Complaint re; C. Joseph Schwedler

The following document and exhibits was mailed to Michigan's
Judicial Tenure Commission on Friday, March 26, 2010. It is
my understanding that there are other complaints against this
judge. If you have such a complaint it behooves you to file it as
soon as possible. If you would like a copy of the entire document
on a CD in the pdf format, please contact me and I'll make sure
you get one. If you are out of the Iron County area, please send a
6" X 9" SASE (postage paid) envelope to PO Box 195, Stambaugh
MI and I'll put a CD in it and mail it back.

=========================================

State of Michigan
Judicial Tenure Commission
)
)
William J Vajk ) Iron County Trial Court Case
Plaintiff ) I08-3982-CZ
)
v. )
)
C. Joseph Schwedler )
Defendant )




Table of Contents



Complaint (this document, everything else listed below is attached)

Case I-08-3982-CA Defendant’s Motion for Summary Disposition Exhibit A

File I-08-3982-CZ Transcript dated February 26, 2009 Exhibit B

File I-08-3982-CZ ORDER dated April 30, 2009 Exhibit C

Case I-08-3982-CZ Plaintiff’s MCR 2.003 Post Denial Pleading Exhibit D

File I-08-3982-CZ Transcript dated June 5, 2009 Exhibit E

Act 442 of 1976 FOIA Exhibit F

Michigan Code of Judicial Conduct Exhibit G

Complaint

Now comes the Plaintiff William J. Vajk and complains of the defendant
C. Joseph Schwedler as follows:

1) Judge C. Joseph Schwedler allowed a political/social
relationship to influence judicial conduct. Schwedler
allowed his political connections to litigant Archocosky
to influence his judicial conduct.

In line 6 on page B3 of Exhibit B defendant Schwedler acknowledges
he knows John Archocosky on sight by deciding to wait, instead of
the proceeding as scheduled, for Archocosky’s arrival in the
courtroom. This is a small county with residency approximating
13,000 souls, and litigant, in the underlying case, Archocosky has
been a political figure in Iron County for a long period of time and
the two men have reason to know one another on that basis. While
this wait was, in Plaintiff’s opinion, ill advised, it serves only to
unequivocally demonstrate the two men know one another.

Litigant, in the above captioned case, John Archocosky, through
his attorney Susan MacGregor, made an admission on pages A19
(bottom of litigant’s boxed Exhibit near the middle of the page)
and again on page A25 (the penultimate line on the page) of
Exhibit A that John Archocosky sent email to plaintiff stating
his assumption of responsibility for city documents by stating,
“Please direct any future FOIA correspondence to me.” Please
see MCR 2.11 G (2).

Beginning with Line 25 on Page B11 through line 22 on Page B12,
during a hearing before Judge Schwedler on February 26, 2009,
Plaintiff alleged with great specificity litigant Archocosky’s
responsibility for asserting control over all documents requested
from the City of Iron River.

Later, defendant Schwedler, in line 23 of page B19 of Exhibit B,
states that “There is no allegation that Mr. Archocosky is the
person who was even in charge of these records.”

In light of the facts, as presented to the court with such abundant
clarity, C. Joseph Schwedler purposely and with thought aforehand
violated Canon 2C in rendering his verdict conflicting with the
evidence presented before and during the court hearing of
February 26, 2009 over which he presided.

2) Judge C. Joseph Schwedler failed to observe the law.
Schwedler substituted his personal opinion in place of
MCL 15.231 et seq.

In line 10 on page B3 of Exhibit B defendant Schwedler states,
“There’s no requirement to create a document….” as applies
to the statute, Act 442 of 1976 as amended, underlying the
lawsuit about which Schwedler was conducting a hearing. The
statute, in MCL 15.233 (4) clearly states that “This act does
not require a public body to make a compilation, summary,
or report of information except as required in section 11.”
Please see page F5 of Exhibit F, 15.241 (1) and (1)(c). For
further clarity I cite the following authorities regarding
interpretation of this statute:

“When interpreting a statute, we look first to the
language of the statute and give the words used
their plain and ordinary meaning.” DiBenedetto v
West Shore Hosp, 461 Mich 394, 402;
605 NW2d 300 (2000). “If the statutory language
is unambiguous, appellate courts presume that the
Legislature intended the meaning plainly expressed
and further judicial construction is neither permitted
nor required.” Atchison v Atchison, 256 Mich App 531,
535; 664 NW2d 249 (2003), citing DiBenedetto, supra.


The referenced MCL and its Section 11 were, at all pertinent
times, apposite in the matter being adjudged where
Schwedler held in opposition to established law.
C. Joseph Schwedler purposely and with thought
aforehand violated Canon 3A(1).

3) Judge C. Joseph Schwedler has failed to perform the
duties of office impartially and diligently. Schwedler
substituted his self-serving personal opinion in lieu of
observing MCR 2.003.

Plaintiff/litigant moved for a hearing, scheduled for May 13, 2009,
to vacate judgment and to disqualify Judge Schwedler. MCR 2.003
contains no restriction on when, during proceedings, that motion
may be brought. Exhibit C depicts the order issued by defendant
Schwedler canceling the hearing. C. Joseph Schwedler thereby
purposely and with thought aforehand violated MCR 2.003 and
Canon 3B(1)

Subsequently Plaintiff/litigant moved in a post denial pleading
scheduled for hearing June 5, 2009, that the court comply with
MCR 2.003(C)(3) as is shown in Exhibit D. On the appointed
date, C. Joseph Schwedler refused to hear the motion as he
stated as depicted in the transcript in Exhibit E. C. Joseph
Schwedler purposely and with thought aforehand violated
MCR 2.003(C)(3) and Canon 2(A) and Canon 3B(1).

