Bibartisanship

Was the GOP-led collapse of the auto industry bailout a warning of what is in store for the 111th Congress? Is the Republican Party so angry about its defeat that it will risk dragging the country into a depression just to score a point against the much reviled UAW?

Are the Republicans determine to shrink into a defensive crouch, cowering behind the increasingly absurd Senate rules that allow a marginalized minority to freeze the government? Do they want to stand on the smoking ruins of their economic theories or will they be willing to help craft solutions to the unbelieveable mess the Bush Administration has left behind?

Will the Southern Senators retreat into a misguided regionalism, where protecting jobs at their non-union, foreign owned assembly plants is more important than preserving an entire industry that built Michigan's middle class?

Will they throw boulders in front of critical initiatives like health care reform for no other reason than to show that they still have some vestige of power?

On one hand, I hope they do - because it will reveal to the American people the true nature of the Republican Party, which is to protect the interests of the rich and powerful at the risk of everything else. But that is not the goal of the Democrats right now. There are more important thing to do in 2009 than finish off the crippled Republican Party. They can decide to help in a constructive, bipartisan way or they can proceed to drive themselves into farther into political oblivion.

GOP Writhes in Defeat

The defeat of the Auto Bailout revealed what the GOP has now become: a vindictive, marginalized, regional club of Southern Senators who would collapse the U.S. economy in retribution for The Democratic victory last month. The object of their wrath is the much reviled unions, whose overwhelming support for the Democrats helped usher the GOP into the political wasteland.

They know they are headed into oblivion for the foreseeable future so why not drag what's left of the economy down with them? Their economic theory of laissez faire, trickle down, supply side bullshit is a smoking ruin. Their fat cat supporters (the reality-based side of the Republican coalition) is in revolt because of the massive losses suffered in their portfolios. The religious right has missed its chance to turn the supreme court for the next quarter century and recognizes its opportunity of a lifetime has been squandered by the incompetence of the Bush Administration.

So in the dying days of the 110th congress, they said "fuck you" not just to the American worker, but to their own lame duck leaders. They retreated into the cover of the increasingly absurd Senate rules, regional protectionism for the foreign car companies operating in their states, and their visceral hatred of organized labor.

So much the better. Bush will toss a lifeline to GM and Chrysler from the TARP because even he can't stand the thought of tanking the automotive industry as the last accomplishment of the worst administration in history. And the Democrats should make sure that no manufacturing worker ever forgets what the GOP really stands for. It's time to bury the Republican Party so deep they will forget what sunlight even looks like.

The Big Three

The Press editorial called it right today:

Why the hell do the banks and Wall St. firms get billions without the slightest condition while the auto companies, who helped build the American middle class, have to grovel, hat in hand

The disconnect in Washington is stunning, and can only be blamed on either bail-out fatigue (Democrats) or hatred of the UAW (Republicans - particularly those from states with non-union assembly plants.) The Democrats know they have to do something. Republicans like Alabama's Senator Richard Shelby would lead us into a true depression if they thought it would break the UAW once and for all.

If this is start of the new bipartisan era, where Republicans force GM into bankruptcy to somehow try to make up for eight year of unbridaled fiscal profligacy, we are in deep trouble.

You can create a new bank or brokerage firm practically overnight. There is nothing to them except money, people and computers. A major manufacturing company is vastly more complex than a bank, and once it is destroyed it will not be recreated. Letting GM go into liquidation would be an American tragedy of epic proportions and cannot be allowed to happen.

Better or Worse

November was a slow month for posts. The elation over Obama's victory called for a rest of the incessant ravings leading up to the election. Plus we are in that funny presidential twilight that is obviously way too long given the slow-motion train wreck of an economy that continues to rip through town. It's that scene in the movies where most of the cars have left the track but are still moving forward and careening off everything in their way. Next comes the bridge over the bottomless cravass.

I was in Russia last week for a conference and was fortunate to spend some time with a bright, 40 something Russian who spoke English (a rare thing in that country) and was not a customer or rival. He is an engineer/scientist who has traveled a lot and seems to be the image of the new Russia. At the same time, he was old enough to have experienced the Soviet era and was able to compare the past with the present.

I asked him if things are better now and his response said a lot to me. He said in the Soviet era, everyone had problems but they were more communal in nature. You knew how much money you neighbors made and there wasn't very much difference from one to another. People took better care of each other and spent more time together since there weren't many options for entertainment or mobility. Things weren't great - but everyone was facing the same challenges with more or less the same resources.

In the new era, there are wild differences in wealth and opportunity but the community spirit has diminished. People can accomplish much more but it is experienced as individuals rather than as a group. He was clearly not willing to say that the new benefits compensated for what was lost. Families are separating as people (especially young people) move to the cities for opportunity. This affects the small towns as they lose the energy and talents of the new generation.

To me, America during the Bush years pushed the limit of what excessive individualism can accomplish. The government abrogated all responsibilities for tempering the excesses of the individual and we are going to be suffering a long time as a result. However, some will be suffering a whole lot less than others because they made a fortune while the getting was good.

Here in Michigan, we are mostly on the short end of this trade. We never had a real estate boom but are still one of the worst states in the country for mortgage forclosures. It wasn't greed or excess that got Michigan to this state, it was people trying to survive a collapsing industrial economy long enough to reach it to the next era. Now that Michigan is no longer the only state in recession, maybe we will get some help from Washington, but their pockets are not bottomless and there are way too many hands out.

Legalize it

I’m not saying this because I advocate drug use. I’m saying this because it may be the only proposal that could lift Michigan out of its economic depression in less than five years: Legalize Pot.

I’m not talking about some tepid de-criminalization, or herb for hospice. I’m saying flat-out legalization. Grow it, sell it to consenting adults under strict rules, and tax the hell out of it. Use the resulting bonanza to fund the public schools and lower tuition at the state universities.

Let the Feds throw a hissy fit - and when they do ask them just what their offer is when Chrysler augers-in and takes 30,000 more jobs with it, or GM, or whoever. The situation is Michigan is beyond dire and there is nothing the economic development people in Lansing or KZ or Grand Rapids are going to be able to do about it. They couldn’t attract industry when Michigan was alone in the dumps, so why will they be able to do any better when they have to compete head-on with California?

We all know that it’s a bad thing to smoke too much weed, or to smoke it all the time, or to have kids smoking it. On the other hand, no one has ever died of an overdose and if you take the criminal dealers out of the picture, everyone might be better off.

Kevin Green Pukes and Blows

So Wyoming (GOP) State Rep Kevin Green is found passed out in his car with the motor running and has puked on himself - five days before the election - and it only shows up in the paper yesterday?

What the fuck is up with this? Why didn't the Saginaw police release this information so voters could know a little more about the upstanding citizen they were about to re-elect. He says he wasn't trying to cover it up. Right.

And he wants to be House Minority Leader?

Judge Servaas

Thanks to the Press for their Editorial today telling the Judicial Tenure Commission goons to lay off District Court Judge Steven Servaas.

I first blogged about this back in February and it has been a Gilbert & Sullivan farce ever since. Servaas just received 40,000 votes to keep his job and if Smolensky's allies think he should be fired for the most ridiculous and petty indiscretions they are out of their minds.

