Hoping for failure isn't much of a strategy for the Republicans

Hoping for failure isn't much of a strategy for the Republicans

"It worries me that so many Republicans remain unhinged by the change of their fortunes during the last several election cycles."

The Chronicle's newly unemployed and always unhinged, ex-editorial page editor exemplifies the left's need for more private sector produced pharma!

Is Kolb nuts?

Maybe he'll buy a gun to protect himself from the great "unhinged" masses of republicans he's so fearful of?

Kolb shares with us his "worries about so many unhinged Republicans".

Quick, Davy...name a republican you've had a conversation with in the last...... meebeee 40 YEARS who is "unhinged".

That's a pretty big charge, "so many republicans remain unhinged".

Do you mean like AlGore or most democrat governors?

Gimme a break.

Mr ex-editor Kolb, you can lie to yourself and your ubber-lib comrades but you appear to be a fool to all when you spout your instantly disprovable lies.

And your column is proof of your self delusion.

Enjoy your retirement.

Parking ramp documents

Muskegon Taxpayers Alliance
"Note the '1-year' expense estimate and the '10 year expectation' of an almost full-all-the-time-ramp.

And ya gotta love the increase in year 4, bingo 'a nice increase!'."

The Frauenthalians don't want you to see this.

Thwart the Frauenthalians!

"waive" good bye to your tax dollars

Muskegon Taxpayers Alliance:

"The county 'hiring freeze' is pure myth.
7 'waives' last meeting alone!"

Whitmer, Senate Dems vote for $1.235 billion in higher taxes

RightMichigan.com Whitmer, Senate Dems vote for $1.235 billion in higher taxes: "But then there are the important stories that don't get told.
Little things like the fact that yesterday in the state Senate, Republicans successfully moved through committee Senate Bill 0001. Sponsored by Senator Mark Jansen and approved by Republican Senators Jansen, Nancy Cassis, John Pappageorge and Jud Gilbert on a 4-3 party line vote, the bill kills the hated Michigan Business Tax surcharge.
Dollars and cents, the move would save job makers and working moms and dads $166.1 million in FY 2009, $475.5 million in 2010 and $593.4 million in 2011. That's a grand total of $1,235,000,000 reinvested in the Michigan economy without one dollar of expanded government spending or newer, bigger government programs."

Another scam by the teacher's union thugs

RightMichigan.com Collaborative Media for the Masses
"The Michigan Education Association, the state's largest teachers union, is set to unveil a legislative plan today that will create a burden-shifting incentive for older teachers to retire by actually increasing pensions for retiring workers."

If we let them take more money from us, they will!

Note-use this link:
http://www.rightmichigan.com/story/2009/1/28/10010/0192

Hey Bam, that's not the door!

Hey Bam, that's not the door!

"Bush laughed off the blunder, but the pictures still live on as part of Bush's lame duck legacy. However, there was little note taken of Obama's rookie mistake."

Oh, our forgivable liberal media....

Ed Marinaro great talk at Ivy event

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8970365086043311392

This is funny!

Stop the Muskegon Madness!

I believe it is everyone's civic duty to try to stop expensive, pork-laden projects that will benefit few and actually hurt the city of Muskegon.

And the "concrete canyon" (derived from the suicidal "CoolCities" debacle) design for the remains of "downtown" Muskegon fits my description of civic duty.

Here's why:

This entire porkfest is a quest to build an $8.6 million dollar multistory parking ramp across from the downtown Muskegon Holiday Inn.

This ramp will replace a failed, similar sized ramp just torn down LAST year. 150 yards away from the new $8.6 millions proposal!

It also includes the tearing down of the current Herman Ivory Bus Terminal.

Which is 50 yards from its NEW proposed location!

So why would anyone, even old GordoMuskegon be against this "brilliance"?

1. Few will benefit. All will pay.

This expensive boondoggle of a parking ramp is purely for the benefit of the "Frauenthalians".

The "Frauenthalians" are:

Those devotees of the Frauenthal theater and the now defunct City Cafe.

http://muskegonpundit.blogspot.com/2009/01/downtown-city-cafe-closes.html

Add in the Chamber of Commerce, the Community Foundation, Baker Culinary bigwigs and the few (if any) folks who have an equity interest in the three new buildings that now make up the "Concrete Canyon".

And the few, sad reminents of The Muskegon Chronicle editorialists.

