
Really? Voting no to extend benefits to Americans who have lost their jobs due to outsourcing, the death of industries and industrial negligence, the decline and closure of small business, just a bad economy in general. SHAME on any of the senators who voted no and who did not vote at all.
Not opening your eyes to the cost cutting that led to unsafe practices that led to the worst oil spill in American history. A spill that is decimating the Gulf of Mexico.
Honestly I can’t even begin to know who is worse right now. In our system of government if we don’t get along and work together then we cannot succeed. We don’t have the option of allowing our President to become a dictator to force people in line. No one wants anything like that. So our ONLY option is to give a little on both sides and get the work done.
This left wing / right wing bickering is accomplishing nothing at all. And was not the intention of our founding fathers.
I ponder on the words said by two of our founding fathers, a few of which I share here:
“We must all hang together, or, assuredly, we shall all hang separately.” Benjamin Franklin at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776
“A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicity.” Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address.
I love reading @becksdavis Detroit Moxie. Because I love Detroit. But I have to disagree. I lived in the city until I was 19. Then moved out to the burbs. They are not the city. The Dateline piece was about the city proper. I am in the city a lot. I was there earlier today. Not doing but teaching someone to do.
It’s great to roll up the sleeves and help out. But are people going to do that for decades. I think the change needs to be not from people traveling into the city to help out but from the inside out. The only thing we suburbanites can do is show up at the inner city businesses to spend our money and show our photos on our blogs.
If I drive into the city to have a cup of coffee with a friend. I step around the people begging for money. I walk past the abandoned homes. I avoid the stray dogs in the street. I get in my car and high tale it back home.
But do any of us stop to talk to the person begging for money? Do we knock on the doors of the neighbors of the abandoned buildings to find out if anything has been tried to remedy the situation? Do we call animal control and wait until they show up to get the stray we saw before it bites some poor unsuspecting child? No our kids are safe at home in areas where animal control actually shows up.
We drive in and drive out.
It’s nice to take on a project or two to help out but these projects like Gleaners, Habitat for Humanity are ongoing. They are not additional assistance, just the day to day upkeep in a big city.
So Mayor Bing has taken a drastic step. I find it horrible to ask people to move from their homes because a neighborhood will be closing. But for decades they lived next to squalor and it is clear that these occupants are ok with that. Or they would have done something about it. Instead you see them barricade their doors with bars and put fences around their yards.
They shore up to defend their own little spot of land even if it is decaying around them. Something has to be done. And it looks like a lot of people are going to be forced to help themselves really soon. Maybe not soon enough.
We talked at a tweetea about how college students graduate and leave the city. I have to say that that is a good thing, because at this time there is nothing here for them. They can come back later when they have something to contribute. Not stay here to try to make it. But they can come back and bring their born and raised Detroit success back home when they are older and know what to do with it.
Maybe I am harsh. But I am being realistic. As a 40 year old I would move back to the city. But would I want my son to live there straight out of school? No. Not if there was nothing to offer him. Education not only has to be got, it has to be used.
So then you see the 75% drop out rate… well what do they see for themselves here? Most of them don’t know any other place. I think kids should travel more. On school trips. I don’t think they do much of that at all and so that makes their would seem even smaller and bleaker.
Just my thoughts as a kid who grew up in it. I think it is nice to speak of fixing things up. Problem is people living in it don’t think they need to have things fixed. It’s an apathy thing. It’s nice to give a man a fish. But why not give him a pole and teach him how to fish for himself.
This morning I spent an hour and a half showing a grown man how to hammer a nail. It is frightening how much basic knowledge people lack in some areas. Before people go in droves to fix things you have to look hard at yourself. You have culture, education, opportunity or the ability to create opportunity for yourselves.
I speak to people in the city who don’t even know where the main library is. They don’t know things, like you can take free lessons to learn how to lay tile at building supply stores. They don’t know there are green tax credits for home improvements. They could not tell you what the Internet itself does for them.They don’t use it the way most of you reading this now do. They are living in another culture. A culture of poverty and decay and showing up to sweep the dust and cobwebs away does nothing.
We should teach the children better and when they leave we should pat them on the back and say “bon voyage” and wish them well.
And if you are reading this and you are one of those people who says I am a Detroiter. Where do you live? If you live in a burb then “YOU ARE NOT” in Detroit – the issue is not with the suburbs. The issue and the TV shows are talking about the city proper. Don’t list your business as a Detroit business and hand me a business card that says Bloomfield Hills. Don’t tell my you are a PR person from Detroit and give me your phone number that has a 734 area code. Don’t tell my you hosted a Detroit event and it was in Canton. Really…. must be nice to be a Detroiter and not have to live where the problems are.
I am from Detroit, I now live in the suburbs. I am not sugar coating it. I don’t live in the city anymore. The city services were not good enough. The safety of certain areas was not good enough. And the upkeep of the neighborhoods was not good enough. So I left. But I love to visit.
Purchasing tickets to a basketball game is about 9873 on my list of 10,000 things to do in my life. Being the girl most likely to read a book at the beach I was not into sports. But this particular game was to benefit CODA (Coalition for Dwarf Advocacy) and I thought that this was a great way to bring attention to the fact that there are perfectly wonderful children right here in the United States that need to find loving homes.
Adoption is a long process in the US and no matter where you adopt from you never know what kind of special needs the children may need. And dwarfism presents it’s own set of challenges. But as Matt and Amy Roloff demonstrate, parenting any child is a task of momentous portions and one that sees past each individual child’s strengths and weaknesses. They are proud parents of a wonderful family that includes a set of twins, boys, one average stature one that inherits dwarfism. And daughter Molly and son Jacob.
Honestly, it was so much fun watching everyone play and have a lighthearted good time. Jeremy was on the opposing team as Zack. The twins recent graduates from high school, w00t!, are no less competitive then any other brothers.
The celebrities on hand were also rigorously competitive and towards the end of the final moments pushed things into overtime.
The crowd was enormous and loudly supportive for the teams and the cause. I enjoyed the silent auction where the doors were manned by Star Wars Storm Trooper guards. Yep, it was definitely a celebrity, movie memorabilia / sports auction.
The event was presented by Biz Match Connect and hosted by Troy Athens High School where Marty Klebba of (Pirates of the Caribbean, Scrubs, movies and TV fame) is an Alumni.
Rick Mahorn was in the house that was pretty cool. Mr. Matt Roloff was proudly cheering for both of his boys while Amy was back at home at the farm holding things together. I was kind of hoping to meet her as both her and Matt are my parenting heroes. They hold it together with 4 kids when I have a hard time with one. As a lot of us do. Parenting is a hardest job you’ll ever love.
Watching ‘Little People’ on TLC I have to say that the idea that I had about life being impossible if I were a dwarf was blown out of the water. Matt especially has done things that I shake my head and say ‘Uh Uh’ and Amy has a never ending supply of parental energy and support. And Amy truly shakes her head at her boys just like the rest of us wives and mothers
but watching the kids themselves and how they have been raised in a loving environment, the physical conditions that come up are always last thought on your mind. Kids and teens themselves are enough to raise, the health issues are not even center stage.
So it makes me think.
What a wonderful addition to any home a child is.
And these children, teeming with potential, can be a blessing to any parents.
I would have to think if you were looking to adopt this option has not crossed your mind. That the need even exists may not have been brought to your attention.
Additional information CODA







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