Providence

It's snowing outside and I can't help thinking that providence was looking out for us this election. I was canvassing just a week ago and it was 65 degrees and sunny. Election week was like summer and I don't think we had a really bad weekend since Labor Day. Sometimes things just go your way.

I have to keep reminding myself that we won and the Bush years are over (except for the bad hangover in my IRA and an economy close to death). We'll recover. The best thing is I don't have to give a shit about what those people say anymore. I can read the NRO for fun because they can't hurt us anymore.

When Obama said "yes we can" towards the end of his acceptance speech, I just totally lost it. It still makes me tear up when I replay it in my mind. It really feels like a whole new day.

Campaign Withdrawal Syndrome

I'm sure I'm not the only one, but I'm starting to suffer from Campaign Withdrawal Syndrome.

After being more or less consumed (emotionally and otherwise) in the Obama campaign, I'm having trouble dealing with the return to normal life. I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about the Wealthy Street office that is now just an empty shell, with people cleaning up and unplugging computers and taking posters off the wall.

I have to stop looking at the blogs because the news can't ever be as good as it was yesterday - and it's only a matter of time before the shitheads take their knives out and start squabbling about this little detail or that minor flub.

This was a historic event and I'm not sure we'll ever see likes of it again.

It's hard to let it go.

West Michigan Policy Nightmare

They're Baack!

The West Michigan business elite who attended the Regional Policy Conference in September restated their goals at a meeting of 600 at the Economic Club:

Right to work
Cut business taxes
Less state spending
Encourage preventative health care

The lead speaker was Jim Dunlop, head of Huntington Bank West Michigan. The reason I bring this up is that Huntington just accepted $1.4 billion from the Federal bank bailout fund (a/k/a/ TARP). So this schmuck Dunlop, whose crappy bank just took $1.4 billion of our money thinks taxes should be lower, and government spending should be cut. Oh, and let's finish off the Unions and screw up health care too.

If this asshole wants less government spending, how about his bank gives back the $1.4 billion they needed to bail out their lousy business decisions.

Financial Fraud

The Times has a long piece today about the insurance company AIG, and what it has done with the billions of dollars "lent" to it by the Government to prevent it from going bust. The story is not easy to understand - but it is clear that numerous executives at the company were, or should have been, aware of the fact that the company was lying to everyone.

These same executives were carting off tens, if not hundreds of millions in bonuses as compensation for their fraudulent (or just incompetent) business activities.

I knew one of the top AIG dogs when I worked in financial services 20 years ago and could have told you then that he was a master at creating financial schemes that no one could understand. His true talent though, was in making top executive believe his accounting - that not only was he earning them tons of money, but what he was doing was perfectly safe.

These bastards have taken over $100 billion from the U.S. Government to bail out their disaster. So I ask myself the reasonable question: why the fuck haven't they been arrested and why aren't they looking at 20 years in prison?

What is it about this country that you go to Jackson for five years for selling a rock of Crack but can steal billions and nothing happens.

Banks 3, America 0

The Washington Post reports today that banks receiving federal investments (bailouts) are on pace to distribute more than half of that money to their shareholders in the form of dividends over the next three years.

We have already seen that the bailout funds are not increasing lending (which was the whole point). It has also been reported that some banks will use the money to fund acquisitions of other banks (which could be beneficial if the purchased bank was in trouble, but not necessarily). So now we find that the Government made no restrictions on dividend payments, which bags the questions of what the fuck did these people in Washington do with my money?

$3.4 billion was invested in Fifth Third Bank, a corporation so poorly run that it deserves to go out of business. I should know, since my company banked with them for five years and I witnessed first hand how the place decayed after Old Kent sold out to Fifth Third. Never mind that it also has the dumbest name in the business.

If we are going to bail out the banks, we must have a say in how they operate. We are right back in the game of privatizing gains and socializing losses and I really can't believe how the Bush Administration has fucked us yet again.

Cutting the Prison Budget

I have been harping on the Michigan Prison situation for a long time. In a nutshell, we have way too many people in prison and spend too much money paying for it. In return, we have a crime rate no better than other Great Lakes states and have contributed to the destruction of lives and families by throwing too many non-violent offenders into jail.

Last week, the Detroit Area Chamber of Commerce came out in favor of cutting the prison population. Their reason is totally self-serving (eliminating the surcharge on the SBT) but that's irrelevant. The only way we are going to usher in a rational penal system is if politicians are forced to do it by people they listen to.

It's time for all the Chambers to recognize that Michigan cannot afford its destructive and ineffective corrections policies. Republican legislators may not care about the negative societal impacts of longer and harsher prison terms, but they do care about the business interests represented by the Chambers of Commerce.

Governor Granholm said she's wiling to talk about it and Democratic politicians need to get on board. The stars are lining up to fix the state's corrections policy and we have to make this happen before the chance slips away.

John McCain: Horn Dog

Wow, Kathleen Parker must definitely be looking for a new office, since I don't think the National Review is going to be giving her space any more.

Today's column lays it all out about the Palin pick: it was all about sex appeal. Not that this should be a surprise to anyone who understands the cult of carrier pilots. These guys are the most notorious partyers and womanizers of the U.S. military. Not that you can blame them; the job of landing a jet plane at night on a miniature, moving runway requires balls of steel - and you have to do something with them when you're on the ground.

Of course McCain dumped his first wife (who was well liked in Washington) after seeing Cindy in a bathing suit. Apparently that was all it took for him to set sail on his former wife who had waited for him all those years while he was being a hero POW.

Bush also had the pilot thing going, but then he found Jesus and kicked the bottle and stayed faithful to his wife. McCain still wishes he could be tom cattin' around some naval base in the South Seas, or maybe Alaska?

Alan Greenspan throws In the towell

I have considered former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan a massive fraud for years.

He played Colin Powell's role in pimping for the Bush tax cuts and was directly responsible for the real estate bubble that created the illusion of a growing economy during the Bush years. He was a slavish disciple of Ayn Rand and promoted Economic Fundamentalism under the cover of being a centrist Fed Chairman who had only the country's interest's at heart.

Well, today Mr. Greenspan showed a rare quality for movement conservatives and admitted he was wrong.

From testimony in Congress:

Mr. Greenspan conceded a more serious flaw in his own philosophy that unfettered free markets sit at the root of a superior economy.

“I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organizations, specifically banks and others, were such as that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity in the firms,” Mr. Greenspan said.

Referring to his free-market ideology, Mr. Greenspan added: “I have found a flaw. I don’t know how significant or permanent it is. But I have been very distressed by that fact.”

Mr. Waxman pressed the former Fed chair to clarify his words. “In other words, you found that your view of the world, your ideology, was not right, it was not working,” Mr. Waxman said.

“Absolutely, precisely,” Mr. Greenspan replied. “You know, that’s precisely the reason I was shocked, because I have been going for 40 years or more with very considerable evidence that it was working exceptionally well.”

At least he has the strength of character and intellectual honesty to admit that his theories were wrong. I doubt we will ever see such honesty from Bush, Cheney, Rove or the rest of their cabal.

