And now, a word from our sponsor

by: Eric B.

Fri May 18, 2012 at 10:56:06 AM EDT

There's a new sheriff in town, if by new sheriff you mean someone else running for the Democratic Party's 8th Congressional District nomination. It's Michael Magdich, and you can find out about him here. This site is being sponsored the next couple of weeks on his behalf.

We thank them for their support, just like we thank all of our past and future sponsors.  Without them, I'd wind up paying these bills myself, which would in short order -- like a month -- mean that this site would go dark. As dark as the grave.

If you're interested in sponsoring this site sometime in the future, please contact me at ebaerren@michiganliberal.com. Rates are $25 a day, $100 a week, or $360 a month. 

What is going on here in West Michigan?

by: ScottyUrb

Tue May 15, 2012 at 18:19:41 PM EDT

Schmidt made the announcement in a news release. It appears he will run unopposed as a Republican for the 76th District seat in November. Democrat Matt Mojzak will challenge him for the seat.

The Republicans in Lansing confirmed that Schmidt is now a member of the House Republican caucus.

The district was redrawn to be roughly 50-50 between the parties. Despite that, no other Republican ran - until Schmidt. The well-known Schmidt - who filed as a Democrat before withdrawing and then re-filing as a Republican - could've beaten Mojzak in a primary, then gone on to win the general election unopposed.

In a statement, Schmidt says he is a moderate and that he wants to put his job above his party. But he did have this to say:

I believe I was sent to Lansing to serve the people of Grand Rapids, not political bosses. The simple truth is, extreme Democrat party bosses like Mark Brewer are unwilling to listen to ideas or accept my positions on issues that matter to me and Grand Rapids.

More below the fold.

A crushing lack of leadership

by: Eric B.

Tue May 15, 2012 at 08:45:18 AM EDT

This makes me want to kick something.

University leaders blame the tuition hikes on a decade of cuts in state aid to public universities, which they say equates to about the same amount as the additional tuition revenue.

State legislators say they would like to provide more aid, but a shrinking state budget gives them less to work with. They say universities should cut more costs to hold down tuition.

This is a complete abdication of duty, and a complete passing of the buck of responsibility ... on both the part of the Legislature and the reporter. Last year, the state Legislature enacted a massive tax cut for businesses that created a massive budget deficit that had to be filled with spending cuts in places like -- wait for it, wait for it -- higher education. This is quite literally a self-inflicted injury, and any serious reporting on the issue of financing a university education needs to mention the declining support for the entire system from the state.

It can't be said enough ... in the early 70s, most of a student's college education was paid for through state appropriations. Thanks to decades of declining support, that burden is now shouldered by students, and it's created a crisis that imperils the state's future abilities to compete in a global economy.

I've also sat through university board of trustee meetings where the budget and state aid were discussed. The idea that universities aren't doing anything to cut costs is a complete fabrication, a typical rightwing fantasy based on the idea that you're ideas never need to be adjusted. CMU just strongarmed its tenured faculty into taking no pay raise, despite the fact that university faculty are paid less than what they'd make in the private sector. For some disciplines, the difference is tremendous. And, almost every university in the state has taken aggressive steps to reduce the second-biggest budget eater, which is energy. While conservatives are issuing limp-wristed mockery at the idea of alternative energy and energy efficiency, almost every university has reduced energy usage, and as a result energy costs, through those measures. The last figures for CMU I saw had the university saving $1.6 million annually in energy through swapping out old. inefficient light bulbs (the sort that Nolan Finley is hoarding) and replacing them with new, efficient ones.

So, what say we retire this sorry, old talking point that universities need to do their share to trim costs.  And, yes, Tom McMillin, most universities already post their spending to the Internet. I've spent hours sifting through CMU's. The problem here is the state Legislature, which like a drunk who can't go home and face his family without the security of a bottle in his coat pocket, can't wake up to face the day of balancing the budget without the delusion-fueling power of Ye Olde Talking Points.

