elicit a good-faith response?

What’s even more puzzling is the apparent indifference of the Obama team to the effect of such gestures on their supporters. One would have expected a candidate who rode the enthusiasm of activists to an upset victory in the Democratic primary to realize that this enthusiasm was an important asset. Instead, however, Mr. Obama almost seems as if he’s trying, systematically, to disappoint his once-fervent supporters, to convince the people who put him where he is that they made an embarrassing mistake.

Whatever is going on inside the White House, from the outside it looks like moral collapse — a complete failure of purpose and loss of direction.

So what are Democrats to do? The answer, increasingly, seems to be that they’ll have to strike out on their own. In particular, Democrats in Congress still have the ability to put their opponents on the spot — as they did on Thursday when they forced a vote on extending middle-class tax cuts, putting Republicans in the awkward position of voting against the middle class to safeguard tax cuts for the rich.

It would be much easier, of course, for Democrats to draw a line if Mr. Obama would do his part. But all indications are that the party will have to look elsewhere for the leadership it needs.

Bust ways to get NEW ideas funded

2010-11-30T11:01:00.000-08:00

Here ares some great ways to get your ideas funded or business started

1.Indiegogo

Make raising money simple for you and your funders. It's simple to create a campaign and easy to give to it

A collaborative way to fund ideas

http://www.indiegogo.com/

2. Kickstarter

Kickstarter is the largest funding platform for creative projects in the world. Every month, tens of thousands of amazing people pledge millions of dollars to projects from the worlds of music, film, art, technology, design, food, publishing and other creative fields.

A new form of commerce and patronage. This is not about investment or lending. Project creators keep 100% ownership and control over their work. Instead, they offer products and experiences that are unique to each project.

All or nothing funding. On Kickstarter, a project must reach its funding goal before time runs out or no money changes hands. Why? It protects everyone involved. Creators aren’t expected to develop their project without necessary funds, and it allows anyone to test concepts without risk.

Each and every project is the independent creation of someone like you. Projects are big and small, serious and whimsical, traditional and experimental. They’re inspiring, entertaining and unbelievably diverse.

http://www.kickstarter.com/

3.Quirky

Quirky currently focuses on developing consumer products that could retail for under $150 and don’t involve integrated software. Mobile applications, business ideas, and complex electronics are out of our scope… for now.

http://www.quirky.com/

You reduced the debt to 59% of GDP in 2018, and kept it at a sustainable level through 2030.

2010-11-17T08:38:00.000-08:00

WHERE DID MY SAVINGS COME FROM

BUDGET PATH
DEFENSE
DOMESTIC
SOCIAL SECURITY
HEALTHCARE
OTHER SPENDING
REVENUES
TAX EXPENDITURES

-1,50001,500

SAVINGS IN BILLIONS

REVENUE
SPENDING

-3,00003,000

SAVINGS IN BILLIONS(excluding choices made in Budget Path)

The Budget Simulation

2010-11-17T08:21:00.000-08:00

http://crfb.org/stabilizethedebt/

YOUR CHALLENGE: Stabilize the U.S. Debt at 60% of GDP by 2018. To begin the simulation, click the “Next” button above. There are 8 categories where your choices will affect the debt. Negative numbers next to a choice indicate how much the debt will be reduced, positive numbers add to the debt. Use the “Next” and “Back” buttons to navigate to each section; do not use your browser’s navigation arrows. Click the “Done” button when finished making all the choices you want. The bar graph on the right will chart how your choices affect the debt-to-GDP ratio relative to the 60% goal. Visit the FAQ page for more on how the game works.

Newly Updated and Improved. We have updated the budget baseline as well as figures for many options and added several new choices. And it is now easier to save and share results. Try it even if you have done the simulator before.

It’s no secret that America’s finances are a mess. So, what can be done about it? The problem has been mounting for a long time and it cannot be fixed overnight, but we need to start addressing it now.

The debt of the United States is rising to unprecedented – and unsustainable – levels. Under reasonable assumptions, the public debt of the U.S. is projected to grow to 89% of GDP by 2020, 127% by 2030, 182% in 2040 and 246% in 2050. No country can support debt at these levels without huge costs to its standard of living at a minimum and most likely a severe crisis.

