Road money could benefit Muskegon

If the City of Muskegon would keep their stop lights coordinated, much time and gasoline would be saved. And the cost is minimal. But that would be too much to ask. We need to spend millions $$ before we're interested. Bummer.
Road money could benefit Muskegon: "But it would pay for studies in each area to determine the need for interchanges; property that might be needed for eventual interchange construction; or short-term street design improvements to help alleviate congestion, Dey said. "

Survey: Michigan schools expect cuts to continue

Notice that nowhere does anyone mention the "phrase we dare not speak". Teacher compensation. That's salary, benefits AND retirement cost. No, we can't go there. Everyone knows, for sure, that teachers are underpaid. If that's true, why can't we, the people who pay the bills, see exactly what the true costs of teachers and administrators really is.

Survey: Michigan schools expect cuts to continue: "The survey found that 51 percent of school districts expect they will have to lay off employees next school year. About 81 percent said they plan to reduce staff by attrition.
About 65 percent of districts said they would reduce spending on supplies and services. About 79 percent said they would have to dip into their fund balances, a type of savings account, to help pay bills next school year. "

Muskegon Air Fair 2005

The early reservations are up 40% over last year! Saturday's Flight Line Club is already sold out. Get movin' Muskegon if you want to see the best Air Show in the Midwest.
Muskegon Air Fair 2005

The Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street This Week

This company is in real trouble! Miserable management and suicidal union members. Great combination!
The Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street This Week: "Stocked with a hefty supply of last year's vehicles, General Motors (GM:NYSE - news - research) unveiled a new sales strategy this week. Like many of GM's previous strategies, the one unveiled Wednesday calls for steep discounts.

Unlike the other plans, however, this one has bigger implications. It kicked off with a press release reading, 'GM is Proud to Invite America to be Part of its Family.'

Sound like a little too much commitment? Not to worry. The idea is to give buyers preferential employee-discount rates and simplified pricing.
'We firmly believe that once consumers have the opportunity to drive a GM vehicle, they'll know what we, and millions of loyal GM customers, already know about the value represented by the cars and trucks that we build,' said GM marketing exec Brent Dewar.
You can't blame GM for trying something new. The company posted a 12% sales drop for May. Earlier, it reported a huge first-quarter loss that led to several recent trips to the bond-rating junkyard, as analysts fretted over the company's pension obligations and financial position.
Yes, sounds like just the sort of big happy family everyone is itching to join. "

The one single, constant.........

... in dying American cities is the belief that county, state, or federal funding ("free money") and/or corporate charity is their only hope for growth. Of course, that fiscal intoxicant is as false an answer as alcohol or drugs to a human addict. The major difference between the individual junkie and our what our misguided political bosses (and their enablers in the media) do to our community is the scale of the destruction. Oh yeah. Dying cities also think that increasing taxes on businesses is a great idea.

Our nation feels a special sense of loss on this day

The Gang of 3 gets it right this time. Good show!
Chronicle Editorial
Our nation feels a special sense of loss on this day: "Our nation feels a special sense of loss on this day
Monday, May 30, 2005
Memorial Day. The name itself explains the special purpose of the day: to honor the dead who gave their lives in defense of our nation. We honor, too, those who have served and are no longer among us, either through the ravages of wounds or age.
Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives, red states and blue -- all of us fortunate enough to be alive and free today -- should be united by a common respect for, and a bond shared with, these fallen defenders. All Americans, wherever they stand along the divide that separates us on the great issues of the day, know full well that we are able to argue about such things only because we have the freedom to do so.
That freedom has been dearly won by those who have given everything in defense of it. "

Turkey Power!

OpinionJournal - Best of the Web Today: "William the Conqueror Is Turning in His Grave
'Norman Man Attacked by Turkeys'--headline, Associated Press, April 3"

At least 11 killed in Pakistan attack, riot - South and Central Asia - MSNBC.com

Ok. Let me get this straight. al-Qaida murderers bomb a mosque and the mob burns down a KFC and kill 6 of their own citizens? And the American left tells us to focus on "abuses of Abu Ghraib". Yeah, right.

At least 11 killed in Pakistan attack, riot - South and Central Asia - MSNBC.com: "KARACHI, Pakistan - A mob angered by an al-Qaida-linked suicide bombing in a Shiite mosque set a KFC restaurant on fire in overnight rioting, killing six employees and bringing the day's overall death toll to 11, police said Tuesday."

Arthur Anderson verdict thrown out!!!

Wow! They're not guilty...... well, not so fast my friend. The Supremes through out the guilty verdict because the first judge gave the jury improper directions. The case will likely be retried. Let's see how the media plays the real story. I'm not too hopeful.....

That New Youk accent!

I'm hearing more folks with that New York/Brooklyn accent on local radio and TV commercials. Don't those advertising folks realize that accent is a turn off to most mid-westerners? They call our part of the USA "fly-over-country" and still expect us to "listen up" when they want our attention.

Our next US Senator?

