by P.D. Lesko How many direct hits from within can the Hieftje-Hive-Mind-Collective Cube withstand? In summer 2009, the Cube took its first hit from within: Ann Arbor residents woke up to a front page piece in the Ann Arbor News that was either hysterically funny or horrifying, depending on one’s political affiliation and, perhaps, one’s [...]
A2P Notes: Just a few days ago, ProgressMichigan sent this Tweet to the organization’s several thousand Twitter followers: “Strong progressive voices in Michigan: @Eclectablog @bloggingformich @NathanTriplett @A2Politico @gretchenwhitmer.” ProgressMichigan is headed by David Holtz, who served as the Clean Water Action Michigan Director for four years, during which time he built the state environmental community’s [...]
by Pete Nicely The only better commercial for the Democratic Party than C-SPAN showing Speaker Boehner and the Tea Party House of Representatives in action is a GOP debate. By watching these GOP debates—or abstinence promotion, as my wife calls them—I’ve found my new support group. On Twitter, genuine paid wits—like Patton Oswaldand Rob Delaney—join [...]
by P.D. Lesko Class size: one time when size does matter. Research on the success of K-12 students has concluded definitively that class sizes impact the performance of all students. Kids learn better in small classes. According to research compiled by the Brookings Institution and published in a paper dated December 11, 2011: The most influential [...]
by William Belle I’m repeating myself. (Repeating yourself is a sign of senility. If I’ve said that once, I’ve said it a thousand times.) The best films I’ve seen do not necessarily involve a car chase scene. The special effects are minimal and the focus is on the story and the characters. Clocking in at [...]
by P.D. Lesko For the past year, Governor Rick Snyder has been getting pretty much everything he wanted from the state’s Republican-controlled legislature. Together, the state’s Republicans have been accused of legislatively sucker punching the state’s working poor and public employees, and toiling mightily to strip almost half of the state’s black residents of their [...]
by P.D. Lesko DDA Board member and former Second Ward City Council member Joan Lowenstein (right) is having a really tough time of it, politically speaking. Should you care? Absolutely. It’s a better show than “Real Housewives,” but with some of same characters, crazy plot twists, and zany attempts to make the 1 percent look [...]
by P.D. Lesko City Council committee appointments are out, and it looks as though newly elected Second Ward Council member Jane Lumm worked some black magic to get herself spots on two of the most powerful Council committees. For starters, Lumm got herself appointed to the Budget Committee. According to an August 2009 piece in the AnnArborChronicle.com, [...]
by Pete Nicely Chapter 1: Ted Waitt Was Not Dead: To Begin With Ted Waitt was not dead: to begin with. About this Rick Snyder had no doubt whatsoever. The co-founder of Gateway Computers was still alive and living it up in La Jolla, California, which is about as far from dead as most Midwesterners [...]
by P.D. Lesko I read a Tweet from Ann Arbor SPARK on November 17th: “Paul Krutko, Ann Arbor SPARK’s CEO, speaking at the VC breakfast in San Jose, California. http://twitpic.com/7felds.” Krutko was the Chief Development Officer for the city of San Jose, California. He resigned from his job with two days notice after a breach of [...]
