Saturday, May 31, 2008

Term Limits

I'm sorry to see that a petition drive to end term limits in the MI state legislature has failed. The petition would have also instituted a part-time legislature.

Term Limits sounded good when they were enacted but have given us a legislature full of trainees and retards. They have no sense of history, no experienced leadership and no motivation to perfect their trade. This leads to a legislature run by staffers and lobbyists, since they are the only ones who understand what is going on.

We need less legislation and better legislation. The system we have now is broken, and it looks like it is going to stay that way. Too bad.

Jim Webb for Everything

I heard an interview with Senator James Webb last week and I'm ready to vote for him for any position he wants. He's being mentioned as a VP possibility but I think he's too smart to fall for that. We should be so lucky.

In the middle of the interview Webb said the War on Drugs is a disaster and has to be completely restructured. He cited the deplorable statistics for how many Americans are in jail and said this has to stop. There should be a new system of drug courts and we should stop locking up addicts. He made the common sense point that if we don't arrest alcoholics, why does it make any more sense to lock up other drug users?

Webb is able to say things like this because he doesn't give a damn if he gets reelected or not. He is so confident in himself that he doesn't have to pander to the Law and Order crowd. If he loses his Senate seat, he'll go back to writing novels. This is the kind of leadership needed in this country; politicians who will advocate for what is best for the country, not what is required to get reelected.

The relevance of this to Michigan is obvious. We spend more money on prisons than on higher education. We lock up more people on a per-capita basis than any other Great Lakes state. We have another budget deficit and need to find a way to save money. Releasing non-violent drug offenders from jail might be a way to do this.

Film Credits

New concerns about the tax credits enacted to lure the film industry to Michigan are yet another example of the utter lack of common sense in our legislature.

Here's how it works: If you bring a film crew to Michigan, the state gives you a credit for 42% of what you spend. The State actually writes a check to subsidize the expenses. So if you spend $1 million, the state gives you $420,000 back - and this is somehow supposed to build a film industry in Michigan?

The fact that film crews are flooding into the state indicates that maybe they gave away a bit too much of the store on this one. Who wouldn't take advantage of this? It is an unbelievable giveaway.

But will it really help the Michigan economy? My understanding about how film crews work is that they bring most of the people and equipment with them, and then take it all away when they are done. They will hire some locals as extras, and maybe even some skilled trades. They will stay in motels and eat at restaurants but I don't see how this constitutes an "industry". As soon as the subsidies are gone, goodbye films.

If Lansing decided to give every tourist from Indiana a check for 42% of what they spent on their vacation in Michigan, we would have a hell of a summer. Would it help build the tourism industry? I don't think so, because as soon as the subsidies ended, so would the traffic.

Sure it will be fun to have Clint Eastwood in town, but is this really a smart way to spend money we don't have?

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Is it all about the Game?

I have been deeply involved with the Democratic Party for quite a few years, including running for offices in hopelessly Republican races where the Dem candidate is largely symbolic. I spend too much time immersed in the minutia of national politics even though most of it has only a tangential impact on my life, or the people around me.

What happens in Lansing has the most direct impact since it determines how much money the schools will have to educate my kids, and whether the state is ever going to recover from its economic malaise. I pay attention to what is happening, and the results are really pretty dismal. For all the work I put into getting Democrats elected, their behavior once they are on the job has recently been so bad that I wonder why I bother?

A recent point in case is the bill passed in the Democratically controlled House to essentially re-monopolize the state's utilities under the guise of renewable energy. This is a terrible bill and it is a mystery why the supposedly progressive party has lined up behind the corporate utilities. That we are looking to the Republican Senate to fix this legislation is really ironic.

So it makes me wonder how much of politics is really the sport of it; the game and the winning? Are people (like me) who provide the energy to get politicians elected just suckers? Once our party "wins" do we lose touch with the real goal, which is to have better government? Do we work to elect incompetent hacks just so our side can have a majority? Unfortunately, the answer is sometimes yes.

I flatter myself thinking that political activists they are somehow superior to people at sports bars rooting for the Red Wings. I'm beginning to wonder.

Actually I'm past wondering. Go Wings.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Public Transportation

I am fortunate to both own a car and be able to put gas in it. I often drive down 44th and 28th streets and it is clear that there are a lot more people waiting for public transit than was the case even a year ago.

What pisses me off is that these riders have to stand in the sun, the rain and the snow while waiting interminably for the buses. There are no seats, and no shelters; in the winter the snow isn't even cleared away so they have to stand in snow banks.

This is disgraceful and it is time for Kent County to buck up and start investing in public transportation. This doesn't just mean more and better buses. It also means treating riders with respect - and allowing them some dignity while standing by the side of the road watching the more fortunate drive by in their heated and air-conditioned cars.

