NorthofDetroitGuy's Blog

A while back ethanol was supposed to bring in the new era.  To be honest, I am still very for ethanol as I think we could convert right away, while we work on other technologies and making those technologies more affordable.  People keep saying that “It cost more in gas to produce ethanol than it does to make it”.  Well, if your delivery trucks run on ethanol, your tractors on the farms run on ethanol, how does it cost ANY gas?  Then I see these charts that show that gas doesn’t cost anything to be delivered.  This is completely untrue.  We’ve all seen the big refueling truck at gas stations.  Granted there are pipelines that deliver our oil to refineries and such, but even then, the Oil has to get here.  These large freighters deliver the oil to our ports.  What do these freighters run on?  Diesel fuel. 

Then there is the cost of food.  People keep saying ethanol will drive up the cost of food because it comes from corn.  Actually Corn is not the best source of ethanol, it just happens to be the seed in the market that we can use to produce it and farmers understand it.   Switch grass is a far better for producing ethanol and (back to the tractors issue) you only need to plan it ONCE. 

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=grass-makes-better
-ethanol-than-corn

You can even grow it on fields that are otherwise not good for crop farming.

I am surprised that over the past few years that the news media has not done a story on the Michigan Soil Conservation Program (AKA CREP). 

http://165.221.16.19/pas/newsroom/releases/2000/07/155
0.htm

Many people don’t know this, but the state of Michigan actually pays farmers NOT to farm their land.  Instead of paying farms to grow switch grass, or crops.  Growing switch grass might accomplish the same goal as soil conservation.  The program is designed to reduce erosion.  The theory is that when you have heavy snow melt and heavy rains, the soil on a plowed field will run off, thereby putting soil and chemicals into drainage ditches and other areas they don’t belong.  Eventually leading to streams and rivers and finally to our great lakes.  I totally understand this concept, however, wouldn’t it be better to have them plant switch grass as opposed to paying them to do nothing?  In this way the soil is preserved and so are all the other features.

What do you think?  Should we just leave fields baron or let them grow grass?

In my eyes even a contractor could come and cut the switch grass if we let it grow.  If it doesn’t, then we don’t lose anything.

Many years ago, I said I could not believe that the people of Detroit would vote for "The Hip Hop Mayor".  During his inauguration I was driving down Moross when his motorcade passed by.  It literally had more police cars and motorcycles than when I saw President Reagan's motorcade in the 1980's.  Red lights were run, stop signs were blown and I thought to myself "Here we go, it starts with the little things and soon he will be embezzling millions".  Ok, so we don't have anything close to him embezzling millions but it's still bad.

At the last Democratic convention I heard Obama speak and didn't know who he was.  I thought to myself "What an AWESOME speaker"  After I did some research I was a little less impressed.  Most recently I was disappointed to find out that Obama was THE ONLY person on a stage to violate the U.S. Flag Code during the pledge of allegiance.  I know he was born in Hawaii, but he always talks about being raised by his grandparents and single mother.  I learned to place my hand over my heart at age 3.  Should this not be the habit for the future president of the United States.  I was previously undecided, between McCain and Obama.  Now I am leining toward McCain.

I am very prompt in removing my hat during the national anthem and placing my hand over my heart where it belongs.

Eliminating all other issues, how important do you think this issue is?
Do you feel the future president of the United States should ever be photographed or video taped in this way?  Am I wrong in thinking that this is inexcusable and disrespectfult to the people of this country, especially veterans?  Will this not just lead to another "Kwame" in office?  The similarities are too much. 
Kwame with 2 kids, Obama with 2 kids
Kwame with the earring he refuses to take out, Obama refusing to put his hand over his heart.
Obama removed the American flag from his jet, Kwame removed his American Flag lapel pin.
Obama said Kwame was doing an outstanding job just a few months ago, this is after the allegations of the party, the CARlita scandle, the wrongful termination suit and more.
Both Kwame and Obama were on the front cover of Trumpet magazine
Kwame's Mother, Carolyn Cheeks, did go to the DNC where Obama gave her a hug like they were family.
Obama announces his running mate by text message, Kwame is an expert at text messaging (See text message scandle for more info if you are unfamiliar).
I think I have to cross party lines!  What do you think? 

TOO MANY SIMILARITIES!

Recently I have been taking Boy Scouts on several hikes.  1 of which we did locally in the city.  The boys are required to pick up all litter when we hike.  We ran out of trash bags.

