Ground Zero for American Politics

Thank you, Bob. We are drowning in Michigan.Important to read:Republican Gov. Rick Snyder Begins Rape of Michigan to Benefit Wealthy CroniesDetroit EFM, Robert Bobb, Salary Paid in Part by Billionaire Conservative FoundationCorporations Behind Michigan’s Unconstitutional EFM Law, Including Amway and Koch IndustriesThe Corporatization of MichiganFYI, Robert Bobb is the person responsible for going after the school Rachel talks about in the vid.

This is unreal.I shared as requested because that’s what’s coming to TN. The severity may be less here b/c TN has been red and idiotically conservative for a long time already, but now that we’re electing teabaggers into our state legislature, some of the things that have made TN a great place will go away. I’m hopeful we can watch Michigan and Wisconsin and use them as examples for what to avoid. I’m hopeful Tennesseans will wake up before it’s too late and avoid this level of insanity. I’m doubtful we will not follow their footsteps, though.

Of course your non-troll readers care about this, but I’m afraid the majority of America falls into one of two categories on this.1. People who simply do not pay attention to or care about what’s going on in the ‘hood (or much else in the world, for that matter).2. Republicans who want to shut down every government entity that might send one of their tax dollars to a minority neighborhood.

I’m afraid the late, great George Carlin was right. The game is rigged and it’s never going to get any better. He says it far better than I ever could.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro_4bS7Wtok

@KenThey should care. Michigan is LITERALLY being corporatized.If Republicans in Michigan are successful in their efforts, and thus far, they have been VERY damn successful, the rest of the states under Republican control are next.Dictatorships. No hyperbole. It is REAL.

Democrats had controlled this region for decades.What happened?

This is republican politics at it’s finest. Manufacture a crisis, in this case say the local government is disfunctional whether true or not and then bully anyone who disagrees with you into shutting up.The real disfunction is in Washingtoon DC. But again the republicans have been manufacturing crisises since about 1992 when Clinton was elected. That was how Gingrich and Delay ran the House of Representatives.

Wrong, LennyC.For decades, Michigan switches parties every 8 damn years. Prior to Granholm, before term limits, Michigan had a republican gov. (engler) for 12 years.Exactly, dilden. Disaster capitalism.

@Nicole, of course they should care. I wasn’t arguing otherwise. I just saying most don’t. Younger people are too busy playing video games and watching Jersey Shore or whatever crap is popular now. Older people have been brainwashed into actively supporting the teabagger agenda with religious zeal.Remember that scene in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom where Indy is forced to drink the blood of the Kali Ma? I feel like a good portion of America is walking around in a trance like that. However, I’m doubtful that this wave of extreme crazy will be a strong enough fire to snap them out of it. Thanks to the right wing noise machine (and their own racist leanings in many cases), they are too far gone.

@dilden Gov. Rick Snyder and Michigan Republicans Engaging in Disaster Capitalism

Oh. Okay… Detroit’s been ruled by Democrats for decades… The unions ruled this state for decades…. Michigan has been suffering for decades… any correlation? Apparently some want to change the culture. And some want to keep it.

You are an idiot Republican, Lenny. And I don’t give a rat’s ass what you choose to spew. I sure as hell am not going to waste my time arguing with you when I have a million more important matters to attend to.

I’m neither a Republican nor a Democrat.I’ve been a registered Independent since 1990.Party politics have become poison.

Really, Lenny? Is that why you’re always pushing Republicon bullshit on this blog?Could have fooled me. About as independent as tea party morons.

This topic is simultaneously nauseating and heartbreaking. The teabaggers are taking away resources from citizens and giving them to the rich.

Having missed The Maddow show last night, this is the first I’ve heard about this. Detroit is a mess, no denying it, and I can understand having to close or charter out some schools due to falling attendance and poor performance. But to close the very successful Catherine Ferguson Academy defies logic. One of the accompanying articles states that they admit most of the savings will come from the elimination of teacher and administration costs, and there lies their priorities. The students are collateral damage. Someone call Oprah!

We saw this coming.

