New Haven boy, 12, takes mission to end homelessness to Detroit's streets

We need another few thousand like this boy ........... thank God for him, spread his message to other youths, they too might be able to help.

Detroit — The young boy smiles and looks into the eyes of the homeless man with bent shoulders and worn shoes.

He carefully places a scoop of potato salad next to the grilled hot dog and beans on the man’s plate.

“Would you like a cupcake and some chips and cookies?” he offers, as the man nods slowly and returns the smile.

The line of nearly 50 homeless people, patiently waiting for a meal in the blazing heat, stretches down a blighted section of Third Avenue at Martin Luther King Boulevard. Long tables laden with food, and a small grill lined with dozens of hot dogs, stand across the street from the Neighborhood Services Organization’s homeless shelter, the Tumaini Center.

Robby Eimers is determined to feed them all. He brings a van filled with food, clothing, toiletries, water and snacks every weekend from his home in New Haven. His grandmother drives.

Robby’s immediate goal: full stomachs. His long-range goal: end homelessness.

He is 12.

“These are my friends,” said Robby, a student at New Haven’s Endeavor Middle School, who does chores and spends birthday and Christmas money on the provisions. His grandmother also helps buy supplies, and some are donated by supporters.

“It makes me feel good to be able to help.”

Motorist beaten by mob still in critical condition

DETROIT (AP) — As Steve Utash lies in a Detroit hospital bed, with his brain swollen and a gash in his head, he appears to remember the brutal beating that a neighborhood mob inflicted days earlier.

"He wakes up and his arms start struggling and he says, 'Help me! Help me!" said Terry Emerick, a family friend.

Utash remained in critical condition Friday — two days after accidentally hitting a 10-year-old boy with his company pickup on Detroit's east side and being pummeled by at least a half-dozen people after stopping to check on the child.

The mob left the 54-year-old tree trimmer from suburban Detroit on the pavement outside a gas station.

No arrests had been made Friday, and police officers continued to canvass the neighborhood looking for witnesses who can identify any suspects in the beating, Sgt. Michael Woody said.

A grainy, surveillance video from the gas station camera shows the boy, David Harris, with a group of friends as he steps from a curb into the truck's path Wednesday afternoon. Woody said investigators don't have video footage of the attack on Utash.

Cars enter local business at the scene of an attack on Wednesday at the street corners of Morang and …

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said Friday that Utash did "the right thing by stopping to check on the boy" and that anyone who can identify his attackers should step forward.

"This senseless vigilante style attack is not the essence of who we are as Detroiters and will not be tolerated," Duggan said in a joint statement with City Council President Brenda Jones.

The boy's uncle, Desmond Key, said Thursday that the family does not know any of the attackers. He said family members rushed to the scene after one of the boy's friends ran home and told them about the accident. Key said he saw six to seven guys punching and kicking the pickup driver as he tried to fight back.

Emerick, whose son is married to one of Utash's daughters, said Friday that Utash's paycheck was taken during the beating and equipment was stolen from the truck. Woody said police cannot confirm that Utash was robbed.

We ... were ... a great country, once upon a time .......

Detroit (AFP) - The hollow hulk of Detroit's once majestic train station draws a steady stream of tourists to see how far the mighty Motor City has fallen.The Beaux Arts building was the tallest railway station in the world when it was built in 1913, and its 18-storey office tower once housed more than 3,000 workers.

Abandoned to the elements -- and to vandals who smashed its windows, spray painted its yellow brick walls and stole its brass fixtures, marble and decorative railings -- Michigan Central escaped demolition largely because the city lacked the funds for such a monumental task.

"It's kind of like the ancient pyramids -- once an amazing place and now completely run down," said Bernhardt Karg, an IT manager who was taking a group of friends visiting from Germany on a ruin tour.

There are signs of life behind the razor wire fence erected to keep the vandals and squatters out. A handful of new windows fill the gaping frames and trucks and workmen come and go. So far, no formal plans for the building have been announced.

The city of Detroit's spectacular bankruptcy -- the largest in US history when it was filed in July and a complex legal process expected to take years to complete -- has masked a long-sought revival which is gathering momentum.

$444 Million Hockey Stadium To Be Built In Bankrupt Detroit

POLITICAL OUTCAST

From CNN comes the news that the once-great city of Detroit, which recently filed for the largest municipal bankruptcy in American history because of President George W. Bush’s economy (he’s still president, right?), is moving forward with its plan to build a nearly half-billion-dollar hockey stadium for the city’s home team, the Red Wings.

Detroit’s unemployment rate for June was 9.4 percent. The argument that managed to convince Michigan’s Republican governor, Rick Snyder, not to halt the construction plans is that building an arena for the whitest sport in America in one of the blackest cities in America will supposedly help boost Detroit’s economy and create jobs. Never mind that most of those will be temporary construction jobs. Gov. Snyder’s cognitive functions seem to have been adversely affected by being surrounded by Democrats.

There is one Democrat, State Senator Gretchen Whitmer, who, not realizing what political party she is a member of, actually argued something mostly sensible: “If you want people to live in the city, and not just visit to go to games, you have to invest in schools, in having the police to respond to calls.” (Remember, it takes an average of about an hour for police to respond to emergency calls.) “There are so many investments that should trump a sports stadium.”

