Genesee County Young Democrats

Save Hurley Hospital!!!

2009-06-12T13:33:00.005-04:00

On August 4th, please vote to approve the Hurley Hospital mileage request, and take a stand to protect your access to emergency healthcare and expert medical services. With rising unemployment, high rates of foreclosure, and decreasing healthcare benefits, Hurley has been financially crippled. As a result, Hurley has engaged in budget cuts from their executives all the way down to their staff. However, these cuts are not enough, and Hurley’s continued viability is questionable. All Hurley is asking from the community is that we pay on average an additional $1-$2 per week to protect one of our local hospitals. Why should we support Hurley?

1) Hurley is one of the largest employers in Flint. Genesee County has already lost enough jobs. We cannot afford to lose another key employer.

2) Hurley specializes in pediatric medicine and neo-natal care. These two specialties are sorely lacking at Genesys and McLaren.

3) Hurley fulfills a vital role in reducing strain on the other Genesee County hospitals. Without Hurley, the other hospitals would be badly cramped, thus, reducing their services as well. Therefore, this is not just a Flint issue, but a mid-Michigan issue as well.

4) Hurley provides medical care to two-thirds of Genesee County’s uninsured. Where will these people go without Hurley? As the proportion of Michiganders with health care coverage declines, institutes like Hurley become more important in creating a much-needed option. This good will should be rewarded to prevent illness in the region, restore efficiency of Michigan workers who fall ill, and lower mortality amongst at-risk citizens like infants and seniors.

5) Hurley is part of the effort to revitalize Flint and Genesee County. Hurley is part of Flint’s core downtown redevelopment effort. Facilities at Hurley provide important training opportunities for students specializing in nursing who attend one of Flint’s fine secondary education institutions. Also, a plan is currently underway to bring a medical school to Flint, which would require a strong Hurley to meet the needs of students attending the program. This plan brings additional tax revenue into the city, which may eventually fund this mileage by itself.

While it may be easy for some in Genesee County to dismiss Flint, this is a short-sighted and narcissistic view. This view dismisses Flint’s standing as the central city of Genesee County. Those who subscribe to this ignorance risk watching their own medical care decline because the decline of Hurley will send shock waves throughout the mid-Michigan medical infrastructure. In addition, those who believe that their property values are safe from a declining Flint fail to realize the converse – their property values could rise with a revitalized Flint. All citizens of Genesee County will prosper together from a new, stronger Flint. Therefore, on August 4th, please remember to vote for the future of Flint – please remember to vote for your own economic and medical stability.

- Keith

GCYD Endorses Lt. Governor John Cherry for Governor

2009-04-27T19:49:00.004-04:00

The Genesee County Young Democrats are honored to make an early endorsement in the 2010 Michigan gubernatorial race. It is our privilege to endorse Lt. Governor John D. Cherry, Jr., a citizen of Genesee County and an incredibly talented public servant!

Lt. Governor Cherry has worked to make college affordable to all Michigan residents through his efforts as Chairman of the Commission on Higher Education & Economic Growth . Also, he has advocated against a culture of corporate irresponsibility and Washington political stunts aimed at the destruction of the American automakers, while passionately supporting the right of employees to organize. In addition, the Lt. Governor has been a zealous advocate for the preservation of Michigan natural resources. Finally, Cherry brings a long career of experience and expertize in Lansing that will continue to serve this State well. For these reasons, the GCYD is proud to join a whole lot of democrats who have endorsed Lt. Governor Cherry, including our own Genesee County Democratic Party.

Congratulations for earning our endorsement as well as the respect and admiration of Genesee County.

GCYD Endorses Flint Mayoral Candidates

2009-04-27T19:18:00.007-04:00

The Genesee County Young Democrats are proud to announce our endorsements of Brenda Clack and Dayne Walling in the Flint mayoral primary. Flint has been devoid of responsible leadership at the highest offices of municipal governance for a long time. Flint’s leadership has failed to act with the professional dedication, intelligence, and talent necessary for Flint to take advantage of many opportunities and attempt recovery. Luckily, Flint has been able to depend upon the entrepreneurial zeal and civic dedication of private citizens and county officials. Yet, municipal officials have only hampered this private action and inhibited the ability of good people to make grand contributions. These failures and unprofessional conduct must end today. Therefore, “change” is not only a trendy political slogan, but a necessary means to the inevitable rebirth of the great city of Flint.

These two candidates offer unique qualities that have the potential to pull Flint into the future. Brenda Clack offers experience and professionalism, which are qualities that have sorely been lacking in City Hall. Mrs. Clack has a strong history in Flint politics. She has demonstrated her credibility as a citizen of Flint and as a Democrat. Dayne Walling offers an exciting vision with change at its core. In addition, Mr. Walling has demonstrated his own brand of professionalism and experience focusing on urban planning and redevelopment. Both candidates have the potential to be amazing in City Hall. Both bring the possibility of a transformation in municipal government that is necessary in order to support the incredible amounts of redevelopment in downtown Flint.

For the foregoing reasons, the GCYD is happy to congratulate both candidates in earning our endorsement.

Kickoff Fundraiser a Success!!!

2009-03-30T15:04:00.012-04:00

Thank you everybody for making the Changing the Community by Changing Lives Scholarship Fund kickoff at Luigi's Pizzeria a success!!! The GCYD, in conjunction with the Blue Tiger Democrats, almost tripled the funds raised thus far. Thanks to all of our speakers, guests, and volunteers who stopped by on Saturday for believing in the youth of Genesee County and playing a role in reinvigorating the community. The GCYD would also like to express our gratitude to those who have sponsored the scholarship fund. Here's a list of our sponsors so far:

Founding Sponsors:
Senator Deborah Cherry
Representative Rick Hammel
former-Representative Ted Hammon

Gold Sponsors: $200
Ms. Ethel Bailey
Lt. Governor John Cherry
Mrs. Pam Farris
Mr. Keith Flynn
Congressman Dale Kildee

Silver Sponsors: $100
Mr. John Daniel Cherry
Mrs. Catherine Frederick
Ms. Janice Hoffman
Mr. Paul Hoffman
Mr. Kyle McCree
Chairman Jack Minore, Genesee County Democratic Party
Mrs. Patsy Lou Williamson

Bronze Sponsors: $50
Mrs. Jocelyn Benson
Ms. Lauren Wolfe

If you would like to join our effort and contribute, send checks to the following address:

Michigan Blue Tiger Democrats

4116 Orme Cir.

Clio, MI 48420

(Please make checks out to "Michigan Blue Tiger Democrats"

and memo "Scholarship Fund")

If you have any further questions, call Keith Flynn at 810-625-0741.

Once again, thank you.

Here are some pictures:

Changing the Community by Changing Lives Scholarship Fund

2009-03-23T19:28:00.011-04:00

“We have an obligation and a responsibility to be investing in our students and our schools. We must make sure that people who have the grades, the desire and the will, but not the money, can still get the best education possible.”

~ President Barack Obama

The Genesee County Young Democrats (GCYD) are working with Blue Tiger Democrats, the charitable wing of the Michigan Democratic Party, to fund the Changing the Community by Changing Lives Scholarship Fund (CCCL), an endowed scholarship to provide disadvantaged, but talented high school seniors in Genesee County the opportunity to start college.

