Examiner.com article on Carson leading Clinton and Sanders in Michigan

Detroit native Dr. Ben Carson, seen here on a book tour in Florida, led both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders among Michigan voters in a poll released Thursday.
Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

I wrote that I'd post "the latest news about Doctor Pyramid from Michigan" at the end of Doctor Carson and his Amazing Technicolor Labcoat.  Here it is from Examiner.com: Poll shows Carson leads Clinton and Sanders in Michigan while Trump trails.

EPIC-MRA released a poll Thursday commissioned for the Detroit Free Press and WXYZ television showing that Detroit native Dr. Ben Carson leads former U.S. Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton among likely voters in Michigan, 46 percent to 40 percent.  The poll also found Carson ahead of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, 45 percent to 36 percent.

Real estate tycoon and former reality television star Donald Trump of New York fared less well in the poll.  The survey said that both Clinton and Sanders would beat Trump in Michigan if the election were held today.  Clinton led Trump 46 percent to 38 percent, while Sanders was ahead 48 percent to 36 percent.

“Clearly, this shows that what’s happening nationally with the surge for Ben Carson is happening in Michigan as well,” said Bernie Porn, president of EPIC-MRA, to the Detroit Free Press. “That quiet manner of his compared to the bombastic approach of Donald Trump is paying off right now.”  Porn elaborated on Carson's appeal for WXYZ, telling the station that “Voters like his style and it has resulted in a 42 percent favorability rate and only 30 percent unfavorable rate.”

More at the link, including a comparison with two national polls released Wednesday asking about the same or similar match-ups, a history of the polling for the candidates in Michigan, and reaction to the results.  There is also a video at the link.  I was hoping that this video from WXYZ was available, but I couldn't find it: Exclusive Presidential Poll.

Exclusive Presidential Poll on who would win for president if vote held today

Instead, it's this one from Wochit: Carson, Trump Get OK for Secret Service Detail.

Donald Trump and Ben Carson could soon have more company on the campaign trail -- in the form of a Secret Service detail. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said Thursday, "Homeland Secretary Jeh Johnson has authorized United States Secret Service protection for both Donald Trump and Ben Carson." The spokesperson said, That authorization came after consultation with an advisory committee in Congress made up of the Speaker of the House, the House Minority Leader, the Senate Majority Leader, the Senate Majority Leader, and an additional member selected by the Committee.

The latter is still on-topic and newsworthy, but not ideal.

Stay tuned for a busy weekend of posts.  I have entries on the rejection of the Keystone XL, the state marching band championship, and the first weekend of "Spectre" in the U.S. planned.

Crossposted to Michigan Liberal as EPIC-MRA poll: Carson leads Clinton and Sanders in Michigan while Trump trails.

Examiner.com articles on city council and millage elections

I wrote "Stay tuned for election coverage from Examiner.com" at the conclusion of A farewell drink for Larry Lessig.  I delivered.

First, Lumm defeats Petersen and Smith overwhelms Leeser for Ann Arbor City Council.

Independent Jane Lumm defended her seat against her former colleague Democrat Sally Jane Petersen in the only Ann Arbor City Council contest with both candidates on the ballot.  Lumm, who represents Ward 2, is currently the only sitting member of City Council who is not a Democrat. Petersen represented Ward 2 alongside Lumm from 2012-2014.

Chip Smith, the Democratic nominee for the Ward 5 City Council seat, handily defeated write-in candidate Kevin Leeser.  Smith unseated incumbent council member Mike Anglin to earn his party's nomination.  Leeser had failed to get on the ballot as an independent, then successfully filed the paperwork to become a write-in candidate.

Next, Chelsea, Dexter, Milan, and Saline elect city council members.

Four Washtenaw County cities in addition to Ann Arbor elected city council members Tuesday.  Chelsea, Dexter, Milan, and Saline held non-partisan general elections that generally returned incumbents to office.  Milan also elected its Mayor and a member of the library board.

Finally, some good news and bad news as Millages for transit, roads, and local schools pass in Washtenaw County.

Millage and bond proposals for public transportation, road construction, and education were on the ballot in Washtenaw County Tuesday.  All but one, a millage increase for Schoolcraft College, passed.

