Media Bias in Muskegon

Good piece in West Michigan Rising describing the media bias at the Muskegon Chronicle

It's going to be my mission for the next six months to keep an eye out for the oh-so-familiar West Michigan media bias in favor of the GOP. The only way we can stop them from defining our candidates is to attack relentlessly whenever they pull one of their stunts.

They can be embarrassed into better journalism, but only if we hound them like a pack of wolves.

Meijer Caves

This story is so weird. If it was April 1, I would not have been surprised:

"Hunters Kill Pet Project at Meijer"

Right. So Meijer had agreed to donate up to a majestic $5,000 to a program sponsored by the Humane Society having something to do with pets in foreclosure (don't ask).

Apparently the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance thinks the Humane Society is anti-hunting, so they somehow pressured Meijer to drop its support. Meijer spokesman says:

"We support our customers who come to our store to buy hunting licenses and sportsmen equipment"

So, uh how about the tens of thousands of customers who buy their dog and cat food at Meijer? Like maybe they outnumber the hunters by 10 to 1?

Don't get me wrong, I'm all in favor of hunting. I'm also in favor of rational business decisions and how could anyone have a problem with the Humane Society?

Can't wait to see the letters to the editor.

The Battle of the Lifestyle Malls

It's shaping up to be a classic developers nightmare, which of course means the community will end up picking up the tab. The Village at Orchard Hills vs. the Village at Knapp Crossing, a "showdown" in the words of the Press.

So what are these Villages? And why are two developers trying to create them just a mile apart on the East Beltline?

The Villages are the latest step in the evolution of shopping in America. First we had real villages, then strip malls, then enclosed malls, and now Villages, a/k/a "lifestyle malls" - which really means a mall that's cheaper to operate, which really means a big strip mall shaped in a rectangle with some grass in the middle. They offer cheaper rents to tenants and allow developers to con local planning boards into thinking they are going to build something really cool and not just another stupid shopping center.

So the two proposed Villages will fight to get the classiest anchor tennants so one can claim it's the real Lifestyle Mall. The winner goes on to (hopefully) build something sort of cool, with the same stores to be found at Woodland Mall 10 miles south (Wow, this is really cool! a new Abercrombies!) The loser goes back to the local planning commission, pleads "financial hardship" and demands permission to build a really crappy strip mall with a Walllgreens, gas stations and maybe a mattress store. If you don't believe me, just look at Celebration Village - a first class example of a developer pitching something cool and delivering a big crappy strip mall.

In any other business, the loser would lose his shirt and move on. But developers are different; they get to take their mistakes and dump them on the community that was foolish enough to believe their bullshit in the first place. Meanwhile, the rest of (i.e. voters, citizens, community members) lose a little bit more of the quality of life that brought us to Kent County in the first place.

Stay tuned for periodic updates of the Battle of the Villages.

A Nation of Prisoners

Today's story in the NYT about the prison population in America is truly staggering.

The United States has less than 5 percent of the world’s population. But it has almost a quarter of the world’s prisoners.

This follows up on the report in February that Michigan is one of four states in the country that spends more on prisons than higher education.

My first reaction is to wonder why Americans are not outraged about this? But then I realize, it's because the majority of Americans want it this way. We elect politicians who are "tough on crime" and god help a candidate who dares challenge the status quo. These same politicians go on to enact absurd pieces of legislation that mandate prison sentences and eliminate the ability of judges to take mitigating circumstances into account. White collar criminals do minimal time, if any, making the prison population invisible to the majority of the population.

In California, the Prison Guard union is one of the most powerful sources of political funding - and they make no bones about their goal of more prisoners and longer sentences. We "outsource" prisons making private companies (and their lobbyests) into still another voice for more jail time.

What we don't have, is enough organizations standing up and saying that this system is ineffective, racist, discriminatory and hateful. Instead we have (white collar criminal) George Bush harping about how much he loves "freedom".

When the rest of the world looks at the U.S., this is just another piece of evidence that we are really a warlike, violent country that has no right to lecture others about their treatment of human rights.

Dean Recall Abandoned

Kudos to the GRP for properly describing the effort to recall Democratic State Rep Robert Dean as "unwarranted". They could have gone a lot further, like maybe "mean-spirited, irresponsible, imbecilic" but we have to take what we can get here in West Michigan.

The recall sponsors wasted their money and time, and forced Rev. Dean to waste his money and time, to try to recall him four months before election day, when voters have their bi-annual chance to kick him out. I know that Rev. Dean had a full-time staffer doing nothing but managing his defense against the recall. The state party put money into it and Dean put money into it, which suggests that maybe the whole "recall" was nothing but a head fake to deplete resources from the fall campaign.