Michigan's Budget

The other day, Governor Granholm commented that she is looking at the budget, just in case the financial meltdown and looming recession might just possibly result in lower revenues than projected. She added something to the effect that Michigan had already tightened its fiscal belt and therefor wasn't in the same position as states that have actually been doing well over the past five years.

First off, there can be little doubt that this recession is going to clobber Michigan. Let's start with the closure of the GM stamping plant in Wyoming and go from there. We're screwed, again.

The second flaw in her logic is that we are in better shape because we have already tightened the belt. What this really means is that we don't have any fat left to trim. The budget is balanced but the state is barely covering its basic responsibilities for education, health care, public safety and infrastructure. If we are scraping bottom and face even less money coming in, we are going subterranean.

Which brings me to my point, which is that there is a place to trim massively and that is the prison system. We spend more money on prisons than higher education and have a per-capita prison population far in excess of the other Great Lakes states - with no relative reduction in crime.

Most of this debacle is due to politicians doing what they do best: pandering to voters by enacting "tough on crime" laws that are best ineffective and more typically destructive. Unfortunately the political instinct for self preservation makes it impossible for politicians to speak the truth and say we can't afford so many prisoners, and keeping them behind bars isn't helping anything anyhow. Unless you happen to be a term-limited Governor who has nothing left to fear from speaking the truth.

Joe Conason says it pretty well today in Salon: the War on Drugs is a $50 billion a year failure. If running out of money is the only way to force politicians for admit this, so be it, but now's the time.

GR Press Endorsements

Press endorsements usually have a consistent logic: go for the Republican except for unquestionably safe Democratic seats where the GOP doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell (e.g. the 76th House District). This keeps them in the Republican fold but lets them feel less like the toadies they really are.

There is one exception to the rule though: they will throw a Republican under the bus if he hasn't been playing ball with the party establishment. I should know, since they once endorsed me back in a 2002 house race. Being young and stupid, I thought this must have been due to my sterling qualities as a candidate. Then it was explained to me that it was more a dis-endorsement of the Republican incumbent because he wasn't following orders.

Which seems to explain the Robert Dean endorsement. They couldn't possibly like Dean, but they must really dislike Tietema because he's not an obedient GOP clone. In essence, the Press doesn't really give a shit about the candidates, they endorse the power brokers who keep the Republican legislators on a very short leash. The Press is just an enforcer for the GOP establishment.

Last Refuges

There was never any doubt the Republicans would play dirty when they needed to, but I'm sorry to say they have surpassed even their own depraved standards of conduct.

Glenn Greenwald lays it out pretty well here.

This is not about campaigns and this is not about politics as usual, this is racist hate-mongering of the worst type. And since McCain is out of time and short on cash, he can't play around with surrogates and mystery Swift Boat type ads: he has to come right out and say it himself. But as Joe Biden pointed out today, McCain is too much of a coward to say it to Obama's face.

Next up: slimy comments about drug use.

It's obvious to me why the Republicans are resorting to this: if a Democratic Administration decides to investigate what the Bush Regime has done to this country over the past eight years, people are going to go to jail. Nothing like hard time to bring out the worst in already bad people.

Time to get back to work beating these bastards in November.

Winning is Not Enough

When I decided to get behind Barack Obama it wasn't because I thought he could win. It was because I thought he could govern.

Now that it is looking increasingly clear that we will have a Democratic president with solid majorities in Congress, it is time to remember why we do this. Why we spend hours calling voters, knocking on doors, contributing our hard-earned money and investing our emotional well-being in a person or a party.

I have been actively involved in Michigan politics for close to ten years, including running for office and helping to run the local Democratic Party. We have been very successful in winning races, both local and state-wide. We have shown that we know how to organize and win. But for the most part, we have failed to take the next step and convert electoral victories to progressive legislation that achieves the real goal of better government.

We work our buts off to elect Democrats and they proceed to crumble in the face of the relentless conservative opposition. They take office, get comfortable, and fail to achieve the goals we elected them for.

As anyone who reads my blog knows, I consider Jennifer Granholm to be a tremendous disappointment. She looks like a governor and talks like a governor but has failed to move the progressive agenda forward in Michigan. She had a tough situation to deal with, but she knew that going in - and failed to impose her will on the legislature. She has not delivered, period. Granted this is better than going backwards (as we would have under Dick DeVos) but that is a cold cup of coffee.

For President Obama to achieve the progressive agenda, he is going to have to impose his will on the Blue Dog Democrats as well as the conservative minority. He will have to use his impressive personal skills to create an unstoppable national consensus that the conservative governing philosophy that we have suffered under since Regan is a wretched failure that has ruined our economy and destroyed our standing in the global community.

God willing we win this thing, we have to take the next step and make sure the winners deliver what they have promised: universal health care, an economy centered on the well being of workers, not corporations, and the restoration of the American dream both here and abroad.

Mackinac Center

Are we ever going to get the chance to call out the Mackinac Center and their toadies like Jack Hoogendyk?

They espouse economic fundamentalism that has proven itself to be completely wrong, unsupported by the facts and worthless in stopping Michigan's slide into the abyss. It's not just that Hoogendyk's wrong; their whole philosophy needs to be ripped to shreds and tossed into the dustbin.

I'm sick of seeing Mackinac writers trotted out in the GR Press like they are some kind of intellectuals. They are a bunch of right-wing hacks and we need to destroy their credibility once we are done beating their politicians. Failure to do this will lead to Dick Amway as Governor with yet another round of bullshit supply side economics.

Who is Sara Smolenski?

Yard signs are an interesting barometer of local campaigns. A non-scientific perusal can reveal a lot about of what type of campaign someone is running and where their support is coming from.

The garden variety sign in a font yard is a pretty clear indication that an individual backs a candidate and the candidate has made the effort to get signs produced and distributed. This costs money and requires an organization beyond the candidate’s immediate friends and family. No signs indicate a symbolic campaign with no serious effort.

“Orphan” signs planted in vacant lots and highway right-of-ways indicate a campaign that bought signs but didn’t know how to distribute them. These are sort of sad, especially when they are still there in December. A flurry in the last week of the campaign can also indicate that they just bought too damn many.

Most interesting are the big signs that crop up in the front yards of businesses and commercial establishments. These indicate that the fix is in, and the Real Estate Board or Chamber of Commerce have put the move on, which brings me to the recent blast of signs for 63rd District Court Judge Sara Smolenski.

Overnight, a ton of really annoying signs have popped up, almost exclusively on commercial sites. These are big two-part jobs with her name on top and bullshit statements like “a History of Integrity” or “Common Sense on the Bench”.

Judge Smolenski, you may remember, is the one who put the political hit out on Rockford Judge Steven Servaas for opposing the move to consolidate the District Court in a fancy new $9 million building on the East Beltline. Servaas wants to stay in Rockford and Smolenski tried to railroad him out of office on trumped up charges, displaying neither integrity nor common sense.

She has filed no campaign finance disclosure statements and these signs look like a big investment, so who is paying for them? The Press likes to call her a Democrat but she has had nothing to do with the party for many years and seems to have gone over hard to the Dark Side.

So who’s behind her, and why?