TODAY: Fling deadline for candidates and precinct delegates!

by: ScottyUrb

Tue May 15, 2012 at 08:32:18 AM EDT

Would you like to help make the Democratic Party more responsive to your concerns? Here's your chance!

Many Democratic activists like myself are precinct delegates. What is a precinct delegate?

The role of a precinct delegate is one of the most important yet least understood of any elected office. It is the active precinct delegate who wins elections for the Democratic Party. Precinct delegates are elected directly by the voters of each precinct to serve as a bridge between voters and the Democratic Party in your neighborhood and you represent your neighborhood at Democratic Party meetings.

So basically you represent your neighborhood to the Democratic Party, and vie versa. And you will appear on the August 7 primary ballot in your precinct.

While each precinct has a certain number of precinct delegate spots, many of them go unfilled. Result? If you file to run for Precinct Delegate, you are almost certain to win.

It's easy to run for Precinct Delegate. Fill out this form, get it notarized, and turn it in to your city/township clerk's office by 4PM tomorrow.

But wait... there's more! The Democratic Party is also looking for nominees for various offices at the state and county level. We can't let the Republicans go unopposed! If you want to run for office (even if it's just to put your name on the ballot), fill out this form, get it notarized, and turn it in along with a $100 filing fee (you'll get the fee back after the August primary if you're nominated). You will also need to fill out this form regarding campaign committees, but note that if you don't expect to spend much on the campaign, you can file for what's called a reporting waiver.

Note: The filing fee option applies to races for state House, countywide office, and County Commission. It is not an option for US House or Senate, city commission/council, or township offices. Don't ask me why. Also note that you do not need to turn in petitions or a fee to become a precinct delegate; just fill out the form, get it notarized, and turn it in.

To find out who has filed to run for certain offices, or to determine where to file for office (which varies depending on the office and whether the district crosses county lines), call your county clerk's office. 

As the Democratic nominee for an office, you get the same rights as a precinct delegate, but you also get to serve on your County Party's Executive Committee for the next two years. (Nominees for certain offices constitute 1/3 of the County Democratic Executive Committee; the other 2/3 are selected by precinct delegates in November.)

The deadline for both is 4PM today. So make sure you have a chance to fill out the forms, get the affidavit notarized, and turn it in by then!

Statistically speaking, Jennifer Granholm's conversion on same-sex marriage could be expected

by: Eric B.

Mon May 14, 2012 at 12:08:12 PM EDT

The president "stepped off the squishy, wishy-washy middle ground that so many political figures occupy on divisive, tough issues. It took real courage to stand up for what you know is right, regardless of the political cost."

Which prompted one of our alert readers to ask: How much courage did a certain political figure running for Michigan governor in 2002 and 2006 show on gay marriage?

The problem with that question is that Granholm is a Catholic. Her Catholicism isn't the problem, but it does make asking a question like that problematic, because if Jennifer Granholm's attitude on same sex marriage has evolved, you can chalk it up to either crass political posturing or, if you want to follow the numbers, suggest that she's simply one of millions of Catholics who have changed their minds.

It's not just Catholics, mind you, but Americans in general. Pew released a poll last month on this (63 percent of Millenials are okay with same sex marriage), and one of the slides in particular asked about attitudes among Catholics and gay rights. The results are surprising (slide 3) ... 46 percent of Catholics break with Rome's teachings on gay rights and support same sex marriage. All told, 59 percent of Democrats and 68 percent of liberals, of which Granholm is one, support it (slide 4, 5). 51 percent of women, of which Granholm is one, support same sex marriage (slide 7). Statistically speaking, it is about as suprising that Jennifer Granholm would support same sex marriage as it would be that the ice cream man would peddle bomb pops on a hot day.

