Jesters or geniuses?

As the presidential political machine is gearing up for 2012, a question crossed my mind: Is the GOP full of court jesters or are they geniuses?

Follow me her for a moment. In the 2008 election, they believed it to be a foregone conclusion that America would never elect a Black man. To that end, they allowed Sarah Palin to go "rogue."

This resulted in the emergence of the Tea Party movement, also referred to as the Tea Baggers by their opponents. Say what you will, but the Tea Partiers were organized and prepared. Enough so to wrestle the House and key governorships away from Democratic control in the 2010 elections.

Beyond that, I heard something today that started me to thinking. As is evident, the extreme right wing are great strategists and planners and this is what they propose:
1) A yet to be revealed "star" to claim the presidency
2) Donald Trump as Secretary of the Treasury
3) Sarah Palin as Secretary of Energy
4) John McCain as Secretary of Defense
5) Mitt Romney or Mike Huckabee as Secretary of State
6) Newt Gingrich as Vice President of the United States

Now here is the scary part. With their successes in 2010, it IS possible to recreate red states into blue states. And for all of those who think that this is an impossible proposition, let me introduce you to Chad who is often found hanging around voting polls and not counting one iota.


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Location:Detroit

Is Detroit a good backdrop for a zombie movie?

I had a conversation with a friend of mine last night who asked why I still lived in The City of Detroit when I could afford to live in any of her suburbs. Me being the King of Analogies (which includes hyperbole, similes, double entendres and sexual innuendos as well), I likened the crime experience to a zombie movie.

Like criminal activity, the zombies start low in numbers as the populous exits the inner city. As the disease of the undead continues to spread, there is always a scene of a "posse" encamped on a bridge picking off the zombies as they funnel across the waterway.

What often escaped the defenders of humanity, just as it escapes those who choose to exit their home to flee the plague of crime that pursues them, is that the zombie and the criminal is not subjected to the same rules that they follow.

Case in point: while the stalwarts are guarding the bridge, they forget that zombies are dead and therefore no longer breath and can therefore walk across the floor of the waterway to infiltrate what is being defended. Criminals don't follow the rules either. As the population shifts to safer accommodations, the criminal element shifts with them as they follow what they perceive to be wealth.

Until someone is brave enough to attack the source of the malady, to stand and fight against what seems to be overwhelming odds, evil will win. To paraphrase Edmund Burke, "In order for evil to succeed, all it takes is for good men to do nothing."

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

WTF

I'm one of those people who assess actions and not necessarily people. With that said, I can state that Robert Bobb's performance at least on the surface has been commendable. Until now.

Mr. Bobb is the emergency financial manager for DPS and as such has complete authority of it's finances. One of his latest decisions has caused me to brand it with the WTF moniker. Mr. Bobb has decided to name Derick Coleman the DPS Athletic Commissioner. WTF!?!?

Mr. Bobb's assessment of Mr. Coleman's history and character forces you to question his judgement on this decision. He has touted the job as that of a figure-head position. In that type of position, perception is everything.

Mr. Coleman is perceived as a home-grown professional athlete. The accolades stop there. Mr. Coleman has been involved in domestic disputes with girlfriends, public drunkeness, indecent exposure, driving with a suspended license, assault and a slew of other infractions. This is the figure-head for Detroit Public School athletics?

Mr. Bobb explains his decision by stating that Mr. Coleman is a shining example of how one with troubles can find their way back. Question Mr. Bobb: Why choose someone who has had troubles? Kwame Kilpatrick was a former athlete of DPS and he has had troubles, will he be placed on the DPS payroll next?

Mr. Bobb, I know you didn't ask for it, but here is a little free advice, vet you perspective employees a little better in the future. Especially if you expect to garner support from the public in the way of bond proposals. You may ask who am I to question you motives, I am Detroit.


-- For the city I love, Detroit Dennis

Proposal S: How should we vote

This November, Proposal S will grace our ballots. What is Proposal S? It is a bond referendum which seeks to take advantage of $500 million in stimulus funds that President Obama made available to build and modernize schools.

Those who oppose the Prop are doing so, but not for the reasons one might think. No higher taxes or an increased millage is not at the center of this issue, but that little thing called trust.

The people of Detroit have been burned more often than an albino living on the sun, so it stands to reason that they are skeptical when Mr. Bobb asks for our assistance in the passing of Proposal S.

A few years back, the citizens of Detroit passed a $1.5 billion proposal to help out the schools. That deal was racked with corruption, possible embezzlement, theft, pay-to-play deals and the Friends and Family way of life that has become so prevalent in Detroit.

The betrayal of public trust has jaded and disenfranchised the general populace of the city. As thousands lost their jobs and continued to pay taxes, the "entitled" few grew fat at the trough of DPS dollars and contracts.

I heard one angry Detroiter at one of Bobb's Town Hall Meetings exclaim, "Go after the money that was already stolen before you ask for more money." What came next silenced the entire auditorium.

Bobb explain that it would have been irresponsible to act on accusations and heresy in regards to the mismanagement of DPS funds and he has held depositions and interviews to get to the truth. He stated that he is now prepapred to hold hearings to act on what was discovered. He said and I quote, "I don't care if it was a penny stolen from DPS, if you were involved, I'm coming after you."

