Last resort was a call to council member

BY ZACHARY GORCHOW • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • March 4, 2008

For three hours, Leon Dixon waited for Detroit police to arrive while he hid in his bedroom from the intruders downstairs.

Several times he called 911 for help, whispering to avoid detection. He even tried the Northwestern District police station directly, but said he was told officers weren’t available because they were in the middle of a shift change.

“I’m paying my taxes, I’m not behind,” Dixon, 39, who lives on Fenmore near McNichols and the Southfield Freeway, said Monday. “I was hoping the police would show up.”

Dixon returned home from work Feb. 26 after his security company told him that someone had broken in.

When Dixon arrived, police were not yet there and it appeared the burglars were gone. As he went upstairs, however, Dixon said he heard breaking glass on the lower level. He holed up in his bedroom and called police for help — with no success.

Scared, Dixon said he eventually decided to call Detroit City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson. “I told her she was my last resort,” he said.

Watson said she called Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings and the mayor’s office directly to get police to respond. Jewelry and his daughter’s piggy bank were among the items taken, he said. The suspects have not been caught.

City Council members were clearly upset Monday when Dixon related to them what had happened. Watson said the situation is unacceptable and is another sign of problems caused by the 2005 consolidation of the city’s 12 police precincts into six.

“Clearly, something’s broken,” she said.

Deputy Police Chief Leon Moore of the Police Department’s Northwest District told the council Dixon should never have been put in that situation and apologized. Moore said the initial delay occurred because the patrol car was diverted to another call.

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End Political Limbo for Liberians in America (Rep. Tim Walberg)

By Mich. GOP Rep. Tim Walberg

February 25th, 2008

Liberia suffered greatly in recent years, as the nation was torn apart by two long Civil Wars over the past two decades.

Though Liberia has made great strides in its recovery, President Bush’s recent visit to Liberia highlighted that Liberia still needs help. The nation faces high unemployment, a damaged infrastructure and serious threats from sickness and diseases.

My wife Sue and I have a unique personal story which led us to become involved in this issue. For almost a year, we had a Liberian refugee stay in our home. This gentleman came from dire circumstances in Liberia, as his wife was brutally assaulted and he was beaten and forced to leave his country. He still has scars from when he was beaten with the blunt end of a rifle.

During the time our friend lived in our home, we developed an appreciation for his culture and were deeply moved by his commitment to his family and his homeland. He pursued higher education and worked several jobs so he could send financial assistance back to Liberia. Just as Sue and I found with our Liberian friend, America has a special relationship with Liberia. The country was founded as Africa’s first republic in 1821 by former American slaves, and Liberia’s capital city, Monrovia, is named after American President James Monroe.

The best way Congress can help Liberia is to allow law-abiding, hard-working Liberian refugees currently in America the chance to not only continue contributing to American society, but also to continue playing a pivotal role in furthering Liberia’s recovery from years of strife and turmoil.

A bi-partisan bill, H.R. 1941, introduced by Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) and myself, would allow Liberians in the United States on Temporary Protected Status the opportunity to apply for Permanent Residency Status.

Many of the Liberians in America on Temporary Protected Status have now resided in America legally for over seventeen years.

One of the unintended consequences of the Temporary Protected Status is it didn’t foresee that civil wars would continue in Liberia for several years, leaving refugees in America stuck in a state of flux.

These men and women could not return to their home countries because of the danger involved, but they also never had the opportunity to become American citizens.

It is time for Congress to end their political limbo and allow these hard-working, legal Liberian-Americans to continue in the communities where their children have grown up. By granting them Permanent Residency Status in the United States, America can say to Liberia we understand your situation, and we want to work with you to make things better.

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Friday night I spoke at the Galveston County, Texas Lincoln Day Dinner.It was a great event. Maybe 300 people came on a Friday night to chat with each other, greet candidates, bid on tshatshkes placed on tables against the back wall which no one really wants or needs to help raise money for their county party, and listen to a speech.

Or, in the case of the Galveston County GOP, speeches.I was the after dinner speaker, but the chairman of the event called about a week ago to tell me that Alan Keyes had asked to speak and he would be speaking for five minutes before dinner.

I said Alan Keyes has never spoken for five minutes in his life. Key es spends more than five minutes talking to the guy at a toll booth. Sure enough, Keyes went into a full 20-minute exhortation as to why the audience should not support John McCain for President nor Mike Huckabee, nor Ron Paul (who was, uncomfortably, sitting at a table in the front row but was not asked to speak).

