Will Electoral College Reform Come to Michigan?

In 2012, Michigan voters cast the majority of their votes for Democrats to represent them in the State House and in Congress. But, due to 2010 redistricting Republicans won the majority of the seats in both the State House and in Congress. Now, some Republicans want to reform the Electoral College so that without winning a majority of the votes, they will be able to seat the majority of the Electors.

In 2011, State Representative Pete Lund (R-Shelby Twp) introduced House Bill 5184, a bill to amend election law so that electoral votes will be chosen from each congressional district instead of from the state at large.

Now some Republicans are threatening to bring the same bill forward in 2013-2014 session. With comfortable majorities in both the State House and State Senate and with the Governor, Republicans can pass this bill.

The bill states, “One presidential elector shall be chosen from each congressional district, and 2 presidential electors shall be chosen at large.” If this bill is reintroduced and passes, Republicans will win the majority of presidential electors even when their candidate receives a minority of the votes. Had this reform been implemented in the 2012 election, the Republican Mitt Romney would have secured a majority of Michigan’s electors with a minority of Michigan’s popular vote.

Progressive Democrats of Monroe is joining Working America in a non-partisan effort to inform voters about injustice already imposed upon Michiganders by the gerrymandered districts and the further injustice that would occur if this bill were to become law. Please let me know if you would like to be part of this effort.

Two Candidates for MDP State Chair

By now most of you are aware that we have two candidates for Chairperson of the Michigan Democratic Party. I think I learned more about each of them from a series of articles written by Chris Savage of Eclectablog. I highly recommend these articles to anyone who still feels that they do not know the candidates.

• Ann Arbor Host Candidates for MDP Chair
• Lon Johnson Interview
• Mark Brewer Interview

The Republican War on Working Class People Continues!

Bills have been introduced in the State House and Senate that would eliminate the requirement of paying prevailing wages on state projects (see HB 4172’13 and SB 0158’13) by repealing Public Act 166 of 1965. These bills are tie barred with bills that eliminate any reference to the repealed law.

The bills are being sponsored and cosponsored by the usual cast of suspects. We can count on Democrats, including Rep. Bill LaVoy (D-Monroe), to oppose these bills. In a recent meeting with members of the Monroe/Lenawee AFL-CIO Central Labor Council, Rep Dale Zorn (R-Ida) indicated that he would oppose repealing prevailing wage laws.

A referendum was placed before the 2011-2012 Michigan GOP convention on the question of whether to support a resolution repealing Michigan Prevailing Wage Law. The referendum apparently had the support of Sen. Randy Richardville (R-Monroe) who was reported by Right Michigan as being “genuinely surprised that the support wasn’t unanimous.”

The systematic repeal of state laws that require contractors to pay prevailing wages on state projects is well documented to be something that the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has developed model legislation for.

The Republican War on Democracy Continues!

Republicans in Lansing plan on reintroducing a bill to amend election law so that electoral votes will be chosen from each congressional district instead of from the state at large (see HB 5184’11).

Republicans have already rigged the election of State Representatives, State Senators and U.S. Congressional Representatives by gerrymandering districts.

I have received three calls in the last week from (734) 408-1739 in Dexter, MI asking me to call Sen. Randy Richardville (R-Monroe) and ask him to support legislation that would end Winner Take All in Michigan. The message suggests that Winner Take All robbed over 2 million people who voted for Mitt Romney of their representation in the Electoral College. The phone call was paid for by the National Tea Party Victory Fund.

Two Candidates for MDP State Chair

As we get closer to the MDP State Convention day, we need to be aware of who is seeking to be our Party’s next Chairperson. There are two candidates for the position: the incumbent Chair, Mark Brewer, and the challenger, Lon Johnson.

I’m fairly certain that I do NOT have a well-formed or qualified opinion on who would be the best person for the job. Our county Party Chairperson, Dan Minton, has joined at least 37 other county Party Chairs in endorsing Mark Brewer. The entire Michigan Congressional Democratic Delegation has endorsed Lon Johnson.

Labor is also split in its support with the Michigan Regional Association of Carpenters, the Michigan Education Association and others endorsing Brewer and the UAW, the Teamsters and others endorsing Johnson.