We Michiganders know how to live through difficult times. We have seen them before and we will see them again. However, how can we ever repair our community if talented students are unable to get the education that they have been working towards for twelve years?

Our children are told from kindergarten till they graduate that if they work hard enough they will get ahead. This is simply not always the case.

Over 20,000 Genesee County students are enrolled in the free lunch program. If these students do not have lunch money, how can we expect them to have money for college tuition? By the time they pay back all their student loans, now with higher interest rates, they are too poor to be anywhere but behind. That’s unfair and it jeopardizes the American Dream.

One in six Genesee County students dropped out of school in 2007. Rather than risk the financial burden of a college education, many students opt out in order to supplement their family income with their own earnings. At a time of economic crisis, this threat to the national resource of knowledge is only increasing, and something must be done now.

Help the GCYD raise funds to support local scholars make it to college by joining us for our kickoff event at Luigi’s Pizzeria on Saturday, March 28th from 1pm-4pm. General attendance is $25 at the door for pizza and salad bar. $6.75 covers costs for the event; the rest goes toward the scholarship fund. Additional donations are welcome. Contributions are non-deductible.

Luigi’s Pizzeria

2132 Davison Rd.

Flint, MI

If you need directions or have any questions call (810) 625-0741.

The GCYD would like to thank the following sponsors for all of their support thus far:

Founding Sponsors:

Senator Deborah Cherry

Representative Rick Hammel

former-Representative Ted Hammon

Gold Sponsors:

Lt. Governor John Cherry

Mrs. Pam Farris

Mr. Keith Flynn

Congressman Dale Kildee

Silver Sponsors:

Chairman Jack Minore, Genesee County Democratic Party

Mrs. Catherine Frederick.

Joy Comes in the Morning

2009-01-14T19:22:00.007-05:00

Recently, I had the opportunity to hear from one of the bright progressive minds in Michigan, Prof. Jocelyn Benson of WSU, during a forum on Election Reform. I won't get into to many details of the discussion, but something has stuck with me since that meeting. In spite of all of the bad news and dreary projections for the future of our state:

THERE ARE STILL GREAT PEOPLE DOING GREAT THINGS IN MICHIGAN!

I sometimes feel like we should have periodic public service announcements that Michigan is still open for business. Michigan's entrepreneurs are still developing the technologies that will drive the world in the twenty-first century. Bright minds like Prof. Benson and countless others are drawing up ways for us to rethink and reform the way we do our business as a state.

Although times are tough, and will probably get tougher before we turn the proverbial corner, we will survive and indeed thrive. All of us have work to do, causes to champion, and change to advocate for. If we all pitch in and use our collective brilliance we will overcome our individual challenges.

Scripture tells us that the sorrow may last for the night but joy comes in the morning.

-Kyle McCree

The Big Three, or the Big Two?

2008-11-22T13:04:00.013-05:00

Have some MI pride: if the auto industry collapses, Detroit will die. While liberal Californian commentators argue that “Detroit must die,” I am sure they wouldn't be so direct if I wrote a column that San Francisco must die. I am tired of taking the brunt of the nation's recessions, while being criticized or ignored for it. Michigan's long-sitting Congressmen are openly attacked by Nancy Pelosi and her "Coasters." These Coasters then attack our hard working Michigan employees as being greedy and lazy. Even Mitt Romney, son of Michigan Governor Romney, dismissed Michigan and blamed those who were responsible for building the arsenal of democracy. Congressmen, try telling the seventy year old retiree who now has carpal tunnel syndrome from working in the shop that she was just too lazy and greedy to expect her retirement. Our industries are allowed to fail without condolences, but with massive applause.

Now, I will be the first person to admit that these CEOs were stupid for taking separate private planes to the same city and the same meeting. Yet, our Congressmen reminded me of angry children who just wanted to get back at the kid on the playground who has all the toys. Our Senators seemed content to sit back and watch it all happen; after all, they won’t be near Ground Zero here in the Midwest when things get chaotic. They will be content down south, to the east, and to the west ruminating about how great their states are doing, while ignoring this national security issue . It is about time that Michigan tell the rest of the Nation that enough is enough, we won’t be the Nation’s crutch like usual.

Cramer may be a little eccentric in the clip above, but boy does he summarize the importance of this bailout and hit the nail on the head. The financial sector is only half the problem here. The problem is systemic and has been slowly gathering momentum since the late 1970’s. American wages have been either stagnate or declining since, while every other cost has been rising. This problem should not be revelation for most rational human beings, but the majority of economists have been ignoring this problem in favor of promoting the trickle-down theory. This is what happens when intellectuals sell out.

Since the end of WWII, the capitalist economy has been based around consumerism, which requires a strong middle class with the resources to spend, spend, and spend. Yet, as mentioned above, wealth has concentrated and the middle class has shrunk. So who picks up the tab necessary to keep this economy circulating? For the last three decades, we have been acting on a binge, spoiled by credit to keep the bubble from exploding. However, our national economic policy has continued this slow pace toward chaos through deregulation, unfair trade agreements, and the destruction of safety net programs designed to stabilize the country after the Great Depression. Let’s not be partisan, this was the general direction even under democratic leadership.

While I am not saying we should move backwards, I also realize the days of trickle-down are over. The concept is antithetical to consumerism. We want as many people as possible to have disposable cash, decent jobs, and low costs. This sounds like a difficult objective, and it is to the point of being practically impossible. But there is some clarity: the assumption that a small group of concentrated wealth will share that wealth in a capitalist economy has been forever tarnished.

The last thing this country needs is 3 million more unemployed, millions of failed pensions plans for the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation to pick up, the failure of support industries, the fail of small businesses, and the huge numbers of uninsured that will all result from the collapse of the American auto industry. The market will handle it you say? No, they won’t because no one has disposable cash on hand to start up new companies that are more efficient than the current companies. Bankruptcy? I think everyone is misunderstanding bankruptcy. GM will not cease to exist. However, it might as well. Who will buy cars from a bankrupt company that will not honor its past service and parts guarantees?

Bankruptcy mostly impacts employees. GM can void its union agreements. All those pension benefits are still guaranteed by the United States government through the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. Yet, there is no way they will be able to live up to those pension agreements. Health care? Gone too. Many will lose jobs working at insurance companies. What about the wages we need to maintain a consumer economy? Definitely gone. Oh, and heavy layoffs is the last thing our economy needs to jump start after the financial crisis. Bankruptcy also voids other contracts forcing the burden on small suppliers. If they tank, the Big Three tank.

Next, stop bad-mouthing the UAW. They cut the salaries of their new-hires by half. They picked up millions of pensions and health insurance costs. They have been cooperating with layoff after layoff. Everyone deserves the right to be compensated for their work. Last time I checked, that's the goal of capitalism. Just because the rest of middle class American has collapsed does not mean the last bastion of the middle class should collapse as well. Again, how does that help our consumer based economy??? I'm not saying we should remove all blame from the shoulders of the UAW, but there are deeper problems at work here that are diminishing GM sales.

