Special incentives on top of retirement deal made pensions even sweeter for top Ficano aides | Detroit Free Press | freep.com
Less than two months after cutting union workers' pay by 20%, Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano offered retirement incentives to about 200 appointees last year estimated to cost the county's cash-strapped pension fund as much as $44.6 million.
And for a small group of insiders -- all in their early 40s -- the offer was even better. Three of Ficano's closest and highest-paid aides at the time -- Azzam Elder, Turkia Awada Mullin and Matthew Schenk -- had special deals that made their pensions even sweeter. And like the other appointees, all would get lifetime medical insurance.
The three had letters promising to boost their retirements by including generous severance payments into their final pension calculation.
Schenk acknowledged that provision "looks bad,"
Monday, March 26, 2012
A123 Systems to spend $55M to replace defective battery packs from Michigan
A123 Systems to spend $55M to replace defective battery packs from Michigan | MLive.com
A123 most recently made headlines for its nearly $260 million loss in 2011 and a Fisker Karma, which the company supplies the battery for, dying during testing by Consumer Reports.
A123 most recently made headlines for its nearly $260 million loss in 2011 and a Fisker Karma, which the company supplies the battery for, dying during testing by Consumer Reports.
Take our poll: What quality do you look for in a candidate?
Take our poll: What quality do you look for in a candidate? | MLive.com
Muskegon Chronicle asks the question!
My response:
"The one major (certainly not the only) quality needed at the county level is courage to say, out loud, the truth.
Our county has grown a $100 million debt in the last 10 years, given new iPads to each commissioner(with free internet connection), crammed through a $2.35 million "loan" to Brookhaven with no public notice and made promises to employees that can NOT be fulfilled without tax increases to the taxpaying public and businesses.
Yet, when citizens and the only brave commissioner, Alan Jager, ask for time to understand big spending bills before the votes, he is outvoted by EVERYONE.
The citizens are simple dismissed with silence.
It is the spending and the lack of transparency that is sinking our county.
And few have the courage to tell the people.
We need a few brave men and women!"
Muskegon Chronicle asks the question!
My response:
"The one major (certainly not the only) quality needed at the county level is courage to say, out loud, the truth.
Our county has grown a $100 million debt in the last 10 years, given new iPads to each commissioner(with free internet connection), crammed through a $2.35 million "loan" to Brookhaven with no public notice and made promises to employees that can NOT be fulfilled without tax increases to the taxpaying public and businesses.
Yet, when citizens and the only brave commissioner, Alan Jager, ask for time to understand big spending bills before the votes, he is outvoted by EVERYONE.
The citizens are simple dismissed with silence.
It is the spending and the lack of transparency that is sinking our county.
And few have the courage to tell the people.
We need a few brave men and women!"
President Obama Asks Medvedev for ‘Space’ on Missile Defense — ‘After My Election I Have More Flexibility’
President Obama Asks Medvedev for ‘Space’ on Missile Defense — ‘After My Election I Have More Flexibility’ - ABC News
President Obama: This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.
President Medvedev: I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir.
What's more amazing?
The "president's" duplicity or the fact that ABC is airing the video?
President Obama: This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.
President Medvedev: I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir.
What's more amazing?
The "president's" duplicity or the fact that ABC is airing the video?
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Dude, Where’s My Hate Crime?
The PJ Tatler » Dude, Where’s My Hate Crime?
Dude, Where’s My Hate Crime?
Since the country is busy condemning whites for the shooting of a black kid by a Hispanic man, you may have missed this story — admittedly a few weeks old–tucked neatly into a corner of the New York Daily News:
A 13-year-old boy who police say was doused with gasoline and lit on fire last week while walking home from school is recovering from first-degree burns to his face and head.
The boy was just two blocks from his home in Kansas City Tuesday when two teenagers began to follow him and then attacked him, his mother, Melissa Coon, said.