The Church, however, is unambiguous on gay rights, however, and one of the things the Catholic Church has always -- for lack of better word -- marketed itself as is a bedrock of steady values in an uncertain world. The oceans may boil, nations may fall, but always, always, always, there is the certainty of the Catholic Church's teachings, which are rigidly enforced by a strict hierarchy topped by The Pope. Here again, we see divergence from The Church as its flock over the last decade. When I started looking into the local controversy involving our local Catholic Church and its rescinding of an invitation to an openly gay man to speak at the parochial school of one of it's parishes, I did a little research into whether that controversy was part of the story line we've been hearing so much about, that the Catholic Church is losing touch with younger members of its flock over its rigid teachings versus values people form on their own.

The results are fairly straightforward. The Church's membership bulges towards the top, tapering down as it goes. Young people are departing the Catholic Church because they are using other resources to set their own moral compasses rather than how they're instructed to set them by priests, who get their instruction from the bishops, yada, yada, yada. They see Church doctrine as outdated and stodgy and confining. This isn't just a liberal thing, mind you. Paul Ryan, whose budget document would increase the debt while shearing away the social safety net, a couple of weeks ago said the same thing ... that the bishops and Pope don't have a monopoly for determining what are the teachings of the Catholic Church.

The bottom line is that you can ask about Granholm's conversion on this issue, and intend it as a snide, rhetorical question. If you really want the answer, however, it's probably not nearly as fun. That answer, based on real evidence, is that it's entirely possible that Granholm's position on same sex marriage really has evolved, because that's been the case of the overall larger Catholic community to which most of us understand her to be a member. The conflict here isn't between Jennifer Granholm and political expediency, but between the Catholic Church and its parishoners who increasingly see its hierarchy and rigid sense of morality as a millstone they no longer want hung around their necks.

Jennifer Granholm vs. the Michigan Democratic Party

by: Eric B.

Mon May 14, 2012 at 11:12:35 AM EDT

So, last week I get a fund raising letter on behalf of the Trever Thomas campaign. He's the openly gay person running for the Democratic nomination in the Congressional race to challenge Lil' Fella in the November general. The fund raising letter was from Jennifer Granholm. Also, Thomas' campaign staff appears to include a few of the old Granholm hands. Meanwhile, on the other side, Steve Pestka appears to have mostly nailed down the support from those Democrats who are currently elected officials. I believe most notable among them is the endorsement of Gretchen Whitmer, who to me appears to be in the process of putting together a team to run for ... something. We'll see.

Anyway, as has been tradition around here, there won't be any sides taken here, except to mention that it appears to me that while Thomas is very good at getting the support of media figures and getting media attention it appears that Pestka is doing much better in building infrastructure. That's beyond his support for positions that put him at odds with people who think Planned Parenthood isn't a tool of Satan. 

The policy-making centipede

by: Eric B.

Mon May 14, 2012 at 10:14:09 AM EDT

When Ray Franz first suggested that we do away with the state's renewable portfolio standard, most of us probably just thought it was Nutty Ray being Nutty Ray. After all, this is the same man who believes that a common law principle brought over to these shores by the English was really some sort of insidious communist plot to seize private property. Then, this article popped up (well, a couple like it, anyway), which laid out that the corporate backers of ALEC were going to start targeting state-level RPS.

I'm not one to buy into the ALEC conspiracy theories. You know, the ones that allege that ALEC comprises a secret, shadow state Legislature in places where Republicans run things. They may produce standardized pieces of legislation for legislators to simply introduce and see adopted, but at the end of the day, those require real-life decision making by real-life elected officials. To believe that ALEC is really the state Legislature, you'd have to believe that a mass game of brainwashing had taken place. The explanation, I believe, is a lot more simple. I believe most Republican lawmakers elected in the last decade are stupid, ignorant, arrogant, and dismissive enough of what government is supposed to be and how it's supposed to work (see the other two) that they see nothing wrong with taking legislation not written by people accountable to the electorate and offering it up as their own. That is, our state Legislature is mostly comprised of people who see as chiefly the bad thing about plagarism is that you might get caught so, dude, don't get caught.

So, ALEC is going after RPS in states that have them, and Michigan is one of those. And, Ray Franz introduces a bill to repeal ours, which turned out to be -- like a lot of RPS -- easy to implement at little cost to consumers.

