Arbor Update

Ann Arbor Area Community News

Vote this Tuesday, November 6

5. November 2007 • Juliew
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Ward 2, this one’s for you. You actually have a choice between two candidates: incumbent Stephen Rapundalo and challenger Ed Amonsen.

All other wards are uncontested and because last minute write-in votes are no longer allowed, they will remain uncontested. The polls will all be open from 7:00am to 8:00pm so stop by, cast your vote, admire the new accessible voting machines, and say “Hi” to your local poll workers. I don’t know what the rules are (Larry, can you help?), but I’m thinking they wouldn’t mind some snacks, flowers, or a cool magazine or two to read while sitting for what will surely be a long, slow day.

Be aware that you must now show photo identification to vote. For more information (and any exceptions), see the following document.

Other parts of Washtenaw County will see a bit more excitement on Tuesday with contested elections in Chelsea, Milan, Saline, and South Lyon. Ypsilanti residents will be voting on a much-discussed City Income Tax.



  1. [Julie, Rapundalo’s first name is Stephen. Can you fix this?]


       —David Cahill    Nov. 5 '07 - 06:46PM    #
  2. Thanks David, it is fixed. Sorry about that.


       —Juliew    Nov. 5 '07 - 07:51PM    #
  3. My understanding is that you can still vote without a photo ID by signing an affidavit that you are who you say you are and that the affidavit wording would be preprinted on the “Application to vote” form we fill out and sign when we go to vote.

    Larry can you please confirm this. Or maybe someone in the ACLU legal department can weigh in on this.


       —David A DeVarti    Nov. 5 '07 - 10:01PM    #
  4. From the City’s document on voting in tomorrow’s election:

    “Voters who do not bring picture identification to the polls or do not possess picture identification can vote like any other voter by signing an affidavit.”


       —HD    Nov. 5 '07 - 10:25PM    #
  5. Yes, that is correct.

    Every voter has to be asked to show photo ID, even if the election worker asking your question has known you for years. Hell, even if the election worker is your mom.

    Voters who don’t have an acceptable form of ID can sign the affidavit and vote as normally.

    If the name printed on your ID doesn’t perfectly match your name on the voter registration list, that’s okay, so long as the difference is plausible (nicknames, presence or absence of middle initial, recent marriage). If the ID doesn’t have an address, or has an address different from the voter address, that’s okay too.

    Voters who say they have photo ID with them, but refuse to show it, may not vote.


       —Larry Kestenbaum    Nov. 5 '07 - 11:54PM    #
  6. “Every voter has to be asked to show photo ID, even if the election worker asking your question has known you for years. Hell, even if the election worker is your mom.”

    Really? I never had to show ID to vote at the polling place in Arrowwood. A couple times this led to my father and I accidentally switching ballots (since we have the same first initial).


       —js    Nov. 6 '07 - 01:40AM    #
  7. From what I’ve read here and elsewhere, the picture ID ‘requirement’ sounds like just a hoop to jump through, further bogging down the process of voting. Am I missing the logic behind it, Larry, or was it just a political play?


       —Steve Bean    Nov. 6 '07 - 02:28AM    #
  8. The list of polling places from ewashtenaw.org.


       —Edward Vielmetti    Nov. 6 '07 - 03:03AM    #
  9. Larry is of course the better person to respond, but I’m wondering if I’m the only one who listens to NPR. There was a law passed some years ago, it was challenged in court, then affirmed by the Supreme Court, and this election is the first to require the photo ID. This is part of a nationwide campaign by Republicans to stop “voter fraud”, by which they mean too many minorities voting.


       —Vivienne Armentrout    Nov. 6 '07 - 06:03AM    #
  10. Yeah, I’m surprised this is getting so much press – I thought it had been that way for years.

    So, let me verify that I understand – if I say I have ID on me, but don’t want to show it, I can’t vote, so if I want to protest the requirement, I should leave my wallet at the office, in the car, or in the table in the hall at the polls when I go to vote?


       —Murph.    Nov. 6 '07 - 09:09AM    #
  11. Publius has sample ballots for all of Michigan – type in your name, it will show you where to go to vote and who is on the ballot.


       —Edward Vielmetti    Nov. 6 '07 - 06:44PM    #
  12. Although the State Legislature enacted the ID requirement in 1996, it was never implemented due to a prior ruling issued through the Attorney General’s office. More recently, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled on July 18, 2007 that requiring a voter to either present a picture ID or sign an affidavit if the voter was not carrying such an ID, is both constitutional and enforceable.

    If one were intent on voting more than once, it would seem that filling out bogus absentee ballots, where there’s no ID requirement or affidavits to sign and each vote can be submitted relatively anonymously, would be far more productive and easier to get away with than voting in person and having to stand in line and sign an affidavit for each stolen vote, and risking 5 years in prison.

    Considering this rather obvious “loophole”, it would seem that eliminating voter fraud is not the main objective behind the ID requirement.


       —Michael Schils    Nov. 6 '07 - 07:33PM    #
  13. Last time I voted (last year, at Allen) I simply showed my voter registration card. Nothing else was asked. It struck me as rather slack.