Alan Keyes, as you may remember, participated in that dreadful debate in Iowa run by the Des Moines Register and Iowa Public Broadcasting. Other than that, he has not been as much a participant in this campaign as Duncan Hunter. Or Mike Gravel. I didn’t care that Alan Keyes spoke. What I did care about was that he spoke at a county Lincoln Day Dinner and, in effect, told Republicans to stay home rather than vote for John McCain.

This was not the Conservative Political Action Conference, where you can assume a significant portion of the audience were not registered Republicans.This was a REPUBLICAN Lincoln Day Dinner.So, naturally, when I got up to give my remarks I asked how many people had served in public office, run for public office or worked on the campaign of someone who was running.

I told them the story of my having lost my first campaign for City Councilman in Marietta, Ohio 45750 by two votes.I asked them to think about how many candidates across the country for everything from US Senate to School Board might lose by a handful of votes if they followed Alan Keyes’ advice and stayed home because McCain doesn’t meet his standards of perfection.

I reminded them that this is a 50-50 country and it was very likely that the Presidential election was going to come down to one or two states just has it has for the past two elections.I bring this up because the Democrats, who in spite of if all, are not at all certain they can win the election for President in November, got the news that Ralph Nader was going to run for President again.

No one believes Nader is going to be President, but a lot of Democrats believe he can siphon off enough votes from either Hillary supporters if Barack becomes the nominee, or from Barack supporters if Hillary finds a way out of the delegate hole she’s dug for herself.Democrats used the environment as on of their central, unifying themes in the elections of 2006. Want to clean up the Earth? Vote Democrat.The polls taken over the past two weeks show John McCain beating Hillary C linton in the general election head-to-head matchup by an average (according to RealClearPolitics.com) of 4.5 percentage points.

Nader may well prove to be the way the supporters of whichever Democratic candidate loses the nomination show their displeasure with the Democratic Party while still supporting the issue nearest and dearest – the environment.This election is going to come down to whether the Republicans or the Democrats do a better job of keeping their supporters’ eyes on the goal and avoid internecine distractions.

Here’s my dream ticket: Ralph Nader and Alan Keyes. They’d never leave the toll booth. On the <a href = ” http://www.mullings.com/dr_02-25-08.htm

“><b> Secret Decoder Ring</b></a> page today: An informal definition of the word “tshatshkes,“ a link to the RealClearPolitics page and a link to CNN’s coverage of the Nader announcement. Also a Mullfoto, the caption for which made me laugh to myself, and a BIG Catchy Caption of the Day.

Land Leads GOP Delegate List
Secretary of State Terri Lynn LAND, three senators and three House members were elected delegates to this September’s Republican national convention in St. Paul-Minneapolis. Three more senators and one House member will serve as alternates.

Land never endorsed anyone, but she’s an at-large delegate for John McCAIN, the likely nominee who placed second in Michigan’s Jan. 15 primary.

Land Spokeswoman Kelly CHESNEY said it was important for the Secretary of State to stay neutral, but she felt “it’s pretty much over now” and McCain was the party’s pick.

Delegates were picked at the Michigan Republican Party (MRP) convention last weekend. The three Republican National Committee (RNC) members are uncommitted — National Committeeman Chuck YOB, Committeewoman Holly HUGHES and Michigan Republican Party (MRP) Chair Saul ANUZIS.

This year, none of Michigan’s nine Members of Congress (MOC) are delegates. MOC have convention credentials but aren’t often delegates, said MRP Spokesman Bill NOWLING, in contrast to the Democrats, who give them “super delegate” status.

Though the MRP lists the majority of its 60 delegates as “uncommitted,” since Mitt ROMNEY won the primary but has dropped out, the entire delegation is likely to go for McCain. Eighteen of Romney’s 23 delegates told the Associated Press they would vote for McCain.

Nowling said he doesn’t expect any protest votes for other candidates.

“That’s not our cup of tea,” he told MIRS. “We want to be united at the convention.”

The party also expects all delegates to be seated, even though half were stripped away as punishment for holding an early primary. If 30 aren’t seated, Nowling said the decision of who’s cut will be made by the convention’s credentialing committee, not the MRP.

Sens. Nancy CASSIS (R-Novi) and Michelle McMANUS (R-Lake Leelanau) will serve as at-large delegates for McCain. Sen. Jason ALLEN (R-Traverse City), of District 4, is an uncommitted delegate.

House Minority Leader Craig DeROCHE (R-Novi) and Rep. Dave HILDENBRAND (R-Lowell), both Romney supporters, will be at-large uncommitted delegates. Rep. Kevin ELSENHEIMER (R-Bellaire) will be a McCain delegate for District 1.