If I could borrow a couple of quotes form a Detroit Free Press article:

“Some people like Mark and many people don’t,” said Lansing political consultant Robert Kolt.

…

Johnson would be a “really dynamic presence, but I’m not sure we need a change,” said Lansing political consultant Joe DiSano. “And I haven’t seen anyone articulate a really good reason on why Mark has to go.”

Others say it’s time for a change …

Read the rest of the article, it does a fair job of introducing the candidates. Also, visit their web sites linked above. Then, let me know what you think.

I Need a New Internet, My Old One Is Broken

It seems that I might just need a whole new Internet. The old one used to work fine, but then people started making it better. The new one keeps reading my mind and filling in the search box for me while I am typing. The magic person that does this job spells pretty good, but there is another magic person in there that help me fill out text boxes by changing some of the words I type and that one doesn't always spell things right or use the right context.

I use to have one browser that worked pretty well but now I have three. The old browser used to let me watch videos ... if I downloaded a player. Now, it lets me watch some videos with or without the player, other videos only with the player, and still other videos only without the player. Browser C works very well very and lets me me watch videos ... if I download the player. But, it is a different player than Browser A and totally interferes with Browser A’s player. Browser B plays all of the videos all of the time but secretly runs six instances of itself in the background all the time, even after I shut down the browser.

Every page I visit now overwhelms me with dozens of unrelated advertisements offering to help me loose weight, improve my looks, enhance my sex life, reduce my car insurance rates, telling me I should go back to school at some online college, and promoting the latest movie or computer game. And these ads don’t just set still; they follow my cursor around, pop up in the middle of text while I am reading, or suddenly expand or shrink moving all the text around on my screen. The worst ads are the ones that start talking to me and I can’t figure out where they are on the screen, which tab they are on or how to shut them off.

I used to be very good at searching for information on the Internet and finding it. The secret was to choose my search words and phrases carefully or use the advanced search functions. Now almost every search ends in frustration and I find page after page with just a paragraph or two of vaguely related text that was obviously data-mined for the sole purpose of tricking me into thinking I would find something useful on the page so that I would look at a whole page full of advertisements.

Maybe the most frustrating part of the Internet is when you go to look for technical support of any kind and discover hundreds of pages of comments and replies to common questions provided by well-meaning and self-proclaimed experts on the subject who obviously know nothing about the subject but post replies anyway filled with technically incorrect information that is at its best not useful and at its worst misleading.

Yes, I need a new Internet and I would ask you all where I could get one, but I’m afraid that most of the replies would be from socially dysfunctional people who spend their entire day posting drivel in comment boxes, or others trying to sell me something. Maybe if I’m lucky someone will send me a link to a porn site and I will get a free eye full of smut and will be able to say that I didn't go their on purpose. Somewhere between 10% and 15% of Internet use is to find porn. It might be the only part of the Internet that still works well no matter which browser you use.

Thank Goodness the Governor is Looking Out for You and Me

On December 31^st, Governor Rick Snyder got his veto pen out and thumbed through the big pile of bills setting on his desk. Two of the bills that I am certain all of us were concerned about caught his eye. The first would have prohibited a person from importing or attempting to import a large carnivore into Michigan unless certain requirements were met. The second would have prohibited the possession of a large carnivore without a permit; regulated the handling and care of large carnivores; established standards for keeping large carnivores; and specified owners' responsibilities in instances of attacks.

If there is one thing that I was worried about at the end of 2012, it was that I would no longer enjoy the unrestricted freedom of importing non-native species of large carnivores or that I might have to invest in proper caging for the dozens of large carnivores that I keep as family pets!

OK, so I don't import or keep large carnivores and it wasn't high on my list; in fact, it wasn't on my list at all and probably wasn't on yours either. But you have to wonder why the governor would get his veto pen out for this largely uncontroversial legislation that enjoyed bipartisan support. I don’t imagine that his In Box was filled with emails from angry Michigan residents who owned large carnivores or that tens of thousands of large carnivore owners were staging protests on the capitol lawn.

I’m sure there is a perfectly good reason why the governor vetoed this bill that would have protected Michigan from non-native species escaping into our communities and/or harming our neighbors and our environment. And, it probably has something to do with the income level of the people who can afford to import and keep these exotic species.

I'm just saying ...