       —Fred Zimmerman    Nov. 6 '07 - 08:55PM    #
  14. Is there any evidence at all to suggest that minorities are more likely not to have an ID? Do they not drive or cash checks? Why don’t Democrats want to stop voter fraud also? Wasn’t that a major contention in Gore’s failed presidential bid?


       —Karen Luck    Nov. 6 '07 - 09:00PM    #
  15. Fred, notwithstanding the lack of photo ID, the voter authentication process was not as insecure as it looked .

    Pretty much all the rest of you are correct.

    I think the intent of the 1996 law was to prohibit people from voting if they didn’t show their ID, and the affidavit was intended only for those who did not own any acceptable identification. In other words, if you got to the polls at five minutes before closing, but left your driver’s license at home, you couldn’t vote.

    However, the folks who pushed for the Supreme Court to uphold the law argued for a gentler interpretation, that anyone who didn’t have ID with them could just sign an affidavit. The case for the law’s unconstitutionality would have been stronger otherwise. So the state Bureau of Elections is also reading the law this way.

    Hence, in the affidavit, you’re swearing that you don’t have an ID with you. How silly is that?

    If your wallet’s in your pocket when you sign the form, it’s perjury.

    I’m not at all in favor of this law, which adds extra steps and another form for no good reason, but election officials have no choice but to implement it.


       —Larry Kestenbaum    Nov. 6 '07 - 09:01PM    #
  16. I was a poll worker in 2004 (and it definitely was not a slow day), and a few people actually yelled at me because I didn’t need to see their photo IDs.

    Vote fraud on an individual basis strikes me as being pretty hard to do, but I suppose the photo ID requirement stops people from showing up to vote for deceased people still registered to vote. (I’m not sure how much of a problem that is, though.)


       —Becky    Nov. 6 '07 - 09:13PM    #
  17. I just pushed the in-person count past the absentee count for my polling place (17) and snagged a little bag of Whoppers from the candy table.

    I was assured that it was not just left-over Halloween candy, but rather had been procured especially for the polling place. That made ‘the original malted milk balls’ all the more delicious. Made them taste exactly like … democracy, with both natural and artificial flavors.


       —HD    Nov. 6 '07 - 11:22PM    #
  18. At 1:20 p.m., halfway through the voting day, 24 people had cast ballots in Precincts 1-5 and 1-6 combined. Assuming a steady load of voters throughout the day, 48 people will have cast ballots by 8:00 p.m. Sabra is the only candidate on the ballot.

    In addition, there are 54 absentee ballots for these two precincts to be fed into the machines.

    Therefore, there will be roughly 48 + 54 = 102 ballots cast for Sabra altogether.

    This is much higher than I expected. In the May 8, 2007 School Board race with just one candidate, 48 ballots were cast in these precincts.

    In the August 7, 2007 primary Sabra got 140 votes in these precincts out of a total of 277 votes cast.

    So it seems that most of Sabra’s fans are voting, despite the lack of a contest and minimal press coverage.

    Does anyone have any details from any other precincts?


       —David Cahill    Nov. 6 '07 - 11:54PM    #
  19. At about 12:30 I was number 42 at Bach School (fifth ward) I was told that included 17 absentee ballots. A higher turnout than I expected, actually. But turnout is often high in this precinct.
    I took my ballot out of the privacy sleeve once I voted. There wasn’t much info to hide. The precinct worker seemed distressed by that. I had to laugh, but appreciate that they’re doing what they’re told to do.
    Democracy in action. I don’t take it for granted.


       —Linda Diane Feldt    Nov. 7 '07 - 01:17AM    #
  20. Technically, if you let anyone see how you voted, you have spoiled your ballot, and the election workers are supposed to issue you a new one.

    That’s because, in the old days, the motivation for letting somebody see your voted ballot was to get paid off for voting the way the vote-buyer wanted.

    Of course, if you vote absentee, there’s nothing to stop you from showing your ballot to anyone you like. But you can’t do it in the precinct on election day.


       —Larry Kestenbaum    Nov. 7 '07 - 01:53AM    #
  21. Let’s look at Bach School (Precinct 5-2). Since there were 17 absentee ballots out of the 42 cast, that means there were 42-17 = 25 regular ballots.

    There are 13 hours in an election day, from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. At 12:30, 5.5 of those hours had passed. Again assuming a steady stream of voters, I would expect that there would be roughly 25 x (13/5.5) = 59 regular voters. Adding back those 17 absentees, the total vote in that precinct should be 59 + 17 = 76.

    How does this compare to the August primary? In 5-2, Anglin got 160 and Woods got 79, for a total of 239.

    Hm. It looks like Anglin’s voters are not coming out today to the same extent that Briere’s voters are – at least in that precinct.


       —David Cahill    Nov. 7 '07 - 02:11AM    #
  22. Larry,
    The rules and laws are more complex than I could imagine. Thanks for the info. I wish we didn’t have to go through all this expensive and strict stuff for an uncontested election.
    The price for democracy.

    Maybe the republicans would now favor instant run off voting if it could help bring back contested races. I would prefer contested races, if nothing else we learn more from the issues being discussed with a variety of viewpoints. And there is greater accountability.


