Archive for October, 2011

Dan Calabrese

The Tigers often distract us from other news that will impact our quality of life many years down the road. Like right now.

And just as it did a generation ago, it shows how little our mindset has changed when it comes to the Big Three and labor deals.

You know that poster. You might even still have it hanging on your wall. I know I do. Give the Free Press credit for having the better front page that day, October 15, 1984. “Grrrr-eat!” roared the headline. The photo showed a triumphant Kirk Gibson, fists thrust in the air – an image that symbolized the emotion of a city welling up with exuberance.

But at the top of the page – hardly noticeable – was the teaser for a “second front page”: The Ford-UAW Deal. It was big news – and widely regarded as good news – because it meant what automaker/union deals always meant – labor peace. Although the Japanese automakers were already scaring us with their competitive threat, the Big Three still owned the bulk of market share in those days, and generous union contracts were still seen as the logical and welcome result of our hometown companies’ market prowess.

It was in those days that the lucrative bestowing of wage hikes, health care benefits and retirement packages brought smiles of satisfaction from just about everyone in Michigan. The unions loved it because they were making bank. The automakers were relieved that they didn’t have to deal with any strikes, and they liked the positive PR of telling the community that they took care of their workers.

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Robert Laurie

There’s nothing like fall in Detroit. The air turns crisp, leaves begin to change, and pumpkins appear at the grocery store. Shoppers bundle up and head to the Farmers Market for corn stalks and hay bales to use in their Halloween decorations. Parents stock up on candy while kids get to work on costumes.

We’re a city of traditions and, unfortunately, so is the Detroit Public Schools system. Halloween is no longer Michigan’s only October holiday. These days, we have “Count Day,” and to the people running the DPS, it’s far more important than anything you’ll find on a calendar.

In case you missed it, yesterday was Count Day 2011.

For every child in a DPS building on Count Day, the city gets about $7400.00 in state funding. On a normal day, about 60,000 kids show up. Ten thousand are absent, meaning that – if those numbers hold – DPS sees itself losing around $7.4 million. Obviously, it’s in DPS’s interest to push attendance as high as possible, at least for The Day That Matters. But, if kids and parents don’t care about an education on any other day of the year, when their futures are on the line, why should they show up to help the budget?

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Eric Baerren

Late last month, Gov. Rick Snyder said something incredibly peculiar. He said that he wanted to address a problem by tackling one of its causes. Anyone not shocked that he’d say such a thing, rather than making an empty gesture designed only to generate headlines, hasn’t for very long been a student of Michigan politics.

During one of those special messages he occasionally delivers to the state Legislature, Snyder said that we not only need to address childhood obesity, but that doing so required that we help make better, more nutritious food available to their parents. In doing so, he promoted programs that double food stamp purchasing power when it comes to produce found at places like farmers markets.

A week later, normalcy was restored. Snyder’s administration had undermined his articulated goals by instituting an assets test for food stamp recipients. Poor people with more than $5,000 in the bank will no longer, in the state of Michigan, qualify for food stamps.

To call the move short sighted is an insult to short sightedness. Some have called it cruel. It is that. Also applicable are words like boneheaded, needless, visionless and counterproductive. One thing it isn’t is a necessity created by a state budget deficit. Food assistance is a federal program, and the state of Michigan’s role is to merely distribute those federal dollars by way of EBT to state-issued Bridge Cards.

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Jake Davison

OK. Here goes. You’re supposed to follow up after a few days anyway.

Hi, is Ms. Williams available? This is Chris Downing. Oh, yes, yes, I’ll hold, thank you. Hi, Janet? Oh, hi Mike. No, no, that’s OK, that’s OK. Yeah, sure. So, uh, thanks for taking my call. This is something that’s really better on the phone than e-mail.

Have you and Janet made a decision yet? Oh, well, good. Am I still in the running? Great, well, I’ve had some time to think about it and I’ve decided that the figure you mentioned last week is fine. What? At the last place? Almost twice that.

After the busy season, if you guys aren’t in a position to offer more, I won’t have any trouble finding another job, especially given the kind of job I’m going to do for you and Janet. All I want is a slightly nicer job title, and that’s not going to change what the job is at all. It’s just that a nicer job title will be worth some extra money to me next busy season if I need to move on. Just call it Technician.

OK, thanks. Um, is what I’m saying sound good? I mean, I want you to know that I really mean it. I’m not resigned to it or looking at my checking account balance and then forcing myself to say this. You know what I mean? Thanks, thanks, though I know that doesn’t mean I get to start tomorrow, does it? Ha, ha.

Um, also, Janet talked about wanting someone who’s a good fit since it’s such a small office. And I know you don’t want someone who is trying to advance themselves at the expense of the work they’ve been assigned or who thinks after a couple months that he knows how to run the place.

