Help WMEAC get some cash - Freep this Poll

by: greee

Wed Dec 10, 2008 at 12:57:04 PM EST

So, go here to vote.

Pick the Chump Who Dean's Gonna Thump

by: greee

Tue Aug 05, 2008 at 07:38:56 AM EDT

Pick the Chump Who Dean's Gonna Thump

For a modest entry fee, each person gets to forecast the winner of the Rethug primary in the 75th and the number of votes paid for garnered.

So be sure to get to Billy's tonight before the polls close to play thump the chump.

Special Master finds against Judge Servaas

by: greee

Thu May 15, 2008 at 13:52:47 PM EDT

Count II, which Special Master Grathwohl recommended be dismissed, alleged that Judge Servaas failed to change his voter registration when he moved from Cannon to Ada Township.  While Judge Servaas had admitted this in his Answer to the Complaint, the Special Master found that this civil infraction did not rise to the level of Judicial misconduct.

Count II of the Complaint contained the allegations that Judge Servaas doodled a penis and a breast of post-it notes, and that he made a comment about an employee's breast size.  The Report found that all of these events occurred and constituted violations of various Canons of Judicial Conduct, the Michigan Court Rules and, in the case of the comment to the Court employee, violated the Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights Act.

"It is a poor sort of memory that only looks backwards"

by: greee

Fri Apr 25, 2008 at 20:26:25 PM EDT

The idea of synchronicity is that the conceptual relationship of minds, defined by the relationship between ideas, is intricately structured in its own logical way and gives rise to relationships which have nothing to do with causal relationships in which a cause precedes an effect. Instead, causal relationships are understood as simultaneous - that is, the cause and effect occur at the same time.

Synchronous events reveal an underlying pattern, a conceptual framework which encompasses, but is larger than, any of the systems which display the synchronicity. The suggestion of a larger framework is essential in order to satisfy the definition of synchronicity as originally developed by Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung.[citation needed]

Jung coined the word to describe what he called "temporally coincident occurrences of acausal events." Jung variously described synchronicity as an "'acausal connecting principle'" (i.e., a pattern of connection that cannot be explained by conventional, efficient causality), "meaningful coincidence" and "acausal parallelism". Jung introduced the concept as early as the 1920s but only gave a full statement of it in 1951 in an Eranos lecture, then in 1952 published a paper "Synchronicity - An Acausal Connecting Principle" in a volume with a related study by the physicist (and Nobel winner) Wolfgang Pauli.[1]

It was a principle that Jung felt gave conclusive evidence for his concepts of archetypes and the collective unconscious [2], in that it was descriptive of a governing dynamic that underlay the whole of human experience and history - social, emotional, psychological, and spiritual. Events that happen which appear at first to be coincidence, but are later found to be causally related are termed as "incoincident".

Jung believed that many experiences perceived as coincidence were not merely due to chance but, instead, suggested the manifestation of parallel events or circumstances reflecting this governing dynamic. [3]

One of Jung's favourite quotes on synchronicity was from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll, in which the White Queen says

hint look up

Democracy for America: An Evening with Bruce Hawley

by: greee

Thu Apr 17, 2008 at 12:50:46 PM EDT

The Candidate:

Getting elected to any office requires that a candidate have the right mix of personality and politics, and Bruce is the perfect Democratic candidate for this area.  He has been a lifelong resident of the District, spent 30 years as President of the Little League, and is the current President (and former Treasurer) of the Kent City-Casnovia School Board.  In addition to this public service, Bruce has been extremely active in Union leadership in West Michigan, having served as President of the West Michigan Construction Alliance for 5 years, President of the West Michigan Building Trades for 10 years, and as Business Agent for Ironworkers Local 340 for 15 years.   Bruce has also supervised fundraising and financial oversight for numerous charities, as well as for Holy Family Church in Sparta.  A practicing Catholic, Bruce does adhere to Catholic doctrine on the wedge issue of abortion.  He is also a strong supporter of hunting rights, and spoke to a crowd of 60 people at the Sparta Hunting and Fishing Club on April 12th.  His "pro-life" and pro-hunter rights positions will serve Bruce well in the very conservative 73rd District.  I suspect that Bruce is the only candidate for an office in Lansing to have ever stood on top of the  Mackinac Bridge.  