Drastic action now would threaten the already fragile economic recovery. But failing to convince markets and creditors that the U.S. is serious about reducing its debt in the longer term would cause interest rates to rise dramatically and likely trigger a fiscal crisis.

We need to establish a fiscal goal and commit as a nation to achieving it. The Peterson-Pew Commission on Budget Reform recommends a goal of stabilizing the debt at 60% of GDP by 2018 in the report, Red Ink Rising. We must set an ambitious, yet attainable, goal that Americans can support. See more about the reasoning behind this goal on the FAQ page.

This simulation was designed to illustrate the tough budget choices that will have to be made and to promote a public dialogue on how we can set a sustainable fiscal course. How do your choices stack up? Good luck.

How to Make America’s Rail Industry Competitive Again

2010-10-22T09:21:00.000-07:00

Global Competitiveness and U.S. Job Creation in the Rail and Transit Industry

Global Competitiveness in the Rail and Transit Industry	Reviving the U.S. Rail and Transit Industry: Investments and Job Creation

With support from the Rockefeller and Surdna Foundations, the Apollo Alliance partnered with Northeastern University, Worldwatch Institute, and the Duke University Center on Globalization, Governance & Competitiveness to conduct research, engage stakeholders, and develop policy recommendations to inform the emergence of a comprehensive strategy to create good American jobs by bolstering the domestic manufacture of advanced rail and transit vehicles systems and component parts. These two reports are a result of that initiative.

Global Competitiveness in the Rail and Transit Industry draws on lessons from Germany, Spain, Japan, and China, the four dominant international rail manufacturing countries, to conclude that greater investment in our rail industry could revive America’s former leadership in the world rail industry – and potentially create hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Download the full report here

Case studies of the leading countries in intercity rail and urban transit illuminate a set of common principles those countries have used to nurture and grow some of the largest, most successful railroad manufacturing companies in the world. Among them are:

A sustained, long-term national investment in rail and transit far and above the one-time injection of $8.3 billion provided by the 2009American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. China alone is investing as much as $149 billion every year for the next five years.
A commitment to protecting and nurturing young rail industries until they have achieved the economies of scale necessary to compete globally.
A national vision that ensures rail development will be linked with other forms of urban transit, use an integrated, uniform system of operations, provide extensive geographic coverage, and be well run.

Also available for free download:

Reviving the U.S. Rail and Transit Industry: Investments and Job Creation

With the federal transportation bill up for renewal, the United States has an opportunity to invest in public transportation and renew its manufacturing base. This report reveals that the country could gain more than 79,000 jobs in rail and bus manufacturing and related industries under an investment scenario sufficient to double transit ridership in 20 years. If the United States were to invest at even higher levels—similar to those of China—this would yield more than a quarter million jobs.

To Download Either Report:

Register below to access either report by providing your email address. You’ll also have the opportunity to sign up for any one of our four e-newsletters. We respect your privacy at all times and will not share your email address with any outside organization or third party.

250 pack Detroit forum on council districts City-dwellers call for fairness, openness

2010-09-12T16:00:00.000-07:00

Lee Gaddies of northwest Detroit speaks at a Free Press forum on drawing new City Council districts, held Thursday evening at Second Ebenezer Church. Additional public meetings are planned. (KATHLEEN GALLIGAN/DETROIT FREE PRESS)

A version of this story appears on page 16A of the Friday, Sept. 10, 2010, print edition of the Detroit Free Press.

In a city where many people say they feel alienated, it's no surprise Detroit residents such as Claudine Prince want better government.

Surrounded by crime, rodents and abandoned houses in northeast Detroit, the 64-year-old is fed up. She was among about 250 confused, angry and hopeful residents who attended a packed Free Press forum Thursday night on drawing districts for the nine-member City Council, which is currently elected at-large.

Prince, like many others, expressed hope that districts will create a more transparent and representative government tuned in to fixing the city's problems.

