Columns – Page 236

The Muck Starts Here: We’re going there in a handbasket

May 3, 2015

By Barry Hastings Congress fiddles with sequestration of military funding while the world burns. Americans see whatever news directors determine will be the story of the day. There's no way you can know what's going on in the world with the pitiful, pitiable 30 minute national news broadcast we're offered...

Democracy Tree: State legislators gut 14th Amendment

May 1, 2015

by Amy Kerr Hardin It must hurt — the mental machinations and intellectual inconsistencies necessary for Michigan’s GOP lawmakers to time and again churn up conspiracy theories about federal government overreach. Tinfoil hatters are nothing new, but their numbers have swelled under Tea Party influence. Borne out of irrational fear...

Columns

Army Bob: Defeat ISIS/ISIL now or deal with version 4.0 later

April 30, 2015

What is in a name? ISIS or is it ISIL or is it Islamic Terrorism or “The B Team?” Quite frankly there is a lot in the name we use to refer to the newest and fastest growing state in the world. The official United States government’s name for this...

Democracy Tree: New angry white male political porn queen

April 28, 2015

Democracy Tree doesn’t typically stray into dust-ups acros the pond, but here we make an exception, because this story needs telling. Step aside Ann Coulter. Fox News babes, you can take a powder. There’s a new face for the angry white male political porn genre. Her name is Katie Hopkins,...

Ranger Rick: Some observations about the roads debacle

April 28, 2015

Well, Proposal 15-1 will soon be upon us in another week. We can vote ourselves more taxes (some estimates indicate an average Michigan household will experience $800 per year increase in taxes if this is passed), or turn it down. The legislators, those we voted for to make such decisions,...

Monday Moan: Three life lessons and learning from mistakes

April 26, 2015

By Jeff Salisbury jeffsalisbury@charter.net There’s an old proverbial phrase that goes something like this… "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade" Lemons, of course, are sour and bring to mind some sort of bitter experience or feeling, while using those same lemons to make lemonade and one where the result...

The Muck Starts Here: ‘Take our country back’ from whom?

April 26, 2015

by Barry Hastings GOP Presidential candidate wannabee (but soon to withdraw) Lindsey Graham stuck his foot in the water recently, trying to tie Hillary Clinton to the President's reactive foreign policy. All these GOP criminals are working overtime trying to hang what's happening across the middle east on Clinton and...

Yes It Is, It’s True: How long can United Bank be a holdout?

April 24, 2015

When you drive on 142nd Avenue west to Dorr from the expressway, you can see a billboard with a picture of President Arthur C. Johnson declaring that United Bank has been turning away takeover attempts since 1887. I admit I am impressed, but I wonder how much longer United Bank...

Army Bob: We must fix local roads. The state and feds won’t

April 23, 2015

The differences between the Dorr Township road millage and the state tax increases for “roads” are too many to list here. But the largest is that the Dorr millage is “fenced": the funds are dedicated, and every penny goes directly for Dorr Township roads and nothing but township roads. Unlike...

Columns

Soapbox from the past: ‘Oh, dusty roads, take me home’

April 22, 2015

EDITOR'S NOTE: Area township officials' continued hand-wringing and debate over dust control on rural gravel roads isn't really anything new, as proven by this editorial, written 25 years ago by Penasee Globe Editor Nila Aamoth. The editor examined the problem and proposed an interesting solution: by Nila Aamoth Now that...

Category: Columns