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West Michigan 
Fri Apr 04, 2008 at 13:04:20 PM EDT
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Over the past two weeks, Mediamouse.org--Grand Rapids' first and largest independent news and media website--has been redesigned. While we are continuing to work on the site and make small tweaks here and there, this work is for the most part completed. Over the past eight years, we believe that Mediamouse.org has served an important role in providing news, analysis, and networking for those interested in social change, those looking for an anecdote to the local corporate media, and for progressive and left groups organizing in Grand Rapids and West Michigan.
Some of the recent changes that will help us grow and continue to serve in this capacity include:
Improved Searching - With several years of articles covering a wide variety of events and issues that have happened in Grand Rapids, we have made some changes to make it easier to find old articles.
Improved Interaction - We have added the capacity to rate articles and make comments. We hope that this will help us solicit feedback and become more responsive to the movements that we support. Additionally, we hope that it invites further discussion and interaction between readers.
Email Subscriptions - We are starting a bi-weekly email newsletter and have also implemented a service that allows folks to subscribe to daily email summaries containing all of the articles that have been posted on any given day.
We will be making additional changes in the coming weeks and continuing to refine some of the functionality. However, our primary goal over the next several months is going to be increasing the readership and relevancy of Mediamouse.org. While a lot of folks know about Mediamouse.org--primarily in the context of being a place to find out about protests--we have generally not done any advertising or outreach over the past several years. We're going to work on this--consider this email a start.
That said, we continue to invite participation from those visiting Mediamouse.org. Submit events, submit articles, suggest stories, or let us know your thoughts on the work we are doing. We appreciate comments, suggestions, criticism, and the opportunity to dialog. While Mediamouse.org is only a website, we believe it is a tool--one of many--that can be used effectively to promote radical social change.
Love and Rage,
- Mediamouse.org
http://www.mediamouse.org
PS - As we move forward, we appreciate any help that folks can offer us in advertising. For some ideas--including posters and links to our profiles on various social networking websites--visit:
http://www.mediamouse.org/cont...
PPS - Please pass this announcement along to folks that might be interested. Thanks!
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Tue Mar 04, 2008 at 09:03:37 AM EST
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Call this a bad news/ good news sort of story. As reported by Peter Luke in yesterday's Grand Rapids Press, the Governor is proposing a billion dollar stimulus for higher education in the state. The bad news? None of the money is evidently going to be spent in W. Michigan.
What possibly could be good about this? Only the Press and The Detroit News had this on their pages. At this point, minimum coverage is our friend, but the damage has been done.
Once more, Lansing has confirmed a popular meme in West Michigan, that it doesn't care about the region. This lack of support from Lansing means that our elected representatives are marginalized as leaders both in Lansing and downtown Grand Rapids (not to mention Kalamazoo and Muskegon).
Of course this is not the final word. And that's just the problem
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Sun Feb 03, 2008 at 23:36:24 PM EST
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(I strongly encourage anyone thinking of starting their own regional political blog to read this, think it over, and get blogging. I would love to see a strong network of blogs dedicated to regions and localities around Michigan. - promoted by Eric B.)
I've begun the planning to start a progressive blog geared toward West Michigan that I hope will go live in about two weeks.
While I started as a national-blogger on national issues, I'm a big proponent of state-blogs and wish we'd have had a chance to develop ours more this past year. I think MichLib is poised to grow a great deal with the excitement of the coming election season. Getting to talk with some electeds and staff in Lansing, I've been amazed at just how influential this blog actually is within Democratic political circles.
I think the next wave in the blogosphere is intra-state regional blogs that act as
* Clearing-houses to get news out to activists about events
* Advocates for our candidates and report on campaigns
* Providers of commentary on local issues and report on events, meetings, etc.
* Give a voice to those topics -- the Democratic Party at the county and congressional district level, labor, city and county politics and government, etc -- that are largely left out of local newspapers
* Publicizers of the record of West Michigan Democrats and encourage them to be more progressive.
* Encouragers for local parties to get more involved with the blogosphere and expand their untilization of the internet. Spread good mobilization ideas around West Michigan.
* Watchdogs of local Republicans.
I think West Michigan is ready for a Democratic, progressive, populist and partisan blog.
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Fri Nov 02, 2007 at 23:21:52 PM EDT
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(No wonder I'm a Democrat. - promoted by ScottyUrb)
Elected officials have a myriad of responsibilities from dealing with budgets, and the rising costs of doing business to creating and approving laws or ordinances. At the most basic level, elected officials are supposed to be the guardians of the well-being and health of the community in which they serve. It should be the underlying value that drives their decision making.
Apparently, Republicans on the Kent County Commission don't see it this way... or do they.
It began last year when the Kent County Commission gained two more Democratic members. The Commission had basked in their partisan dominance for decades prior to the 2006 election. The 19 member body is still decidedly dominated by Republican members, yet with every new Democrat elected to the Commission, the collective voice of the Democratic members is strengthened.
Now that the Commission has picked up Democrats Brandon Dillon and Carol Hennessey in the 2006 election, the partisan hackles of the the Republican members were raised in defense.
The Republican led Commission is allowing party politics to get in the way of good decisions. Case in Point: Commissioners Carol Hennessy, Dick Bulkowski, W. Paul Mayhue, James Vaughn, and Brandon Dillon (All Democrats) united together to request that a sub-committee be formed to develop a policy on informing the public of potential health threats after a patient at St. Mary's was killed by Legionnaire's Disease this past July. The group of Democratic Commissioners acted out of concern for the safety of the public-at-large.
