My Left Pinkie

MI 2nd Roll Call/Google Group

Hi everybody...

I just got done having a rather interesting conversation with some of Michigan's movers and shakers in the blogosphere, and most of the conversation centered around bits and pieces of inside information that these people have picked up from their contacts on the ground in their district.

Furthermore, last week I attended Camp Wellstone in Lansing, and as far as I know I was the only person there from the western side of Michigan. These events are a lot of fun and are very educational, but being the token Hoekstra constituent is getting old.

Many of our other districts are leagues ahead of us in terms of organization and communication. I am therefore launching a concerted effort to bring the MI 2nd together in some sort of organized fashion.

To that end, I have taken the liberty of creating  a Google group for Democrats in the Michigan 2nd. I'm going to do the best I can to vet the membership list myself, so if you wish to be added to this group please send me an email-- myleftpinkie AT gmail DOT com.

x-posted at all the usual suspects (dKos, MichLib, BFM)

Do they even bother to read?

Here in Michigan we're very fortunate to have congressional watch blogs for six of our congressional districts. My district (Pete Hoekstra, MI-02) watch blog is the ever-wonderful The Audacity of Hoek, run by the talented AikoAdam. The audacity, indeed...

Last week when Ol' Pistol Pete voted to let sick children suffer and die, I sent him an email (see below). Today I got an email back from him...

Thank you for your e-mail.

I am disappointed to learn that you are unhappy with my representation of Michigan’s Second Congressional District.  I have worked diligently to reflect in Washington the values and interests of my constituents, and I will continue to do so to the very best of my ability.

Constituent input like yours helps me to better understand the diversity of views that exists in the district.  I appreciate that you took the time to share your thoughts with me.

Unhappy with my representation? Yeah, Pete, when you vote to let sick children suffer and die I tend to take it personally, and I get a little unhappy. Grrr...

ROFL...LMAO...HAHAHA...OMFG

From the Best-News-I've-Heard-All-Day Dept.: As of August 31, the D-Trip had $22.1 million on hand. The NRCC, a piddly, pathetic, paltry $1.6 million.

Source: Big Orange

Camp Wellstone

I know those of you who know me (and those of you who met me at Camp Wellstone) are expecting me to put together a post on it. But I'm not going to, at least not yet. As the old saying goes, if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. Don't get me wrong--I'm glad I went, and I would absolutely recommend it for anyone interested in progressive politics. But I know myself, and I know my neuroses well enough to know that if I were to write a lengthy post on it, I'd leave out most of the positive things that happened, and focus on the negative things. So I'm not going to do that--the Camp Wellstone folks work really hard, and the last thing they need is me trashing them in public. So if you're interested in what goes on at Camp Wellstone, go yourself--you don't need me to tell you what to think.

S-CHIP

The Lying Dutchman lets us down again. Below is my letter to him re: SCHIP

Dear Representative Hoekstra--

It's not often that I feel the need to contact you. Usually I just accept that you're another Rubber Stamp Republican and let it go. But then you go and do something really unconscionable like voting to deny healthcare coverage to children, and I just can't help myself.

You, sir, are a barbarian. You've been a relentless cheerleader for a war that has killed nearly four thousand of America's finest (not to mention untold innocent Iraqi citizens, including untold numbers of children). You aid the enemy (the Bush Administration) in 3 trillion dollars in additional debt, putting this country in the most perilous financial condition we've ever seen. Then, when faced with the opportunity to provide aid to some of America's weakest and most helpless, you turn your backs on them. And you have the nerve to call yourself a Christian.

Shame on you. You may call yourself a "representative," but you certainly don't represent me or anyone I know.

Sincerely,
Me

::waves::

So I just looked at the Muskegon County Democratic Party's website, and they have a "Quote of the Day" feature on the front page. The quote for yesterday (which is still up) is me, talking about Kimon Kotos. First of all, squee. Second of all, hey all you Muskegon Dems--say hi. Third, um, thanks for letting me know...or not.

Terri Crash Lands

From the Freep: Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land issues a statement reminding Michiganders to renew their license plates and drivers' licenses early, pending the shutdown of the Michigan government early next week. Some thoughts:

1. The people of Michigan didn't sign up for this. Sure, a plurality of people in the district voted for Mike Bishop, but surely no sane Michigan voter is hoping for a shutdown of the state government. This is not our fault. But if the government shuts down and you're not able to renew your tabs, you can damn well bet your local PD will be writing you a ticket for having expired tabs. Hey, with the state's purse strings tied, the cities will have to get their money somewhere, right?
2. Secretary Land takes this opportunity to talk up the various service options offered by the SoS office: online renewal, renewal kiosks, etc. Tell me, Terri, if I renew my tabs online instead of at a branch office, do they just magically appear in my mailbox? Or do they have to be processed, printed, sorted, and mailed by soon-to-be-laid-off state employees? If the government shuts down, how exactly is renewing online going to help the situation? Assuming, for a moment, that you want to do something simple like renew your tabs, and you have access to a computer, you're golden...sort of. Just do it online, and if the state employees in Lansing get to your request before the shutdown, rock on. But if you need to take a driver's license exam or renew your license in person or do any of the other transactions requiring the in-person assistance of a SoS employee, or you don't have access to a computer, or if the impending shutdown creates a backlog of requests that don't get processed before the shutdown happens, then what?
3. Anybody notice anything missing from the press release? Perhaps a statement from Secretary Land imploring the legislature to pass a budget so the people of the state of Michigan can conduct their business and so her hundreds of employees don't have to go without paychecks? Oh, I forgot--she's a Republican, so whatever Mike Bishop wants to do is okay with her. Besides, she doesn't have to worry about how she's going to put food on her table after October 1. There's been a lot of talk about Terri Land running for governor in 2010...over my dead body.

