In spite of the warning from Michigan's elite as well as head honchos at the Big Three Automakers, the rest of the country seems to be unaware of the drastic affect the crumbling of these institutions would have on our already fledgling economy. Many senators from other regions of the country are fighting hard against the bailing out of the automakers in a fashion that is reflective of someone who is unaware of the grave results that are destined in the shadows of this industry's collapse.
Is it possible that America thinks that the fall of the Big Three would only mean that she could finally put the city of Detroit out of her mind and the rest of the nation will just resume business as usual? The automotive industry created the biggest migration of people from one region to another in the history of the United States. When Ford decided to offer $5 a day for labor inside his assembly plant, blacks from as far as Alabama and Mississippi made their way to Detroit to take part in this American revolution. Any able bodied men willing to travel from south to north were heading here to Detroit to take part in what has become a cornerstone to the manufacturing industry which America has prospered for so long. Along with those men came families and generations of families to come. Now the very fabric of those families' generational income is slipping away and no one wants to help.
The auto industry is not innocent in this matter though. It has been known for quite sometime that the industry needed to refocus on products that would rely less on foreign oil and more on renewable resources that can be produced here and bring jobs for people to get back to work and out of the unemployment lines. The industry should be further along in development of these types of products. With that said, neither party is up to par, however, that is no reason for the government to give up on this worthy cause. S.O.S. Save our sedans! Catch ya' on the FLIPSIDE.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
FLIPSIDE - Detroit, the Armpit of America
With the auto industry slipping into the grave on its last dollar, Detroit seems to be in the same category. The auto industry is the main infrastructure holding our collapsing city above sea level. This morning we had a primary which turned out less voters than local bakeries had show up for paczkis. With that said, we have an interim mayor who airs television commercials saying that he has helped forge a plan for the renovation of Cobo Hall, then in today's freep.com I see the city council has killed the idea by a 5-3 vote. So how does that work?
You mean to tell me that the former president of the city council forged the Cobo deal, but his very own council members shot it down? He can't even control the city council and we're supposed to let this guy run an entire city. Laughable at the least. The Cobo Center is the home to a national event with the North American Auto Show and the renovation would bring jobs as well as future investments from outside sources to use our new state of the art convention center. Thanks alot city council, you can have your president back, we'll find another mayor. Catch ya' on the FLIPSIDE
You mean to tell me that the former president of the city council forged the Cobo deal, but his very own council members shot it down? He can't even control the city council and we're supposed to let this guy run an entire city. Laughable at the least. The Cobo Center is the home to a national event with the North American Auto Show and the renovation would bring jobs as well as future investments from outside sources to use our new state of the art convention center. Thanks alot city council, you can have your president back, we'll find another mayor. Catch ya' on the FLIPSIDE
Friday, February 20, 2009
FLIPSIDE - Monkey on my Back!
By now I'm sure you've seen or at least heard about the NY Post cartoonist Sean Delonas who drew a cartoon supposedly of two police officers shooting down a chimpanzee. Okay, to make the cartoon make a little bit of sense, this cartoon was illustrated following an incident where a woman was attacked by a chimpanzee and police were called in to intervene. Subsequently the chimp was gunned down by the policeman in an effort to stop it from attacking the victim.
With that in mind, it seems as though the cartoonist was making light of a situation where a woman was brutally attacked by an animal and nearly lost her life. If that's not peculiar enough, one of the police officers says "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill". Now what are we talking about? Did the monkey write the first stimulus bill? Last time I checked, president Obama had written the stimulus package, so was he the monkey Delonas was referring to? So, its cool to refer to black people as monkeys again huh? Perhaps it won't be long before we can be called niggers and as long as its in a cartoon it will be considered unoffensive.
To add to the insult, the NY Post editor - in - chief, Col Allan released this statement - " The cartoon is a clear parody of a current news event, the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut. It broadly mocks Washington's efforts to revive the economy. Again Al Sharpton reveals himself as nothing more than a publicity opportunist."
Is that the case? So, not only did the Post editor defend the cartoon, but Allan also took the time to inject a character attack on Rev. Al Sharpton.
It seems as though for every step we take forward, there is always a push backwards. A push that sometimes feels more like a slap in the face, waking us up to the reality that equality is still joke to some. There is no defense for blatant racist motives such as the ones presented in this cartoon. Sometimes it feels as though it is beyond words. I remember watching my mom cry as President Obama won the election in November, as did many other Americans. We had come a long way. Then I see a gunned down monkey in a comic strip being compared to our newly inaugurated president. Sickening.
The editor of the Post defending the cartoon was equally as disgusting. But, I suppose that is just as far as we have come. I was so proud knowing that I could really tell my kids that they could be anything they wanted to be and that includes the president of our great country. However, I surmise that I will also have to tell them that some people will still think you're a monkey. Catch ya' on the FLIPSIDE.