GM is a company that has lobbied against the future. They have done everything to prevent the natural progression of history and technology. It was only a matter of time until the rest of the world moved on without them. That being said, this is not a company that is unsalvageable. This is a company that needs a new direction that Congress should prepare to give it one like they did during WWII.

Unfortunately, we won't be getting a bailout for middle class working American under this Congress full of Coasters with their economic blinders on. Hopefully, Obama can wrestle these ego-centric and narrow minded senators into making the right choice.

Keith

So, What Now?

2008-11-10T23:26:00.004-05:00

Now that Barack Obama has won election, what happens now?

1) There is an economy to fix!!! As of today, President-elect Obama was negotiating a economic stimulus package centered around a middle class tax cut. For all of you Republicans out there, yes, you did read that right. In addition, watch out for the beginning of an Iraq troop withdrawal with the first month in order to bring the federal budget under control.

2) Executive Orders to be overturned. News was leaked upon Obama's arrival at the White House today that Guantanamo may be one of the first executive order on the chopping block. In addition, be on the look out for stem cell research, especially considering Michigan's passage of Proposal 2.

3) Employee Free Choice Act. Many experts in labor relations never thought this day would come, but the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) may be on its way back to Congress. The AFL-CIO has made the EFCA its number one legislative priority and a Democratic victory significantly increases the liklihood of passage without fear of presidential veto. The EFCA legalizes the certification of bargaining representatives by authorization card, thus, removing employer interference in the election process. In addition, the EFCA forces parties to arbitrate over their first contract negotiations if they fail to reach agreement, and imposes monetary damages for breach of labor law.

4) Healing old wounds. We have been left with ghastly partisan battle scars. This old battleline is an antique in such turbulent times. The War on Terror will no longer wait. The stock market will not wait. Our technological decline will not wait. Already, President Elect Obama is beginning to extend the olive branch to the Republican Party. By playing nice with Joe Lieberman, Obama demonstrates his willingness to work with the otherside of the aisle.

5) Transparency and a new age of presidential communication. Check out the President-elect's new transition website for the public. New technology is opening up our government. Did you know that there is a handbook to ease the transition of federal elected officials? It's like the Federal Government for Dummies. In today's digital age you can communicate with the executive branch and follow the daily news of your president all in one convenient website location. Prepare for a digital fireside chat published to one central website.

Those seems to be the five big themes to look forward to in an Obama transition to the White House. Sounds about right so far. Post your comments.

Keith

On Sarah Palin

2008-09-15T17:05:00.003-04:00

John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate got me thinking. More accurately, the overwhelmingly positive response she’s gotten from the conservative base has got me wondering what’s going on over there.

See, Sarah Palin’s resume, as we all know, is pretty thin. Being mayor of a small town in Alaska and then governor of Alaska for a little less than two years does not, one would think, qualify a person for the second-highest office in the United States of America, and yet she’s been received as (I’m not kidding) the second coming of Ronald Regan and, for those slightly more history-inclined, Margaret Thatcher, this according to The Telegraph (UK).

Why? Margaret Thatcher was a Member of Parliament for around twenty years before she became Prime Minister, and Reagan was governor of California for eight years, which, I would certainly contend, is roughly the equivalent of running a second-tier advanced, industrial democracy. Italy, maybe.

Anyway, I decided I wanted to get a better grip on Sarah Palin’s resume, so I did some looking.

Let me first say that I will be the last person to say that pure “experience” is the only qualifier for high office in this country, as a true-blue Barack Obama supporter I couldn’t be so bold. No, there’s more to it than that. There always has been. Lincoln, after all, was a never-heard-of-him Congressman and State Legislator before he became the greatest President of them all. And I also don’t really intend to suggest that simply governing a lot of people by itself counts as experience; I think Kwame Kilpatrick has shown us that, if nothing else.

But with all that said, we can learn a thing or two from statistics. Follow me, if you will, on a journey of discovery. A journey not unlike that of Captain Willard, going up the river in search of Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now. What, my friends, has Sarah Palin actually done?

I guess we’ll start in Wasilla. She was first elected to the City Council there in 1992 being reelected in 1995 but only serving one year of her second term, running for Mayor in 1996. She won and served two terms, losing her seat in 2002 because of term limits. All this, and most of the rest, from Wikipedia by the way. As much as that might mean to some that this is just another Liberal hatchet job, I don’t think it’s possible to revise things like the mayoral duties or population of the City of Wasilla enough to turn a qualified candidate into an unqualified one.

With that said, I’m now going to quote Wikipedia’s entry on mayoral duties in the City of Wasilla, which is attributed to this Washington Post article:

The duties of Wasilla's mayor are more circumscribed than those of many other mayors in the United States. The mayor of Wasilla supervises the police department, which was created three years before Palin took office, the public works department, the parks and recreation department, a planning office, a library and a small history museum. Firefighting and schools are handled by the Matanuska-Susitna Borough [county] government, and the state government handles social services and environmental regulation, such as storm water management for building projects. Palin described her duties as mayor to the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman newspaper: "It's not rocket science. It's $6 million and 53 employees."

I would call that statement, made (I would hope) before she knew she was going to be running for Vice President, an honest assessment of her job by a small town mayor. Just how small is Wasilla? According to the 2000 Census, it has a population of 5,469. For comparison’s sake, the municipality in Genesee County that is closest population-wise (using figures from the 2000 Census from here on) is the City of Davison, at 5,536. In fact, of the twenty eight units of local government in Genesee County measured by the US Census Bureau (cities, townships and charter townships) no less than twenty two of them have more people than Wasilla. Humble Gaines Township had almost exactly 1,000 more people in 2000 than Wasilla did. To put it another way, if Wasilla city were picked up and dropped in Genesee County, Michigan it would only be the twenty third largest local government in the whole county.

But of course, it’s unfair of me (and possibly sexist, I’m sure) to put Alaska in the context of Michigan. After all, there are no less than three counties in Michigan (Macomb at 788,149, Oakland at 1,214,361 and Wayne at 2,061,162, and Kent and Genesee are in the ballpark) that have more people than Alaska (683,487) has in the whole state.

Alaska is, after all, sort of a different animal. It’s not what you might call a “normal” state, with a diversified economy and traditional infrastructure. Alaska is primarily a source of raw materials (oil, natural gas, fish, timber, snow, etc.) and, historically like most places on the periphery of an empire, is home to a large military population. They import the vast majority of their food and manufactured goods from the rest of the country. It very much lives up to its nickname, “The Last Frontier.”

What does that mean for Sarah Palin as governor? In my opinion, she largely hasn’t really been dealing with the sorts of problems that the country generally deals with. Surely, the governor of Alaska faces challenges that many other governors do not and I assure you that I’m not trying to minimize them, but Alaska has nothing resembling a large urban area of the kind familiar to most of the rest of the country. Only the Anchorage metro area, with around 360,000 people, comes close, and that’s still around 80,000 fewer people than even the Flint metro area.

Again, I’m not saying that being governor of Alaska is not necessarily enough qualification for being put first in line to the Presidency. But the simple fact of the matter is that Sarah Palin has not been doing the job very long, not even two years. Frankly, I can’t really see how being mayor of a small town and then governor of a state that bears only superficial resemblance to any other state in the union could qualify a person for the second highest office in America.

