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Ok, being sort of new to the area, I didn’t know that (is this a well known thing to Detroiters?).

Apparently Frank may become well-known for something, it just might not be his preaching. He’s filed a federal lawsuit against Channel 7 to host his evangelical radio program

Experts say the case is a unique one and could be an important test of the protection of religious rights under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Wow, a test case for a 1964 law in 2006? Go Frank. (note, that’s not an endorsement of his case, just the general “Way to pick your fight” type of comment.)

Frankly (HA!) I don’t see why it hurts the station. It’s not like there’s going to be a large cross-over audience. If anything, it might bring them more viewers. People still watch Channel 7 despite Steve Wilson’s continued employment.

Link [via Dvorak Uncensored]

The law was a bad idea from the start, a feel-good solution for a complicated social problem that was obviously unconstitutional. Appealing this ruling or reintroducing similar legislation is a waste of time and money.

The whole Op/Ed is short and sweet, but basically says what any reasonable person knows: parents need to know what their kids are playing and enforce their own rules. And the politicians are wasting time and money better spend on other things with this idiotic crusade (word used on purpose) to somehow ban “bad” video games.

So, Freep, to you I say “Woot!” and thanks for adding a rational, forceful voice to this sad situation.

Opinion: Video Violence

Buwhahahahahahaha!

DETROIT—Detroit, a former industrial metropolis in southeastern Michigan with a population of just under 1 million, was sold at auction Tuesday to bulk scrap dealers and smelting foundries across the United States.
“I did them a favor,” [Al Ranneke, an Allegheny, PA scrap peddler] said. “Believe me, Detroit’s been around the block. I was willing to take it off their hands for six grand, but I caught a glimpse of that Ambassador Bridge and I said ‘no way.’ I am not Santa Claus.”

Of course, you know it’s not true because of this line:

The decision to demolish and cull Detroit for scrap was approved last month by a 6-3 City Council vote after a cost-benefit analysis revealed that, as a functioning urban area, it held a negative cash value.

No one on the City Council would just vote; there’d have to be some racially-charged rhetoric before any vote took place. And then the revote after the council members realized that no one’s buying their BS. And then the new charges of racism and denunciation of the take-over by the suburbs… And 6-3? When have they ever been so decisive?

Read the whole thing.. well done, Onion, well done.

Detroit Sold For Scrap | The Onion

Good news or example of the demise of the Ann Arbor lifestyle? I bet they’ll be some funny letters to the editor in the next few weeks.

Link [via DataWhat]

At least there’s one judge in Michigan who’s not cow-towing to the fear-mongers that have apparently found a toe-hold in Lansing.

Link

This is a rant about, well, about being a hick at heart. I grew up in the country (ish). My family still lives in small-town America; quiet streets, nothing taller than 4 stories, weird laws about alcohol. It’s NASCAR country.

I say “NASCAR country” in a nice way as most people (read: anyone who lives on the West coast or on the Atlantic seaboard North of, say, Jersey) just don’t get it. And, by get it, I mean of course that they a) haven’t taken the time to think about it and b) mock it.

Take, for example (and the catalyst for this post) this continuously updated post on BoingBoing about NASCAR-branded [[insert product]]. They lead off with NASCAR-branded meats. Ok, even I thought it was a little weird, but I’ll go with the whole “Grill during the race” thing. But, as the days roll on, the comments that are being tacked onto the post are along the lines of “look at what those silly hicks also buy! Isn’t that cute!” You can almost taste the condescending attitude through your monitor (note, please don’t lick your monitor).

But, as Darren Barefoot points out, fully 1/3 of North Americans doesn’t use the Internet. Those people who are yucking it up over NASCAR branded items are also laughing themselves out of one of the fastest growing audiences in this hemisphere. Ignore for a moment the roots of NASCAR. The modern incarnation of NASCAR is a marketers wet-dream; a solid, rabid fan-base that chooses a heroic character (the driver/team) and buys a shit-ton of their merchandise. How many NASCAR-themed bumper stickers or hats have you seen this week? A dozen? Three dozen? More? You don’t get that kind of brand loyalty and repeat business with computers.