Keith Butler. Republican. Black! From Detroit!
Very interesting and competant man. He's the leader so far...

gas prices down=no headlines

Golly! Gas prices are down and The Chronicle doesn't have it on the front page. Amazing. Maybe it's in there somewhere.....
I guess we'll have to wait till Georgie is gone until we can some good news reported by The Gang of Three.(G3)

They really do hate us!

The eastcoaster media types do.
This is stunning. The contempt that this East-coaster exhibits an excellent insight into how the liberals in the elite media view things they know nothing about. Toby Keith and bad dressers! If only they ruled the world.....

'Sunday Money' and 'Full Throttle': Nascar Nation - New York Times:
"For a certain segment of the population, Nascar's raid on American culture -- its logo festoons everything from cellphones to honey jars to post office walls to panties; race coverage, it can seem, has bumped everything else off television; and, most piercingly, Nascar dads now get to pick our presidents -- triggers the kind of fearful trembling the citizens of Gaul felt as the Huns came thundering over the hills. ..... stock-car racing represents all that's unsavory about red-state America: fossil-fuel bingeing; lust for violence; racial segregation; run-away Republicanism; anti-intellectualism (how much brain matter is required to go fast and turn left, ad infinitum?); the corn-pone memes of God and guns and guts; crass corporatization; Toby Keith anthems; and, of course, exquisitely bad fashion sense.
.......No other sport is so captivating to so many yet so utterly uncaptivating to so many others. If the latter aren't repulsed by the deep-fried spectacle of a Nascar event, with its schizo mix of beery loutishness and Promise Keeper piety, then they're bored stiff by the racing itself. Stock-car racing is, it's true, a competitive variation on commuter traffic: it involves a bunch of sedans ferociously trying to get to the front of the line, making it no different, fundamentally, from Friday afternoons on the West Side Highway. This is what irks the detractors -- the only thing worse than being in traffic, they contend, is watching it -- yet, paradoxically, makes up a major chunk of its appeal. The cars the drivers pilot -- modified Chevy Monte Carlos, Ford Tauruses, Pontiac Grand Prix -- are not so different from the cars Nascar fans use daily to pick up their groceries, shuttle their kids and get themselves to work....
Read the whole thing.

Force Rumsfeld to defend every new base closing

Jeepers, the Chronicle's Gang of Three thinks that the Sec. Def and the Joint Chiefs don't nothin' 'bout base closings. The Chronicle's Military geniuses are "stunned". Maybe they could use some up front experience honing their skills on the front lines in Iraq?
Force Rumsfeld to defend every new base closing: "Force Rumsfeld to defend every new base closing
Thursday, May 19, 2005
One might have thought that four rounds of stateside military base closings -- in 1988, 1991, 1993 and 1995 -- would have been enough for the Pentagon to achieve the efficiency and streamlining it needed.
But Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld wants more, having just proposed closing 33 major bases, including Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, the Groton (Conn.) Submarine Base and America's oldest but still highly capable Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine. All of these facilities represent major parts within the strategic core of U.S. military power. For America's Secretary of Defense to recommend these bases closed without a whimper from the Joint Chiefs of Staff is just stunning.
So debate, as it should, will be intense over this latest list of proposed closures as they are reviewed by the independent Base Realignment and Closure Commission before being presented to President Bush for approval in September.
Take Portsmouth, for example, an installation the Navy just cited as having 'consistently and superbly performed their mission while establishing a phenomenal record of cost, schedule, quality and safety performance.' Obviously Navy ships, from small frigates to nuclear-power aircraft carriers, are incredibly costly and complex, and must be maintained and upgraded in order to fill their mission reliably. Closing bases like Portsmouth narrows the list of experienced shipyards to a tenuous few. These are vital assets.
The Groton submarine base could serve as another example of how the nation's strategic defense stands in danger of being compromised for what appear to be dubious savings. Groton's irreplace"

Timing stoplights

Communities that don't do it will suffer. Muskegon and Muskegon Hgts are the worst offenders. People will avoid downtowns where traffic is stupidly planned.

King of the Hill

Hank Hill quote:
"Newsweek, not in this house"
Gotta love it!

Katie Curic on saving gasoline!

On the Today Show, the perky one tells us all how she used to keep her windows opened when driving to save on gas, rather than use the car air conditioner. Yeah, right. How dumb does Her Perkiness think we are? Oops, Good Morning America just passed Today in the ratings.

Walmart story

I was shopping at Walmart on Sherman when I heard this endering cellphone conversation by a jumbo mother with her 5 kids in tow:"are you out of jail yet honey?
Gotta love the experience!

CC Valedictorians

Congratulations to the 6 valedictorians and 2 (3.99) salutorians of this year's Muskegon Catholic Central graduation class. But isn't it a sad commentary that 8 students out of the relatively small class got 100% on everything for 4 years running? It's either that kids are getting a whole lot smarter or the dumbing down of our schools. Gee, I wonder what businesses who hire young folks would say......

Arabs blame Jews!

This is like blaming McDonalds because you're fat. And still eating 7 Big Macs a week.
Power Line: "Getting it backwards
The UN Development Project has released its 2004 report on Arab development. It finds that a good portion of the blame for the Arab world's lack of progress lies in the creation of Israel 57 years ago, and in the support by the U.S. for Israel's existence since then (our presence in Iraq hasn't helped either). That's right -- 300 million Arabs live under oppression because 5 million Israeli Jews live in freedom, supported by the U.S. "

Chronicle SOLD!