Summation.

Plaintiff William J. Vajk understands the duty of the Judicial
Tenure Commission is not to retry the case which I did not
take to appeal because the monetary values involved are too
small when considering the costs of an appeal. Instead, the
undersigned maintains that C. Joseph Schwedler, during the
course of the case underlying this complaint, conducted
himself in violation of the laws of the State of Michigan,
of Michigan Court Rules, and the Judicial Canons of Conduct
as described above and in ways that the Judicial Tenure
Commission may discover for itself should the commission
decide to review the entire case. I add that there are many
additional possible causes for complaint in what is a small
case both in money and in scope, but I have limited my
participation in this process by formalizing only the elements
I personally consider most egregious. The entire purpose of
this complaint to the Judicial Tenure Commission is to seek
disciplinary proceedings against C. Joseph Schwedler with
the requested outcome being his removal from office as a
person not qualified to sit upon the judicial bench in a
Michigan Court.

Respectfully Submitted,

_______________________________
William J. Vajk

Why Aren't Iron County Roads Built Better?

Recently I took FFH16 to Phelps and found to my
dismay that the roadway is already failing
although it hasn't been that long since it was
rebuilt.

Other than the general bumpiness that indicates
to e that the road bed was poorly done, there
are two places marked with a sign that indicates
a "DIP."

Neither is actually a dip unless the road commission
means that the pavement is still there in a hole,
a condition that promises not to last very long.
Each of the spots, if driven over at the speed limit,
is definitely a jarring experience.

Here's a photo of the worse one.



The question is, why is any new road so poorly
built that it begins to fail within a few years
of use? We know what the weather in this part
of the world is like in the wintertime. Do we
not spend enough money on these roads to assure
that they are properly built? Is it not enough
money being spent, or is it carelessness that
allows substandard construction.

Bill Vajk

Upcoming Events for April 2010

These dates were forwarded to am and I'm republishing
them without further ado. They're mostly Tea Party and
or conservative events. For information about liberal,
progressive, or Democrat events, please visit Yahoo's
IronCountyVoice hosted by our associate editor Ben Smith.

These events will be updated as they are submitted.

======================================
4/8/2010 Tea Party Express III in Ironwood at 6:30 pm.
Not sure of site

4/9/2010 Tea Party Express III in Escanaba at noon.
Not sure of site

4/9/2010 Tea Party Express III in the Soo 5-8 pm
at Bud Weber Park, 600 Ashmun

4/11/2010 Chippewa County Reagan Day Dinner
Featuring Dan Benishek who is running for the
seat Bart Stupak is about to lose.

4/11/2010 Walker Cisler Center, LSSU, Sault S...

Chippewa County Reagan Day Dinner - UPDATED

Type: Party - Dinner Party

Date: Sunday, April 11, 2010

Time: 2:00pm - 6:00pm

Location: Walker Cisler Center - Lake Superior State
University

Description
The 12th Annual Chippewa County Reagan Day Dinner

FEATURED SPEAKER - Jim Jacobson, Former Reagan
Adviser (complete bio below)

April 11, 2010 - 2:00 PM

$25 per person


more info and details to follow.
______________________________________________
Confirmed Candidates:

Terri Lynn Land - Bouchard for Governor

Daniel Benishek - 1st District US Congress

Linda Goldthorp - 1st District US Congress

Tom Stillings - 1st District US Congress

Rep. Paul Scott - SOS Candidate

Howard Walker - 37th MI Senate

Frank Foster - 107th MI House

Michael Patrick - 107th MI House

Alex Strobehn - 107th MI House



______________________________________________
BIO Mr Jim Jacobson:

* Jim Jacobson, President and Founder of Christian
Freedom International, has assisted the persecuted
church in many restricted countries around the world.
He has faced personal danger to deliver Bibles to
underground churches in China, care packs to
families in the brickyards of Pakistan, and medical
aid to refugees in the war zones of Burma
.
* Mr. Jacobson has testified and conducted
briefings before Congress, the White House
and the State Department on behalf of
Christians who are persecuted for their
faith each year.

* At the invitation of First Lady Laura Bush,
Mr. Jacobson participated in The Dialogue
on Burma, a roundtable discussion conducted
during the September 2006 U.N. General
Assembly that allowed activists and
government officials to speak openly about
the severe humanitarian crisis that has
plagued Burma for decades.

* Before founding CFI, Mr. Jacobson served
as a policy analyst in the Reagan White House,
a political appointee in the George Herbert
Walker Bush administration, and was a senior
legislative assistant in the U.S. Senate. He is
also Vice-President and Co-Founder of the
National Right to Read Foundation, an
organization dedicated to phonics-based
reading instruction in elementary schools
throughout America.

* Mr. Jacobson has also been a frequent guest
on radio talk shows and has appeared on
numerous television programs, including 60
Minutes, Fox News, and The 700 Club.

* Mr. Jacobson is a graduate of the University
of Michigan. He and his wife Karen have 12
children, 8 of whom have been adopted from
Burma, and have been married for more than
20 years.

