West Michigan Rising: The Phoenix Rises from the Ashes After The Catastrophe
West Michigan Rising WMR is a community blog for Democrats and progressives in West Michigan. Join up, post your thoughts as comments or diaries, and rise up to build our left coast
The idea of privatizing the University of Michigan is again making the rounds in Lansing, this time prompted by a legislative study group that has suggested several dramatic options for cutting state spending.
The outcome?
Tuition prices for in-state students would likely rise to out-of-state levels, which are nearly three times higher.... Tuition for in-state freshmen in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts is $11,037 this academic year. Tuition for out-of-state students is $33,069.
David Potter, a classics professor who is head of the U-M faculty Senate, said in-state students would lose access to a world-class education because U-M would be able to charge as much in tuition as its private competitors.
And the savings?
$326 million, or about $32 per Michigan citizen. And our kids, Michigan kids, the kind that might go to one of the best universities in the known universe adn then might actually stay in the state rather than heading back to Chicago and New York, they miss out. Complete idiocy.
The idiot (and I use that considering the modern and ancient definitions) is Gary Olson, a member of the Legislative Commission on Government Efficiency and on its subcommittee on higher education. Olson is also director of the Michigan Senate Fiscal Agency. Not suprisingly, the idea was cooked up in 2004 by the libertarian Mackinac Center for Public Policy
The Freep speculates on where Obama might be in Michigan on Saturday, 27 September after they learn that he'll be coming to our state after the first debate this Friday -- The Big House, or at least Ann Arbor.
The game is at 3:30, so Obama could have some rally on campus around noon or 1:00 pm and attract quite a crowd.
The view of the Yosemite Valley from Washburn Point -- Vernal and Nevada Falls with half of Half Dome on the far left.
Well, it wasn't a Lucy-approved staycation and I never really did leave (yes, you can get internet access from the shadow of Half Dome in the Valley), but I am back from California and ready to push WMR through the summer and toward victory in November.
My brief thoughts on politics:
* California is getting heavy into solar power -- there are entire subdivisions where the houses are build with state-of-the-art roof panels. We also came across a huge wind farm west of Sacramento. Why is this? Well, they passed alternative energy portfolio standards some time ago and it looks like California is going to be a home of renewable energy. Michigan! Get your act together and pass the RPS -- that means you Senate Republicans.
* Even in Yosemite National Park, a beautiful valley called Hetch Hetchy, known as the "Yosemite's little sister" was damned back in the 1920s to provide water to San Francisco. So, even while John Muir was alive, one of the first National Parks was being exploited by the thirsty people of arid California. Imagine what they'll do to grab water from far away from a region they don't care about. We need to protect our water by passing the Great Lakes Water Compact.
* The entire reason we went out was to visit my wife's brother and his family. Well, they used to live in South Haven and we used to see them about a dozen times a year. But jobs for PhD chemists dried up in Michigan and they headed out of state. So, my kids lost a close relationship with their cousins and Michigan lost two highly educated workers (my sister-in-law is a cardiac nurse) because of Engler, Clinton's NAFTA and MFN with China, and Bush's horrible economic policies. Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, the Pacific, that was all great. I'd rather have a better family life and boating on Lake Michigan. The economy is for us ... when will we realize that?
Oh, and yeah, nature is pretty cool, indeed sublime.
PS: California was great, but I'm still a Michigan Man. A nature that's mostly blue and green, beats one that is mostly yellow almost any month.
So, we'll push on with our Handicapping Series of the State House races and them begin our Candidate Profiles for the State House, then County Commissioners, etc, and we won't forget our three Congressional candidates either. All while covering our county parties, the news, and the state-wide and national candidates as they come to our neck of the woods.
The Detroit Red Wings rode two old goalies, a half-dozen Swedish imports, talented youngsters and experienced veterans to a title.
Henrik Zetterberg capped off a Conn Smythe-winning postseason by scoring the game-winner in the third period, as the Wings beat the Pens, 3-2, to clinch the 11th Stanley Cup Championship in franchise history.
The Red Wings' players, coaches and staff will participate in a parade to celebrate the 2008 Stanley Cup championship on Friday, June 6 starting at 11 a.m. EDT. The parade will end with a celebration rally at Hart Plaza in downtown Detroit.
Having been a Wings fan since I was a kid and having been in Michigan for most of the Stevie Y era, I can still say this was the best of all Red Wings teams in the last 30 years.
This coming weekend, Opera Grand Rapids presents Richard Wagner's The Flying Dutchman.
For his past transgressions, a Dutch sea captain is cursed to sail the Seven Seas until Judgment Day, unless he can be redeemed by one woman's true love. In Wagner's stormy re-telling of the picturesque and macabre legend of The Flying Dutchman, the audience is swept away by atmospheric music and thundering choruses.
So, if you like your opera with extra helping of gloom and doom, see you there!
Sung in German with projected English titles
Wagner's The Flying Dutchman.
May 2 & 3, 7:30 pm
DeVos Performance Hall
303 Monroe Ave, Grand Rapids
Conducted by: Robert Lyall
Directed by: Robert Lyall
Featuring: The Grand Rapids Symphony
And in other opera news...
Opera Grand Rapids is building a $2 million, two-story, 14,000-square-foot building, which will provide the company with a rehearsal hall, costume shop, property storage and offices.
The new home of Opera GR will open next year on East Fulton Street, west of Carlton Avenue, not far from Aquinas College (a lovely little Catholic liberal arts college, fyi). It'll be named The Betty Van Andel Opera Center (BVAOC) after the lead donor (the Van Andel Foundation gave $1 million). To complete the BVAOC, Opera Grand Rapids launched a Capital Campaign with a goal of $1,950,000. As of mid-April the Company has raised more than $1,360,000 or roughly 70% of its campaign goal.
Fundraising (pdf pledge form) for the BVAOC will continue throughout the spring and summer. Ground breaking for the project is expected to take place in the summer, with plans for the Company to occupy the facility by 2009.
Michigan State House Candidates
59, 61, 63, 78, 79, 80, 87, 88, 72, 73, 74, 77, 89, 90, 100, 101, 104 District 60 (Kalamazoo) Sean McCann
Chris Praedel District 61 (Kalamazoo) Thomas Batten District 75 (Grand Rapids) District 76 (Grand Rapids) District 80 (VanBuren)
Tom Erdmann District 91 (Muskegon)
Ben Gillette
Branden Gemzer District 92 (Muskegon)
Marcia Hovey-Wright
L. Scott McNeill
Charles Nash Scott Nesbit Sean Mullully
Steve Markel District 101 (Northwest) Dan Scripps