Language

The conservatives have excelled over the past decade in using language to frame the debate about complex issues. Think "tax relief" vs. "tax cuts" or "global climate change" vs. "global warming". The list goes on and on and has been well documented in scholarly books like Don't Think of an Elephant by George Lakoff.

Since it is not a Republican/conservative issue, the bill being currently debated in Washington is properly described as a "bail out". You can be sure if the conservatives were really behind it, it would be a "rescue"

West Michigan Fantasy Conference

For those of us who didn't have the $560 to register, the "Movers and Shakers of the West Michigan business world" descended on Grand Rapids last Thursday and Friday for a Regional Policy Conference, which from the photos looked more like a balding white guys love fest on the Grand.

My favorite pictures were where the big guys got loose by taking off their ties. They are still wearing their dark suits, but someone must have told them to loosen up, so, bold innovators that they are, they lost the ties. I love it when plutocrats take off their ties. No surprise that Unions and Democrats were noticeably lacking

Better yet was their list of Priorities. Apparently they got really hi-teck and had little meter thingies wrapped around their little weenies that would register when they were getting hot (don't know if the ties had come off yet). And the list is:

Eliminate the Single Business Tax (8.65 of 10)

Implement Right to Work (i.e. kill the unions)(8.08)

Increase funding for health care providers with effective prevention practices (no idea what this means)(7.58)

Streamline state's permitting practices (i.e. no more regulations)(6.81)

Update funding mechanisms for transportation infrastructure (huh?)(6.34)

So this was the best they could do? They really didn't need a conference to figure out that they hate taxes, unions and regulations, I mean what else does the WM business community stand for? The other two points make no sense at all but must have looked good on the Powerpoint slides.

They all loved it - and it filled some space at the ultra-fabulous new JW Marriott so they're going to do it again in two years. Mark your calendar.

Thanks George

The slow motion collapse that is decimating Wall Street is not a random event that just happened to occur in 2008. It is the direct result of the Bush administration’s mis-management of the economy, and their willful negligence in sweeping away regulations that might have prevented this disaster.

It started with the Bush tax cuts that overwhelmingly favored the rich. This was followed by Alan Greenspan’s Fed dropping interest rates to absurdly low levels to try to energize a moribund economy. This in turn led to the real estate bubble, which was facilitated by lax regulations that allowed lenders to give mortgages to anyone who walked in the door - regardless of whether they had the ability to pay the money back. Closing the loop was Wall Street bankers waving a magic wand over junk mortgages and turning them into triple A bonds.

A small number of bankers, brokers, traders and executives made vast sums of money while the game was hot – multi-million dollar paydays that West Michigan workers can only dream of. Now that the bubble has collapsed, U.S. taxpayers are expected to pick up the tab. Heads they win, tails we lose.

This is what happens when a Government organizes itself around the philosophy that businesses should be allowed to regulate themselves, and that unrestrained free market capitalism is the only path to prosperity.

American taxpayers have been taken for a ride, and the same people who brought you this have the nerve to ask for four more years.

Dear NPR

Dear Sirs;

I have been a devoted listener and member of NPR for decades and I deeply appreciate your ability to produce fair and honest reporting about complex issues.

However, I was truly shocked this morning when Mara Liason essentially gave her approval to the outright and blatant lies being produced by McCain campaign. When she stated that winning is important to the Republicans, and that if they have to "win dirty" so be it, I nearly drove off the road.

This statement undercuts everything NPR stands for. As far as Ms. Liason is concerned, the truth is now relative in political campaigns, and it's perfectly OK to elect a President based on lies.

She should be removed from the political beat immediately and assigned to something more suitable to her opinions, such as fashion or gardening.

Sometimes you actually have to write to the paper

To the Editors;

The Obama campaign has registered millions of new voters this year, including many African Americans who have never voted before. Although this strategy was clearly intended to benefit the Democrats, it benefits the country as well by expanding democracy for all.

It is shocking to learn that Michigan Republicans are gearing up an organized campaign to try to prevent many of these new voters from exercising their right to participate in the coming election. The Chairman of the Macomb County GOP announced that his organization will use lists of foreclosed homes to challenge voters at the polls, claiming that their legal residency is somehow suspect.

Just imagine that you are going through the agony of foreclosure, and when you arrive at the poll someone stands up and says you don’t have the right to vote. What would you do if this was the first election you had ever voted in? Hang your head in shame and walk back to your family home where a for-sale sign sits in the yard? What would you say to your children? That you’ve lost your home and now you’ve been turned away at the polls?

This is not something that should happen in America. We are a better country than that, and anyone who plans to engage in this kind of voter suppression is a coward and a scoundrel who doesn’t deserve to live here.

Let's see if they print it.

Voter Supression

Given the huge success the Obama campaign has had registering voters, it should be no surprise the the GOP is going to do everything they can to prevent these Americans from voting. This is a cowardly, shameless and despicable tactic, which I guess is why it comes so naturally to them.

The game starts by having not enough polling places and voting machines in urban (i.e. Democratic) precincts. If that can't be arranged, the next step is intimidating voters through misinformation and threats. Examples include posting fake notices of polling places and election dates, and announcing that
if you have parking tickets outstanding, or are late on child support payments, you will be arrested if you vote. I heard one today that if public university students vote outside their home districts, they might have problem with residency status for their tuition. These are all lies.

If intimidation fails, the Republicans send challengers to the polls to claim that voters are ineligable. The Chairman of the Macomb County GOP just announced a new tactic of using foreclosures to challenge legal residence - that if you live in a house being foreclosed on, you can't vote.

The truth is, you can vote even if you are homeless, but the challenge will gum up the process and cause long lines to get even longer - another way to discourage voters who can't stand around for hours waiting.

Democrats don't do this; only the Republican patriots engage in this pathetic tactic.

This Can't be True

In a Time/CNN poll released yesterday, Obama leads McCain 49 to 45 in Michigan. This is good.

What is un-fucking believable is that Ralph Nader somehow scored 6% of the vote, plus 1% for the Green Party candidate.

How, after the Nader vote lost Florida in 2000 and led to eight unbearable years of George Bush, can any sentient being throw their vote away on this irrelevant, narcissistic, asshole. I'm sorry, but it's time for someone to come down on this guy hard and ask him if he really wants to throw another election to the Republicans.

Jen Stands In

Watching Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sibelius basking in the reflected glow from the Obama campaign, I was wondering how Jen felt - standing by the wall with no one to dance with? Her date ditched her and how is she going to get to Washington without a ride?

Today's announcement that she had volunteered to be the debate prep stand-in for Sarah (lipstick) Palin shows she's back in the game. Biden said yes so she has a new partner. Way to go Jen!

Labor Day Cancelled

Maybe it came as a shock to some that the Labor Day Parade was canceled in Grand Rapids, but it shouldn't have.

The lead sponsor (the UAW) said it was committing its resources to the fall election and would forgo the parade as a result. This is a clear recognition of the fact that the labor movement is at the breaking point in the U.S., and cannot take another Republican administration.

The industrial unions are in tatters from years of outsourcing and the decline in manufacturing in the U.S. They are in a defensive crouch, trying to protect the rights of current members and retirees. The emerging service unions are hamstrung by aggressively anti-union sentiment in Washington and the effective union busting tactics of corporations such as Wal-Mart.