Now there's an effort -- driven to large degree by business interests -- to increase Michigan's RPS. It's not an idea being promoted by the hippies, but people who see it as an emerging market in which they can make a lot of money while providing the important public service of weaning us off fossil fuels. That would be the 25/25 ballot initiative you've heard about (there was an article on MLive last week about how there are Republican and a Democratic public relations firms in Lansing behind it).

more...

Won't someone think of the children?

by: Eric B.

Sun May 13, 2012 at 14:33:48 PM EDT

Nolan Finley picks Mother's Day to first remind us that he's a real person with wee people in his family, and then he proceeds to use them as human shields to press home the point that the nation has accumulated a lot of debt.

That's their individual share of the national debt that we've been stoking for decades, just waiting for these newcomers to show up and pay it off.

Well, somebody has to. This is real money owed to real lenders, and most of us won't live long enough to see the mortgage stamped "Paid in Full," even if we were inclined to make a few payments.

The reason to slog through this tiresome mess is because Finley does such a good job of distilling rightwing thought on the budget and national debt that reading this column, it's almost the same thing as sitting across from your Uncle Leo during Sunday dinner and listening to him drone on about politics. 

Well, first again, it has to be pointed out yet again that while we have indeed stoked the national debt for decades that it was an inconsistent stoking, has many roots, and is not by itself nearly as terrifying as Finley makes it sound.

First off, at the beginning of the Bush presidency, the nation was running budget surpluses, which could have been used to pay off the national debt. In fact, that's what the predecessor to the last president -- Bill Clinton -- wanted to do (that is, when he wasn't busy having Vince Foster and Ron Brown slain). His Republican counterparts in the House wanted no part of that, and wanted to use the surpluses he was running to finance tax cuts ... which is precisely what happened when Clinton left off and George Bush Jr. took over.

Then, George Bush Jr. first invaded Afghanistan, a war that most of us thought at the time was justified (and in some ways, some of us still do), and then Iraq, which only an idiot thought was absolutely necessary.  So, after the surpluses were blown on $300 checks for everyone and then to finance two overseas wars and tax cuts that have proven to be statistically economically worthless, the national debt really took off. I'll let you guess which side of all of that Finley came squarely down in support of, but it ought not take too long. After all, his paper editorialized several years ago that to solve the Iraqi insurgency, we ought to flood the country with half a million fighting men, which would have bankrupted this country (in addition to being utterly impossible for obvious reasons).

So, in other words, many of the things Nolan Finley supports created the huge, whopping national debt. 

Update! ... I ran out of time yesterday trying to transition from the national debt as expressed in dollars, and the support Nolan Finley has in the past given (and, by extension, most of wingnuttia) to policies that increase it. There are a couple of other forms of debt that he has actively supporting in bequeathing to the children of his family, and the interesting idea that undergirds his entire column -- that wealth is a static, finite thing, since otherwise you could argue that since the value of the dollar changes over time that it's possible that the sheer, raw dollar value of the current national debt could be mitigated to large degree by an expansion of wealth (this is an experience in other countries, notably Britain, but you can understand Finley's desire not to bring Old Europe into things -- is useful to keep in mind.

The first is another kind of national debt, which is the debt that we're creating in infrastructure, and also in the health care system. That is, someone is going to inherit the roads, bridges, electrical grid, broadband networks, rail lines, canals and lake channels, schools (universities, too) and even the number and location of important public safety facilities (including prisons). Thanks to policies that over the years have received the nearly unflinching support from Finley and most conservatives, almost all of that is going to rot. Thanks to obstinance on new revenue, we're allowing roads to transition from paved to gravel, and we're no closer to a commerce-driven second span to Canada than we were when Jennifer Granholm was governor (and this is directly and specifically the fault of conservatives and especially the Tea Party, which has stupidly inserted itself into a political fight on the behalf of a competition-killing monoply). Our broadband build-out continues to be on pace with Bulgaria rather than other First World economies, funding to canal and channel dredging is regularly a low-hanging fruit victim of budget cuts thanks to austerity budgeting, our electrical grid has become hostage to a stupid political fight driven almost entirely by the same sort of political stubbornness that had Finley hoarding incandescent light bulbs and every time we turn around some new, local light or high-speed rail project is being trumpeted as some kind of trophy after it gets canceled because local Tea Party-elected officials refuse to accept the funding to get it going. In other words, our infrastructure is an embarrassment but we're not doing anything about it because the same conservatives worried about the compiled deficits they helped cause think it's funny to see undone plans to build new rail lines. Guess who gets stuck with the resulting mess, a mess that will leave future generations more poorly equipped to compete in a global economy? Nolan Finley's grandkids. That would be fine by me, but that also includes my kid.