Prominent Republican fundraiser Bill VOORHEES is an at-large Mike HUCKABEE delegate and former Rep. Scott HUMMEL, who also backed Huckabee, is an uncommitted delegate for District 8. Also, in District 8, former Sen. Norm SHINKLE is an uncommitted delegate.

Scott ROMNEY, brother of the presidential candidate, is an uncommitted at-large delegate. Other familiar faces are former U.S. Ambassador Ron WEISER as an at-large McCain delegate, incoming National Committeeman Keith BUTLER as an at-large Huckabee delegate and Romney fundraiser John RAKOLTA as an uncommitted at-large delegate.

In District 3, Dave DISHAW, who was floated as a 2006 replacement for Anuzis, is an uncommitted delegate, as is former U.S. Ambassador Pete SECCHIA.

Gadflies also get their due. Dennis LENNOX, the Central Michigan University student crusading to get instructor Gary PETERS canned for holding that post while challenging U.S. Rep. Joe KNOLLENBERG (R-Bloomfield Hills) in the 9th Congressional District. Lennox is a District 1 alternate for McCain.

“He’s shown initiative and is making a difference on the Republican side,” Nowling said of Lennox.

And Wyck SEELIG, who runs the Web site thetruthaboutmark.com against Sen. Mark SCHAUER (D-Battle Creek), is a District 7 uncommitted delegate. Schauer is challenging U.S. Rep. Tim WALBERG (R-Tipton) in the 7th District.

The list of alternates includes a slew of notables. Sens. Alan CROPSEY (R-DeWitt), Wayne KUIPERS (R-Holland) and Mark JANSEN (R-Grand Rapids) are at-large McCain alternates. Rep. Judy EMMONS (R-Sheridan) is an at-large McCain alternate and former Rep. Andy RICHNER is an uncommitted District 13 alternate.

Michigan Board of Education Member Nancy DENHOF is an uncommitted at-large alternate and Gary GLENN, head of the American Family Association of Michigan, is an at-large Huckabee alternate. Former Romney Co-Chair David FISCHER is an at-large uncommitted alternate and Sterling Group President Steve LINDER is an uncommitted at-large alternate.

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As word comes of Sen. Larry Craig’s reconsideration of his announced resignation from the U.S. Senate, it turns out that his best ally in getting rid of his guilty plea for his conduct in a Minneapolis airport restroom may be the United States Constitution.

If the senator had been a better student of the U.S. Constitution, his arrest may never happened at all, and if the U.S. Constitution is followed, as of course it should be, the senator’s arrest and guilty plea will have to be vacated.

This is because the Constitution, in a straightforward and unambiguous manner, states in Article 1, Section 6 that “Senators and Representatives. shall. be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same.” (emphasis mine) The only exceptions are for treason, felony and breach of peace, and the senator, of course, was charged with a misdemeanor.

Since the senator was on his way to Washington, and did in fact cast a vote on the evening of the day on which he was arrested, his arrest and subsequent questioning were, technically speaking, unconstitutional.

If the senator had flashed the Constitution at the officer as soon as the officer flashed his badge at him, the officer would have had no choice but to release the senator to go on his way.

This of course does not change the facts of the matter, or confer innocence on the senator. His guilty plea remains inexplicable if the senator had, as he insists, done nothing more than pick a piece of paper up off a bathroom floor. If that’s all he did, why would he plead guilty to anything? How does cleaning the floor of a public restroom constitute disorderly conduct, and why on earth would anyone plead guilty to such a charge if his actions were perfectly innocent? People might plead guilty to a lesser charge to avoid a more serious charge, but people just do not plead guilty in order to conceal innocent behavior.

Most observers have overlooked one of the senator’s first statements to the arresting officer, “You solicited me.” That is an admission on the senator’s part that some kind of exchange of signals occurred between him and the officer. Further, if he was not familiar with the protocol used to arrange sexual liaisons, how did he know he was being solicited in the first place? Most of us had no idea of the process homosexuals use to arrange restroom trysts until we read about them in articles about the senator’s arrest.

What is also striking by its absence from the interview with the officer is any sense of outrage on the senator’s part that he had been falsely accused of soliciting anonymous gay sex, an accusation that would likely damage his reputation beyond repair and bring his public service to an end. An innocent individual falsely accused of such a charge would vehemently deny his guilt from the first moment.