Police have described the suspects as black 16-year-olds, while the victim is white.
According to the report, while setting the kid on fire, the teens said, “This is what you deserve.
You get what you deserve, white boy.”
I am not exaggerating when I say that there was not a word about this story in the national press.
I searched, and the only stories I could find were the write up in the Daily News mentioned above and, oddly, a story in the Daily Mail, a British paper.
Nothing from the New York Times, AP, Reuters, UPI, etc.
If any reader can produce a story about this sadistic attack that was actually published or mentioned in a national outlet, let me know.
I’m only human; I may have missed it.
I welcome being proved wrong about this, because I’m about ready to fold up my tent, quit civilization, and go find myself a comfy cave in Borneo to live in.
This country is, like a bad calculus problem, rapidly approaching zero.
Dude, Where’s My Hate Crime?
Since the country is busy condemning whites for the shooting of a black kid by a Hispanic man, you may have missed this story — admittedly a few weeks old–tucked neatly into a corner of the New York Daily News:
A 13-year-old boy who police say was doused with gasoline and lit on fire last week while walking home from school is recovering from first-degree burns to his face and head.
The boy was just two blocks from his home in Kansas City Tuesday when two teenagers began to follow him and then attacked him, his mother, Melissa Coon, said.
Police have described the suspects as black 16-year-olds, while the victim is white.
According to the report, while setting the kid on fire, the teens said, “This is what you deserve.
You get what you deserve, white boy.”
I am not exaggerating when I say that there was not a word about this story in the national press.
I searched, and the only stories I could find were the write up in the Daily News mentioned above and, oddly, a story in the Daily Mail, a British paper.
Nothing from the New York Times, AP, Reuters, UPI, etc.
If any reader can produce a story about this sadistic attack that was actually published or mentioned in a national outlet, let me know.
I’m only human; I may have missed it.
I welcome being proved wrong about this, because I’m about ready to fold up my tent, quit civilization, and go find myself a comfy cave in Borneo to live in.
This country is, like a bad calculus problem, rapidly approaching zero.
$2.3 million just poofed? EyeOnMuskegon Sunday 3-25-2012
EyeOnMuskegon: $2.3 million just poofed? EyeOnMuskegon Sunday 3-25-2012
$2.3 million just poofed?
EyeOnMuskegon Sunday 3-25-2012
We've got Muskegon Comical and ex-Muskegon Chronicle columnist Tracy Lorenz as our co-host and special guest Muskegon County commissioner Alan Jager on this Sunday morning from 8:30-10:00am on 1090AM, WKBZ.
You can also listen live at http://www.newstalk1090.com/main.html.
Among other issues, we'll try to figure out why the county just had to loan Brookhaven Medical Care (nursing home) $2.3 million!
Talk to ya at 8:30am Sunday!
Jim
$2.3 million just poofed?
EyeOnMuskegon Sunday 3-25-2012
We've got Muskegon Comical and ex-Muskegon Chronicle columnist Tracy Lorenz as our co-host and special guest Muskegon County commissioner Alan Jager on this Sunday morning from 8:30-10:00am on 1090AM, WKBZ.
You can also listen live at http://www.newstalk1090.com/main.html.
Among other issues, we'll try to figure out why the county just had to loan Brookhaven Medical Care (nursing home) $2.3 million!
Talk to ya at 8:30am Sunday!
Jim
Is There An Imposter In The White House? An Excerpt from "Hope Is Not A Strategy"
Is There An Imposter In The White House? An Excerpt from "Hope Is Not A Strategy" - Forbes
There is something very wrong when the sitting president refuses to divulge huge pieces of information about his background.
What is he hiding?
Maybe the “birthers” were a little extreme, but is there something wrong with this “manufactured candidate,” whose history remains sealed from public view?
What is he hiding?
There is something very wrong when the sitting president refuses to divulge huge pieces of information about his background.
What is he hiding?