Central PLanning 101

Over the years I've touted the teachings of
F. A. Hayek and his discourse on central planning
in a book titled "The Road to Serfdom" that was
originally published in the US in 1944 although
it previously took him 3 years (1940-43) to write
it. Once ready for publication it was difficult
to find a US publisher, although once released it
found two additional homes, one as a serial in
the Reader's Digest and another as a comic strip
publication published by Look Magazine. Please
see mises.org/books/TRTS

An abridged version of the book is available online
at jim.com/hayek.htm

Hayek shared a Nobel prize in 1974 for his work
and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom
in 1991, the year before he died.

Obviously Hayek was a strong critic of central
planning, the antithesis of free market capitalism.
In 1994 Milton Friedman wrote an introduction to
the edition released that year, and heavily quoted
his introduction to a 1971 German edition of
the same book.

Friedman discussed the time bound elements that
put a hard stop to the march towards collectivism
and central planning in the immediate post WW2
period in Germany, England, and the USA. The UK
had gotten so far as to have the government
assign people to occupations, an idea that found
no place in the post war period.

"Unfortunately, the check to collectivism did not
check the growth of government; rather it diverted
its growth to a different channel. The emphasis
shifted from governmentally administered activities
to indirect regulation of supposedly private enter-
prises and even more to governmental transfer
programs, involving extracting taxes from some in
order to make grants to others--all in the name of
equality and the eradication of poverty, but in
practice producing an erratic and contradictory
melange of subsidies to special interest groups.
As a result, the fraction of the national income
being spent by governments has continued to mount."

That brings us to the present day with the
congressional passage of Obamacare. All of Friedman's
step by step description of how the UK grew
government in the post WW2 period is now happening
in the USA at an advanced rate. In the end, it will
be wall to wall central planning and collectivism by
the US government if Obama et troupe aren't stopped
promptly.

"This is what change looks like." B. Obama 3/22/2010

Bill Vajk

The Selling of America

"LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European aerospace group
EADS said Friday that it may rejoin the competition
for the U.S. Air Force aerial-refueling tanker
contract after the Pentagon gave indications
that it would extend the time needed to submit
a bid.

"The European company, which lost its chance to
win the contract when its U.S. partner,
Northrop Grumman Corp. pulled out earlier this
month, called the development a "positive sign"
that the Defense Department is seeking competition.

"The Airbus parent said it is 'assessing' the
new situation to determine whether it can submit
a bid, though it reiterated its concern that the
program requirements still clearly favor 'a
smaller, less capable aircraft.'

"Northrop spokesman Randy Belote said the defense
company is not considering re-entering the bidding
contest.

"In a strange twist, United Aircraft, an aerospace
group formed by the Russian government in February
2006, plans to jump into the bidding. Citing a
U.S.-based lawyer for UAC, The Wall Street Journal
reported the aerospace firm plans to announce a
joint venture with a small U.S. defense contractor
on Monday."

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/pentagon-may-extend-tanker-dealine-2010-03-19?dist=afterbell

Perhaps the United States has forgotten the French
government's gigantic error after WWI when France
contracted with a German firm to design and build
the "Maginot Line." When the German decision was
made to invade France during WW2, Hitler summoned
the builders who showed up with not only the
plans, but also the specifications for cannons
required to breach the fortifications at various
points.

Similarly, Czechoslovakia copied the French
fortifications when building their own, so Hitler
had sufficient information for his purposes about
another border.

For these, and other more or less obvious reasons,
the USA needs to internalize all military
purchases. Given our unemployment picture, why
not give the project to Detroit based firms that
did such a great job during WW2?

Bill Vajk

Where Are They?

The question arose today, why is is that all those
people supposedly in favor of Obamacare have not
put on some demonstrations to drive their point
home?

The answer is obvious. There isn't anyone in that
camp that cares enough to make public statements
about their viewpoint let alone to put on a
public demonstration.

Get a clue, congress!

Bill Vajk

Michigan calls for a Constitutional Convention

As this year is one of the windows of opportunity
to revise the Michigan constitution, there are calls
to do just that.

Having read the existing document I feel that the
current version is well thought out and should not
only be left alone, but ought to be enforced.

Two examples spring to mind.

The Michigan Supreme Court has been violating the
existing constitution since the 1990's by appointing
(presently) six judges to positions to which they
have not been elected, in violation of Article VI, § 27:

"Sec. 27. The supreme court, the court of appeals, the
circuit court, or any justices or judges thereof, shall
not exercise any power of appointment to public office
except as provided in this constitution."

The Headlee Amendment to the constitution prohibits the
imposition of taxes that have not been approved by the
electorate. In Michigan's Upper Peninsula most of the
municipal governments providing water bill what is
euphemistically called a "readiness to serve" charge
to properties that have their water shut off by the
municipality for any number of reasons. They try to make
believe it is a legitimate fee, but no service is being
provided and in some cases disconnection from the the
municipal water system is prohibited by ordinance.

For details of what constitutes a legitimate fee I
recommend reading the Bolt v. City of Lansing. The
court there spells out the factors that distinguish
a legitimate fee from a tax. The readiness to serve
charge fails those tests.

There are many, in this day of financial difficulties,
who would strip all taxpayer protections from the
Michigan Constitution, or introduce such changes as
would make those protections presently in place
meaningless.

The constitution, as it presently stands, is much more
than good enough. What we need is much better
enforcement of its terms.

