Tag: Light Rail boondoggles

The Michigan Senate approved a five-bill package Tuesday establishing a regional transit authority for Metro Detroit and allowing public transportation projects to be funded with a voter-approved registration fee on car owners.

The bills, sought by Gov. Rick Snyder, are seen as crucial to funding a regional transit authority for Metro Detroit and empowering the authority to take over management of the region's major bus systems and create dedicated high-speed bus lanes on the area's busiest corridors.
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Senate Bill 911 would allow the transit authority to seek voter approval in Macomb, Oakland, Washtenaw and Wayne counties for a special motor vehicle registration fee to fund the authority's transportation projects. Under the bill, voters could be asked to approve a registration fee not to exceed $1.20 for every $1,000 of a vehicle's listing price.

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The recently approved DIA Tax had to be the lame-duck trial run for the convicted felon's SB 911 stink-bomb.

But, it makes the Canadians, Gary Peters, and the Governerd, are all giddy, so what the 'fiscal cliff' Hell?  Screw Grover's initiated Tax Pledge to the constituents - Goonion labor Amtrak choo-choo money pits for  e v e r y o n e!

"Michigan's citizens are tired of the divisive political culture in Lansing," Snyder said on the campaign trail. "Midnight deals, closed-doors meetings, lobbyists and special interest influence have stood in the way of long-term solutions.

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An upbeat Gov. Rick Snyder said Wednesday that there might be "shovels in the ground" for the New International Trade Crossing bridge project within two to six months.

But Ken Silfven, Snyder's deputy press secretary, later clarified, saying the governor was using "two to six months" as a metaphor for receiving the U.S. Presidential Permit needed for the project to proceed. Actual construction might begin in two to three years.

OK, by force of government, you got your bully pulpit way, Snyder.  Congratulations.  Thus, provides a perfect time for some much needed levity.

An American economist traveled to China to observe a canal project. The Chinese delegation showed him the plans and the model of everything that would be built along this new masterpiece. When they traveled out to the worksite, the economist was aghast at what he saw. The men were all using hand tools such as shovels, pick axes, and wheelbarrows.

The American economist asked the leader of the Chinese delegation, "Why on Earth are your people using hand tools? Why are there no bulldozers or other modern equipment?"

The leader of the delegation stood up straight and replied, "If we used that type of equipment, all of these men would lose their jobs in a couple of months."

The economist rubbed his chin in thought and then smiled, "Oh, it's a jobs program. Why don't you take away their shovels and give them spoons?"

The rest is worth your time.

via The Detroit News

The Michigan Republican Party on Tuesday pulled a cable TV ad that bashes Detroit while touting Oakland County's GOP.

County Executive L. Brooks Patterson saw the 34-second ad and asked state GOP Chairman Bobby Schostak on Tuesday to pull it, saying it was unnecessarily negative.

Patterson, who is undergoing rehabilitation for injuries suffered in a car crash, received a resounding no, spokesman Bill Mullan said.

"I've always run political campaigns built on positive messages. My campaign has asked the independent entity that produced this ad to take it down, but they've refused," Patterson said in a statement on Tuesday. "Detroit has its challenges. But my administration has always tried to be part of the solution."

More with video of pulled commercial

And, folks still try to tell me that there is a Two Party system.  Again .. Shut up, Brooks.  Your 73-year-old duplicitous tongue needs to head out to pasture, and tell tales of how you remember your legend to your grandchildren.  Everything has a built in obsolescence, Brooks - you, like this dangerous fossil, have finally met yours.

Huawei, a global Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturer already doing limited business in the U.S., poses a threat to national and corporate security say members of the U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Those congressmen speak to Steve Kroft for a 60 Minutes investigation to be broadcast Sunday, Oct. 7 at 7:30 p.m. ET and 7:00 p.m. PT.

The world's largest maker of telecommunications equipment has been under investigation for the past year by the committee, which will issue its report on the Chinese company on Monday. The committee's chair, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), tells Kroft, "If I were an American company today...and you are looking at Huawei, I would find another vendor if you care about your intellectual property, if you care about your consumers' privacy, and you care about the national security of the United States of America."

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No kidding, Mike.  Good thing the Canadians had Snyder file a Buy American waiver on their DRIC, too.