After hearing those words, I began to ponder. In this new age of change in government, when has Detroiters ever seen the kind if results Robert Bobb has produced in as little time? There are many Detroiters who still subscribe to the theory that only Detroiters can handle Detroit. I have a question for those people, how have Detroiters done by you thus far?

Here is a man who has provided positive results in a short amount of time. Okay I'll acquiesse that some of his decisions like some of the no-bid contracts were questionable. But when you consider the time crunch he was under to produce results, you can't argue with what he has produced. Also, the stimulus funds have a 2 1/2 year expiration date and will not cause a tax increase.

DPS will lose these funds if they are not untilized in 30 months. Mr. Bobb has a plan and a strategy to not only spend the funds wisely and created much needed jobs, but he also has a plan to oversee how the money and to who it is spent.

Mr. Bobb, I have just one question for you, what would it take to get you to run for mayor?


-- For the city I love, Detroit Dennis

What the liquor store crowd thinks about the city

There were three men ages Raymond 27, Marvin 38 and Antonio 42 at a liquor store in Detroit. I engaged them in conversation regarding the state of the city. There were three main topics for this discussion: The mayor, the city council and the current Cobo Hall expansion deal.
None of them are highschool graduates, all have children but only Marvin is married to his children's mother. All are unemployed.
Regarding the mayor: All three think Kilpatrick got a raw deal. The general consensus is that white politicians have been getting away with graft and misrepresentation for years, "it's about time a brother got some of the gravy." Regarding the current mayors race: The general consensus was that they don't care who wins as long as it is a "black man who can get that chedda."
On the city council: They thought Monica (Conyers) was "the shit." They commented on her what her sexual prowess must be like. Other than that they had nothing to say about the city council.
Regarding the Cobo deal: Only Marvin had understood that the suburbs wanted to buy Cobo but didn't want to pay the asking price.
All three men are registered to vote in the City of Detroit. The voted in the presidential election in '08, but did not vote in the mayoral primary. They are unsure as to whether or not they will vote in the special general election this May.
This is unfortunately an all too familiar scene in the citizenry of Detroit. I did attempt to educate these three men on the three topics we discussed without attempting to influence them in any way with my own politics.
It was clear that Marvin was the "Alpha Male" in this group and the other two followed his lead. None of them watch the news, read the papers, listen to talk radio or have internet access. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to combat this issue city ride in an effort to reclaim this city from the brink of oblivion?


-- For the city I love, Detroit Dennis

What side are you on?

All this week I've been bombarded with the question of, "Who are you for, Spartans or Wolverines?" as the big game approaches. One thing is painfully clear, and that is the dedication (borderline fanaticism) in which these fans support their teams.

It got me to thinking: What other fanatical splits do we as a society endure? Well there was Marvel Comics Civil War story line, there's the North and the South, there's even Democrat and Republican. Probably the most poignant for this region is city and suburb.

This is a rivalry that I don't quite understand. The majority of sububan citizens are either former city dwellers or the descendants of former city dwellers. Yet there is this passionate distaste between the two groups.

In trying to make sense of this dynamic, I discovered a few things.

1) There are quite a few Detroiters who feel like the used and jilted lover. There are quite a few city employees who earn their living in the city, but refuse to live there.

2) There are quite a few suburbanites who are just plain sick and tired. Sick of city government corruption and enbarassment. Tire of high taxes and poor services. Sick and tire of high crime (or the perception there of) and high insurance rates.

3) They are both right.

Under Dave Bing's admisitration, the city is facing massive and quite possibly permanent layoffs to right size a work force that is the same as it was when the city had more than a million residents. Suburban government leaders still publicly denounce and redicule the city, its residents and their leaders. The citizens of Detroit continue to see the suburbs and their citizens as the evil denizens from the ether.

For as long as I can remember I've always heard that how goes Detroit, so goes the region. The reverse is also true. Why is that some believe that one area has to fail in order for the other to succeed?

This devisive and ignorant mentality of separate but not equal is ludicrous in this day and age. I guess the question is, what side are you on? And the bigger question, when are we going to pull our collection heads out of our collective asses and start building a better Detroit and surrounding region?

You've made your bed....

It seems that unionized labor in the City of Detroit is facing massive layoffs to help rightsize the budget. As s result, the unions are endorsing Tom Barrow to upset Dave Bing.

What a quandry. Due to a law passed by the State of Michigan, residency could no longer be a factor in determinig employment status.

So in a strange twist of fate, some city employees won't be able to vote to affect the outcome of their economic futures. To that I say, "You've made your bed, now you must lie in it."

In a move that helped contribute to the degradation of the tax base, a number of City of Detroit residents exercised their right to move out of the city. Now they are requesting that those citizens who remain vote for a candidate who will be simpathetic to their plight.

I say. "Too bad, so sad." The city's population has shrunk, and as a result city services have to shrink. Why should the remaining citizens "bailout" city workers who decided to "bailout" on the city?

The city will be rightsized with these layoffs. Had the totality been citizens I could see this impacting the tax base and would empathize and support these workers, but when this legislation was introduced where was the opposition from the unions? Why did some of these city workers choose to leave a city that was paying their salary?

A few years ago after I reported a breakin, a Detroit Police Officer inquired as to why I still resided in the city. My response was this, "If I and those like me, tax paying citizens, move out of the city, who would pay your salary?"

To the union workers who are poised to lose their jobs and have exercised their right to move out of the city, You've made your bed......