Visions of Endorsements

It happened again, a local politician approached me & asked if I was Andre w/ the blog. He was looking for an endorsement. The fact that he knew who I was kind of freaked me out, but it was cool none-the-less. The mid-term primary election is next week, Aug. 3, so I figured it was time to end the suspense & tell you who you should be supporting... assuming you're living in my ward. However, even if you're not in my ward, you should still heed my words in regards to the broader stuff.

Governor: Virg Bernero
He seems to be, by far, the most progressive candidate. I like that Andy Dillon is from Redford (I went to high school there), but he doesn't seem to have his shit together in the same way. (Side note: Mike Bouchard aired an anti-union commercial last week. I only saw it once, but it was scary as shit. He was talking about turning MI into a Right-to-Work state to restore our manufacturing... because the Right-To-Work states are stealing our jobs. I wish that was really the problem, but unfortunately for them, those states [Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, etc.] have shit economies too... & where Georgia is growing isn't in manufacturing but in professional careers & coffee-shop employees. Bouchard is bad news!)

State Senate (18th District): Rebekah Warren
I always liked Pam Byrnes, but now that we have to chose between them, it's clearly Warren all the way. (Side note: Thomas Partridge, the 3rd Dem. on the ballot, is a freaking nut-job. He comes into Nicola's all the time, & I take the Hell off so as to avoid dealing w/ him. I doubt he'll win... I doubt he'll get more than 10 or 15 votes... but if he does, I don't know what I'll do... he's nuts!)

State Representative (54th District): William Riney
He's an old-school organizer. He's not afraid to hit the pavement and look like a goof-ball. He's also an all-around great guy.

Mayor of Ypsilanti: Pete Murdock
I know a lot of you Yuppies like Schreiber, but Murdock is dedicated & honestly concerned w/ the community. He's been involved w/ local politics for years, he's got good plans for Water St. & the Thompson Block. He's always supported the chickens. In fact, I think he's the guy I can lean on for llamas!

Ypsilanti City Council Ward 3: Brian Robb
He's a good guy. He's hitting the streets w/ a great plan to continue revitalizing the city.

Ballot Proposals: Transportation Millage, Yes
According to Ann Arbor.com, there were some technical problems w/ the proposal so the August 3rd vote won't count & it will be on the November ballot again. I'm voting "Yes" just in case. Apparently, state law says that type of proposal can only be determined in a General Election & not a primary. Also, it apparently had 2 too many words in it. we'll see.

Election Day

I just got back from voting @ Adams Elementary School which is @ the end of my street. Solstice & Aiden came w/ me, & we had a great time. I love bringing them w/ me so as to get them used to the process so by the time they're 18 it will be 2nd nature & they'll look forward to it. I remember registering to vote on my 18th b-day back in the summer of 1992. I was so excited that after years of following politics, I'd finally get to participate in the democratic process. I may be a nerd, but I'm a nerd for the left. This morning, there was absolutely no line which kind of freaked me out ("Where is everybody?" I asked myself, "Is on one getting out to vote?"), but they said there'd been a huge line earlier between 7:00 & 8:30... we got there about 9:00. Overall, the process went smoothly w/ no hanging chads & the volunteers were friendly as usual. We were even able to document the entire process w/ the trusty old camera. As you can see, we had a beautiful morning for an election. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen a General Election Day as nice as this one. As for my fashion choice, I went w/ the new tweed slacks, a white shirt, & a McPherson Hunting tie. The entire ensemble has now been brought together nicely w/ my "I Voted" sticker. For this evening, we've gotten a bottle of Cider, a couple cans of Guinness, some nice Triple Cream Brie and some fig spread to top off the cheese. My friend from Plum is going to be @ Aubree's for an election night party so I might go up there for a bit too... & I imagine there'll be something happening @ the Corner Brewery too.
Obama/Biden Home Page
Statewide Ballot Proposals
NPR Election Map
Election Results from CBS
BBC Election Night Guide Before we went in
Aiden in the midst of the signage
Getting my Ballot
W/ Solstice
W/ Aiden

