$1.30 to $2.94?

This smells so bad in so many ways.
Why the gigantic increase?
Why were they "selling water to customers for less than is was paying to buy it"?
Is the idiot who underpriced the H2O still employed?
And the change to monthly billing. I wonder what the late penalties will be.......

Water bills to shift from quarterly to monthly: "On the north side, the rate increased from $1.30 to $2.94 per unit, which is 750 gallons. On the south side, rates increased from $1.85 to $2.70 per unit.
The increase was necessary because the water system was selling water to customers for less than it was paying to buy it from the city of Muskegon, according to Ribbens. "

Say good bye to retail sales in Michigan

This must be the right thing to do because it's a Fair Tax. Say "good night" Michigan. It's gonna get dark real soon.

- Fair-tax bill to be introduced in Michigan Legislature: "Legislation that would let Michigan residents vote to eliminate personal income and business taxes, and raise the state's sales tax and expand it to services will be unveiled Thursday.
If both the state House and Senate approve the so-called 'fair tax' resolution by a two-thirds vote, it will go on the November 2008 statewide ballot. Otherwise, the Michigan FairTax Association hopes to collect hundreds of thousands of voter signatures to place it on the ballot.
Individuals would pay property taxes and a sales tax between 8.5 cents and 9 cents on the dollar under the plan, which also would expand the sales tax to include all services such as haircuts. "

Closing prisons and firing State Troopers should help...

Maybe it'll all go away when Bush retires......

Murders in Grand Rapids jump 44 percent in '06: "Murders in Grand Rapids jumped 44 percent from 2005 to 2006, despite an overall crime increase of less than 1 percent during the same period. "

Detroit is in Wayne County

Seriously! We need to give these guys more of our money! That's what our Governor Granholm tells all.

When will we wake up?

Wayne board rakes in top pay: "In addition, base pay for each Wayne County commissioner is $68,767 -- twice as much as their Oakland and Macomb colleagues.
The disparity is appalling, Bogaert said.
Citizens, she said, 'throw up their hands. People don't know what the heck to do with Wayne County because it's so poorly run,' she said. 'And the people who could make the change are the people collecting the big paychecks, and you sure as heck aren't going to see them turning those down.'
Office budget is $86,000
Salaries are only part of the financial picture: Each Wayne County commissioner gets an $86,000 office budget and a $500-a-month car allowance."

And Jenny tells us spending isn't the problem, revenue is.

Taxpayers sending 80 officials off to Hawaii: "Nearly 80 officials across Michigan -- more than twice the number of any other state -- plan to fly off to Hawaii this month for a weeklong conference on public pension issues. And taxpayer-backed pension funds will pay the tab.
Leading the Michigan contingent are 13 officials from Detroit,"

This is an outrage!

Is this ripoff going in in Muskegon?
End this charity: "Both the Genesee County Board of Commissioners and Flint City Council take advantage, the former to the tune of $2,000 per commissioner per year and the City Council $1,500 per member. From those funds officials drop tidy sums on church groups, sports teams, senior activities, festivals, parties, Christmas events and a wide swath of nonprofit agencies, most of which enjoy close ties to the officeholders.In many cases the donations amount to poorly veiled opportunities to advance their profiles and/or pay back favors.
While taxpayers foot the bills, the officials are the ones who come off looking generous and often get precious exposure in the process, as they attend dinners and other large gatherings, get thanked in brochures or turn up in public donor lists. "

The MSM keeps repeating the democrat lie.

It is disgusting that the democrats and their liberal supporters in the media continue their lie that Bush declared the war “won” when he declared that ”Major combat operations in Iraq have ended”. His speech was in support of our brave troops and their victory over the Iraqi military. One mission was most certainly accomplished.

He was very specific in his caution that there was much more to be accomplished.

Now the democrat “leaders” are waiting on their surrender bill to present it to the President on the anniversary of Bush landing on the USS Abe Lincoln.
Read it yourself and remember who the liars are, the defeatist democrats and their comrades in the liberal MSM.

http://www.state.gov/p/nea/rls/rm/20203.htm

"Thank you all very much. Admiral Kelly, Captain Card, officers and sailors of the USS Abraham Lincoln, my fellow Americans: Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed. And now our coalition is engaged in securing and reconstructing that country....
We have difficult work to do in Iraq....
The transition from dictatorship to democracy will take time, but it is worth every effort. Our coalition will stay until our work is done. Then we will leave, and we will leave behind a free Iraq....
The war on terror is not over; yet it is not endless. We do not know the day of final victory, but we have seen the turning of the tide."

