AATA Bus Service Petition

As most locals are aware, I pretty much stay out of city politics. I'll email or converse with my Council-person(s) from time to time, but I don't like to mix what I'm doing on the BOE with city stuff. That said, when government must make cuts, no matter what division of government -- no matter what kinds of cuts -- I am passionate about ensuring that they don't disproportionately affect those among us who can least afford them. I also know firsthand how a bus can be a lifeline to a job, to school, to going out with friends. At various times in my life, I have relied on city bus service, like when I was in high school, when I lived in New York City, and when I was in law school in Denver. In each city, I regularly relied on bus service to live my life. Cutting the AATA subsidy will jeopardize the routes that serve Ypsilanti. If these routes are eliminated, the impact could be catastrophic for some. Please don't get me wrong: I'm willing to bear my fair share of the brunt of budget cuts, if necessary, and I believe we all should be prepared to make necessary sacrifices. But cutting transportation for those that don't have it -- that should be off-limits. If you think AATA busing service should be retained, visit the petition here and add your signature. And yes, I already signed. I was number 620.

Family Ball

My daughter's elementary school had their family ball on Friday evening. We all had great fun! The kids delighted in dancing, until of course they completely exhausted themselves. The lighting was poor, so very few of the pics came out. Here is Hannah doing quite the dance: Here's Meredith dancing with Hannah: And here's a shot of the Elvis impersonator, who brought the house down. What a great performer he was. The kids loved it !!! Many apologies for the quality, but the light in the "ballroom" was dim, and my flash wasn't all that powerful. But, I hope they capture the flavor nonetheless :) Special thanks to Meredith and Julie, who spent a great deal of time and effort setting the whole thing up ! :) Update: As Amy pointed out in her comment, it was a packed house, despite the empty look in the pictures.

Hard questions meme

I was tagged by Courtney recently for this meme. And, delighted to be honored with the recognition of a good tag, here are my responses: 1: Black and White or Color; how do you prefer your movies? Technicolor. That B&W crap is for posers and pseudo-intellectuals. ;) 2: What is the one single subject that bores you to near-death? Self-help. If you've gotta talk about it, you're having trouble doing it. 3: MP3s, CDs, Tapes or Records: what is your favorite medium for prerecorded music? CD's for sure. They do the best job catching the sound the way the artist/producer intends for it to sound. 4: You are handed one first class trip plane ticket to anywhere in the world and ten million dollars cash. All of this is yours provided that you leave and not tell anyone where you are going ... ever. This includes family, friends, everyone. Would you take the money and ticket and run? No way. I love my kids and would never leave them no matter what. NO MATTER WHAT! 5: Seriously, what do you consider the world's most pressing issue now? Ignorance / tolerance. And yes, they are one in the same, in my view. We've got to collectively become confortable with the notion that the vast, vast majority of people who have views that are different from ours aren't merely stupid. They've just had different experiences in their lives and have reached different conclusions about things, and they have good reasons to think the things they think. If the only change we made was to simply assume that people who disagree with us or who we disagree with actually have good reasons for their views (fancy that), I think we would have to endure much, much less divisiveness in the world. 6: How would you rectify the world's most pressing issue? Education. It's not a luxury - it's a necessity and a right. Next time a Republican tells you, "When the house is poor, the kids have to go without shoes," please tell him/her to kiss your ass. And say it in a not-so-nice tone, if you will. We are a rich nation, and we do have the money to educate our children and citizens. It is only our elected representatives that lack the political will to prioritize our spending appropriately. 7: You are given the chance to go back and change one thing in your life; what would that be? Honestly, I have no idea. I'm comfortable with the choices I've made, and with the consequences that have resulted from them. Some of the worst choices I've made have taught me some of the most valuable lessons I've ever learned, so if I were to erase the choice, I'd be erasing the wisdom I acquired along with it. 8: You are given the chance to go back and change one event in world history, what would that be? I think I'd try and stop Eve from partaking of the apple. 9: A night at the opera, or a night at the Grand Ole' Opry --Which do you choose? Grand Ole' Opry, and I don't even like country music ! 10: What is the one great unsolved crime of all time you'd like to solve? Who really shot JFK, and why. 11: One famous author can come to dinner with you. Who would that be, and what would you serve for the meal? Philip Dick. Filet Mignon, rare, with garlic mashed potatoes, a vegetable, and a Renwood Zinfindel. 12: You discover that John Lennon was right, that there is no hell below us, and above us there is only sky -- what's the first immoral thing you might do to celebrate this fact? The non-existence of heaven and hell is no excuse for immoral behavior. I wouldn't change anything about the way I live my life. Hope you enjoyed these, but I'm dreadfully concerned they are snoozers . . . . Oh well . . . . I am tagging Emily, War Eagle, Wickwire, and Peri. Looking forward to reading your answers :)

