Not safe for work. There’s an F bomb & a couple of hand grenades in here. Community is real. We know that it matters for health and happiness. And people are willing to pay for it. Real estate markets reflect the value people place on local school districts in home prices. Identical homes on opposite [...]

“It seems pretty clear the public really believes the most important things for the economy are these public goods that support economic growth … People want to do better by these assets that matter enormously for economic growth” ~ John Austin, president of the State Board of Education and director of the Michigan Economic Center [...]

“”I’m thinking about it. I haven’t made a decision. Anybody who has run for office, governor, Congress, knows its a huge personal decision with a lot of thing to talk about. ” ~ Mark Schauer, on whether he is running for Governor That’s from this article, which is reporting on the really big surprise that [...]

“When we get this going, I want to have a formidable array of organizations helping us gather signatures, and I want those organizations to be from across the political spectrum, … This is a good governance issue and not a partisan issue.” ~ Ferndale resident Bill Lucas Lucas is talking about his petition to change [...]

“This is a chilling document … Basically, it argues that the government has the right to carry out the extrajudicial killing of an American citizen.” ~Jameel Jaffer, deputy legal director of the ACLU I’m very disturbed by the drone strikes targeting American citizens. If you’re an American and this doesn’t bother you then I have [...]

“Soapblox is awesome!” ~no one, ever I spent a good chunk of the weekend and this morning updating the software behind BFM. I enjoy doing it but because of the various things involved we end up losing some of the customization. I still get questions on whether it was worth it to migrate from Soapblox [...]

“You’re the one who wanted a puppy!!” ~me This puppy is kicking my ass. This site, my job, my life, all of it .. ever since the puppy moved in I’ve been just calling in on all those things. My breeder / trainer friend tells me that this chew-everything-and-pee phase will pass, but I’m not [...]

“Speaking of dumb pricks and their opinions on guns … “ ~Steve Shives That’s my new BFF: On the topic of dumb pricks, Michigan Republicans are getting some press. Next stop for GOP scheme to rig Electoral College Michigan’s GOP House Speaker Expresses Support For Election Rigging It’s ‘not a viable pathway,’ but it may [...]

“We lost, but I’m not going away,” Romney told the crowd, according to a person who attended the meeting. “I will continue to help.” ~Mitt Romney Oh gross. I don’t know, I guess he’s going to be like an angry version of the clap. The sores will go away sometimes but the infection will still [...]

“America likes to think of itself as a land of equality and opportunity, the so-called American dream is very deep to our sense of identity, [...] The stats show otherwise, the US has one of the worst opportunity rates of any of the advanced economies. A child’s life chances are more dependent on the income [...]

“Given what we heard yesterday about the president’s vision for his second term, it’s pretty clear to me that he knows he can’t do any of that as long as the House is controlled by Republicans. So we’re expecting over the next 22 months to be the focus of this administration as they attempt to [...]

Republicans pine for the glory days of Ronald Reagan — but that was a different country, a county with a lot more raw racism, a country in which only a minority of Americans found interracial marriage acceptable. And yes, that had a lot to do with GOP political strength. And I don’t think the right [...]