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         The mighty Daily’s well-loved (…..) cartoon section has caused a lot of hubbub by their cartoons about, e.g., the supposed horrors of affirmative action for isolated white kids surrounded by black people in classrooms, black people who are portrayed virtually gloating that their pale-skinned brother doesn’t get the benefits of affirmative action.

         Today, though, we have a Daily cartoon by Ryan Jaber showing the White House, the U.S. Capitol, not to mention the Washington Monument and U.S. flag, being occupied territory of Israel. (As per the medieval Church debate on “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?”, one could ask if the cartoonist is trying to guess how many Israeli folk-dancers could fit on the point of the “Israel-occupied” Washington Monument. Not to mention the top of an “Israel-occupied” flagpole.
         Talk about “Fiddlers on the Roof”…)

         One can debate (and the whole world is debating) just how far the Israeli response against Hezbollah and Hamas should go, and one should feel sad about any civilian casualties or collateral damage; and one can legitimately question particular stances or policies of AIPAC, JINSA, or other frequently-pro-Israel groups. But for the Daily to print, in cartoon form, the old, false, “Turner Diaries”-style canard of there being a “ZOG”, “Zionist Occupation Government”, controlling the United States, is neither tasteful nor decent, I think one can safely say. Let’s see what happens now.

         See Marina Hyde in today’s Guardian, her Lost in showbiz column:

         “…’UN goodwill ambassador’. The nature of this confected modern role remains shadowy, but it seems to have been created as a way to say ’sorry about the bombing/famine/pestilence - we’ve sent you a celebrity as a goodwill gesture’, or perhaps out of some belief that the only way to emphasise the utter desperation of a people is to depict them as glad to see Richard Gere.”

         In his own words, from today’s AA News, Public input sought on stadium drawings , p. 2,

         “Before heading off to another meeting concerning the stadium renovation, Martin considered the plans in front of him, which will be replaced by another set, then another until construction can begin.

         ‘When you come to think of it,” he said. ‘For all intents and purposes we’re building a new stadium.”’

         “building a new stadium”. Straight from the horse’s mouth.
         So much for Michigan football “tradition”……. 

 

         Actually, I don’t think Michigan is a bad influence on the rest of the country, but some of the people get me almost to wonder at times: as I said I might post about, check this 7/13/06 link Eminem Accused of Assaulting Man at Strip Club,

         “A man named Miad J. says he was punched in the face by rapper Eminem early Thursday. He says he was hit 4 or 5 times while using the men’s room at a local strip club.  

Witnesses say Eminem was at the Cheetah’s strip club on 8 Mile Road in Detroit Wednesday night, accompanied by an entourage. …” ,

         not to mention this 7/14 story, Police seek clown-face robbers after rampage,   

         “Police are on the lookout for members of a machete-wielding gang in angry clown make-up after a rampage of robbery and violence that left nearly two dozen people injured in a park in western Washington state.

The group, who said they were “juggalos,” devotees of the Detroit-based rap-metal group Insane Clown Posse, attacked and robbed visitors to Fort Steilacoom Park while shouting “Woo, woo, juggalo!” to each other, according to court documents.

Prosecutors in Pierce County south of Seattle charged three people with assault and robbery last week, but police in the City of Lakewood said they are searching for another eight to 10 suspects….

According to police reports, some members of the gang wore black hooded sweatshirts or clown make-up and told victims they would “cut their heads off” with machetes. They stole cash, wallets and cell phones, the reports said.

“We don’t see too many attacks like this,” said Lakewood police Lt. Dave Guttu.

Juggalos often dress in black and wear clown face paint.”        

         We’re all proud to be from Michigan, but some of this has to stop…       

         (”Update”: see “The Showbuzz”, Charges Against Eminem Dropped: Alleged Victim Withdraws Allegations That Rapper Punched Him At Strip Club. Little m-m is far luckier than he deserves to be…)      

          Check out my new rap song “Da Vinci’s Ho”, and feature about me and the song, at The Tofu Hut MP3 blog (where I am a listed contributor), at 

http://tofuhut.blogspot.com !!! 

         The song is a little silly, but it’s not a crime to have fun…

         (Note: much more serious stuff coming up on Arblogger soon. Stay tuned.)

         I noted today that Dr. Louis Boven, the Republican running against Dick DeVos in the Republican primary, is running a write-in campaign, although he didn’t get the signatures to be on the ballot.

         Seriously, he deserves credit for trying: check out his website at
http://www.bovenforgovernor.com/ 
and his blog at
http://thepoliticalnetwork.typepad.com/michigan/ . It’s nice to have choices. . .

