Come Heller high water …
- Apropos of nothing, President-elect Trump said this week that flag-burners should be jailed or kicked out of the country. Well, of course they should. So should singers who mangle the Star Spangled Banner at baseball games. And Olympic athletes who drape the flag around their sweaty shoulders. And people who have American flag butt patches or bandanas. And people who forget the words to the Pledge of Allegiance and just move their lips. And people – especially smart alecky columnists – who criticize the Donald for tweeting out stupid thoughts like people who burn the flag should be jailed.
And you thought Trump would propose crazy stuff in office. How silly of you.- “It is poignant but fundamental that the flag protects those who hold it in contempt” – Justice Kennedy, 1989.
- I have given this matter a lot of thought, and I have decided that in the end I’m not a fan of those dancing lights you can project onto your house. It seems like lazy Christmas decorating to me. And I should know. Look at my house and you’ll see my Christmas lighting display consists of a single line of lights strung along the porch roof (very linear and creative of me, I thought) and another string that haphazardly encircles an arborvitae. Oh, and a couple of bush nets that are too small for the bushes they’re on. Next year I’m definitely getting those projected dancing lights. What the hell.
- I wrote recently about fake and misleading social media posts. Here’s one that annoyed me just now: “Michigan is about to sell 100 million gallons of groundwater to Nestlé for $200.” That’s simply not true. Yet. The state is, in fact, taking written public comment through Saturday. Submit via e-mail at deq-eh@michigan.gov or mailed to Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance, P.O. Box 30241, Lansing, Mich., 48909-7741.
- And, yes, it’s ridiculous that, according to state policy, a company can pump as much water out of the ground as it wants for free and sell it.
- It’s also ridiculous that a company can sell Ice Mountain water that doesn’t, in fact, come from an ice mountain. I guess Mecosta County’s Finest doesn’t have the same ring. (Mecosta County, west of Mt. Pleasant, is where Nestle draws its water.)
- So let me get this straight: In Trump-think, a woman who potentially endangered national security by sending classified emails through a private server is not fit to be president. And her husband, who was involved in a sex scandal, is not fit to be First Dude. But a guy who actually did endanger national security (one David Petraeous) by sharing classified information with his mistress – and is still on probation for that offense – is somehow fit to be Secretary of State. OK. Got it.
- Here’s what I don’t get: Pro sports franchises are extremely lucrative, right? So how come every time a team wants a new arena, they plead poverty and beg for public money to get it built? The answer, of course, is they do it because they know they’ll get it. Cities and states fall all over themselves to shove money at sports franchises. It’s embarrassing. You and me, naturally, end up paying the bill. And how does the team pay us back? By raising ticket prices, charging an arm and a leg for parking and $8 for a damn beer, that’s how.
- I’m referring, of course, to the Detroit Pistons’ announced intent to move to downtown Detroit, which will cost taxpayers (in a state with crappy roads, substandard schools and crumbling cities) $34.5 million. Some Detroit City Council members have said – for show, mostly – that they haven’t made up their mind yet whether they’ll give into the Pistons’ demand, but you know they will. Public officials get all weak-in-the-knees giddy when it comes to sports glitz. Or as Mayor Duggan breathlessly said, “There are a very few times in this country that a professional sports team came to a city for a $34 million contribution.”
- Contribution? Is that what a ransom is called these days? (Pay up or we won’t grace you with our presence.)
- “In a democracy people get the leaders they deserve” – Joseph de Maistre.
Image credit: DonkeyHotey
thanks for the contact info. just sent my rave off. let’s start a TURN OFF THE SPIGOT movement.
Hypocrisy runs deep in the republican party. Their “do as I say and not as I do” attitude sure grates on many of us.
There is a huge difference in what Petreus did and what Hillary did. He gave his friend who was writing a book some stuff which contained classified materials.
Hillary put the whole State Dept in jeopardy and had multiple people handling and passing info who did not have security clearance, not to mention leaving it all vulnerable to hacking from other countries.
The major difference is that the media was not at all concerned about Hillary’s offences, but went berserk over Petreus.
Right, because I’ve read endless reams of stories on Clinton, meaning the media must be “unconcerned.” By the way, the media’s job is not to be concerned. It’s to report news. Being “concerned” or “alarmed” is my job.
Ann…what Petreus did was right out of Espionage 101 (what not to do)She was his mistress not just a friend writing a bio,it didn’t break up until the FBI investigated and was ready to bring charges. He was the Director of the CIA, for crying out loud. Luckily she wasn’t a Mata Hari but I think his judgment was pretty poor.
There must be better out there.
She actually is sorta cute.
You can’t be serious that the media was not concerned about Hillary Clinton’s emails! I heard about it every day and I never watch FOX News–I tried a couple times but couldn’t stomach their verbal garbage. I usually watch ABC, CNN and MSNBC and I was getting disgusted with the almost constant comments about HRC’s emails. I got tired of screaming at the television and asking why they weren’t talking more about Trump’s business and personal indiscretions instead of the over-reported emails of HRC.
