Announcing my candidacy for the U.S. Congress

by: Scott Withers

Sat Feb 13, 2010 at 22:54:24 PM EST

Flint, Saginaw make Forbes' Bottom Five

by: Petrolcide

Tue May 05, 2009 at 13:10:27 PM EDT

http://realestate.yahoo.com/pr...

I was right! What a shocker!

In fact...

Eleven of the bottom 16 regions on our list are in two states, Ohio and Michigan. In fact, the Wolverine State alone accounts for bottom four cities: Jackson, Michigan, Detroit, Saginaw and Flint.

Implementation of "Urban Spruce" Could Combat affects of Urban Sprawl

by: Petrolcide

Wed Apr 22, 2009 at 16:36:36 PM EDT

Michigan Residents Protest Strikes on Gaza

by: Christine

Wed Dec 31, 2008 at 12:11:58 PM EST

Ack!  No I am not!!!!

And the next message:

"death to israel signs, lots of chanting"

About 50 people came out to the UM-F campus to protest the Israeli strikes on Gaza.  You can see the ABC 12 video here:

(The link takes you to ABC site, in a new window)

(No "Death to Israel" signs in the Ch 12 video)

The UM-F protest was small compared to the march in Dearborn, where about 1,000 people came out to show their support for Gaza.  There are about 300,000 residents in Southeast Michigan with ties to the Arab world.  

There were similar protests in NYC, LA, and Tampa.  More on Dearborn here.

Davison Resident Makes Movie About Michael Moore

by: Christine

Sun Nov 30, 2008 at 10:05:42 AM EST

MLive/Flint Journal has an article on Kevin Leffler's film project, "Shooting Michael Moore."  Leffler is a Davison resident who went to high school with Moore, and wants to expose what he considers to be the real Michael Moore.  According to the Leffler,

"Mike is out for Mike. I don't have a problem with him making money, but don't tell me you're fighting for the underclass and people without a voice,"

Based on what little I know about Moore, I agree with Leffler.  I was living in Flint when "Roger and Me" came out, and I remember how awful I felt when he mocked the residents.  He made fun the GM workers at Taco Bell, and the guy at the blood bank, and the lady with the rabbit, and the lady with the colors.   Does Moore not understand who those people were?  They were not Roger.  They were not the decision makers.  They were the people who were left behind, and I didn't appreciate them being the butt of his jokes. And oh-by-the-way, does anybody remember his appearance on the Phil Donahue show in Flint, when he admitted that he didn't drive an American car?

I swore off his mockumentaries after that.  But one night while channel surfing, I saw just enough of Columbine to see Kayla Roland's picture being placed at Charlton Heston's home.  I'm so glad that this little girl made a good prop for Moore's movie.  (/anger driven sarcasm) As someone who spent some time working in Beecher, I felt how Kayla's death impacted that district.  It isn't just the families who grieve.  Those students and teachers and staff and administrators ... all of them have been changed forever by that tragedy.  Her school sat empty for years, and is now being considered for demolition.  (Though probably not just because of the tragedy)  

I don't recall Moore coming back to the district after he made his money off of that little girl.  

In case you haven't noticed, I think Moore is a putz.

As for Leffler's film, I agree with Kevin that the film probably has more to do with a personal grudge that Leffler has against Moore, than it does any sort of integrity.  Leffler claims that he has no axe to grind, but he spent $250,000 of his own money, and even dressed like Moore to make his movie.  Moore is not nearly important enough for that kind of effort, unless you are a right-wing critic (Leffler says no) or you have a personal grudge from high school (Leffler says no)  Something tells me that the man calling out Moore as a liar might be lying about something himself.

I also agree with another comment that Kevin made, regarding the title.  "Shooting Michael Moore" is just inappropriate.  "Putz vs Putz" would work just fine.

Flint: A Dying City

by: Kathy

Thu Aug 21, 2008 at 18:49:37 PM EDT

Despite a decade of national prosperity, the former manufacturing backbone of the United States is in rougher shape than ever, still searching for some way to replace its long-unused smokestacks.

Where's it worst? Ohio, according to Forbes' analysis, racked up three of the top five cities on the list: Youngstown, Canton and Dayton. The runner-up is Michigan, with Flint in the top five and Detroit not very far behind.

Forbes says the past decade has been a struggle for rust belt states, and they've struggled the worst of any areas in the nation in the 21st century. In Flint, this was primarily due to the loss of auto jobs.

Thanks to a crushing downturn for automakers like General Motors and Ford, Detroit and Flint, Mich., have seen unemployment approach 10%.

Flint has been hit the hardest though.

Even Detroit has not suffered from the decline of America's automakers as much as Flint. General Motors was founded here, and as GM goes, so goes Flint. The region's Buick City, once employing tens of thousands, is now one of the nation's largest brownfields.

In it's peak years in the late 1970's, nearly 80,000 people worked for General Motors in Flint, but after the most recent buyout in 2006, that number fell to about 8,000, and since then there was another round of buyouts and more are on the horizon.