Back in Michigan

by: jcherry

Tue Nov 24, 2009 at 08:37:08 AM EST

We set our sights high when it came to advanced battery technology in Michigan.  We began by positioning Michigan to lead in advanced batteries just a few years ago, and the payoff was enormous.  Michigan received $1.2 billion of the $2 billion that the Federal Government allocated for advanced battery research and development.  This has resulted in a number of companies who will be manufacturing advanced batteries for the new generation electrical automotive engine making Michigan their home-- securing jobs for our future.  I believe we can do the same with water technologies bringing even greater benefits to our state.  

Following my stops in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, I travelled to Dubai, one of the largest and fastest growing cities in the Middle East. There, even this Wolverine was proud to be the first state official to visit MSU's Dubai campus (and yes, I heard the U-M/OSU score already!). I also visited the American University-Dubai where I addressed the class of Professor Youssef Beydoun.   One of Professor Beydoun's students is from Saginaw Valley State University where she is studying for a degree in Political Science, specializing in International Relations.  She expressed to me her concern for the future of the Michigan Promise which is assisting her in paying for her education.

Both schools are emerging as great educational institutions in Dubai.   Students at MSU's Dubai campus frequently travel back to East Lansing for at least a semester of classes, and receive the same degrees as students here in Michigan - and also pay tuition back to MSU as well. MSU-Dubai is helping all MSU degrees obtain more international exposure and marketability, and I was pleased to be able to visit its campus.

After a long week on the road, I'm thankful to be back home in Clio for Thanksgiving, where I'll enjoy the company of good friends and family. I wish your family a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

Green Jobs for Blue Waters

by: jcherry

Wed Nov 18, 2009 at 06:38:50 AM EST

I want to be clear: I am not proposing to sell Michigan's water. Companies seeking to use our water should locate here in Michigan -- where they can have all the water they need. Instead, through our Green Jobs for Blue Waters initiative, I want to position Michigan as North America's center of excellence for water technology. Right now, water technologies are a $500 billion global market -- but by 2020, that market is expected to grow to nearly $1 trillion. That means great opportunity for Michigan's economy -- and that is why we intend on seizing the opportunity, much as we did to become the Nation's leader in advanced battery technology.

Michigan's unique position in the water technology field proves we are at the forefront of this technology.  Michigan's location in the middle of the Great Lakes, which contain about 20 percent of the world's supply of fresh water, has primed the state's successes in agriculture, tourism and the auto industry.  We need to continue to protect water resources and use it wisely for economic development purposes that include retention of current businesses and the attraction of new ones.  

On The View From Egypt, Part Four, Or, Gaza, We Have A Problem

by: fake consultant

Tue Dec 30, 2008 at 13:41:46 PM EST

What Israel is saying about Obama

by: LivinginMichigan

Sun Feb 10, 2008 at 15:42:57 PM EST

Tel Aviv's Isreali Insider:

In a particularly "stunning comment," Obama indicated that "he supported the division of Israel into at least two parts by a Palestinian state." The Palestinians, he claimed, "have a legitimate concern" that their state be contiguous-that is, that there be some kind of territorial corridor connecting the Gaza Strip with the West Bank. That such a corridor would effectively chop Israel in two, rendering it noncontiguous, evidently did not bother him. Perhaps that's not surprising. Obama has constantly tried to "gloss over" the fact that he was "raised in his childhood by a devout Muslim" and was, in fact, "considered a Muslim as a child."

The Jerusalem Post:

We needn't falsely paint Obama as a Muslim to justify opposing him-his true religious affiliation is bad enough. Obama belongs to Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, a church whose minister, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., is both "anti-Jewish and anti-white." Wright has called for divestment from Israel "and refers to Israel as a racist state." He has long-standing ties to the notoriously anti-Semitic Nation of Islam, led by fellow Chicagoan Louis Farrakhan.