The Blind-eyed Marriage of the Conservative Churches to the Excessive & Corrupt Business Practices

How supremely odd it is that conservative Christians--who have hammered and continue to hector the country on certain moral issues (which they find absolute)--have been so silent, so tongue-tied, on the massive corruption and greed that inhabits the world of business all around them.

Turning the Tables on Wall Street: America’s Temple or Torment? 
“Jesus Purifies the Temple” (John 2: 2:13-25) in an engraving
by the German Nazarene artist Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1860)

The failure of social conservative moral leadership to call into account the business practices and aggressive failures of the marketplace - to be fair and honest - is a significant contributor to the escalation of the imbalance of wealth (the 1% & the 99% ers) and the pervasive societal moral decay that comes with trying to keep up with the corporate Jones'.

The blind-eyed marriage of the church to the excessive and corrupt business practices of some corporations and the outright fraud found in so many of the slick practices of the marketplace and especially Wall Street have sold the birthright of many Evangelical Christians into a world of excessive debt, unbearable family financial pressures, and everyday stress producing anxiety created by (and compounded by) job insecurity. It is a world where loyalty and length of service are considered expendable by businesses in the search of greater profits and better bottomlines. Add in a high level of unemployment among these self-same Evangelicals and the staggering debt of their children, young Evangelicals, who have taken on student loans in quest of a step-up career.

All forms of benefits and delayed compensation are now being sucked back into their sources by a new kind of greed-Corporate Givers cum Corporate Takers.

When the church loses its prophetic role in calling the CEO/men of power to task, to account for their disrespect for the underprivileged and the planned, immoral conduct of business, the rampant dishonest practices, it loses the power to speak the truth. 

“Lazarus and Rich Man” (Luke 16:19-31) from a 10th Century fresco in
the Monastery of Saint Ivan of Rila in Bulgaria (Reconstructed 1937-1946)

The Biblical story of the rich man and the beggar - the pauper who once was confined to scrounging the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table was eventually released from this mortal realm into paradise. His story illustrates this point.

The beggar, now in Paradise, could name his price for a drop of water to assuage the hellish torment of the eternally damned CEO named in the story. That wealthy man - upon dying - found himself suffering eternal torment in hell for his evil marketplace behavior. Now a torment-bound, abject beggar himself, he pleads for meager humanitarian aid from a higher place. He now pleads "give me just a drop of water!"

Wealth and the where-with-all to have one's way in the greater community do not substitute for character and compassion. Social conservatives would do well to remember this.

Conservative Evangelical Christians Must Divorce Themselves From Corporate Greed & Evil 

Conservative Christians must return to voting in their own best economic interests, and not get caught up in clever manipulation. Evangelicals must act in light of their own history of championing social reform: speak out, and vote in light of the full weight of moral conviction and principles encompassing more than a narrow list of hot button social issues managed by the conniving Svengali mavens on the extremes who inflict on Evangelicals untold pain and suffering via the mega-wealthy, TeaPartisan and Corporatist politics destroying family values and the family itself.

On the Reader:
More on Christian Values and Greed on the Gazette.

Original.

A Shout Out to the Overlords of Michissippian EM Plantations (Michigan Emergency Managerment)

In the New Order under the dictatorial hand of Rick Snyder and Andy Dillon Esq., the world of take-overs and liquidation of Michigan's struggling communities (under Lansing's Central Planning and the undemocratic imposition of Emergency Manager law) is well underway.

Snyder & Dillon have methodically begun their quasi-legal Foreclosure of many Michissippian units of government.

Their plan was to conduct all these discussions and decisions in secret out of the public's purview, without outside perspectives or the impacted peoples' permission, leaving the majority of Michigan's urban minorities to patiently and peacefully await their fate in silence.

Segregation and discrimination by Gubernatorial Decree

However the rights of citizens don't die by fiat - according to the Freep report "Detroit financial review team members to meet in private after all":

"The Detroit financial review team that was told it can no longer meet behind closed doors held its first public meeting Tuesday, and within minutes, it created a subcommittee that plans to hold private meetings."

"In the Detroit case, the financial review team, appointed in December by Gov. Rick Snyder, was ordered by an Ingham County judge earlier this month to halt its meetings after Robert Davis, an open government activist, sued on the grounds that the closed meetings violated the state's Open Meetings Act. On Tuesday, Davis promised to proceed with another legal challenge.