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Dan Calabrese

In July, I wrote in support of Oakland County District Judge Kimberly Small, who has upset a lot of people by sentencing drunk-driving first offenders to “horrific” jail sentences of 15 to 30 days. That’s well within the law, but since most judges just give you a slap on the wrist until you have multiple offenses, Judge Small is attracting the ire of many.

If a jail sentence of a few weeks is too harsh for someone who “made a mistake” and drove over the legal limit – although I don’t think they drank the booze mistakenly; I think they meant to drink it – that may come as a surprise to the family of Renee Robbins, the 18-year-old graduate of East Kentwood High School who was killed on Sunday by a drunk driver in Vermont, where she was attending college.

The driver, 22-year-old Derek Seber, might have preferred 30 days in the cooler for a mere DUI. It might have taught him his lesson – although I wouldn’t bet on it. Now he could be looking at negligent homicide.

But the truth is that even if every judge did what Judge Small does – and I’d be all for that – it would barely make a dent in the problem, which is really not drinking and driving at all. The problem is a culture that insists on intertwining the consumption of alcohol with all possible forms of fun, recreation and relaxation.

The details of the accident that killed Renee Robbins bear this out.

Understand, she was not hit by the car Seber was driving. She was riding in it. All told, there were eight Norwich University students riding in the car, having just come from a party that was attended by more than 100 other Norwich University students.

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Brett Noel

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Jocelyn Benson

I know I would not be the person I am today without teachers.

My parents were teachers – special education teachers – which meant a childhood spent in classrooms while my mother worked late to meet with parents or finish reports for the day. And conversations around the dinner table involved Dad talking about the importance of studying history, while Mom shared stories about her students’ achievements. Their work was a mission that continued long after the end of the school day.

My high school English teacher appointed me to my first leadership position and gave me the confidence to seek out ways that I could contribute to righting things that were wrong. And a junior high civics teacher inspired me study all sides of an issue, and to see political work as an avenue to improve peoples’ lives.

Teachers exist to help unlock the ability in each of us to live up to our full potential as citizens.

So what does it mean for the future of our state if politicians wage a war against this group of people who are charged with training and inspiring our youngest Michiganders?

Because in Lansing, at the same time many of us are sending our children off to school, some legislators are pushing bills that target the very teachers who are working to educate our next generation of citizens and voters.

Last week the House passed legislation to make it harder for teachers to work together, build a unified voice and participate in the democratic process. The bill eliminates the ability for teachers to choose to contribute to their union electronically through their payroll.

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Herman Cain

As I launch a two-week book tour around the USA promoting “This is Herman Cain! My Journey to the White House,” it’s a perfect time to reflect upon my campaign for president, and how we got to this point.

Entering the race to make the world a better place for my grandchildren – I made a commitment to do what I could to bring this country back to what Ronald Reagan so famously referred to as the “shining city on a hill.”

With 14 million Americans out of work, an unemployment rate of over 9 percent, a weakened military and a weakened dollar – we’re facing the worst economic times since the Great Depression.

My message for Barack Obama is this: Your Hope and Change just ain’t working!

We need leadership in the White House – not a community organizer. And as a successful business leader and CEO, my executive experience in turning around struggling companies is just what this country needs.

Growing up in the segregated South with little money, my family was rich in faith, love and a belief in the American dream. I learned from my parents, Lenora and Luther Cain, Jr., that empowerment – not entitlement – was the key to achieving success in life. You have to work hard, and given the right national policies for less government and lower taxes, the sky is the limit.

It’s true that I’m not a politician.  Some say that means I can’t understand the government. Washington is full of politicians – how’s that working out for us?

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Robert Laurie

Taxation without representation. It was the primary spark that ignited the revolutionary war, led to the creation of our country, and still manages to be the perfect summation of all things unjust. This is America. By and large, we believe that, if you’re giving the government your money, you should be able to vote and have a say in how it’s spent.

Unless of course you live in Metro Detroit.

Here, if you live in the ‘burbs but work downtown, you give 1.25 percent of your income to the city and, in return, you get nothing. No vote, no say, no input whatsoever. It’s unfair, unjust, and immoral – and reversing it is the ticket to saving Detroit in one easy step.

Consider the city’s population. Once, it numbered in the millions. It was expansive, racially and politically diverse, and concerned with the future of Southeast Michigan. Our public infrastructure was intact, and we enjoyed a functional local government. Back then, most of Detroit’s workforce lived inside the city limits, so city taxes made sense.

According to the last census, Detroit’s official population sits at 713,000 – though some suggest the figures have been cooked to keep the number as high as possible. We are saddled with a crumbling city and a dysfunctional local government.

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