Kinross Township Board meetings to be broadcast in streaming video

What does streaming video mean? It means you can watch the video without waiting for it to download. All the preparations for this new feature to http://www.kinross.biz are ready. I have prepared a test on kinross.biz which you can try. The video is from a School Board meeting on the east coast. I have used this as an example only. I will use YouTube to upload the video to. This should allow us to archive a few meetings. I will also make a DVD archive. The first official regular Township Board meeting I will have available will be the Monday, April 7, 2008 meeting. It should be online the following day, Tuesday April 8. If they actually schedule the final General budget meeting I will have that meeting online as well.

I also plan on video broadcasting the Chippewa County Commission meetings if all goes well with the Township recording. I will start with the April 14th County Commission meeting.

Joe Paczkowski

Sour Grapes in Chippewa County

Chippewa County Commissioner Don Cooper has written yet another “Letter to the Editor” published today in the Sault Evening News. He criticizes his fellow Commissioners on various items, but begins with an attack against the newly hired County Administrator/CFO. According to Cooper, “he does not have the degree or experience required for the job.”

By a bipartisan majority vote of 4-3, Cooper lost his campaign to block the hiring of someone he has known for many years and does not like: the newly hired administrator Jim German. Joining in the Cooper chorus of ugly anti-German bitterness is fellow Commissioner Shackleton, who stated: “I am sick to my stomach that we are going to hire somebody for the wrong reasons.“ And there is a third voice in the chorus: long-time friend of Don Cooper Debbie Sirk.

Ms. Sirk’s clockwork letters to the editor never divulge her long-time personal relationship with Don Cooper and Scott Shackleton. Her persona in the letters is that of a concerned fellow citizen who is simply reporting her observations of county commission meetings. Of course, it just so happens that she considers the public service of her two favorite commissioners as most noteworthy and praiseworthy. She demeans the other commissioners, more or less, except when they agree with her chosen two. At any rate, Ms. Sirk criticized early on Jim German's entry int o the circle of candidates for the job.

Why all the opposition to Mr. German? According to Mr. Cooper, the “focus should be getting the best candidates and not smply hiring friendly faces.” But there should be another focus. Let’s go back about 10 years.

Debbie Sirk used to be chair and Don Cooper the treasurer of the Chippewa County Democratic Party. In 1998 Ms. Sirk and Mr. Cooper had their hearts set on Steve Dart, a Harbor Springs lawyer, as their candidate of choice for the state representative race. But other party principals, including the deeply respected and now deceased Gordon Newland, had approached a Republican with a history of being moderate, convincing him to become a Democrat. That person was Randy Bertram. Mr. Bertram, not Steve Dart, became the party’s state representative candidate in 1998 and that did not settle well with Ms. Sirk. Her reaction: she used her position as chair of the Chippewa County Democratic Party to endorse Republican candidate Scott Shackleton over her own party’s candidate.

Angry local Democrats called for Sirk’s removal. Michigan Democratic Party chair Mark Brewer heard the outcry and stripped Sirk and Cooper of their party positions. Shackleton won the 1998 election by a tight margin of well under 600 votes. Upon establishing his incumbency, he went on to win two more terms before finally stepping down a result of term-limits. Gary McDowell now holds the state representative seat for our 107th state house district.

Jim German was a member of the Democratic Party during the time of these treasonous acts on the part of Sirk and Cooper. Later, in 2004, the Chippewa County Democratic Party decided to do a rare endorsement of primary contender Maxine Anderson who challenged Don Cooper for his county commision seat in the Democratic Primary. Why Mr. Cooper (who places signs in his yard in support of Republicans) continues to label himself as a Democrat escapes local party activists, but nevertheless he, with the help of the local paper, objected publicly to the county party's endorsement. As then regional vice-chair of the First Congressional District for the Democratic Party, Jim German wrote several letters to the editor justifying the endorsement, recounting Sirk's and Cooper's betrayal of the local party in 1998.