Weekend Getaway, Pt. 3: Nat'l Civil Rights Museum

The National Civil Rights Museum was the sleeper highlight of the trip for me. It was a chilling, moving and inspiring place. It is housed in the Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated by James Earl Ray. The facade of the motel has been preserved, and it looks much like it did on the day MLK died, only there is a wreath on the railing at the location of his murder. As we entered the museum, there was a short video presentation. Once in, there were long hallways of displays, exhibits, audio, video, sculpture and more. In the first hallway of exhibits, not 10 minutes after we entered, there was a full Ku Klux Klan grand wizard costume in a case, hood and all. As I stood gawking at it's detestable faux grandeur, a young African American boy -- couldn't have been more than six -- walked up, raised his eyes to it, and just stared straight up at it. He wasn't the least bit frightened, intimidated or upset. He made a snorting sound, leaned over, and skipped off toward his family a moment later. There was an extensive exhibit on Brown vs. Board of Education, a case that every law student in the country studies in their constitutional law classes. Attorney Thurgood Marshall (who would go on to become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court), while working for the NAACP, crafted a strategy of picking cases around the South to litigate in the Federal Courts. He picked only the best cases with the best plaintiffs and the best fact patterns. The NAACP raised money to fund all this litigation. I realize that just about everyone detests lawsuits, but these lawsuits not only changed the legal landscape in this country forever, but they also formed the foundation of civil rights protections as we know them today. One of the first, and certainly one of the most important of the cases to end up in the hands of the Supreme Court was Brown vs. Board of Education. In a stunning opinion delivered by Chief Justice Warren from the bench, read aloud, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously proclaimed segregation in the public schools to be unconstitutional. The exhibit had copies of the briefs, and a number of newspaper headlines from when the case was handed down. There were exhibits on the Montgomery Bus Boycott, on sit-ins all throughout the South, on Medgar Evers, the famous March on Washington and more. There was material on Harriet Tubman, Soujourner Truth, Frederick Douglas, Booker T. Washington and more. There was a bus Meredith and I walked into, with a sculpture of a bus driver hollering at a sculpture of Rosa Parks to get in the back or get off the bus. There was so much to take in, I couldn't possibly list it all here in a blog post. I saw a stunning picture of MLK watching Johnson sign one of the civil rights bills, and I swear, he was watching Johnson like a hawk. The look on his face says, "I won't believe it until I see you sign it." Near the end of the tour of the first building of the museum, Meredith and I saw the actual rooms in preserved condition that MLK and his entourage stayed in. We next left the first building, and entered a tunnel that evoked images of the Underground Railroad. At the end of the tunnel, we emerged at a staircase that took us up to another exhibit. Before we knew it, we realized we were standing in the very room from which the fatal shot was fired. It was a bone-chilling, spine-tingling moment. This portion of the exhibit had all the evidence and artifacts -- the gun, timelines, newspaper articles, evidence cards, you name it -- from the investigation and trial of James Earl Ray. There were even FBI documents concerning the surveillance of MLK and governmental attempts to infiltrate his organization in the days and weeks prior to the assassination. The museum ends where all museums end -- at the gift shop. I couldn't resist purchasing an ERACISM t-shirt. :) The museum is a must-see if you're ever in or near Memphis. I couldn't possibly capture the experience here on my blog. You really have to see it and feel it to experience it. In closing, please permit me a shameless plug for the NAACP. It is a worthy, hands-on, grass roots organization that is deeply devoted to continuing to advance civil rights well into the 21st Century. Why not run right over there and join this minute? I'm a member :)