With that in mind, it seems as though the cartoonist was making light of a situation where a woman was brutally attacked by an animal and nearly lost her life. If that's not peculiar enough, one of the police officers says "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill". Now what are we talking about? Did the monkey write the first stimulus bill? Last time I checked, president Obama had written the stimulus package, so was he the monkey Delonas was referring to? So, its cool to refer to black people as monkeys again huh? Perhaps it won't be long before we can be called niggers and as long as its in a cartoon it will be considered unoffensive.
To add to the insult, the NY Post editor - in - chief, Col Allan released this statement - " The cartoon is a clear parody of a current news event, the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut. It broadly mocks Washington's efforts to revive the economy. Again Al Sharpton reveals himself as nothing more than a publicity opportunist."
Is that the case? So, not only did the Post editor defend the cartoon, but Allan also took the time to inject a character attack on Rev. Al Sharpton.
It seems as though for every step we take forward, there is always a push backwards. A push that sometimes feels more like a slap in the face, waking us up to the reality that equality is still joke to some. There is no defense for blatant racist motives such as the ones presented in this cartoon. Sometimes it feels as though it is beyond words. I remember watching my mom cry as President Obama won the election in November, as did many other Americans. We had come a long way. Then I see a gunned down monkey in a comic strip being compared to our newly inaugurated president. Sickening.
The editor of the Post defending the cartoon was equally as disgusting. But, I suppose that is just as far as we have come. I was so proud knowing that I could really tell my kids that they could be anything they wanted to be and that includes the president of our great country. However, I surmise that I will also have to tell them that some people will still think you're a monkey. Catch ya' on the FLIPSIDE.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
FLIPSIDE - Mayor of my City
In a city where the lights seem to be dimming slowly and shells of what used to be homes creep the vacant lots at night, we have three men who fight urgently to take over the reigns to the out of control beast we call Detroit. Three candidates, yet hardly either one of them hardly prove to me to be capable of pulling our steadily sinking city from its own simmering quicksand.
On the one hand you have Ken Cockrel Jr. He is advertising himself as an honest politician with nothing but the best intentions for our struggling city and promises it will not be anymore "Pay to Play" politics going on in the city. Sounds great, but as city council president, he sat through an administration that he claims ran the city wrong. If others were taking bribes and mishandling city money, he as president should have been aware and put a stop to some things. Or was he aware and took no action? Whatever the case, he waits until its election time and the entire Kilpatrick debacle to separate himself from the people who may have dirtied themselves with the the muck of he city and its downtrodden ways of governing and proposes a "change" for the city. How can we expect change from the president of a council who has been involved with the same politics that he now deems inadequate?
On the other hand you have Freman Hendrix, the former deputy mayor under Dennis Archer. Hendrix also claims to be bringing change to the office. He touts the records of Archer's administration and how he is great at balancing budgets. Balancing budgets is a hefty coat to hang on today's diminishing coat rack of an economy. Will Hendrix's balancing expertise work in an economically dreadful administration with more homes being foreclosed than seniors graduating from high school?
Finally, throwing himself into the middle of the mix is Dave Bing. of course, Bing is a great businessman, however business is not the only thing that our city needs to get it's one leg out of the grave and stop the other from slipping on a banana peel. With the down turn of the automotive industry, this city, this region, has to find an alternative direction to focus its workforce or Detroit - like many Midwestern cities - will finally become an afterthought in the minds of the rest of the world.
To turn this city around, two things are mandatory. The first thing is the production of new jobs unrelated to the automotive industry and the second is the resurrection of quality public schooling. One can't exist without the other if a new Detroit is to become the end result. If jobs are created people will travel to Detroit to work. If jobs are created and the school system is productive people will not only come to Detroit to work, but they will feel confident in raising there family here as well. Catch ya' on the FLIPSIDE.
On the one hand you have Ken Cockrel Jr. He is advertising himself as an honest politician with nothing but the best intentions for our struggling city and promises it will not be anymore "Pay to Play" politics going on in the city. Sounds great, but as city council president, he sat through an administration that he claims ran the city wrong. If others were taking bribes and mishandling city money, he as president should have been aware and put a stop to some things. Or was he aware and took no action? Whatever the case, he waits until its election time and the entire Kilpatrick debacle to separate himself from the people who may have dirtied themselves with the the muck of he city and its downtrodden ways of governing and proposes a "change" for the city. How can we expect change from the president of a council who has been involved with the same politics that he now deems inadequate?
On the other hand you have Freman Hendrix, the former deputy mayor under Dennis Archer. Hendrix also claims to be bringing change to the office. He touts the records of Archer's administration and how he is great at balancing budgets. Balancing budgets is a hefty coat to hang on today's diminishing coat rack of an economy. Will Hendrix's balancing expertise work in an economically dreadful administration with more homes being foreclosed than seniors graduating from high school?