@Lenny, Detroit’s decline and problems lie not with it’s city government or union workers, but with the same problems faced with all industrial cities built around a single enterprise. It’s complicated, but in a nutshell, the companies moved out, then supporting industries, then those who could afford to leave. The result is an eroded tax base and high unemployment. Not much a city government of any political party can work with.

The wise ass tea bag partiers don’t like it when the government picks winners and losers. They say the states should be the place where business regulations should be enacted to protect consumers. I’d like to hear them weasel their way out of this.I believe in a strong state government and a strong federal government. We need all the protection we can get. Part of our protections should also be a strong central bank however I believe that the Federal Reserve Bank should have some kind of oversight.This appeared yesterday in Matt Taibbi’s blog in Rolling Stone. Apparently, the fed gave hundreds of millions of dollars to a company formed by the wives of rich bankers so they could speculate in credit markets at taxpayer expense.

@Lenny, Detroit has also had Motown for decades. Perhaps we should blame that as well.My point is that correlation and causation are two different things. Yes, unions have existed for decades, but no one has proven causation with the unions and the economy.The problem with Detroit, as @wcdude pointed out, is lack of tax revenue, thanks to jobs being shipped overseas. They didn’t ship the jobs overseas because of the cost of the unions. They shipped them overseas because labor costs there are at a rate far below the poverty rate in the US. Even if union workers made $5 per hour, they would still be more costly than workers in SE Asia.We need to do two things, impose tariffs that would make overseas manufacture cost prohibitive and pass single payer health care, which would eliminate the costs of covering health care for retired union employees.

Hasn’t there been widespread corruption and theft in the Detroit school system for decades? That’s what I thought was going on there in the late 90′s when I was at MSU.

yes, ec. But this is not about Detroit, really.This is about Michigan, which now has a law that allows the governor to take over municipalities via an emergency manager.The EFM law gives Snyder the power to hand pick emergency financial managers (or emergency financial “corporate persons”), who then have the authority to take the following actions:1. Consolidate or dissolve local governments and dismiss the officials elected by the people.2. Consolidate or dissolve school districts, close schools, and dismiss elected school board members.3. Sell off public property. Public. Property. Parks, buildings, licenses, permits, and so forth. All of it.4. Privatize government services, with all that entails.5. Shred all contracts agreed to by local governments and schools, including union contracts.His list currently (as of Apr. 13) includes 174 municipalities. He is training hundreds of EFMs.They/he have/has the power of a DICTATOR.

I appreciate you bringing this to our attention, Bob, but you know this will never be national news. Why? Because it primarily affects poor, pregnant, black teenagers. Four groups of people who have no voice in America, all rolled into one.If this were a school for wealthy, white males, it would be the news of the century.

They/he have/has the power of a DICTATOR.

Power handed to them by people voting against their own self interests. It’s no accident that schools/education are early on the list of things to destroy. Demonizing unions, especially educators’, has been a cornerstone of their plan. Think back to who besides “the media” has been painted as liberally biased for decades; it’s now “common knowledge”.

Brilliantly devious: educated people are elitist liberals, and joe shmoe don’t (sic) want to be a liberal so he’ll be against educating as many people as possible. This, in turn, makes him and his kind easier to herd. It’s a never-ending loop that leads to more and more shmoes with less and less. Yet they’re promised it will all be better some day (kind of like the promise of religion that if you just hang here it will all be better when you’re dead).

When they successfully turned the middle class and poor against the really poor and down-trodden they were solidly on the path to control.

Nicole473, I am not sure that Michigan can handle too much more flight from the state. I cannot imagine that my friends that continue to live there will stay for long given this nonsense.Unless the East Lansing housing market has totally tanked.

take the next birther you see , and poop down their throat .

sugarazor…..you missed the point.This is not about the school. It is not about Detroit.It is about something that has NEVER before happened in this country. It is about an unconstitutional law which has provided the governor with the power of a dictator. THAT is why it needs to be national news.I believe that this is a test case for ALEC & the Republicans.Your state may be next if it works out for them in Michigan.

Is this crap happening anywhere but black-populated areas?

