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Livonia’s Glenn Moon: Even Jesus can’t help but to Facepalm


Vermin Supreme giving an interview during the 2008 primaries

Vermin Supreme giving an interview during the 2008 primaries

I can’t believe this went so long without me noticing it. Being involved in politics for as long as I have, I’ve seen some really screwball candidates. But at long last, I think I may have found a candidate who is even more absurd than the infamous Vermin Supreme.

Now, to Mr. Supreme’s credit, he can form coherent sentences in the manner in which the average Joe would say such things…he just says stuff that we would never say. But hey, he was running for president of the United States (and one of the few people I’ve ever met who was also a fan of Imperial Emperor Norton I). Livonia City Council Candidate Glenn Moon on the other hand, not only says things that no mentally competent person would ever say, but he says them in a manner in which prepositions are completely optional and has invented his own nomenclature.
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Detroit de Burgundy: The Worst flag ever discovered


For the longest time, I was convinced that the city of Detroit had the worst flag ever concieved by man. It’s an ugly mix of various parts of heritage centered around a city seal that leaves much to be desired. Due to the fact that the flag is so horrendous, most people haven’t known what it looks like. Very few places in the city have the balls to actually fly the thing, which I’m sure is a combination of shame and avoiding the question “what the hell is that flag out front”.

As you can see, the city desperately needs a new flag:

detroit-flag

The Flag of the City of Detroit

The flag is divided up to represent French, British, and American rule over the city surrounding the city seal. There’s also some latin words, representing the mottos of the City of Detroit: “We hope for better things” and “It will rise from the ashes”. Despite the fact that the motto represents a fire from the 19th century, that motto has proven to become more and more true over time, sadly enough.

coat-of-arms

House of Burgundy Coat of Arms

As I said before, I was convinced that this was the worst flag ever concieved by man. It’s as though it was designed by committee, everyone had their own idea and nobody could decide, so all the ideas made it in. Putting the terrible city seal aside, it looks like an awful patchwork of scattered history. Nobody ever could be proud of this flag. However, history has proven me wrong: another flag exists that upon first glance one could assume that it was the inspiration for Detroit’s.

However, it does not.

It represents the flags of the territories of Charles the Bold of Burgundy. His flag was based on the family coat of arms, which we can assume was so absurdly elabourate as to distract the opponent in battle with an array of flying colors and as such, gain the upper hand. You can see it to the left. Tell me you can look at that and not be distracted?
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Welcome to Mt. Palmer: A look inside Detroit’s Most Dangerous Neighborhood


Welcome to Mt. Palmer

Welcome to Mt. Palmer

NeighborhoodScout.com is a fantastic resource for people looking to move. It as all kinds of fun stats on where want to live, how far your “neighborhood” goes, crime rates, school information, etc. No doubt it saves a Realtor a ton of time every year as they work to convince people to buy homes all over the country. Of course with this data, you can see where the safest and most dangerous neighborhoods are in the country.

Walletpop.com did a story recently analyzing the 25 most dangerous neighborhoods in the nation. Only one Detroit hood made the list, coming in at #23: The Mount Elliott / Palmer neighborhood. Within this small scope of streets there are a little over 150 projected violent crimes every year (or one every 2-3 days), the violent crime rate per thousand is almost 100, and the odds of you becoming a victim of such a crime if you live there is 11%, which is quite a bit by most standards (even the most dangerous neigborhood in America has odds of 25%).

The thing that makes the Mt. Palmer neighborhood interesting is that it’s a mix of residential dilapidation and an industrial wasteland: the neighborhood houses the Motor City Industrial Park, a massive complex that was once home to Packard Motors and now sits abandoned, with no clear owner, and is set on fire seemingly every couple of weeks now. As a Realtor, the only convincing point I could make to sell a home here is the price. There is nothing else that is even remotely inviting.

Mt. Palmer is located on the east side of the city, between Gratiot Avenue and I-94 to the east and west, as well as East Grand Blvd. and Mount Elliott to the north and south. You can view a map over at the Neighborhood Scout Website. It’s common knowledge that the east side of the city is more problematic than the west side, however while the residential parts don’t appear as bad on the outside, it looks as though this really is the place where anything can happen.

Here come the pictures. The sepia tone gives it a nice eerie feeling to it all, but of course you can see the full roll of pictures in full color over in the photos section. Click on any photo to view a larger resolution.
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