Which leads to my conclusion, it doesn’t matter. It just doesn’t matter.

Allow me to explain: according the most recent polls, found here, President Bush’s approval rating is somewhere between 28 and 34%, even though most in the field (including a lot of conservatives) are generally coming to regard his Presidency as a failure. Who are these ~31% of us? They’re the reason the Palin bounce happened. They’re the reason it just doesn’t matter that she’s not qualified in any real sense to run the country. The GOP machine, in my humble opinion, could have pushed any arch-conservative, 40-something, moderately attractive woman out onto the stage in St. Paul and talked itself into believing that she was not only qualified for the job, but that all of the strikes against her were in fact strong pluses. Small town mayor? Small town values! Short career? Washington outsider! Governor of the 47th most populous state in the union for less than two years? Executive experience! Pentecostal conservative with unmarried-yet-pregnant daughter? Family values!

Really?

Really!

It’s not Sarah Palin. It has almost nothing to do with her. It’s the groupthink that pervades the GOP establishment that made this monster. I can’t say it enough: John McCain could have picked a two-term commissioner from some county in West Texas and after one good speech at the convention she, too, would have been the next Reagan or Thatcher as far as the base was concerned.

My hope now is that this won’t last, but frankly I’m getting worried. I’m concerned that the traction she’s getting among the “White Working Class” (which is as we know code for the nightmare combination of [1] low-to-middle income blue collar workers who usually vote Democratic but just really aren’t sure they can vote for a black man and [2] those really, really angry women who were Hillary Clinton supporters) is not going to let up, that they really are buying her story as a rough-hewn, huntin’, fishin’, steel worker marryin’ hockey mom in the way that the Democrats were hoping they’d buy Barack Obama’s story of a boy with an absentee father, raised by good, God-fearing, salt-of-the-Earth grandparents who made his own way in life and has devoted it to helping raise others up. They might have had a better chance with a white man who didn’t have the same middle name as some former Arab dictators we know.

But that didn’t help John Edwards much, I suppose. Lucky for the Democrats.

In any case, only time will tell. It could be that this bump is merely the natural side effect of a female Veep candidate and completely to be expected. Maybe all those Hillary ladies will realize how much they’ve been pandered to, and maybe all of those blue collar whites in Michigan and Ohio and Pennsylvania will realize how little the governor of a state that pays you to live there really understands what it’s like to be poor in their dead-broke, job-losing hometowns.

At the very least, I think we’re going to learn a lot about race and gender attitudes in this country in the next couple of months. Probably in the ugliest way possible.

~Will

Calling All Community Organizers - - Help Support MI Students

2008-09-05T15:10:00.006-04:00

"About one in every six high-schoolers in Genesee County did not graduate in four years, according to 2007 data released . . . by the state of Michigan."

Recently, the Michigan Education Association (MEA) took a tour of Traverse City, home to an 84% high school graduation rate, roughly the same as Genesee County. Students are dropping out at increasing rates. This State is facing a vicious cycle relying on higher education and training to bring employers to Michigan and cure an economy that's been suffering for decades. Yet, how can the State count on highly educated Michigan workers when Michigan high schools are having so many problems even graduating students?

To use an Obama term, there is hope. However, hope will not magically appear as a result of government action; instead, hope is going to have to come from us. Community organizing is getting a bad rep at the Republican convention. With one hand, Republicans enjoyed patting community organizers for picking up the slack left by the federal government in dealing with the crisis in New Orleans. With the other hand, former NY Mayor, Rudy Guiliani, and Republican VP nominee, Sarah Palin, stated that community organizers do not serve as important of a role as elected officials. Here in Michigan, we should obviously disagree.

After decades of state and federal government action, Michigan still suffers from a languishing economy and educational disappointment. Government cannot fix everything. Only we the people can fix our problems with education. Here's four ways we can get involved . . .

First, those who work hard and believe in the community should have the right to scholarship funds so that tomorrow's future leaders receive the education they need. No child should ever question the trade-off between pursuing their educational goals and the realities of high interest student loans. Community organizers can assist in the creation of scholarships to support young scholars.

Second, we have to take personal accountability for Michigan's future and realize that our own progress effects Michigan. Community organizers focus dedication and talent, reminding young people in the community that there is always hope and a place where they can positively use their skills and talents.

Third, students need mentoring to put life in prospective. Community organizers fulfill this important function quite well.

Fourth, students need support at home, however, welfare programs have proven to be an inadequate solution as these programs take parents out of the home, provide slight compensation, and nurture an environment of dependence not conducive to educational ambition. It takes a community to raise a child and neighborhood organizations need to take responsibility in providing support.

I refuse to say that government has no role in all of this. Government must fulfill a support role. However, our elected leaders should not take community organizers for granted and assume their own superiority because a government run by people that arrogant has no other choice but to oppress and fail.

-Keith

Biden VP Choice is Great for Genesee County

2008-08-23T08:52:00.005-04:00

If you have been asleep for the past nine hours you are just waking up to this news:

Much will be written on Sen. Biden's foreign policy and national security credentials and how we can help the ticket with certain voting blocs. That really is only important to the national leaders of the party and the campaign.

Here in Genesee County, we are interested in how adding Sen. Biden to the Obama Campaign for Change will help our communities and how he will help us bring around those undecided voters who will ultimately decide this election.

First, Sen. Biden has a personal story that hopefully none of us will ever have to endure but that we can all empathize with. After winning his first of six terms in the Senate at the freakishly young age of 29 (He turned the constitutional minimum age of 30 prior to being sworn in) his bright personal story took a tragic detour. While driving with his family they were in a car accident. Senator Biden's young bride and his infant daughter were unfortunately killed. His two young sons were seriously injured.

Facing a new career in the Senate and an unspeakable family tragedy, then Senator-elect Biden gave careful thought to not entering into the Senate. He eventually did what many people here have done which is, he put his family first. He stayed with his sons in the hospital so much that he was actually sworn in as a US Senator at the hospital with his recovering sons. Facing a new challenge as a single dad of two sons, grieving the loss of his wife and daughter, and a brand new Senator he began a balancing act that many single parents here in Genesee County can relate too. Unlike most Senators who buy residences in DC, he stayed in Delaware to raise his young sons and took a ninety minute Amtrak train into the capital twice a day. This is a practice he has done for the past 36 years.

I detail his story to demonstrate that Sen. Biden has a life story that will resonate with the voters in Flint, Flushing, Burton, Grand Blanc, and every other community in our County. His life story is backed up by a voting record protecting women & children, being a great friend of labor, and a champion for civil rights.

I would hope that Senator Biden will have an opportunity to come to area and share his message of change and his track record of fighting for working class communities like Genesee County. In the mean time, we all need to head down to the Campaign for Change HQ in Flint at Fifth Ave. & Saginaw St. and share his and Sen. Obama's message for them.

Candidate Forum was a Success!!!

2008-08-03T23:30:00.006-04:00

On July 30th, the GCYD and Alpha Phi Alpha (Theta Tau Chapter) sponsored a Democratic Party candidate forum for the 34th and 51rst State House races. The forum was held at the University Center at UM-Flint. For the 34th district, Eleazar Barzart, Richard Dicks Jr., Chris Del Morone, and Woodrow Stanley were present; for the 51rst, Michael J. Thorp and Harold Ward. The 34^th district is Flint and the 51rst is Grand Blanc, Fenton, Linden, Atlas Twp, Argentine, and Mundy Twp.

