Thad McCotter, John Lennon, Mike Huckabee, and Lynyrd Skynyrd
Will it take a rock star–real or imagined–to beat Barack Obama? The buzz in political circles is that today Rep. Thaddeus McCotter will announce his intentions to run for president. Apparently he wasn’t dissuaded by the fact I panned his recent presentation to the red-meat confab known as Right Online. Oh well. He does play a rock guitar, which I suppose is great. Too bad he didn’t announce […]
Did Michigan Drop the Factory Model of Schools?
The Michigan Legislature has enacted some sweeping changes in the state’s tenure laws for public school teachers. Good. It’s about time schools stopped acting like factories–at least in their personnel policies. If my quick review of the Legislature’s website is correct, the changes are made in HB4625,HB4626, HB4627, and HB4628. Michigan, by the way, is following in the footsteps of other states, including Florida and Indiana. Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, […]
Another casualty of CAFE: The Spare Tire
One problem with government diktats is that they replace the judgement of millions of individual consumers with the judgement of politicians and executive branch officials. To wit: 13 percent of today’s new cars are sold without a spare tire. One reason: federal fuel standards. Automakers are looking everyone they can to lop weight off cars, and the spare tire is one target. I’ve been driving a […]
Don’t confuse the political and the moral
Dan Calabrese, my colleague here at the Michigan View, pointed out some significant problems with the logic employed by one Susan Demas (MLive.com writer) regarding Weinergate. I’d like to address something else. Demas wrote, in part, “But I really don’t care if politicians lie about their personal lives. There. I said it. That’s my libertarian side.” Many people think that “libertarian” and “libertine” are synonymous. […]
What Governor Pawlenty predicts about President Pawlenty
Here’s my commentary on Gov. Tim Pawlenty, as published in the Detroit News today: Editor’s note: In the wide open race for Republican nominee, one nominee has emerged paradoxically as the blandest and boldest candidate in the field. Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, widely panned as vanilla in a suit on the stump, has boldly staked out an anti-ethanol policy in farm-state Iowa, apologized for past […]
Are you a dim bulb for stocking incandescent bulbs?
The New York Times, guardians of “respectable” opinion, has taken note of people who stockpile incandescent lightbulbs. At best, so the tone of the article suggests, they’re quirky; at worst, they’re thought-deprived idiots who are doing the bidding of other idiots such as Glenn Beck. The Times article mentions several people (a designer, a restaurant owner, a home owner) who prefer Thomas Edison’s ubiquitous invention. An […]
The history of women in the U.S. Senate: Can Debbie Lose?
The idea that Republicans can’t find a candidate to take on Debbie “Dangerously Incompetent” Stabenow is depressing enough. But Michiganders are not alone in their reluctance to oust a non-entity of a senator, as long as that senator is a woman. Here in Minnesota, the conventional wisdom is that Sen. Amy Klobuchar is unbeatable. It’s enough to make me wonder if Democratic female senators are […]