And oh yeah, that group bought us the "Muskegon Can opener" as a testament to their cultural superiority.

This is a city issue, NOT a county issue.

But the entire county will pay for it.

And only the Frauenthalians will benefit.

2. It isn't need now.

Our city looks like Beruit.

There is parking potential everywhere.

But "parkers" are nowhere to be seen!

If they don't build a multi-million dollar ramp but instead build a nice, open parking lot, across from the totally-subsided-by-taxpayers-Holiday-Inn, there is plenty of parking now.

3. It will be crime central.

The old ramp was never used because it wasn't needed AND because it was "all crime all the time".

Zero police protection then and thugs figured it out instantly.

Our new ramp has NO police protection in the plan.

4. It will cost "someone" $150,000/year to operate.

Their bogus spreadsheet shows a net profit.

It will have a major net loss every year.

And the "someone" who will pay will, again, be the residents of Muskegon county.

5. The Frauenthalians have already spent $200 MILLION dollars of our tax dollars on downtown Muskegon.

And the $8.6 million, that is SO important now, wasn't important enough to include in the $200 million? Why?

Something smells here.

6. The "Concrete Canyon" will make the lake winds even more powerful.

That will make downtown even windier, colder and less attractive to visit.

7. The city of Muskegon and the Frauenthalians have shown their disinterest in a quality downtown by making any visitor to our downtown unwelcome.

The street lights aren't synchronized.

The roads aren't plowed.

The sidewalks aren't shoveled.

They want to charge for parking in a town that has never needed to pay for parking in the past.

And isn't stupid enough to pay for it in the future.

The city and the "Frauies" simply don't understand what brings customers into a shopping/entertainment district.

Their actions are to be believed more than their words.

8. More taxes are coming because of this boondoggle!

And now we see the true spirit of the Frauenthalians!

This same group that has masterminded the $200,000,000 "rising" of downtown Muskegon has a new idea.

They're out of (our) money so the NEW IDEA is Increasing the taxes on any business that would be foolish enough to exist in the tax hell that Muskegon currently is.

This is supposed to attract new businesses and new visitors to Muskegon?

9. We just don't trust them!

Remember the same folks who champion this Canyonizing of our town were the same folks who masterminded the last enormous millage that "saved" the Walker arena, the Frauenthal and the Community Foundation offices.

How did that work out folks?

The Walker went from a site that paid $1/year to put on events into a sinkhole where millions of dollars were paid by the city/county (US!) and resulted in the end of most events in our arena.

The wonderful Frauenthal redo was nice but ...same result. Nifty place but no reason to go to since there were no shows and the Frauenthalian restaurant bellied up even when SUBSIDIZED!

These same "promisers" of "trust us again" sound more like Bernie Madoff than Warren Buffet.

No wait!

They sound just like Governor Jenny Granholm, "In five years, you're gonna be blown away!"
http://www.rightmichigan.com/story/2008/12/9/12133/9591

There is still time to stop this giant tax sucking machine!

Call your county commissioner.

Now!

M-Live=liberal MSM

This post got me banned from the M-Live Muskegon forum:

These fools tell us they can run our entire health care system?

They can't even get $40 rebates right!

Little pieces of paper is too hard for that crowd.

Gimme a break!

http://muskegonpundit.blogspot.com/2009/01/digital-tv-coupons-in-short-supply.html

Interesting how the religion of "free" "health care" requires them to destroy their customers.

But consistent!

Downtown City Cafe closes

Downtown City Cafe closes
"Located in the basement off the main lobby of the Frauenthal Center for the Performing Arts, City Cafe historically has had a strong lunch business and drawn large crowds for evening events at the Frauenthal Theater. But it closed for business Wednesday.
The Frauenthal owner and operator is the Community Foundation for Muskegon County.

Well, duh!
A tax-exempt foundation subsidizing (running!) a tax-paying restaurant in a dying city..... what did they expect?

Kent County group offers tax preparation help for low- and moderate-income families

Kent County group offers tax preparation help for low- and moderate-income families
"The coalition includes Heart of West Michigan United Way, the Kent County Department of Human Services, the City of Grand Rapids, and the IRS."

Nice gimmick!
Make the tax forms so complicated you can convince yourself to increase spending (politically connected employees) to "help" out "the "poor".

Simply making the tax forms easier never occurred to them, did it?