Weekend Getaway, Pt. 2: Graceland

Sunday morning, slept in yet again (ahhhhhhh). The weather was still pretty darn crappy, but Meredith and I chose to brave the cold and visit Graceland. Yes, Elvis' famous Graceland Mansion. :) Since the ice storm had closed Graceland the prior day, and since their computers were down, the line was literally out the door. From arrival to mansion, we pretty much had to wait 1.5 hours, more than half of that outside in the bitter cold. Brrrrrr. Once at the mansion, though certainly not modest in decor, I was surprised by how modest it was in size. By today's standards, it really isn't all that big. The McMansions I pass by on my way to and from work probably have more usable square footage, generally speaking. Of course, Elvis added some space and some buildings to the property, but the house itself was smaller than I expected. I had been warned that the interior would be excessively gaudy, but I was again surprised at its appearance. Having been kid in at least one home with 70s vintage decorating, shag carpet, and an overabundance of primary colors, I can't say that the decor was all that far out of bounds. I mean, come on, he was Elvis, no? What was particularly funny was how antiquated the audio and video equipment were. We're talking about an era not all that long ago, yet the 8-track tape player and records looked like artifacts from an archeological dig. And all the TV's were tiny little things that you can get at a garage sale for $15. The house actually looked kind of cozy and definitely fun to live in. They don't allow flash photography, so many of the photos didn't come out (blurry), but the rooms were very funky and definitely likely to inspire creativity. There were many displays of artifacts ranging from gold records to outfits, guitars and cases, you name it. Elvis fans must be experiencing bliss throughout. The entire tour takes a few hours, and our package deal even included the airplanes, which were impressive. Meredith and I thought it would be cool to get pictures of our reflections in one of Elvis' gold records -- you guessed it, the greatest of the King's hits: In the Ghetto. ;) The above picture is a very cold Meredith and I, about halfway through the line to get to the mansion, posing in front of a picture of the Graceland gates. We were not so lucky as to have sunlight and green grass during the time we spent there. ;) More to come tomorrow, what may have been the "sleeper" highlight of the trip: The National Civil Rights Museum.

Weekend Getaway, Pt. 1: Memphis, TN

I jetted off to Memphis, TN with my dear friend Meredith this weekend. To make a long story short, we had a blast. To make the short story a little longer, we had a blast of frigid cold air, with a large helping of hail, and an ice storm. In fact, I think it was warmer when we left home than it was in Memphis when we arrived to the winter storm warning. But, alas, we did not permit the frigid winter temperature to dampen our spirits. No way, no how. We went immediately from the airport, checked in to our Marriott Courtyard Hotel (yes, boring I know, but all the downtown hotels were booked). From there, we hit the town with a reckless abandon usually reserved for college students at spring break. We had dinner at King's Palace on Beale Street. King's Palace is an authentic local establishment that specializes in Memphis barbeque and Cajun cuisine. While listening to a jazz band, we enjoyed deep fried alligator, smoked ribs, and a Cajun combo with catfish, etouffe, Cajun potatoes, and more. We next wandered into the Juke Joint, just down the road, and were treated to an incredible blues experience unlike ever I've had. This band was three young guys and an older bass player, and they simply rocked the house until it closed. Amazing, incredible blues. And to boot, we did so while drinking "Big Ass" beers (that's really what they're called)! The crowd was fantastic, and we met a couple from Edmonton, Canada who had been there the night before and liked it so much, they had returned. The next morning, after sleeping in (which I never get to do at home), we went back to Beale Street for lunch, and ate at the Blues City Cafe (another authentic local spot), where the fare included tamales, chili, and an amazing Southern stew. Then it was off to the Gibson Guitar Factory for a tour. Yes, I was on cloud nine! I think when we left the factory, my mouth hurt from smiling too much. While there, we got to go everywhere but in the painting booth. We saw the raw wood as it arrives, every single step in the process of making a legendary Gibson guitar, all the machines, and the actual in-progress instruments in each step of the process. I learned a great deal that I didn't know about the manufacturing process and got to see hundreds of unfinished, partially and totally finished guitars. They have this amazing humidification system that mists the entire factory to keep the wood from drying out. The place smells of sawdust and laquer, and it is a one-of-a-kind experience. If you ever get to Memphis, this tour is a must-see. After Gibson, we went to see Sun Studios. Sun Studios is, of course, where Elvis got his start. There is a shop when you enter, with all sorts of memorabilia, records and recordings of sessions that happened there. The exhibition room upstairs had original equipment, rock and roll artifacts, Elvis memorabilia, and a wonderful lecture with audio clips that took us through the history and evolving sounds of the studio. The story of how Sun came to be and the legendary music that was recorded there was truly amazing and inspirational. After the exhibition room presentation was complete, we were led into the actual studio in which so many greats recorded great records: Elvis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and more. The mojo in that room was legendary and inspiring. I was truly moved by the pictures of U2 recording songs from Rattle & Hum with B.B. King. In fact, there was this one picture of Bono standing in the studio, near where I stood, with the picture on the wall of Elvis, Perkins, Lewis and Cash right behind him. Awesome! After Sun Studios, it was again time to eat, so we proceeded to a restaurant named Pig. Yep, no kidding -- that's the name. We had the barbeque lovers feast, which included bbq chicken, ribs, pork, beans, slaw, and much, much more. We listened to a blues duet while we stuffed ourselves silly. Having enjoyed the Juke Joint so much the evening before, we returned to see the same band explode onstage with some more of the best blues that Meredith and I had ever seen and heard in our lives. In a rare moment of blues induced bliss, I took to the floor, and Meredith and I danced our hearts out! Last time I did that, I was in elementary school !!! Stay tuned for our trip to Graceland and the National Civil Rights Museum, with pictures to come!