"I want an elected official who represents my community and can be held accountable," she said in the session, held at Second Ebenezer Church at Dequindre and McNichols. "We would have less crime and much better services."

The forum was the first of multiple public meetings that will be held to inform residents of the districting process and give a voice to the people who will be affected by one of the biggest structural changes ever made to Detroit's government.

"Demand what you want," Free Press columnist Rochelle Riley urged the audience. "We are a people who used to know how to do that."

Voters in November 2009 approved the creation of council districts, which are to begin in 2013. Voters will elect seven district representatives and two at-large council members.

Among the biggest concerns expressed Thursday was keeping politics out of the districting process.

"I am advocating seven square grids of equal size, pulled in a random manner," said Greg Creswell, 53. "In other words, no funny-shaped districts. No politics. Period."

For some residents, the issue was simple.

"The city cannot neglect the poor and disadvantaged people," said Valerie Burris, 50.

Among the panelists were elected officials and civic leaders.

Crysis 2

2010-06-28T11:32:00.000-07:00

Odion Writes: "Holy Crap" were the only words that left my mouth as the demo for Crysis 2 ended and with good reason. Crytek isn't just creating a sequel they are building a game that looks like it will put a Michael Bay movie to shame.
http://n4g.com/news/553483/e3-2010-crysis-2-preview-ztgd

THINKING FOR OURSELVES

2010-06-18T07:55:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

THINKING FOR OURSELVES
Beyond bad ideas
By Shea Howell

One of the many lessons Detroiters have learned is that a crisis produces a lot of bad ideas. This year’s Retreat of the elite on Mackinac Island, sponsored by the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce, launched a lot of them.

At a time when new thinking and a serious discussion of the economic and social realities of our state are essential, the Chamber proved once again that it could repackage bad thinking.

It began with the invitation to Newt Gingrich to comment on policy ideas for revitalizing the state. Mr. Gingrich is currently on a book tour promoting his latest effort titled “To Save America: Stopping Obama’s Secular Socialist Machine.” This is a partisan tract aimed at restoring the GOP to power in the next election series.

The Chamber wildly endorsed the economic thinking embodied in Gingrich’s 1994 Contract with America. This thinking fostered the decade of deregulation, greed and avarice unparallel in American life, from which we are likely to suffer for generations to come.

Gingrich touted ideas for a 10-year tax free zone for Detroit, eliminating federal capital gains taxes for people and businesses in the district, claiming that this would create “an explosion of investment and jobs.”

Much of his talk was aimed at unions. “It’s simple,” he explained. “The teachers union has to make children the first priority and benefits and taking care of the least-skilled teachers its last priority.”

Also pursuing simplistic solutions, Mayor Bing used the occasion to announce his willingness to take over the Detroit Public School System. Displaying slightly more sensitivity than Gingrich, Bing said he would do so only if Detroiters endorsed his offer.

Before Bing got back to the city from the Mackinac Retreat, petition collectors had hit the streets, planning on putting the question on the November ballot.

Within the week, complaints surfaced about the tactics of Bing backers. At a news conference on Monday, Defend Public Education/Save our Students, AFSCME Local 207, a caucus of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, the Detroit Board of Education and BAMN (By Any Means Necessary) said, “The whole endeavor has been a fraud from start to finish.” It seems people are being told they are signing petitions to keep schools open or that the local school board endorses the effort.

Voters already defeated a similar proposal in 2004 by a two to one margin. Detroit voters have consistently demonstrated that, whatever its limitations, we want local control of our schools through an elected school board.

The idea that any Mayor of a major city should also be in charge of the school district is foolish. There is certainly no educational justification for such a move. It is only designed to centralize decision-making and shift it away from public oversight. No doubt the lucrative bond issues passed by the city and the promise of millions more in federal dollars encouraged the Chamber and the Mayor in their efforts to gain control of these resources.

Now the bad thinking has spilled beyond Mackinac to the office of the Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy who is floating the idea of jail time for parents who do not participate in parent teacher conferences as a way to improve learning.

