Vacuum

"America's Crisis of Values", Korean lunch with Wayne Baker at Kang's

I recently had a nice lunch with Wayne Baker at Kang's Coffee Break on South University. Kang's is one of my favorite places for Korean food in town. I had (as I usually have) the "jang kuk bob" soup, a beef soup which comes with a very spicy pepper paste as a side plus delicious kim chi; Wayne had "bi bim bob". We sat near the window.

Prof. Baker is speaking at the Ross School of Business on the U of Michigan campus at 6:30pm on April 12, 2005 on "America's Crisis of Values".

He has just finished a book out from Princeton University Press on this topic. It's a comparative study based on data from the World Values Surveys of what people believe in in the U.S. compared to in other traditional and secular societies, and how a unique combination of traditional values and modern secular individualism define something common to America.

Rob Goodspeed papers at the Bentley Historical Library

Rob Goodspeed writes:

Yesterday, I turned over many of my papers I accumulated during my four and a half years living in Ann Arbor to the Bentley Historical Collection at the University of Michigan.

Included in the collection is information on student activism at the University of Michigan, research and notes from his time as an investigative reporter at the Michigan Daily, information about the secret societies Vulcan and Michigamua, and a large collection of materials from the BAMN (By Any Means Necessary) group.

Should be a good source of primary materials for someone looking at the Michigan campus 2000-2004, good to Rob to be so organized with this stuff!

When's the last time you wrote to Congress?

I've gotten some amazingly timely alerts from a few sources that have prompted me to call or email my elected representatives recently. This surprises me a little, since I have gone months and months without calling Washington or Lansing.

The key seems to be organized lobbying groups that have tools that take all the hard work about figuring out who your elected representative is for the issue at hand that needs attention, and that practically write and sign the letter for you. I'm sure that the underlying technology gets used by all manner of interest groups left right and center.

I haven't heard this technology filter down all the way to the local city level, though the presence of organized neighborhood groups probably obviates the need for any extra-specific technology - a well placed email to the right list should do the trick.

Organizations like Publius (in Michigan) figured out the drill to get you a copy of your ballot accurate to the last city council race. Is it possible to get direct action like this all the way down to the local level accessable by someone other than the most well-funded of groups?

Sulfide mining on the Yellow Dog Plains in the Upper Peninsula

Kennecott is planning mining operations on the Yellow Dog Plains in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, north of Marquette. The mining technique they would use to get at the copper and nickel, sulfide mining, yields large quantities of sulfuric acid as byproducts. The proposed mine is at the headwaters of a trout stream and would contaminate the entire watershed and Lake Superior.

I'm collecting links on the topic at the del.icio.us tag yellowdog - follow through that link to see current news.

There's legislation in the Michigan legislature to put in regulations for that kind of mining (none of which has been done to date in the state) - will update with that when I have more details.

Michigan Indymedia Elections News Coverage for Michigan and Ohio

forwarded from the Indymedia mailing list. Listen to WCBN radio for coverage.

Help Support Alternative Media on November 2 and Beyond

--- website: http://michiganimc.org
--- breaking news: 1 877 825 9535
--- for more info: imc@michiganimc.org

One of the reasons Bush was able to steal the election in 2000 is because
everyone was waiting for the television to tell them the answer. This time
we're watching the elections without the corporate filter.

The Michigan Independent Media Center (IMC) is teaming up with WCBN-FM Ann
Arbor to mobilize coverage of the November 2 elections and we need your
help.

The MichiganIMC will be a grassroots, non-corporate voice documenting
possible voter disfranchisement, fraud and intimidation that may occur on
November 2 (N2), as well as popular responses to injustices at the polls
and other election-related protest activity. MichiganIMC is aiming to
facilitate coverage of news from Ohio and Michigan, as well as national
news.

This message contains important information that you need in order to
support efforts to build an alternative media voice during the presidential
elections. Read below for the following information:
-MichiganIMC Breaking News Hotline
-webcast radio
-text message alerts
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Call in breaking news regarding suspected voter disfranchisement, protest
responses to injustices at the polls, and other election-related activity.

We need everyone that is going to be active N2, N3 and beyond to call in.
Coordinating our information will lead to effective coordinated responses to
whatever happens on election day. Consider writing the MichiganIMC hotline
number on your arm and make sure to call in your news!

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__CALL FOR AUDIO SEGMENTS
Calling all radio heads and audio producers!!

The Michigan Independent Media Center and WCBN-FM will be providing breaking
news coverage of the November 2 Elections and rallies on November 3 in Ohio
and Michigan.

WCBN and the MichiganIMC will also be taking calls 24 hours a day on
November 2 and 3. You can call +1 877 825 9535 to report on your voting or rally experience.

