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A jailed mayor; collapsing school system; collapsing industry; and a failed football team. Has any city been hit by so much bad news in one year?

Scoundrels

Richard Shelby, Mitt Romney, Thomas Friedman, Mike Gallagher, etc. etc etc.

Solidarity

I was at a public event this Saturday evening, at the heart of the city, when the host mentioned the auto companies, and the large audience broke into strong, spontaneous applause-- myself included.

This is simply because we know this town is being beat-up by the rest of the country right now. This great city, with a tremendous history and legacy of so much value to the nation, is in the biggest crisis it's ever been in-- one not of its making. If the auto companies fold there will be nothing left. But if Detroit survives, it might signal a long-term bottom, from which, with the worst over, it can climb back upward.

Anyone raised here, as I was, has the auto industry in their soul. Cars are in our blood and I've realized since I returned it's not easy to get them out.

Defense?

There's a huge contradiction in self-described conservatives who claim to be interested in America's defense yet are willing to flush America's industrial base down the tubes. This country's military might has been based on the "Arsenal of Democracy"-- its industrial power.