The event went really well. Please remember to vote in the primary this Tuesday, August 5^th.

Here’s video from the introductions:

Here's video of the question and answer portion:

Here is video of the closing remarks:

Thanks to the candidates, the audience, and our co-sponsor.

- Keith

Detroit's Kwame Duo

2008-07-29T21:35:00.013-04:00

Unless you have been living under a rock on the ocean floor for the past six years, it has been almost impossible for a resident of Michigan to not learn about the allegations, accusations, and well just plain acts of foolishness, which have been levied against the Mayor of Detroit, Kwame Kilpatrick. Some of them have never been substantiated while others have been blasted on the front page of the newspapers and have led to Mayor Kilpatrick being charged with eight felony counts.

This crisis has serious implications for the Mayor and his family, his former Chief of Staff, the residents and the City of Detroit, and the entire State of Michigan for whom Detroit will be either the engine or the caboose.

However on July 29, 2008 the heat began to lift off the Mayor. If the
Mayor escapes his current scandals with Houdini like ease, this date will be
cited as the turning point.

What happened you say, well THE DETROIT PISTONS SIGNED KWAME BROWN!

Follow me here. Since the 2001 Mayor's Race, Kwame Kilpatrick has cast a literal and metaphorical shadow over Detroit politics. Friend and foe alike knew who he was to the point that other than official statements and news reports he became known just as "Kwame". Friends referred to him by just his first name as a way of distinguishing him from his Congresswoman mother. Foes omitted his surname as a sign of disregard and disrespect for the Mayor. Around Detroit and indeed Michigan, people would say, "Kwame did this...” "Did you hear what Kwame...".

However, beginning in November, people will have to specify which Kwame they are referring to. Detroit's new Kwame duo have more in common than the same first name:

2001

Both burst on to the stage in 2001: Kilpatrick winning the Mayor's race and Brown as the #1 overall pick in the NBA.

Youth

Both were relatively very young when they became household names: 31 for Kilpatrick, Brown 19

Record Setting Youth

Kilpatrick was the youngest Mayor in Detroit history, Brown the first High School Player selected with the #1 overall pick in the NBA draft.

Famous Pedigree

Kilpatrick hails from a famous Detroit political and succeeded his mother in the Michigan House of Representatives. Brown was the first draft pick by former Wizards General Manager and His Airness Michael Jordan.

There are however a few differences between the Detroit Kwame Duo:

Size

Brown is a typical NBA athlete with a tall sleek build checking in at 6'11" and 270 lbs. Kilpatrick has the build of a former football player, which he is, and checks in at around 6'4" and a kind 300+ lbs.

Hands

Brown's major weakness is his poor use of his hands. His inability to catch passes in the post and to be able to move the ball have hampered his development over seven seasons in the NBA. Kilpatrick though has allegedly shown himself to be skilled at using his hands, at least according to Wayne County Sheriff's Detective Brian White.

Which one of Detroit's Kwame Duo rebounds and reclaims some of their former prestige? Brown, Kilpatrick, Both or Neither? Post in the comments.

-Kyle M.

Young Dems Talking to Candidates

2008-07-27T22:58:00.004-04:00

Let Your Voice Be Heard!

We have seen unprecedented involvement by young voters in the Democratic Primaries all across America this year. We want to keep the momentum going by having a Voters Forum with candidates answering our questions and talking about the issues that are important to us. Too often politicians have ignored young/first-time voters and we don't always feel like we are a part of the process. What a great way to keep young people involved in the process by having the candidates talk directly to us.

The Young Voters Forum will focus on the Democratic Primary Candidates in the 34th State House District (Flint) and the 51st State House District (Grand Blanc, Fenton, Linden). These are two important and competitive races for open House seats in Genesee County. The people who win the August 5th Primaries will stand in the General Election in November and we need the put forth the candidates who will best advocate for higher education, job training, affordable health care, and all of the other issues that are important to our demographic.

It will be held at UM-Flint in the Michigan Rooms on Wed. 7/30 from 6-8pm. The Event is being co-sponsored by the Genesee County Young Democrats and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

Please invite your friends and family and come out and hear from and talk to the candidates.

-Kyle M.

Help the GCYD Support Education in Genesee County

2008-06-28T17:43:00.005-04:00

The Genesee County Young Democrats are working with Blue Tiger Democrats to help provide disadvantaged high school seniors in Genesee County the opportunity to start college. We are currently in the process of fundraising to provide an endowed scholarship based on merit and need. We plan to work with the Community Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to planning scholarship funds. However, we need $10,000 to begin working with them. In total, we need $50,000 in order for the interest to provide a $5,000 scholarship on an annual basis for all of our lifetimes.

These children are told from kindergarten till they graduate that if they work hard enough they will get ahead. This is simply not always the case. By the time they pay back all their student loans, now with higher interest rates, they are too poor to be anywhere but behind. That’s unfair and it jeopardizes the American Dream.

Granted, we can’t fix these problems by ourselves even after we fund a scholarship fund, but at least we can even the playing field for folks who work hard without the rewards they deserve. Just maybe we can make a positive contribution to this community and inspire others to act as well. Help us make this a reality.

We could really use your help in taking us to the next step. If you are just as passionate about the future of Michigan, then help us meet these goals by sending financial contributions to:

Blue Tiger Democrats

4116 Orme Cir.

Clio, MI 48420

(Please make checks out to "Blue Tiger Democrats" and memo "Scholarship Fund")

We can use any help you can provide. Thank you.

- Keith

We Young Dems, We Getting Smarter ;)

2008-06-11T19:12:00.010-04:00

This post might be a little late, but I am still excited about the DFA Academy that was held last weekend in Lansing, MI. For those who don't know, Democracy for America is the remnants of the Howard Dean campaign. The DFA is sorta similar to MoveOn.org as it supplements the Democratic Party by providing services the mainstream Party has been unable to administer. One of those services is training.

DFA training is like bootcamp for campaign managers covering the skills and structure necessary to run a professional operation. Over the weekend we covered fundraising, field planning, volunteer management, message formulation, and internet capabilities. Oh, and did I mention we got to meet Jim Dean, Howard Dean's brother and Chairman of the DFA? Well . . . we did, so there.

In case you ever wondered, Jim Dean does have a lot of people call him Jimmy Dean or James Dean. Who would've guessed?

It was a good experience and something that Democrats forget to do. I don't even want to start counting the number of mistakes I made during my first couple of attempts at field organizing. And boy, did the instructors ever remind me of them. :( I wish someone would have given me an opportunity like this during the '04 race. I can't speak for our President and Vice-President, but they seemed to enjoy themselves and they were excited to start showing off their new ideas. Nice job DFA!!!

If you are want to approach politics as a career or you are currently running a campaign, please enroll in a DFA Academy or the DFA free Night Classes program.

To see pictures go here.

Thank you Rico Thomas Rico, our new featured blogger, for taking the pics!!!