Bill Vajk

Regressive Eastern Block Mentality in Washington

I published this a few days ago at
www.world-discussion.blogspot.com
It needs to be considered a local issue as well.

=======================================================

How would you like to put down a 50% deposit for a new
car that the manufacturer promises to deliver to you in
3 years, then pay the balance at delivery? That's the
way business was done in the Eastern Block from 1950
through 1990.

Obamacare is a lot like that too. The administration
expects us to embrace a pay now and maybe take
delivery later scheme just like they used to do with
cars in the eastern block under the soviet system.

It is interesting to me that our government has taken
a page out of the soviet play book and wants to impose
it here in the USA. As I've written elsewhere, if you
want to understand Washington today, you have only to
look at European Communist political antics of the
20th century. It seems to me it is coming here because
the average US citizen has a poor understanding about
how government is supposed to work, and our modern
day communists and socialists have usurped the formerly
positive word "progress" that they misuse in the name
of their political movement that they call "progressive."

It isn't progressive at all, the real name should now be
regressive because they're attempting to resurrect
failed political imperatives. One definition states that
insanity is doing the same thing over again while
expecting a different outcome. That's been attributed
to Einstein, though whoever said it first was right.

Please don't get me wrong. I favor having the government
empowered to establish a fair and reasonable framework
of regulation within which business, inventiveness, and
entrepreneurship can flourish, but Obamacare has no place
in that scheme and must be rejected out of hand.

Please give this some thought. If we can only get 7 years
of coverage for 10 years of premiums then what of the
second 10 years? What gets cut then? Obamacare is a
downward spiral into an economic hell designed to
economically destroy the USA. Couple that with the cap
and trade that Obama and his regressives want to
impose and the overall scheme becomes a lot more
obvious.

Bill Vajk

--
Posted By Bill Vajk to World Discussion at 3/13/2010 09:08:00 AM
==================================================

Cult Of Personality; Issue Revisited

As you get on the highway to leave O'Hare Airport,
there's a large sign in the median that welcomes
you to Chicago, and has the current Mayor's name
in huge letters at the bottom. You're barely out
of the airport, and you've already come face to
face with one of the many manifestations of the
cult of personality that pervades that great
metropolis.

(When Gloria and I moved to Chicago in 1974 we
thought of it as a cow town, when compared to
the New Your metropolitan region.)

I saw the sign first when I arrived to Chicago
in 1974, and through all the mayors who ran the
city from then till 2003 when I moved to Iron
County permanently, the name always changed
within 24 hours after a new mayor took office.
Summer or winter, stormy weather or no, it,
and the City Hall stationery, were the first
things changed. The political culture in Chicago
thinks it that important.

This subject came up again as it relates to Iron
County because I had occasion to visit Marquette
Hospital's "Hospitality Suite" recently. I
noticed that the wall decor includes 14 road
maps of various counties and municipalities in
the region.

By far the largest map, possibly 6+ times as large
as the next largest, of course, is the one put
out by the Iron County Road Commission. The
Hospital thought enough of this decorative scheme
to frame the maps and put them behind a protective
layer of plastic.



As I looked at them all, the fact jumped out at me
that out of 14 maps on the walls, only six had the
names of the members of the political body in
charge of publication. Naturally Iron County was
one of those, the cult of personality is here and
doing well despite the continuing economic decline.



This, of course, is the poverty version of a cult of
personality because the name that appears at the top
of the list is John Archocosky who has not been on
the road commission for some time now. It is as
though the City of Chicago had decided to stop
putting new mayoral names on their O'Hare Airport
sign welcoming you to Chicago. I'm almost surprised
that a road commission worker wasn't dispatched to
Marquette General to replace the map once Archokosky
was no longer on the road commission. Perhaps they'll
do that now, since I have brought it to their attention.

Which brings up the next question, when will Iron
River place signs along US2 welcoming folks to Iron
River in the mayor's, or perhaps the city manager's,
name?

When any new areas are developed in the region, will
streets be named after the current crop of Iron County
politicos?

Bill Vajk

Finance Conditions Improving?

Yesterday I received an offer from one of
my credit card/banking providers that has
me wondering if there's a strong improvement
in the finance industry. It arrived in email.
I've removed the company name because I'm not
shilling for them.

"Want a quick and easy way to save? Transfer your
higher-rate balances to your XXXXXXX account,
and they'll stay at a low 0% APR for 12 months
after the first transfer posts to your account.
After that, your APR will be the same as your
purchase rate.

"Keep in mind, you'll pay a transaction fee of 2%
on each balance."

Recently Bank of America offered transfers at 4%
and low (1.9% and 4.9%) interest rates for 3 and
6 months, depending on the interest charged.

Then, this morning I received another offer, but
for banking, from the same company, if I opened
a banking account with them:

"*APY in effect as of March 4, 2010. 1.45% APY
applies to account balances of $2,500 or more.
0.00% APY applies to balances less than $2,500.
Rates are variable and may change at any time.
Minimum deposit required to open the account
is $2,500."

I have 2 data points so far, but they look
promising. I'll report if this becomes a trend,
with other companies following suit.

Bill Vajk

Constitutional Violations by Local Governments

It looks like I'll be writing a series, over a
longer time period, about how local governments
are violating the US Constitution as a matter
of routine, counting on the fact that individuals
will not group together to sue the governmental
body.