If the senator had in fact entered a not-guilty plea, and refused to plead guilty to any illegal conduct, I would still be his advocate. Had he done so, we would have the testimony of just one witness – the arresting officer – which is not enough to satisfy the Judeo-Christian tradition’s rules of evidence, which include the principle that “by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact is confirmed.”

I would have been the first to say that we all must wait until we have more evidence, and until another witness steps forward. However, the senator, by his guilty plea, became that second witness. It is hard to find two witnesses whose testimony would be more compelling and convincing than the testimony of a law enforcement officer with an impeccable record and a sitting United States senator.

The senator by his own admission had frequently been in that particular restroom, a restroom which is advertised on gay websites as a prime location for anonymous encounters, and is so far out of the senator’s way that he actually had to leave security to get to it, then pass through security checkpoints again to get to his next gate. It beggars belief that, in an airport with dozens of public facilities, he just happened to find himself in the one restroom in the entire airport noted for anonymous sexual encounters.

Further, the senator, as a frequent traveler, most likely had access to a VIP lounge for his use during layovers. His layover, according to press accounts, was from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., in other words, over the lunch hour. Most observers will find it inexplicable that a traveler with access to free food and a comfortable and clean bathroom in an essentially private lounge would go out of his way to seek out a public bathroom.

It’s virtually impossible for an objective observer not to conclude that the senator was in that bathroom cruising for gay sex, that such conduct is unbecoming for a U.S. senator who represents the state of Idaho, and that it is still appropriate for the senator to resign from public office.

Idaho needs a senator who can devote his full energies to the task of representing his constituents, and the Sen. Craig is simply not in a place where he can do that.

Yet the senator apparently intends to fight ethics charges and seek to reverse his guilty plea. He has hired the same attorney who represented Michael Vick in his dog fighting scandal and the same press agent who spoke for Monica Lewinsky during her sex scandal with President Clinton.

And it turns out his best friend in the whole affair may be the chief legal document in American history.

Frightening to think that almost 40 people die per day at the hands of stupid individuals who get behind the wheel when they know they’ve had too much to drink. 

Another interesting question to ponder: Is it safer to sign up for service in Iraq than it is to drive America’s streets?  Well, the numbers certainly indicate it is.  Over the past six years, the US has lost nearly 3,100 of our brave men and women in the conflict in Iraq. 

Every one of those 3,100 sacrifices has been a powerful example of everything that we stand for as Americans — men and women who gave it all for the principles of freedom.   What they have given shouldn’t be cheapened in any way.  Yet it leads me to wonder…with the constant angry protests, continual bickering in the halls of congress and now on this early presidential campaign trail, why has nothing been said about drunken driving??  Perhaps this should be an issue more of our leaders address. 

Grant the fact that war and drunken driving are two very different things.  Yet somehow it seems that our national perspective needs a little realignment.