Finally, throwing himself into the middle of the mix is Dave Bing. of course, Bing is a great businessman, however business is not the only thing that our city needs to get it's one leg out of the grave and stop the other from slipping on a banana peel. With the down turn of the automotive industry, this city, this region, has to find an alternative direction to focus its workforce or Detroit - like many Midwestern cities - will finally become an afterthought in the minds of the rest of the world.
To turn this city around, two things are mandatory. The first thing is the production of new jobs unrelated to the automotive industry and the second is the resurrection of quality public schooling. One can't exist without the other if a new Detroit is to become the end result. If jobs are created people will travel to Detroit to work. If jobs are created and the school system is productive people will not only come to Detroit to work, but they will feel confident in raising there family here as well. Catch ya' on the FLIPSIDE.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
FLIPSIDE : New President, Old Problems
Embedded video from CNN Video
Of course, we have our new President in office and on that same token, we also have our old problems. I ran across this clip of Senator McCain telling a reporter that he feels as though President Obama did not utilize the bi-partisan help of the Republicans in developing the economic stimulus package. This is the same package that both sides read through and had chances to revise, yet instead, Senator McCain admits that he "would not vote" on it because the Republican ideas were shot down during such sessions. He suggests that the sides come together and start all over again.
Okay, let's start over again. Let's go back to the drawing board while 100,000 more people lose their homes, 200,000 more people lose their jobs and more school's shut down. Let all of this happen so the Republicans can help re-write an economic stimulus package with all the creative ingenious of the past 8 years that brought us this massive debt and economic failure. Get real.
When is the Republican party ever going to stop hating and help out. There is no time to sit back and take our time making sure every person has an equal share in passing the legislation. It is concerning to me that McCain's home state of Arizona has an unemployment rate of almost 7% and a home foreclosure rate almost as high as it is here in Michigan and somewhere in his mind he believes that there is time to go back to square one with an economic plan? It is ideas like those that solidified my reasoning for not voting for McCain. I don't think he realises yet just how bad this economy is. Is he that out of touch with my working class society to think we have time to go back to the drawing board on a stimulus package when some Republican idea is not accepted?
Let me suggest what the outcome of a situation like that may mean. Three weeks of negotiating a new revised plan could suggest this - and we're only talking about Michigan - 700 Chrysler employees pink slipped. 300 GM and Ford employees pink slipped. 1500 more houses go into foreclosure. Businesses in those neighborhoods decline and eventually shut down. Evacuation of the neighborhood causes low registration at the neighborhood schools and of course low student registration leads to schools closing.
Okay, with that in mind, go ahead and cry to reporters on national television. Thank you. It always reminds me why I never voted for you in the first place. Catch ya' on the FLIPSIDE.
Of course, we have our new President in office and on that same token, we also have our old problems. I ran across this clip of Senator McCain telling a reporter that he feels as though President Obama did not utilize the bi-partisan help of the Republicans in developing the economic stimulus package. This is the same package that both sides read through and had chances to revise, yet instead, Senator McCain admits that he "would not vote" on it because the Republican ideas were shot down during such sessions. He suggests that the sides come together and start all over again.
Okay, let's start over again. Let's go back to the drawing board while 100,000 more people lose their homes, 200,000 more people lose their jobs and more school's shut down. Let all of this happen so the Republicans can help re-write an economic stimulus package with all the creative ingenious of the past 8 years that brought us this massive debt and economic failure. Get real.
When is the Republican party ever going to stop hating and help out. There is no time to sit back and take our time making sure every person has an equal share in passing the legislation. It is concerning to me that McCain's home state of Arizona has an unemployment rate of almost 7% and a home foreclosure rate almost as high as it is here in Michigan and somewhere in his mind he believes that there is time to go back to square one with an economic plan? It is ideas like those that solidified my reasoning for not voting for McCain. I don't think he realises yet just how bad this economy is. Is he that out of touch with my working class society to think we have time to go back to the drawing board on a stimulus package when some Republican idea is not accepted?
Let me suggest what the outcome of a situation like that may mean. Three weeks of negotiating a new revised plan could suggest this - and we're only talking about Michigan - 700 Chrysler employees pink slipped. 300 GM and Ford employees pink slipped. 1500 more houses go into foreclosure. Businesses in those neighborhoods decline and eventually shut down. Evacuation of the neighborhood causes low registration at the neighborhood schools and of course low student registration leads to schools closing.
Okay, with that in mind, go ahead and cry to reporters on national television. Thank you. It always reminds me why I never voted for you in the first place. Catch ya' on the FLIPSIDE.
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