The present day case is that of Bates Township
and the decisions of their board not to allow
new hookups in some areas of the township where
water service already exists.

"Konoske’s demonstration followed a discussion
on the condition of the water lines at U.S. 2
near Andreski Plat Road. There are patches
upon patches, Township Supervisor Grant Helgemo
said, and the township needed to decide about
starting to abandon some of the water lines.

"'We should start thinking about giving notice
to the residents,' he said. Last month, the
board decided not to allow any new waterline
hookups on Bates-Amasa Road from the Perry
residence to the Paint River bridge, as well
as along U.S. 2 from Helgemo Road through the
half-mile of Krans Road."

The above is quoted from the Iron County Reporter
of 2/17/2010

"Because they can" our elected representatives have
been ignoring the US Constitution's Equal Protection
Clause which assures that citizens will all be treated
equally by government. Providing water service to some,
but not to others, within the territory administered
by a municipal government is a clear violation.

How would it be if people with some addresses in the
county received tickets for traffic violations, while
their neighbors got a pass from the police for the
same exact violations? Consider the simple case of
odd and even numbered addresses. Let's say all even
numbers get tickets, and odd numbers do not?

Let's say that one side of the street gets garbage
collection by the municipality, while the other does
not?

Bates township happens to be the municipality in the
news today. They're not alone. Similar things have
already been done by Iron River Township, with more
similar conduct looming on the horizon, and also by
Stambaugh Township. I've probably left out some in
the east end of the county, but I haven't been keeping
up with their activities.

Bear in mind that once a municipality determines they
will not, for whatever reasons they select, provide
water to some given address or another, the minimum
cost to the property owner these days runs from
$7000 (seven thousand dollars) upwards. There may
be some people in the US who consider that to be
chickenfeed, but not many.

Bill Vajk

Retail Products - eggs

Part of the fun of living is observing and figuring
out things that aren't quite so obvious. A few years
back, while living in Illinois, I bought and weighed
two dozen eggs, one large and one extra-large carton.

The weight difference at that time was 1 ounce for
the entire dozen, and I stopped then and there
buying the extra-large eggs.

A few weeks ago I weighed eggs from Angeli's Central
Market with the following results:

Extra-large dozen 26.4 oz
per egg 2.2 oz

Large dozen 24.4 oz
per egg 2.0 oz

Medium dozen 22.0 oz
per egg 1.8 oz

By weight of product, if medium eggs cost $ 1.00, then the
relative value for large eggs is $ 1.11 and for extra-large the
relative value is $ 1.20.

Looks like I'll be buying the medium labeled eggs, as the best
value, for a while.

Oh, I probably should mention that we are working on some
other political stories, they just aren't ripe for publication
as yet.

Bill Vajk

Iron River City Workers 2/24/2010

I was about town yesterday and noticed that the
city workers were taking down the Christmas, oops
in Iron River that's called Holiday, decorations that
they installed on the lamp posts last fall.

It all seemed normal enough to me, as I sat and
watched them for a short while, till they began
to move to the next position.

As you can see from the photo, the lead truck
is driving down the street with an employee
still in the bucket. This scene would make any
safety oriented supervisor soil his pants. Moving
a truck while a worker is in the bucket is among
the worse of the no-no's in private industry as
well as government departments.



The balance sheet shows that the city workers got
the installation of the banner across US2 right
after the cables were fixed some months ago after
a written complaint by Iron County Doings to the
city.



So the public works department placed the entire
city at risk through a dangerous practice on one
day, but properly earned their keep another. The
city needs to change that ratio to every day being
a 100% safe day.


Bill Vajk

What's Happening To Us At The State Level?

But first a note about the national level:

"To understand Washington today, we have only
to look at European Communist antics of the
20th century."

In my travels I have been led to discover a web site
www.michiganvotes.org , a site that lists legislation
that's in the works or recently proposed by our
repcritters. Mike Lahti's data is available at:

http://www.michiganvotes.org/SearchVotes.aspx?EntityID=10879&Keywords=&op=Search

Blogs are available there for your comments on
individual bills.

I'm impressed with Lahti's work overall, but I
don't have the time or energy to look at his
record where it comes to a bunch of state
pension issues for teachers and other employees.

A couple of years ago I briefly met with Mike
Lahti here in Iron River and I gave him a series
of written requests for legislation with the
caveat that I only asked him to consider the
requests, that is, to think about them.

Among the requests was one that's come to the
forefront nationwide, that is, how to define
a "job saved or created." It is now important
to all of us to understand what the expression
means. You'd think it would be an easy thing to
do at the state level IF government were honest.
I haven't been able to find any reference to
such a proposal in Mike Lahti's record. Instead
there's tons of anti-business legislation, one
example from Lahti's voting record page is quoted
below:

"Supported 2009 House Bill 4782 (Enforce RV
dealer "territories" ). Passed in the House
(98 to 5) on April 23, 2009, to impose state
regulation on the terms of commercial
relationships between recreational vehicle
manufacturers, wholesalers, warrantors, and
dealers. The terms of these relationships
are currently voluntary and are the product
of negotiations and contractual agreements
between the parties. The bill would authorize
the state to enforce certain exclusive dealer
'territories' and other commercial relationships,
in a manner similar to regulations which apply
under current law to new car dealers and
manufacturers."

