Michigan Caucus

DeVos' Racing Yacht Windquest

What's a rich boy to do in his spare time? Maybe work with the Late Mother Theresa's Sisters of Mercy helping the wretched? Naw. How 'bout building homes for the Hab­i­tat for Humanity? Naw. Donate money to medical research in­sti­tu­tion­s to find the cure for cancer. Naw ... We know! How about something to­tal­ly useless like racing boats for some dorky "cup." Yeah, yachting!

Here's Dick Devos' 78 foot racing boat, the Windquest. But don't look for Dick in his Windquest any time soon because it's now up for sale. Looks like he's trad­ing in the Windquest of the sea for the Blowhard of politics.

The bridge in the background? It's not the Macki­nac. We'll give you a hint, it's in San Fransisco.

The Amway Yacht Enterprise V

Well if Dick gets bored with the Windquest he can always go back to the family boat, the Enterprise V - now available for only $190,000 a week, plus expenses. (over $10,000,000 a year). No joke. Rent it here. At a 168 feet and zero inches, it is America's 38th largest private yacht.

At these prices all we wanna know is does this Enterprise come equipped with Captain Kirk or photon torpedoes? That would be, like, AWESOME! Hey, tired of pesky Ohio taking jobs from Michigan? No problem; one well placed torpedo or phaser blast will teach them Buckeyes! Beam us up!

The DeVos Basketball Team, Miami Magic

And if Dick gets bored of all the sea-going adventures, he can always call for game tick­ets to daddy's NBA Orlando Magic. But at 20-34, who'd want to? May­be that's he's run­ning for gov­ern­or. Jeez, how long will that hob­by last?

The Alticor Private Jet

Dick's ride while at Alticor.

What Would Jesus Fly?

No real story here, just actual photos of Keith Butler's Word of Faith Church planes.

Taxes? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Taxes!

Michigan Caucus Announces Oakland Anti-tax Petition Drive

Oakland County Chief Punk, Inebriate and Railroad In­spec­tor L. Brooks Patterson pro­pos­es a petition drive to eliminate the Single Business Tax in Mich­i­gan, perhaps the most progressive bus­i­ness tax in the United State­s. And, nat­u­ral­ly, its the most vil­i­fi­ed by the Right. This "fis­cal con­ser­va­tive" also says nothing about re­plac­ing the income lost by the po­ten­tial repeal of the tax.

So, in that vein, the Michigan Caucus proudly an­nounc­es its own petition drive to repeal all Oakland County tax­es. Ir­res­pon­si­ble? You bet. Crass appeal to the base? Sure. Scary? Absolutely. What will hap­pen to the Oakland County gov­ern­ment? We don't care. Let Brookie figure it out. Now, make ours a "double."

Cash on Hand

Well, money still talks and based on the latest Federal Election Com­mission reports for the year end­ing De­cem­ber 31, 2005, Democratic challengers won't be heard above the background noise in a funeral home. After the jump, the cash on hand reports for all of Mich­i­gan's con­gres­sion­al campaigns that have registered with the FEC.

Grosse Pointe Rataj

Defense Attorney Michael Rataj erupts at Grosse Pointe District Court Judge Rus­sell Eth­ridge when the judge refuses to postpone a pre­lim­in­ary exam for Jo­seph Michael Marasco on murder and conspiracy charges. Rataj argued, strenuous­ly, that he couldn't de­fend his client because of discovery problems caused by the pro­se­cu­tion. Dares judge to throw him in jail - and the judge ob­lige­s. Hey, we like attorneys who can do the talk and do the walk.

On the flip-side, we don't understand why Ethridge wouldn't adjourn the pre­limin­ary exam - they get postponed all the time - all the defendant has to do is waive his right to have the exam within 14 days of the arraignment. Seems to beg the question, "When was the last time they had a preliminary exam in Grosse Pointe?" Maybe Ethridge was a little "rusty" from handling all those parking violations.

EXCLUSIVE! Lee O'Brien's GPS Tracking System

Michigan Caucus sources report that attorney Lee O'Brien, messenger-boy of the Cox-Fieger scandal, had a GPS tracking system installed in his car in anticipation of his meeting with Cox rep­re­sen­ta­tives in Novem­ber and that tracking data may be used in his drunken driving defense. More as this develops ...