However, let's see if you can name the #1 piece of litter found either on the shores of the Pacific or Atlantic Ocean in the United States, or ANY one of the great lakes?

I know what it is, do you?

Free Gas!!!

 

Bet I got your attention.  Well it’s only free if you are a Nascar driver.

That’s right, Nascar drivers that use a special formulation of Unleaded known as GTX 260, do not have to pay for gas.  Who does pay for it, well all of us;  even if you don’t buy at Sunoco.  That’s because it’s supply and demand.  Whenever you give a natural resource away for free, ALL those that use the natural resource pay for it due to reduced supply.  Of course I don’t buy GTX 260 for my Ford economy car that gets 29 MPG on average.  However, it is still a form of unleaded gas that comes from the same crude my gas is made from.

 

I think we should all boycott Sunoco for giving Nascar free gas.  Nascar should have to pay for it like everybody else.  Not only this, I personally think Nascar should run without gas.  It’s a waste of gas and just causes pollution all so people can keep turning their head from left to right.  Just get 2 cars, a wire hangar, tie them to your hat and spin. There’s your Nascar race.

Ever since I was a kid, people have been talking about Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts merging.  As a kid, I didn't really want girls involved.  However the idea of co-ed camping didn't really turn the ligh bulb on until I was around 14 or 15 as I was finishing up my scouting experiences.

In England the Girl Scouts went bust, and Boy Scouts went Co-Ed around that time.  From what I understand first hand from a female scout is that Girls Scouts here or in England only have a few things in common. Even then there are many differences.  Recently I hear people talk about when I was a, as it relates to the opposite.

For example:  When discussing Boy Scouts, I hear women say "When I was a Girl Scout".  My nieces were in Girl Scouts and I just don't see the similarity.  I see Girl Scouts more as a club where girls pick up tips and tricks for doing things and build female bonding.  I see Boy Scouts more as a training and hard core learning set with a building of hard core character based on TOUGH experiences.

The Girl Scout program is based on the needs and interests of girls.

The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law.

 Source(s):

http://www.girlscouts.org/program/gs_cen...
http://www.boyscouts-ncac.org/

 However, having never been a girl scout, I am curious about a few things.

 Do they have to make fire without the aid of technology such as matches and lighters?

 Do they hike 50 miles in a week while carrying a backpack?

 Why call it Girl Scouts, if they don’t really learn the art of “Scouting” as Sir Baden Powel originally intended and the definition is based off of?

Do they take a Wilderness survival course often taught by Navy Seals where you can only bring the clothes on your back and an emergency beacon?

I am literally asking these questions to point out the differences between organizations not sexes.  For the record, I do feel a girl or woman is perfectly capable of completing anything in this post.  I just personally don't think that experience in Girl Scouts means you can refer to experiences in Boy Scouts as though you honestly have had the same Scouting experience.

Should the organizations merge like they did in England, and if so, which one should be the parent organization?  I would hate not to be able to get my Girl Scout cookies every year....and I mean that, I am addicted.

Many people look at Wall Street and Foreclosures and blame mortgage companies and banks.  In fact, some even blame high gas prices on the foreclosure rates due to the declining dollar.  However, I see very little when it comes to limiting pure wastes of money.  For example:  Banks and mortgage companies have you sign around 50 pages of paperwork, including documents specifically showing your payments and if and when they will change.

 

 

However, you can go to a payday loan shop, get a loan against your paycheck and their are no laws protecting you.  In fact, for the most part, you can walk in; ask for a loan against your paycheck and with minimal paperwork end up having to pay as much as 50% in compounding interest.

 

 

Usury laws on houses currently cap out around 15% and even that is hard to get to.

 

 

The payday offices should be replaced with credit counseling offices. 

 

 

Normally I am against government interference; however these places are not in anybody's best interest.   It is essentially legal loan sharking.

 

 

I honestly believe either our State of Michigan congress and/or our federal government should specify that these places can charge no more then the standard user rates specified on either credit cards and/or mortgages.

The curse of the Kwamino??

 

The tigers have had one of their worse records in history, yet statistically and financially are supposed to have one of the best teams put together in baseball history.

 

I heard a rumor that I am not sure is true, that upon checking into a hotel recently, one of the Tigers players was asked “Which one of you is checking in with Carmen Slowsky?” 