"'For them to try to establish a subcommittee so they can meet in private is ABSOLUTELY ABSURD and a slap in the face to every single Detroiter,' Davis said. 'This is the same group that said they aren't subject to the Open Meetings Act. Who are you going to believe?'"

"The subcommittee is expected to meet and assess the risks and benefits of the appointment of an emergency manager or the institution of a consent agreement, under which state officials and Mayor Dave Bing likely would privatize some services and wipe out union contracts in an attempt to right the city's finances. They are expected to complete a report by March 14 and report findings to the full review team."

The Business Leaders for Michigan (big wealth & corporations), the One Percenters, and the aggressive TeaPublicans who are the new plantation managers under EM; take heed of these immortal words from Sam Adams, founding liberator, warning the citizens of Michigan:

"If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen."

-- Samuel Adams, remarks on August 1, 1776 to the State House delegation Philadelphia.

Long live local freedom! Die now tyranny of the coercive, Jim Crow, and several EM Plantations!

UPDATE: According to the Freep and blogged by EM issue tracker Eclectablog, the judge was not amused by the formation of the Dillon/Snyder 'subcommittee' that is to continue meeting in secret:

"An Ingham County judge this afternoon ordered all 10 members of the Detroit emergency financial review team to appear in his courtroom March 12 to answer why they should not be held in contempt for attempting to evade his finding that the review team is subject to the Open Meetings Act by forming a smaller committee to meet in secret.

Judge William Collette issued the order at the request of attorneys for Robert Davis, the employee of AFSCME who filed open meetings lawsuits against financial review teams in both Detroit and the Highland Park school districts.

Davis said the five-member subcommittee created by the review team on Tuesday is clearly an attempt to circumvent Collette’s finding that review teams are public agencies subject to the open meeting law."

Note: New legislation to get around the repeal petition, and suspension of PA 4 (Emergency Manager Law) is also in the works, this story will continue.



Original.

Silent Night: From the Forbes 400 Counting House to Yours: Michigan’s One Percenters

Michigan's One Percent: The Mega-Wealthy or Ultra High Net-Worth Michiganders

The Michigan 1% Given Listed by Forbes: Rank, Name, Age, Michigan Residence, Company/Industry

1. #60,   Richard (Rich) DeVos Sr., $5 B, Age 85, Holland, Amway
2. #60,   Frederik Meijer (deceased at 91), $5 B, Grand Rapids, Supermarkets
3. #159, Alfred Taubman, $2.5 B, Age 87, Bloomfield Hills, Real Estate
4. #171, Ronda Stryker, $2.3 B, Age 57, Portage, Medical Technology
5. #212, Michael & Marian Ilitch, $2 B, Bingham Farms, Pizza
6. # 293, Daniel Gilbert, $1.5 B, Age 49, Franklin, Quicken Loans
7. # 293, Manuel Moroun, $1.5 B, Age 84, Grosse Pt Shores, Transportation
8. # 375, William Ford, $1.1 B, Grosse Pt Shores, Ford Motor Co.
9. # 375, Jon Stryker, $1.1 B, Age 53, Kalamazoo, Medical Technology

Sort them out. Ideological and Political Billionaire Bullies or Grand Noblesse Oblige Benefactors/Genuine Contributors to the Greater Good??


Original.

Confessions of A Well-Known One Percenter Scion of a Robber Baron

"For more than a century ideological extremist at either end of the political spectrum have seized upon well-publicized incidents...to attack the Rockefeller family for the inordinate influence they claim we wield over American political and economic institutions. Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as 'internationalists' and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure-one world, if you will.

If that's the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it."

-- David Rockefeller, 'Memoirs' 2002, p. 405

Original.

