Running Government Like a Business?

October 23rd, 2010 · 4 Comments

Job cuts, factory closings, foreclosures, bank failures — do we really want government run like a business?

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Tags: Freedman

A Dent in the Wall of Distrust

July 1st, 2010 · 1 Comment

A Dent in the Wall of Distrust by John Lindstrom Gongwer News Service July 2, 2010 In black and white kinescopes, a reed-thin Johnny Carson comes back to us from the days in the 1950s when he was being introduced to America as the host of a game show called Who Do You Trust? A [...]

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Tags: Weekly Update

Dusting Off a Successful Tax Strategy

May 27th, 2010 · 2 Comments

Dusting Off a Successful Tax Strategy by Neil Munro June 1, 2010 Detroit Free Press columnist Mitch Albom recently demanded, “In my Detroit, you cannot sit on vacant property in major development zones. Either you can develop it, or get fined so badly you’ll sell it to someone who will.” Among other things, the Motor [...]

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Tags: Oakland County

Smothering the Hope of an Early Budget

May 27th, 2010 · 3 Comments

Smothering the Hope of an Early Budget by John Lindstrom Gongwer News Service May 28, 2010 Let us not talk falsely now, because the hour is getting late. So would Bono have sung at the U2 concert at Michigan State University on June 30 had not middle age caught up with him and found him [...]

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Tags: Weekly Update

License to Report

May 27th, 2010 · 1 Comment

License to Report May 28, 2010 Nobody, including the press, is very happy with the press these days. So State Senator Bruce Patterson, a man of luxuriant mustaches and florid expressions, came up with an idea: Regulate’ em. Set up a board to check reporters’ credentials, license them as if they were manicurists or lawyers, [...]

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Tags: Jack Lessenberry

The Politician-to-English Dictionary

May 27th, 2010 · 3 Comments

The Politician-to-English Dictionary by Susan J. Demas June 1, 2010 Any junior-high girl will tell you that you can’t believe what a catty classmate says to your face. Sure, Tiffani might coo that your new zebra handbag is soooo cute, but once you leave the room, she’ll whisper that you must have gotten it on [...]

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Tags: Press Box

Teacher Retirement Push Nothing to Brag About

April 22nd, 2010 · 4 Comments

Teacher Retirement Push Nothing to Brag About April 23, 2010 Next time you are out with a group of friends, ask each one to answer this question: “Who was the teacher who had the most influence on your life?” You will be surprised on two fronts: everyone will have an answer and won’t sit there [...]

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Tags: Tim Skubick

You Don’t Know This Jack

April 22nd, 2010 · 4 Comments

You Don’t Know This Jack April 23, 2010 Have you ever thought about what it would be like to see yourself being portrayed in a movie? Would you be flattered? Outraged? Freaked out or creeped out? Though I have my own fantasies, mainly involving the sudden inheritance of vast wealth and, occasionally, major league baseball [...]

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Tags: Jack Lessenberry

Campaign Arm-Wrestling

April 22nd, 2010 · No Comments

Campaign Arm-Wrestling by John Lindstrom Gongwer News Service April 23, 2010 In the fabled land of Klopstokia, the president was he, or she, who could out arm-wrestle everyone else. Cabinet meetings always began with the president, played by W.C. Fields in the picture Million Dollar Legs, outwrestling his cabinet members. It was a land of [...]

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Tags: Weekly Update

Constitutional Roulette

April 20th, 2010 · 3 Comments

Constitutional Roulette by Tom Shields April 16, 2010 The sheer challenge of collecting a half-million signatures and raising millions of dollars to put a proposal on Michigan’s November ballot has already done its weeding job. Michigan voters will not entertain anti-mining or the anti-insurance job proposals this year. And, unless proponents of two casino-related proposals [...]

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Tags: Making Sausage

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