Mr. Henry Payne

Selling government-run medicine is easy as long as you ignore the evidence.

Washington's health care prescription will make Michigan's budget even sicker.

What does Dave Bing's election as mayor of Detroit mean?

Last week, while Michiganders shivered through more subnormal temperatures and watched their crop yields freeze from a summer of too-cool weather, a green echo chamber of media, government bureaucrats and activists gathered for a Midwest Governor's Association (MGA) conference in downtown Detroit to draw a "Midwestern Energy Security and Climate Stewardship Roadmap" to help Michigan navigate around . . . global warming.

Maybe Michigan farmers suffering from low crop yields from yet another cold Midwest growing season can recoup their losses by renting out their fields to combat global warming with state-subsidized wind farms?

An estimated 35,000 city residents rushed the doors of Cobo Hall in a desperate attempt to grab 5,000 federal assistance applications made available to Detroit as part of the "Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program," a federal stimulus fund designed to help residents pay rent and utility bills.

The resulting chaos is symbolic not only of Detroit's plight but also of the wild lunge for free money that has been the hallmark of the $18 billion in stimulus money thrown at Michigan since last spring.