Saul Annuzio Re-writes History

Saul Annuzio (head of the MI GOP) was on Jack Lessenberry's show today. He tried to put a smiley face on the sad state of the Republican Party with comments like: we have a lot of great candidates and they are just going to have to run on their own appeal. The implication being that they better run as far as possible from the GOP and its miserable performance over the past eight years.

But then he said that if Michiganders help elect Barak Obama (a "tax and spend liberal") it will produce the same results that electing Jennifer Granholm did in Michigan.

Maybe someone needs to remind Saul that Granholm's election came after 12 years of nothing but tax cuts by John Engler, and that his program of tax cuts above all else did nothing to help this state. Maybe he also needs to think abut the great success of Bush's tax cuts and the GOP's brand of "borrow and spend" government.

The ability of conservatives to reinvent (or ignore) history is never-ending, and part of the reason this state (and this country) are in such a mess.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

West Michigan Democrats Deliver

It really goes without saying that West Michigan Democrats helped put Grand Rapids on the national map yesterday. 12,000 Democrats standing up for a new direction after eight years of hell.

Of course I got there late and had to watch the speech on the big screen TV at the Hop Cat.

Beer Tax Holiday

Now that the MI Republicans have weighed in for the summer gas tax holiday, it's time to propose a more meaningful alternative:

Summer Beer Tax Holiday

Seeing that no one can afford to take a vacation anyhow, why not a roll back on the beer tax? or maybe just a roll back on beers made in Michigan? Say Yes to Bells, Founders, New Amsterdam, Shorts and all the other fantastic breweries that are serving up an incredible range of Michigan beer!

Monday, May 12, 2008

The New and Improved Gay-Friendly Press

In today's editorial, the GRP bemoans the fact that Michigan's hopelessly Republican and reactionary Supreme Court struck down benefits for same-sex couples employed by public institutions.

The Press is shocked, shocked that the 2004 anti-Gay marriage amendment will hurt the state by making it unfriendly to "world-class thinkers and researchers" who will bypass Michigan universities for more progressive states.

Well, gosh what a surprise that this pathetic amendment, which the Press endorsed, now turns out to have had unintended consequences. What a revelation that legislation by constitutional amendment is a stupid idea.

OK, fine. But what's more interesting is the Press's observation that
"the unfortunate truth is that the majority on the court, and probably the state, don't care"
Another shocker.

There is an answer to this, and that is to vote right-wing, extremist Justice Cliff Taylor off the court this November. Will the Press go so far as to advocate reforming the court? Don't count on it.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Overton Window

The Overton Window is a political theory developed by Joe Overton, then an officer of the Michigan's Mackinac Center for Pubic Policy, a think tank so right-wing it verges on Libertarian.

The Window is the range of public policy measures that voters consider "acceptable". Overton's contribution is the idea that political activists can move this window by proposing completely outrageous ideas that have no hope of enactment - but gradually move the window of acceptability to the right or the left. Once you have moved the window in your direction, you can then win approval for only slightly less outrageous policies - which would not have been acceptable previously.

A recent example of this is the reaction to the NY Times story that the Pentagon has actively maintained a cadre of retired officers who became the taking heads on network broadcasts about the Iraq War. These officers could be relied on to give the Pentagon's point of view and actively slant coverage in favor of the war. As stated in a Pentagon memo:
"This trusted core group will be more than willing to work closely with us because we are their bread and butter and the more they know, the more valuable they are to the networks"
As outrageous as this story is, it died almost instantaneously, except for the usual bloggers. Where the Overton Window comes into this is the theory that the story died because the public already assumes the Government manipulates the media, therefore this is not news.

For seven years, the Bush Administration has pushed the Overton Window so far towards Authoritarianism that government-sponsored propaganda, torture, and warrantless spying are now considered acceptable rather than abhorrent.

HRC and Michigan

Hillary keeps saying she will not cut a deal on the Michigan primary because it would somehow disrespect the voters of this great state of ours. The implication is that this will cause us all to stay home in November, or (gasp) vote for St. John.

A deal has been offered where she would get maybe four fewer delegates than her best case situation. Michigan gets seated and we can move on from the sorry debacle that was foisted on us last January (a self-inflicted wound by our own party leaders).

Message to HRC: it's over; take the deal and move on. We're OK with this, really.

I want a party like this

I accidentally hit the "next blog" button on my PC and up pops a blog titled Birthday Celebration at Air.

It's like a message from outer space and the message is clear: these people know how to throw a party.

Smoke?

In rural China, the customary greeting among males is to offer a cigarette, asking "smoke?" It's a ritual that contributes to China being he world's largest produce and consumer of tobacco. Rejecting the offered smoke would be discourteous and probably cast the non-smoker into social isolation.