This of course is the name used for the still to be determined woman staying with Kwami on a recent trip out of state.  Could these types of items, talk of the mayor, the negative talk about Detroit, be playing a psychological toll on our baseball players?

 

I do training and even had people from across the country ask about the infamous “Carmen Slowsky”.

 

I am curious if anyone thinks it’s a curse, such as the curse of the bambino?  Could the mayor’s situation be having an effect on our sports teams?

In today's world we often talk about and evaluate schools based on their technology education program for our children.  The computers in their classroom, what software they are using, how their education relates to technology today and in the future, etc.  However, do we ask that our teachers know about technology and how to use it, or just those that have to teach it?

For example:  I consider near instant replies to E-mails, and such things as instant messengers, SMS/Text messaging and on line school calendars to be standard today.

Approx. 5 weeks ago, I had parent teacher conferences at my son's school.

One teacher has been at the school since I went there. 

Each teacher has a blog they are supposed to update at least once a week.

The blog, like this one, probably doesn't have spelling and grammar check, so you would have to use MS Word or something comparable to type your blog.  Then you would copy and paste it into the system.  Unless you are of course a junior high English teacher and can spell and grammar check yourself fairly well right?

At confrences, I mentioned that I never knew when to check the blogs because they seem to always get updated on different days of the week.  We were both assured that the blog is updated every Sunday night as the teacher prepares for her week.

So, when I got home, I check the teacher's previous entries from September until now.  Only 1 was done on a Sunday.  The rest went from Monday thru Thursday.

In addition, this week I E-mailed all of my sons teachers to make sure that all of his assignments were being turned in (and not getting lost in his locker), or done improperly.  I sent the E-mail at 9:45 PM on Wednesday evening.  The first to reply was the Band teacher in under 12 hours.  Next was the English teacher that basically said my son should have a sheet that he keeps track of that shows how well he is doing in her class.  Her reply came on Friday afternoon around 3 PM.  Any parent knows that you need to double check everything on your kids unless you are naive.  In addition, JUST because I E-mailed she pulled my son out of class to ask why I am E-mailing her regarding how he is doing.  I felt like I was being prosecuted for trying to be a good parent and that my son was the key witness with the English teacher as the prosecutor.  I never knew communicating with your son's teacher (or trying to) was a crime.   Not only that, I still have 3 teachers that didn't even reply.  I also traced the E-mail using www.didtheyreadit.com to make sure they received it and that it didn't go into a junk folder.

Never the less I would like to ask J.Q. public what type of response time you think a teacher should give when you E-mail them about your child's educational performance,

Is it:

Same school business day (if sent before business hours)

Less than 24 hours

Within 48 hours

Within 72 hours

1 week

2 weeks

1 month

Let me know what you think?

There are 2 sides to every coin.  Even coins that have heads on both sides.

In many cases I wish life was like that coin that has a head on each side.

Unfortunately it’s not.  Recently I was asked to participate in a charity fundraiser to help a school district get a computer lab.  I was told the middle school didn’t have one.  I found this strange and inquired because I thought every school in the state from 6th grade on was required to have at least 1 computer lab.  Well then I found out they had one, but the computers were old and out dated.   Then I thought, why the taxpayers in the community paying for it… aren’t.  Ok, so maybe the school system couldn’t get a bond approved because a lot of people don’t have kids in the area.  Then to enhance the story, the University of Michigan will give each of the students’ automatic admission if they complete the computer program and get a 3.0 GPA. 

My first thought was wow, what a great deal for these kids.  Then I looked up the income in the community and it’s about the same as communities in my area.  Then I looked up the taxes.  It’s less then what I pay (lower home values).  I have a kid, and I would love to be able to get him guaranteed admission to U of M.

Is it right or fair for a publicly funded institution such as U of M to offer 1 public school’s students guaranteed admission and not to another? Remember, we all pay for this!

My kid might still be able to get into U of M, but it’s a lottery.  Why should these kids be any different?

It’s not necessarily a “poor community”.  It’s more lifestyle.

Not only that, I looked up the financial aid guides for U of M.  Certain students qualify for scholarships, just based on where they are live and what high school they go to.  You might be thinking, wow, that’s great for poor inner city kids right?  Think again.  There are communities that have lower income levels, higher taxes, and worse economic conditions that don’t make the list. 

Click here for the link!

 Below I listed 2 examples.  