Mr. Shackleton also remembers when Jim German served as campaign manager for Shackleton’s opponent in 2000: Steve Dart who had become the Democratic Party's nominee that year. Shackleton, too, has reason to hold a vendetta against Jim German.

Curiously, Sirk and Cooper showed no sign of support for Steve Dart in the 2000 election, even though they gave up their party titles for him in 1998.

The history of bad blood between Jim German and his detractors does not receive public notice, but it should. It certainly merits consideration before forming any opinion on the issue of Mr. German's hiring. Mr. Cooper’s and Mr. Shackleton’s surface objections to Mr. German hide much more that lies underneath.

As for Mr. German, he deserves congratulations. His credentials were good enough to satisfy four out of seven county commissioners who voted to hire him. Their majority vote was also a bipartisan one. No doubt Mr. German's chief rival for the job also had impressive credentials and, because of that fact, the county commissioners deliberated for over a year before making their final selection. But the decision has been made. The county should now forge ahead and leave behind to their sour grapes three individuals who appear to have been less than candid about their true reasons for attacking Mr. German in his new job.

Non-Violence and Helping the Tibetans

I hear the Tibetans call for help as the Chinese abuse their rights in their country. It is wrong that the Chinese do that. Yet when the Chinese took over their country, it was with almost no resistance. There were reports that Chinese troops entered Monasteries and cut off the heads of praying and chanting monks as the other monks watched and offered no resistance. They are committed to non-violence and not hurting any sentient creatures. Some monks when asked why they did nothing said the world is illusion, maya. Nothing is real in this world. Now many years later the Tibetans want their country to be free of Chinese rule. How are we to do it? Should we all pray? Should we put pressure on our government to boycott Chinese products until they comply? Fat chance of that happening. Are the Tibetans now willing to fight? Do they want someone else to fight for them?
Now lets make it relevant to our situation. If we all turned the other cheek as did the Tibetans, and offered no resistance to evil, as Christ told us, would we end up the same as the Tibetans? If we were all pacifists would it usher in a new era or we would we all be slaves to an evil master as are the Tibetans?

We Are Cooking Something Up in Cheboygan

I belong to a group in Cheboygan called the Straits Area Concerned citizens. They are a grassroots non-partisan political action group. Sometime around Labor Day we want to have an economic summit somewhere in the Straits area, probably in the Cheboygan Opera House, which holds 500(+,-) if I am not mistaken.We will invite everyday working people from the North country to come and tell their stories. We will focus on employment, health care, inflation/gas prices, mortgages debt, and anything related to these areas that are of concern to working people in the North. Chippewa, Luce,and Mackinac are in the area of concern. We hope to include Petoskey and Alpena also.We want to involve the churches. We will invite Michigan politicians to answer the concerns and questions that people have.

I am letting you about this because if the plan sails, we will be contacting people in the tri-county area and asking to help recruit. Ideally, we would have some vans rolling out of Newberry, the Soo, and St Ignace to the conference.

Howdy!