Never knew a thing about Nestle h2o slipping thru till you wrote about it month or so ago. I sent email expressing my thoughts, nicely…couple of days later DEQ announced a delay “for public input”
Not saying it was you and me Andy but coincidence? Geez we need you and all the other great reporters more than ever.
I can’t find my keys some days, how can I watch all this other stuff too?
It was you for sure. So … kudos! (Sadly, Nestle will win anyway – the governor is already touting the 20 whole jobs it’ll create. It’s a Republican state govt., hence the quote at the end of the column.)
Yes, Sue it was your comment and others that brought this to the forefront again. The fact that Nestle is already spending (not planning to) $36 million to improve their facility so they’re able to handle the increased output tells me it’s a done deal and the DEQ is just crossing t’s. And to think the water withdrawal is rated a “D” for negative impact!
There really is an international rule against sending any water out of the Great Lakes Basin. Nestle’s original deal is an exception that rule, and it is outrageous. Please do not let Nestle take any more water. Please, everybody, shut down the existing arrangement. Nestle’s water needs to stay here.
The logical extension of this would be to get a pipeline draining Lake Michigan to Arizona, to keep the Arizona grass green. If any place does not have enough water, let those people move here, where we have water and beautiful lakes.
Has anybody thought of this?…
Nestle could pump water out of Michigan, but they only could sell it in Great Lakes states and provinces!
So… Nestle pumps out Great Lakes Basin water, but Nestle only ships it to Michigan, Ontario, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Indiana, Illinois, maybe Quebec…? What do you think?
No, no … that’s what Govenor Bill Richardson was proposing and you saw how quickly he dropped in the polls back in 2008.
We could the OPEC of water! (Not that that’s a good thing, but in a thirsty world you know there are many thinking it.)
Dammit, Andy. I was really enjoying the read until I hit the last line. Now I’m depressed.
Ha, sorry, but dat’s da truth. We’re going to get what we deserve good and hard.
For many years we have taken the natural resources from our beautiful state and sold them else where. Timber, iron, copper, and oil were all great contributors to our economy. As supplies of each dwindled we had to drastically change how we lived and worked. Now it appears that our only bountiful resource is water. We have allowed Nestle to bottle and then sell this resource where ever they could find a market. As long as strict limits are placed on the amount they may bottle and sell outside of the Great Lakes are in place–AND ENFORCED– the few jobs furnished may be acceptable. I have lived in places in this country where lack of water, and dwindling supplies, are on people’s minds, and in their conversations, almost every day. I do not want Michigan to become one of those places.
Some (including our shortsighted Governor) may think trading a small part of our “limitless water supply” for a few jobs is a good deal. They apparently slept through Michigan History classes in school. Michigan’s great forests were supposed to last hundreds of years. So much for that bright idea.
I love watching Libs carry on so! As I said before, let’s see what happens in the .next couple of years.
Ernie, I’m sure that’s exactly what you said four and eight years ago. Right? Right?
No! 8 years ago I thought, Uh Oh, watch out for Socialism. 4 years ago I considered jumping off a roof! Glad I didn’t, now I can watch the next 4, 8, even 12, or 16 years! Merry Christmas all.
Ha, at least you can admit it! I’m sure four or eight years from now libs will be thinking the same thing – not our preference, but things were OK. Or maybe he’ll destroy us all. Who knows.
Socialism…was that when Bush administration bailed out investment banks 2008 or 2009 when Obama and GM got together to keep auto industry afloat?
Or 2016 when Trump and Carrier made a deal.
What’s socialism, what’s good business?
“In a democracy people get the leaders they deserve”
And, when the leader installs an autocracy, the people will get lots of tweets nobody deserves.
Twitter-de-dee, Twitter-de-dee,
The Dump waddles into his sewer with glee,
Says the Dump, says he,
“Will you twitter with me,
And follow me into my sewer, please, please?”
Twitter-de-dee, Twitter-de-dee,
“How I love to tweet, ’cause I do love me, me!”
You complain about Nestle taking water, but how about the millions of gallons of water the oil companies take for fracking. Both are guilty of raping the water supply.
Time to stop nestle’ from shipping out any more water for free. I still would not like the deal even if they were to pay for the water.
The owners of the pistons want to gouge the taxpayers for a new arena in Detroit. I have read of other cities who caved into the demands of the team owners and built over rated palaces for the teams to play in. In short, the supposed benefits never came to be a great as they were pitched by the team owners and the politicians claimed that would come. There were no real jobs created. Yes some streets did get improved at taxpayer expense.
I see that a lot of democrat spoiled brats are still having their hissy fits over the Donald winning the election. I wonder how many supposedly “missing ballots” will show up?
Republicans wanted some recounts in 2012 and they were chastised by obama . He stated that the democrats had won, and the republicans needed to get over it.
I say the same thing to the democrats. Get over it. The Donald won.
It should also be noted that I am not a fan of Donald.
Hiliary would of definitly been worse.
Donald is still too much of a mystery.
hilliary place fast and loose with classified data.
hilliary and slick willy, through the clinton foundation sold all of our uranium mines to the Russians, while hilliary was Secretary of State.
I am not about to give credence to anybody who does not understand the difference between the word, “place,” and the word “plays.”