Yesterday's humor and news

I have had these links open all day as they absolutely begged for commentary-seriously-how can a coon stand in Detroit not get a load of laughter...

To urban hunter, next meal is scampering by

Detroit retiree, 69, supplements his income by living off the land

Now, I am all over the ingenuity of Mr Retiree... it is beyond words to watch the host of the newspaper's travel guide (the article is under the travels with charlie) try not to laugh. The video is beyond words-well not for me-I am rarely speechless. The video is so ebonically odd-and I can't help but feel weird watching it wondering if this is supposed to viewed, if it's a bad internet spoof on an old country black dude that is eating RACCOON??? I feel like someone sent me an internet joke fwd that is pretty funny but... anyway, I am still laughing at the skinned carcass with a FACE and it's paws still attached. Can't get good eatin' like that at Kroger folks. I am also all for entrepreneurial spirit, but this ain't no lemonade stand haha. OMG-I say soaking the meat in vinegar for 6 weeks (ok I think it was like one day but lol still ewww) and then a 2 hour boil and THEN tenderizer before cooking makes me thing Rocky the Raccoon is ONE tough eats haha.

It brings to mind, my reading as a child of the Little House books and Ma making blackbird pie after the pesky vermin ate a whole crop. I am not so sure that I could eat city coon-country non-antifreeze filled critters maybe. I have warned my family though-check the trash cans before dining, as I may launch my own suburbanite Coon stand-no FDA-no City inspections required :-)

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Leaving Michigan Behind: Eight-year population exodus staggers state

Duh---like we didn't know since the neighborhoods are getting sparse and the obvious for sale or empty houses nearby aren't obvious.

This is my sadness:
"The state loses a family every 12 minutes, and the families who are leaving -- young, well-educated high-income earners -- are the people the state desperately needs to rebuild."

...and this:
"In simplest terms, those with the skills to leave Michigan are doing so; high-skilled people from other states who once might have moved to Michigan are choosing to go elsewhere."
• The net loss of school-age children was more than 12,000 in 2007 alone, costing individual school districts roughly $84 million in state aid.
• With about 36,000 more households leaving the state than moving in, that leaves 36,000 empty houses and apartments, damaging already weak home values. "When there are more properties on the market, it drives down prices," said Ron Walraven, a real estate agent in West Bloomfield. "With the layoffs and the buyouts at the auto companies, people are leaving. Some are just abandoning their homes."
• People moving from state to state are disproportionately young. While almost 13 percent of Michigan's population is over 65, only 2.5 percent of those leaving are that old. That means outmigration is adding to the costs associated with an aging population, such as the state's share of Medicaid payments to retirement homes.
• There will be fewer tax dollars to pay for those services, maintain roads or run schools. According to Senate Fiscal Agency estimates, the income leaving the state cost Michigan more than $100 million in personal income tax revenue in 2007 alone."
Of course the bullets above are obvious-but as the local schools have to close, and the say local karate school dies as does the dance school dwindles...those proprietors loose their livelihoods...the local ice cream place, the yuppy style chain restaurant closes, who can afford a jaunt to the Great Wolf lodges, who will buy the camping gear to schlep to the UP and show their family the mighty Mac???
"Indeed, demographers have said the sharp population losses from 1979 to 1983, when the state lost nearly a half-million people in four years, created an "echo dip" in the state's population nearly two decades later. The current migration, which has seen similar total losses, has lasted twice as long."

We will be loosing more nationwide clout-how many congressional seats? We are still the laughingstock for Kwame's crap. How many electoral college votes? That has been under-discussed. I liked being relevant for 15 minutes last election...Crimeny, our relevance may be reduced to a territory ha. Being a territory may be the answer to our woes-we can just be on the receiving end of the National milk lol arrgh.

I am grateful that my family has been able to stay but I wonder if I am doing them a disservice as well...it seems it's always cloudy and threatening rain... I hope that the sun will shine again in my home state. I hope that my state will soon be glorious again. Perhaps it will be the better for the shakedown somehow. One always feels better after a good cry-it clears the eyes and and the mind. I just don't think we are done crying.

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Editorial: Area roads need repairs after just 10 years; contractors face no penalty:The Detroit News

"The culprit: inferior concrete caused by using the wrong kind of sand in the mix.

It's not just Livonia's problem. The bad concrete was used in projects ranging from highways to subdivision streets throughout Metro Detroit, and scattered reports of pavement breakdowns are starting to come in. The state faces repairs to a section of I-75 Downriver that was also repaved 10 years ago. West Outer Drive in Dearborn Heights, repaved in the late 1990s, has deteriorated to the point that it's now nearly impassable.
With the state in line to get $847 million in federal stimulus money for roads and other infrastructure projects, it would be a good time to figure out why our roads break down so quickly.
One reason may be that road builders are rarely held accountable for the quality of their work. For the most part, if the roads hold up for a year, the builder is off the hook. The Michigan Department of Transportation has for several years debated the merits of demanding a long-term warranty from contractors, guaranteeing their work will hold up for the promised life span. "
YUP this is CRAP and it's ridiculous-all the indignities and annoyances we have suffered-I can't help but think of the several business friends that were put out of business or very nearly so when road construction projects totally shuttered their business for months and months and they could not go on.
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