President Bush’s Resignation Speech
email | 7/21/2007 | unknown

Posted on 07/23/2007 11:09:43 AM PDT by Kellis91789

PRESIDENT BUSH’S RESIGNATION SPEECH Normally, I start these things out by saying “My Fellow Americans.” I’m not doing it this time. If the polls are any indication, I don’t know who more than half of you are anymore. I do know something terrible has happened, and that you’re really not fellow Americans any longer. I’ll cut right to the chase here: I quit. Now before anyone gets all in a lather about me quitting to avoid impeachment, or to avoid prosecution or something, let me assure you: there’s been no breaking of laws or impeachable offenses in this office. The reason I’m quitting is simple. I’m fed up with you people. I’m fed up because you have no understanding of what’s really going on in the world. Or of what’s going on in this once-great nation of ours. And the majority of you are too damned lazy to do your homework and figure it out. Let’s start local. You’ve been sold a bill of goods by politicians and the news media. Polls show that the majority of you think the economy is in the tank. And that’s despite record numbers of homeowners including record numbers of MINORITY homeowners. And while we’re mentioning minorities, I’ll point out that minority business ownership is at an all-time high. Our unemployment rate is as low as it ever was during the Clinton Administration. I’ve mentioned all those things before, but it doesn’t seem to have sunk in.  Despite the shock to our economy of 9/11, the stock market has rebounded to record levels and more Americans than ever are participating in these markets. Meanwhile, all you can do is whine about gas prices, and most of you are too damn stupid to realize that gas prices are high because there’s increased demand in other parts of the world, and because a smallhandful of noisy idiots are more worried about polar bears and beachfront property than your economic security. We face real threats in the world. Don’t give me this “blood for oil” thing. If I was trading blood for oil I would’ve already seized Iraq ‘s oil fields and let the rest of the country go to hell. And don’t give me this ‘Bush Lied People Died’ crap either. If I was the liar you morons take me for, I could’ve easily had chemical weapons planted in Iraq so they could be ‘discovered.’ Instead, I owned up to the fact that the intelligence was faulty. Let me remind you that the rest of the world thought Saddam had the goods, same as me. Let me also remind you that regime change in Iraq was official US policy before I came into office. Some guy named ‘ Clinton ‘ established that policy. Bet you didn’t know that, did you? You idiots need to understand that we face a unique enemy. Back during the cold war, there were two major competing political and economic models squaring off. We won that war, but we did so because fundamentally, the Communists wanted to survive, just as we do. We were simply able to outspend and out-tech them. That’s not the case this time. The soldiers of our new enemy don’t care if they survive. In fact, they want to die. That’d be fine, as long as they weren’t also committed to taking as many of you with them as they can. But they are. They want to kill you. And the bastards are all over the globe. You should be grateful that they haven’t gotten any more of us here in the United States since September 11. But you’re not. That’s because you’ve got no idea how hard a small number of intelligence, military, law enforcement and homeland security people have worked to make sure of that. When this whole mess started, I warned you that this would be a long and difficult fight. I’m disappointed how many of you people think a long and difficult fight amounts to a single season of ‘Survivor’.  Instead, you’ve grown impatient. You’re incapable of seeing things through the long lens of history, the way our enemies do. You think that wars should last a few months, a few years, tops. Making matters worse, you actively support those who help the enemy. Every time you buy the New York Times, every time you send a donation to a cut-and-run Democrat’s political campaign, well, damn it, you might just as well Fedex a grenade launcher to a Jihadist. It amounts to the same thing. In this day and age, it’s easy enough to find the truth. It’s all over the Internet. It just isn’t on the pages of the New York Times or on NBC News. But even if it were, I doubt you’d be any smarter. Most of you would rather watch American Idol. I could say more about your expectations that the Government will always be there to bail you out, even if you’re too stupid to leave a city that’s below sea level and has a hurricane approaching. I could say more about your insane belief that government, not your own wallet, is where the money comes from. But I’ve come to the conclusion that were I to do so, it would sail right over your heads. So I quit. I’m going back to Crawford. I’ve got an energy-efficient house down there (Al Gore could only dream) and the capability to be fully self-sufficient. No one ever heard of Crawford before I got elected, and as soon as I’m done here pretty much no one will ever hear of it again. Maybe I’ll be lucky enough to die of old age before the last pillars of America fall. Oh, and by the way, Cheney’s quitting too. That means Pelosi is your new President. You asked for it. Watch what she does carefully, because I still have a glimmer of hope that there’re just enough of you remaining who are smart enough to turn this thing around in 2008.So that’s it. God bless what’s left of America . Some of you know what I mean.

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 What is the big deal about bottled water!?

Anuzis proposes a system of paper ballot voting by delegates to the convention, while Clark’s proposal is essentially status quo – allowing district chairs to conduct the polling within each delegation. 

Romney supporters seem to be the only ones securely in Anuzis’ camp – while the other candidates back the current system of convention voting, alleging that Saul Anuzis and MIGOP opperatives are secretly backing Romney.

The truly frustrating issue is not the bickering over which method of convention voting should prevail – but the fact that we should have to resort to this kind of primary in the first place.  Honestly, do you really want the biases of the party chairmen to be an element in the primary race at all?? 

With all due respect to Mr. Anuzis and Mr. Brewer, I would rather have the impartial hand of the Michigan Secretary of State and Bureau of Elections in charge of a presidential primary.  We are bound to have some chaos otherwise.

 The fact of the matter is – we have to face the music about Detroit.  Whether the criticism comes from within or without – the reality of the problem is staring us in the face.  Outrageous taxation, failing schools, police and other public services, the onslaught of the gambling industry — all of these issues are real. 

I don’t know if anyone else has thought of this  – but perhaps we should applaud Mr. Gingrich for stepping up to the plate and proposing some solutions to the problems.  The first step in fixing Detroit must come from the rest of Michigan acknowledging that its not just Detroit’s problem.  We should all be concerned with lending a hand in the constructive solutions – rather than writing Detroit off as a failure or blindly believing that everything is fine. 

I will have to disagree with Mayor Kilpatrick’s office when they say that people should live in the city before they talk about Detroit’s problems.  Often the best answers come from those who are outside the frey – and able to make more clear judgements. 

The first step in Detroit’s improvement must come from an admission that there actually is a problem -  and that people other than the city council and school board might just have some better solutions.