Michigan Likes Obama: They like his cash-infused gov’t breast milk

Michigan overwhelmingly loves Obama, 71 percent approval. I get it.

Although I understand that Michiganders want to cling to the entitlements and the overblown benefits that have sustained them for so long, I don’t think it’s good. The sense of entitlement is so prevasive in Detroit and other regions of Michigan that reversing it is difficult for me to contemplate. And Obama is feeding their lecherous frenzy.

 

i’ll digress into a story that really has little to do with this article but exemplifies the “me-me” society our overbearing government has produced.

It’s just one instance, but I see things like this all the time. I was at walk-up line at Checker’s in Hamtramck and it took about 20 minutes to get my food. There were two people in front of me — a cheery truck driver who said he only orders one thing at a time or the service decreases exponentially, and this woman with a forty ounce malt beverage and her son who ordered two value meals. As we waited I watched kids leaving school and yelling things, like, “fuck you nigga,” across the street to one another, seemingly oblivious of the elderly Polish women trudging nearby. It was only friendly banter. In line, the two people in front of me discussed the horrible service. They’d both experienced it at this location before, as had I. The woman started complaining how we all deserved free meals or pops, etc. The man took his Checkerburger and contently walked back to his truck. When the lady and her son’s food was ready she started her rant about how she deserved free stuff. She got it — I think free pops. I didn’t ask for anything or expect anything. This is why: I’ve been to this location several times and I know they are horrible at their jobs. I go back for the food and the convenience, so if I’m not fulfilling my obligation as a responsible consumer, I have no right to presume they own me anything besides the product and service they provide and which I’m already familiar with. You can’t very well complain about a shoddy product you knew you were going to get. If they want to increase the value of their product by giving free pops to compensate for their crappy service, that’s the business’s prerogative, not the consumer’s.

Anyway, I see a lot of Obama supporters who think the way this woman does and not just regarding businesses they frequent.

No one owes anyone anything. The only reason you give something to anyone else is because of mutual benefit. No one owes you anything. Liberate yourself and affect your individuality. There truly is no such thing as charity — depending on how you define it.

GM Stock: Baby Wipes???

I Like this artickel

I only read a few lines, but I saw mention of uncle Joe, farting and dogs — that’s enough. Those words provoked an analogy-esque vision of National Lampoon’s Family Vacation. GM is a nice, powerful, wood-grained station wagon, able to go anywhere. But there’s one problem. Remember when they forgot the dog was tied to the car and drove about 50 miles before being pulled over. i see GM similarly: they’re the same capable car  but with way more dogs tied on — the UAW. They could go faster and further but the law, insufficient cash flow and demand, is pulling them over. They’re overextended. They’ll never hit top speed and there’s no way to untie the dogs when you’re already driving down the highway. I guess they’ll have to stop and cut their losses. Almost the same as bankruptcy.

Michigan Cuts Government: I say good.

Check our this article about Michigan’s deficit: So Michigan – one of the grandest of states in my estimation, as far as people and natural aesthetics — is running a $1.3 billion dollar deficit. So what, a tenth of a percent of the tarp program — pocket change – and they’re cutting government spending by $300 million while filling in the rest of the hole with federal “stimulus” money. Sounds like GM to me. How long can you risk operating at a deficit. If there is anything we should have learned from the banking and auto crisis, it’s don’t overextend yourself. The market can shift in an instant and you’d better make sure you have the cash flow to adjust. If I overdraft my meager checking account I get charged a juicy $33-per-transaction overdraft charge, and you bet your dollar-bill-shooting ass I overcorrect my mismanaged budget. The state is simply making minor cuts and doing the equivilent of supplementing their inflated lifestyle with Grandma’s Christmas check — which doesn’t last long. Believe me. Hey, Michigan, I recommend you downgrade from Heineken to Natural Light and start getting drunker before you go out so you don’t spend so much at the bar. That’s what I do in tough times. I even buy my clothes at Goodwill and eat other people’s leftover grilled cheeses out of the garbage. Well, minus the last part. What’s worse: The article indicates they are counting on another chunk of $650 million — aka next year’s Christmas money — to subsidize a projected 2010 budget deficit. Stop it already. Please. Fire enough people and withdraw enough grant money that we can have a few dollars extra. If government is too big for what Michigan gets in tax revenue, do something about it. You’re all a bunch of wishy-washy, ass-kissing, pretentious bastards, to worried to make a big cut that will damage your voting base. That is why government is never efficient. And then they’re cutting Medicaid, which is a very touchy cut to make because it already insufficiently subsidizes the government-teet-suckling moochers that it’s supposed to be for. And guess what: When the government doesn’t provide a hospital the market value of their servies, they either pass it on to the insurance companies and paying patients, or find a new line of work, neither which it good for society. We pay Medicaid as taxpayers and then we pay extra as patients. Entitlements don’t work. They don’t and never will. Charity is one thing, but people will never — never — respect money given to them for free and which they are deemed “entitled.”

