This is coming from a man who loves to make local units of government jump through hoops to get money from the state.

He'll require graphs, charts, metrics, notarized forms signed in triplicate and your mother's maiden name before even considering appropriating any money.

Unfortunately, he still won't hold himself to the very same standard that he requires of others.

Why is that?

"The carpeting is very worn out and at some point you can't keep stitching up holes and sealing seams with duct tape," Tim Bowlin, director of the House Business Office, said in a statement. "Some areas have been repaired multiple times and are literally falling apart."

British company Brintons was selected for the job as the low bidder among six proposals. The company also provided carpet installed during the Capitol restoration project that began in 1989, though it was under a different name at that time. The company's office in Atlanta, Ga. is handling the installation.

There's at least one Michigan company with experience in specialty high-profile government carpeting: Cascade Township-based Scott Group made rugs for the Oval Office for Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

REST

Possibly the most in-your-face government nanny state BS to ever grace a televised Tiger game is LIVE this weekend.  Seat belt enforcement zones in effect through Memorial Day

".. law enforcement officers from 155 agencies will be conducting safety belt enforcement zones in 26 counties across the state through June 2.

..

Agencies in the following counties will have extra officers out enforcing the state's seat belt law during the Click It or Ticket campaign: Allegan, Berrien, Calhoun, Chippewa, Delta, Eaton, Genesee, Grand Traverse, Houghton, Ingham, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Kent, Livingston, Macomb, Marquette, Monroe, Muskegon, Oakland, Ogemaw, Ottawa, Saginaw, St. Clair, Van Buren, Washtenaw and Wayne.

Annoyance at this program stems not so much from a common sense application of the tools used to protect passengers of automobiles, but rather the steamy breathed way it is presented as LAW. And that we pay for those ads. (perhaps legislators could look at funding that drives that type of inane garbage?)

YOU WILL PUT YOUR BELT ON, MAGGOT!

Detroit's assets and connected operations are ALL potential targets of a chapter 9 bankruptcy. Wheter its the electric service or an island, OR a publicly financed display of polished feces on a marble stand. The Detroit News reports of Kevyn Orr's warning to Detroit Administration that nothing is 'off the table':

" The city's new emergency manager has told the Detroit Institute of Arts it may "face exposure to creditors" if the city is forced to seek bankruptcy protection, a spokesman said Thursday night.

"This is a precautionary measure," said Bill Nowling, spokesman for Kevyn Orr, the city's emergency manager.

Nowling said while there is "no plan on the table to sell any asset of the city ... it is possible that the city's creditors could demand the city use its assets to settle its debts."

All of the warnings of financial collapse to the Detroit administration and city council have fallen on deaf ears for decades. For those same decades, the answer has been to personally raid the city piggy bank, allow infrastructure to fail, and the voters have rewarded that decision making with reelection and support; reinforcing bad decision making.

Clearly its time to cut the city loose to its destined end.

No matter if targeting for liberal or conservative groups, protecting the people of the state of Michigan from the abuses of government is one of the AG's duties. Bill Schuette today announced he is calling for a real investigation:

" I do not believe that President Barack Obama's administration is capable of investigating itself. That is why I have called for the appointment of a Special Prosecutor to investigate the I.R.S.'s actions targeting certain non-profit groups simply because of their political beliefs.

Allowing the I.R.S. to act in this heavy-handed, un-American way will have a chilling effect on our very American principles of freedom of speech, assembly and participation in the public sphere.

A special prosecutor is necessary to ensure that an investigation is independent, and that it uncovers the full extent of I.R.S. activities.

If you know of an organization that believes it has been targeted by the I.R.S, please forward that information and all supporting material to my office in care of my Director of Public Affairs, Rusty Hills, at hillsr@michigan.gov so that we can provide this information to U.S. Representative Dave Camp, Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, for his review.