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My state has no money. That’s the long and short of it. For the past few months, Jenny from the Block (aka: Governor Jennifer Granholm) and the state legislature have been bickering over whether to raise taxes or make budget cuts to compensate for the lack of funds. Using whatever means, our witless leaders in Lansing must solve the budget crisis by October 1st. Well kiddies, it’s September 29th and guess what? No resolution. So that means effective Monday, there will be a partial shutdown of state government. According to this article "...most state functions will cease, with few exceptions. Those exceptions include prison operations, psychiatric hospital staffing, state veteran's homes in Marquette and Grand Rapids, drinking water monitoring, critical health laboratory work and minimal Michigan State Police patrols.
Most Department of Human Services offices will remain open with limited staff for child and adult protective services, and to process emergency food, rent and utility payments.
What Granholm said would cease until a budget agreement is reached:
- Department of Agriculture inspections of food, gas pump accuracy and livestock; permitting for cattle and agricultural exports; horse racing.
- Michigan Supreme Court and Court of Appeals operations, with the exception of emergency appeals.
- All operations by the Michigan Department of Education. If the shutdown continues past Oct. 22, K-12 districts will not receive their October payment.
- In-person transactions at local Secretary of State (that would be DMV for non-locals) branches and unemployment offices; service would still be available over the phone or online.
- All Department of Natural Resources operations, with the exception of minimal staffing of the state's six fish hatcheries and forest fire response.
- All state parks, recreation areas, DNR visitor centers and state forest campgrounds will close. Campers with reservations will be able to apply for refunds. Hunting and fishing licenses will be processed with possible delays. The archery deer season will open as scheduled on Monday, but deer check stations will be closed.
- All road construction and routine maintenance by the Michigan Department of Transportation. Six lift bridges in Bay City, Manistee, St. Joseph, Port Huron and Detroit will remain in the "up" position in compliance with U.S. Coast Guard regulations. The Mackinac Bridge, the International Bridge and the Blue Water Bridge will remain open."Yet again, I’m astounded by the ineptness of those who run our country. How hard it to decide whether to raise taxes or take a pay cut? Although how Granholm expects us to pay higher taxes when we have the highest unemployment rate in the nation, is beyond me. Can someone please remind why I still want to live here? mood:  aggravated
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List your ten favourite songs that begin with the letter given to you (and explain why you picked them, if you want). Comment and I'll give you a letter. ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) mshydehj7 gave me "N" and here they are in no particular order. If you sample any, let me know what you think. A New Hope & End Credits – John Williams So I kind of cheated on this one, since it technically starts with an “A.” This selection from the Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith soundtrack combines themes from both the classic and prequel trilogies. The tone of the music ranges from delicate and haunting to intense and dynamic. Plus, John Williams! The man is a genius when it comes to movie scores. Nowhere Man – The Beatles This is one of my favorite Beatles songs; set after their “boy band” era it offers thoughtful lyrics set to a solid mid-tempo rock background. Nature Boy – David Bowie I love the Nat King Cole version of this song, but Bowie’s version from the Moulin Rouge soundtrack is just amazing. The song starts off small and builds to a wonderful climax with Bowie unleashing some major vocals. Nothing Else Matters – Metallica Metallica does a ballad. :D It’s one of the few times where James gets the guitar solo and I particularly love his vocals on this song. I also like the way they combined typical high-distortion heavy metal style guitar with a cleaner, almost acoustic style. Ni Yao De Ai – Penny Tai A good pop song that relies on real background music instead of just a canned beat. Penny Tai’s voice is clear and her singing style is very straight forward (ie: not laden with runs.) Vocals are in Mandarin. Nessun Dorma – Andrea Bocelli The music from Turandot is so beautiful and this aria is no exception. I’m actually not that picky about who is singing and have several different versions on CD/mp3, but Bocelli has a nice voice and I’ll definitely be adding his version to my collection. Never There – Cake Great lyrics delivered in John McCrea’s signature near-monotone vocals, a prominent baseline, and a trumpet solo. It’s classic Cake, what’s not to love? No One Must Ever Know – Anthony Warlow Anthony Warlow could sing the phone book and I’d be completely sassified. His voice is that good. This is a “plot” song from Jekyll & Hyde that probably doesn’t fair too well out of context, but the lyrics are so poignant. It really expresses how horrified Jekyll is at the turn that his experiment has taken, but that he’s still not willing to give up his dream to rid the world of evil. Never an Easy Way – Morcheeba I love the laid back R&B musical style and Skye Edwards’ soft, smoky voice. The lyrics are pretty good too. No Surprises – Radiohead The bleak lyrics are in direct contradiction to the sweet and innocent sounding music creating a nice audio oxymoron. mood:  hungry
music: soul asylum - misery
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Ugh. YouTube smote me. On a whim, I went looking for some Phantom vids and found a whole cache of Rachel Barrell and John Owen-Jones themed goodness. And hot damn Miss Rachel! While lurking at PFN I read quite a few negative reviews about her performance so I wasn't motivated to look for bootlegs of her. Note to self: don't listen to people on PFN. She was absolutely wonderful! I think she might even be my new favorite Christine. This little bout of phangirling kept me up far past midnight, at which time I switched tactics to Les Miz-ing (found a nice video of “One Day More” from the final Broadway performance) and then to pimping... of the Scarlet variety. Someone uploaded The Making of the Scarlet Pimpernel that features the original Broadway cast. Terrance Mann and Douglas Sills together in one show... oh me. Be still my heart. That's not the kind of thing you can just turn off. Even if you do have to be up for work in four hours! I reiterate: ugh. mood:  i go like... sleepy time
music: metric - combat baby
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Older
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