U Of M Sponsored                           Not U of M Sponsored

Median Home Value

 $92,000                                            
     $132,000

Avg. Income                                                 
  

$36,000                                             
       $33,000

Avg. Property Taxes

 $1,850                                             
           $2,150

 High School Grad. Rate.

64%                                                 
                  79%

Numbers rounded to nearest $50

So the right column, people make less, have more expensive houses and property taxes, yet they do not get this guaranteed plan.  The  houses in the left column appreciate less (maybe) because of the school system.

However, could this U of M plan greatly increase the value of living in a community?

In addition, what factors were used?  These communities are pretty close in numbers with 3 exceptions:

Graduation Rate, and Taxes (by home value) and racial makeup.

Wait, column 2 pays more in State Taxes then Column 1 does.  Which means more of their dollars go to U of M in State funding.  Shouldn’t their kids get AT LEAST the same opportunity?

Don’t get me wrong, I definitely think these kids should get this great opportunity.  However, I think if you are going to offer to 1 community with X income and another has X income, you need to offer it to all communities with X income.  After all, the residents in that community decide how to spend their money and how to raise their children.  Their home values and taxes could be low because they vote down a new computer lab.  That’s their choice.  It could be low because they don’t maintain the houses or other items.    I understand if the income just isn’t there.  Life is a lot tougher when you are poor.  However, I am looking at the numbers thinking they make more money, but have lower taxes and property value.  They can afford to spend more to get their school in shape.

I am torn.  I love helping people out, but it just doesn’t seem fair

I am absolutely ecstatic that the La Shish chain of restaurants is now out of business.  I don’t think we will ever know the extent of how much hurt they caused both the American people and other victims of terrorism abroad.  It is truly a happy day for me to see this chain or restaurants close down.  No longer will money flow from Michigan to terrorist organizations from the La Shish chain of restaurants.

 

However, I can’t help but wonder, now that La Shish is gone, does it mean their employees and associates will be hard to keep track of?  What about the potential for them to open up other scams?

Or was it really just limited to the owner?  I personally don’t think it was limited just to the owner, but that is just my personal opinion. 

 

I can say that I am normally never happy to see any company go out of business, or people lose their job.  In this case, I’ll make an exception.

 

So, the question is, are there other organizations that we absolutely know are funneling money to terrorism, yet we can’t prove it?

Or

Is La Shish the last of its breed?

 

I would like to think it is, but I won’t believe it.  The government, law enforcement agencies can only do so much.  You the American People made this great day happen.  Hit them in the pocket book!

Let’s do the same thing for gas!  We can make it happen!  No more foreign oil!  No more foreign electronics!  We can do it!  Bring America back home and send non-Americans back to their home!

Before reading this post let me start off that I am more patriotic then most.  I try to buy American whenever possible, going to great lengths to see what is and is not American made and/or service.  I try not to shop at Stores like Wal-Mart, and try not to by AT&T products.  AT&T in fact is in my liar category as it is in my personal belief that they use the AT&T logo and branding to get Americans to purchase, yet contract many jobs overseas.  Which to me is kind of un-American.  Granted there are times when Americans are stuck up and pompous about it, but if I were a business owner, I would try to employ Americans first instead of just jumping ship to fill my pocket book.  That's another blog for another time!  I do certainly believe in Love it or Leave It very strongly.  However, like when you are looking for a job, you make comparisons, and sometimes take a job and hope for some things to change.  You might point out that Cuba is bad due to Communism, but, what about Mexico.  It is a free country and even more come to America from there.  Communism may not be the only cause.  Cuba was once free and still had people trying to get to America.

My question is, why are we so against everything Cuban just because it is Communist.

Certainly I agree that Cuban people are largely oppressed.  However a large portion of that may be caused by America's insistence that nobody trade with them. 

I would just like to point out some of the things Cuba has that America does not.

Cuba has free education from kindergarten thru Doctorate.  In some cases their Doctorate programs are more rigorous than ours. 

Free healthcare.  Granted like many free healthcare systems, there is almost no research for new medicine, and they rely on research in America for that.  After all why should they pay for it, when we will not only pay for it, but do the research for them. 

Though corruption does exist, there is almost no crack cocaine or drug use (Marijuana excluded). 