The voters of Scio Township approved a ten-year millage of 0.3627 mill by a vote of 1131 (66.88%) to 560 (33.12%) with a turnout of 13.17 percent, according to the Washtenaw County Clerk's website.  The proposal would raise an estimated $403,000 in the first year to expand Ann Arbor Transportation Authority bus service to Scio Township.  The Ann Arbor News reported this would include routes along Jackson Road, Liberty Road, and Scio Church Road.

That's the good news.  I'm always on the side of expanding public transportation and I'm glad the voters of Scio Township agreed with me.

Now the bad news.

Schoolcraft College asked for a millage increase of 0.6 percent over ten years to be used for operating expenses.  The voters in its district turned them down by a narrow margin.  The Wayne County Clerk's website reported that 21,051 (51.28 percent) voted no while 19,998 (48.72 percent) voted yes.  The margin was even more lopsided in the Washtenaw County portion of the district, as 92 (75.41 percent) voted against the measure but only 30 (24.59 percent) voted in favor.

I taught for Schoolcraft for four years from 2003 to 2007, so this hits home for me.  About the only good news is that the voters turned down an increase, not a renewal.  It still hurts, both personally and as a blow to public higher education.

I'm not done with 2015 elections.  I have a little dancing on political graves to do before I return to coverage of the 2016 presidential contest.  Stay tuned.

Crossposted to Michigan Liberal as City council members elected and millages passed in Washtenaw County.

Republicans vs. Democrats on climate change at the debates so far

With the first Democratic debate completed, it's time to compare the two parties on the issues the moderators thought were important.  One that I think is important is climate change as a proxy for all environmental issues.  However, that was not a subject at the first Republican debate, as the following graph from FiveThirtyEight shows.


Not a word.  Of course, the choice of topics reflects that of Fox News, who was more concerned about being a good gatekeeper for the GOP but failing at it when it came to keeping Trump in line.  Besides, comparing both parties and networks using the first debates introduces one variable too many for a good natural experiment.  Follow over the jump for a comparison of the second Republican debate and the first Democratic one, which were both on CNN.

Quatloos for "dinghy lovebirds" Gamrat and Courser

I've been neglecting a good sex scandal that's been brewing here in Michigan over the past few weeks, the one involving Todd Courser and Cindy Gamrat, two Tea Party politicians that have been caught having an affair while in office.  It's time to remedy that oversight, beginning with WXYZ's Report finds misconduct, misuse of funds by Reps. Courser and Gamrat.

A report from the Michigan House Business Office found misconduct and misuse of funds by both Reps. Cindy Gamrat and Todd Courser.

I read the released report and summarized the findings in a comment at Michigan Liberal.

1. Representatives Courser and Gamrat are not credible witnesses.
2. Courser and Gamrat committed misconduct in office that warrants further investigation and review, including numerous instances of deceptive, deceitful, and outright dishonest conduct, lack of respect for constituents, and abuse of the office of State Representative.
3. Courser and Gamrat misused state resources to an extent that warrants further investigation and review; the two improperly used state resources for political, business, and personal purposes.
4. The evidence is insufficient to conclude that Ben Graham or Keith Allard were wrongfully terminated or subject to a hostile work environment.

Three findings that allow Michigan's version of Major Burns and Hot Lips Houlihan to be hung out to dry and a fourth that protects the state from action by their ex-employees.  As the Church Lady would say, "How convenient!"

Follow over the jump for another video from WXYZ, an analysis of the scandal, and more smart-aleck comments of mine from Michigan Liberal.

OMG, Spam Shoes!

As I wrote in Rainbow unicorn farts in your general direction, I'm in an "I can't be all DOOM all the time" mood today, but it isn't a good mood, either.  It's because I've been running into too much spam lately, both here and at Michigan Liberal.  So for today's Entertainment Sunday entry, I'm posting a video that I should have used to punctuate Blast from the past: Sarah Palin's Naughty Monkey Shoes and Green shoes in more ways than one, Shoes by Liam Sullivan.



I feel better already.  Follow over the jump for more images of Spam shoes that I used to comment on some spam diaries about shoes over at Michigan Liberal.

Melissa Gilbert running for Congress, a story that got away

While I was busy writing about Trump and O'Malley for Examiner.com, another political story was happening just over the county line to the north.  Former movie actress and current Howell resident Melissa Gilbert declared her candidacy for the Democratic nomination in Michigan's 8th Congressional District.  WXYZ has the story in How can Gilbert win Congressional seat.

