Some points you can raise to get a conversation flowing this weekend
The Detroit Free Press
April 26, 2008
No leftover slush from defense fund
With $700-an-hour lawyers and lengthy court proceedings ahead, it's doubtful Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick will have a surplus in the legal defense fund for which he is seeking donations. Just in case, though, state Senate Republicans are pushing a bill to require that any defense fund money left over from a court case be refunded or donated.
This is not an entirely partisan issue, however. The bill originated in the Democratic-controlled House before the Kilpatrick scandal erupted, and already has passed that chamber. It has actually been hanging around in concept for five years, according to sponsor Rep. Steve Bieda, D-Warren, although there seems to be new impetus to enact it ... for whatever reason.
The legislation also would require disclosure of all donors and spending from such funds and prohibit use of the legal defense money for anything but lawyers and court costs, barring such things as a public relations campaign for an embattled official. Supporters also want the bill to apply to existing funds, the intent being to make sure Kilpatrick doesn't misuse the money.
But can you hear it coming?
Consumer confidence will be the key to sales of Think City, a two-seater electric car from Norway that's supposed to go 110 miles and top out at 65 m.p.h. between charges. This sounds like one of those vehicles you want somebody else to buy first so you can see how reliable it is. The manufacturer, Think Global, expects to start selling the vehicles in late 2009 in southern California and hopes to have up to 50,000 on American roads in a few years.
Sounds like a good idea for neighborhood driving, but it might be nerve-racking to watch the odometer if you left it unplugged overnight and you're hitting mile 105 trying to get home. Can you tap the flashlight in the glove box for the juice to keep going?
Good jobs go up in smoke
You have to wonder what those 39 workers at the Whirlpool Corp. plant in Evansville, Ind., were thinking when they filled out company health insurance forms claiming to be nonsmokers and then lit up in the plant's designated smoking areas. All were suspended from their jobs pending disciplinary proceedings. A spokesman for the Benton Harbor based appliance company says the workers falsified company documents, which Whirlpool views as a serious matter, apparently to save the $500 extra charge per year on health insurance for smokers. They probably thought the company had more important things to do than check up on them, but then, they made it pretty easy. Health care costs being what they are these days, Whirlpool's payoff is likely to come from other unregistered smokers who now will feel more compelled to quit.
Water war worries surround Lakes
It's not just Michigan being paranoid about the Great Lakes. At a conference this week in Toronto, officials of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and its Canadian counterpart, Environment Canada, both said "water wars" could be coming as more people move to hotter, dryer parts of America and covet this region's relatively abundant H{-2}O. The EPA's Milton Clark said he has already heard some U.S. politicians suggesting the Great Lakes must be shared, and Environment Canada's Linda Mortsch said the effects of climate change will make those dry states even more desperate. The states and provinces of this region will have to draw a line in the sand ... or at least at the water's edge.
Why you do a run-through
An Ohio state legislator put a memory stick into a computer for a lecture to high school students on "how a bill becomes law" and up popped an image of a bare-breasted woman. The legislator, Democrat Matthew Barrett of Amherst, resigned this week, after acknowledging he had not been truthful when he initially said he had no idea how the photo, and another found on his laptop, got there. Later reports suggest he knew about the pictures and knew the women posing. Be interesting to know if the students ever learned how a bill becomes law.
