Granholm Tweets Arnold: keep ur pants zipped

Full quote: "Another guy guv admits 2 cheating on his wife. Maybe we need more women governors. Guys: Keep ur pants zipped, for Pete's sake."

So Professor Granholm of UC Berkeley weighs in on the apparent moral superiority of women over men.  I guess she was too busy screwing up Michigan to engage in that other sort of behavior.

Frankly Ms. Professor Granholm, your Governorship isn't exactly one to be held up as a shining example for the rest of the country to emulate.  You and Arnold are running neck and neck in that regard.  We sure don't need more Governors like you, Professor, be they male or female.

Granholm to teach at UC Berkeley

So reads the headline in The Detroit News today.

First:  THANK GOD THAT WOMAN IS GONE!!!!  Now we might actually make some headway with our economic woes here in Michigan, since we have someone in the Governors office that actually understands how to make economic decisions based on reality instead of some fluffy leftist utopian academic brain fart.  Which means she'll be right at home at Berkeley, where that sort of thing happens daily.

The article goes on to say that she will teach in their Public Policy school.  She's certainly qualified to teach what NOT to do in terms of Public Policy.  But again, this is Berkeley we're talking about, so she'll probably be the darling of the department.

And finally, the article reports she will be a "paid contributor" to NBC's Meet the Press show.  This fact tells you all you need to know about NBC.  Well, I guess the whole country is going to see the incredible ignorance we have had to put up with in Michigan for the last eight years.  Have your barf bags ready everyone.

The Governess has a budget proposal?

It appears that Governess Granholm has a budget proposal out, and she has been making the rounds in the media to try to explain it and garner support.

I have to ask - after seven years of tax increases and fiscal ineptitude from the Granholm administration, why should any taxpayer in Michigan believe that she has any answers at all to the problems Michigan is facing?

This thing should be rejected posthaste.

Granholm: "Budget process broken"

I have been chewing on this statement from the Governess' "State of the State" speech this week, and I think in a sense she is right. But not the way she thinks she is. What really needs to happen, at all levels of government, is that politicians need to let go of the idea that government exists to solve every problem and meet every need (real or imagined).

For instance - do we really need a "Pure Michigan" campaign funded by the state government? If we didn't tax the life out of businesses, a private organization like the Chamber of Commerce could have done something like this very easily, out of the dues its members pay or out of a special fund that businesses could contribute to. Gee, that would create jobs for marketing people, publicity people, graphic artists, TV and radio production people, etc. All without spending one penny of tax dollars.

In this era of declining tax revenues, shrinking tax bases, and high unemployment, the conversation needs to be about what do we really need to have government do for us, not how we can preserve what we have and expand it at every turn, and squeeze more money out of our citizens to do it with. Let's see...Department of Commerce? Delete. Department of Education? Delete. Department of Labor and Economic Growth? Delete. Department of Natural Resources? Radically downsize (we do need to keep the Asian carp out, after all).

Wow - I'll bet that's a couple billion right there!

More on MSP Headquarters

Several weeks ago I blogged briefly about the proposed new headquarters building for the Michigan State Police in downtown Lansing. Last night on WXYT Channel 7 in Detroit, reporter Steve Wilson asked some very hard questions and got some very interesting answers. You can go here to view the video or read the transcript. This is a two part story (so far, there is more coming) and you can link to part 2 on that page.

The Joel Ferguson angle is interesting. No-bid contract, long-time supporter and contributor, downtown wasteland. Corruption is the word that comes to my mind. And why is it only ONE legislator, out of the whole bloody lot of them, is standing up and questioning this? ONE!

So, Michigan voters - you elected this person. Are you blown away yet?

The Governess Speaks

As is my wont, I was listening to The Paul W. Smith Show on WJR radio as I got ready for work this morning. I had to be particularly careful shaving today, because Paul was talking to Governess Granholm as I was performing that little ritual, and I tend to have forceful reactions when she is talking.

I didn't hear the entire interview, but the snippet I heard was enough to encapsulate the entire "State of the State" message last night (which I didn't listen to either, as I already know what a democrat will say: "raise taxes, more government". It never fails.).

Paul W asked a terriffic question, to the effect of "if the State is in such dire fiscal shape, why should anyone expect to, for example, have the State pay for their college tuition? Shouldn't people have to pay for that themselves?". It was a more detailed and expansive question than that, but I was never so proud of Paul W than in that moment.

The Governess' response can be summarized this way: "We're investing in our people".

What utter hogwash. Pure unmitigated socialist fantasy. Poppycock!

Voters of the State of Michigan, you did yourselves no favors when you elected and re-elected this woman. All she knows is to grab more power, steal more money, expand the nanny-state. And wrap it all up in compassionate-sounding phraseology so the doofuses will swallow it more easily.

Government invests in nothing. Government takes, by force of arms, the rewards of the labor of one person and transfers them to another who has not worked for them. Government has never created a productive job (thousands upon thousands of bureaucrats are not productive jobs), government has never produced a single product, and government has never expanded anyone's productivity. Politicians always use government to expand their influence and control over the lives of the citizens, and will do whatever they have to do to maintain themselves in that position for as long as possible.

Madam Governess - if you want investment, then cut taxes, cut the size and scope of government, and give people the opportunity to fend for themselves. They will do a much better job of it than any government program ever could.

But of course her ideology will not allow her to to accept this self-evident truth. So the people, or should I say the subjects of the State of Michigan, will bear the taxes and the consequences for years to come.

"I think we have more machinery of government than is
necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the
industrious." ---Thomas Jefferson

Pfizer leaving MI "a punch in the gut"

The big economic news in Michigan today is the Pfizer is all but closing up shop in this state, leaving only a reduced presence in Kalamazoo.

Listening to the Governess on The Paul W. Smith Show this morning was a mixture of stuff. On one hand, you have to say "that must have hurt"when someone gets whacked by news like that. On the other hand, you have to say "if you had any economic sense at all, you would have seen this coming years ago".

Dear reader, when you base your policies on the failed system of socialism, this is what you get. When you think that taking more money from your citizens is what it takes to make your economy work, this is what happens. Businesses move away from you and your greedy government.

I expect that the letter and the statements that the President of Pfizer gave to you are all about political cover, not reality - although moving some of the Michigan operations to the Soviet Socialist Republic of Kalifornia makes no sense on the face of it. Perhaps they have a sweetheard deal with the Governator or the Legislaturat out there?

After the interview with the Governess, Paul W quoted the former State School Superintendent Tom Watkins from the article in todays Detroit Free Press: "Michigan adds jobs in teardrops, like Google, and loses them in roaring tsunamis". What an apt description.

So, what was the Governess' response to the Pfizer news? "We have to keep working my plan".
Madam Governess - your plan was a failure before it began, because the foundation of it is socialism - a failed economic model. When Government meddles in the economy at any level, it is a disaster for everyone. Start cutting the size and scope of government, start cutting taxes and regulation, and you will see an economic miracle that you will get to take credit for.

We don't need more laws and more government - we need to be set free from them.