We talk with the voters and the experts on what it will take for Melissa Gilbert to win a seat in Congress.

I'll be a good environmentalist and recycle what I left as a comment at Michigan Liberal.

Here's a link from the Free Press and the Daily Kos write-up: Tax issue dogs Melissa Gilbert in new bid for Congress.

That headline is both too cute and very carefully phrased.  To understand why, read this summary from Daily Kos.

MI-08: Actress Melissa Gilbert, who is best known for playing Laura Ingalls Wilder on the hit show "Little House on the Prairie," announced on Monday that she'd run against GOP Rep. Mike Bishop as a Democrat. Gilbert doesn't have any campaign experience, but she did serve two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild, from 2001 to 2005. Michigan's 8th District has been pretty inhospitable for Democrats, but Mitt Romney only carried the seat by a 51-48 margin, and Bishop won it last year with 54 percent of the vote, which isn't exactly monster given the GOP wave.

Gilbert, however, has some baggage. In recent years, she was hit with a pair of six-figure tax liens, which she ascribed to the economic downturn and says she's been paying off through a settlement. Many politicians have successfully deflected questions about these kinds of financial difficulties in this way (ex-Rep. Allen West did so back in 2010, for instance), but Bishop was quick to point out that Gilbert went on Good Morning America last year to show off her French bulldog, whom she said wears a Louis Vuitton collar and has her own stylist. With that sort of pedigree, it's a little harder to argue the recession hit you like it did everyone else.

The headline writer knew exactly what they were doing.

The above does not mean I'm opposed to Gilbert running.  As both a journalist and a Democrat, I'm in favor of it.  She'll make good copy and will be a competitive candidate.

Monthly meta for May 2015

It's long past time for the monthly meta.  Let's begin by reviewing my goals for May 2015.

The blog received 11,820 page views during May 2014.  To beat that, I've set a minimum goal of 382 page views per day for 11,842 page views during May.  I've also set a medium goal of 387 views per day to get to 12,000 and 400 per day for a five percent increase over last year.

I exceeded all my goals for last month, as May 2015 had 13,752 page views.  Not only was this a record for May. It's also the highest number of page views for a 31-day month and the second highest page views for any month behind only April 2015, which saw 14,278.  That translated into 443.61 page views per day.  I managed to achieve the high number of page views while posting 39 entries, less than my self-imposed goal of 44.  That translated into 352.62 page views per entry.  While down from April's 374.74 page views per entry, it's still a lot more than the average of 276.28 page views per post during the fourth year of this blog.  The pace of readership is still up over last year.

Speaking of which, the blog passed 450,000 total page views on May 29, 2015.  This means it's been 116 days since it passed 400,000 page views on February 2, 2015.  If the rate of page views maintains this pace, the blog will pass 500,000 by the last week of September.  That's a month ahead of my prediction that this milestone would be reached by the last week of October.  I'm not betting on the earlier date, but at least I'm more confident I won't overshoot the expected time frame of no later than the week after Halloween.

On another note, the previous monthly meta entry attracted a comment mocking me for both not mentioning comments as part of my monthly summary and not getting a lot of comments in the first place.  Ironically enough, last month had the most comments per month this year so far with 24.  That was the most since last November, which had 32.  I'll celebrate by posting the two entries with the most comments last month.  The first was "Grilling over lava for Memorial Day," which earned 4 comments with only 79 page views.  The second was "'Tomorrowland'--optimism isn't selling as well as dystopia at the box office," also with 4 comments.  It briefly popped into the default top ten for the month with 107 page views, 109 according to the raw counter.

Follow over the jump for the top fifteen, which consists of the top ten for the month as of 11:59 PM EDT on May 31st plus five honorable mentions, as well as my goals for June.

Monthly meta for April 2015: record page views plus goals, top posts, and Nablopomo for May 2015

I begin this this month's report where I finished Monthly meta: page views and posts for March 2015 and goals for April 2015.

Last April, the blog earned 13,090 page views, the third best month in the history of the blog so far.  To be up year-over-year, I have to beat that.  My minimum goal is 437 page views per day for a total of 13,110 page views.  I'm going to attempt that while posting no more than 43 entries.  Wish me luck.

