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Man, I wish now that I had kept these actual headlines when I saw them, but I find this both interesting and a bit scary.

Headlines in the major Michigan daily papers have been updating readers over the last few days on the "stimulus" package to be approved in Washington today.

Two days ago. Headline: Michigan to get $4.5 billion(ish) from stimulus.

Yesterday. Headline: Michigan to get $5 billion(ish) from stimulus.

Today?

$7B for Michigan in U.S. deal

Imagine how much we'll "get" once everyone actually finishes reading the bill.

I'll See Your 800 Billion

Read, if you want to become further depressed about the actions of our elected representatives... from BOTH parties.

How's that for enticement?

A New Day

Things are different in Hoosier land these days.

This would have never been taken care of like this under the past, cheating regime.

Nice job, coach.

All Over But The Countin'

This ain't nothing.

On its surface, the 10-year U.S. census seems simple. Just count people, right.

As Mr. O would say, "two, tree, four, ive, ix." Give that boy a White House job!

But it's not simple. There are those who think we should count actual people, and those who think we should guess, or "sample." Kinda like a poll.

Now, a simple, non-political count is being run from one of the two most political buildings in the entire country.

Let the guessing... I mean sampling game begin.

Yum

Blonde hair, blue eyes, tomato beard.

Switched At Birth

Just saw this short article today and thought...

Michigan Lt. Governor John Cherry











The Lion from the Wizard of Oz












Hmmmmm

Oh Man!

This is simply painful to watch. I don't wish this kind of... well, public humiliation on anyone, but Bobby, this ain't the back of the campaign plane anymore.

Ouch!

'89 Was A Good Year

I had a chance last night to talk with a class of MSU journalism students about the glamorous life led by a press secretary. I was invited by a reporter friend of mine who teaches the class, and it was fun.

I also realized an interesting thing about standing in front of a room full of students (these were mainly juniors and seniors). The experience makes you feel both young and very old all at the same time.

Young in that their energy is pretty contagious and you just feel younger having had a conversation on their turf without feeling like you're completely out of touch (although, as I write this sentence I realize how old I sound).

Old in that the memory etched in my mind from last night was when one girl said to another: "Oh good. You were born in '89. I don't like people born in the 90s."

2009 A.D.

A lot of Dough.

The State Of The State, Part Seven

So, I thought I'd offer some comments on tonight's State of the State Address. Why? Who knows.

The best thing -- or in this case, worse thing -- about my new TV service from AT&T is that I can record the speech while at the same time watching a couple episodes of "Bob the Builder" and "Thomas the Tank Engine." Certainly, those options will provide better TV.

Here we go, as the governor has entered the House chambers and taken the rostrum.

1. As we go through the routine "thank you's," on a personal note I like to say that I hate this event. It's so over-hyped and always under-delivered. And oh yeah, two years ago I had my leg set in a full cast four hours before having to manage the GOP response operations for this spectacle.
2. The governor, like the president, opens with a good shot at Bush.
   
3. There's something very funny about watching the governor talk firm about spending, veto pens and small government. It's like watching a SNL skit and just waiting for the actor to burst out laughing.
4. That said, a good message and one worth supporting. Imagine if she'd said it seven years ago.
   
5. Pay cuts for lawmakers. Not much applause there. Hmmmmm?
6. State Fair - gone. History, Arts and Libraries - gone.
7. Ah, frozen pizza is done. It's all up from here.
8. I think her prompter went out. She's looking down A LOT.
9. Gov. proclaims the jobs coming from all her movie production tax credits. Of course, tax cuts don't matter and certainly don't work... unless they're for cool things like movie stars.
10. So here's a bit of a disconnect. At the same time we will become home to the electric car, we'll also abandon the methods that produce virtually all our electricity.
11. Michigan: America's cloudy solar state. Three Michigan cities rank in the top 32 on the list of the nation's cloudiest cities. Bring on the solar panels.
    
12. Something strikes me as strange. She's not talking to the viewers. She's talking to the people in the room. I guess this kind of makes sense, but you'd also think she'd pay at least a little attention to the people watching at home. Maybe it's just the camera angle.
    
13. The governor is so very cheerful and upbeat in her condescension.
14. A theme to this speech has emerged. Things are bad, very bad, and it's all somebody else's fault.
    
15. It's over, thankfully. It started ok, but ended in the kind of populist buck-passing that gives all politicians a bad name. The frozen pizza was without question the highlight of the night.
    

Ah, The Asterisks

A couple weeks back, I wrote on this page:

Still, I'll be very interested to watch the reaction of those who have seemingly staked it all on Mr. Obama when the inevitable happens. When politics, reality or both come into play and all the great ideas end up on milk crates next to an urban freeway.

Today, the New York Times opens its Tuesday edition with this:

During almost two years on the campaign trail, Barack Obama vowed to slay the demons of Washington, bar lobbyists from his administration and usher in what he would later call in his Inaugural Address a “new era of responsibility.” What he did not talk much about were the asterisks.

The exceptions that went unmentioned now include a pair of cabinet nominees who did not pay all of their taxes. Then there is the lobbyist for a military contractor who is now slated to become the No. 2 official in the Pentagon. And there are the others brought into government from the influence industry even if not formally registered as lobbyists.

Somebody get the milk crates.