-Keith

Economic Trouble: Unemployment Worsens

2008-06-06T22:24:00.004-04:00

The number one issue in the 2008 Presidential Campaign will be whether to continue the economic policies of President George W. Bush. Arizona Senator and the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party John McCain will continue President Bush’s policies and tax cuts here and here. Illinois Senator and the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party Barack Obama wants to move away from the current Bush-McCain economic plan and has a full plan to rebuild America’s economy and help middle-class families. In order to truly examine whether the policies of the last eight years should be continued by electing John McCain or whether we should have wholesale change with Barack Obama, we need to assess the current state of the economy.

Most Americans when asked about the strength or weakness of the economy will base their opinions on their personal situations. The most basic barometer of an individual’s economic situation is whether or not they have a job that provides them with the quality of life they desire. There are two parts here: if you have a job and if you have a good job (with good being a relative term based on one’s age, educational background, and family situation).

Unfortunately for the 13,983,000 Americans who were either employed or underemployed (I’ll explain this term a little later) as of May 2008 the economic data shows that the Bush McCain economic policies have damaged our economy and things are getting worse. There has been much conversation about weighty foreign policy issues in this campaign like Iraq, Iran, & diplomacy and completely trivial issues like whose preacher said what during services when the candidate wasn’t there. However, the number one issue for most Americans is the economy. For the nearly 14 million unemployed and underemployed Americans this issue boils down to the good job they don’t have.

The sad news is that the employment situation is only getting worse.

The May 2008 Report of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the unemployment rate for the US grew from 5.0% to 5.5% in May 2008. In raw numbers, this translates to 861,000 more Americans unemployed in May than were unemployed in April. Most people and most of the media only will report the change in unemployment. The reality is that of the 8,487,000 people unemployed according to the government’s definition, 3,244,000 of them lost their jobs in the past 5 weeks. These are the households who in this time of rising gas & food prices are facing the cold reality of not having an income. They may find themselves angry at being laid off, saddened by the loss of relationships with their coworkers, and worried about what lies ahead for the families. They will probably not join John McCain in wanting to make permanent the economic policies of President Bush, that’s for sure!

Now, the good news is that many of these 3.2 million newly unemployed workers will find a new job in a matter of weeks. Our economy operates under a principle of creative destruction where new companies and jobs are constantly being created to replace the jobs that have been eliminated and the businesses that have closed.

However, for many of these workers, especially those who have lost manufacturing jobs, the new jobs that they get will not fully replace their lost incomes. Also they will often not provide the same healthcare for themselves or their families or the same security for their retirement. This is the concept of being underemployed. Millions of Americans fit this term where they do have a job and are not technically unemployed. However, their new job does not provide the same income or benefits of the job they lost. An example, which is all too common here in the Midwest and especially here in Michigan, is the factory worker who loses their job and gets a new job in the service sector. The previous full-time factory job paid $18/hour with good healthcare (negotiated by their union) while their new job in retail pays only $13/hour, is part-time and crucially does not provide healthcare coverage.

This is what underemployment looks like. Sit down with your family budget. Cut your income by nearly 30-50% and do away with you healthcare benefits if you have them. Then ask yourself if you think we should continue the Bush-McCain economic policies. As of May 2008 there were 5,233,000 part-time workers who said that they were working part-time for economic reasons. These workers and their families live this reality everyday.

I mentioned that many of the newly unemployed would soon find new jobs, although many will still be underemployed. Others though will not be so fortunate. Not only did the May statistics show an economy with growing unemployment, they also showed a rise in long-term unemployment. The government defines long-term as not having a job for 27 weeks or longer. In May, 1,550,000 Americans were in this situation. This is up 36% from a year ago.

Look at the calendar an flip back 6 months. Imagine losing your job just after Thanksgiving. If you were a Christian, the Christmas season would have brought on many tough times. Watching your family, friends, and neighbors spending freely on presents and gifts would have made you very conscious of you lack of an income. If you were in a two-income household, you would have been able to survive for awhile by cutting back and relying on your spouse or partner’s income. But awhile then turns to months as you continue to strike out on finding a new job. Imagine the stresses on your family, your marriage, your children, and your health after six months of looking for work with no success. That is the reality for over 1.5 million Americans.

The government only includes unemployed people who have looked for a job in the past month in the unemployment report. The government reports that there are 400,000 people who are unemployed but have given up looking for work because they are discouraged about their prospects.

The nearly 14 million Americans who are unemployed, working part-time because they have to, or who have gotten so discouraged about finding a job that they have given up demand CHANGE and we must give them change by changing the leadership of our Country.

-Kyle M.

The Obama Victory Lap Finds Its Way to Troy, MI

2008-06-03T19:07:00.008-04:00

Senator Barack Obama is poised to take the nomination tonight and we Michiganders were given the opportunity to share in the celebration yesterday in Troy, Michigan. The primary has obviously worn Obama down. At the Troy rally, the Senator haggardly walked through the hall to center stage as he slowly opened on his address before the town. Obama was visibly tired as he uncharacteristically hunched over the microphone. This body language is a far-cry from Obama’s usually straight posture. However, Obama demonstrated his ability to appeal to the crowd. From Obama reciprocating an “I love you” to an audience member to the electricity of him handing his microphone to an American Axle employee during the question and answer period, Obama lit the crowd up.

Yet, Obama has been on a victory lap since his rally in Grand Rapids over two weeks ago, which has been characterized by Obama going on the offensive against Senator John McCain. The rally in Troy was no different as Obama used all of his time to separate himself from the Republican Senator. Obama was able to overcome his obvious weary and delivered a pitch perfect, intense, crowd pleasing speech that took the campaign from the trenches of the primary and moved it into the war against John McCain. “Because Senator McCain says we have made, and this is a quote, ‘great progress economically’ these past eight year, and he promises more of the same.” The inevitable comparisons to George W. Bush were a damning scorecard of McCain’s transformation into a far-right winger. This is merely a preview of the direction this campaign will follow as we head into late summer leaving me to wonder how McCain plans to shake the baggage that comes from his party’s nomination.

As Obama closes in on the nomination, the VP rumors are flying. Obama had nothing but praise for Hillary Clinton at his rally in Troy, MI on Monday. He even hinted that they would be working closely come November. Also, there is talk that Clinton is warming up to the position of VP. Will he offer her a spot on the ticket or will the delegates/superdelegates force him to? I would be surprised if Senator Clinton does not receive some cabinet position offer. I would also be greatly surprised if the Clinton campaign headed into the convention without an agenda to promote a runner-up prize that could be enforced by the 17 million people who voted for her. One thing is clear, however, the convention is no longer going to be about the presidential nominee, but about the vice-presidential nominee. Tonight, Obama will likely reach the 2, 118 delegates needed to clinch the nomination and the race once again changes.