I also firmly believe that we have helped the Castro mafia stay in power. Often, when people hear something, they can only tell if it is true by getting the truthful information.  Since American's can't travel to Cuba, that means neither can our ideas.  In which case the idea of freedom will not flourish.  I firmly believe that one of the contributors to Russian democracy and the collapse of the Soviet empire was the many conferences between Russian Premiere's and our President(s).  I also believe that tourist groups, and other types of travel to Russia and other communist countries firmly allowed these countries to form in some cases a better form of democracy then our own.    Many of them (with our help) have free healthcare and education systems.  The very things we are asking our politicians to fix.  Yet year after year, the best we can hope for in education is a minor reduction in costs. 

Senator Enzi, the Wyoming Republican who introduced a bill with bi-partisan support, told reporters: "If we want to give the Cuban people a taste of the real America, we need to allow Americans to go there and share it. Unilateral sanctions stop not just the flow of goods, but the flow of ideas – ideas of freedom and democracy are the keys to positive change in any nation."

I firmly believe that much of what Senator Enzi said is true.  If you look at the revolt in China many years ago, Russia and the Baltic countries, Poland, Ukraine, Czech Republis.  Though not perfect, in many ways they have taken our idea of Democracy and improved on it from the start.  We may have invented the wheel, but they greased the axels.  I am not saying I want to live there.  (Though I do hear the weather in Cuba is quite nice), why not get the ideas going.  We may be missing an opportunity for change in Cuba by not allowing travel there.  The Cuban people are thinking about change right now.  We need to help encourage those thoughts.

What do you think?

As I read various articles and watched Fox 2 News regarding potholes, I couldn't help but think is urban sprawl partially to blame?

If you think about the funding of roads, it has to do with the number of miles of road in a geographic area.  The more roads you have, the more you have to repair.  Yet year after year the road construction budget for pothole repair decreases or easily used on a small section of road with "Sinkholes".  I also can't help but think that people living beyond their means, driving big gas guzzling SUV's that lived in houses they couldn't afford in the first place, in what used to be rural areas kind contributed to this mess.

In reality, people could live quite comfortably closer to work, or in pre-existing neighborhoods.  We didn't need new houses that my dad probably would have considered to be mansions.  We even widened or in some cases put in entire new roads based on new subdivisions.  Yet we never really had a booming long term job market in Michigan to support those houses.  We never repaired or maintained our existing infastructure.  Would you pattle a boat into deeper shark infested water if it had a leak?  No, you would try to stop the leak first.  If you couldn't stop the leak, you would likely try to get as far away from th shark and as close to shore as possible.  So, why don't Michiganders do that?  Better yet, why didn't we do that?  The new high schools in the new buildings in many cases have lower test scores then those of older existing schools.

The College GPA of those that have graduated from those high schools is also not on par with the previous older experienced high schools.  

So, what did we get from urban sprawl?  More potholes, less nature, more debt, more foreclosures, worse schools, more waisted gas.  But wait, you get to tell your friends you lived in a 3k foot house for 18 months before you got foreclosed on!

What are Detroit's Political Options in the future?

The idea of the mayor's scandals (not just the recent one) also make companies avoid this city.  Why?  Because nobody wants to put out a press release that involves associating with a person that cheats on their wife.  Another example would be that the CEO of a major company doesn't want his wife to think he is cheating on her or picking up bad habits by associating with the mayor.

Unfortunately this effects many other issues.  From taxes and unemployment, to law enforcement, education and much more.  The Mayor's tactics and choices are inexcusable.  If he was really doing God's work, he would resign.  Unless God is creating the next Sodham in which God intends to fire and brimstone the city of Detroit.  (Of course Devil's night kind of does that already).

Never the less, how do we prevent corruption in the city.  It's already impacting crime in the suburbs.  The closer the suburb to the city the higher the crime rate.  So should the suburbs have a say in the city?  Should the city be divided into burroughs?  Many long term questions, but for sure we need to change the city of Detroit.  Nostalgia is not a good enough reason to keep it the way it is. 

I personally am for a voting consortium or re-annexation of parts of the city by the suburbs to to make the problem smaller.  For example:  Allow the city of Grosse Pointe Park to annex 5-10 blocks.  Allow Harper Woods to annex a few blocks.  Then let each of those start rebuilding from scratch.  Of course, that only makes the problem slightly smaller.  The whole city could never be divided up.  It just wouldn't solve many of the problems.  So is Kym Worthy the next mayor?  Does she want to be?  (I can't imagine anybody truly wanting to be), however we need new leadership.  If she prosecutes Kwame, does that help or hurt her political future.  In the now, I am personally all for prosecution and a recall of Kwame, as well as Kym Worthy running for Mayor in ADDITION to reducing the physical size of the city to allow for rebuilding.

