Tag: um

Is it surprising that we lost the 8 seats while at the same time maintaining control of the state house?  Those state wide races needed the Michigan GOP to step up, but there wasn't any pretense of help or assistance.

The obvious taunt to the MSU fan who wishes it could have been State at the Sugar bowl instead of the the wolverines was written crudely on the pink cardboard sheets and held up proudly as the U of M team played the toughest game of its season.

A game by the way, which for some, may likely have had divine interference.  I am not one who believes God has intervening interest in sporting contests, but to watch the Sugar Bowl, it wouldn't be hard to conclude the scores were backward most of the game.  All the stats were in Virginia Tech's favor, and the Michigan offensive line was seemingly crippled by a stacked defense.  But somehow, the outcome of the game was cast in overtime and decided in Michigan's favor 23-20. Many will conclude it was a strange event.

Prestidigitation, illusion, sleight of hand.  All terms that might be appropriately used in describing the end of a contest where the the visual, the virtual, defied the reality.

Magic.

Some bad juju unfortunately for V tech, who had its kicking team decimated prior to the first snap with a home invasion charge on its top dog kicker, and a curfew violation sending home the second best. (Or vice versa)  The end result? A player with only a single successful kick last year, becoming a hero and showing three successful attempts for the first three VT scores. In the end however, only to fall in OT with a missed "easy" kick.  No one heard the angel blow the ball to the right, so it must have been the wind .. in that enclosed arena.

No matter.  It happened. And the Wolverines in a game that was as sweet as its designation, prevailed.

And MSU?

Dang, that was a heart pounder!

The University of Michigan's Mary Sue Coleman now reaps the sowing, as the regents' meeting at a Dearborn locale brought about the now possible unionization of graduate student researchers. Coleman opposed the move, yet the regents voted to allow it with a 6-2 vote.

As the infestation of labor expands into the student part of a government subsidized and over fed organization like the University of Michigan, it should be noted that the two dissenting votes were the only voices of reason available.  A release last night from the Republican party of Michigan reads:

LANSING - Michigan Republican Party Chairman Bobby Schostak praised Republican-nominated University of Michigan Regents Andrea Fischer Newman and Andrew C. Richner today for their recent votes opposing a resolution to allow the school's graduate researchers to unionize.

"Our regents voted with the majority of Michigan's citizens who do not want to add more costs to our universities without deriving any discernable benefit," Schostak said. "Unfortunately, the majority of Regents voted out of step with taxpayers' desire that our universities be more fiscally responsible."

The board voted on the question without it previously being on the agenda - thwarting any chance to properly consider other points of view or examine and discuss the long-term impact of the decision.

"The board should reconsider its decision, reverse itself, and then allow for this issue to get a more thorough examination through a democratic process," Schostak said. "The university should be run for the benefit of the students and other stakeholders, not to fatten the wallet of some union boss."

That third paragraph is the ringer.  This was not on the agenda for the May 19, 2011 meeting in Dearborn.

Classic progressives and their tactics. Wonderful.