The Greening of Detroit

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Detroit Stories -- Tiger Stadium Is Coming Down

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The End Is Here For Old Ball Park

On Monday I ventured to the corner of Michigan and Trumbull to see the demolition of Tiger Stadium with my own eyes. I guess it's sad, I didn't feel sad watching it. It was more surreal. It was a clinical demolition. Slowly but surely segments of the outfield walls fell away revealing the field where Tiger legends once roamed. Take some time to look at my photos below and also watch our new web-only video produced on Monday. It's the first in a series we call Detroit Stories.

Tony Mottley is the producer of the Am I Right? Show


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Pelosi dishonest on oil supplies

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is calling on the Bush administration to release part of the strategic oil reserve to spare Americans from rising gasoline and heating oil bills.

Clearly, the California Democrat understands the relationship between supply and price. And yet Pelosi remains staunchly opposed to tapping into America's vast offshore and Alaskan oil pools.
What, then, does she suggest the nation do once it burns through its strategic reserves, which have been aside to protect the country against supply interuptions, and not price spikes. Where will the new supplies come from to moderate prices?

Pelosi also seems to be working against her own environmental agenda. The higher gasoline prices are forcing American motorists into more fuel efficient vehicles, precisely the objective she sought when she helped impose oppressive fuel performance standards on automakers last fall. In driving less, they're also producing less greenhouse gases, another Pelosi objective.

PThe speaker's contradictory positions reflect the nation's dishonest approach to energy.

We say we want to use less oil, and then howl when prices go up. Higher prices are the most effective means of encouraging conservation.

Politicians like Pelosi want to pretend that they can spare individual consumers the pain of their restrictive environmental policies.

That's impossible. Congress has limited oil supply by placing vast stretches of the nation off-limits to exploration, and thus helped drive up the cost of fuel. Congress increased demand for corn by adopting ethanoal mandates, and thus helped drive up food cots.

But don't hold your breath waiting for Pelosi and her peers to accept responsibility for the consequences of their policies.

~From Nolan's weblog at the Detroit News

Obama Takes America to Church

You can explain Barack Obama’s Reverend Wright dilemma easily if you understand his history. Obama was drawn to Jeremiah Wright and his influential Chicago church in his mid-twenties as he searched for his African American identity. Barry, as he was known as a young man, didn’t really have a strong black male influence in his life as he grew up. His Kenyan father deserted the family while he was a young boy and he was raised mostly by his white grandfather. His struggle to define him self as a black man was normal.

Obama learned plenty at Trinity United Church of Christ and he’s using much of it to win the presidency. His rhetorical style and wry humor are straight out of the black church experience. More importantly he has used a hybrid of black church basket passing and slick internet fund raising to raise campaign funds like we’ve never seen. The Obama campaign fund raising machine is an electronic styled black church $25.00 offering line done on the web that produces tens of millions of dollars.

Even his mega rallies have hints of a mega-church service, fainting included. There is a subtly to it, but make no mistake Obama has taken pieces of the black church to mainstream America and many have become members.

Tony Mottley is the producer of the Am I Right? Show.

Obama Does Detroit

A peaceful gathering of more than 20,000 metro Detroit area residents pack the Joe Louis arena in downtown Detroit to hear presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama speak. Former Vice President Al Gore made a surprise appearance to endorse Obama.

Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm got the main event started with brief remarks. The lady governor drew a chorus off boos from many in the crowd when she brought up the name of Hillary Rodham Clinton. Granholm was trying to make a point about Clinton’s achievements but the crowd wasn’t having it. She went on to admit her prior support for the New York senator before saying how it was time to unite behind Obama.

The appearance of Al Gore was a last minute surprise and Gore was in good form. If he had presented himself as well in 2000 when he ran for the Oval office he would have gotten elected.

Gore made points with the audience when he spoke of the need for green energy sources, compared the Obama candidacy to JFK, and the need to turn the page on eight years of the Bush presidency.

Barack Obama came forward with an air of confidence that borders on cockiness. He gave the crowd what they came to hear. His message touched on fair trade, jobs in the 21st century, renewable energy and access to education. The larger point Obama made was that the campaign is not about him, it’s about the people --a smart play on his part.

For all the talk about change and energizing young folks, if Obama can’t get people to the polls in November republican nominee John McCain will be the next president.

Tony Mottley is the producer of the Am I Right? Show.

DNC pays price for messing up Michigan

The Democratic National Committee will have only itself to blame if its presidential nominee wins with an asterisk.

Sen. Barack Obama, after winning big in North Carolina and battling to a virtual tie in Indiana Tuesday night, has all but secured the Democratic nomination.

But it might have been a different story if Michigan and Florida had been allowed to hold primaries that counted. Clinton was the favorite in both states, but never got a chance to put them in her column because the DNC insisted on punishing them for moving up their primaries.

With wins in Michigan and Florida, Clinton would likely be ahead in the popular vote, and perhaps in delegates. With the two states on the sidelines, Obama likely wins a contest that Clinton backers are already calling illegitmate.

DNC Chairman Howard Dean made a mess of Michigan and Florida by putting rules ahead of results.

If he couldn't come up with a solution for getting fair and meanignful primaries in those two states, it's hard to see how Dean can keep the increasing bitterness between the Clinton and Obama camps from hurting Democratic chances this fall.

Posted by Nolan Finley on Tue, May 6, 2008 at 10:38 PM