Another Worthless Public Official

In case you are lucky enough to not be from Detroit, you probably have not have paid attention to the city's recent spate of elected officials and their jail terms. First, the city had a Mayor (google Kwame Kilpatrick) who had an affair with one of his senior people, fired a police official who might have found out, forced the city council to settle out of court for around $8 Million or so when said officer sued the city, then got busted when the news came out anyway and went to jail for a lying under oath.

Now another one of the city's elected council members, Monica Conyers, admits her guilt for taking bribes, and is going to resign July 6th. Why wait so long? I guess she needed one more PAID holiday on the taxpayer's dime. Anyway, she faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. She makes (made) $81,000 a year plus a city car, but I guess that is not enough for such a fine example of a civil servant. Like I wrote earlier, I am not sure what it is about public office that turns people into pigs, but there has got to be something to it.

As much as this pisses me off as a Michigander (but I am not a Detroiter, the only things I like about Detroit are the Tigers and Red Wings,) I know crooked politicians are everywhere. Unfortunately, however, for a state that gets as much bad press as Michigan does, this is stuff the state just does not need right now.

(former) PFC Lynndie England

Remember her? She was the face of the Abu Ghraib "torture" scandal. Say what you want about the supposed "torture" she was accused of (posing for a picture with a rope around some guy's neck and pointing at the genitals of another man, yeah sure that is "torture" or what passes for hazing in some fraternities) I think she was a scapegoat for senior personnel.

There is no way that what she was doing was not at the very least condoned by senior military personnel. As far as the article stating that a jury of officers convicted her, I highly doubt that a bunch of officers are going to let another officer take the heat when they can divert the attention to a PFC reservist. It is way too convenient for them. I think at that time the war was going badly for the Bush administration and this was an opportunity to hold "someone" (heaven forbid you can hold the CIA or senior Bush officials) accountable for the screw up.

The article states that she is having a hard time finding a job, she is receiving death threats etc and all because of a picture. I do feel sorry for her but I have a suggestion for Ms. England: Run for public office or become a pop/movie/TV star.

This country has a screwed up history of electing people who do some pretty bad things to public office, and then upon conviction for those same acts, they re-elect the SOBs! Or in the case of our "stars" you can be convicted for drug use, assault, etc and you will end on some reality TV show making comments about other dumb criminals and getting paid quite handsomely for it!

I hope her book sell a million copies

Michael Jackson's Debt

I know that you see this more often then not, but it still amazes me how someone who had the kind of cash Michael Jackson had can piss it away, and end up $400 MILLION in debt!

On top of it all, I can not fathom how much money he had at one time (millions I would guess) and still die with that kind of debt. That is quite a swing in cash flow, with his millions he had at one time, spend all of that, and borrow another $400 million.

I guess it is true what they say; the more you have, the more you spend.

Oh, and by the way I really don't care how the the accused child molester died...

Family Values???

Wow, what a shocker! ANOTHER politician who lectures the world on "family values" admits to having an affair. I am going to circulate a petition that we hyphenate all our political "leaders" with Senator-Thief, Congressman-Cheater, Governor-Liar, etc etc.

What do you think?

Fight Political Correctness!

It is a welcome sign that an individual who espouses views opposite the political mainstream and is fired from their job, can fight and be re-instated. However, it sucks that he had to go through it in the first place. It is a sad commentary that political correctness manifests itself more and more in the field of education, where open and honest debate should be a hallmark.

But unfortunately, you see dissenting views suppressed by educators (?) becoming the norm. If our children are not given access to differing points of view, they grow up to become "educators" (again, I question whether they truly are educators, or just fascists using their power to silence any who dare oppose their views) who can not tolerate those same opposing views.

And how in the h*ll can the Assistant Principal call anyone "too patriotic? I guess she can wave a 1950s textbook at the next group of terrorists bombers and maybe they will just go away...

Read the story here: Kansas Teach with Conservative Views

GM hits two million Buick sales in China

Wonder what they (GM) are doing wrong in the North American market??? It appears to me that Buick (as a class) is for the "older" generation. That same line of thought USED to be applied to Cadillac, but that brand has managed to re-invent itself with some pretty cool designs. I guess the Chinese see something I don't.

Read it here: GM hits two million Buick sales in China

Today's Kids!

Anyone who thinks that today's generation of kids are just short of worthless and lazy should read this article! Not too bad. I have a couple of nieces who I think are pretty brilliant, but this young man is something else.

However, I am a little disappointed in his choice of major (Radio and TV!), since I think anyone that sharp could definitely be an asset in a field where he could use his skill set to more of an advantage, but I guess we will see where he ends up in life.

Regardless, it is nice to read articles that don't paint such a bad light on today's kids.

Kiss Cost High School Senior Diploma

When I first saw the headline for this story, A Very Costly Kiss, Senior Denied Diploma, I thought there must be some version of sexual harassment, or some other horrible thing the student did to have the school administrators deny him his diploma. But no, when the young man's name was called to receive his diploma, as he walked across the stage, he blew a kiss to his mother in the audience. He was sent back to his seat minus his diploma.

This could win "the stupidest thing ever done by a school" award in my book.

Dumb, just plain dumb.

Double Standard?

If Sotomayor belonged to an all-white, all-male club this would be the kiss of death, and regardless of the true story, the press would bury the candidate. But Sotomayor belonging to an all-female club gets barely mentioned in the press.

I guess the press is going to try and bury anything that might prevent her appointment to the Supreme Court...

An Article from Ben Stein

My sister (thanks Lori!) forwarded me this article from Ben Stein. I had not seen it before, but if you have read any of my previous posts, you would know that this article is spot-on, and mirrors my own thoughts almost exactly. I have never cared much about Hollywood, and I am glad to see Mr Stein has almost the same impression.

Real heroes (and heroines to give women their just due) go to work every day, take care of their children, and do what is necessary to make the world a better place. I do not begrudge anyone making a lot of money doing their job, but for heaven's sake, there is absolutely NO reason to put them up on some pedestal and hang on their every word as if it was manna from heaven.

Read Mr. Stein's article here: Monday Night at Morton's

My Kind of Church

Hey, ya gotta love a Pastor who invites his congregation to bring their firearms to church to celebrate the Fourth of July and the Second Amendment...

Read it here: Gun-Loving Pastor to his flock: Piece be with you

GM's Junk Heap Article

Yes, GM did a lot of things badly on their way to bankruptcy, but I wonder if this author will do a counter point to his article about some of GM's poorly designed cars like, ya know, the Corvette (still rocking) the Camero, both new and old, etc.

Probably not.

No Smiling for Driver's License Allowed

I mentioned this little nugget to a couple of people, and no one believed me. Yes, DMVs around the country are stopping people from smiling for their Driver's License picture. It has something to do about facial recognition software, but still. I always get comments from close friends because I don't smile for my picture. I used to tell them that I hate getting my picture taken, but now I can tell them I doing my part to help combat crime!