Charles Koch & High Rollers Who Bought Michissippi’s TeaPublican Legislature’s 2011 Anti-Public School Rampage

Top Individual Donors to Michigan's Republican Party Related PACs

• Snyder, Richard & Sue (Self-supporting for Campaign)    $5,943,702
• DeVos, Richard, Sr. & Helen (FL) (Rich)    $1,199,904
• Lynas, Robert & Joyce     $1,007,000
• Perry, Bob (TX)    $1,000,000
• KOCH, DAVID (NY)    $988,604
• Singer, Paul (NY)     $783,400
• Cohen, Steven (CT)     $482,604
• Jandernoa, Michael & Susan     $416,655
• Weiser, Ron & Eileen     $418,247
• Johnson, Ruth (Self-supporting SOS Campaign)     $354,834
• Mills, Ted     $339,500
• Meijer, Frederick & Lena    $339,000
• DeVos, Richard, Jr. & Elisabeth (Dick & Betsy)     $334,754
• Moroun, M.J. & Nora     $333,225
• Nicholson, James & Ann     $302,704

Source: Michigan Campaign Finance Network - Citizen's Guide (2010)


Original.

Ayn Rand Speaking With Precision for the 99 %

The Evil of Supplicating to Men Who Produce Nothing, in Order to Produce:

"When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion - when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing - when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors - when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work and your laws don't protect you against them, but protect them against you - when you see corruption being rewarded and honestly becoming a self-sacrifice - YOU MAY KNOW THAT YOUR SOCIETY IS DOOMED."
(emphasis added)

-- Ayn Rand (1905-1982) Author

Source: Atlas Shrugged, Francisco's "Money Speech"


Original.

Rothschilds as One Percenters

"The Rothschilds, and that class of money-lenders of whom they are the representatives and agents -- men who never think of lending a shilling to their next-door neighbors, for purposes of honest industry, unless upon the most ample security, and at the highest rate of interest -- stand ready, at all times, to lend money in unlimited amounts to those robbers and murderers, who call themselves governments, to be expended in shooting down those who do not submit quietly to being robbed and enslaved."

-- Lysander Spooner (1808-1887) Political theorist, activist, abolitionist

Source: "No Treason #6" (1870)

Original.

Worldwide Super-Rich Stash: Now $25 Trillion

Wealth X has out a New Report: There are 185,795 Individuals Worldwide Worth at Least $30 Million

Sam Pizzigati from the Institute for Policy Studies in "The Global Super-Rich Stash: Now $25 Trillion" writes:

"For the first time, thanks to Wealth-X, we can compare the barely ultra with the comfortably ultra and those super ultras who can make the comfortables seem pinched.

"Our report maps exactly where the biggest money is located," Wealth-X CEO Mykolas Rambus boasted at a Geneva news conference last week, "and just how much there is."

"The Wealth-X research answers "how many" as well. The firm counts 185,795 individuals worldwide with at least $30 million net worth. These ultra high net-worth individuals - UHNWs (Ultra High Net-Worth) - hold $25 Trillion in combined wealth."

Tax the One Percenters? Yes or No ?

"If America's ultra [wealthy] averaged returns on those (vast assets they already hold) investments not that far above 5 percent over the next ten years, they could pay the wealth tax and still end the decade with higher personal net worths than when the decade began."

So Why Not ask the ultra rich to pay their fair share?


Original.

Michigan ALEC State Chair Sen. Tonya Schuitmaker: A CHEERY FACE & A FAKE DEFENSE, promoting corporatist direct access to Michigan lawmaking

Sen. Tonya Schuitmaker doesn't seem to know her facts on A.L.E.C., but she knows how to use A.L.E.C. boilerplate defense of its secret corporatist, state by state "model" Plug-and-Play legislation that is undercutting Middle America.

Sez Sen. Tonya, as reported by MIRS:

"(W)hile the business community is involved, it's only at the task force level when they're 'around the table.' "'It's just a time for legislators to gather to see what's working in other states in terms of model policy,' said Schuitmaker. 'I really think the attacks are unfounded.'"

Using the stock A.L.E.C defense State Chair Schuitmaker wants the public to believe that everything's out in the open, "the business community is involved, it's only at the task force level when they're 'around the table.'"

Ignorance concerning a powerful/secretive organization that is part and parcel of the Corporatist/ TeaPublican agenda (now labeled GOP State Solutions) is no excuse to defend its, corrupting influence, trouble making, usurpation of individual rights and/or and federal government's powers to promote health and well-being throughout our nation.

Either SCHUITMAKER IS VERY NAIVE OR SHE IS SHILLING FOR A.L.E.C. and attempting to give it much needed cover. Around the nation the public is focused now on the extreme measures the long-term, Rad-Right Council is pushing on the various states in a blitz of legislation undercutting rules and regs not favored by the Corporatocracy and attempting to hitchhike legislation into law during this time of extreme economic crisis in the states.