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Fri Aug 17, 2007 at 00:23:11 AM EDT
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It is a rather indisputable fact that Michigan is solidly a Democratic state. Often, elections give the impression that Michigan is leaning Republican or evenly split; but that is a display of the voters who show up... not the political leanings of the masses. One of the weakest links in the Democratic party is the ability to motivate their base and get them to the polls; or even get some of them to register to vote. I am not seeking to bash Democrats, I am loud and proud Dem myself; but facts are facts and admitting that you have a problem is the first step to recovery.
Republicans constantly capitalize on this 'voter apathy' of the Democratic Base. This is how they manage to slip in to office in the first place. However; presidential elections are quite another thing. Dems are far more likely to get off of their asses to vote in presidential or even gubernatorial elections. Ironically, both of these elections are held in even years.
Well the Rovian Republican strategists in Lansing have figured this out for themselves. A group of West Michigan local boys (Dave Hildebrand - Lowell, Dave Agema - Grandville, and Tom Pearce - Rockford) and other Conservative hacks have co-sponsored and introduced House Joint Resolution U which seeks to play to the Democrats 'voter apathy' weakness.
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Sat Jun 02, 2007 at 19:38:14 PM EDT
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(Coming up this Friday - promoted by lpackard)
Greetings, everybody!
Now that the weather has finally let up, and now that we're in the doldrums between the midterms and the 2008 cycle, it feels like a good time for a meeting of the minds. We had one in January that was fairly well-attended (considering that it was held in the middle of a winter storm), but that was ages ago, and it's time for another!
Join me for details after the flip...
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Tue Mar 20, 2007 at 01:54:31 AM EDT
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On 3/19/07, the Kent County Michigan Democratic Party members invaded the meeting of the Kent GOP to encourage the Republican members to contact their Republican Senators, asking them to meet with Michigan Governor Granholm about the pending budget crisis. The message was simple; Democrat Kathy Roaleen addressed the GOP members with a clear, concise message that both sides need to come together to solve this budget crisis. The Governor has presented her plan, and Michigan awaits Mike Bishop and the Senate's plan. Ten Democrats attended the Republican meeting to show support for Roaleen. Included in the video are the responses by members of the Kent County GOP. Michigan Rep. Tom Pearce is a long-winded idiot who likes to hear the sound of his own voice... he spoke for so long that I had to cut his speech in the video to make to 10 min. YouTube limit. (You're welcome)
Kathy Roaleen graduated from the Center for Progressive Leadership - Michigan Political Leaders Fellowship program this past weekend.
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Wed Jan 24, 2007 at 10:31:32 AM EST
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It seems like I am just picking on Glenn Steil Jr. I promise; I am not singling him out? he is just so bad that he requires a bit more attention than some others at the moment. Mr. Steil has also been a little more active in pushing his agenda than the others so far in this new Congress.
Yesterday, Steil introduced HR 10 - 2007, a resolution to "memorialize the United States Congress to adopt and present to the states for ratification an amendment to the United States Constitution to prohibit the counting of illegal immigrants in the tabulations of population for purposes of apportioning members of Congress among the states".
I am not going to even get in to the issue of solving the Immigration issue here; it is irrelevant to my argument. I will however, argue the sanctity of our U.S. Constitution. Why would any American ever wish to make our Constitution a restrictive document. While I agree that the US Constitution is a living document; it is the grantor of our rights as citizens and should never be used to remove or restrict the rights of the people. There has only been one restrictive amendment, the 18th, which was repealed by the 21st.
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Mon Jan 22, 2007 at 23:35:59 PM EST
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(A proposed constitutional amendment would loosen term limits and downsize our legislature. But JWinston70 smells a rat. - promoted by Hy Dudgeon)
Republican House Representative Glenn Steil Jr. of Southeast Kent County today introduced HJR-C which will alter the Michigan Constitution to reduce the number of Representatives that we? the people, are entitled to have. The resolution, if passed? would reduce the Michigan Senate to 20 members from the current 38 members. Our House of Representatives would be reduced from the current 110 members? to 60 members.
Just to make things more interesting he wants to also DOUBLE term limits at the same time.
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Tue Jan 16, 2007 at 13:41:43 PM EST
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(You heard it here first - promoted by lpackard)
January 16, 2007
A MICHIGANLIBERAL.COM SCOOP
I just left a meeting with Jim Rinck regarding his plan to run for Mayor of Grand Rapids. This will not hit the Press until tomorrow.
Former US Congressional Democratic candidate, Jim Rinck has announced that he is going to challenge Mayor George Heartwell in this years Mayoral race.
Jim Rinck, the longest serving member of the Grand Rapids Public Schools School Board, was first elected to the Grand Rapids Board of Education in 1993. In the course of his tenure, he has served as President, Treasurer, and Secretary of the Board. He has also served as the chairperson of the Board's Legislative Committee for several years. In addition, Jim has served as the Board's representative to the Downtown Development Authority for 7 years and was elected as Vice Chair for a number of years.
In 2006, Mr. Rinck ran for Michigan's 3rd US Congressional seat. While his campaign was unsuccessful; he made incredible gains against his opponent Vern Ehlers. The largest portions of these gains were from the City of Grand Rapids where he only trailed Vern Ehlers by only 2,026 votes.
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