Keith

Time for Our Government to Start Supporting the Troops

2008-05-25T02:19:00.014-04:00

This Memorial Day weekend, remember our troops who are tirelessly fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Over 160 Michigan soldiers (here is a list of those who have died for our freedom from MI) have been lost in the War on Terror and the number of American casualties has climbed past 4,000. Yet, many members of our armed forces are frustrated with our government’s unwillingness to stick to its half of the deal. Some of our soldiers have been lied to by recruiters about the amount of money they would receive for college and the support they would receive as veterans of war. This government has had a hard enough time funding body armor and adequate health care facilities for our soldiers, yet, it routinely "misplaces" large sums of money appropriated for the war effort. Now the government refuses to pay the bill for having a well trained, standing army. Private employers are not allowed to get away with not paying the promised compensation to employees (see Fair Labor Standards Act), so why should the government? There is hope however. This week the United States Senate, in a rare show of bipartisanship, passed a funding bill for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan 70-26 that increases the benefits under the GI Bill for all soldiers who were active after 9/11. This support includes funding for college tuition. President Bush continues to threaten veto, but if these numbers continue in the House then Congress may be able to overturn. Surprisingly, JOHN MCCAIN DID NOT SUPPORT THIS BILL. The bill goes before the House next week. Let's make our voices heard and keep our Representatives responsible to our troops.

Additionally, our soldiers are being stop-lossed and forced into an extension of their active duty service. The president is granted this power under 10 U.S.C. § 12305(a), which states, “... the President may suspend any provision of law relating to promotion, retirement, or separation applicable to any member of the armed forces who the President determines is essential to the national security of the United States.” Soldiers are being told that their service will be over after a specific period of time; however, always remember to read the fine print. In the Armed Forces Enlistment Contract, paragraph 9(c) states that “In the event of war, my enlistment in the Armed Forces continues until six (6) months after the war ends, unless the enlistment is ended sooner by the President of the United States.” Not only are our soldiers not being payed as agreed, the government has used deceitful contractual language to extend the duration of contract. In the law of contracts, individuals only have to pay damages to the other party if they choose to breach the agreement. Unlike normal contracts, a soldier's breach of contract means court martial. If the government wants to enforce these contractual agreements then they should be bound to the same principles of private contract that our soldiers are bound to as well as all Americans. Let's do right by our fighting men and women. These people deserve our support and admiration, and I for one refuse to let my country shove these people off the side of the cliff like it did with the American Vietnam Vets. Let's remind our legislators of our soldiers on this Memorial Day.

- Keith

Slogans without Substance

2008-05-14T21:44:00.006-04:00

Although the presidential primaries have monopolized most of the political discussions for the past year, the starting gun on the 2008 congressional races has been fired. Over the past several weeks there have been three special elections in Illinois, Louisiana and Mississippi. Usually special elections serve as a harbinger for the upcoming general elections where each party tests the themes, ideas and strategies which they will employ in the fall. This time around all three races were to fill seats in mildly or considerably conservative districts, all of which were carried easily by George W. Bush in 2004.

Well what do you know, but there are now three new Democratic Congressman in the House of Representatives! We swept all three races, surprising both national and local pundits. Apparently, these Democratic successes got the attention of GOP leaders who sunk over $3 million dollars into these losing special elections. The leadership of the GOP have decided that to win they need to stand for change.

Given the rising gas prices, the increased cost of living, a depressed housing market, the endless disaster in Iraq, and high unemployment at home, you would think that change from the GOP would mean moving away from the disastrous policies of George W. Bush which have led America to our current predicament.

Alas, no the GOP leaders are advocating "Change" as a buzzword and not as a shift in policy.

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000002827818

The GOP strategy for the congressional elections will be to offer the same old Bush policies re-branded as "The Change You Deserve."

This amounts to a Slogan without Substance!

With Congressional Democrats offering long term energy relief for our economy:

http://www.democrats.org/a/national/clean_environment/energy/

The GOP will counter with an empty slogan.

With Democrats offering concrete solutions to address America's housing crisis:

http://www.speaker.gov/legislation?id=0196

The GOP will counter with just an empty slogan.

And with national and local Democrats (including our own Congressman Dale Kildee) supporting a national single-payer health care plan:

http://www.pnhp.org/publications/the_national_health_insurance_bill_hr_676.php

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR00676:@@@P

The GOP will counter with, you guessed it, another empty slogan.

Good luck with that!

- Kyle M.

The Beginning of the Beginning

2008-05-08T06:45:00.003-04:00

There has been hand wringing and discussion about the results from Tuesday's elections in Indiana and North Carolina. The blowout win by Sen. Obama in the Tar Heel State combined with Sen. Clinton's razor thin margin of victory in the Hoosier State have denied her any realistic chance of winning are party's nomination. The epilogue on this primary season will be written at a later date. Politics can be a cold business and to ask someone, after nearly two years of campaigning to abandon a lifetime ambition in one night, is probably too much to ask. The Clinton's are experienced enough to read the proverbial tea leaves and know that her campaign will not suceed. If she wishes to ignore reality and go further into debt to contest the last few races it frankly won't matter much (as long as she drops the 'kitchen sink' strategy and says nary a negative word about Sen. Obama for the next six months).

Tuesday night was not the beginning of the end. It was the end. Remember the old adage about a tree falling in a forest? Well if a campaign has no mathematical chance of succeeding and the candidate keeps campaigning, did the campaign really end. I would argue that yes it did!

With all of these contests and elections, the speeches and rallies we may have lost sight of the prize. The reality is that the only thing Sen. Obama has secured is the right to challenge Sen. McCain and end the Senior Senator from Arizona's bid for George W. Bush's third term.

Folks, this is the beginning of the beginning.

The unfortunate thing about the long primary season is that by going two months longer than normal, we do not have the luxury of having a training camp. When a football team prepares for the season, they take a couple months in the summer getting into shape. They prepare themselves for the upcoming campaign. Normally in presidential politics we have training camp period for a few months to prepare for the general election.

Not this time. For the past few months, John McCain has been traveling around the country and the world saying crazy things, proposing ideas that won't work, and just generally messing up. The bad thing is that we've been so busy attacking each other that we haven't been able to effectively counter his claims. With the beginning of the beginning, we can now focus our attention to Sen. McCain. Our campaign dollars won't be used for ads attacking fellow progressives they will be used to unite our party, build our base, and convince voters why four more years of Bush/McCain policies would hurt our Country.

The beginning of the beginning, whether or not Sen. Clinton is ready to admit it, is upon us. There will be over 100 voter registration drives across the US this weekend to kickoff the general election campaign. Here in the Flint area we will kickoff the campaign just like folks all over the country. For more information here is the link:

my.barackobama.com/voteflint

-Kyle

MDP Jeff-Jack Recap

2008-04-07T20:26:00.007-04:00

Yesterday the Michigan Democratic Party held the annual Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner at Cobo Hall in Detroit. I thought I would post a not so brief recap for those of you who couldn't make it to the event.

The event started out with a reception for the Youth Caucus. It was great to see all of the elected officials and party leaders who came out to support the young folks like us who are active in the party. Our own congressman Rep. Dale Kildee was among those who came to start the evening with the youngest members of the party. We heard from Gary Peters who is running a great campaign to become the next congressmen from Oakland County. He encouraged us to stay involved in politics. Even though I enjoyed seeing the older crowd, the highlight of the Youth Caucus reception was hanging out with other folks (read: ladies) our (my) age interested in politics.

The dinner was well a dinner. There was chicken which was both well seasoned and tender. For the price of the ticket I would have expected a Porterhouse steak or a bucket of crab legs. There was also pretty decent cheesecake (I'm a cheesecake snob) and the rest of the food wasn't really worth mentioning.