I managed to achieve all my goals for April and then some.  I shot for a minimum of 13,110 page views.  I hit 14,278, a new monthly high for the blog, over 1,000 more than the previous record of 13,251 set in December 2014 and 1,200 more than last month.  That translates into 475.93 page views per day.  I also managed to set a new record while not exceeding my self-imposed limit of 43 entries by only posting 38 entries during April, an average of 374.74 page views per entry.*  This is yet another improvement over both the average of 276.28 page views per post during the fourth year of this blog and the average of 306.84 page views per post for March 2015.  So far, the pace of readership is still up year-over-year.

As for this month, the goals for increased readership are lower than last month.  The blog received 11,820 page views during May 2014.  To beat that, I've set a minimum goal of 382 page views per day for 11,842 page views during May.  I've also set a medium goal of 387 views per day to get to 12,000 and 400 per day for a five percent increase over last year.  So far, page views are exceeding all these goals.  As for the number of entries, I'm shooting for 44 this month.  Right now, I'm ahead of that pace, too, but I think I'll be able to slow down in time to not go over 44 posts during May while still making my page view goals.

I'll revisit whether I made this month's goals in June.  For now, follow over the jump to read the top fifteen entries during April along with this month's Nablopomo theme.

Partisan divisions over Proposal 1 plus a visit from Freewheeling Franklin Freak

My latest at Examiner.com: Washtenaw County politicians divided along party lines on Proposal 1.

Last year, ninety-five percent of Democrats and seventy percent of Republicans in Michigan's legislature voted to place Proposal 1 on the ballot.  Normally, that would indicate broad bipartisan support for the measure, which would increase the sales tax by one percent to fund improvements to the state's roads and trigger ten other laws if passed.  A survey of current Michigan legislators and the conflicting endorsements of Washtenaw County's Democratic and Republican parties suggest a strong partisan division instead.

As reported by WXYZ, only thirty one (21%) of Michigan lawmakers contacted by the Associated Press responded to a survey of their stands on Proposal 1.  Crain's Detroit Business calculated that twenty-three of them were Democrats, all but one of whom announced their support for the constitutional amendment, while only eight were Republicans, five of whom opposed the measure.

Washtenaw County's state legislators were more forthcoming in their responses than for their colleagues as a whole, but they still mirrored the partisan trends.  Four of the county's five Democratic legislators responded to the survey, all announcing their support.  The response of Adam Zemke, State Representative from Ann Arbor, was typical of the group.  WXYZ quoted Zemke as saying "I support Proposal 1 because it is a good solution to raise the funding needed to fix our infrastructure that simultaneously holds education, local government and the working poor harmless. It also constitutionally further protects transportation and education funding, both things that I continue to hear from constituents about."

More at the link in the headline, including the stands of the County's other State Representatives and State Senators along with the official positions of the county Democratic and Republican parties.

Marijuana legalization may be on the Michigan ballot next year

Michigan roads are terrible but Proposal 1 still in trouble told the tale of a ballot measure that appears likely to fail.  Thanks to Michigan Liberal, I bring a story from the Detroit News about a possible ballot measure next year that will probably succeed, that is, if there aren't three of them that crowd each other off the ballot: 3 Michigan groups seek legal recreational pot use.

The race is on to get legalization of recreational marijuana use in Michigan on the November 2016 ballot — or through the Legislature before then.

Three different groups are considering voter-initiated laws to legalize the cultivation, distribution, sale and personal consumption of cannabis for Michiganians age 21 and older. A state lawmaker from Ann Arbor plans to introduce a marijuana legalization bill this month.

WXYZ has the story about the last effort in Bill pending in state legislature to legalize marijuana.

A new bill from State Representative Jeff Irwin aims to legalize marijuana

Five years ago, I told one of my students that his generation would succeed in doing two things, if nothing else--legalizing both same-sex marriage and marijuana.  So far, events have been proving me right.  The first is sort-of legal in Michigan now and probably will be fully legal by the end of summer.  The second might just happen in Michigan by next year.

Michigan roads are terrible but Proposal 1 still in trouble

There was more to my comment to The Burden of Denial at The Archdruid Report than the passage that became Mutate now and avoid the rush.