"'Our members join for the purpose of having a seat at the table,' said Dennis Bartlett of ALEC in 1997. 'That's just what we do, that's the service we offer. The organization is supported by money from the corporate sector, and, by paying to be members, corporations are allowed the opportunity to sit down at the table and discuss the issues that they have an interest in.'

"This is the heart of the Trojan horse. Power in ALEC does not come from political acumen, IT COMES FROM BRUTE FINANCIAL FORCE. CORPORATIONS BUY THEIR WAY ONTO ONE OF ALEC'S SPECIALIZED TASK FORCES. There, 'legislators welcome their private-sector counterparts to the table as equals,' according to one ALEC publication. ACTUALLY, THE CORPORATE COUNTERPARTS ARE MORE THAN EQUAL. THEY HAVE VETO POWER. NO BILL IS RELEASED FROM A TASK FORCE WITHOUT THEIR APPROVAL. THE RESULTS OF SUCH AN ARRANGEMENT ARE PREDICTABLE. The task force on criminal justice, for example, has been co-chaired by a representative of Corrections Corporation of America, the nation's largest operator of private prisons. In 1996, ALEC issued model legislation to deregulate utility markets: the legislation was pushed by Koch Industries and Enron.

"After corporate members use ALEC to draft dream legislation, the "model" bills go home with state legislators. The ALEC bills are introduced, debated and voted on by other lawmakers who think the proposals are democratic creations." 

(Emphasis added)

-- Source: WILL POTTER , ALEC Documents Reveal How Corporations Secretly Create New Law.

So what does Schuitmaker's group sitting "around the table" promote or accomplish?

The Michigan group 'WE ARE the People' has formed a partial list:

"The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a vehicle through which global corporations and state politicians collaborate and vote behind closed doors to design legislation to benefit the huge corporations funding ALEC. These so-called 'model bills' reach into almost every area of American life and include things like imposing voting restrictions, undermining environmental protections, scapegoating immigrants to profit the private prison industry and defunding public education." 

And this is only the tip of a nasty iceberg which is threatening the balance and sustainability of state governments.

Sen. Schuitmaker says that A.L.E.C. is bi-partisan. As in most cases, the group reaches that level by sticky via tokenism. The vast number of members are Republicans and now Koch/Rove style Tea Party members. The "work" it does is down and dirty:

"ALEC is a force. By the organization's own account, about 180 of its model bills are enacted in at least one state every year. ALEC scored some of its highest-profile victories during 2011 in Wisconsin and Ohio, where newly-elected Republican governors and legislators attacked budget shortfalls with legislation that sharply restricts the bargaining power of public worker unions. The bills were passed just a few months after companies in ALEC's leadership put more than $304,000 into the campaigns of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Wisconsin state legislators, and spent more than $563,000 on Ohio Gov. John Kasich and lawmakers in the Buckeye State. Both Walker and Kasich are ALEC alumni."

snip

"In Wisconsin, the $304,607 leading ALEC companies put into 2010 campaigns was felt far beyond Gov. Walker's anti-union budget initiatives. State legislators also agreed this year to cap " along lines suggested by ALEC - the 'punitive' damages that can be assessed in personal injury lawsuits. The caps could save millions of dollars for ALEC's corporate members. And despite pleas from consumer groups, Wisconsin lawmakers voted to deregulate the telecommunications industry, also along lines promoted by ALEC.

"In Arizona, where firms on ALEC's private enterprise board have put nearly $16.6 million into state campaigns since 2001, the legislature attracted national attention and sparked a bitter partisan debate when it passed ALEC-backed legislation that gives state and local police new authority to detain suspected illegal immigrants. An investigation by National Public Radio found that one ALEC-member firm, the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), was a key player in the ALEC task force that drafted the model bill that spawned Arizona's law. CCA, which builds or runs prisons in 21 states and reported 2010 revenues of $1.7 billion, has identified immigrant detention as an emerging market." 

-- These accounts are provided by Common Cause HERE.