Liars!

The question the democrats won't answer.

What will happen to America and the west if Iran or Al Qaeda take over Iraq?

Kudlow's Money Politic$: Al Qaeda Is the Problem in Iraq: "Our real enemy in Iraq, the true source of all the murders, mayhem, and instability, is not sectarian strife. And it’s not the Sunnis or the Shiites either. The real enemy we face in Iraq is al Qaeda."

Hummers and Ferraris on Mars?

Nope. Just Old Sol.

Climate change hits Mars-News-UK-TimesOnline: "Mars is being hit by rapid climate change and it is happening so fast that the red planet could lose its southern ice cap. Scientists from Nasa say that Mars has warmed by about 0.5C since the 1970s. This is similar to the warming experienced on Earth over approximately the same period."

Good news

Catching bad guys is important. Telling them they can run away with impunity is.....well, it's what the democrat party has advocated.

Supreme Court Protects Police in Car-Chase Suit - WSJ.com: "The Supreme Court on Monday gave police officers protection from lawsuits that result from high-speed car chases, ruling against a Georgia teenager who was paralyzed after his car was run off the road."

A newspaper editorial that gets it!

Umm...rich bloggy logic in an American newspaper. Such a rarity.

Out of touch: "If your home budget had a $680 million deficit, you wouldn't demand that your boss give you a raise so that you could balance your finances -- and purchase $38 million worth of iPods and related 'technology' for school kids.
At least, not if you expected to keep your job. "

Like petulant children!

Like a crying child, they demand someone, anyone, give them more money.

Everything in their bloated budgets is sacred. Every possible cut that can be made has been made!

Why do we reelect these liars?

City urges Legislature to enact new tax: "Roosevelt Park has joined the chorus of communities asking the state Legislature to create a new tax to replace lost revenue.
On April 16, the city council unanimously approved a resolution calling on lawmakers to impose some sort of new business tax to replace the revenue soon to be lost due to elimination of the state's Single Business Tax. "

a tiny first step, I hope.

Public employees have got to pay their fair share. Just like the rest of us.

City employees to pay more for insurance - : "Employees of the city of Muskegon will absorb more of the cost of their health care, due to steeply rising insurance premiums.
In just one year, those costs have risen approximately 10 percent, according to the city's finance director, Tim Paul.
Premiums for the 2007-08 plan year rose from $744.43 to $817.28 per employee per month, Paul informed city commissioners, for an overall annual cost increase of $218,550."

This is important!

I thought eating cheesburgers and bitchin' about George Bush would make me lose weight. I'm sure glad we have all these nifty, federal and state funded studies.... you thought they were free?

Exercising harder keeps weight off longer - Yahoo! News: " People who consistently engage in high levels of exercise over the long haul are the most successful at losing weight and keeping it off, a new study shows. "

Could it be something else?

Maybe fat broads are more likely to be lesbians?

US "researchers" sure are coming up with valuable information, don't ya think? Thankfully, us taxpayers got real deep pockets and we'll keep on funding these wonderful studies.

Lesbians twice as likely to be obese The Daily Telegraph: "LESBIANS are twice as likely as heterosexual women to be overweight or obese, which puts them at greater risk for obesity-related health problems and death, US researchers said."

The chant of the mind numbed robots.

Lib columnista sticks with the democrat party line that it's the taxpayers who are at fault, not the big spenders in Lansing.
Boston Tea Party spirit seems a bit watered down: "of visceral anger with state government -- is exactly what's missing here outside the Troy Civic Center on Big Beaver.
A $1.9 billion shortfall due to the repeal of the Single Business Tax hasn't animated the public. Instead, it's nurtured cynicism and apathy."

This makes sense.

Cost of camping in state forests to rise 50%: "The fee to tent in Michigan's 143 state forest campgrounds will go up 50 percent this summer as the Department of Natural Resources continues to convert to a self-supporting system."

Maybe we ought to ask?

Maybe we ought to ask Nissan and Tennessee what they are doing that we in Michigan aren't? Naa, it's easier to ask Jenny or an educator.

SMYRNA, Tenn.
Nissan plant starts production of new Altima coupe: "Following the recent launch of the 2007 Altima and a hybrid model, production started Monday on the new Altima Coupe, a sportier version of Nissan's best-selling brand intended to attract new customers."

This is ridiculous!

Thank you McCain-Feingold....