Buddhists call it . . . .

What do you get when Crazy Dave, trusty getto and Buckcherry converge at the same location? Enlightenment, nirvana, and bliss are three words that came to mind. Well, once I got my hearing back, that is.

White House announces "No Lawyer Left Standing" Initiative

Impatient with efforts to close the courts to litigants, the Bush Administration literally fired the first shot in its groundbreaking "No Lawyer Left Standing" initiative. Vice-President Cheney, hunting on a private lawyer ranch near Kingsville, Texas, bagged an impressive buck (Harry Whittington, UT Law '50). Under the new program, hunters may take one white shoe in-house lawyer or three outside lawyers daily. The limit has been suspended for trial lawyers. "We've just got to thin the herd," said the Vice-President. "We've tried tort reform and caps on damages, but people are still suing." Cheney added, "It's easy and fun. In Texas, you can shoot in almost any direction and hit a lawyer."

Caught spying? Hire a lawyer with connections . . .

Click here to see the TV ad for U.S. Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales' new law firm. Think I should send them my resume?

Willie Nelson records gay cowboy song

I don't usually recycle news items here on the blog, but I couldn't pass up passing this one on. Willie Nelson just recorded a song, "Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly (Fond of Each Other). Though I haven't heard it yet, you can bet I'll be galluping on over to iTunes to give it a listen later today. Some of the lyrics go: "What did you think all them saddles and boots was about?" and "Inside every cowboy there's a lady who'd love to slip out." Though I don't think I'll be jumping on the gay cowboy bandwagon soon, or recording a gay cowboy song, it is fascinating to watch a country obsessed with "the gay agenda" (whatever the heck that means), unabashedly using the power of the pocketbook to keep the gravy train going. Oh, and sorry for the bad puns . . . .

Soundtrack of my life, pt. 4: Happy Valentine's Day !

Several years ago, I wrote a Valentine's Day song for my then wife. Today, for the first time in 20 years, I don't have a sweetheart on Valentine's Day. But instead of being down and out about it, I'm actually looking forward to the future. Today, I have the distinct feeling that as each chapter in my life closes, a new one begins. And I'm looking forward to the new beginnings that the coming year will hold. So, today, in honor of St. Valentine, I ask: Will you be my Valentine? :)

Need a lawyer?