Greer: Today, a nation that once put human bootprints on the Moon can’t afford to maintain its roads and bridges or keep its cities from falling into ruin.

Me: I don't know if the nation can't afford to prevent those signs of decline, but it certainly thinks it can't.  Michigan's Governor proposed a tax increase to fund road maintenance two years ago.  Next month, that measure will be on the ballot.  It's likely to lose, as no one likes it and would rather use its failure to beat up on the other political faction.

WXYZ had two reports on the problem along with the initiative and its lack of support the day before yesterday.  First, Many Michigan roads and bridges are structurally deficient.


It looks like I-75 needs a lot of work. In particular, the overpasses listed 6th through 10th are ones I drive over regularly, so I'm concerned.

Despite the problem, Forum on roads bill finds little support.

A forum on the road funding bill hosted by the Oakland County Republican Party found little support for the measure.

Democrats will have to pass this initiative and a lot of them resent having to carry the Republicans' water, as the comments over at Michigan Liberal show.  I'm not one of them.  I re-registered at my new address Monday, the deadline for the May election, so I could vote yes.  Even so, I'm not optimistic.

For what it's worth, I promised to blog about this topic back in November, but haven't taken the opportunity until now.  Once again, I thank Greer for prompting me.

Michigan, fattest state to vote Democratic

Last week, Paul Krugman posted two graphs and noted the following in Heavy Politics.

First, yes, there is a clear correlation between obesity and Republican lean at the state level.
...
There are outliers — Utah especially, but also Montana and Wyoming, of which more in a minute, but overall the relationship is really clear. At the county level, the “diabetes belt” — that’s the CDC’s term, not mine — is clearly very Republican.

For another view of the relationship, here is a map of obesity rates among non-Hispanic Whites that Krugman also used.


The trend is clear; states with higher rates of obesity vote Republican in presidential elections.  Only three of the states colored orange voted Democratic in either 2008 or 2012, Indiana, Iowa, and Michigan.  Only one of those states has a higher obesity rate than Michigan, Indiana, and it voted Republican in 2012.  That leaves Michigan as the fattest state to vote Democratic in the past two presidential elections.

That written, all branches of the state's government are controlled by Republicans except for the educational boards.  I wouldn't be so silly as to suggest that our obesity levels have turned us into a purple state and are in danger of turning us into a red one, but there is something going on, the same thing I described in Food Fight: thoughts on liberalism and conservatism.  Krugman himself referred to something similiar when he linked to a Bloomberg article Inside the Powerful Lobby Fighting for Your Right to Eat Pizza.

Other corners of the fast-food industry have folded against public pressure for healthier choices. Not pizza.

That was Bloomberg.  Here's Krugman.

[N]utrition and obesity have become deeply partisan. Big Pizza is now an industry as dedicated to the GOP as coal or tobacco.

People in Michigan love their pizza and that might be part of the problem.

As for what to do about this if one is a Democrat in Michigan, I have this whimsical suggestion: Go on a diet and get someone to diet with you.  That's what I'm doing right now.  Not only will it be good for your health, but it might just be good for the state's politics.

Crossposted to Michigan Liberal.

Crazy Eddie's Motie News endorsements for the 2014 general election

As I concluded Gas prices fall again:

I'll be back at midnight with the endorsement entry I promised at the end of Obama visits Detroit plus election news from campuses on the campaign trail.  Stay tuned.

It's midnight, so I'm back with the general election edition of Crazy Eddie's Motie News endorses...  I start with my suggestion for Proposals 1 and 2 in the spirit of a picture being worth 1000 words.


How to vote on these proposals was the one thing people at work asked me about.  I told my co-workers to vote no, just as I'm telling my readers.

Follow over the jump for more endorsements.

Crazy Eddie's Motie News endorses...

It's primary day in Kansas, Missouri, and Washington.  In any of these four states, VOTE!  However, if you live in SE Michigan, you get the benefit of my recommendations, which I link, pun intended, to the entries about the issues and candidates involved.  Follow over the jump for them.

Report on the 2014 Clawson 4th of July parade

It's time to recount my experiences Marching in the Clawson 4th of July parade again.  Just as I did in A-10s on parade, I begin with a WXYZ video: Clawson honors veterans in Fourth of July parade.


