Funny thing about those tax hikes, they have A) not kick started the economy (we're still the worst or among the worst in the nation in just about every measurable category) and B) did not solve the budget problem.  Here we are a year later facing another half-billion dollars in red ink.  Nothing like soaking working moms and dads for another half million in the confines of one city.  But it could be worse, they could have students in the Detroit Public Schools.  

New numbers are out this morning that indicate whatever DPS officials are doing it's not really working and kids are paying the price, literally, with their futures.  The Ivory Tower reports:

Although the graduation rate in Detroit Public Schools rose significantly -- from 24.9% in 2004 to 37.5% in 2005 -- the district still had the worst rate of the 50 largest districts in the country...

The report also found that Michigan -- though its overall rate is improving -- has the lowest graduation rate for African-American males, with only 34.6% graduating on time. That compares with the national average of 48.2%.

But wait, aren't Democrats running the State?  Don't they control the Governor's office and the House of Representatives?  Don't Democrats, exclusively, occupy elected office in the city of Detroit and on the school board?  One might get the idea that Democrat leadership is failing Detroit and failing the African American population.  

Of course, that would require a modicum of clear thought and common sense... and if you're a product of the Detroit Public Schools, well, based on the numbers that might be asking too much.  

Speaking of common sense mixed with liberal inanity, the Detroit News reports this morning that the legislature once again overwhelmingly approved a repeal of Michigan's mandatory motorcycle helmet law.  Just not quite overwhelmingly enough to override a promised veto from Nanny Granholm.

A major organization of cyclists, American Bikers Aimed Toward Education (ABATE), for years has pushed for the repeal of the state helmet law. Hundreds of ABATE members rallied outside the state Capitol on Wednesday in support of the bill.

They hoped the bill that passed Wednesday, with final approval coming on a 70-38 House vote, would represent a compromise that more lawmakers and Granholm would support.

The proposal would have changed Michigan's regulations in a way that made them more like the rules in Texas.

A number of states have repealed motorcycle helmet requirements, but most still require them for riders either younger than 18 or 21. Michigan and 19 other states require helmets for all riders.

So once again Michigan is the outlier.  While riders cruise through border states, spending their cash, paying the exorbitant gasoline windfall taxes Michigan loses.  Misses their business entirely.  And that's just the economic angle.  

There's that small matter of personal freedom, too.  But what's freedom compared to the Governor's desire to control every aspect of our lives?