Michigan Democrats set Feb. 9 presidential caucus date: "Michigan Democrats voted to hold their 2008 presidential caucus on Feb. 9, but agreed they would move up the date for voting if any state moves ahead of the scheduled dates......
On the Republican side, any state holding a primary or caucus before Feb. 5 will lose delegates to the Republican National Convention _ even Iowa and New Hampshire, which traditionally go first.

The Iowa caucuses kick off the presidential nominating season Jan. 14, then Nevada holds a Democrats-only contest Jan. 19, followed by the New Hampshire primary and contests in South Carolina, which has its Democratic primary Jan. 29 and GOP primary Feb. 2."

Conveniently ignoring the elephant in the room.

I wonder if the topic of teacher/administrator total compensation comes up? Yeah, right....

Education funding forum Monday night: "GRAND RAPIDS -- Education funding and the role it plays in the state's budget crisis will be the topic of a community forum Monday night.
The forum will touch on that along with the upcoming non-homestead millage for Grand Rapids Public Schools."

Brave men don't cut and run!

Blue Angels still coming to Battle Creek: "The Navy's flight demonstration team, the Blue Angels, is still planning on its stop in Battle Creek this summer.
There was speculation that the U.S. Navy team may not continue its tour after an accident that killed one of their pilots on April 21st.
24 Hour News 8 received word from the Battle Creek Field of Flight Air Show and Balloon Festival that the jet team will perform on June 30th and July 1st."

Let's see.....

...the Granholm administration is SO efficient that the only place she can find to cut is education (not teacher compensation, oh no!) and healthcare to the poor. And we sheep hardly even bleat.

Budget ax could fall on schools, Medicaid in month: "Monday, she started the time clock by notifying the legislature, schools and Medicaid providers that money could be cut in 30 days if the legislature doesn't act."

And they say they don't have enough of our money?

TaxProf Blog: Today is Tax Freedom Day®:
The Tax Foundation has announced that today (the 120th day of 2007) is Tax Freedom Day® -- Americans will work four months of the year, from January 1 to April 30, before they have earned enough money to pay this year's tax obligations at the federal, state and local levels."

This should be a best seller TODAY!

The Good Wife's Guide: "Listen to him. You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first - remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours. "

Serious agenda clash

Scotsman.com News - International - How to save the planet? More nuclear power and GM crops, say climate experts: "THE world's leading climate-change experts will this week put themselves on a collision course with environmentalists by proposing a series of controversial measures to tackle global warming.
More than 2,000 scientists will put forward a global warming action-plan to save the world from overheating, including a major expansion of nuclear power, using GM crops to boost biofuels and burying carbons underground. "

Economy Slows But May Hold Seeds of Growth - WSJ.com

Economy Slows But May Hold Seeds of Growth - WSJ.com: "The U.S. economy started 2007 with its weakest growth in four years, as a housing slump continued to hobble expansion. But consumers spent freely and business investment picked up, suggesting the worst of the slowdown might be past and giving economists reason to predict faster growth in the months ahead."

Scotsman.com News - International - Afghan infant deaths fall by 40,000 a year since ousting of Taleban

Scotsman.com News - International - Afghan infant deaths fall by 40,000 a year since ousting of Taleban: "According to the preliminary results of a Johns Hopkins University study, the infant mortality rate has declined to about 135 per 1,000 live births in 2006, down from an estimated 165 per 1,000 in 2001. "

Didn't the democrat leaders say these folks don't want "freedom"?

Secular rally in Turkey draws 700,000 - USATODAY.com: "The possibility of an observant Muslim president is pitting Turkey's deeply secular military and civilian establishment against its religiously oriented ruling party in a fundamental struggle over national identity."

Box of condoms leads to evacuation - Yahoo! News

Box of condoms leads to evacuation - Yahoo! News: "Several classrooms at Des Moines Area Community College were evacuated after college officials became nervous about a suspicious package. "
College officials called police and postal inspectors after the box was delivered Thursday. What they found inside wasn't a bomb — it was a box containing 500 condoms.
The package was sent to a teacher of a human sexuality class, and was sent by a person who had been a previous speaker at the class, said Rob Denson, the college's president.

Rodney King=Nancy Pelosi?

Hmmmm...... both from the Left coast.....

Commentary: Liberal Approach to War on Terror: "Can't We All Just Get Along?" - The Post Chronicle: "So-called progressives now embrace the Rodney King strategery for dealing with disagreements and rivalries."