SugaRazor has it right: Michigan’s (insane, unjustifiable) EFM law is not national news because (so far) it’s affected poor blacks. If they ever hear about it, the pale people in the ‘burbs will shake their heads, mutter something about “those people” and go on with their lives. Of course, the melanin-deficient are going to be targeted, too, sooner or later. They just don’t know it yet.(Just to preempt Lenny’s inevitable cry of racism: I am, in the words of Bucky Katt, “paler than an Irish sunblock tester.” I get to make fun of my own people—it’s in the contract.)

State-sanctioned stupidity seen as success.http://itstrueitellya.blogspot.com/2011/03/snyder-passes-landmark-legislation.html

No one has commented on the factor that leapt out at me the moment I saw this story: The students at this school have chosen NOT to have abortions. Does the so-called “Christian Right” award their choice by trying to help them, to assure that early motherhood will not permanently ruin their lives? To the contrary: these girls, who are working to educate themselves so they’ll be able to provide a good life to their children, are having their chance at a decent life taken away from them. Without an education, with responsibility for a young child, these girls will likely be on welfare for years. The best they can hope for, without a high school diploma, is to become waitresses and motel maids.The “Christian Right” should hang their collective heads in shame.

The “christian right ” should just hang . Hell, their hero jesus got nailed & hung around for 3 days … little easter humor .

While I vehemently disagree with the policies that are being used and with the people that were elected to office, the facts are those people were elected by the people of Michigan. If you base your voting on soundbites and fox news you get exactly what is coming to you. If your fellow citizens failed to vote because they were mad that everything they wanted done didn’t get done, well fuck them too.America needed the 2010 election. We needed to see the reality of the rightwing agenda in hopes that we never have to face such again.

@alopecia….that’s only because the damn law was only recently enacted.

Our dictator gov has a list for possible takeovers.

It’s the modern conservative mantra, Bob: comfort the comfortable and afflict the afflicted.For t-shirt purposes, I will abridge: who would Jesus screw?

They’re eradicating democracy and the institutions mandated to protect it because they figured out how to use democracy against us.Pretty simple.Prison rules and gangster capitalism.You take the corporate shiv to government– quietly and methodically– and it will eventually bleed out, manipulating public ignorance as to the cause– the guilty then get to determine cause of death and write the obituary buried on page who-gives-a-shit.Some of you might find this (dis)empowering.When Corporations Wield The Constitution.

@Nicole, East Lansing and Midland? Please. This guy is insane.

One thing that jumped out at me was Rachel’s complaint/question asking “Is this how we practice Democracy now in America?” or similar.Ask Obama and Pelosi and Herr Reid. Remember the President’s signature “Healthcare” legislation? It includes all sorts of new commitees and panels who will have the power to create the rules and regulations that the legislation lacks. Not voted on, not debated.Remember any of you who read Katrina Vanden Heuval (editor of the leading liberal Progressive magazine The Nation) when she pleaded with Obama in a column to bypass the legislature and use Executive powers to implement the progressive agenda, including EPA rules regarding Carbon emmissions, among other things?What’s happening in Detroit isn’t just some sample of Tea Party mentality and Republican governing. Rachel conveniently, like she sometimes does, overlooked what’s been happening at the federal level for at least the last two years apparently right under her nose.I don’t like it any more than anyone else, but don’t pretend this is exclusively a Republican or Tea Party thing. It’s a byproduct of what happens when an area goes through economic convulsions. Michigan is a poster child for how big powerful businesses collapse under their own weight and years of bad policy. Blaming it on Republican or Tea Party dirty tricks at this late date ignores the decades of incremental steps Michigan took in getting to where it is today. Jobs go, the revenue stream is reduced to a trickle, communities and many of the good things they once took for granted (which includes civility) die.

This video is minimal. The school should clearly be closed. First of all, there should not be a requirement to go to a college in order to graduate. College is not a measure of success. It may lead to success, but it itself is not success.I think there is a lot more going on behind the scenes than this video portrays. The state has the ability to cut grants given to local governments. It is not clear why they stopped local elections, but perhaps the local government is bankrupt. Not sure, but there is more details that this video is not telling us.If Michigan thinks it can raise taxes on the rich and corporations, it needs to rethink its strategy. Business will move out and more jobs will disappear. Which also means less tax revenue to pay for schools.I’m not from Michigan. I do not feel sympathy for the state, government or schools. America does not guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of happiness through hard work. I am aware of many people who are successful and more than happy, who do not have a college degree.It is interesting that immigrants aren’t complaining and are more than pleased to cross the border for a greater opportunity.The people who live here seemed to have lost track of the opportunity that exists. Instead they would rather complain about it and blame it on the rich.This is a capitalistic country. Or it used to be before the Dems got involved. Capitalism bears little sympathy. If you don’t like it, go somewhere else, and stop complaining. Please!

