Monday, September 15, 2003

And while we're talking about kissing up.... I saw this in the State News this morning, and became instantly livid.  (Be forewarned:  this is a rant.  College football fans should stop reading now.) $61 Million Stadium Upgrades Approved The MSU Board of Trustees approved expansion plans for the football stadium, including the addition of a wing for the Alumni Association, luxury box seats, and club-level seating.  This expansion is projected to cost $61 million, with $50 million coming from the Athletic Department. Wait a minute...didn't they just renovate the football stadium a couple of years ago?  Why, yes, they did, they dropped the floor of the stadium about three feet to prevent people from jumping down on to the floor of the stadium.  It also seems to me that they put in some luxury seating then too.  First stupid question:  Why wasn't this done two years ago while the other construction was going on? Second stupid question:  Where did the department get that money?  The university as a whole has endured massive budget cuts (10 percent of the entire university budget has been cut due to a drop in state funding).  They've had to resort to cutting staff, faculty, and some of the smaller programs of study.  Third stupid question:  Where does the money come from to clean up after the football tailgaters?  I bet that the university pays the overtime for Grounds to come and clean up after those drunk pigs.  (The number of beer cans alone would generate enough bottle return money to feed several students a Sunday night dinner.)  I'm sure that they'd never charge the Athletic Department for that service.  And luxury seats?  I guess the Administration building isn't good enough for corporate cock-gobbling anymore, is it?  It makes me nervous when educational institutions look to grab a fast buck by seducing slimy business alumni that probably voted for Bush in the last election.  I suppose it could be worse, at least they're not talking privitization yet..... 8:37:11 PM    comment []

Georgie Comes Courting George Bush was here in Michigan today, promoting his agenda against - oops, I mean "environmental agenda" at a Detroit Edison power plant in Monroe.  It seems that the Prez wants to change the EPA rules so that factories of all types can upgrade their equipment without installing pollution controlling devices.  According to the story, he says that the current regulations "created too many hurdles, and that hurts the working people." What?  I can understand that since the pollution controls represent an investment up front, a few jobs might have to be cut.  But do you know what hurts workers even more?  Exposure to pollution on the job, which is precisely what will happen should these new regulations pass.  You might think that's a jump in logic, but follow me here:  first it'll be environmental regulations, and once the cronies see that they can push this through, they'll go after OSHA too.  Just you watch.  They don't care as long as they have a line of warm bodies working in the factory.  Nor do they care about what they do to the neighborhood.  They'll move the instant they lose profit or someone tries to make them clean up their mess.  Corporations are transitory and constantly changing.  Environmental pollution is not.  Just ask the people who used to live in Love Canal, New York, or in Times Beach, Missouri. The scary thing about the wire is that Joe Lieberman actually got off a good slam against Bush when he pointed out that the Edison plant is a serious polluter (in fact, one of the worst in the country) and "Under Bush's policies, this antiquated coal-burning plant will get a free pass to keep pumping smoke and soot into the air with impunity."  This is Bush's eleventh visit to the state, and he's really trying to butter us up.  (We went for Gore in 2000, and in fact, he even lost the Michigan primary to John McCain.  Although the McCain loss was partially frustrated Michigan Dems giving a big middle finger to our former governor.)  Apparently he even posed for pictures with blue collar workers.  Could someone please explain to Karl Rove that this may have worked on my John Wayne-loving grandfather during the Reagan administration, but we've become a little too savvy for these types of image games this time around? 8:11:17 PM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Jennifer Wood.