Friday, March 21, 2008Howdy!Howdy! My name is Jim Ramelis and I live in Gould City, in Western Mackinac County.I am a registered Democrat and hope to increase voter turnout and interest in the Democrats in Western Mackinac County. I am 60 miles from St Ignace as are many others in this part of Mackinac County. Many don't go to Democratic Party meetings in St Ignace simply because it is too far to drive. Having separate meetings in West Mackinac with an affiliation to Mackinac County Democratic party is a possibility that I want to help realize.I am a Progressive Christian and am a featured blogger on www.crossleft.org. I also post on Blogging for Michigan. I am sure I will do some cross-posting between this blog and those two. I have been in the Michigan Progressive Leadership Fellowship for the last several months and hope to graduate soon and become a full fellow. I was recently appointed to the Engadine School Board to fill a vacancy and have filed to run for the balance of the term. No one has filed to run against me so I will be on the Board for at least a year and a half, then we will see if i will choose to run again. I have also filed to run for Precinct delegate in Newton Township. I have been reassured that there is no conflict of interest because Precinct Delegate is a party position.I am a Vietnam veteran and drive the Disabled American Veteran (DAV)van out of St Ignace on a voluntary basis . That comes out to about once a month.(There is also a DAV that runs out of the Soo) I have been to the DAV service officer's school and also help individual veterans with their claims. So I will undoubtedly be offering some posts on Veteran's issues too.I am a retired civil servant but if the right opportunity came along ,perhaps I would get unretired.The way voodoo Republican economics is going, maybe I won't have a choice in the matter and will become "unretired" whether I like it or not!Well that is enough tooting my horn, I just wanted to let you know who I am.Thanks to Paul for starting this blog.In the future may my posts be of service to everyone.Posted by Jim Ramelis at 10:56 AM

Republican State Senate Contnues to SuppressTrash Bill

State Senator Jason Allen has stated that he opposes legislation to increase the tipping fee on landfill trash from 21 cents/ton to $7.50/ton, labeling it a "tax increase" proposal. As a self-avowed defender of the taxpayers' interest, Senator Allen, during his tenure as state representative among a Republican majority, apparently saw no problem with using taxpayer money in the Michigan Strategic Fund (MSF) to underwrite interest-free loans for landfill expansions. Even though this fund was intended for small entrepreneurial ventures, the Engler Administration lifted the MSF's $10 million cap to help the waste industry finance landfill expansions. As we now know, these expansions were never intended for Michigan's sole use.

A few years ago, the MSF's administrators rejected yet another of Waste Management's requests to finance additional landfill expansions. But that setback has not stopped the waste industry's pursuit of more landfill space in Michigan for more imported trash and garbage.

Despite "assurances" that Canada will eventually lessen its exportation of trash/garbage to Michigan, there are no such assurances about trash/garbage from other states. The claim that the problem can only be handled at the federal level defies reality. As U. S. Representative Bart Stupak has commented, it is highly unlikely that other states will consent to keeping their own trash, especially when there is a strong economic incentive to export it to a cheaper location, i.e. to Michigan.

Tipping fees in more densely populated states are much higher, so the trash and garbage quickly crosses borders to states that charge a low tipping fee. A tipping-fee increase in Michigan to $7.50 would directly attack the current economics of interstate trash. Proponents point out that the money gained from increased tipping fees would beef up our recycling facilities and generate more jobs than those currently provided by landfill companies. Moreover, it would provide MDEQ with sorely needed funding. A $7.50 per ton tipping fee would barely affect the average Michigan resident. Political opponents use too much hyperbole when they misleadingly call it a "TAX INCREASE."

One wonders if Senator Allen's position on this issue is being influenced by the private donations of waste industry moguls to his controversial "non-political" accounts, as reported in great detail by the Traverse City Record Eagle. A search of Senator Jason Allen's name on that paper's website www.record-eagle.com leads to some startling information.

The state house has passed its version of the legislation (House Bill 4486) to increase the tipping fee to $7.50, but the state senate has its version (Senate Bill 81) deliberately locked up in the Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs committee. Those interested in protecting Michigan's environment may want to contact as many of our state senators as possible to get this legislation out of committee and passed. The committee's state senator members are:

Republican Patricia Berkholz of Saugutuc (committee chair): senpbirkholz@senate.michigan.gov

Republican Gerald Van Woerkom of Muskegon (vice-chair): sengvanwoerkom@senate.michigan.gov

Republican Bruce Patterson of Canton: senbpatterson@senate.michigan.gov

Democrat Ray Basham: SenRBasham@senate.michigan.gov

Democrat Mike Prusi: SenMPrusi@senate.michigan.gov

Senator Allen does not sit on the committee, but may be contacted at senjallen@senate.michigan.gov