         The UM Regents’ meeting on Friday was amazing: of 11 speakers, TEN (including myself) spoke against the proposed “Big House” UM football-stadium luxury boxes (or rushed adoption of them) or UM’s tax exemptions for athletics. Only 6 people can speak on a topic, but folks used different titles for comments, e.g., “UM’s democratic responsibility” etc., not just “I hate the luxury boxes”. Guess I may have helped start a tidal wave since being the only speaker on the topic last time, see the 6/18/06 Ann Arbor News, Opposition to luxury boxes is still silent! (That article’s also quoted at FireMarkMay.com.)
         There were so many great speakers last Friday at the Regents: John Latus, John Pollack, etc. (See the 7/24 Michigan Daily, Skybox opposition speaks: Public, upset over May vote, says renovations will commercialize tradition.) They raised all kinds of questions, including the rushed nature of the decision, the cost of the project, the chance of recouping all the costs, the traditions of football at UM, the shadows (literal) that may be cast on fans by building huge glass boxes above, the risk of having alcohol in the luxury boxes, etc. Informative and inspiring both.

     I also passed around copies of part of a FOIA I got of all the free sports tickets etc. Regents get (see page 1, p. 2, p. 3, p. 4, p. 5, p. 6–I passed out just pp. 2-3 at the meeting)  and posed the question of whether the Regents should be getting all of these tax-paid perquisites if they can’t do a better job of listening to public opinion and reasoned argument, etc. (I bet the Regs loved hearing me say that in public, heh)

         The UM homepage has its pro-luxury boxes view at http://www.umich.edu/stadium/ , but for “an alternative view” you can always look at
http://savethebighouse.com/ , or mail
info@savingthebighouse.com or
savethebighouse@umich.edu.

         “Go Blue!!!”

         I’ll try to avoid posting too many “personal” diaries, but: tonight I was at Ashley’s, and this boy-girl couple in matching tie-dyed Pink Floyd shirts comes and sits in my booth (after I got out of my booth and noted to them that the guy was singing the “Woo, woo, woo” part from Michael Jackson/Paul McCartney vehicle “Say Say Say” on the jukebox!) and starts chatting me up, offering me a taste of their apple martini(s), etc. The large guy (who said he dug up copper piping for a living), in baseball cap and moustache, says that his smaller blonde girlfriend went nuts at Ozzfest and attacked security so that they were kicked out!! (I noted, “You must be pretty tough to get kicked out of Ozzfest…“)
         Anyway, she gets sick and needs the wastebasket, repeatedly, and as they go away, the man throws me a $10 bill, which helps defray my expenses! Lucky me.
         Feel free to tell me about your own adventures. . . . .

 

(Captured at Ypsilanti Summer Beer Festival yesterday July 22; waiting for Clint Eastwood to file lawsuit presently…)

 

(Adding insult to injury; turning “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” into a mere list of “big, bold and hoppy” ingredients…)

 

(Ann Arbor Art Fair 2006; “Silver is back in style”)

 

 

(Kos family and I at YearlyKos. What are my eyes closed for, though? Hmm. …At least everyone else photographed well!)

(Kos of “Daily Kos” and I (on the left) at the YearlyKos conference, Riviera Hotel, Las Vegas, June 2006)

         Welcome to Arblogger, a new weblog or “blog” about the Ann Arbor and other communities! I look forward to hearing from you and very much welcome your comments and contributions; feel free to mail me at dbo@arblogger.com (click on blue, or red, glowing link), if there’s something you want me to consider posting! (I may look for fellow “front-page contributors” at some point, too, though I have to learn more about how this blog’s features work before I do that!
         Hopefully any “bugs” can be worked out of this site soon, and improvements will continue to occur…)
         I have been “blogging” for a few years off-and-on, and am currently a frontpager at My Left Wing, whose founder Maryscott O’Connor was the subject of a Washington Post front-page article; I also post diaries at Daily Kos quite often.
         On this present weblog, not only political matters but all sorts of things will be discussed. One hopes Arblogger can be a reasonably civil place for promoting the public good and also having a good time. (Please check out the “blogroll”, too, for many fine weblogs or websites in or out of Ann Arbor.)
   

     (As for the photograph above: YearlyKos was a huge blogger gathering back in June for Daily Kos bloggers and guests including Harry Reid, Howard Dean, and Joe “Mr. Valerie Plame” Wilson; and I, among many others, was interviewed and photographed for “unConventional, YearlyKos: Citizens, Focus, and Action”, an eBook available (for $17.99) at this StartChange.org link, if you have the money to spend to see how my photo and my essay about progressive blogging came out! Just thought I should mention it as part of my blogging résumé. –And no, I don’t get any of the money! (heh)
         The book comes out in late July, I hear, though pre-ordering is available now.)  

         Thank you for coming here and reading! I hope to see you regularly as new friends on Arblogger!

             David Boyle

 

(”Before” and “After” shot. –No, it’s just U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) and I at YearlyKos. I’m the “less seasoned looking” one.)