Workers seem to have forgotten what the union movement did for them, and don't recognize that the demise of the unions could make benefits like vacations and pensions disappear (oh sorry, pensions have already disappeared.) A UAW friend of mind likes to saw "we are the people that brought you the weekend".

It's true, and workers need to remember that this November. The parade we really need is the union-hating Republicans marching out of Washington.

Other Countries

I have an interesting passport since I travel a lot for my work. I get to go to some out of the way places, and have had the opportunity to get to know a lot of people I would not have otherwise met.

One good thing about traveling is the perspective it provides on the U.S. It's unfortunate that more Americans don't go abroad, because it would help open their eyes about what is happening here, and how we are viewed by others. We are falling behind, and that is most clear when you look at the country from elsewhere.

I spent some of August in Argentina and most of it in Canada. Argentina has gone through some very tough times but is picking itself up and reestablishing itself as one of the leading countries in South America. Buenos Aires is a beautiful city and it would be a shock to many Americans who think that Spanish speaking people only do yard work or clean hotel rooms. You could easily think you were in Paris on some streets in BA.

Anyhow, what I heard in Argentina was the same thing I have heard on five continents: "We understand that you made a mistake electing Bush the first time; we like Americans and love your country. But when you reelected him, we began to wonder if maybe we really don't understand America; maybe you really are a violent, racist and selfish culture."

It is very, very clear to me that electing Barak Obama will re-establish American in the eyes of the world as an amazing place that can recover from its mistakes. If we elect McCain, many people are going to turn their eyes away from America and look to other countries for inspiration.

August

Snipe has either lost interest in politics or has taken the summer off.

Since I'm starting to drive my wife crazy taking about politics again, the answer must be the latter. There are better things to do in the Michigan summer than whine about Republicans. Put another way, if you don't have anything better to do, you are too obsessed to qualify as even a junior pundit. Too much political naval gazing is not good for the spirit, especially in these times.

July

So why only one post for the whole month of July?

Lots of reasons, but the main one being it's summer - and there are better things to do than bitch about the state of politics in Grand Rapids. I'm also tired of having nothing good to say about anything, and that gets old after a while. Maybe it's the nature of blogs to whine rather than celebrate but a little balance would be a nice thing.

On the positive side, the Press did not endorse Linda Steil for the 73nd District House seat. Maybe she's a great person but the Steil family has owned that seat for maybe 20 years and I have a real problem with family dynasties.

It's also nice that the GR Public Schools Board is disowning the nasty PR campaign being waged by a bunch of union haters called the Education Action Group. Probably another front for the DeVos family, who when they are not working on getting approval for new helipads at their estates are trying to be sure teachers never get health care or a decent retirement. I really don't understand why the conservatives hate the teachers union so much. The only answer I can come up with is that they think it's better if everyone suffers rather than having one group that others less fortunate might aspire to.

The Great Lake Compact appears to be moving forward, which is probably a good thing. It's inevitable that the desert states will eventually set their sites on the Great Lakes and the more we do now to stop them, the more likely we will be to succeed in the future.

The MDP (or whoever is behind it) came up with clever way to cashier a lot of John Engler's judges (a good thing) but it's too bad they left term limits in place. Like a lot of people, I voted for term limits because I was sick of the status quo. Unfortunately the new status quo is worse, and our legislature is populated with nothing but trainees.

The Tigers have recovered from the early season collapse but nothing but a major slump by the White Sox is going to save them now. Still, they are a lot of fun to watch.

Cut the Prison Budget

It’s clear that Michigan's budget is in trouble again. Last year’s tax increases pleased no one, so revenue increases are off the table. The economy is not going to bail us out so the only choice is to cut spending, and the most obvious place to start is the prison system.

Michigan puts more people in jail for longer terms than any of the Great Lakes states - yet studies show we are no safer as a result. Michigan spends more money on prisons than on higher education - an embarrassment shared by only three other states.

Michigan could cut hundreds of millions from the prison budget by releasing inmates who pose little danger to society. But politicians are never going to do this because they are afraid. They are afraid of being branded “soft on crime” and they are afraid that one of the thousands released will do something bad. Because they are too scared to make the tough decisions, everyone is going to suffer from the state’s broken infrastructure, failing schools and inadequate government services.

If Michigan businesses and citizens don’t want to pay higher taxes, they have to tell their representatives they are willing to accept the risk of reducing the prison population. Even if it is the right thing to do, the politicians will never do it alone.

As Franklyn Roosevelt once said: “You’ve convinced me. Now go out and make me do it”.

Charter High Schools

June 26, 2008

Dear Senator Jansen;

I heard on the grapevine that an amendment was being introduced giving Charter high schools the ability to selectively recruit their students. I thought this would be a good opportunity to give you my thoughts on the issue.

Charter schools, especially the for-profit charters, have been financially viable because of the way Michigan pays the same tuition for low-cost elementary students as the far more costly high schools. I believe this is one reason why there are so few Charter high schools.

A second reason for Charter viability has been their ability to avoid responsibility for the extremely high cost special needs and at-risk students. There are exceptions of course, but my observation is that the public schools handle the vast majority of these kids and incur punishing costs since the Michigan formula again makes no distinction.

In both cases, the Charters win by segmenting the student market and picking off the most profitable parts. Ironically, this is presented as a good thing since it increases “competition” for the public schools. This is not competition; it is exploitation of a market loophole where one class of schools is required by law to take all students, while the other can selectively choose the most profitable ones.

If Charters are to provide competition, they must be made to play on an even field with the public schools. Any amendment to further skew the advantages they already have is bad public policy for Michigan, and I am strongly against it.


Sincerely

Snipe

FISA Cave, Part II

The collapse of the Democratic Party continued last night on the telecomm immunity and warrantless wiretapping issue with an 80 to 15 vote to invoke cloture.

Michigan's senator's both voted yes. If they vote no on the final bill, it's nothing but ass-covering since the cloture vote is the one that mattered. Both Levin and Stabinow voted against FISA last time around. I'd like to know why they reversed themselves.

Obama, McCain and Clinton skipped the vote.

Global Warming, Global Risks

The intelligence community (you know, the people we spend $40 billion a year supporting) issued a report yesterday on the security risks posed by the effects of global warming. The result were fairly obvious: if people become homeless, destitute and hungry because of climate change, they may get unruly. Shocking really, that starving people might cause trouble for the status quo.

Our own Ottawa County Congressman Pete Hoekstra was quoted on NPR apologizing to the intelligence community for having been forced (by the Democrats, of course) to waste their time thinking about the consequences of global warming. I mean, $40 billion can only go so far and they really should be concentrating on tapping American telephones so they can find Osama Bin Laden (golly, is he still at large?).

I'm glad Pete is so carefully focused on the past and doesn't want us to think about what might happen in the future. It's this backward-looking thinking that has made American the great country it is.

Defining Deviancy Down

When Patrick Moynihan defined the term back in 1993, he was concerned about increasing urban violence. Its relevance to national politics seems to increase every day as new examples of the lawlessness of the Bush Administration emerge. We are so conditioned to the perfidy of these people that things that once might of been shocking are now considered normal.