There is another angle to this, which is the "natural debt" being left to our children and grandchildren. About this, Finley has written about on a semi-frequent basis, both directly and on the oblique. I am speaking of climate change, which isn't really the end of the problem but is a symptom of a consumer-driven lifestyle that comes with certain highly negative consequences that will affect most acutely future generations of Americans.

Finley, of course, gives every indication of being a skeptic of the theory. It's been long since this has been a data-driven point of view, but let's take it at face value that different people are entitled to different opinions. How does Finley's reaction to the idea of climate change jibe with his concern for debt being handed down to future generations? In addition to his light bulb hoarding, based almost entirely on spite and the fact that he finds fluorescent light bulbs less manly, he in the past has also written about his intention to drive a giant, gas guzzling truck as often as he cares to. In fact, if I remember correctly, he downright resented the idea that higher gas prices -- gas prices that in this country have never matched the true cost of production -- might curtail this activity. That is, Nolan Finley is upset that each of his grandchildren may be handed a bill for $50,000 at birth to cover the share of a national debt they never helped ring up, but he has no problem handing them a planet with uncertain climate patterns and jackhammered roads because he was offended by the implications of that the wasteful use of certain resources carried negative consequences, and because he generally objects to the idea that the wealthiest among us be asked to pay something more than the historically lowest income tax rates. 

And now, a word from our sponsor

by: Eric B.

Sat May 12, 2012 at 10:23:08 AM EDT

Right now, even as we speak, the Michigan Summit has kicked off and is under way. If you're there, you're registered properly and are inside. Perhaps we'll yet see someone at Henry Payne's Museum of Half-Formed Thoughts complain that if you support same-day voter registration and not requiring voters to bring identification to make use of their Constitutionally protected right to vote in public elections that stink like hypocrite juice. If not, you can watch the thing streamed live here starting at 12:15 p.m.

This week, the good people associated with the Michigan Summit thought to sponsor this website and keep on its lights so that it could provide information to you about things like the Michigan Summit. And, the Circle of Life comes to one complete revolution. They have our thanks, and by "our" I mean me and the two cats currently sitting outside my front door looking in. And, by "thanks," I mean, "Have fun today, I've got to work."

While we're at it, it is customary to when thanking current and off-going sponsors to thank all past and future sponsors. Why? Mostly because I need to fill this space up with text so that there's not some box hanging there with dead white space next to it. It's ugly, and a waste of what amount to free pixels. But, also, because I do appreciate the support, even if it mostly appears I don't because of all the snide wise cracks about cats and dead space and other such stuff.

If you'd like to support this website through a sponsorship, you may contact me at ebaerren@michiganliberal.com. Rates are $25 a day, $100 a week, or $360 a month. 

Pete Hoekstra, human gaffe machine

by: Eric B.

Sat May 12, 2012 at 10:09:53 AM EDT

The problem with Peter Hoekstra is that he's probably not nearly as crazy as your typical Republican primary voter, which means to convince them that he's their best choice for November that he's got to play around with nonsense like this.

WASHINGTON -- After telling an audience this week that he would support drilling in the Great Lakes for oil or gas from onshore, today U.S. Senate candidate Pete Hoekstra clarified his remarks, saying it's a state issue and not one for the federal government.

