WTF? Poor Democrats...

I have emailed both the Loren Partlo and the Mike Huckleberry campaigns from their webpages. I volunteered my services to their campaign personally.

Neither has responded. Why?

Poor internet management is my guess.

Free wireless downtown!

This is great news. I really like what Michelle Sponseller is doing. We need to get more kids downtown, I mean college kids, and before they turn 21.

An agreement between city officials and CMSInter.net will create the first free Wireless Internet zone in the city.

Access points will be installed in three or four locations in downtown, which will blanket a roughly 10-block to 12-block area with free broadband, said Jeremy Sheets, president of CMSInter.net.

Keep building on the downtown. The way to get new jobs, non-Wal-Mart jobs, is to foster a diverse community. That is why Ann Arbor got Google jobs recently. What new tech companies are looking for is smart population, good community, diverse areas. If Mt P can provide a version of that with central michigan prices, I think we would be an attractive community to mid level technology companies.

MCRI heads to federal court

Here's the latest on the on the Michigan "Civil Rights" Initiative:

Witnesses testified in federal court Thursday that they were tricked into signing or collecting signatures on petitions to put a proposal to ban some affirmative action programs on the November ballot.

State courts so far have sided with the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, whose proposal to ban race and gender preferences in government hiring and public-university admissions is to be put to voters Nov. 7.

Joseph Reed of Detroit testified that when he applied as a petition circulator, "I was told it was for keeping affirmative action, that they were trying to get rid of it and this was a way to keep it."

Reed collected signatures and told voters, "You're signing to keep affirmative action," he said. But after a few weeks, people began accusing him of deceiving petition signers, and he learned the proposal's true goal.

I guess the question is, can they prove that enough signatures were collected wrongly to warrant its removal from the ballot? If not, then remember to vote NO on this backwards plan in November.

(Isn't it just odd that leading Republicans want the Ten Commandments posted in public places and government buildings, but shudder at the thought of actually FOLLOWING some of them, i.e. the one about not lying?)

Here it comes: Primary 2006

On Tuesday, we will find out which brave Democrats will face Bill Caul and Alan Cropsey in November. In light of that, here are a few things to keep in mind for the upcoming primary election:

Polls are open from 7 AM to 8 PM this coming Tuesday.

You will be allowed to vote in either the Democratic or Republican primary. You may only vote in one party’s section throughout the whole ballot; voting in the Republican US Senate primary and the Democratic State House primary, for example, will get your ballot voided. You may, however, vote in either party’s primary, regardless of your political leanings.

A section for nonpartisan races (i.e. judgeships) and city or county proposals might also appear on your ballot. You will be allowed to vote on these issues and offices regardless of which partisan section you choose to vote in.

Oh, and if you think voter turnout is low in November elections here in the US as opposed to other countries (which it obviously is), primary elections are even more pitiful. Only 1.6 million people - about 20% of the voting age population - voted in the 2002 primaries for governor. In contrast, almost 5 million people in Michigan voted for president in 2004, so your primary vote will have a relatively large impact.

Happy voting!