Maybe the “birthers” were a little extreme, but is there something wrong with this “manufactured candidate,” whose history remains sealed from public view?
What is he hiding?
Tungsten-Filled 1 Kilo Gold Bar Found In The UK
Tungsten-Filled 1 Kilo Gold Bar Found In The UK | ZeroHedge
The reason the bar attracted attention is that it was 2 grams underweight.
Upon cropping it was uncovered that about 30-40% of the bar weight was tungsten.
So two documented incidents in two years: isolated?
Or indication of the same phenomonenon of precious metal debasement that marked the declining phase of the Roman empire.
Only then it was relatively public for anyone who cared to find out on their own.
Now, with the bulk of popular physical gold held in top secret, private warehouses around the world, where it allegedly backs the balance sheets of the world's central banks, yet nobody can confirm its existence, nor audit the actual gold content, it is understandable why increasingly more are wondering: just how much gold is there?
The reason the bar attracted attention is that it was 2 grams underweight.
Upon cropping it was uncovered that about 30-40% of the bar weight was tungsten.
So two documented incidents in two years: isolated?
Or indication of the same phenomonenon of precious metal debasement that marked the declining phase of the Roman empire.
Only then it was relatively public for anyone who cared to find out on their own.
Now, with the bulk of popular physical gold held in top secret, private warehouses around the world, where it allegedly backs the balance sheets of the world's central banks, yet nobody can confirm its existence, nor audit the actual gold content, it is understandable why increasingly more are wondering: just how much gold is there?
Muskegon school board approves new elementary sex ed curriculum
Muskegon school board approves new elementary sex ed curriculum | MLive.com
The new curriculum expands the information provided to fourth- and fifth-graders to include sexual intercourse and homosexuality.
The new curriculum expands the information provided to fourth- and fifth-graders to include sexual intercourse and homosexuality.
BREAKING NEWS: Michigan Senate Stops Home Health Care 'Dues Skim'
BREAKING NEWS: Michigan Senate Stops Home Health Care 'Dues Skim' [Michigan Capitol Confidential]
The “home health care dues skim” resulted from a union scheme perpetrated while Jennifer Granholm was governor.
The plan used a dummy employer and a stealth election to railroad 43,729 so-called home health care workers into the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
That 43,729 has now swollen to 60,190.
Once this “forced unionization” was achieved, money started being extracted from the taxpayer-provided checks received by the so-called “home health care workers.”
This money continues to be sent to SEIU as dues.
Overall, the “skim” has netted more than $29 million for the SEIU.
The “home health care dues skim” resulted from a union scheme perpetrated while Jennifer Granholm was governor.
The plan used a dummy employer and a stealth election to railroad 43,729 so-called home health care workers into the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
That 43,729 has now swollen to 60,190.
Once this “forced unionization” was achieved, money started being extracted from the taxpayer-provided checks received by the so-called “home health care workers.”
This money continues to be sent to SEIU as dues.
Overall, the “skim” has netted more than $29 million for the SEIU.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Michigan ranks among worst states for political financing transparency and accountability
Michigan ranks among worst states for political financing transparency and accountability | MLive.com
But on a statewide level, interest seems to have waned in the past decade, said Frank Kelley, a former Michigan attorney general who sits on the State Ethics Board.
He blames that on the shrinking capitol press corps.
Without media scrutiny and pressure for disclosure, legislators haven’t been pushed into more accessibility and accountability, he said.
“There’s nobody watching the farm,” Kelley said.
“That’s your biggest problem.”
But on a statewide level, interest seems to have waned in the past decade, said Frank Kelley, a former Michigan attorney general who sits on the State Ethics Board.
He blames that on the shrinking capitol press corps.
Without media scrutiny and pressure for disclosure, legislators haven’t been pushed into more accessibility and accountability, he said.
“There’s nobody watching the farm,” Kelley said.
“That’s your biggest problem.”
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