"Salesperson for the State"

How can Jennifer Granholm say she's "a really good salesperson for the state" when she's failed so grievously to sell the state even to companies who are here? Ooohh, Google added a few hundred high-turnover commission-based salespeople here in Michigan. That will go a long way to offset Kmart, Dow, and Comerica moving out thousands of high pay salaried positions.

She seems to be basing her image on this whole "salesperson for the state" idea, which is garbage because she's done such a horrible job of selling the state. From The Detroit Free Press on June 30:

Governor to head overseas

With a new, more business-friendly tax awaiting her signature, Gov. Jennifer Granholm said Friday that she'll soon travel overseas to sell Michigan as a good place to do business.

She said an August trade mission to undisclosed countries will showcase the state, especially renewable energy industries that she says can help fuel Michigan's economic recovery.

"I'm a really good salesperson for this state," Granholm told the Free Press. She's led past trade missions to Germany and Japan.

Granholm also called on lawmakers to voluntarily return 5% of their salaries -- like she does -- as a good-faith gesture to resolve the state's budget crisis. Salaries for the governor ($177,000 annually) and lawmakers ($79,650) are set every two years by an independent commission and cannot be changed by the Legislature.

Hang on there..."sanctity of life"?

Drew Lane on Drew and Mike (the morning show on WRIF) just derided the phrase "sanctity of life" in reference to some people being disturbed at destroying embryos in order to engage in embryonic stem cell research, saying that it was hypocritical to say one is concerned about the "sanctity of life" while being pro-capital punishment.

Assuming that one believes that an embryo is an actual human (a holding which is the essence of the pro-life view) - he's saying that it is hypocritical for someone to say that it is wrong to benefit from the intentional death of an innocent child (which is what the pro-life crowd views an embryo to be) but it's okay for someone who has committed the most heinous crimes to be put to death? How is it hypocritical for someone to say that when individuals commit the most heinous of crimes they deserve the death penalty but it is immoral to murder what one considers an innocent child?

Illegals Pay Taxes?

Here's a question - if you're an illegal immigrant, how are you paying taxes? If you are illegal, you don't have a social security number. Perhaps I don't quite understand how taxes get paid, but the last time I checked you need a social security number for social security, income, and property taxes. Since illegals have no social security number, we are left with one of two situations:

1) They are not paying taxes, or

2) They are committing fraud.

Personally, I'm not sure that the illegal immigrant advocacy groups should be advertising the idea that massive numbers of illegal immigrants are committing fraud and identity theft by paying taxes.

Quote of the Day

From Mickey Kaus, whose Kausfiles blog has turned into a 24-hour, 7 day a week, anti-Comprehensive Immigration blog. Bold italics mine:

Reminder -- Comprehensive Dissembling: Tim Russert mis-summarized the provisions of the immigration bill at the beginning of his show on Sunday -- and not on a trivial issue. He said the Z-visa legalization plan was 'contingent on increased boarder security' measures. But the 'probationary' Z-visa is available immediately -- no waiting for 'increased border security.' And the 'probationary' Z-visa is what legalizes former illegals, allowing them to work and travel in the U.S...I guess these are the sort of complex nuances that can only be communicated on talk radio!...