The limit of technology branding (often) is who you can drag into your home/office/car to see what you bought. The Internet has obviously expanded that audience, but still misses the nearly 33% of the population not online. NASCAR gear goes everywhere. Hats, jackets, stickers, and shirts are all the traditional avenues that drive around town, go to dinner, show up on casual Friday. NASCAR has been able to extend their brand to places technology can never go. You will never see Apple-branded fruit (ironic as it would be). You will never see Yahoo! chainsaws. Technology branding is limited to what can be shown on television or to the technical elite, most of whom have decided about a product long before it ever officially gets marketed. What, you thought Engadget and Gizmodo and their ilk were enthusiast sites?

BoingBoing readers may think they’re having a good laugh at us hick’s expense, but they’re missing the larger point. I may be taking it personally at a certain level, but I’m also able to step back and see the forest for the trees. NASCAR meat, which I’ll grant leaves an odd first impression, isn’t idiotic, it’s brilliant. Missing the point on that is truly backwards thinking if I ever saw it. Yah here?

Sidenote: For humorous commentary to many BoingBoing related posts, see Xenisucks.com.

I’m sure this will get it’s requisite 5 minutes on the evening news, right before the critical update on Desperate Housewives, and then disappear from the headlines, but it shouldn’t. Michael Kostelnik, assistant commissioner at Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection Bureau, told the House Transportation subcommittee on Wednesday that:

“We need additional technology to supplement manned aircraft surveillance and current ground assets to ensure more effective monitoring of United States territory.”

To what was he referring? Unmanned aerial drones. These things.

Excuse me? Did a government official just ask the House of Representatives to allow Homeland Security to spy on Americans? How could that possibly be abused?

In a scene that could have been inspired by the movie “Minority Report,” one North Carolina county is using a UAV equipped with low-light and infrared cameras to keep watch on its citizens. The aircraft has been dispatched to monitor gatherings of motorcycle riders at the Gaston County fairgrounds from just a few hundred feet in the air–close enough to identify faces–and many more uses, such as the aerial detection of marijuana fields, are planned.

Wait, what did the motorcycle riders do that warranted surveillance? Was a crime being committed? Had anyone threatened to commit a crime? Is riding a motorcycle now probable cause to have you activities monitored by law enforcement?

This is very, very dangerous territory. Allowing routine flyovers of whatever patch of ground a law enforcement agency wants to watch is basically a blank check to watch anyone in the America, with no warrant. That means they can watch you in your back yard just because. Own a gun? I bet the cops would be very interested in you if you started shooting with a group of friends in a field. Got illegal fireworks? There might be a drone circling on the 4th of July.

Read 1984 and tell me you aren’t the least bit concerned about this kind of news story.

Link

Unbelievable. Well, if only it were…

[DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT]: But like anything in politics, there are shades of gray. Senator John Cornyn is a Texas Republican searching for a middle ground. He says illegal immigrants should be able to work in the U.S. legally, but only if they return to their country of origin first.

(on camera): How worried are you about the deep divide within your own party over this issue?

SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R), TEXAS: I really am not worried about it. I think it’s actually healthy.

BASH: You think it’s healthy? In an election year it’s healthy?

CORNYN: Well, you know, that’s the problem in America, we’re always having elections.

And then the voice over keeps talking about immigration! This Senator basically said the problem in America is that we too many elections!?!?! Hello, you’re (supposed to be) a journalist. For the love of God, if you can’t pick out stupid comments in an interview, you need to be fired. No offense to the imigration debate, but I’m pretty sure the cornerstone of our democracy is a bit more important.

Link [via (I can’t believe I’m linking to) Atrios]

“Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” – Nazi Reich Marshal Hermann Goering, before committing suicide at the Nuremberg Trials

[via Seat of the Revolution]

Below is the complete text of an email I received today.

Subject: Grass

The most urine-resistant grasses tend to be Perennial Ryegrasses and Fescues
You can usually get mixtures of those seeds to sow in the spring.

This is to close a loop on a tangental comments from 5 days ago. It took me a second to remember that conversation, which really made the email funny on the first read.