It looks a lot like Mike Lahti and Michigan's House
of Representatives is against free trade, and still
Grandholm et troupe wonder why business avoid
this state like the plague? We need not wonder at
all. State treatment of business forces investors
to look elsewhere.

Here's a partial list of legislation brought to our
attention by the Mackinac Center for Public
Policy.

House Bill 4813 Give state employee benefit increase

Senate Bill 927 Authorize "pension obligation bonds"
for government retiree health benefits

Senate Bill 682 Authorize a bicentennial of the War
of 1812 specialty license plate

House Bill 4577 Increase school employee pensions

House Bill 5233 Allow some state employees to
collect pension check and state paycheck

House Bill 5197 Authorize enhances pension
"early out" for state employees

House Bill 5449 Give $40,000 to some state
employees who retire early

House Bill 4275 Cap government employee health
benefits at national average

Now just where is all this money for state employee
benefits coming from? Our state government can't
seem to get a handle on what it takes to manage a
budget, that is simply you can't spend more than
you take in.

At the same time the state is cutting back on
things like law enforcement and prisons, things
they think the average citizen isn't going to
notice.

The web page michiganvotes.org needs a workout
by the voters of this state.

Bill Vajk

Planning for the Future

Iron County looks like an area that hasn't had
anyone planning for the future in realistic terms.
The only growth here for the past several decades
has been in the negative direction. I've been
watching a series on TV History Channel called
"Life After People." In episode after episode
they demonstrate what will happen to the things
that humanity has built. Literally everything
collapses over time.

Looking around Iron River, such signs are on
us already, and it is happening in an inhabited
community.

In 2006, the City of Iron River participated in
what was then called the Cool Cities project. As
a result a report and plan was prepared by a
consulting firm, some 47 pages of data, information,
and four items on the primary wish list created
from information provided by the people who live
here. The report is available on line at
http://www.ironriver.org/government/cool-cities.htm

I attended one of the evening meetings at City Hall
where, in addition to the discussions, a sincere
sounding request was made for ideas to help the city
progress and grow.

In December 2006 I made my presentation to John
Archocosky for a trolley project that eventually
grew to two phases. The first was to provide public
transportation in the city but to duplicate, in terms
of a trolley system, a railway that resembles, in
operation, a main line railway.

The second phase would have instituted a school for
high school age children to experience railway
operations. Since then several rail accidents have
demonstrated the need for a railroad operations
school, another growth possibility for the proposed
Iron River Trolley.

In the end, the proposal failed because, in my
opinion, those who were the decision makers were
too afraid that their political power would probably
become diluted, and they would no longer enjoy the
prestige they currently held among their similarly
placed peers.

And that, dear reader, is why I have come to accept
the opinion first offered me by a lifetime resident,
that no progress can ever be made here that has even
a remote possibility of threatening the existing
power structure. In fact, it is this same threat that
leads to so many in this county being frightened of
increasing the tourism that is presently probably the
largest single contributor to the local economy. I
have heard it expressed as the fear of any change
(despite the fact the local population voted for a
President who offered nothing other than change.)

I have heard it expressed as a fear that more money
in the community will drive land prices, and thus
existing property taxes, up.

In discussing the problem with one public official
I asked the individual what they thought an improvement
in the local economy and property taxes might to
the income they were being paid by the county. They
hadn't thought about it, but the reality is that with
an overall increase in revenues in all aspects of
private business and local governments, the income of
all those employed by both would necessarily increase
as well.

Consider the fact that the US Government has begun a
railway improvement program in the USA.



http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2010/0128/Obama-s-high-speed-rail-plan-Which-states-get-the-money

A recent article in the Iron Mountain Daily News
discusses the approval of the Madison-Milwaukee
line improvements by the Wisconsin Legislature.

Every region, like Iron County, has been unhappy about
the fact that rail lines have been ripped up and
are no longer available. In most of the civilized
world railways provide the bulk of transport of goods
to all parts of the country. And in some places the trolley
tracks connect to main line railroads and are used at
night to deliver freight cars to make deliveries in
cities and towns.

But this reporter's best guess is that we don't need
to worry about progress in our community because those
in power will see to it that their little fiefdoms
remain undisturbed, and the community can continue to
deteriorate around us so long as they retain their
pecking order among their peers. By all rights, if we
had a few "highly placed folks" wanting progress, we
should be close to having a trolley system in place,
the Middle School would become a Railroad Operations
School, and we could be looking forward to a bright
future for our community.

Bill Vajk

Comments about Page 1-Feb 10, 2009 issue

Looking at the most recent release of the misnamed
Iron County Reporter, I decided there's quite a
bit of content on page 1 that deserves comment.
The issue is Feb 10, 2010.

At the top left of the page is an article headlined
"Stambaugh Township Board OKs salary recommendations."
Sure enough, the board approved a 4% raise for
themselves for the upcoming year if those attending
the annual meeting set for March 3.

This is being done in the face of no senior citizen
in the US achieving any cost of living increase
for Social Security because, according to the
federal government, the US has not experienced a
cost of living increase.

Disgusting, isn't it?

Next comes the EDC's pet project to build a Disk
Golf course adjoining the RV park in Iron River.
Bruce Benkley, a physician assistant at NorthStar
has been appointed the chairman of the committee.
While I disagree that this should be a government
project in the first place and have written about
this issue before, how did the decision to name
Mr. Benkley the chairman come about? Why wasn't
there some public significant discussion about
the position in the first place?