Smoking in the U.S. used to be part of the social interaction. I was watching some old home movies from the '60s and my parents are there with their friends and everyone is nicely dressed and has a drink (not beer) and a cigarette. They look so elegant, like Nick and Nora in The Thin Man.

At my first job in New York I worked on a trading floor where smoking was a ritual that was almost universal. Traders would have stacks of empty cigar boxes next to their desks and the youngsters (me) felt compelled to learned how to properly smoke a cigar so we could emulate the Men. There were a few women traders and salespeople but it was pretty much a male bastion.

Obviously we know now that smoking is deadly. Smoking on the trading floor was first restricted to a lounge (the "death room" as the boss called it) and then outlawed completely. I had one boss who held office hours in the park next door where he could smoke his cigars and have meetings. Arnold Schwartznegger has a tent outside his Governor's office where he can smoke his cigars and conduct business.

Michigan has moved towards smoke free status and it appears the final push is on to outlaw smoking in bars and restaurants. I can understand the argument about subjecting employees to second hand smoke, but other than that I think the government should leave us alone.

This is a rare case where the conservatives have it right (so to speak). Bar and restaurant owners are not stupid. If they were losing customers or valued employees, they would eliminate smoking. The bar I haunt the most has smoking at the bar but not the eating areas - and the place always has waiting lines. The regular bartender smokes and so do most of the servers. Is it good for them? No. Are they grown up people who can make their own decisions? I think so.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Say Yes to Rockford Bond

There is a $46 million bond issue on Tuesday's ballot in Rockford that deserves approval. The money will expand RPS's sports facilities as well as important investments in academic facilities and technology. Since the bond comes when an old millage is expiring, there will be no increase in local taxes.

The GR Press opposes the bond, saying it should have been split between sports and academics. If past performance is any guide, this would have almost guaranteed that one side would have lost. What we don't know is which one.

Rockford is a sports powerhouse. The State Championships sign on the way into town is too long to read and is a testament to the district's successes. Friday nights in the Fall bring thousands into the bleachers and local support is huge.

At the same time, Rockford receives Over $1,000 less in operating funds per student than East Grand Rapids and Forest Hills, the two districts with which it competes for students and teachers. Given the severe limits placed by Proposition A on school finances, Rockford has to operate one huge high school rather than splitting into two, and there's not enough money to offer many of the innovative programs that the wealthier schools can afford.

This bond issue will help both sports and academics. If it was split, my guess is that sports would pass and academics would fail. Merging them is an investment that makes sense both politically and financially. The GR Press should recognize that long term investments are what this county needs to dig out of the slump we are in.

Saturday, May 3, 2008

If this is Good News...

Baldwin is in the poorest county in the state, but it's still sad when news of a prison expansion is considered good.

Some prisons-for-profit outfit called GEO Group is reopening the former Punk Prison and adding another 1,225 "beds" (as if this was some kind of a resort). They don't know where the prisoners are going to come from but in this wonderful land or ours, where we house 25% of the world's inmates, it sounds like a winning business proposition.

Still, I can't think of a worse occupation than being a non-union prison guard in a for-profit jail. If they are going to make money, old Geo Group is going to have to cut costs somewhere, and I have a feeling it's going to be on the backs of the employees.

There's a reason why corporations put shitty businesses in the poorest counties.

Great Day for Detroit

No matter how beat up Michigan is, there aren't many states who can do this in a day:

Pistons beat Sixers in NBA playoffs
Wings sweep Colorado in Stanley Cup playoffs
Tigers sweep Yankees in the Bronx

Now if we could only fix the potholes.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Another Casualty of the War on Drugs

When Susan LeFevre was 19, she took $600 from an undercover agent during a heroin sting in Michigan. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison. This was 1970.

She walked away from prison, moved to California and raised a family using an assumed identity. Now more than 30 years later, she has been uncovered by an anonymous tip, arrested and jailed awaiting extradition.

19 years old, 20 years, $600 on an undercover sting.

If she goes back into jail, there is something seriously wrong with this state - but we already know that since we spend more on prisons than higher education.

Leon Drolet: Liar

The legislative recall efforts led by Leon Drolet have been a litany of questionable practices. He has used paid petitioners from outside the districts and funded his circus with money from anti-tax zealots who couldn't care less about what happens to Michigan's government.

Now Leon can add Liar to his credentials.

In a press conference yesterday, MDP Chairman Mark Brewer played recordings of signature gathers telling prospects the petition to recall House Speaker Andy Dillon was about preventing a hike in the gas tax. OK, so paid carpetbaggers lie. But Leon takes the cake, saying:
"it's not fraudulent to to say Dillon supports higher taxes"
Anything you say, Leon