Today's revelation that the Department of Justice continuously broke the law in its hiring practices barely moved the needle. The Justice Department has been so debased that no one even expects it to follow the very laws it is supposed to uphold.

Illegal wire tapping? Government approved torture? Indefinite imprisonment without charges or evidence? Standard operating procedure.

We have been governed by criminals for the past 7 1/2 years, and no one seems to give a damn.

The Tragedy of Zimbabwe

I have business partners in South Africa and have been visiting Cape Town for nearly ten years now. Over that time the airport has gone from a shed with 747s parked on the tarmack to a sparkling facility highlighting the tourist attractions of the country.

Some years ago I met someone with a farm in neighboring Zimbabwe. This was a white person whose family had been farming for generations since well before Robert Mugabe liberated the country (then Rhodesia) from the colonial tyrants. It was a big farm that employed many black Africans and was one of many farms that made Zimbabwe one of the most productive countries on the continent. It exported vast quantities of grain and was truly the bread basket of Africa.

When I met this farmer, the tensions with Mugabe's ZANU-PF party were growing and I asked her why she stayed? She responded with a far off look that it was the most beautiful place in the world and that she couldn't imagine living anywhere else.

Mugabe proceeded to expropriate all the white-owned farms and give the land to his political cronies. The black workers lost their jobs and homes, and the farms went barren since the new owners knew nothing about farming. Barely five years later, the country has effectively collapsed both politically and economically. I don't know what happened to the farmer I met.

How many times has love of country blinded people to growing tyranny, with the belief that such things cannot happen here?

FISA Cave

In a truly despicable Democratic capitulation, the House voted to give the Bush Administration everything they wanted on the expansion of warrantless spying and immunity for the law-breaking telcos.

In the words of GOP Senator Kit Bond:

"I think the White House got a better deal than they even had hoped to get"

The White House immediately endorsed the proposal.

Of the Michigan Democratic delegation, Conyers, Dingell, Kilpatrick and Levin all voted no. So what's the the problem with Bart Stupak and Dale Kildee? Is this why we go to all the trouble to elect Democrats so they can vote the Bush line?

The problem with the Democratic Party is that there is no Party, and this is why we continue to lose even when we are in the majority. One, one Republican voted against this bill. 105 Democrats supported it. This brings me back to the question of why do I give a shit about the Democratic Party if this is what they give back.

Fuck 'em; Pelosi, Hoyer, Emanuel and the whole lot.

And never mind that Barack Obama just fell in line with Democratic Leadership and endorsed this travesty. I expected better of him.

Dear Nancy

Dear Congresswoman Pelosi;

Now is not the time to capitulate on the FISA legislation.

Just when Democrats are starting to feel proud of their Party's ability to fight, you are preparing to cut us off at the knees. This decision will cause maybe a million committed Progressives to wonder what is the point of supporting a Democratic Party that does not give a damn about justice, the law or the Constitution.

Please do not allow this so called "compromise" to go forward.

Sincerely,

Snipe

War Crimes

Michigan's senior senator, Carl Levin has been holding hearings into the U.S. Government's use of torture - and the authorization of this at the highest levels of the Bush Administration. In Levin's own words:

"How on Earth did we get to the point where a United States government lawyer would say that . . . torture is subject to perception?"

Having clearly established that the torture policy was not in fact the responsibility of some poor National Guard recruits, it's time to go beyond hearings and start indicting these bastards for war crimes.

How about it, Senator Levin? Enough talk, it's time for accountability.

How Other People Live

I'm fortunate that my work sometimes takes me to other countries where I get to reflect on what's happening in America from another perspective. It's always a good thing to get out of the country, especially during times like these where the politics is overwhelming and 80% of the population thinks the country is on the wrong track.

So I found myself earlier this month in the German speaking part of Switzerland. The town dated from the 15th Century with Roman ruins from the 2nd. It was painfully beautiful but what struck me the most was how agriculture was everywhere. Towns may have grown up around the farms, but unlike the U.S., the farms are still there and so are the cows and the crops. There are schools and factories - but there will still be crops in view. This is typical of much of Europe, where people really value knowing where their food is coming from, and haven't surrendered everything to the factory farms that produce nearly all the food in the U.S..

The other impressive thing was a train system that served almost every town. Gasoline is almost twice as expensive as in the U.S. but people have access to modern, efficient public transportation so they don't have to use their cars to do everything. Don't get me wrong, Europeans love their cars and drive a lot - but they also take the trains if they are going into the city or commuting.

The beauty of the system is that service is frequent and there are connections from the locals to high-speed intercity trains including the awesome TGV Bullet Trains. I am convinced that if Americans knew what good train service was like, they would flock to it. Unfortunately, it has been utterly destroyed in the U.S. and I would venture that 90% of Americans have never been on a train in their life.

On the downside, the beer is not as good as what is being brewed now in Michigan. It's time for Michigan to start exporting beer to Europe.

Fifth Third Tanks

Back in February I posted that it was time to fire Fifth Third Bank's CEO, Kevin Kabat. The bank had just fired 50 people and announced that it was paying Kabat $10 million for his fine work.

Today 5/3 announced that it was cutting its dividend and raising $1 billion in new capital to offset losses in its loan portfolio. The stock, which was selling for $43 a year ago is now offered at $10.50. And what happens to Kabat? He get promoted to Chairman. This is what happens in modern corporations (or the Bush Administration); you screw up completely, fuck your employees and your shareholders and then get a promotion (or a medal).

Old Kent Bank was a great Grand Rapids institution before Fifth Third bought it and ran it into the ground. The executives made out like bandits and the community ends up with a piece of garbage.

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?

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Media Bias in Muskegon

Good piece in West Michigan Rising describing the media bias at the Muskegon Chronicle

It's going to be my mission for the next six months to keep an eye out for the oh-so-familiar West Michigan media bias in favor of the GOP. The only way we can stop them from defining our candidates is to attack relentlessly whenever they pull one of their stunts.

They can be embarrassed into better journalism, but only if we hound them like a pack of wolves.

Meijer Caves

This story is so weird. If it was April 1, I would not have been surprised:

"Hunters Kill Pet Project at Meijer"

Right. So Meijer had agreed to donate up to a majestic $5,000 to a program sponsored by the Humane Society having something to do with pets in foreclosure (don't ask).

Apparently the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance thinks the Humane Society is anti-hunting, so they somehow pressured Meijer to drop its support. Meijer spokesman says:

"We support our customers who come to our store to buy hunting licenses and sportsmen equipment"

So, uh how about the tens of thousands of customers who buy their dog and cat food at Meijer? Like maybe they outnumber the hunters by 10 to 1?

Don't get me wrong, I'm all in favor of hunting. I'm also in favor of rational business decisions and how could anyone have a problem with the Humane Society?

Can't wait to see the letters to the editor.

The Battle of the Lifestyle Malls

It's shaping up to be a classic developers nightmare, which of course means the community will end up picking up the tab. The Village at Orchard Hills vs. the Village at Knapp Crossing, a "showdown" in the words of the Press.

So what are these Villages? And why are two developers trying to create them just a mile apart on the East Beltline?