The clip gives a pretty accurate assessment of the parade's family-friendly and community-oriented atmosphere.  Also, I just missed getting on screen, as the closing shot is of the unit right behind the one I marched with.  Darn.  However, the candidate I ended up volunteering for wasn't Nancy Skinner.  Follow over the jump for who I marched down the parade route with and why.

Recycled comments about the men's rights movement

Eric B. described his experience with the men's rights movement in America's least necessary political movement mansplains humor to Nancy Kaffer at Michigan Liberal.

A few years ago, I took an objective look at the men's rights movement. I'm mostly a single dad, so I thought maybe there was something in it for me. There wasn't, and I wrote a column saying so and that I was happy that Mike Cox was aggressively pursuing deadbeats ... and was deluged with e-mails from members of the men's rights movement. They all basically followed the same format: My crazy bitch ex-girlfriend/wife gets all my money and I don't even get to fuck her anymore ... which I wouldn't do because she was lousy in the sack. One correspondent in particular lamented the idea that if he earned a salary of $1 million that he be expected to fork over half of it for the care of the child he helped create. It was revealing and disturbing at the same time.

I had a similar experience eight years ago with with the men's rights movement, which has managed to get into the news lately for all the wrong reasons.*  It was with the regular posters of soc.men when I was a regular of alt.usenet.kooks (AUK) from 2005-2009.  I quickly came to the same conclusion about soc.men that most of the rest of the regulars of AUK had already arrived at; the posters were a bunch of fruits and nuts (one of our nicknames for the group was soc.fr00ts) and their group was an outpost of macho posing that the regulars of AUK called Fort Machismo.  We didn't think very highly of them or their cause.  In fact, we thought they were both repugnant and ridiculous.

A year after I started posting to AUK, I got recruited into a proposal to create a moderated version of soc.men.  It was intended to be a troll, but it had an ostensibly serious purpose--to contain the men's rights movement in a controlled environment where the ideas could be discussed civilly without external disruption.  On the one hand, the effort succeeded; the moderated group was created.  On the other hand, it was a dismal failure; the men's rights advocates didn't want a moderated group.  They much preferred an environment where they could continue to be disruptive bullies.  I was even less favorably impressed with soc.men after that.

Since I am a good environmentalist who recycles, I'm reposting my comments at the time about the experience and how it cemented my opinion of soc.men as a representative of the online men's rights movement, along with an update of my thoughts about the men's rights movement in light of recent events.  Follow over the jump.

Christie gets a Detroit welcome and other election news

I posted a comment over at Daily Kos that I liked so much I decided to use it for a blog post here.  After all, I'm an environmentalist; I recycle.

At the top of the ballot, Chris Christie flew in for a closed-door fundraiser for GOP Senate candidate Terri Lynn Land.  Protesters showed up, along with a team from WXYZ (ABC 7 in Detroit).  Here's the station's report: Protests over Chris Christie visit.

Crowd gathers in protest of Chris Christie visit in Bloomfield Hills.

Welcome to Michigan, Fat Bastard!

For what it's worth, I've participated in a protest like this two years ago when Paul Ryan headlined a fundraiser for Pete Hoekstra, who ran against Debbie Stabenow.  I wrote about my experience in I was one of "about a dozen" yesterday.  This demonstration looks like it was better organized and attended, as well as more favorably and accurately covered.  Good.

Follow over the jump for more from Michigan's 14th and 11th Congressional Districts.

Detroit Regional Water Authority talks in the news

It only took eight months, but the other shoe that I expected to drop in WXYZ follows up on DIA has fallen* and the thud of its impact reported, as WXYZ describes in Debate over the future of the Detroit Water Department.


Nine billion dollars and one vote for each of the suburban counties?  I'm not with L. Brooks Patterson on much, but I am with him on this; it's too imbalanced.  For starters, there are more counties involved than just Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb.  As the map above shows, both Washtenaw and Monroe counties are also using Detroit's water and are likely to remain in the system, so they deserve votes as well.  Genesee, Lapeer, and St. Clair are currently connected to the system, but the contract with the City of Flint and Genesee County will be terminated this year, so Genesee and Lapeer, along with Sanilac County, are forming the Karegnondi Water Authority (KWA).  Construction of the pipeline for the KWA began last year, but won't be finished until next year.  Joining that instead of a Detroit-based regional water authority is Patterson's backup position if he doesn't like the price Detroit is offering.