I am a trial attorney, concentrating my practice in the areas of medical malpractice and nursing home litigation. A shareholder with Sommers Schwartz, P.C., one of Michigan's largest and most successful full-service litigation firms, I accept cases throughout the entire state, and I have a successful litigation record in both the upper and lower peninsula. I also offer representation for: Wills, living wills, and durable powers of attorney Other elder care law matters Domestic cases, including custody and divorce Defense cases in which there is no insurance coverage Real estate document review and advice Consumer Protection cases Most school law matters outside the Ypsilanti School District, including student advocacy and defense (such as expulsion hearings) Routine probate matters and probate disputes/litigation My hourly rates are competitive, and most of my plaintiff's cases are litigated on a contingent fee basis, with no costs or fees charged unless I recover on your behalf. Sommers Schwartz, P.C. is a full service law firm representing individuals and businesses throughout the country, solving legal problems in areas of the law too numerous to list here. If you have a legal issue outside of my areas of practice, please call me so that I can find you an attorney with the expertise to address your legal issue and that fits your particular budget. I may be reached at (248) 355-0300 or by email at cgetto@sommerspc.com. By the way, trusty getto's real name is Cameron R. Getto.

Soundtrack of my life, pt. 3: An introduction to the early years

Mean_girl's song meme got me thinking. Why blog about the music of others? I'm a musician. I'm a songwriter. I'm a composer. The soundtrack of my life, quite literally, I wrote, performed and recorded, and then I uploaded a lot of it onto the Internet. So, instead of talking about other people's music, I'm going to talk about mine on and off here for a while. What you are about to hear are the sounds of a brilliant young prodigy. An up-and-coming composer of major importance. A legend in the making. A soon-to-be master artisan in his formative years, chipping away at a marble block to reveal the treasure beneath. Well, okay, not really. There is a reason that I am an attorney these days. ;) What you are about to hear is really the over-dramatic, self-indulgent, heavy metal meets electronic musical ramblings of a McDonald's french fry eating, blue parachute pants wearing, too much MTV watching, 18-year-old rebel without a cause. Yep, this is what I was up to 20 years ago. Etude in Eb Minor Disclaimer: Please, please, please don't feel obligated in any way to listen to anything I put up here on the blog, certainly not in it's entirety if it's for any reason not meeting with your approval. If you don't like it, that's just fine. This is definitely *not* me fishing for compliments (I'm perfectly secure and happy in my musical ability--or lack thereof), so don't feel obligated to say nice things. I can always play my music for my daughters and get plenty of positive comments and dancing out of it :)

I've seen a number of word clouds floating around

Here's mine: You can generate your own here (and have a t-shirt made if you like).