I will close with the joke below:

Secret weekend rendezvous with girlfriend….

$3500

Lease new Lincoln Navigator for the wife……

$25,000

Using a city charge card like your own…..
$212,000

Legal fees for whistle blowing cover-ups……

$9,000,000

Pending lawsuits against the city……

$150,000,000

Exposing the Mayor and his girlfriend for lying under oath................
Priceless!!

There are some things money can't buy

For everything else including what you have yet to think of, there is "Kwame Card".
Just ask the Taxpayers of Detroit!  They get the bill for the Kwame card!
"I did not have TEXTUAL RELATIONS with that woman".

 

Detroit was recently rated by Forbes and many others as the most miserable city in America.  I wish I could be like Minnesotans and dispute the results, but unfortunately it's all true.  Not only that, the mayor says he is on a mission from God.

If I may ask, what is his mission from God?  Remember, Noah and the Ark.  Noah and his family lived while everybody else parished.  Is that the case here?  No, wait, Noah was righteous and not only lived for got, but for his fellow man and the planet earth.

Ok, is Kwami more like Moses who parted the Red Sea??  Surely he will part the Detroit River and allow a huge freeway to be built....no wait, that would stop the freighters from going thru.

Ok, Kwami is like Jesus. Making the people of detroit have plentiful bounties, with baskets of food that never end.  No...wait....he cost the city of detroit $9M+ ($28 for every Detroit tax payer).

Remember when Dennis Archer was mayor? People seems to use the word AXE more appropriately.  Instead of "Let me AXE you some tin", it was "Let me ask you something"

Now because the Mayor speaks that way it's ok?  I can't even believe he was re-elected.  Another reason the city of Detroit might be on the worse places to live list could be that they are stupid enough to vote for a Mayor like Kwami.  Bring back Archer any day!  I wouldn't even go to Detroit before Archer, and just when it was starting to come back, Kwami ruins it even worse than it was before. 

Article from Forbes below.

America's Most Miserable Cities

By Kurt Badenhausen, Forbes.com

Feb 11th, 2008

Imagine living in a city with the country's highest rate for violent crime and the second-highest unemployment rate. As an added kicker you need more Superfund dollars allocated to your city to clean up contaminated toxic waste sites than just about any other metro.

Unfortunately, this nightmare is a reality for the residents of Detroit. The Motor City grabs the top spot on Forbes' inaugural list of America's Most Miserable Cities.

Misery is defined as a state of great unhappiness and emotional distress. The economic indicator most often used to measure misery is the Misery Index. The index, created by economist Arthur Okun, adds the unemployment rate to the inflation rate. It has been in the narrow 7-to-9 range for most of the past decade, but was over 20 during the late 1970s.

In Pictures: America's Most Miserable Cities

There also exists a Misery Score, which is the sum of corporate, personal, employer and sales taxes in different countries. France took the top spot (or perhaps bottom is more appropriate) with a score of 166.8, thanks to a top rate of 51% on personal incomes and 45% for employer Social Security.

But aren't there other things that cause Americans misery? Of course. So we decided to expand on the Misery Index and the Misery Score to create our very own Forbes Misery Measure. We're sticking with unemployment and personal tax rates, but we are adding four more factors that can make people miserable: commute times, weather, crime and that toxic waste dump in your backyard.

We looked at only the 150 largest metropolitan areas, which meant a minimum population of 371,000. We ranked the cities on the six criteria above and added their ranks together to establish what we call the Misery Measure. The data used in the rankings came from Portland, Ore., researcher Bert Sperling, who last year published the second edition of Cities Ranked & Rated along with Peter Sander. Economic research firm Economy.com, which is owned by Moody's, also supplied some data.

Detroit in the top spot, with its sister city Flint ranked third, is probably not a great shock. "If Detroit were a baseball team, we'd say they are mired in a slump," says Sperling. Both Detroit and Flint have suffered tremendously from the auto industry downturn. Flint's plight was immortalized in the Michael Moore movie Roger & Me, which chronicles Moore's attempts to meet with then General Motors Chief Executive Roger Smith.

Crime and unemployment are closely linked, according to Sperling. Our three most miserable places bear that out (Stockton, Calif., ranks second). All three are among the eight worst cities in terms of both unemployment and violent crime.