Also, I can see that the total price of paying off the debts and upgrading the infrastructure would be $9 billion, but fobbing it all off on the suburbs is too much.  Adding two more counties and Detroit taking more of its share might make the price tag for each county more palatable.  That written, even what Detroit is asking would be better than privatizing the system.  Follow over the jump for my opinion of privatization and what I think a reasonable proposal would look like.

Examiner.com article on popular elections articles for 2013

Stephen Kunselman with his daughters Sophia and Sabrina
The Michigan Daily's endorsement of Stephen Kunselman and other candidates for City Council was the top story about local elections held during 2013.

There is also a slideshow: Looking ahead to Washtenaw County elections in 2014

The five most shared stories about Washtenaw County Elections for 2013 all looked ahead to 2014.  Here are the politicians running for federal and state office to watch next year based on the Facebook likes of the readers.

Top Washtenaw County election stories of 2013 look ahead to 2014

As 2013 comes to a close, it's time to look back on the top stories from the past year.  Based on the number of Facebook shares, five stories stood out, all of which share a common theme, looking ahead to 2014.

All of them were also about elections for federal or state office, such as Senator, U.S. Representative, Governor, even University of Michigan Regent.  No county or municipal candidates or issues broke into the five most liked list for 2013.

Three more tied for sixth.  Two of those were also about next year's elections, while one managed to be the most popular article about local elections actually held in 2013.  This last got an honorable mention in this year's countdown.

Here are the five most shared stories on Facebook along with an honorable mention.

1. Walberg losing to generic Democrat by nine percent: poll
2. Schauer declares 'he's in' the race for Michigan Governor
3. Michigan Democrats already campaigning on Labor Day for 2014
4. U-M Regents: Gratz considers running while Weiser consolidates support
5. Peters endorsed by Stabenow and Levin for U.S. Senate
Honorable Mention: Michigan Daily issues endorsements for city council, millage renewal

In addition to the two commonalities I mentioned in the article, four of the articles (1-3 and 5) are good for Democrats, while only #4 is good for a Republican.  May that be a sign of things to come.

Now, I shall close out my calendar year here the way I did in the article.

"So long, 2013. On to 2014!"

Crossposted to Michigan Liberal, Dreamwidth, and LiveJournal.

Proposal A stories with commentary from Inigo Montoya

At the start of Royal Oak's Proposal A passes, I repeated a promise.

I concluded Colorado and Washington voting on hemp and GMOs with this promise.

I also covered marriage equality in Meanwhile, at the bottom of the ballot.  There's a related issue on the ballot here in Royal Oak, Proposal A, the approval of the city's Human Rights Ordinance.  I have stories about the campaigns for and against that measure, but I'll save them until after I vote (yes, of course).  See you then!

I'll get around to sharing those stories...

In the spirit of yesterday's America Recycles Day, I'm keeping my promise while reusing one of my comments over at Michigan Liberal.  Hey, I'm an environmentalist; I recycle.

Eric B. quoted the following passage from a Detroit Free Press article under the observation, I am not sure that Tom McMillin understands the definition of discrimination.

“We haven’t seen any instances of discrimination,” the conservative lawmaker argues. “What we have seen is instances of when these laws are imposed, there is discrimination against Christians…we see that the bullying (on this issue) actually comes from the LGBT community.”

That prompted the following response from me.

Inigo Montoya on McMillan claiming discrimination.

"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

Speaking of which, my wife got a robocall from McMillan the other day against Proposal A, the voter approval of Royal Oak's Human Rights Ordinance.  She got as far as McMillan talking about transvestites using women's restrooms, laughed, and hung up.  A couple of days later, I got an automated push poll from Just Royal Oak, the No on Prop. A people, which repeated that same talking point.  I hit the button for Yes on Prop. A, at which point the program thanked me and hung up.  It gave me great satisfaction to push back against the push poll.

I should have also pointed out that McMillan doesn't understand bullying, either, and then linked to Projection is the Right's favorite defense mechanism.  Then again, that's why I have this blog, so I can.

It turns out this story is not finished, as McMillan's involvement looks like an investment in next year's election.  Stay tuned.