The Issues:

Bruce opened up the evening by talking about the four themes he is stressing in this race:

1.  The need for governmental policies focused on maintaining and expanding the pool of good paying jobs that come with traditional benefits.

2.  A focus on improving education in Michigan.  This includes full time early age programs, equalized funding for our public schools, enhanced technical education, and better funding for our Colleges and Universities.

3.  Protection for and enhancement of funding for police and fire services.

4.  Protection for and strategic use of Michigan's Natural Resources.

In his speech, Bruce clearly demonstrated an understanding of how these themes play out in the 73rd.  

The 73rd is adjacent to Greenville, and the residents of the District have suffered through the manufacturing collapses that have occurred in that City over the last decade.  On public safety, Bruce noted that there are only two full time sheriff deputies assigned to patrol the northern eight Townships of the District, an area encompassing 288 square miles.  On the environment, Bruce supports the Great Lakes Compact, is opposed to the removal of ground water for use as bottled water, opposes building new coal fired plants in Michigan, and strongly supports the push for Renewable Portfolio Standards.  On education issues, Bruce has the depth of knowledge one would expect of a school board President.  He believes strongly in the fact that society will see dividends from funding full time early education, argues that not enough money is put into non-college skills training, and strongly supports spending for higher education.

While Bruce is certainly a more than competent public speaker, he really excelled during the group discussion that took place after his speech.  He is a good listener and very engaging in a this type of setting, an attribute important given the long slog of going  door to door to campaign in this largely suburban and rural district.

The District:

In a recent campaign mailing, the incumbent Representative, Tom Pearce, featured a photo of him shaking hands with Vice President Darth Vader, er, Dick Cheney.  With Cheney's approval numbers about equal to those of the Angel of Death, the fact that Pearce would feature a photo of him on a mailing speaks volumes about the politics in the District.  Recent numbers also demonstrate the uphill battle Bruce is facing:

2006
Pearce (R)       28,636 (59%)
Marckini (D)     14,708

2004

Pearce (R)        35,035 (70%)
Clowney (D)       15,277

2002

Hart (R)       24,370 (71%)
Clowney (D)   9,845

2000

Hart (R)    37,194 (71%)
Brown (D)         14,849

1998

Hart (R)          28,119 (75%)
Brown (D)          9,463

In 2006, Pearce's numbers as a percentage of vote were the lowest in the last five election cycles.  (Boy, wouldn't another 11 point drop in 2008 be great to see!)  Also, I took a look at the 2006 numbers to see how the District race played out in comparison to the Governor's race.  The 2006 Democratic candidate, Marckini, drew almost 5,000 less votes than Granholm did in the District (Pearce ran 2700 votes ahead of Devoleone).  So, there is clearly upside potential in this District for a hard working Democrat, especially in a year in which we find the wind at our back.

You can send a few bucks to Bruce by clicking here  

Update # 1: My chocoholic wife wanted me to plug the brownies served at the event.  They were delicious. And no Aiko, not those kind of brownies.

Speaker Dillon in GR on Friday

by: greee

Tue Apr 01, 2008 at 11:28:34 AM EDT

For this event, they invite a prominent Democrat for a sort of meet and greet and provide food and drinks.  Past guests include Mark Brewer (boy, that one was sizzling!!!!!), Kent County Commissioner Brandon Dillon, Lisa Wozniak (Executive Director of the Michigan League of Conservation Voters), former GR City Commissioner (and current candidate for the Michigan House) Roy Schmidt and Representative Michael Sak.  

Kent County Circuit Court Hands "Win" to Dean Recall Opponents

by: greee

Mon Feb 25, 2008 at 11:02:52 AM EST