The Villages are the latest step in the evolution of shopping in America. First we had real villages, then strip malls, then enclosed malls, and now Villages, a/k/a "lifestyle malls" - which really means a mall that's cheaper to operate, which really means a big strip mall shaped in a rectangle with some grass in the middle. They offer cheaper rents to tenants and allow developers to con local planning boards into thinking they are going to build something really cool and not just another stupid shopping center.

So the two proposed Villages will fight to get the classiest anchor tennants so one can claim it's the real Lifestyle Mall. The winner goes on to (hopefully) build something sort of cool, with the same stores to be found at Woodland Mall 10 miles south (Wow, this is really cool! a new Abercrombies!) The loser goes back to the local planning commission, pleads "financial hardship" and demands permission to build a really crappy strip mall with a Walllgreens, gas stations and maybe a mattress store. If you don't believe me, just look at Celebration Village - a first class example of a developer pitching something cool and delivering a big crappy strip mall.

In any other business, the loser would lose his shirt and move on. But developers are different; they get to take their mistakes and dump them on the community that was foolish enough to believe their bullshit in the first place. Meanwhile, the rest of (i.e. voters, citizens, community members) lose a little bit more of the quality of life that brought us to Kent County in the first place.

Stay tuned for periodic updates of the Battle of the Villages.

A Nation of Prisoners

Today's story in the NYT about the prison population in America is truly staggering.

The United States has less than 5 percent of the world’s population. But it has almost a quarter of the world’s prisoners.

This follows up on the report in February that Michigan is one of four states in the country that spends more on prisons than higher education.

My first reaction is to wonder why Americans are not outraged about this? But then I realize, it's because the majority of Americans want it this way. We elect politicians who are "tough on crime" and god help a candidate who dares challenge the status quo. These same politicians go on to enact absurd pieces of legislation that mandate prison sentences and eliminate the ability of judges to take mitigating circumstances into account. White collar criminals do minimal time, if any, making the prison population invisible to the majority of the population.

In California, the Prison Guard union is one of the most powerful sources of political funding - and they make no bones about their goal of more prisoners and longer sentences. We "outsource" prisons making private companies (and their lobbyests) into still another voice for more jail time.

What we don't have, is enough organizations standing up and saying that this system is ineffective, racist, discriminatory and hateful. Instead we have (white collar criminal) George Bush harping about how much he loves "freedom".

When the rest of the world looks at the U.S., this is just another piece of evidence that we are really a warlike, violent country that has no right to lecture others about their treatment of human rights.

Dean Recall Abandoned

Kudos to the GRP for properly describing the effort to recall Democratic State Rep Robert Dean as "unwarranted". They could have gone a lot further, like maybe "mean-spirited, irresponsible, imbecilic" but we have to take what we can get here in West Michigan.

The recall sponsors wasted their money and time, and forced Rev. Dean to waste his money and time, to try to recall him four months before election day, when voters have their bi-annual chance to kick him out. I know that Rev. Dean had a full-time staffer doing nothing but managing his defense against the recall. The state party put money into it and Dean put money into it, which suggests that maybe the whole "recall" was nothing but a head fake to deplete resources from the fall campaign.

Recalls are bad government just like ballot initiatives. They are funded by outside money, captained by single issue zealots and a distraction from the real work of trying to govern.

And what's up with the Press referring to Dean as "Mr."? He's an ordained minister, which usually carries the honorific of Reverend.

Idiot Columnists

I love how the GR Press feels compelled to publish conservative columnists. I need my dose of Michelle Malkin every now and then just to remind myself why I am a Democrat. Today's piece of work is a number by Jay Ambrose titled "Free Markets Still Work".

So I ask myself, as I often do, are Conservatives truly stupid or are they just on drugs? The ability of Movement Conservatives (meaning those who earn their living by being over the top, wild-eyed conservative) to ignore facts and live in an alternative, Ayn Rand universe is amazing.

Ambrose says:

"While there is a leftist mythology to the contrary, free markets do tend to be self-correcting, and government intervention often makes things worse"

So, Jay, let's consider the Fed's bailout of Bear Stearns. The free market said Bear needs to go broke on Monday - no questions asked. No problem; self correcting markets at work! Unfortunately, Bear going broke on Monday would have led to Lehman Bros. going broke on Wednesday. What comes next? Who knows - but by that point, maybe 500 billion dollars worth of financial contracts would have evaporated and the Free Market would be in a state of panic.

All Jay needs to do is look at the business cycles since the mid 19th century to the present. Before the government started regulating capitalism, the cycles were wild and dependable, like clockwork as the Free Market corrected itself. But once the Federal Reserve was created in the '30s, the cycles started to be tamed, and by the '80s, they have almost disappeared.

If Jay Ambrose wants to bet his IRA (or his job) on unregulated Free Markets, fine; just spare me the column.

Truth vs. Politics as Usual

I know I'm off message here (the West Michigan message) but the latest Obama dustup seems to be applicable everywhere.

Twice now, Barack Obama has broken the political rules and told the truth. First he said there is still deeply ingrained (although suppressed) racism in America. He said some people are still angry about this (specifically his minister.) When other politicians jumped on him, he refused to recant because he was telling the truth.

Now he has said that rural Americans are bitter because their communities are rotting from the loss of jobs, poverty, poor health care and the failure of the government to do anything. As a result, people are bitter and are looking for solace in the things they know.

He is again being trashed and he again is refusing to recant. He said he should have phrased it differently, but still believes what he said is true. Maybe McCain or Hillary should read what an actual rural Pennsylvanian thinks about it.

Americans are resiliant, optimistic, forward looking people - but in many rural communities (including many in Michigan), things really do suck, and our government is doing nothing to help

Why Developers Suck

This story is about as local as politics gets. What is atypical is that the community actually won. Of course the story isn't over.

A developer and Family Fare decided they wanted to put a huge grocery story, gas station and office complex on the corner of 7 Mile and the Beltline in Plainfield Township. The site is, and always has been, zoned residential. It's in the Township Master Plan and the developer knew this when he bought the property.

However, like all developers, he assumed the Master Plan and zoning were just minor inconveniences and that when the prospect of a big construction job came up, the Township would roll over and give them whatever they want. Unfortunately, the Plainfield Planning Commission came clearly out against the plan. Then the Township Board (in a complete shocker) voted 4 to 3 to support the PC and reject the re-zoning request. Family Fare's tactics of packing meetings and putting the full-court press on the local government failed - and the community won.

Now the developers are suing the township, saying their property rights are being violated by "arbitrary and capricious" zoning. They are making the classic "taking" argument - that the Township is taking their property by defending its own master pan.

What can I say but fuck 'em. They knew the property was zoned residential and made a bad business decision. No one took anything from them and why should the Township now have to pay legal counsel to defend its right to plan its own growth?

Developers always do this, and I am sick of seeing local governments cave into their self-serving crap. Maybe this is the start of a new trend, where Townships actually stand up for their voters against the developers and corporate interests.

Dogs do Roam

Well, what's to say about the wanderings of Debbie Stabinow's husband Thomas Athens?