The dinner included lots of awards, but since I was sitting in the corner and they didn't show the award recipients on the jumbo tron screen I can't tell you who won what. There were a lot of speakers including Gov. Granholm, Lt. Gov. Cherry, Sen. Levin & Sen. Stabenow. The main speaker was the Gov. Brian Schweitzer from Montana. He seems like a regular guy who just happens to run a state. He had a funny metaphor about driving a car backwards you put it in 'R' and when you want to go forward you put in in 'D'. I used that metaphor with someone at work and they laughed so I will plagiarize it liberally.

After the dinner, we met at the lounge in Cobo for refreshments. I had a good time and it was great to spend time with new and old friends. Plus, if nothing else, by attending the Jeff-Jack Dinner I didn't have to watch the Tigers get whooped by the White Sox.

Enough of my ramblings, it is almost tip off of the title game where I hope Memphis will beat Kansas.

-Kyle

MSU Anti-War Protesters Try to Intimidate the State News

2008-03-24T13:16:00.010-04:00

Typically, I am as pro-civil liberties as a person can be, but this video really made me angry. I am also a MSU grad student, but I have a different perspective of the protest. In the video, a mob of anti-war protesters at MSU were angry about the recent decision of the State News (MSU's student newspaper headquartered in downtown E. Lansing on Grand River) to not cover some of their recent protest events. This protest group drew crowds of over 400 on several occasions, but had been covered in the paper previous years.

Regardless of one's stance on the Iraq War, this behavior is appalling. First, I object to the use of numbers to intimidate the editorial board at the newspaper. The students were chucking newspapers at the window, cussing, and mocking the newspaper employees who refused to unlock the door. Second, the vulgar language was unacceptable on such a busy street. Third, many students used this protest as a means to protest administration decisions that had nothing to do with the paper including a University safety policy that prohibits skate boarders. Wow, how altruistic of them. That brings me to my fourth point. It seems incredibly selfish of the protesters to intimidate the newspaper into re-printing the issue because it did not cover the protesters' event or put their names in the paper. This "we want to be in the paper" mentality seems antithetical to the altruistic mission of stopping the war in Iraq. Fifth, the entire protest wrongly criticizes the character of those who are merely working on a student newspaper. Especially the lady with the blood red paint on her hands who smeared the window. What is their point? Are the student editors responsible for the number of casualties in Iraq?

There are those who support this protest in the Michigan Liberal community. They seem to believe that the ends justify the means. They do not. Feel free to protest, but please do not attempt to intimidate and harass others in the process. They believe that they are conforming to a great tradition of anti-war protests in the 1960's. However, this current anti-war movement is just a cheap knock-off of the Vietnam anti-war movement, where the issues mattered and not the egos.

-Keith

Mideast Politics and Religon Quiz

2008-03-19T18:55:00.004-04:00

Given the issues of the day and the current events in the news, I thought it would be great if we had a short three question quiz about religon and politics in the Mideast. The answers are at the bottom of the post. Enjoy!

Question #1:

Which branch of Islam is the dominant religous group of the nation of Iran and has complete control of the Iranian government:

A) Sunni

B) Shia

Question #2:

Which branch of Islam do the members of Al-Qaeda follow:

A) Sunni

B) Shia

Question #3:

Would a Shia or Sunni government provide material support to a violent extremist group of the opposing branch of Islam when the two branches have waged an often violent struggle against each other for over 1000 years?

A) Yes

B) No

Now check your answers at the bottom of the post.

Questions Answered Correctly:

3- You are a brilliant foriegn policy mind. The breadth and depth of your knowledge of geopolitics and religous affairs is astounding.

2- Not bad. You have a good grasp on the issues of the day but you could do better.

1- Well, there is room for improvement. Don't be discouraged, watch the evening news or visit websites other than ESPN.com or Facebook!

0- Great News!!! You are the presumptive Presidential Nominee for the Republican Party Arizona Senator John McCain. Continue talking about subjects that you obviously don't understand and rationalizing an irrational war.

That's right folks John McCain got all three questions wrong. From the washingtonpost.com :

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/03/18/a_mccain_gaffe_in_jordan.html

Speaking to reporters in Amman, the Jordanian capital, McCain said he and two Senate colleagues traveling with him continue to be concerned about Iranian operatives "taking al-Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back."
Pressed to elaborate, McCain said it was "common knowledge and has been reported in the media that al-Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran, that's well known. And it's unfortunate."

Fourtanately for Senator McCain, his pal Sen Lieberman was there to help his illiformed collegue.

It is all on video courtesy of the good folks at CBS News and YouTube:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=v6GBdyws5YU

The Answers

1) B

2) A

3) B

Hat tip to Daily Kos for first bringing Senator McCain's gaffe to my attention.

-Kyle

Republicans Implement an Discriminatory Drivers License Policy

2008-02-27T10:50:00.006-05:00

The decision to refuse non-residents and non-citizens a driver’s license seems un-American. Americans have enjoyed a long history of vehicular travel. The ability to move around the country and live anywhere we want seems important. In other countries with states, identification is required in order to move from state to state. We take the opposite of this totalitarian policy for granted in the United States. Now, the country seems to be reverting back to the Articles of Confederation when every state was on its own and statehood could be compared to nationality.

This policy can be used for some rather devious purposes such as the direct discrimination of foreign students who are here legally. The license has become a means of identification that police often use even when they have no right under the Fourth Amendment. Most people just hand their licenses over because they do not think they have anything to hide or they believe they have an obligation. I can imagine a situation where a foreign student or a visitor may feel threatened by handing over their foreign license. It seems like a clear way to separate individuals for discrimination and considering these “imperatives of national security” I am afraid of the behavior police officers can engage in with this new policy.

Additionally, there are other uses for a license that could unfairly restrain visitors to Michigan or individuals who have no desire to apply for a license. Airlines are making it more difficult to travel within the country without a license. Voters in Michigan are now required to present a license. Simple business transactions such as the use of credit cards, banking, or cashing a check require a license. This policy makes all of these activities unfairly burdensome.

Also, business has gone global. Global businesses depend on temporary international employees and this policy will not only burden the employees, but the businesses as well. If Michigan wants to compete in a global economy, this fetish for security is going to be hard to reconcile. Businesses want as little regulation as possible in many instances. This policy only makes their jobs more difficult in merging their international employees together with domestics and American life. The Republicans have just found another way to lose jobs in the name of security. Yet, who honestly believes they are secure in an economy this troubled?

If security is the only concern justifying these intrusions, then it is important to remind ourselves that some of the hijackers on 9/11 were in this country as legal residents. For those who were not legal residents, passports and licenses were forged. Terri Lynn Land and Mike Cox are only punishing law abiding citizens for the terrorist actions that they have already been victim to. Maybe they should change their priorities. The State of Michigan should be more worried about forgeries than preventing people from attaining legitimate licenses and harassing visitors. There should be excitement over visitors, tourists, and international diversity because right now this state is suffering from a huge population decline. Michigan needs to be practical and not rhetorical. Michigan needs to discard this policy and discourage harassment.

-Keith