Such bad thinking is fostered by desperation. Instead of spinning ideas that will line pockets and fill jails, we should be looking very carefully at the schools, teachers, community groups and organizations that are developing thoughtful, concerned, talented and imaginative young people. All across Detroit, change is happening among our young people and in our communities.

That is the other great lesson of these hard-fought decades. Enduring change is created slowly, usually out of sight of elites who gather far away from the daily struggle to recreate life in our city.

What Detroit Has That Pittsburgh Wants. Really.

2010-05-20T11:22:00.000-07:00

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

http://www.popcitymedia.com/features/detroit051810.aspx

I know, I know – what could we possibly want from Detroit? They have a 30% unemployment rate, entire neighborhoods filled with abandoned houses, and the Detroit Lions.

But. This desperation is fostering creation, not only from the artist class that tends to gravitate toward seemingly hopeless situations (hey, cheap studio space!) but from local officials, the business community and universities which have banded together with a can-do spirit borne from the realization that there's nowhere to go but up. 'Burghers would be wise to adopt a similar "we can't wait!" attitude.

The Greening of Detroit
The Greening of Detroit is an organization that has teamed up with Michigan State, the Detroit Agriculture Network and EarthWorks Urban Farm to facilitate urban agriculture. Created to counteract the "food desert" that city-center Detroit had become, the program currently supports 877 urban gardens manned by individuals, families or community cooperatives. For a minimal annual buy-in ($10/families, $20/communities), farmers are provided training and materials (tools, seeds, organically-grown trans-plants) so they can grow food on their own land or on the many parcels of vacant land throughout the city (permitting arranged, though the group is not beyond guerrilla gardening).

"Local is the new organic," enthuses Rebecca Salminen Witt, president of The Greening of Detroit. "This movement is exploding, making it easier to raise money from corporate donors and foundations. We might not be doing this if the auto companies were still cranking out cars, but there's a pioneering spirit now. There's also an agricultural heritage in this state and with improved growing techniques, we can now grow 51 weeks a year. This can change people's lives and already, it's making us all feel better." A fertile idea for Slow Food Pittsburgh?

Tech Town
Putting people to work indoors is TechTown, a research and technology park at Wayne State University in downtown Detroit. Acting on its plan to re-engineer Detroit's economy, this business incubator has taken $5 million in funding from ten foundations and placed roughly 40% of its bets in the hi-tech sector (alternative energy, life sciences, homeland security and advanced engineering), with the remainder going to services and lifestyle companies that are putting Detroiters back to work.

There are over 200 companies on the TechTown campus, a 1,200-acre spread that is an amalgam of repurposed auto industry buildings. The program provides a full spectrum of services, including funding, to these nascent ventures. "There's a culture of innovation here," says Randal Charlton, executive director of Tech Town, "and we figure if you keep them close, they'll help others. The plan is the cavalry ain't coming and while (Detroit) may get help from the Feds, we have to provide our own solutions. It's time to put aside old tribalism and get to work." Charlton hopes to have 1,200 companies up and running in the next three years and early successes include Asterand, a human tissue bank that went public in 2007 and whose shares were the top performer on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) in 2008. Hmm, if CMU could get an old plant from U.S. Steel...

M-1 Rail Project
Yet another example of the community coming together is a novel public/private partnership that's spearheading a light rail system in Detroit. As the only major city in the U.S. without a rapid transit system, Detroit finally approved the M-1 Rail project, only to find itself without funding. With the facts on their side, e.g. every dollar spent on transit yields $4-8 of new development around it, city officials approached the business community and found them eager to plead their case.

Local mega-millionaires Roger Penske (racing) and Dan Gilbert (Quicken Loans) took the lead and soon brought in Mike Illich (Little Caesar's Pizza, Detroit Tigers) and Peter Karmanos (CompuWare), all of whom made personal contributions in the millions of dollars, along with the Kresge Foundation, which contributed $35 million. The consortium raised over $100 million, which generated a match of $400 million from the Federal government. The initial 3.4 mile line will run along Woodward Avenue, the city's grand boulevard and site of many of its cultural institutions, sports venues, the Henry Ford Hospital and Wayne State University, with planned spurs that reach the 8-mile city limit and beyond. This approach gives me hope for rapid transit from downtown Pittsburgh to Squirrel Hill and I'm fine with plastering the names of benefactors at every T station. First stop: Super Mario station at Consol Energy Center?

