For those who believe the state is underachieving, the problem is equally complex. They will argue (as the Michigan Fiscal Responsibility Project did last week) that personal income has grown at nearly twice the rate of state spending. They take the position - with data to back it up - that Michiganians are prosperous enough to support a proper array of government services.

Darn it all.  I knew it was a mistake for any of us to be successful.  (End sarcasm)

Did you catch the insidious argument buried below the surface of that paragraph?  Michiganians are prosperous enough to support a "proper" array of services.  The inherent argument is that we don't currently support a proper array of services and that, more importantly (and more ridiculously) we exist for no other purpose.  The LSJ just told it's readers that they exist to prop up the government.  Scary.  (And the media isn't liberal at all, but I digress.)

And as far as that proper array of services, once the State and local government bodies start behaving more responsibly with the cash they've already been given then and only then should even the most liberal lunatic among us (yes, I'm talking to you, Andy Dillon) talk about taxing us more.

This bulletin from the Associated Press leads me to believe we haven't quite hit that mark just yet.  Looks like the Detroit Public Schools spent $1.5  million on trips and catering, about the same amount as it spent in 2006 despite pledges at the time to seriously curtail such waste.

Superintendent Connie Calloway declined to discuss the spending. Her office referred questions to district spokesman Steve Wasko, who said nearly all these expenditures took place before Calloway came on board in July.

The latest spending is for the fiscal year that ended September 1.

Mix that with a Triangle Project here and an Office of the First Gentleman there and a pandemic of State cash being spent lobbying itself it's a wonder everyone isn't whipping out their checkbook scribbling a bigger bank note to Treasury.

And Michigan, we might be leading the nation in all the wrong categories but no one knows how to misspend like the federal government.  On that front, and beyond the Presidential election Michigan has something to say again too.  The entire Congressional delegation is up for reelection and so is Carl Levin.

Word broke a few weeks ago that State Rep and Right Roots blogger Jack Hoogendyk was in the race and this weekend brought a "new" contestant to the primary field:

(Andrew "Rocky") Raczkowski, a 39-year-old Southfield businessman, said he will seek the Republican nomination to challenge Levin because the state has declined in recent years. He said his military service in the U.S. Army Reserves in the Horn of Africa from 2003-04 made him "realize more than ever that partisan politics isn't what's going to get the job done."
"This time around, I know what I'm up against, I know what an undertaking it is but yet the same fervor that made me fight for what I believe, that Michigan families need, is the same thing that's propelling me now," he told The Associated Press...

Levin, who was first elected in 1978, is heavily favored to win another term and has already raised more than $3.3 million for the campaign. Levin defeated Raczkowski with 61 percent of the vote in 2002.

That's code for "this is an uphill battle."  I don't think anyone here has any delusions about the race but it's great to see the sort of energy we're getting in the candidate pool.  And if nothing else it'll give conservatives one more message and messenger to rally around as we hit the polls to attempt to reclaim the State legislature this November.

But I'll give both guys this much... they each have compelling, conservative messages and a boatload of guts.