Op-Ed Columns
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- Sunday, May 13, 2012
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Jack Lessenberry: Joe Schwarz and Congress
You might say Joe Schwarz's decision not to run provides a perfect example of what's wrong with the way we elect congressmen today.
Continued ... - Thursday, May 10, 2012
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Op-Ed: Lansing is being self-destructive
Reality is out of sync with how the politicians are operating in Lansing, where petty political considerations all too often trump everything else.
Continued ... - Sunday, May 6, 2012
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George Weeks: Rep.'s headquarters in TC
President Barack Obama and presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney are already exchanging barbs as if the post-primary general election campaign has started.
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Jack Lessenberry: Past vs. future
Few may have noticed, but there was a skirmish in the Michigan Senate last week that was likely the opening volley in what promises to be a long war over the state's future.
Continued ... - Thursday, May 3, 2012
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Op-Ed: Investing in childhood programs
It is often smart to make a dispassionate, hard-headed cost-benefit assessment before one chooses between policy alternatives. Perhaps the best example of this approach: Home visitation programs aimed at infants and toddlers and schooling enrichments for pre-kindergartners.
Continued ... - Sunday, April 29, 2012
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George Weeks: Move enhances challenge
Northern Michigan tribal leader Derek Bailey has lowered his sights in seeking a House seat. Now it's a quest for the Michigan House, not Congress.
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Jack Lessenberry: Supreme Court reform
In recent years, when one party has gained control of the court, their justices have set about almost gleefully reversing decisions made by the earlier majority.
Continued ... - Sunday, April 22, 2012
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George Weeks: Multiple Romney campaigns
After the successful 1963-69 reign of Gov. George Romney, the family has had mixed electoral success — none at the federal level — and now awaits the outcome of son Mitt Romney's second presidential bid.
Continued ... -
Jack Lessenberry: Deregulation in Mich.
If there are two things Marie Donigan knows, they are Lansing and landscape architecture.
Continued ... - Thursday, April 19, 2012
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Op-Ed: Michigan must seize opportunity
The idea: Transform Michigan into the Midwest's premier inland port and transportation hub, uniquely linking air, sea, rail and road capabilities. Create a new industry, a Great Lakes Global Gateway, forged from our existing manufacturing and agricultural sectors.
Continued ... - Sunday, April 15, 2012
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George Weeks: 'Never worked a day in her life' feedback
Ann Romney, wife of Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting Mitt Romney, took a widely trumpeted shot last week from a Democratic consultant who said she "never worked a day in her life."
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Jack Lessenberry: Kevorkian and Wallace
The last time I saw Mike Wallace, I had a surreal experience that took me back to my Kennedy-era childhood. This was less than six years ago, when he was still working full-time; after all, he was then a mere 88 years old.
Continued ... - Thursday, April 12, 2012
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Op-Ed: Culture trumps common sense
Oddly, the first question the politicians asked after the Detroit City Council finally voted to approve the consent agreement with the State of Michigan was not "will it work" but ... "who won?" Short Answer No. 1: Too early to tell.
Continued ... - Sunday, April 8, 2012
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George Weeks: Detroit gets helping hands
On occasion, during Detroit's decades of decline, politicians and others from northern Michigan have extended helping hands.
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Jack Lessenberry: Beyond race issue
If you want to understand why so many Detroit politicians refuse to face economic reality, and refused to negotiate some kind of reasonable compromise to avoid a state takeover, don't start by studying what's happening now.
Continued ... - Thursday, April 5, 2012
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Op-Ed: Plotting for Detroit's future
Most of the sound and fury enveloping Detroit these past few weeks has all been about the near-bankrupt city's sheer financial survival. But suppose the city does manage to barely get through this crisis? Then what?
Continued ... - Sunday, April 1, 2012
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Jack Lessenberry: Is Snyder only adult in Detroit?
The mystifying question for many outside observers: Why doesn't Gov. Rick Snyder just stop the endless agony and appoint an emergency manager for Detroit?
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George Weeks: Levin, Camp lauded
Yet again, veteran members of the Michigan congressional delegation have been cited by the national media for committee leadership on Capitol Hill.
Continued ... - Thursday, March 29, 2012
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Op-Ed: Birthday letter to Gov. Milliken
You celebrated your 90th birthday Monday. I'm sure you and Helen did it in your usual low-key manner, enjoying the serene beauty of the Old Mission Peninsula near Traverse City.
Continued ... - Sunday, March 25, 2012
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George Weeks: An homage to ex-governor
This is a somewhat awkward salute to 1969-82 Gov. William G. Milliken, Michigan's longest-serving governor.
Continued ... -
Jack Lessenberry: Little reason to trust state's elected officials
Everyone knows that economically speaking, Michigan has been one of the most distressed states in the nation. But what about issues of ethics? Government accountability? Transparent and open campaign finance and lobbying laws? Guess what? We're among the nation's worst.
Continued ... - Thursday, March 22, 2012
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Op-Ed: State can't afford U-M meddling
I'm certainly not qualified to get into the domain of theoretical physics, but I can testify that when it comes to higher education, there are parallel universes existing right here in Michigan.
Continued ... - Sunday, March 18, 2012
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Jack Lessenberry: No easy fixes for Detroit
There is now no doubt that the state will soon take effective control of the city of Detroit, one way or another. The city is on the point of financial collapse. ... But when the governor tried to throw the city a lifeline, the reaction of Detroit's elected leaders might seem astounding to any rational person who has been following Detroit's long agony.
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George Weeks: More shadow than sunshine
During last week's Sunshine Week, assorted newspaper commentaries and politicians trumpeted support of greater transparency. But, sadly, there's more shadow than sunshine these days in Michigan in the wake of the annual initiative of the American Society of News Editors to encourage dialogue about the value of open government and laws guaranteeing public access to information.
Continued ... - Sunday, March 4, 2012
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Jack Lessenberry: Romney barely gets by in Mich.
Though Mitt Romney hasn't lived in Michigan for nearly half a century, Oakland County saved him from a humiliating primary election defeat at the hands of Rick Santorum, a man who two months ago was almost totally unknown in Michigan.
Continued ...
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