Saved by Art
Equally novel yet inspirational are the urban canvasses created by Detroit artists from the blight and desolation of their city. This guerrilla art is at its best at The Heidelberg Project, a blocks-long installation by artist Tyree Guyton that runs primarily along Heidelberg Street, part of a once-thriving middle-class neighborhood where the artist grew up and that was home to musician Wilson Pickett, Motown founder Berry Gordy and longtime UPI reporter Helen Thomas.

Now one of the three poorest ZIP codes in the country, the project is all about healing and in the hands of Guyton, it is a colorful pastiche of found objects ("faces in the hood" painted on rusting car hoods, shopping carts perched precariously from battered tree limbs) on and around empty, dilapidated houses. The artist's penchant for polka dots serves to illustrate that we're all shapes and colors and the poignancy of his vision attracts 275,000 visitors from a hundred countries every year. On a more modest scale is Hamtramck Disneyland, where a visionary artist from a once-Polish enclave has plastered a series of handmade whirligigs on the roof of his house. It's whimsical and hopeful at the same time.

More somber in tone is Project Orange, where a group of artists has painted some of the city's most barren houses a bright orange hue as a stark reminder of work to be done. New mayor Dave Bing is listening, selectively razing structures that will never again be useful to a city whose population has declined from two million residents to 900,000. Many of the city's edgier artists create, and collaborate, at the Russell Industrial Center, a sprawling former auto parts plant where artists once squatted an entire floor. Oneita Porter, principal of grrlDog Design, revels in the wall of gaslight windows that brighten her space and supports the building owners' vow to never gentrify.

The Food Scene
Flashier and far more mainstream are the celebrity chefs seizing on Detroit as the new frontier. Iron Chef Michael Symon of Lola fame in Cleveland has opened Roast in the lobby of the Westin Book Cadillac, a hotel which has undergone a $200 million historical re-creation that is as sumptuous as Symon's food. The "roast beast of the day" is muscular in size and pairs beautifully with many sides and there's no denying that young sommelier Joseph Allerton is the toast of the town. Across town, chef, restauranteur and cookbook author Michael Mina has opened SaltWater and Bourbon Steak at the MGM Grand Detroit and his buzzy, beautiful rooms are equal to the food. Down-market eats are also popular in The D as seen in Greektown and Mexicantown, ethnic neighborhoods chock-full of mom-and-pop eateries serving delectable meals (the Astoria Pastry Shop in Greektown and Panaderia La Gloria in Mexicantown are confectioners without peer). Somewhere in the middle is Slow's Bar-B-Q, a five-year-old establishment that's already a Corktown institution thanks to heaping plates of 'cue served in a hipster-laden room.

Despite its many challenges, Detroit still glitters at night and the twinkling lights that extend across the Detroit River into Windsor, Ontario are only part of it. All three of the city's casinos have built 400-room hotels atop their gaming halls as permitted by the state of Michigan and nowhere is the result more impressive than at the MGM Grand. "Absolutely, the hotel has improved our bottom line," proclaims Chris McClain, Hotel Director, who is delighted that MGM has built an entirely new facility from the ground up to replace its previous casino. "Across the street, it was a gambling hall. Here, it's a resort with everything you need." Could this be a winner of an idea for the Rivers Casino and a way to maximize the North Shore Connector that will soon stop at its door?

Speaking of winners, here's hoping the Penguins and Red Wings face off again next season.

Sign up to receive Pop City every Wednesday. Here are the other two cities presented in this series: Cleveland and Baltimore.

Elaine Labalme is Pop City's New Girl in Town who is in love with America's post-industrial cities. Email her about your favorites, and why.

Captions: grown in Detroit; Randal Charlton of Tech Town; view of Midtown and the Cultural District, site of the new light rail; Oneita Porter; Chef Michael Symon of Roast; martini at Bourbon Steak; Midtown

Photographs courtesy Marvin Shaouni
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