Recalls are bad government just like ballot initiatives. They are funded by outside money, captained by single issue zealots and a distraction from the real work of trying to govern.

And what's up with the Press referring to Dean as "Mr."? He's an ordained minister, which usually carries the honorific of Reverend.

Idiot Columnists

I love how the GR Press feels compelled to publish conservative columnists. I need my dose of Michelle Malkin every now and then just to remind myself why I am a Democrat. Today's piece of work is a number by Jay Ambrose titled "Free Markets Still Work".

So I ask myself, as I often do, are Conservatives truly stupid or are they just on drugs? The ability of Movement Conservatives (meaning those who earn their living by being over the top, wild-eyed conservative) to ignore facts and live in an alternative, Ayn Rand universe is amazing.

Ambrose says:

"While there is a leftist mythology to the contrary, free markets do tend to be self-correcting, and government intervention often makes things worse"

So, Jay, let's consider the Fed's bailout of Bear Stearns. The free market said Bear needs to go broke on Monday - no questions asked. No problem; self correcting markets at work! Unfortunately, Bear going broke on Monday would have led to Lehman Bros. going broke on Wednesday. What comes next? Who knows - but by that point, maybe 500 billion dollars worth of financial contracts would have evaporated and the Free Market would be in a state of panic.

All Jay needs to do is look at the business cycles since the mid 19th century to the present. Before the government started regulating capitalism, the cycles were wild and dependable, like clockwork as the Free Market corrected itself. But once the Federal Reserve was created in the '30s, the cycles started to be tamed, and by the '80s, they have almost disappeared.

If Jay Ambrose wants to bet his IRA (or his job) on unregulated Free Markets, fine; just spare me the column.

Truth vs. Politics as Usual

I know I'm off message here (the West Michigan message) but the latest Obama dustup seems to be applicable everywhere.

Twice now, Barack Obama has broken the political rules and told the truth. First he said there is still deeply ingrained (although suppressed) racism in America. He said some people are still angry about this (specifically his minister.) When other politicians jumped on him, he refused to recant because he was telling the truth.

Now he has said that rural Americans are bitter because their communities are rotting from the loss of jobs, poverty, poor health care and the failure of the government to do anything. As a result, people are bitter and are looking for solace in the things they know.

He is again being trashed and he again is refusing to recant. He said he should have phrased it differently, but still believes what he said is true. Maybe McCain or Hillary should read what an actual rural Pennsylvanian thinks about it.

Americans are resiliant, optimistic, forward looking people - but in many rural communities (including many in Michigan), things really do suck, and our government is doing nothing to help

Why Developers Suck

This story is about as local as politics gets. What is atypical is that the community actually won. Of course the story isn't over.

A developer and Family Fare decided they wanted to put a huge grocery story, gas station and office complex on the corner of 7 Mile and the Beltline in Plainfield Township. The site is, and always has been, zoned residential. It's in the Township Master Plan and the developer knew this when he bought the property.

However, like all developers, he assumed the Master Plan and zoning were just minor inconveniences and that when the prospect of a big construction job came up, the Township would roll over and give them whatever they want. Unfortunately, the Plainfield Planning Commission came clearly out against the plan. Then the Township Board (in a complete shocker) voted 4 to 3 to support the PC and reject the re-zoning request. Family Fare's tactics of packing meetings and putting the full-court press on the local government failed - and the community won.

Now the developers are suing the township, saying their property rights are being violated by "arbitrary and capricious" zoning. They are making the classic "taking" argument - that the Township is taking their property by defending its own master pan.

What can I say but fuck 'em. They knew the property was zoned residential and made a bad business decision. No one took anything from them and why should the Township now have to pay legal counsel to defend its right to plan its own growth?

Developers always do this, and I am sick of seeing local governments cave into their self-serving crap. Maybe this is the start of a new trend, where Townships actually stand up for their voters against the developers and corporate interests.

Dogs do Roam

Well, what's to say about the wanderings of Debbie Stabinow's husband Thomas Athens?

On the surface, he got a much better deal than Eliot Spitzer, at the rock bottom price of $150 vs. Eliot's mutli-G affairs. On the other hand, Tom was only in there for 15 minutes, so the price wasn't all that great.

What's more interesting is whether he left a decent tip. The girl's rates were $100 for 15 minutes, $160 for 30, or $225 for the big spenders with an hour to spare. If Tom was only there for 15 min, he left 50% tip - which means as least he's not a cheap bastard.

The best thing is that Senator Stabinow does not have to stand next to him, beaming her wifely approval while he's standing there in front of the reporters with his dick in his hand. He's just a husband.

b/t/w what's up with the GR Press running this story right on top of an AP bit saying Sex Therapists say 3 to 13 minutes is optimal for sex? Was the press trying to show that Athans was a smart consumer?