Where the fuck did all the all trolls come from? And I’m not referring to nedp.

If they are taking over a school that it is not failing what is their rationale? It defies logic. And after the state closes down all the schools they have on their hit list, what then? Hire teachers from where? And at what salary? I think the whole thing is a ploy to get rid of as many union employees as possible in order to hire new staff at a lower wage and without benefits, but I’d sure like to know where these replacements are going to come from. Yes, we have a high unemployment rate, but how many people are willing to move to a place like Detroit to work for low wages? People rolled in their by the thousands when the car companies were at their peak, once that industry went into decline the residents were left with the rubble and now it is, let’s face it, an undesirable city but one that showed a ray of promise with this school. And now, boom, it’s on the chopping block. If I were a Republican and/or a Tea Party member I would hang my head in shame.

I didn’t read all of the trolls comments but they probably came from rent-a-troll. I made that name up but I have read that right wing organizations have actually hired trolls to flood liberal news sites with conservative talking points, or more aptly to talk trash. Ignore them.

Robert Bobb linwd his pockets with money from developers and with taxpayer’s funds while building glorified shopping malls in ill-conceived downtown retail projects during his time here in Richmond, VA. He and his cronies were the only ones to come out ahead financially and the City has two atrocious white elephants that remain empty to this day its hands, thanks in large part to Bobb. He paid himself the highest salary of any City Manager in America while screwing us all over. As a native Detroiter, it kills me that this assclown runs city schools. He’s like the kiss of death. Detroit’s coffin lid nails have been pounded in, I fear, and I am so sad for Michigan and the city I love.

Another terrible idea out of Michigan. Seriously, these bastards won’t be happy until everyone else is miserable and hopeless.

nedp…….you are full of SHIT.I dearly hope that all of you conscienceless Republican assholes will reap what you have sown.

ec:@Nicole, East Lansing and Midland? Please. This guy is insane.

yup. And Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, etc..I have been in shock for a few weeks now, but this list, was the kicker.It’s real. It’s happening in Michigan. They are dismantling our democracy.

@NicoleOh I understand the point. I see the implications, but what I’m saying is that the average American won’t care. Michigan might care when this cancer starts to spread, but the average American will shrug it off.As alopecia said, it’ll be a “those people” reaction or “Michigan? That’s way over somewhere else, I got my own problems!” It’s not right, in fact it’s infuriating, but that’s America.

MrBrink…..thanks for the link. Saving it to read when I’m actually awake, first thing in the morning. SugaRazor, yeah, I hear ya. The thing that seems to be passing so many by is the fact that this can happen in their states, cities, etc..If we do not stop them in Michigan, this country is truly over. And that, people, is not hyperbole.We either are a democracy or we are not. Michigan Republicans say we are not.

SugaRazor……pro-wrestling?? Lol.

By the way, let this be a lesson to all.Democrats both sat out the election in Michigan or voted Republican because they weren’t thrilled with the Dem candidate for governor.Boy are they sorry now.

NedP is equating a democratic “power grab” that moved back and forth through dozens of committees and hearings and public debate and one which does in fact empower real people, the Patients Bill Of Rights, and establishes government oversight to uphold those rights according to the law— to a blunt usurpation of voter rights, worker rights, the popular notion of the proper role of government toward the environment and rule of law, and even an usurpation of free market capitalism by divvying up public land and services amongst a few for pennies on the dollar in clear advantage plus tax cut, concentrating public wealth, but most importantly, a power grab in the bold but cowardly name of Corporate Monarchy. Empowering the few by violent bureaucratic decree.There is no comparison, NedP.And the next time you try to accuse the Obama Democrats of usurping democracy, 1)don’t forget about the GOP use of the filibuster 2)the clownish legislation they’re passing in the House and Senate right now, but the next time you accuse the Obama Democrats of similar tactics, don’t quote a liberal out of turn– complaining about a lack of executive-order power-grabbing.It only further demeans your potent lack of logic.