Mr. B's Pancake House staff works for free to help boss

Mr. B's Pancake House staff works for free to help boss
"In a world yearning for good news, meet Mary VanDam who decided to help out her boss during tough economic times by working a Sunday shift for free.
Then, just to put icing on the cake, she convinced her fellow employees at Mr. B's Pancake House to do the same."

Ummmm, not a bad idea..... I'm sure Prez Barry has this in mind for federal employees....

I wonder if the Chronicle writer had it in mind for the county/teachers too?

Yeah right!

After The Crisis: A Parody of 15 Corporate Logos

After The Crisis: A Parody of 15 Corporate Logos

Digital TV coupons in short supply

Digital TV coupons in short supply
"The national switch to digital TV broadcasting is getting bumpy.
Federal coupons for digital converter boxes have run out, making it increasingly likely that many Americans won't be ready for the Feb. 17 switch.
Requests for the coupons, which are worth $40, are being placed on a waiting list that stretches more than a million names long. Coupons are expected to become available when money from expired coupons returns to the federal government, although no date has been set."

Remember!
These "federal" folks will be the same "federal" folks who will run our Nationalized "health care" if we let them!

MSU hockey players Corey Tropp, Andrew Conboy suspended for season

MSU hockey players Corey Tropp, Andrew Conboy suspended for season
"Michigan State University suspended hockey players Andrew Conboy and Corey Tropp for the rest of the season Monday evening after their attack of Michigan defenseman Steve Kampfer during the teams' game at Yost Ice Arena on Saturday night."

Special assessment would help fund Muskegon downtown's promotional arm

Special assessment would help fund Muskegon downtown's promotional arm
"Downtown Muskegon already has a special taxing district with its Downtown Development Authority. Tax funds raised in that district are used to pay off bonds associated with the former Muskegon Mall property. Since the mall has closed, the DDA has raised enough money to pay off the bonds but not enough to help promote the downtown, city officials say.
'Most cities have something to keep their downtowns going,' said Cathy Burbaker-Clarke, the city's planning and economic development director. 'We are already using DDA money for other reasons. We don't want to slow down our progress downtown.'"

FANTASTIC!

Just what downtown Muskegon needs most, MORE TAXES!

The phrase that jumps into my mind is "death spiral".

Gay Portland Mayor Won't Resign Over Lying About Relationship With Teen

Gay Portland Mayor Won't Resign Over Lying About Relationship With Teen
"Mayor Sam Adams publicly apologized this past week for lying early in his campaign about the relationship with an 18-year-old man in 2005."

Gotta love the news distorters.

An 18 year old in Iraq is a kid.

An 18 year old with a democrat dick up his ass is "a Man".

That's liberal America, folks.....

Departing Chronicle veterans helped shape paper

Departing Chronicle veterans helped shape paper

"Reporters Susan Harrison Wolffis, Clayton Hardiman, Bill Iddings, Robert Burns, Lisa Medendorp and Terry Judd leave Friday. Editorial Page Editor David Kolb leaves in mid-February.
Reporters Susan Treutler and Steve Gunn left us a few weeks ago.
We'll also be bidding farewell to some people whose names you may not be quite as familiar with, but who have contributed much to our newspaper, often without bylines or the reader recognition that goes with them."

Michigan prisons snuff out tobacco products on Feb. 1

Michigan prisons snuff out tobacco products on Feb. 1
"Mel Grieshaber, executive director of the Michigan Corrections Organization union that represents corrections officers, said classifying tobacco as a controlled substance inside prison walls has its drawbacks.
'It creates a new contraband,' he said. 'Tobacco is a high-level bartering item"

Another insane move by the idiots who are determined to kill our state.

Cigs will be the new currency in our prisons.

The scum who run our state don't even ban smoking outside of the Capital building.

Sick, disgusting cowards!

Air Foil International in expansion mode

Air Foil International in expansion mode
"AFI Machining received a tax abatement on $1.3 million of new equipment, while AFI Drill Hole received a similar tax break for $576,536 worth of new equipment. Combined, the companies are projected to increase employment from 6 to 12 employees, company officials told the Muskegon City Commission.
Currently, all of the Air Foil International operations employ 28 workers, according to city records. The larger estimates of up to 150 new workers in the next three to five years is based upon attracting new contracts from existing customers such as Alcoa Howmet Castings in Whitehall along with turbine engine builders General Electric, Rolls Royce, Siemens and Pratt & Whitney."