Please, if you don’t have a job and can’t find one, move?

I don’t think anyone owes me anything — a job, welfare, health care, anything. I worked for a large heartless corporation, hated it, and respected my bosses for every dollar i earned.  This article indicates that over 22 percent of Detroit residents are unemployed, and knowing that, I assume suckling from the societal tit. If I weren’t employed, and assuming I sat and waited complacently, and I was unwilling to accept handouts, I’d be forced to actually try and take care of myslef within a month or two, or possibly die.

  

In nature, when a drought occurs, animals must move one. In out societal nature, when the economy dries up, people expect the government to pull water from productive people’s ponds (or those whose ancestors were productive) and refill theirs. Money doesn’t come out of thin air; someone earned it. There is no second thought by poor people as to where their food and clothes come from. And it’s not their fault. it’s the enabler’s. The government. Charity is the only pure way to help those without. Government is not. it taints the human spirit, because they did not earn it. Their birth is the right they presume for other’s money, or rather, someone elses’ body and mind’s production.

It’s time to let people starve and learn what they are made of. I have rich friends that were never parented, but filtered money to shut them up — toys, cars trips — and I know they envy me, because I self-actualize; I depend on my own abilities, they depend on others’.

Buick Is Cool

Check out how cool Buick is: http://freep.com/article/20090319/BUSINESS01/90319021/Buick+ties+for+first+in+dependability+study

Now, Check out how cool my old Buick was:

I love Buick’s for some reason, especially the bare-bones Centrury of the mid-1990s. I actually bought this one for $1,700 in cash. At the time it had hubcaps and not two-toned, but I ran it into a lawn gnome and over a metal fire pit. If I had taken better care of it, I bet it’d be around today. Anyone looking for a cheap, reliable car should look at older model Buicks. We’ve had two Park Avenues in our home that made it over 200K with few to no issues. I currently have an Impala pushing 200K, but I like the Buick better.

You’re afraid of Pollution in Detroit?

http://www.freep.com/article/20090317/NEWS01/90317078/Hundreds+protest+plan+for+proposed+bridge+to+Canada

Not that I’m for pollution, but I think that is a ridiculous argument against building another bridge between Detroit and Canada. First, is the trash dumped in Detroit, and second, even if it is, would more efficient transit really increase the amount being imported? Importing garbage is an entirely different subject than whether to build a bridge. I hope Matty Maroun builds another bridge. He is responsible for a lot of wealth in Detroit and he is driven to succeed even in the twilight of his life. Maybe not all, but a good portion of his wealth goes toward the growth and sustainability of his companies. His ambition helps all of us and there are a lot of families that owe him their livelihood.

Hamtramck Blowout, Overblown???

Hamtramck Blowout 12

I’m not a huge fan of trends, and there everywhere, but there is something that feels forced about the Detroit music scene to me. First of all, I’m more into hippy-ish, Jam-band stuff, but I’m pretty open-minded as music goes. I feel like they’re all copying each other though, trying for a White Stripes image, or just to be “edgy” in some way, which I don’t even really know what that means but when bands try it, it shows through. I saw a few bands this Blowout, not enough to state a real concrete opinion, but the bands I did see seemed prety run of a mill, trying to be high-energy loud rock, but sounded like everything else in Detroit to me. I don’t get people so I’m not a real good person to guage local popular culture.

One band I wanted to see but missed was Great Lakes Myth Society. Were they good

I’d like to see more diversity in Detroit music within the respective scenes and I’d like to see more jam bands. Where are they? There are countless festivals in Michigan and nationally highlighting jam music. There’s money in it. Why aren’t bars or people in Detroit interested?