This is the same state where a representative has sponsored a bill allowing the state’s clothing allowances for foster kids to be spent only at secondhand stores. That’s right, not even a Walmart T-shirt.http://michiganmessenger.com/48487/foster-children-would-be-allowed-to-get-clothing-only-from-second-hand-storesSo apparently if a young person’s life starts badly, the GOP in Michigan believes it should end badly, too.

“paler than an Irish sunblock tester.”Ha ha.

The GOP:Cut public education and teachers- Build more prisons!Solved!

How is this not unconstitutional?

Robert Bobb was installed prior to the Republicans taking over. Don’t play fast and loose with the facts.

I’m not suggesting we go back to the late 19th century, but at least Americans didn’t complain about education, health care, social security, unions, or medicare back then. And the constitution doesn’t guarantee any of it. Americans back then were proud of their work to support their family and community.Now the tea-party is ridiculous. They actually want us to go back to the 19th century. I am not suggesting that, I am simply asking to stop whining.I know most of you aren’t lawyers, economists, or highly paid experts in this blog, because if you were, you probably wouldn’t be democrats. Instead, you’d understand the mechanics in our economy and gov’t that allow things in this video to happen and why nobody will sponsor the school.If you all think its a good idea to keep the school open, gather some of your money or the communities money together and buy it. If its a good investment, you could make a salary as a non profit institution. Or better yet hire some workers, and create some jobs. If not, why should you expect the local gov’t or state, which is running low on tax funds, to pay for it?Some of you may believe that if you tax the rich to pay for schools like this it will solve the problems. However the rich will move out, and all that will be left to tax is YOURSELVES! The rich is already moving out of the country, not just Michigan. I’d rather have the rich stay in this country, invest in this country, create jobs in this country, rather than look elsewhere at opportunities like China, Brazil, Australia, etc.The media is clearly trying to use this school shutdown to cause an uprising in the local community. But the real issue isn’t the politicians or gov’t. It’s money or lack thereof.Now I have already suggested a halfway practical solution above. Most of you have just been critics in your comments, supplying little to no added benefit. Even the video lacks a solution or alternative guidance.

If you’re bitching about illegal immigrants because one took a job away from you, rest assured that you’re not worth employing.

@Nicole – Yep, politics and pro wrestling… they’re really not that different from each other. One is a group of one-dimensional, unbelievable characters screaming at each other as they pretend to fight, and the other is pro wrestling.@GWB – I’m suffocating under the mountain of smugness. Seriously though, the wealthy are leaving? Really? Then why are there still so many goddamn golf courses? Newsflash: the rich don’t create jobs when you cut their taxes. They don’t, it’s a myth, you’re lying, etc.The rich horde their money, they die, then they give it to their children and the cycle repeats. We’ve given these cretins EVERYTHING. Taxes are absurdly low, they have breaks and loopholes all over the place, the estate tax has been gutted, etc²Where are the jobs? Why is the middle class still evaporating? Why do CEOs make 450 times what the average employee makes, even though just thirty years ago, it was less than 40 times as much? We’ve done everything for the rich and yet still we circle the drain. Why? Because we force companies to pay an employee at least $7.25 an hour? We don’t force people to work 80 hour weeks without compensation? Hell, we don’t even have mandatory vacation times like most civilized cultures, yet it’s STILL not enough for these corporations? While they rake in record profits? Are you kidding me?

Investment in communities and people is always a better solution than liquidation and disenfranchisement.”Promote” and “Provide”= $$$$$It’s in the U.S. Constitution.It costs money to provide for, and promote the things you may not agree with.Welcome to America!

I looked at this from a slightly different angle: how is it that these folks want to scream about right to life, but refuse to actually do anything to help the people who actually DO have children regardless of circumstance. Simple answer – they don’t care.Article here: Catherine Ferguson Academy: When Right To Life Runs Into Right To A Life

GWBIII, your self-described halfway practical solution is the privatization of a public school, the exact same thing the State of Michigan is trying to do. Clearly, you don’t have the intellectual capacity to keep up with the rest of the class.Go away.

