Michigan Jobs
Google is going to put 1,000 tech jobs in Michigan come fall.
Cool! Michigan’s economy is in the dumper and this will certainly help out. This is also a big boost to Governor Granholm’s reelection campaign as Michigan jobs is being pushed as the #1 issue by challenger Dick DeVos.
DeVos’ platform, put simply, is that we need to lower the tax burden on businesses here in Michigan to attract new companies. Pretty much a staple Republican cry. So, how did Granholm and Michigan get these Google jobs?
The Michigan Economic Development Corporation helped deliver $38 million in tax breaks to bring the company to the state, and said Michigan will get three times that much back in tax revenues.
Shocking.
Apparently if you lower the tax burden companies are more likely to settle in your state.
I wonder what would happen to Michigan if we lowered the tax burden across the board instead of just for special people that were offering large numbers of jobs all at once? Maybe we’d get a bunch of new companies starting up in Michigan. Maybe we wouldn’t have to make special deals for large companies while punishing small startups for having the audacity to try and do business in this state. Maybe some of our existing businesses would use the extra capital to hire additional employees to increase production?
Granholm deserves a thumbs up for Google coming to Michigan, no doubt about it. Perhaps she should apply this crazy “lower taxes means more jobs which means more state revenue” a bit more often — like to everybody — before the election?
Adopt that stance and I will vote for you. It is the only reason that I like DeVos.
KT Ordnance Update
It looks like Richard Celata’s attorney has cleared him to start making 80% receivers again. It seems that production hasn’t start up again just yet as Rick is still a bit nervous about it.
I guess you can’t really blame him for treading lightly after the ATF raids your business.
We’re going on a month since the initial raid now and yet there have been no charges filed. Can you say fishing expedition?
Naturally, having been out of business for a month now the family is in need of monetary support. If you hit the JPFO link above you’ll find links to instructions on how to send some money on over.
Dumb
A local school board was threatening to without the final payment to an artist after seeing the completed mural. They changed their position late today.
Good.
The issue at hand was that the final mural didn’t match the original sketch in some details. The uniform was a different shade of blue, the badge on the shoulder was slightly different, and the physique of the soldier was slightly less comic-like than the original sketch.
At least, that’s what I noticed when I looked at the side-by-side comparison while waiting in line at the gas station and reading the headline. The original looked too comic-like to me and in the final version the dude had that real-life look of a bad-ass drill instructor.
Then I read the article. The sketch had a white guy in it and the final version had a black guy.
Sigh.
I’m not an art-dude; I can’t even match my own clothes, but the sketch had a different background color than the actual gymnasium wall. In the real world it was very light colored, and if you’ve ever been in a high school gymnasium you’ll quickly notice that they’re lighted quite brightly.
It would have looked dumb to try and shoe-horn in a pale character onto that wall. The artist did a bang-up job if you ask me. Arturo Araujo is his name, and while I don’t have any plans to hire an artist for a mural I’d certainly consider him.
Damn. The final product looks GRADE A BAD-ASS!
Besides, the Hispanic and African-American students outnumber the white students by a long shot at that school. It fits a little better.
Range Time
I think I’ve scared people off the range twice out of my last three weekends of shooting.
On the first outing, of which I didn’t seem to scare anbody off, I had a metric crapload of guns and ammo with me. I had some buddies with me there, a couple of my pistols came out, a lever-action .22LR, a lever-action .357, and eventually I pulled out the 9mm Kel-Tec Sub 2000. Everything, save for the last gun, was pretty much something any old timer would have been quite familiar with.
This was unique because we had some very classic guns out there as well as some very modern ones. The older gents actually took an interest in us because it was obvious that we weren’t punks — but guys that REALLY liked their guns and REALLY knew about them.
I, and my shooting buddies, even whipped out extra hearing protection for the grandpa and his grandson that showed up just to shoot some .22LR. They didn’t bring good enough protection.
We even got one of the older guys to shoot the Kel Tec Sub 2000. He seemed to get a kick out of it. Nifty little gun, that’s for sure.
On my next trip I brought an AR-15 and AK-47 and went by myself. There was, again, an older guy and his son shooting a couple of .22LR rifles — one of which was a really nice tricked out Ruger 10/22. The guy chatted me up, we had a good time, he let his kid shoot his 1911, and everything’s fine. Turns out he’s actually built an AK out of a parts kit. Sweet!
Near the end of my shooting another guy shows up with his son and a .410 shotgun and a .22LR rifle. Crappy hearing protection too. They packed up without saying a word after shooting 10 rounds of .410 and not even finishing a 50 round box of .22LR. Total time: 10 minutes.
Odd.
The next weekend I show up with my brother in tow and I pulled out the AK-47 first. The older guy there, again shooting .22LR, pretty much stopped upon sight of the thing and packed up within a few moments of us getting there.
I don’t get it. I presume that older guys think I’m some punk kid when I pull out some of the modern military-ish stuff that I own. I usually dress in slacks, a button down shirt, am quite friendly, and I have never had anybody call me on safety practices. When the range goes “cold” (no shooting) I do not touch any gun. I do not touch any ammunition. I do not touch any magazine. These are NOT the range’s rules. Their only rule is to not touch a gun. They are my rules.
While not shooting my actions are always open. With an AK that cannot lock the action back I shove a soft object into the action to make sure that it’s fairly obvious that it is not going to fire.
Muzzle control is so engrained in my handling of guns that it carries over to staple guns and household cleaners with a trigger on them.
I really think it’s a prejudice against some firearms and my fairly young age. I’m a little young to be a responsible “gun nut” I suppose. We aren’t in the majority at ranges around here. Of course, you find a guy that actually shoots AR’s and AK’s and they’re all geeked when I pull one out.
Then again, maybe it’s the noise factor. I don’t know why on earth you’d show up to a gun range with a rimfire rifle and expect NOT to be sharing a range with a centerfire rifle but I’m starting to think that people actually do that.
Am I out of line for presuming that people that go to gun ranges should be prepared with proper hearing protection?