The only place I’ve seen jam bands are a seldom show at Cadieux Cafe and a couple times at the Magic Bag.

One of the few things still going for Hamtramck, the Hamtramck Blowout music fest

Check out this link for info: www.metrotimes.com/blowout

I’ve only been once but I saw a few good acts. It’s nice seeing people out in the ghost town of Hamtramck. I recommend you check it out. I can’t make the weekday shows. planning to check out the Great Lakes Myth Society and others Friday, though.

DTE is the worst company on Earth, worse than Comcast.

I hate government enforced monopolies, namely DTE Energy, the worst company ever. I moved in to my Hamtramck home last December in 2007 but didn’t move in until January 2008, though I did have services turned on. I didn’t turn the heat on until I moved in January. I was paying bills that were what I expected in the Winter, ranging from mid-$200 up to mid-$400. The prices decreased as the need for heating gas decreased — makes sense. So then in June I get a bill for $1,200. They claim that they had been rating me based on previous averages and that when they eyeballed the meter it showed more usage than that. Considering he heat was used little to none after April and none in December, the additional charges were $1,000 for the miscalculation, if you distribute that against the 4 months my bills would have been as high as nearly $700, even though I kept the thermostate at 70 degrees. It’s a standard 3-bedroom Hamtramck home so that is excessive. I am fairly intelligent and I asked for every reading they had. They hadn’t read he meter from several months prior to me moving in to several months after I moved in. If the readings are accurate, how do they know when the use transferred from the previous customer to me. It doesn’t make sense that they don’t know that but charge me $1,000 out of the blue.

So I moved out of the home temporarily in September and started a payment plan. I couldn’t prove they were wrong because I didn’t fully understand it. I missed a payment and the electric and power were shut off. With no lights looters took their queue and broken it steal my refrigerator, three TVs, two computers, a stereo and who knows what else. It took me several weeks to save the money to pay up the additional $1,000 bill they slapped on me out of nowhere.

Now, the next step: Getting gas and electric back after I cleared my balance. Easier said than done. They need to get in the house to turn on the gas. I set a date. Naturally it’s over a week out because they are so booked. Mind you, I still don’t live in town and explained that I would need a 10-minute lead to get my brother there. On Feb. 19 they turned on the electric and I never received any call about the gas. I called the next day and was told that the system said they called and I didn’t answer. Well, I have no missed calls. Tough luck, I have to reschedule. It’s set for Feb. 24.

On Feb. 24 I do get a call from “withheld.” I miss it and check the voicemail immediately. I call the number they left in less than a minute after missing the call. I’m told I missed my appointment they will not call the tech. and I have to reschedule. Sweet. They reschedule for March 3.

So the “withheld” call comes and I answer. They say they’re near my house and I say my brother will be there in 10 minutes. The technician says, OK, and he’s going to do another job real quick. Over an hour later my brother calls and said they never returned. I called DTE and they say I need to call back. Their “system is down.” I call back and the phone representative said I wasn’t available and I explained what happened. Too bad, I have to reschedule a 4th installation date for over a week away, March 13.

This is the kind of service you get when there are monopolies and no competition. And they don’t want to hear your complaints. They don’t have anyone you can complain to over the phone, only a Web site from which they probably direct all complaint emails into a cyber-black hole. They know they are the only people that can provide me gas and electric so why do they care that they have already screwed me over three times

In a free market our dollars could make them respond to their customer, but with the government their on;ly customer, service dwindles. What can we do but complain to our corrupt politicians? This is why free markets are so important. I feel like I’m trapped and have no viable recourse. It is a very frustrating feeling, rather than a liberating feeling.

At least with Comcast I was able to switch to Direct TV when they pissed me off. DTE and the government have us by the gonads with this monopoly.

What a Wonderful Community, Hamtramck.

This is insane.

I couldn’t stop thinking about this article for at least a couple of days, but instead of thinking about the reality of it, I kept picturing little Ralph Wiggum from the Simspons saying those things to make it funny, otherwise it’s equivilent to that feeling you get if you watch someting like “Faces of Death.”

“My Mom cooks me like a turkey in the oven”

My neighbors are neat.