Brewer vetoes gun, birther bills

Guns on campus was the bigger part of the legislation than the birther issue. News reports did not focus on that but this article gives a good overview.

We will see more of this type of gun legislation in states. We had a blip of it last year in Michigan and we will see a similar bill again in the legislative session. Same ole debate between gun lobby/gun rights versus the no guns/ ban guns groups. Nothing new. Maybe we just have everyone have to check their guns at the classroom door or at the classroom building door. Same at dorm. Whew.

Brewer vetoes gun, birther bills

Does this mean Romney wins Iowa?

Again, from Politico's Mike Allen, citing a column by Republican writer Michael Gerson, that outlines how maybe an extreme on the social conservative issues might not win Iowa and a guy like Romney might win Iowa. Then go on to win New Hampshire and South Carolina. Could wrap up the Republican primary after that--or at least tough to stop.

"Michael Gerson column from Des Moines, "Iowa begins to take stock of GOP field" - "Iowa activists speak of another possible route to victory. In addition to the traditional base of caucus participants - 120,000 during the last cycle - there are about 100,000 more Iowans who vote in Republican primaries. Party officials describe these as Chamber of Commerce conservatives - bankers, insurance executives and the like. They might be attracted to a strong leader, even one with questionable social conservative credentials." http://wapo.st/fBU7JU "

Economy and Presidential race

From Mike Allen's "Playbook" on Politico.com, cited below, we see numbers that do not look good for the President from some people's perspective. The question still is will the drive by the President to make people focus on "I am fighting for the middle class and the Republican candidates want to just protect the rich and not tax them" message stick in the voters mind. Thus driving up the President's reelect numbers. A bigger issue I think for the President than the below numbers is the price of gasoline. Every American drives around town everyday see that $4.00 per gallon number and it is a constant reminder of how bad the economy is beating them up. Story below has good numbers and ought to be watched.

"TOP STORY - WashPost A1, at the fold, "Economy is battering Obama in the polls: Despite dip in approval ratings, he still edges 2012 GOP contenders": In the new Washington Post-ABC News poll, "47 percent approve of the job Obama is doing, down seven points since January. Half of all Americans disapprove of his job performance, with 37 percent saying they 'strongly disapprove' ... Driving the downward movement in Obama's standing are renewed concerns about the economy and fresh worry about rising prices, particularly for gasoline. Despite signs of economic growth, 44 percent of Americans see the economy as getting worse, the highest percentage to say so in more than two years.

"The toll on Obama is direct: 57 percent disapprove of the job the president is doing dealing with the economy ... When Republicans and GOP-leaners were asked who they would vote for in a primary or caucus, only former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney registered in double digits, with 16 percent. ... Businessman Donald Trump (8 percent), former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee (6 percent) and former Alaska governor Sarah Palin (5 percent) were the only other names volunteered by more than 2 percent of respondents." Story http://wapo.st/hgpUux Results going back years http://wapo.st/dEPAwy."

Snyder on Education Reform

public announcement will not occur today. Talk of it being on April 25 or 27. Hold on. Will be interesting--it is the next large debate after the Legislature and the Governor get done with the budget "fix".

Big Blog on Campus - NYTimes.com

Excellent story on blogs in academe. Good references. Worth reading.

Big Blog on Campus - NYTimes.com

States Attempt to Streamline Education

Gov. Snyder's educational reform proposal is out today. We will see what he has to say about this topic for Michigan. Noon at the Detroit Economic Club is the formal release.

Going to be a huge, huge debate in Michigan during the next 12 to 24 months. Not just on teacher/administrator pensions and health care costs, but on parent choice, charters, testing, accountability, site based management, empowerment schools, etc.



States Attempt to Streamline Education

2012 presidential candidates 'friend' social media | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

Candidate use of social media will enable the candidates to indeed talk directly to the public, the voter. The established media will not and is not now the only source anymore for the voter to get info. The voter can sort out what it wants to read and when. BUT the big responsibility is doing the work to fact check, to see if what is written on this wide open internet, this new social media is true or false. Opinion or fact.

2012 presidential candidates 'friend' social media | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

Committee chairs in Congress are raising cash for 2012 | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

Money does drive politics. Will take lots and lots of it in 2012 to get elected in any federal or state office. Not a good thing that American politics is now so controlled by big money, Wall Street, unions, liberal or conservative groups, etc., etc.. Need a bigger debate in America about how we want to deal with this issue and how it impacts our First Amendment rights. Need the debate now.

Committee chairs in Congress are raising cash for 2012 | Detroit Free Press | freep.com