We note that the photo of the group that attended
the meeting about Disk Golf consisted of 5 people,
one of which was Julie Melchiori, our county
Economic Developer, and another was Robert
Rafferty, the Iron County Mine Inspector who was
there because there are some mine shafts in the
immediate vicinity of the proposed course. While
Mrs. Melchiori's estimate of the materials cost
for the course is in the range of $15,000, we
have to wonder what the cost of protecting the
public from mine shafts in the area will run,
and who will pay for that!

We note that with 5 people attending the meeting,
two of them county officials, leaves the total
interest in this project some three individuals.
Considering a county population of 12,800 or
so individuals, the public interest level in
this project is 0.0023%. Even if we say that only
10% of those interested attended the meeting, we
would have am interest level of 0.023% of the
entire population of Iron County, say 30 people.

Is that sufficient reason for the county to expend
the funds and effort to build this facility?

Next is the discussion about the Habitat project
meeting invitation. The newspaper was first
available on Tuesday, February 9th, and the
meeting that's offered for as the public
informational meeting was scheduled for this
evening at 6 PM in Crystal Falls. Two days
notice for an informational meeting is, in
a word, inadequate!

But my real question is, why is any organization
interested in building new houses for the poor in
a community where there are so many vacant,
easily repairable, homes in the county? For
the cost of building one new home we could be
repairing 5, with five poor families reaping the
benefit and future eyesores being brought back
onto the tax rolls, a win win all the way around?

Someone needs to take a deeper look at why a new
home is going to be built in Iron County for
this purpose. If something seems too good to
be true, it usually is, and it would be good to
know in advance whose pockets are going to be
filled by this project. Even if high school
students in a construction trades program were
going to be involved, it seems that it would be
of greatest benefit to rehab several houses
instead of building one from scratch.

Finally, the Iron County Medical Facility is at
the beginning of expansion projects to increase
the number of beds available. We wonder is this
is going to become another construction project
like the NorthStar Hospital expansion that
employed very few people from Michigan, let
alone from Iron County. I am one of those who
believes we live and work in an economic
region that includes parts of Northern Wisconsin,
but it was clear that all the subcontractors
came from a goodly distance away in Wisconsin
because of the convenience of their having a
place in the general contractor's rolodex.

We certainly hope that this project will
represent a turning point in larger construction
projects by making a point of employing as many
local contractors as possible.

Please bear in mind that this entire article
discusses issues arising out of articles only
on the first page of the local weekly "newspaper."
In Iron County we have lots of issues, with no one
bothering to challenge how things are being run
locally. That needs to change. We really need
people to shake things up a bit.

Bill Vajk

Anyone Else?

I received this email from the Emily
Salvette at the Libertarian Party:

=====================================
Ms. Emily Salvette:

My name is Mitch Foster and I, along
with others are in the process of
trying to create a Northern Michigan
University chapter of the College
Libertarians that would also be open
to local community members to participate
in. Is there any way that you could send
me information about local Libertarians
so that I may contact them? Also, if you
could help us in our process that would
be wonderful!

Thank You

Mitch Foster
mifoster@nmu.edu

==========================================

Shall we start our own here in Iron County? I've
mailed the prior articles posted here to Iron
County's P. Ashcraft, county chair of the
Republican Party, and received exactly what I
expected, nothing!

Bill Vajk

Libertarian Party Responds!

Well the Libertarian Party has expressed an
interest in getting things moving here on the
UP. They seek volunteers and organizers. Please
contact them directly but also let me know if
you are undertaking work on behalf of the
Libertarian Party. If you have any problem in
establishing contact please email me.

The Republican party remains silent, as always.
We need conservatives to run for offices, the
more the merrier. Too bad the Republican Party
is intent on continuing the political failures
we're experiencing here in Michigan.


===============================================
Dear Mr. Vajk,

Bill Hall has forwarded your message to me. We
would love to have Libertarian organizations
going on in the UP. In fact, we really want to
find someone to run for State Rep up there! But
we need an organizer (or 20) in the UP...someone
with energy and enthusiasm who can set up
meetings, publicize and conduct them; someone
who is reliable and can build an organization
that will recruit candidates and do what's
necessary to get their names on the ballot.
Bob Black did a great job of this in the past.
Do you know someone like that I can contact?
Attached is our standard information about
starting a local LP group to give you background.
It's how we have to start...

As for working with the Wisconsin LP, the issue
there is if you live in the UP and want to run
for office, you need to run in Michigan and be
nominated through our procedures, which are
mandated by state law. Certainly participating
with the Wisconsin LP for educational and social
events is encouraged if that is more convenient.
I'm not sure where their active groups are, but
here is contact information for the WI state
chair, Ben Olson:

benolson3@gmail.com
chairman@lpwi.org
P.O. Box 20815
Greenfield, WI 53220
800-236-9236
608-963-2285 (cell)

I would be delighted to work with you and/or
others who would like to work for limited
government and greater personal responsibility
through the Libertarian Party. Please let me
know where we can start. Thanks.

Best regards,

Emily Salvette, State Chair
Libertarian Party of Michigan

A Few Points About Conservatism

Last night Sarah Palin's keynote address to the
first national Tea Party convention was aired.
It is a political party, it isn't a political
party, who knows for sure? Nobody knows how this
political movement will evolve. It could simply
embrace political conservatism that lives within
both our primary political parties that exist
today.