Busy News Day

Yeah...we in Michigan have had a busy news day. There are lots of people more qualified to talk about these issues than I am, so I encourage you to visit them at MichiganLiberal.com, DailyKos.com and BloggingForMichigan.com. But it's my blog, and I get to say what I want. So...

• Budget Crisis--Still no real action on the budget front. Both sides still seem fairly committed to their side of the story--it's still "Cut Cut Cut!" versus "Dude...you're cutting police and education. Cut it out."
• On the budget front, this story from the Mining Gazette caught my eye. (The news ticker at the top of MichLib is kind of nifty. And despite its nifty throwback name, the Mining Gazette is apparently the local rag in Houghton. Who knew?) As their budgets get slashed, the Michigan State Police are tightening their belts. The state recently made the decision to end the Calumet post's lease on their office space, forcing them to move to an office in the tiny hamlet of Laurium. The problem is that the post in Calumet is 6300 square feet, and the post in Laurium is...1720 square feet. Now, the house I live in is somewhere in the neighborhood of 1500ish square feet, and I can't for the life of me imagine running a state police post out of it.
• This story at DailyKos is kind of ugly. Apparently Rhonda Ross, who (at least until today) was a candidate for the Michigan 9th, abandoned her old user ID at DailyKos and registered under a more anonymous user ID. Then she proceeded to post a diary trashing Gary Peters and talking up herself. But she didn't disclose who she was. Ouch. I was having a behind-the-scenes discussion today with one of the luminaries of the Michigan blogosphere, and she is going to be pushing for an effort to train non-bloggy-types in the art and science of online activism, and Rhonda Ross's faux pas is clearly evidence of the need for such a training. I know everyone thinks we're a bunch of freewheeling little brats who blog from our mom's basement and emerge only occasionally from under our piles of pizza boxes and Mountain Dew bottles, but there are some hard and fast rules to this whole Netroots thing, and some people would do well to learn them.
• This diary at dKos irritated the shit out of me, for some reason. I can understand the point OrangeClouds was trying to make--that as a Republican leader, Newt Gingrich lacks the moral authority to call out Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for Iran's shameful treatment of LGBT Iranians, but the language is just smarmy. "Gays?" I think we've moved beyond "gays." Perhaps, I dunno...gay people, LGBT people, something other than "gays." Coming from a blogger who is very open about the fact that she's not gay, it just sounds really odd to me. I've never been that comfortable with the whole "straight ally" concept, though, so maybe it's me.
• Hazen Pingree makes a good point. With GM's UAW workers on strike, and the Michigan government facing a shutdown, come October 1st Lansing might be a ghost town. Between GM's ~6000 Lansing workers, and the ~13,000 residents of Greater Lansing who work for the state, this is nearly 20,000 people who may be without a paycheck come next week. With 20,000 of Lansing's ~130,000 residents not drawing a paycheck, that's a sizeable portion of the population who will be spending less money on dining out, clothing, food, gas, entertainment, and a whole host of other things on which the Lansing economy depends. It's a recipe for disaster.
• Fox 17 News pisses me off. The budget crisis is still going on, and now the UAW is on strike at GM, definitely the biggest news story to hit Michigan in ages. And Fox 17 News at Ten leads with...the release of Halo 3. Excuse me?

One last thing, re: the GM strike. While I can see that the management at GM are worried about rising healthcare costs putting the clinch on their business and further widening the gap between Japanese and American automakers, let me be absolutely clear: MyLeftPinkie stands with the UAW. While calling the UAW "David" and using the David v. Goliath frame seems a little inappropriate, this is a fight for the livelihood of 70,000 American families, who wouldn't have a voice without the mighty UAW standing up for them. I hope the strike ends soon so everyone can go back to work, but in the meantime, I leave you with the words of Lisa Simpson: "So we'll march day and night by the big cooling tower car plant. They have the plant, but we have the power."

Drinking Liberally GR

Heh. This is funny. At yKos I basked in the presence of all the Living Liberally folks, and when I got home I decided my first mission was to start a DL. I got lazy, and then last week philgoblue brought it up again. It appears we both got beaten to the punch. I guess I'm out of the loop. Anyway...

DRINKING LIBERALLY GRAND RAPIDS
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24TH, 6:00PM
FOUNDERS PUB, GR

And if y'all could keep me in the frigging loop from now on, that would be great. kthxbye.

My Hopes and Aspirations Dashed

I've always been a behind-the-scenes kind of guy--choir rehearsals were always more fun than concerts. I worked backstage at summer theatre camp and left the acting to the pros. So I was taken aback and a little surprised a few days ago when one of my good friends suggested I run for office someday. I'd always assumed I would just work behind-the-scenes as a volunteer or maybe (cross your fingers) a paid staffer.

Now, I know for sure why I'll never run for office. It'll absolutely kill you.

Bill Clinton at the time of his inauguration:

Bill Clinton recently:

Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm at the time of her inauguration:

And the photo that scared the hell out of me, generously on loan from stolen wholesale from Z at BFM:

Hang in there, Jen. We in the lefty blogosphere have got your back.