"Pete Hoekstra does not support drilling in the Great Lakes," said his spokesman, Paul Ciaramitaro. "Pete views this is an issue that must be decided at the state-level and not in Washington, where he has voted against it consistently."

What's the difference between Pete Hoekstra and human Etch-a-Sketch Willard Mitt "Mittens" Romney? Hoekstra doesn't possess the same shameless Teflon-like approach to consistency, where it seems natural for him to say absolutely anything to get elected. Most people expect better out of Hoekstra, which means it'll be more difficult after he's peddled his ass to the crazies before November to simply pretend he never said we ought to drill in the Great Lakes.

The problem here is that he's running for the nomination from people who think it's more important to send someone to Washington who'll refuse and generally make governing next to impossible. That's precisely what happened in the state of Michigan, and the state's political media practically developed a case of the vapors when benevolent overlord Rick Michigan showed up and started implementing the same sort of agenda that the recalcitrant Mike Bishop said for years that he'd refuse to budge from. The state's political media promptly fell over itself talking up that there was a new atmosphere in town, even as state government started dismantling the things that made Michigan part of a civilization worthy of the name. That's why GOP primary voters keep thinking that it's okay to nominate the most obstinate, least compromising person imaginable. Each time they do it and it blows up on them, the political press figures out a way to cast the blame on liberals and Democrats.

As for drilling in the Great Lakes, it's difficult to imagine that even the last few remaining responsible Republicans are dumb enough to think that the risk is worth the tiny amounts of petroleum (a globally-traded substance that would hardly be slaked in the slightest by Great Lakes oil at even twice peak production). That could be why a Clark Durant, who doesn't need to prove his conservative chops to anyone, has the freedom to dissent. Tell me again why these people think Obama's newly formed religion on same-sex marriage is a terrible sign of flippity-floppity?

Nihilists in the U.S. Congress, Census edition

by: Eric B.

Thu May 10, 2012 at 12:19:08 PM EDT

By now, you might have heard that the U.S. House adopted an amendment to a bill that cuts out funding for a major information-gathering tool used by businesses for marketing purposes. For Michigan's delegation, the vote was a strict party line split. Who voted against giving businesses vital information? Republicans.

Okay, let's back up a bit here. In 2010, most of us participated in the Census without giving two thoughts to it. After all, it's a Constitutionally-mandated activity of the federal government (the fevered imagination of Michele Bachmann aside). Part of that is the long-form American Community Survey, which does more than just count heads. It gathers demographic information.

Before anyone gets suspicious about private use of publicly-gathered data, this has tradtionally been a function of the federal government, to gather data for the public benefit. That's why it's not at all unusual for federal dollars to help support scientific and medical and technological research. It's considered a public benefit to have this information for everyone to use as they see fit. Non-profit groups use it to devote their resources, private enterprise uses it to develop marketing and business plans, and that's all on top of the general use by government to direct funds for community development and things like poverty relief.

So, along wanders the purportedly pro-business Tea Party Republicans, the nihilists who now control the House of Represenatives. They don't see that information as a useful tool for basicaly everyone, gathered at a minimum of expense. They see it as the intrusive hand of tyranny. Erick Erickson, the guy who runs Red State and who once referred to Cindy Sheehan as a "media whore," famously suggested that he planned to pull a firearm on census workers trying to administer it. 

So, the nihilists who run the House voted to defund the American Community Survey on the grounds that it ought to be a voluntary thing. Now, you can say what you will about making it mandatory to tell the federal government about your household, your ethnicity, and your income, but I ought to point out that I haven't heard of anyone who was earnestly charged with a crime for faking Census information. Mostly, what those people did was skew the results, which is sort of the same thing as when my senior class elected as its president the school's biggest stoner. That is, they carried out a gag mostly because they're incredibly immature.