The United States' two biggest cities both induce a ton of misery. New York was the fourth most miserable city by our count, while Los Angeles clocked in at sixth. The Big Apple has the longest commute times (36.2 minutes) and the highest tax rates (10.5%) in the country. As the financial capital of the world and home to write-down kings Merrill Lynch and Citigroup , New York appears poised for more misery in 2008.

The people of La-La Land have some of the best weather in the U.S. (it's ranked seventh) but scored poorly when it came to commute times, Superfund sites and taxes. And we did not even factor in air quality, where Los Angeles is the worst in the nation by far, according to Sperling.

The biggest surprise on our list is Charlotte, N.C. , which is ranked ninth. Charlotte has undergone tremendous economic growth the past decade, while the population has soared 32%. But the current picture isn't as bright. Employment growth has not kept up with population growth, meaning unemployment rates are up more than 50% compared with 10 years ago. Charlotte scored in the bottom half of all six categories we examined. It scored the worst on violent crime, ranking 140th.

So take heart, Detroit, you are not alone. After all, misery loves company.

In Pictures: America's Most Miserable Cities

Recently our Boy Scout group had a pop can drive.  We typically do this 2-3 times a year.  In fact, we have been in 2 scout groups, 1 when my son was in Cub Scouts, and now my son is in Boy Scouts. 

If you don't know the Boy Scouts are different from the Girl Scouts and other groups in some ways.  The Boy Scouts don't spend a lot of time selling Girl Scout cookies and such.  They spend a large portion of their time on cleanup projects, volunteer work, doing good deeds, etc.  For example we participate in Can Do and Goodfellows to help the needy.  In addition they learn many values by camping and being in the outdoors.  Camping cost money. 

The Boys pay a lot of fees to be in Boy Scouts.  To offset that cost they hold the pop can drives where flyers are distributed in the local neighborhood.  Last Sunday was Super bowl Sunday and my son braved the cold temperatures and snow to distribute these flyers.  To many this also provides a service as the boys will take back the pop cans, and the people that donate will write it off on taxes.  It's a win, win situation.

 The cans will have to go back anyway. 

 You may notice that many stores are now posting a limit on pop can deposits even if the cans were purchased from that location.  Let me give you an example:

I could buy $100 in pop for a graduation party at Kroger at 35 cents a can (~285 cans or  8 - 36 packs), plus pay the State of Michigan deposit (which I am supposed to get back) at the register.  However, Kroger will not let me return more than 250 cans.  So I either have to make another trip to another store, or lose my deposit on the other cans.

They recently strongly implied that the boys should not come back to Kroger even though they stayed to the left and used only 1 machine and helped others with their cans.  On top of that, when the boys went to the register, Kroger would not cash in $15 in receipts stating that it was over their $25 limit. Eventually Kroger did give out the money as the parents counted for the per person $25 limit.  We are also not talking a heard of boys.  Typically 1-5.  So it's not like there is a mob in the return area.

 If Kroger doesn't want the boys using their machines, simply have a manager count the cans and call it a day.  However, I think Kroger is being very petty about this.  If they charge the deposit, they should have to take the cans back. 

So why the limits?  Well it CAN prevent homeless people from bringing their cans into the store which they get out of the garbage, but essentially they just make smaller trips now.  In addition it allows Kroger to keep more cash on hand since less people pay with Cash now, they may need it for change and such.  However, what happens to that deposit money since people will bring less cans back to Kroger???  You may have guessed it, they get to keep it.  So by setting a limit, they will get you to take your cans elsewhere.  I feel the Attorney general should force stores like Kroger to accommodate any size deposit.  If they have a large deposit, and don't want their machines clogging up, then they can make other arrangements for groups such as counting the cans by hand and not going thru the machine, arranging off hours for large returns, or even place the machines in an area outside of store traffic, such as off the front entrance, like ATM machine locations are.   Not to mention, if you buy Kroger brand cans, you can only return them at Kroger.  In any other industry, if you charged a deposit and didn't return it, you would be sued, or worse, like having the attorney general beat down your door.  Think if you were charged a deposit for renting a car, bicycle, ATV, carpet cleaner, and when you went to bring it back, they said "Sorry!" and didn't give you your money back.

What do you think?  Is Kroger petty by not allowing large returns?  Or is the Scout group wrong for trying to raise money and return a high volume of cans?