Reading The Future: MDOT & DRIC Watch Out

Here are some interesting definitions I found on the web about various methods of predicting the future

Hruspicy is the art of divining the future by observing the entrails of sacrificed animals.

The art of reading tea leaves is referred to as Tasseography (or Tasseomancy) and is a divination or fortune-telling method that in western tradition interprets patterns in tea leaves. The term also refers to the reading of coffee grounds... [and]has also been applied to the reading of wine sediments.

Tarot is a form of cartomancy, or divination based on cards.

I am sure there are many other ways to predict what is going to happen. Don't you wish that we were able to tap into them sometimes so that we could know what is to come to remove some of the uncertainty from life.

There is one form of getting a sign that is infallible in the world of politics. It is called "Press Releasography" or the art of determining the future by reading Press Releases published about key speeches.

Politicians never say what they want to say directly since that means that they would be making a decision and being decisive means that someone can get mad. Ergo votes could be lost. The technique then is to make a major speech and to drop a hint about future conduct in a line or two in the speech that may be unnecessary but is to signal the course that the politician is going to take for those involved in the issue. It is a sign!

Let me give an example. What speech can be more important to a politician in union state like Michigan than a Labour Day speech. If you agree with me, then what the Governor says in that speech and more particularly what her Press Release emphasizes about it should tell a lot about what is to happen in Michigan over the next year. Let's see how the Governor's speech is reported in her Press Release:

• "Granholm Pays Tribute to Michigan Workforce on Labor Day Weekend
  
  September 1, 2006
  
  LANSING – In her weekly radio address, Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today said Labor Day is a day to salute the labor contributions of Michigan’s workforce and to honor the great Michigan value of hard work symbolized by the Mackinac Bridge.
  
  “The Mackinac Bridge, for me, is a symbol of another great Michigan value: the value of hard work,” Granholm said. “We are blessed in Michigan with the nation’s greatest workforce. We have the engineers who design our state-of-the-art automobiles and the workers who build them; we have the scientists who are designing the next lifesaving drug and the researchers who are developing alternative energy sources and new technologies. We have great ironworkers who built the Mighty Mac and Detroit’s Ambassador Bridge, and great teachers who are educating Michigan’s next workforce.”

Now why would the Governor talk about the Mackinac Bridge for heaven's sake? There are so many other ways to demonstrate the value of "hard work." Obviously it has nothing to do with that bridge but everything to do with the other bridge she mentioned in the speech---the Ambassador Bridge.

That comment was designed to poke the Michigan Republicans and candidate for Governor Dick Devos right in the eye! They won the battle when they passed the legislation to cut the money to allow DRIC to move forward in the next fiscal year. But she just signalled that she is going to win the war by taking over the issue and in her favour.

Remember that $3.5 billion is at stake over the building of the bridge if the Bridge Co. moves forward on the border crossing: $1.5 billion that Government does NOT have to spend to replicate a crossing a mile from the Ambassador Gateway project and about $2 billion in matching Federal funds.

The Governor made a big deal in Press Releases back in November about money and jobs:

• "November 21, 2005
  
  LANSING – Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today signed a package of bills that will invest more than $2 billion to create thousands of new jobs and diversify the state’s economy. The state will invest nearly $1.5 billion dollars; that investment is expected to leverage an additional billion dollars or more in private investment focused in four key growth areas: life sciences, advanced manufacturing, alternative energy, and homeland security."
  
  
• "November 18, 2005
  
  Governor Highlights Efforts to Create and Retain Jobs Across the State
  
  LANSING – In her weekly radio address, Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today announced a new wave of job creation in Michigan, highlighting her administration’s efforts to attract new businesses, retain existing jobs, and create new jobs across Michigan...
  
  Granholm announced yesterday that her administration is accelerating over $600 million in needed road and infrastructure building projects. The projects are part of her Jobs Today Initiative and will put 11,000 people to work."
  

So if there is $3.5 billion at stake for spending and jobs on building the Ambassador Bridge enhancement project, don't you think that the Governor wants the credit as HER issue before the Republicans wake up and make it THEIR issue? Don't you think that Kwame knows what those jobs would mean for Detroit? Don't you think that the Governor is telling him that the project is THEIR issue too to solidify the relationship. She still has his letter from earlier in the year. It took a long time for her to draft a response but she gave it in her Press Release.

Now if Prime Minister Harper and Canadian Transport Minister Cannon would only learn Press Releasography, then perhaps the Conservatives could finally figure out how to win two seats in Windsor:

AMBASSADOR BRIDGE AND ROAD-BUILDING JOBS,
AMBASSADOR BRIDGE AND ROAD-BUILDING JOBS,
AMBASSADOR BRIDGE AND ROAD-BUILDING JOBS!