The Well Organized Vast Coalition of Leftist Bloggers

Cleta Mitchell was on the Diane Rhem Show today & suggested that this coalition has joined together in an organized front to smear Palin (the Governor of Alaska, not the Monty Python cast member). Having missed the organizing meetings, I'm perhaps a couple days behind on this one (I had to let Landon have his say). That said, I'm not certain that it really takes a "vast coalition" to find fault w/ her. Mitchell's claims were about the attention on Bristol (the 17 year old daughter, not the city in England) & Palin's alleged attempts to get books banned from the Wasilla, Alaska Public Library. First off, I absolutely agree w/ Obama's stance that the families should be off limits & therefore we shouldn't attack her because of her daughter. However, when she & the GOP put her eldest son on a pedestal for joining the military & attempt to win our sympathies based on her youngest child, it seems like she's trying to have it both ways (which I'm also sure she's done before... not that there's anything wrong w/ that either). If we are all supposed to look @ 2 of her kids, all should be fair game. As far as the book banning goes, the only "proof" so far that this happened has come from a 1996 article in The Frontiersman, the Wasilla newspaper, where she discussed it a little bit. Of course, it's not completely out of the question; the mid-nineties were full of library book-banning movements. Remember the dude in Ohio who shat in a children's' book about gay parents? Those were the good ol' days of book-banning (well, not as good as Nazi Germany, but pretty good none-the-less). Mitchell's response to the book-burning question was "I'm not commenting on that. She is the target of a smear campaign and I don't know if that even ever really happened, but remember, many parents have been upset by the books their children are forced to read." This is fantastic: what she means here is this: "I'm not talking about it, it might not have happened, if it did it's justified anyway." In her defense, she is right that parents are often upset by what their children are forced to read... Huck Finn, Harry Potter, Slaughter House 5... but that is an issue to be settled between the parent, the student, & the teacher. No one in the public library system is "forcing" people to read books. I don't know though, maybe in Alaska, librarians carry guns... Librarianators... Biblio-enforcers... pistol packin' Athenaeumians... they get archival on our asses... perhaps these are the brain police Frank Zappa warned us about. Maybe I spent too long discussing the book-banning issue, but I'm not in the camp that says this is a personal issue. Her support of censorship may actually be an important thing to know about before we cast our votes.

Anyway, it seems to me that these aren't even the issues people are really talking about. The only times I hear about them is when the GOP think-tank people don't want to discuss the real issues they keep saying we need to discuss. In fact, McCain's appearance on Larry King was canceled after one of these alleged "personal attacks" by the media when Campbell Brown asked Tucker Bounds to discuss Palin's Foreign Policy qualifications. She pressed him to answer the question he tried to deflect in the way any good journalist is expected to & they say she was "attacking" Palin's personal life. Before you watch the interview, I want to say that I keep hearing people say their Republican friends are scared by this VP pick... 1 heart beat away from being the PILF... the hottest VP since Mondale... yet all I see is GOP support. I don't really know any Republicans though, so I'd love to hear from some & get a reaction to these issues. Now, enjoy the CNN clip (& then a little Daily Show fun w/ soundbites), & don't forget, the next meeting for the Well Organized Vast Coalition of Leftist Bloggers will take place in my living room next week... bring beer:

Long Awaited Answers to Previously Posed Questions

Layin' Pipe in Washtenaw County
Considering I've backed up more than my fair share of drains, the issue of Drain Commissioner is 1 that is close to my heart. After checking out the web-sites of 2 of the 3 candidates (Richard Deitering doesn't even have a site & there's no way in Hell I'd endorse anyone who isn't using the grassroots campaign strategies of Howard Dean), I've decided that while Douglas A. Egeler's service in the Marine Corps & his 31 years in the plumbing industry are strong factors, Visions of Ypsi is proud to announce that we are endorsing Janis Bobrin for Washtenaw County Drain Commissioner. She has served the county in this role for nearly 20 years & has a spanking picture of Atchison Drain on her main page. She's also been endorsed by Alma Wheeler Smith, the UAW, & the Sierra Club, but I imagine it is this endorsement which will really kick-start her re-election campaign. Check out her web-site & get listed as an supporter or get yourself a yard sign! Power to the people!

Little House - Big WorldThe next issue I promised I would tackle involves the Tiny Houses. Steve posted a link to this a few years ago, but there was a story on Weekend Edition about this so I wanted to check it out again... it's hilarious (but pretty great if you live by yourself, don't have any pets, & have Agoraphobia. In all honesty, they're great for the environment, but would be a bit difficult w/ a family. The woman interviewed on the radio said she powers her house w/ a solar panel & 9 bucks worth of propane every month.

This Portion of the Post is not about Face Glaze
While @ work this weekend, I was made aware of a fascinating new product called Batter Blaster. Of course, all the obligatory dick jokes were made (& a few that were rather uncalled for), but it actually seems like it might be a decent thing to get for a camping trip. Other than that, it just seems nasty. It is organic though, so @ least there's that. For those of you who didn't follow the link, Batter Blaster is pancake batter that comes in a sort of Ready Whip style canister. Sounds Delicious.

If Only He Really was a Terrorist: The Presidential EndorsementThis weeks has been spent w/ diapers & walking & bouncing & all things baby so I didn't have a chance to comment on the New Yorker cover, but I couldn't let it slip by unnoticed. I think it's a whole lot funnier than the media made it out to be. Obviously, it's not an attack on the Obamas but on the people who have been making the rather dubious claims about his allegiances. That said, I would definitely like Michelle Obama more if she came w/ a dash of Angela Davis (rather than Angela Lansbury). Oh well, I'll take what I can get, so Visions of Ypsi is proud to announce that we are officially endorsing Barack Obama. After all, Angela Lansbury was pretty good in the 1979 remake of The Lady Vanishes.