But we need segments! We are hoping to provide (at least) 48 hours of
uninterrupted live coverage, and we need programming to fill that time.

What we are looking for: segments between 5 and 60 minutes long, focusing
on the elections or other related subjects. Formats we encourage include
interviews, news analysis, documentary, and street reporting, among others.

Segments can be in any audio format, but .mp3 is preferred. If you will be
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Michigan voters, view your exact ballot online with Publius

(Thanks Nano for forwarding this along.)

Dear Friends in Michigan,

Ever get to the voting booth and realize you had no idea how many
things you'd get to vote about? Wish you could know which judge or
state school board member or county clerk based on prior knowledge,
rather than just how much you like his or her name? Want to know
exactly what proposals and representatives will be on *your* ballot?

I'm writing everyone I know in the Michigan to tell (or remind, as the
case may be) that you can view your EXACT ballot online NOW. A
non-partisan organization called Publius provides this wonderful
service w/the Michigan Sec'y of State. Publius is very easy to use:

1. Go to www.publius.org.

2. Enter either your name or your address. (Note that entering your
name ensures you know where you are registered to vote).

3. View the exact ballot you will see on election day.

There are also links to some of the candidates' websites and campaign
finance information. More information is being added daily, so you can
also sign up to automatically get an e-mail when all the info is
complete.

I am trying to educate myself about all the proposals and candidates,
even those in the seemingly obscure positions, so if you want to talk
about any of them, feel free to get in touch w/me.

I hope every single one of you votes in this election!

Love,
Nano

Michigan voters, I urge you to vote NO on Proposal 2

Many Michigan companies, especially companies with employees in Ann Arbor, offer benefits to domestic partners of their employees. This helps keep them competetive in attracting talent vs. companies in other states like California where these benefits have been around and common a lot longer.

Proposal 2's language may make these benefits illegal under the state constitution. (The wording is not clear, it will probably take an expensive court challenge.) Michigan businesses that want to offer these benefits will be denied that right, and Michigan residents taking advantage of these benefits will have to seek other healthcare plans or go without.

I have been going through the buy your own healthcare insurance mess for the last two months and it is not fun. Individual coverage is hard to get, not very good, and relatively expensive. If Prop 2 passes, it will make some people uninsured.

I urge you to vote no on Prop 2. Yard signs are hard to find, but in Ann Arbor at least there are some at the American Friends Service Center behind Friends Meeting on Hill near Washtenaw.

And here's a del.icio.us link to link in your own coverage: mi-prop-2.

"The GOP Deploys", American Prospect

is an American Prospect article by Garance Franke-Ruta and Harold Meyerson on the on-the-ground techniques of the Bush-Cheney campaign.

As with everything about the Bush presidency, its re-election campaign seems to exist at two levels. There's the public campaign, in which a moderate, visionary president comes up with inclusionary programs -- pro-Mars, pro-Mexican -- to broaden his base of support. And there are the more niche campaigns, hidden in the shadows, in which the campaign stirs its right-wing supporters to action by appealing to their baser instincts. There are impressive efforts to register and turn out millions of new voters. And there's evidence of national Republican efforts to perfect longstanding voter-intimidation programs directed at blacks and Hispanics.

For more information about voter-intimidation programs on a local Washtenaw County scale, there's this notice from State Sen. Liz Brater:

State Senator Liz Brater would like to do something about this. She has
started Washtenaw Action for Voter Empowerment (WAVE), an independent
committee to fund voter registration, voter turnout, and voter protection
activities. The goal is to increase voter participation this November.

How technology has changed politics

I gave a talk last night at MOCHI, the Michigan - Ohio Computer Human Interaction ACM chapter in Ann Arbor. There were about ten people there, which was good because I got to talk to all of them, and because the talk was new.

The topic of the presentation was "How technology has changed politics in the last four years (and how it will change it in the next four)". The novel thing I did in preparing for the presentation was to assemble some speaker's notes in a Socialtext Eventspace public workspace ahead of time (which you can see at the MOCHI wiki site) and got some feedback from people in the workspace before I ever gave the talk. It was a great help to have all of my notes online in a form that other people could get to them and add in more references.

As I usually do I spoke without notes except for one sheet of paper and also without slides - haven't ever mastered powerpoint and don't think I really ever will. This meant there was a lot more interaction with the group and a lot less speechifying.

The most gratifying part was showing up enough ahead of time that I got a chance to talk to people before the talk so it was not about talking to people who didn't respond! I gave a presentation once that I had to fly half way around the world to get to and where the audience though polite didn't have a single question. (That was a classic "the technology you are working on is too early" reaction.)