$1.9 million works out to $67,000 per employee!

Something is wrong here.... or simply consistent with business as usual in Muskegon.

The Harbor Theater

The Harbor Theater
"Muskegon's Only Source of Independent and Foreign Cinema"

Save this link!

The Harbor Theater is getting it!

OPENING FEBRUARY 6th - ALL 10 Oscar Nominated Shorts
Auf der Strecke (2007): Reto Caffi
Manon sur le bitume (2007): Elizabeth Marre, Olivier Pont
New Boy (2007): Steph Green, Tamara Anghie
Grisen (2008): Tivi Magnusson, Dorthe Warnø Høgh
Spielzeugland (2007): Jochen Alexander Freydank

Newspaper claims car thief transformed into a goat

Newspaper claims car thief transformed into a goat
"One of Nigeria's biggest daily newspapers reported that police implicated a goat in an attempted automobile theft. In a front-page article on Friday, the Vanguard newspaper said that two men tried to steal a Mazda car two days earlier in Kwara State, with one suspect transforming himself into a goat as vigilantes cornered him."

This is "BIG" as Barry H has Nigerian roots!

Is B. Hussein Obama a goat?

This is BIG!

CARPE DIEM: Interesting Charts of the Day

CARPE DIEM: Interesting Charts of the Day
"As the chart shows, there has been a general downward trend in government employees as a percent of total payrolls since the mid-1970s, from more than 19% in 1975 to below 16% by 1998, with a slight reversal of the trend since 2000.
As much as we hear about the growth in government, it seems like the jobs data tell a different story. Comment welcome.
One explanation for the top chart is that there have been so many productivity gains in manufacturing that we can produce increasingly higher levels of output over time with fewer and fewer manufacturing workers?"

VERY interesting charts.

This site is a MUST every day.

Cut cable costs by watching TV online for free

Cut cable costs by watching TV online for free
"Your television service probably isn’t high on that list. But maybe it can be.
Most major television networks are putting their shows online. You can watch the latest episodes whenever you want. For some shows entire seasons are available."

This is cool!

All animals are equal . . .

All animals are equal
"“All animals are equal” read the original sign in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, but shortly after Napoleon and his fellow porcine commissars take over that motto is emended to “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.”"

Meebee some are hearing the new sound of "change"?

Accessorizing the Wine-Box Revolution

Accessorizing the Wine-Box Revolution
"I have it on good authority that boxed wine is cool again. No, really."

CARPE DIEM: More On $71 Per Hour vs. $49 Per Hour

CARPE DIEM: More On $71 Per Hour vs. $49 Per Hour: "What do employees of the United Auto Workers cost auto makers in salary and benefits?"

Despite the hot air, the Antarctic is not warming up

Despite the hot air, the Antarctic is not warming up
"This instantly became the warmists' chief icon, made the centrepiece of the IPCC's 2001 report. But Mann's selective use of data and the flaws in his computer model were then so devastatingly torn apart that it has become the most comprehensively discredited artefact in the history of science."

Obama lie at the begining?

How did the media ignore this?

Obama to Republicans on Stimulus Package: I Won:

True, but Obama won by, among other things, promising a net decrease in federal spending.
Here he is during the third debate: 'what I've done throughout this campaign is to propose a net spending cut.... What I want to emphasize ... is that I have been a strong proponent of pay-as-you-go. Every dollar that I've proposed, I've proposed an additional cut so that it matches.'
Obama would have a much better case for Republican deference to his spending plans if he had actually campaigned in favor of the most massive increase in federal spending, ever, instead of as a budget-cutter."

PREZ ZINGS GOP FOE IN A $TIMULATING TALK

PREZ ZINGS GOP FOE IN A $TIMULATING TALK
"President Obama warned Republicans on Capitol Hill today that they need to quit listening to radio king Rush Limbaugh if they want to get along with Democrats and the new administration.
'You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done,' he told top GOP leaders, whom he had invited to the White House to discuss his nearly $1 trillion stimulus package.
One White House official confirmed the comment but said he was simply trying to make a larger point about bipartisan efforts."

Imagine if President Bush told democrat politicians they "can't just listen to Oprah, The View, Olbermann, AirAmerica, etc."!

To simply make a "larger point".

President "B Hussein Obama" is quickly morphing into "President Hussein" WAY too quickly!