Six O'Clock News - A Bad Day for Mike Cox Edition

Oh, Mikey. Someone finally stepped up and basically called you a "media whore". It's about time, 'cause we all notice it, you know. Kind of like that embarrassing loud drunk at the party. Seems Mike took things a little too far in his attempt to feed at the publicity trough... and a judge had some stern words.

A judge dismissed involuntary manslaughter charges against three people in the death of Sarah Comer at a Big Rapids nursing home and accused the Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox of being more interested in publicity than the "requirements of justice."

...

In filing charges, the attorney general "did so with the goal of maximizing his media exposure while ignoring the requirements of justice, due process and fair play," the judge said.

"He spoke about the defendants as if they had been convicted of the charges, which flies in the face of the underlying cornerstone of the criminal justice system -- the presumption of innocence," Grant said.

Ouch. That's gotta sting.

The Freep has a great editorial today - "just say no" to coal. For the good of us all. While they admit that the governor may have overstepped on her directive, they acknowledge that EPA is also heading in the same direction, so good on both of them. Best line? "So Cox can negate the governor's directive and still have no discernible impact on policy surrounding global warming emissions." Halle-frickin'-lujah on that. Mike Cox should have no discernible impact on anything if we are wise.

I love it when the GR Press editorial board calls for "more spending" on programs that are successful, and yet somehow will still turn around and endorse people like DeVos and McCain, and call for cuts whenever they can as well. The mental jujitsu involved down there must be fascinating. Anyway, the Press would like us to increase funding for the state's Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program, citing outreach and education as the reason for a 35% drop in the number of kids with lead poisoning, from 2003-2007. Most of the money to run this has come from the feds. Guess they should have endorsed Obama, huh?

The 2010 Chevy Camaro will be the pace car for the Indy 500 this year. Good choice, let's keep making them, even though they look a lot like the new Mustang.

And let's hope we can get parts for all these models we are going to save. Lear indicates that they might be reaching that "going concern" problem soon, Visteon is close to the edge as well, and there are numerous reports of layoffs from all over the country from parts suppliers - an Indiana company that supplies Honda will be laying off 200, for example. One wonders if the dominoes have been set in motion and there is no stopping this now, even if they manage to get aid. I guess we are going to find out.

Businesses and the Michigan Chamber can chill out a bit now - the feds are going to wave the payments on the interest from our unemployment debt, which means you won't see an increase on your unemployment taxes, you lucky bastards. It has already passed the House, and surely would have passed the Senate had they not been on vacation this week. Be sure and say "thank you" to the nice President and Congressional Democrats who voted for the stimulus package.

We will give you the weekend to think about that. Happy Friday all!