The people of Minnesota are finding out about the work of Schiutmaker's A.L.E.C. which she describes: IT'S JUST A COFFEE KLATCH, we are just discussing our own state's problems and solutions amongst ourselves brushing aside. It's her feeble attempt to mitigate her misrepresentation of the heavy and controlling interest A.L.E.C.'s over 300 corporatist members have in their DIRECT PIPELINE lawmaking and resolution factories, set up over time in many states, and active for decades with LITTLE OR NO PUBLIC SCRUTINY OR KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT THEY ARE AND DO.THAT ERA IS OVER.

Here's what Minnesota Common Cause found in their state: "(A.L.E.C.) bills were revealed as Common Cause released a report on the influence of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which is financially supported by corporations like Koch Industries and WalMart. At regular conferences, including one going on in New Orleans right now, these corporations draft corporate-friendly legislation that is approved by state legislators on legislative task forces and then introduced at state capitols across the country without disclosure that the business interests wrote them.

"'The work of ALEC shows how the Minnesota capitol is governed by corporate lobbyists instead of main street voters,' said Mike Dean, executive director of Common Cause Minnesota. 'Dozens of corporations are investing millions of dollars to write business-friendly legislation that is being passed into law without public knowledge and often at the expense of the public interest.'

"Common Cause Minnesota found a number of recent Minnesota bills that mirrored ALEC counterparts:

- Voter Restrictions: (HF 89, SF 479) Bill that critics say would suppress voter turnout. ALEC legislation.

- Taxation of Moist Snuff Tobacco: (HF 1079) This bill, created by tobacco companies, would create a tax break for moist tobacco. ALEC legislation.

- Cheeseburger Bill: (HF 264, SF 160) This bill partially shields large food companies from consumer lawsuits. ALEC connection from Inside ALEC magazine.

- End Greenhouse Gas Emission Goals (HF 509) This bill opposes efforts to restrict the emission of greenhouse gases. ALEC legislation.

"The ALEC conference in New Orleans this week includes workshops about pension reform, privatization of Medicaid and the benefits of C02 (in a global warming context)."
--Accounts from The Minnesota Independent & Minnesota Common Cause, Minnesota bills traced to controversial corporate group ALEC

What Tonya Schuitmaker wants you to never know is the true extent of the influenced and effectiveness of A.L.E.C.'s achievements and its many "gifts" delivered by state legislators, such as herself, to enhancing and abetting those contributing and controlling corporations in A.L.E.C.'s secret network:

Ms. Schuitmaker may give her time and loyalty to the American Legislative Exchange Council, enjoy its perks and privileges, go on its junkets, but back home she represents a very financially depressed district and many, many folks who live near "hand to mouth" - they deserve more and better from her than what her service to a corporatist front group is attempting to take from them and others in Michigan with Schuitmaker's facilitating- insider help-as a leading A.L.E.C. lawmaker.


Original Post.

Quotes: "... in the Hands of a Few" - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Lewis D. Brandeis

"Through size, corporations, once merely an efficient tool employed by individuals in the conduct of private business have become an institution-an institution which has brought such concentration of economic power that so-called private corporations are sometimes able to dominate the state.

The typical business corporation of the last century, owned by a small group of individuals, managed by their owners, and limited in size by their private wealth, is being supplanted by huge concerns in which the lives of tens or hundreds of thousands of employees and the property of tens of hundreds of thousands of investors are subjected, through the corporate mechanism, to the control of a few men.

Ownership has been separated from control; and this separation has removed many of the checks which formerly operated to curb the misuse of wealth and power. And, as ownership of the shares is becoming continually more dispersed, the power which formerly accompanied ownership is becoming increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few... [and] coincident with the growth of these giant corporations, there has occurred a marked concentration of individual wealth; and that the resulting disparity in incomes is a major cause of the existing depression."


-- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Lewis D. Brandeis

Original Post.

My Wealth vs. Government Taxation

My wealth and success are the direct result of my individual effort and rugged determination to make something of myself. Thus my wealth is a sure indication of God's specific blessing on me.

Too many individuals are slothful, inattentive and other-directed, and often are found in need of money or assistance in some manner. There are those who cater to the needs of the poor, the indolent, the lazy and have devised and used the coercive power of government to find means to provide for such "leechers" in society.

Most often it's the sinful lives of individuals that produce deadly disease, poor health, mental atrophy, and enscounce irrevocable habituation of lifestyles that hinder and prevent them from taking necessary "personal responsibility."