Think about a second what this says about the attitude that the modern Republican Party has towards the American community as a whole. They have announced, en masse, that they aren't interested in being a part of it. They are only interested in sitting in their homes and begrudgingly letting the feds count them every decade, but only because it's written in that moldly old document that is confirmed with the same black-and-white sense of flexibility they confer on the Bible (or, at least the parts of the Bible that allow them to throw rocks at gays and bomb brown people). This isn't just the "Do-nothing Congress," and the "Know-nothing Congress." It's now also the "Don't-Want-to-Know Congress."

Does the state Legislature care about facts, energy edition

by: Eric B.

Thu May 10, 2012 at 11:48:22 AM EDT

Ever since the great natural gas lease boom of 2010, the die-hard fans of fossil fuels have jumped up and down, pointed to it, and declared that it's easily-recoverable energy that means that alternative energy sources are bad things. Why would they do this? The best explanation I can come up with came to me last week when talking to the chaplain of our local Hospice house (the one that the morons and nihilists who run the House of Representatives in the U.S. Congress have in the past voted to cut off funding to) about the Catholic Church. When coming change is apparent, some people deny it so vigorously that they tighten their fists into increasingly smaller balls even as things slip more quickly out of the cracks.  Some of you will recognize this as something Princess Leia said to Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars.

Unfortunately, the same sort of nihilists who control the U.S. House of Representatives also control the state House of Representatives. 

Today's DNR auction features the hubbub-inducing Cass Lake and Orchard Lake subsurface rights. But it's small potatoes in light of a recent report by a Michigan House Subcommittee on Natural Gas, which recommends forcing the DNR to auction off all its currently unleased mineral rights -- about 5.3 million acres worth, or more than seven times the amount currently leased out -- by an unspecified but presumably imminent deadline. Mineral rights not leased by this deadline should then revert to the surface landowner in cases where the state does not hold title, according to the report.

What you ought to know about this is that the great gas boom of 2010 hasn't panned out in reality as people thought it might. There was a pretty exhaustive report a few months ago that outlined that in Michigan much of it has turned into a bust, with test wells not producing gas as expected and property owners suddenly finding themselves not compensated for leases they sold. To normal humans, this would be a sign that further pushing the natural gas boom should be done with great caution. As noted, the state House is not populated by these sorts of people. These are people who exist in their own little worlds where little, pesky things like facts and reality are inconvenient gnats to wave away. This isn't just a matter of dry test wells, in fact, but a matter of how the industry itself is financing all of this.

Think about it. Even before the most recent gas price crash, the shale gas producers were spending two, three, four, and even five times their operating cash flow to fund their land, drilling, and completion programmes.

 

The widely accepted claims of huge volumes of cheaply produced energy did not square with this deficit financing.

In other words, the state House of Representatives wants to not only move aggressively on a business practice that hasn't panned out as advertised (while complaining about new technologies that require trial and error to get right), but has been financed in the same way that produced the housing bubble ... through creative accounting and deficit spending.

By the way, did I mention that these are the same folks who lecture everyone else constantly about the need to be fiscally conservative when it comes to throwing poor people off food stamps? 

It really is just like rain on your wedding day

by: Eric B.

Wed May 09, 2012 at 10:18:20 AM EDT

Here is how things have worked the last decade: Some member of the rightwing blogosphere -- oftentimes Jim Hoft, the Internet's stupidest person -- will pick up a nugget of information from something he frequently reads, and it is itself usually factually misconstrued. That person will start shouting his or her head off about it, and because the tale is so harrowing and neatly fitting into a preconceived rightwing notion of how the world operates (as opposed to how it actually operates), it will get picked up by other rightwing blogs and "news" sources and bounce off each other, generating heat and noise the longer it does. Eventually, it will attain a certain measure of assumed truth ... if so many people are outraged over Michelle Obama's trip to India, then it must be true. Eventually, if it's lucky, it will break the confines of the rightwing echo chamber and you've got Chuck Todd and/or David Gregory asking how Michelle Obama's multi-billion dollar trip to India is bad news for the president when so many people are out of work in this country.

On a related note, we ask the question of what Magic Frank and a young Alanis Morissette have in common? Both have a hazardous relationship with irony.