But the problem that conservatism has, about
small government, seems to spill over where
organizational skills are concerned.

Sarah Palin advised the Obama White House to
start listening. Unfortunately she failed to
warn the Republican Party, and the conservative
factions within the Democratic Party, to do the
same thing.

But this problem, in terms of Michigan's
conservatives at least, doesn't stop with those
two parties. We also have a Libertarian Party
that's somewhat active downstate, in Michigan's
lower peninsula.

I exchanged some email with Bill Hall, Political
Director of the Michigan Libertarian Party. They
don't seem very interested in the UP because of
the distances from their headquarters. That's the
same reason I won't go to their April 17 meeting
at Brighton, MI. One of the announced purposes of
the meeting is to encourage and assist individuals
who are willing to run for political office this
year.

I then suggested to Bill Hall that since we are in
a much closer proximity to a goodly number of
Wisconsin population centers, perhaps the Michigan
branch of the Libertarian Party should encourage
the organization and merger of UP chapters with
existing groups in Wisconsin. Brighton, Michigan,
is some 498 miles from Iron River. That's further
than Chicago and further than most, if not all,
population centers in Wisconsin.

My best guess is that despite Mr. Hall taking the
matter to the group in charge, I'll not hear back
from him on this matter.

So for all practical purposes, there is no one in
Michigan politics doing anything about conservatism
for the UP. The local Republicans are merely
placeholders, filling out their terms and doing
nothing. I've lived in this area since 2003 and
never have I seen or heard anything in the local
media about the Republican Party save a few people
who simply announced their affiliation when running
for office. The Iron River Township treasurer is an
excellent example.

There was a local meeting or two claiming some
connection to the Tea Party, but other than a few
speeches, (I mentioned one by Dan Stafford earlier)
nothing has been done and there's no continuity.

The dearth of organization in the entire conservative
movement is clear. I'm willing to participate if
we can develop either a Tea Party movement or a
Republican or Libertarian Party with some staying
power here in Iron County. How else can we hope to
vote out and replace those in office who are deadwood?
And it seems we have plenty of standardized yes
voting commissioners and councilmen to get rid of.

We're presently rid of conservative organizations,
and that's a situation that must be remedied if
we're to get out of the economic depression we're
experiencing in Iron County.

Bill Vajk

The Smoking Gun

We spend a lot of time looking for someone holding
the smoking gun that clearly proves guilt. This is
no less true in political circles where understanding
what's actually happening despite purposeful
misdirection by a political party is often very
important. Never in the history of the US has
understanding been more important than today.

Our children are being indoctrinated very much
like German children were during the Third Reich.

Recommended reading for children volunteering for
internship under the "Organizing for America"
program includes the following list:

Rules for Radicals, Saul Alinsky

The New Organizers, Zack Exley

Stir It Up: Lessons from Community Organizing and
Advocacy, Rinku Sen

Obama Field Organizers Plot a Miracle, Zack Exley,
Huffington Post

Dreams of My Father Chicago Chapters, Barack
Hussein Obama

Alinsky's rules include the following:

1."Power is not only what you have but what the
enemy thinks you have.
   2. "Never go outside the experience of your people.
   3. "Wherever possible go outside of the experience
of the enemy.
   4. "Make the enemy live up to their own book of
rules.
   5. "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon.
   6. "A good tactic is one that your people enjoy.
   7. "A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.
   8. "Keep the pressure on.
   9. "The threat is usually more terrifying than the
thing itself.
  10. "Major premise for tactics is development of
operations that will maintain constant pressure
upon the opposition.
  11. "If you push a negative hard and deep enough it
will break through into its counterside.
  12. "The price of a successful attack is a constructive
alternative.
  13. "Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and
polarize it.

Please click here for further information.

Any reasonable reading of Alinsky's rules demonstrates that
dishonesty and deception are acceptable.

"Organizing for America, the successor organization to
Obama for America, is building on the movement that
elected President Obama by empowering communities across
the country to bring about our agenda of change."

If you read Obama's web page by clicking

here

please take notice of the far bottom left corner of the page,
where it states that "Organizing for America is a project of
the Democratic National Committee" and that they're paying for
Obama's web page.

Now if that weren't enough, the National Educational
association jumps on the bandwagon and recommends Alinsky's
books.

www.nea.org/tools/17231.htm

Obviously we've found a smoking gun, but who is willing to
do anything about it?

During my pursuit of this story I ran across another web
page that is worth reading.

http://faustasblog.com/

As a warning I need to add that once the radicals who
promote socialism/communism eventually need to get rid
of the very people who put them into power for fear that
activists will eventually turn against their new masters
once they're eventually offended, as they always are.
Typical of that genre was Béla Kuhn, a Hungarian communist,
came to power in 1919. The promises made were all too
familiar when compared to those we're hearing today:

"The Communists also promised equality and social justice."

"In terms of domestic policy, the Communist government
nationalized industrial and commercial enterprises,
socialized housing, transport, banking, medicine,
cultural institutions, and all landholdings of more
than 400,000 square metres."

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Hungary

Soon driven out for his failures, Kuhn fled to Moscow
where he was initially welcomed as a hero "come home."
His popularity was short lived as he was soon
assassinated by the Russians. That's the reward
offered by socialists/communists who hold with
Alinsky's other rule, that the end justifies the
means.

Those who forget history are destined to relive it.

Bill Vajk