Tag fail (please mentally close the bold after “do”). Where’s a preview button when you need one?

Tag fail? maybe.Outstanding human specimen? assuredly, despite perceived instances to the contrary.

@Dianne: Why settle for Rent-A-Troll?Why not something snappier, like “Rent-A-Patriot USA?”

Thank you, MrBrink. (I think. “Perceived instances to the contrary”? Jeez, refuse to pull someone’s finger one time …)Mr. Allen, how about Trolls-R-Us? Or McTrollers? Troll In The Box? Troll*Mart?I’ll stop now.

http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/04/23/6517421-more-about-the-catherine-ferguson-academyMore about the Catherine Ferguson AcademyBy Laura Conaway”A number of you have written in after our story last night about the possible closing of Catherine Ferguson Academy in Detroit, a school for pregnant girls and young mothers. Below, a few links to that conversation about this that has already been going on in Detroit and Michigan. If you’ve got others to share, please include them in the comments. This is a story that’s happening at the grassroots level — no Catherine Ferguson gardening pun intended. This is a story that depends on you to tell it.Mark Maynard’s blog report has a lot of local discussion going.The independent Voice of Detroit has terrific reporting from inside the sit-in at Catherine Ferguson, including accounts from people we showed last night.The website Defend Public Education has a petition going, as does Change.org.You can learn tons more about Catherine Ferguson Academy through the “Grown in Detroit” documentary.If you’ve got more links, please post them. We’ll keep following these stories and tell you more as we learn it.”

Look. I am not a hard core republican. I agree with a womens right to choose. I disagree with the tea party and Sarah what’s her face. I did not lose my job to an immigrant. I work in DC. The democrats keep me employed. I am 26, and do not have kids. I work with a bunch of lazy over payed workers.I am disappointed at the criticalness of the posts. I was hoping someone would have a suggestion to save the school. Otherwise we are just wasting time here complaining.I think sugarazor brought up some excellent points. CEOs should not be making those types of salaries nor should wall street be getting insane bonuses. I disagree about the rich hoarding their money. You don’t make much money in the bank on interest or under a matress. The rich like to invest or create businesses to make more then what they can in the bank. Plus like u said, the tax breaks are enticing. Which is unfair to us employees who don’t have businesses.Although I may be wrong to most of you. The point of it all is somebody needs to pay for schools, and community. The local govt doesn’t have the funds to fuel the school. The Feds don’t have the funds, but they have the option to raise the debt ceiling which is at far greater level then the times of the great depression in terms of debt to GDP ratio.Bottom line is the average citizen has some debt, local and state govt has debt, and Feds have an extreme balance sheet. GWB and BO as presidents can be blamed some. Both have put us into perhaps unnecessary wars and have racked up the debt levels. If anything we should end the wars and cut govt spending by a substantial amount. Social security age should be raised to 70. After all i wont get social security when i retire.Ultimately, we are at a serious financial war with ourselves and china. It is wrong to keep spending for the future generation. The previous generation didn’t leave you with a pile of debt.Oh and I voted for GB and BO. After all this I am not voting again. Clearly I picked two mistakes.I’ll quit posting. Have a good night.

So, when exactly is the “Left” going to wake up, stop fighting against Obama and start fighting against the evil that took this country over?

Look Here, you can buy wholesale designer brands products from china===== http://www.chinadesignerwholesale.com ====Wholesale Brands shoes(adidas shoes,nike shoes,air jordan shoes etc.) ( $34.99 – 42.99)Wholesale designer shoes(Gucci shoes, YSL shoes,coach shoes,LV shoes etc.) (45.99-69.99)Wholesale designer Handbags(Coach ,l v,Gucci ,d&g) $44.99Wholesale Tshirts (Polo ,Gucci,ed hardy,) $19.99Wholesale designer Jean(Gucci,True Religion,ed hardy,coogi) $49.99Wholesale designer Sunglasses(Oakey,coach,gucci,fendi) $16.99Wholesale New era cap $10.99Wholeslae designer Bikini (Ed hardy,polo) $21.99Accept Payment : paypal, credit card, Western Union, MoneyGramYou buy more than USD100, free shipping for you.

GBIII is suffering from Beltway Laymentia.