Sin Is Expensive
Throughout our declining culture "sin" has undermined the American Dream. Abandonment of families, children neglected and abused by parents, dishonest actions, sexual aberrations and unbridled license, theft on the job, rampent drug use, these all lend themselves to a real dashboard costs. The data is there.

The single mother with an illegitimate off-spring, a brain eaten away by drugs and delusions, the slothfulness of the "lazy" living on unending welfare, the "welfare cheat," these and others committing petty crimes, frauds, and major felonies are a dead weight on my economic well-being.

All things that are sinful, created by the sinful acts of others, cost me money. Those are high costs, borne by those with resources and some measure of income and/or wealth. Right bearing "strict values" activists must act to put "sin" under strict control and set real limits for the future. Isn't this what we learned from our Puritian Fathers? The Killer Clincher

To tax me, to coerce me to surrender my "blessings from God" is a very great evil. If you take from me my resources to enable those unworthy sinners who will not work and do not take "personal responsibility" for themselves, you (as represented by the police powers of government) are robbing me of God's Blessing. Therefore, I have a god-given right fight back, to defend myself from government taxes that are stripped from me to give "unearned" support to, and prosper, those who refuse to care for themselves.

Sin may come on other forms than that of the criminal mind, the mooch or the indolent welfare recipient. We view the worker who organizes to have power to participate collectively in the inner workings and privileged areas of business ownership that bear upon working conditions, safety, and wages, etc. as another kind of "thief." The union worker takes from ownership the powers of control over their own realm and makes demands that are inconsistent with the sterling standard of a right to "hire and fire at will."
We must defend the "divine rights" of proprietorship and wealth to be free of "sin's takings."

"It is a policeman's duty to protect men from criminals -- criminals being those who seize wealth by force. It is a policeman's duty to retrieve stolen property and return it to its owners. But when robbery becomes the purpose of the law, and the policeman's duty becomes, not the protection, but the plunder of property -- then it is an outlaw who has to become a policeman."

-- Ayn Rand, (1905-1982) Atheist & Author, Source: Atlas Shrugged, P. 535 (1957)

Original Post.

Daniel Howes, The Detroit News/Mackinac Center News & Ignoratio Elenchi

Response to Daniel Howes in "Crises necessitate emergency managers" in the Detroit News on April 22, 2011.

A commenter reporting in from (Mt.) Olympus, Michigan has grown giddy breathing in all that anti-public sector gaseous blather. Defending our sacred right to ignore the poor, with the bromide: "Our poor are rich by comparison." This intentionally misleading assertion does not account for what it means to be poor and unemployed, or worse yet mentally ill and/or unemployable in present day Michigan.

Food banks, homelessness, and re-sale shops, all of which now abound, testify to real needs or our neighbors. The new blight and seedy/greedy "licensed to steal" store fronts e.g. the Cash Advance and the Title Loan Outlets are covering the old Main Streets like a black-leafed kudzu.

Then comes Danny Howes: His message, blessed by the billionaire Koch Brothers and "Amen-ed" by the crudely partisan TeaPublicans, is: "The EM law would not threaten democracy if elected officials and those empowered to represent public employees instead trained their finely tuned political antennae on financial reality and charting a path out - because someone has to get the job done."

Howes might have had help developing the physical/mental flexibility to swallow his own tail like unto some mythical beast, when he so twists his flawed analysis of the serious nature of Michigan's "one state depression" into a contorted mis-truth such as his screed of local government: "Boil it all down, and the biggest rap against Michigan's stiffened Emergency Manager law is that it's anti-democratic."

The entire nation is looking on. Michigan has become the focus of dread and awe. Is this what a Republican Majority cowed by a smattering of anti-tax, "we got ours, go get your own" rowdies can do to a powerful state in real trouble? 

Lead into the taller Weeds, Howes.

You're taking opinion in this state further to the bottom; in a manner that is so blithely arrogant and condescending that its bitterness, in you opines, cannot be assuaged or sweetened. In fact, Howler Howes, your interpretation of the Emergency Finance Managers' purpose runs 180 degrees to Gov. Snyder's envisioned purpose of that new act: Preventive Help.

"An EM could privatize public services, restructure departments, rewrite supply contracts, assess the affordability of pensions and post-retirement health-care obligations and - the Big Kahuna - reopen collective bargaining agreements."