On the surface, he got a much better deal than Eliot Spitzer, at the rock bottom price of $150 vs. Eliot's mutli-G affairs. On the other hand, Tom was only in there for 15 minutes, so the price wasn't all that great.

What's more interesting is whether he left a decent tip. The girl's rates were $100 for 15 minutes, $160 for 30, or $225 for the big spenders with an hour to spare. If Tom was only there for 15 min, he left 50% tip - which means as least he's not a cheap bastard.

The best thing is that Senator Stabinow does not have to stand next to him, beaming her wifely approval while he's standing there in front of the reporters with his dick in his hand. He's just a husband.

b/t/w what's up with the GR Press running this story right on top of an AP bit saying Sex Therapists say 3 to 13 minutes is optimal for sex? Was the press trying to show that Athans was a smart consumer?

Save the Rockford Courthouse

The saga of the Rockford (63rd District) courthouse has so many facets it is becoming hard to keep them straight.

The core issue is that the Kent County Commission wants to consolidate three judges into a new, $6 million building located in Grand Rapids Township. The County plans to issue bonds to pay for the building on the grounds that it will be less costly to run than separate courthouses. As such, this is essentially a business decision: borrow money for a long term investment that will yield enough operating savings to pay back the loan.

The County plan only attracted attention because Steven Servaas (the judge sitting in Rockford) said he didn't want to move. This lead to what appears to have been a political hit job, where Chief Judge Sara Smolenski tried to engineer Sarvaas's "retirement" based on trumped up charges.

The Servaas story is a lot of fun because it is so obviously a second rate smear campaign on a well-liked and well-respected judge. Unfortunately this distracts from the real issue, which is whether government "efficiency" is more important than government service.

The overwhelmingly Republican County Commission thinks keeping costs down is more important than having a local courthouse in Rockford that is easily accessible and staffed by local people who know the town - and are known by the town. The District Court is the most basic of the various judicial branches. It handles small civil suits, traffic offenses, adult misdemeanors (e.g. DWI), landlord/tenant issues, - the small stuff that is quintessentially local in character.

The City of Rockford has sued the 63 District Court to keep the courthouse, and has strong local support. The County is digging in its heals, has joined the suit, and has approved the bond sale.

So why do I care? I guess it's because I used to work with guys who had lost their licenses on DWIs and rode bicycles to work. To people like this, and many other who can't afford a car and have to beg rides from friends and relatives, having a local courthouse means a lot more than saving some money on efficiency.

The View From Abroad

Haven't had much to say for the past week about West Michigan politics because I've been traveling in the Middle East, as in Israel and Turkey.

When my agent in Israel told me he thought George Bush was the best friend his country ever had, I wanted to hit him. At the same time, you really can't understand how small Israel is until you go there. On one hand, there were crowds of teenagers on the beach in Tel Aviv playing music and throwing Frisbees. On the other were the teen aged girls in green uniforms carrying very large guns guarding the Jewish version of the Pentagon.

Every Israeli spends two years in the IDF after High School. Gaza is as far away from Tel Aviv as Lansing is from Grand Rapids. Gaza is not much bigger than Kent County but packed with more poverty and anger than 50 Detroits. Then you have Syria, Iran, Iraq - armed to the teeth and too close for comfort. So maybe I would feel good about W too if I thought he was keeping me safe. It's just a whole different situation than Republican fear mongering about terrorist strikes in the U.S.

It's spring in Ankara and the apple blossoms are out. It's a beautiful city and much more put-together than I was expecting. Turks are attractive, charming and friendly and are confirming what I have always heard about this being a great place to visit. And my agent says he is Democratic Muslim and is impressed with Barak Obama.

Answer the *@#$& Question

Maybe it's just the GR Press trying to make Jen look bad, but if she is going to hold Town Hall Meetings, she should be prepared to answer the damn questions.

Some guy from Wyoming asks if she backs more comprehensive transportation planning. Her answer: the state

"must have transportation solutions that meet our needs."

What the hell does that mean? She goes on to talk about a task force and says using the gas tax is not the answer.

We don't need no stinkin' Task Force; we need a governor who can answer a question, formulate a plan that she actually believes in - and bangs heads until it happens.

Mackinac Center in Deep Denial

In this week's MiBiz, Diane Katz from Michigan's own Mackinaw Center for Public Policy pens an opinion piece titled "The not so good life".

In this piece, she trashes the idea of public transportation based on the astute observation that streetcars in the early 20th century were hot in the summer and cold in the winter. As she says:

"some among us pine for the days when Americans depended more on mass transit than the sports utility vehicle."

Family farms are also a bad idea because:

"In place of a neat rose garden, an expanse of muck and manure surrounded the farmhouse"

It is truly amazing how deeply the Mackinaw Center will dive into absurdity to defend their "conservative" ideals. We really do still love our SUVs at $80 to fill the tank, and factory farms that dump tons of manure into toxic lagoons are such an improvement over the old days.

I really don't know why these hacks continue to get their work published. The only "public policy" supported by the Mackinaw Center is the destruction of government as we know it and the return to 19th century robber baron capitalism.

Oh, right. I forgot to mention that this piece was published in the Green Edition of MIBiz.

Obama, Race and Courage

When the primary campaign started, my standard answer when asked who I was supporting was "I like them all, and will work for whichever Democrat wins the nomination."

I wish I still felt that way, but I don't.

The problem is that I am so sick of politics as usual - of spin and cynicism and pandering and obfuscation and manipulation and lies and deceit. The political process has become so debased that I'm ready to say the hell with it and find something new to care about.

It makes me angry that Americans are so willing to put up with this shit - but if that's what they want, maybe it's what they deserve. I may be as cynical as the day is long, but I just can't take it any more.

Yesterday Barack Obama gave a speech about race that was really unprecedented. In the words of Glen Greenwald:

"I found the speech riveting, provocative, insightful, thoughtful and courageous -- courageous because it eschewed almost completely all cliches, pandering and condescension, the first time I can recall a political figure of any significance doing so when addressing a controversial matter."

Obama had the courage to address a complex issue like an intelligent grown-up. He didn't pander, he didn't lie and he didn't throw his friend of 30 years under the bus. Since this is what politicians are expected to do, the GOP announced that:

"Obama handed them a “major weapon” by refusing to disown Wright"

I want a candidate who is no longer willing to play the game as it has been laid out by the political establishment. The only one with the courage to do that is Barack Obama.

And Where Are The Taxpayers Yachts?

If there is any lesson to be learned from the financial collapse that has taken place over the past nine months, it's that "conservative" economics is a failure. Worse than that, it is a blatant lie foisted upon the public to make a very small number of people fabulously rich while the rest of us struggle to get by.

The Republican brand of fundamentalist economics is at the root of the sub-prime mortgage disaster as well as the recent collapse on Wall Street. The GOP's blind worship of free markets is what got us into this - and now that the system has failed , the capitalists want the taxpayers to bail them out.

And guess what? We just did.

These are the same people paying lower tax rates than you are because fundamentalist economics says they won't continue to work their financial magic if they have to pay too much in taxes.

There is no way to spin this in favor of the Republicans or the Bush Administration. They have failed miserably, and it's time to throw them out of office before we (hopefully) throw them into jail for the biggest theft in history.