Now, while I wouldn't leave it to a Democrat to appropriate funds responsibly, at least Whitmer sees the absurdity of asking taxpayers to put up $444 million to prop up a city that is only a few technicalities away from being a literal fecal mound, just so that people can watch an occasional hockey game. The citizens of Detroit don’t have the disposable income to spend on such frivolous entertainment. Furthermore, the people from outside of Detroit are not going to want to visit Detroit when such an outing would probably result in their being the victims of a mugging or a drive-by shooting.

Could it be that Michigan’s government realizes there is no hope for Detroit, and so this will be their last big hurrah before abandoning the city altogether? Or could it be something even more conspiratorial? Let’s see—blowing exorbitant sums on a project that you don’t need and that will see no significant return? I think the real story here is that Gov. Rick Snyder is just a figurehead; the true governor of Michigan is actually President Obama.

Union 0 - Clint - Goal $5000 - Donated $19,513.00

I think it would help the image of one or more of our unions if they stepped forward and took care of Clint, the Lansing hot dog vendor, who had his equipment destroyed by the thugs who took down the AFP tent in Lansing yesterday; .................... Frank Beckman

Over $19,000 raised! Clint can replace...Over $10,000 raised! Clint can replace his equipment several times over now, or buy a state-of-the-art hot dog truck, if he wants! Thank you all for coming together and showing what a community rallying together can do. The generosity and support displayed here today far exceeded my expectations, but reached my goal - to show Clint that we stand behind him 100 (or, apparently 342) percent!

GM passes on running TV ads during 2013 Super Bowl

By Ben Klayman

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co will not advertise in next year's Super Bowl because it is too expensive, the top marketing executive for the U.S. automaker said three days after the company announced it was dropping paid ads on Facebook Inc.

The 2013 Super Bowl will be broadcast by CBS Corp, which is selling 30-second ads for as much as $4 million.
Spots on NBC's broadcast of this year's National Football League championship game, the most heavily watched annual event on U.S. television, cost about $3.5 million per 30-second spot. NBC is majority-owned by Comcast Corp.

"We understand the reach the Super Bowl provides, but with the significant increase in price we simply can't justify the expense," GM global marketing chief Joel Ewanick said in a statement.

Where is the outcry?

This was a Facebook post by Frank Beckman of WJR Detroit. Where is the outcry on this? 

Ex councilwoman Sheila Cockrell made a comment on the show this morning that Detroit has had more homicides than the number of US soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

I did a little research and, sadly, she's more than correct.

Detroit has had about double the number....3,216 homicides between 2002 and 2011 (not counting final months of '01 or first 3 months of this year when war has been ongoing).

Latest US casualty count in Afghanistan is 1,827! Shocking!!

Romney holds a rally in Detroit, nobody comes

Maxine Waters: Tea Party Can Go 'Straight to Hell'

Monday, 22 Aug 2011 12:05 PM
By T.M. Golub

Rep. Maxine Waters told an angry crowd of supporters over the weekend that the "Tea Party can go straight to hell," a sure sign that Democrats are ratcheting up the rhetoric despite their frequent calls for civility in discourse.

The California Democrat last week told a Detroit crowd that she was frustrated with the Obama administration's approach to the economy, urging voters to "unleash" her on the White House.

But at the forum in Inglewood, Calif., on Saturday, Waters directed her ire at the Tea Party.

"I'm not afraid of anybody. This is a tough game. You can't be intimidated. You can't be frightened. And as far as I'm concerned, the Tea Party can go straight to hell," she said.

Video of her remarks was captured by the ABC affiliate in Los Angeles.

Waters and other lawmakers at the event were faced with a series of questions from residents about what the government can do to fuel job creation.

Comment from Frank Beckman of WJR Radio in Detroit

Just how did GOP win budget battle?
Failed to stop EPA from costing us $$
Cut spending by about 1/1,000th of budget
Continued public broadcasting funding
Allowed abortion funding everywhere except DC (whoopee, Planned Parenthood. can keep funding Dem campaigns)
And now they'll raise debt limit next, won't they?
That's "winning"?

Comment from Frank Beckman of WJR Detroit

President Obama, his administration, and party, support Egyptians who have killed over 100 people in their demand for political change.

So why do these same people demean those who engage in peaceful political opposition here in the U.S.? ...... Frank Beckman

A very perceptive comment, good for discussion and contemplation and ..........CONCERN

WHY do we give Egypt a BILLION DOLLARS a year?????????? Aid FOR WHAT??????

WHY is Hillary in Haiti and WHY are we rebuilding their country when we have A NEED FOR AID in this country?

We USED TO BE a World Power, we could afford to help others ..... WE are a second or third rate country now ............ we need their help................

WE are still those arrogant Americans, we think we are a SUPER POWER  ............. HOW can we be a SUPER POWER when we are partially owned by China and are in debt up to our eyeballs with so much INTERNAL political strife?????????? WE actually have NO money that we could send to any country as AID ..... HOW do we do that anyway, just print up more?????????

The Frank Beckmann Show

Monday is a big day for the Pro Life movement with a big march in DC....

We'll have one of the movement's biggest supporters, former Senator Rick Santorum, on the show Monday....

I notice the President issued a statement saying government shouldn't interfere with private family decisions...

Wish he'd apply that to the cars we drive, food we eat, and insurance we buy!