The Big Kahuna, as Howes so inelegantly labels this crisis, is demeaning to the citizens, first responders, teachers and a fleet of others you give over to the privatizers and the high-fee lawyers-all of whom like bottom feeders, will harvest for themselves much of the savings you pretend to believe will be garnered by this Corporatist Take Over of Michigan's local governmental units. 

Remember the top yearly pay allowed for an EFM is limitless, even beyond the salary of the governor. Over 300 EFM's have been "trained" that is run through a crip course. Danny, how many places do you think they will be needed?

There are scores of DetNews regulars who will agree with Howe's assessment: "There would be scant need for a new law empowering state-appointed outsiders to make the hard choices for municipalities and school districts if the people hired to make those choices in the first place actually did their jobs." But agreeing with Howes' pronouncement does not detract that the coming crisis, on top of the current crisis, the crisis created by Snyder's cut off of historic block grants is part of his Retro-Englerite advisers' Rube Goldberg tax-and-shift; the outright giving of approximately $.2.2billions to Snyder's base, the business community stolen from education, the poor, the elders. And what have these businesses done to earn bonanza-this gift outright?. .....That's right, Nothing!

Howes has blackened the reputations and integrity of every local governmental official in the state when he snidely concludes in his delusions and deductions: local governmental officials as a class are slackers: "(T)hey mostly don't," do their jobs properly or professionally. Put down that tarry broad brush.

Howes sees Michigan as diseased. Everywhere he sees, " symptoms of a disease whose cure begins with an honest, disinterested, financially sound assessment of where a locality or school district stands, what its revenue is and how the two can be reconciled free from the push and pull of power politics." Howes' shortsighted criticisms are invalid and decidedly injurious to the Michigan commons.

How over-extended is Howes' logic. He picks the "richest county" in Michigan to use as a dashboard for the state: Oakland Co. Even in the Kingdom of Patterson, roads turn to rubble, snow goes un-plowed, pot-holes do their damaging havoc, but Howes sees a bit of hope (in what may still, yet be a downgrading ) in Oakland's AAA credit rating.

Collectively all of these "incompetents" (as outed and so labeled by Howes) see the emanate dangers and the coming storm: "It is completely understandable for elected officials, union leaders and (semi-informed) members of the news media (caught an MSNBC rant on Michigan's new EM law, lately?) to rail against the apparent anti-democratic hooks of the controversial EM law." But Danny is more knowledgeable than these, more sure of his prejudices, he is, for sure his own favorite "expert". Yet Rachel Maddow has shown light in a very dark corner; Howes obviously must look away.

The problem is in Lansing, Danny. It's the deadhead TeaPublican Legislature, it's their inability to see that things are - actually in an upward trend. The main problem is they're fans and water carriers of A.L.E.C (The American Legislative Exchange Council- a secretive far right/pro-corporate and secret legislative bill mill) and also perennial partisan enemies of unions and public servants. The public reactions will continue. Recall efforts are underway. When 1,000 march in Marquette, even a paperboy knows there's real discontent and change in the air.

If Howes wants to be a cheerleader for Grover Norquist and his anti-civic gaggle of bathtub-drowners and silly "NO TAX" Pledgers, let him go to D.C. and ply, take up, his twisted trade on K Street. 

Howes would have us believe its all about lack of money-state revenues. No Danny, it's much more, it's about a culture of greed and resentment from many encouraged to whine rather than participate; People talk radio agitated and refusing to share in the responsibility and obligations of freedom and citizenship.

Gov. Milliken faced similar budget crisis problems; his good faith and belief in people; and a consensus to find real, across-the-board sharing; and even a temporary raise in taxes combo, brought us through former tough times. 

Look around, the wide-spread Koch Brothers' coup being rammed through state legislatures across America; represented in part by their paid mercenaries and the front they created, Americans for Prosperity; It becomes clear the Mega Wealthy have an "bum's rush" agenda designed in their favor.

This is an all-out attack on the Middle Class and a usurpation of dreadful opportunity created by a G.W. Bush induced near-Depression-crash of our national economy. For Bros. Koch, Amway, The Wal-mart Waltons, et. al. It has become an prime "disaster capitalist opportunity" to cash in on economic woe to carry out ideological and partisan reprisals and massive "take-backs."

For shame, Howes, in all of this you've become part of the greater problem, not the cure.


Original Post.