Thank you Lee Iacocca

Good ol' Lee Iacocca....couldnt have said it any better. He has written a new book entitled "Where have all the Leaders Gone?". In it he shreds the Bush administration, and he warns American voters to "pick more carefully in 2008". (This from the Detroit Free Press.)

Here is the precious quote from Lee:

"We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car." "I hardly recognize this country anymore," he wrote.

Mr. Iacocca is 82 years old.

Thanks, Lee.

"Imus in the Moaning" Bring back some class.

Two weeks suspension is not enough. Let him taste unemployment, (something Michigan residents are getting familiar with), for at least a month. Maybe then he will gain a little class, and if he wants to be a national radio voice, he can learn to steer clear of the crassness and vulgarity that is so rife in American culture.

We have an opportunity now to stand up against the degradation, vulgarity, and coarseness that permeates popular culture today. Enough of the insults by ann coulter, and those radio clowns in Flint who yap daily about stupid things being "gay".

Trying to be hip and cool, Imus shows the risk when an over-the-hill rich white guy in the south tries to use street language. His cred is dead. (Now when I try to do it, it is self-deprecating irony, and Im neither rich nor quite yet over-the-hill )

The young women he insulted were intelligent, hard-working, motivated and attractive college students. So some of them have tatoos? Good for them ! One in three Americans under the age of 35 have tatoos. Nappy-headed? Don is showing his age. Does anyone under the age of 70 use that word anymore?

He called them a tough bunch...and that is true. They are strong, tough, and much classier than Don Imus ever was.

Billion Dollar Deficits and Rising

As the great ship Michigan continues to wobble, our legislators in Lansing still can't seem to work together to right the ship of state. Are they just rearranging the deck chairs or will they finally work together, in a bi-partisan way, to solve the budget crisis.

It is a crisis. I heard that the Detroit Historical Museum got an email from the state yesterday announcing a complete end to funding, including funds promised from last Fall.

The Governor has threatened to shut down the state if the budget problems are not fixed.

Do I send my staff home for a few weeks unpaid holiday if the state closes the doors?

Michigan has cut taxes over the years to the tune of billions of dollars. Our income taxes went down under Engler, and the Republican repealed the single business tax. Fine. But at some point we need to pay for services that we all need and deserve.

Hot lunches are at risk for low income seniors. Infant mortality programs are at risk.
HIV AIDS funding has been cut year after year. Our roads and bridges are a mess.
Libraries can be shut down.

Is this the kind of state we want? Is this the kind of place that will attract 21st century businesses and young creative types?

The House Democrats, the Governor, and especially the Republican Senate has to stop with the sound bites, and the ranting, and take their heels out of the ground and work together.
Our gasoline taxes are not high. The wealthy are doing great. Business has to do its fair share.
Even us beer drinkers will pay our fair share. But lets quit screwin' around and get it done.