How ironic.

State Dems held their party delegate caucuses last weekend - and the party that staunchly opposes a requirement of photo ID's for voters didn't let anyone into their own meetings without Photo ID. LOL.

Of course, he can't even cite his original source -- Henry Payne, curator of the Museum for Half-Formed Thoughts -- accurately. The state Democratic Party isn't being accused of denying entry without a picture ID, but of voting. But, what's a detail here and there when you're trying to paint people as hypocrites.

The form is something to note, that first Henry Payne reported it (a half-formed thought, as we'll see in a minute) and then Magic Frank uncritically rereported it. If things go as they've gone, soon it will pop up on the semi-literate cousin to Henry Payne's Museum of Half-Formed Thoughts, Michigan Capitol Confidential (where you go if you absolutely, positively only want part of the story), and it's likely to get note at Bizzarro Michigan Liberal (if it hasn't already). The more ambitious might even point out the need to register for this weekend's Michigan Summit, a gathering of both Democrats and voter rights advocates, and that progressives want to loose the same illegal immigrants on the voting booths that they're afraid will connive their way into their midst to gaffle an illicit bagel and cup of coffee.

It will continue to bounce around until maybe Dawson Bell does a Poli-Bites piece about it. If all goes well and the stars align, it will slip loose the surly bonds of the echo chamber completely and the Detroit Free Press will, when editorializing against the tightening of voting laws, insist that Democrats did themselves no favors by requiring identification for participants in its party's caucus. Teeth will be gnashed, faces will be palmed, heads will be desked; and that will be greeted by the keepers of conventional wisdom that the progressives, liberals and Democrats are only mad because it's true and they're whiny.

No one, anywhere will bother considering for a hot minute the considerable difference between the rules of participating in an entirely private political association and a Constitutionally-guaranteed franchise in the public sphere.

The Human Etch-A-Sketch takes credit for auto industry bailout he opposed

by: Eric B.

Tue May 08, 2012 at 10:09:42 AM EDT

Chutzpah.

"I pushed the idea of a managed bankruptcy, and finally when that was done, and help was given, the companies got back on their feet," Romney said in an interview inside a Cleveland-area auto parts maker. "So, I'll take a lot of credit for the fact that this industry has come back."

Romney has repeatedly argued that Obama ultimately took his advice on the auto industry's woes of 2008 and 2009. But he went further on Monday by saying he deserves credit for its ultimate turnaround.

To most intelligent people, this is going to look, smell, and feel like a candidate so bent on winning the November election that he'll say absolutely anything, including stuff contradicted by things that happened in recent memory, to win. There's clearly more canny stuff at work here, like that Willard is crassly trying to appeal to the apolitical couch jockey class that spends its days watching sports. What he's saying is that the next time Matt Stafford hits Calvin Johnson in the end zone that you can take credit for it because, dude ... totally your idea.

And now, a word from our sponsor

by: Eric B.

Tue May 08, 2012 at 09:49:28 AM EDT

The day for the Michigan Summit is fast approaching. In fact, it's only about four three days away! The good folks who are behind it are helping out Michigan Liberal this week with a sponsorship, and would like you to additionally know that if you plan to attend and haven't registered that there's still time to do it.

What is the Michigan Summit? It's only the equivalent of Christmas, Mardi Gras and April Fool's Day for the progressive political community, except with fewer presents, fewer booze-fueled parades and fewer practical jokes. But, it is a singular event on the calendar during which progressives of all stripes get together to scheme, talk, self-inform, and generally enjoy each other's company. If I didn't work Saturdays, and didn't work for wages low enough that I have to show up every day, I'd be there.

On a related note, thanks to the good folks who want you to know about this year's Michigan Summit and for their support for this website's work. If you'd like to get some well deserved thanks by supporting this site, you can contact me at ebaerren@michiganliberal.com, or via social media networks, or by showing up on my front porch. Rates are $25 a day, $100 a week, or $360 a month.