Nugent

Posted by Hello

The end of Television

News Forum Home Page: "
The end of analog TV
MSNBC, by Michael Rogers Original Article
Posted By: Photoonist - 4/25/2005 3:06:56 PM Post Reply
Depending on the outcome of discussions in Congress, television as we know it may end at exactly midnight Dec. 31, 2006. That�s the date Congress targeted, a decade ago, for the end of analog television broadcasting and a full cutover to a digital format. If enforced, that means that overnight, somewhere around 70 million television sets now connected to rabbit ears or roof-top antennas will suddenly and forever go blank, unless their owners purchase a special converter box. "

Chronicle weather depression!

Leave it to The Chronicle to find the down side of everything.
Too-nice weather has some downsides
Saturday, April 16, 2005
By John S. HausmanCHRONICLE STAFF WRITER
It's official: The first two weeks of April were the warmest ever in Muskegon.
And one of the sunniest and driest. Unfortunately for firefighters, the dryness is expected to continue at least until the middle of next week in most places.
You've heard of too much of a good thing? Maybe this is it.






For April 1-14, Muskegon's average daily temperature -- that's the midpoint between each day's high and low -- was 51.8 degrees, breaking the previous early-April record of 51.7 degrees in the first two weeks of 1895, according to the National Weather Service's Grand Rapids office.
The "normal" average temperature for April 14 in Muskegon is 44 degrees.
And so far this month, Muskegon has received only a trace of rain, recorded on April 7. The last measurable rain was March 31, when Muskegon got a paltry 0.04 inch, and the last decent drenching was March 30, when we got a half-inch.
Meteorologist Mark Sekelsky said above-normal temperatures will continue through next week with highs at least in the 60s each day, possibly hitting 70 degrees Monday (the average high for April 15 is 54 degrees).
Other than a slight chance of scattered rain Sunday night, the first appreciable chance of showers or thunderstorms is expected to be Tuesday night, with 30 to 40 percent probability of rain each day from then into next weekend, Sekelsky said. "It looks like in most places next week we'll be seeing a shower or thunderstorm," he said. "We could certainly use the rainfall. It's been very dry."
That gets no argument from Muskegon County firefighters, who have been dealing with a rash of grass fires and expect to see more before the rains come.
"It's extremely dry," said Robert Grabinski, Muskegon Township's deputy fire chief. "Any kind of wind at all, and even a little campfire gets away from somebody and gets going really good. We advise people not to burn."
The state has imposed a ban on burning brush, and firefighters are asking people to refrain from recreational fires -- even in small backyard firepits. A gust of wind could start a grass fire, and Muskegon Township had exactly that happen last week, Grabinski said, leading to the loss of two neighbors' backyards, a snowblower and other equipment stored in garages.
"Until we get some significant rain that starts greening things up, it's best that they do no fires," Grabinski said. "I look to be pretty busy this weekend."
Some people have even started watering lawns and flowers, unusual for mid-April. But a local nurseryman says that's not necessary.
"They don't really need it," said Wally Weesies, owner of White Lake Nursery Inc. "It's plenty early. The grass is still in a semi-dormant state. It's OK to water, but it's not necessary," Weesies said.
The same goes for spring flowers, he said. "It's not an emergency to water them yet; it's OK to," Weesies said. More important, he said, is to clean up flower beds, cutting off old perennials and sprinkling a little fertilizer on in preparation for when the rains do come.
© 2005 Muskegon Chronicle. Used with permission

Muskegon bidding

MLive.com's Printer-Friendly Page: "City sets policy on local vs. out-of-town bids
Friday, April 15, 2005By Robert C. Burns
CHRONICLE STAFF WRITER
The city of Muskegon's somewhat vague standard on the selection of local vs. out-of-town bidders has been solidified into a formal policy.
The policy gives notice to potential bidders that the city commission may give the nod to local suppliers or contractors if the local bidder comes within 1 percent of the lowest nonlocal bid.
This assumes the bids in question are deemed 'responsible,' while 'local' is defined as a company with a business location within the city limits.
While not absolute, the new policy gives potential bidders advance warning that local preferences are a possibility, all other things being equal.
'Before people spend money putting a bid package together, there should be absolutely no question about the criteria we are using,' said Commissioner Larry Spataro, who has advocated setting a definite policy and sticking to it.
Another aspect of the new policy gives the commission more latitude in purchases or construction contracts expected to exceed $1 million. In such cases, 'the city commission will be consulted on whether local preference may apply, prior to soliciting bids.'
City commissioners have split over the question of whether to award contracts or purchases based solely on the low bid, or to give added preference to companies that pay city taxes, hire and buy materials locally.
The most recent flareup occurred when the commission voted 4-3 to accept the second-lowest bid of Jackson-Merkey Contractors of Muskegon for a street paving project, rather than the lowest bid, submitted by a Ludington firm.
For several years, commissioners have been loosely following an unwritten guideline calling for l"