Protecting the rich instead of protecting you

That's an x-ray showing a pacemaker. Pacemakers help the hearts of patients beat properly. If your heart doesn't beat properly, you die. Which is why pacemakers cost a lot. People need them to live. People are willing to pay a lot for them. Guidant, a large corporation that manufactures pacemakers built a whole slew of defective ones. They are now in the process of dealing with the aftermath of their defective product, which killed a number of people and crippled a number of others. The rest of the people with these defective devices inside them must either have them turned off, which will result in them having a medical device inside them that provides no benefit to them, or they will have to have it taken out and a new one put in. Interstingly enough, so far as I'm aware, Guidant hasn't paid back any of the insurance companies that paid for these devices and the doctors and hospitals that put them in. Think this may contribute to the high cost of health care? It's a sure bet. Even after selling all these defective pacemakers, Guidant was purchased by Boston Scientific a couple of weeks ago for $27 Billion. Know why Boston Scientific had no compunction whatsoever about buying a corporation that sold thousands of defective pacemakers? Last month, the FDA, after years of continued failures at trying to protect major drug companies from liability for dangerous drugs, quietly issued a magic new rule. The new rule does what the FDA can't get Congress, 49 of the states, or the courts to do. If the FDA rule takes, you too will have a new law, because federal law preempts state law. This means that the FDA's rule will trump the laws of the state you're in, even if your state doesn't want it's laws trumped by the feds. There isn't a damn thing you, your state legislature, your state courts, or your governor can do about it. This attempt is nothing new to me. In Michigan, a similar law immunizes drug companies from liability for killing, injuring and maiming people with dangerous drugs, if those drugs were approved by the FDA. Yep, in Michigan, drug companies have the same immunity normally reserved to governments, diplomats and sovereign nations. Michigan, by the way, is the only state that has a law like this immunizing drug companies. Yours may be next due to the FDA's new rule. Pretty much nobody thinks the law is a good idea, except of course for drug companies, tort-reformers and lobbyists. The bipartisan National Conference of State Legislatures is on record firmly against the rule change, as are a number of other organizations. The NCSL says: FDA has usurped the authority of Congress, state legislatures, and state courts; FDA has violated the federalism Executive Order; and The preemption provision is contrary to the consumer protection goals of the rest of the rule. Now, I think it is foolish governmental policy to immunize businesses from liability. Our country has a long history of FDA-approved drugs hurting and killing people. Dozens of drugs and devices, ranging from Vioxx and Bextra (taken my millions of people -- including me), to pace makers have been recalled in just the last few years. The problems with these defective drugs and devices aren't annoying side-effects or modest inconveniences. These things kill people. Victims of defective medical devices and drugs number in the tens of millions. Tens of billions of dollars have been pocketed by these companies. Hundreds of millions of the profits generated from these products have been spent lobbying Congress. Pardon me, but I have a problem with businesses that profit from hurting people. I don't think it is at all appropriate to pocket billions of dollars and then walk away when it's proven your drug or device is deadly. Like is the case with the asbestos bail-out bill currently being debated in Congress. But I digress -- that's another post some other time. As I've posted before (here and here) the FDA has increasingly become a political arm of the Executive Branch. Decisions about all sorts of things are no longer made primarily on the basis of science and medicine, but on the basis of politics. This will serve to increase the risk and danger to consumers in the future. Apparently, your elected officials and government don't give a hoot. When the breadwinner of a family dies suddenly because his pacemaker was defective, his widow will just have to do the best she can to make those mortgage payments, feed the kids, and provide them with whatever parenting she may have time for at the end of the day after she returns from her second job. When a child's liver unexpectedly fails after being given a new inadequately tested antibiotic, the family will just have to choose between selling their home and liquidating the 401K or forgoeing the liver transplant and watching their child die a slow death. These are real injuries affecting real people. Our government should be in the business of protecting us, not working to immunize businesses from liability.

Suggestion box open

I have a long weekend coming up in just under two weeks. The kids will be with their mom in Chicago, and I'm taking off Friday afternoon through Monday. This is my first opportunity to do something for myself -- just myself -- in a very long time. And based on the advice I've gotten in the past couple of months, both on the blog and off it, I'm thinking of doing something just for me. Trouble is, I'm kind of crappy at doing things just for me. I'm not sure what the heck to do. I'm thinking I could go to Vegas (I'm planning a trip there in May), Miami, Denver, just about anywhere I want (within reason -- it's just a long weekend -- which mean Patagonia is out). I could stay at home and watch movies all weekend, or get a massage. I could go cross-country skiing in the Upper Peninsula. Now, I know I can count on my good blog friends to point out all the things I'm not thinking of. What kinds of things do you do when you have some time to yourself? What is your favorite "take care of yourself" long weekend? What should I do? Please help me out, won't you? UPDATE: Memphis it is, and I've never been there ! I can't wait . . . .

Back

The girls and I packed our things and flew to Alabama Wednesday morning to say goodbye to my Grandma Cranfill -- Great-Granny to the girls. My Aunt Betty flew with us, and when we arrived, she was already at the gate. Betty hasn't flown in some 20 years and was terribly anxious about the flight. She handled it marvelously. Once on the plane, the girls were simply delightful the entire way there. We met my sister and her daughter in Huntsville, Alabama and rented a mini-van. Upon arrival, many relatives were already in town for the funeral. We attended the visitation, which truly fascinated the girls. They all wanted to touch Great-Granny, but were afraid to. They did get to say good-bye. The funeral the next day was beautiful. Grandma Cranfill's family is huge. She was survived by three sisters, (three other sisters and two brothers are deceased), four daughters and a son, 17 grandchildren, 38 great-grandchildren, and 3 great-great-grandchildren. Her legacy will live on for decades to come. Many generations of relatives gathered at her house after the funeral, and we socialized until late in the evening. Yesterday morning, we returned to Huntsville, boarded our plane, and arrived in Detroit to a very crowded airport filled with buzz and people arriving for the SuperBowl. Now, it's snowing outside. Predictions are as much as 8 inches, which will no doubt make tomorrow's SuperBowl an evening to remember!