       —Linda Diane Feldt    Nov. 7 '07 - 03:48AM    #
  23. I didn’t bother voting in the First Ward because I didn’t care for the ballot choices.


       —Disgruntled in the 1st    Nov. 7 '07 - 05:14AM    #
  24. MLive is reporting that, pending verification of write-in ballots, Rapundalo has narrowly prevailed in the 2nd Ward Council race


       —HD    Nov. 7 '07 - 08:23AM    #
  25. From the results, it looks like 2nd ward had the most voters and the 1st ward candidate had the least voter support, in terms of turn out.


       —in tune    Nov. 7 '07 - 04:39PM    #
  26. Y’all need more interesting elections. Here in Ypsi, we managed 27% voter turnout.


       —Murph.    Nov. 7 '07 - 05:35PM    #
  27. The turnout largely depended on where the student precincts are. The First Ward has five student precincts (1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, and 1-7). Hardly anyone voted in these precincts. The other five precincts (1-5, 1-6, 1-8, 1-9, and 1-10) are homeowner precincts, and a substantial number of votes were cast there.

    The Fifth Ward has only one student precinct (5-1). Therefore, the Fifth Ward had a larger turnout than the First Ward because of how the student precincts are distributed.

    The big surprise for me was in the Second Ward. Amonsen crushed Rapundalo in precincts 2-3, 2-4, and 2-5. These are the precincts between the Huron River and Washtenaw. However, Rapundalo took the precincts north of the Huron River, and he won the election. I don’t know anything about the Amonsen campaign, but I can think of two reasons for this odd split. Maybe Amonsen campaigned throughout the ward, but his issues only appealed to people south of the river. Or, maybe Amonsen’s campaign, being late starting, was not able to reach the people north of the river.

    Here are the unofficial election results. Clicking on the appropriate ward will bring up all the precinct results.


       —David Cahill    Nov. 7 '07 - 07:57PM    #
  28. The deal is, Amonsen campaigned on the don’t-sell-golf-course platform. So he was popular in wards closest to the golf course. People north of the river don’t care about the golf course and he didn’t win those.


       —Cooler Heads    Nov. 8 '07 - 03:07AM    #
  29. Whatever the reason for the final outcome, for a write-in campaign to come that close to unseating an incumbent is extraordinary. A switch of a couple dozen votes and we could have been discussing Rapundalo’s defeat today.


       —John Q,    Nov. 8 '07 - 03:36AM    #
  30. Every write-in candidate labors under a terrific disadvantage. The scanner-total “write-in” votes you’re all counting for Amonson won’t all go to him — probably some voters wrote in somebody else. Moreover, probably about 10% to 20% of the people who wrote in Amonsen’s name neglected to darken the oval in front of the write-in spot, so their votes didn’t count at all.

    I’m guessing that if Amonsen had been on the ballot, say as an independent, he would have won.

    That doesn’t mean that Amonsen would be a strong candidate next year. It will be a very different political environment. Even with plenty of lead time to prepare his campaign, he’d have a tough time winning an even-year Democratic primary (especially against popular incumbent Joan Lowenstein), and an even tougher time running as an independent for a low-visibility office in the November presidential election.


       —Larry Kestenbaum    Nov. 8 '07 - 06:19AM    #
  31. I’m not sure being on the ballot as an independent would have helped Amonson.

    It is true a write in candidate has a true disadvantage as the prior post stated.

    However, a last minute write in candidate also has a tactical advantage. The incumbent who runs un-opposed initially does no campaigning and most people don’t vote as demonstrated by the other ward turn-outs. The battle here is to get people to vote in what is billed as an un-opposed election.

    I actually think a visible opponent earlier simply mobolizes support.

    I think the people motivated to vote for Amonson did vote. Additional time may not have brought more people out for him because he really didn’t have an issue for the ward except for those who lived near the golf course. He had a golf course issue that was really became a non-issue given the resolution. Only those whipped up enough would actually vote for a one issue candidate—and they did. Additional time would not necessarily bring in additional voters because then he would have had to show some understanding of other issues related to the City.

    I actually think Amonsen started too early. Had he actually lined up support discretely and then announced only a week or so before the election, he might have had a better chance.

    I do think it is an interesting tactic that may be used again. Someone could have done the same in other wards too.

    What this showed was even whipping up some folks to vote at the last minute on one issue doesn’t really outweigh a larger community sentiment toward a more rationale approach to governance.

    Perhaps Amonsen will be able to develop a broader platform. I think he probably would have to now that the surprise factor is over.

    It is interesting to think about.


       —in tune    Nov. 8 '07 - 08:10AM    #
  32. Larry, is it a legal requirement that a voter must darken the oval in order for a write-in vote to count? I got the impression that the only purpose of the oval was to direct the ballot to a particular bin inside the machine for administrative convenience.


       —David Cahill    Nov. 8 '07 - 08:16AM    #
  33. David, yes, the voter must darken in the oval for a write-in to count.

    I have argued for a change in the law, so that write-in votes which are otherwise valid would be counted notwithstanding a failure to mark the oval, but many clerks disagree with me. I suppose that’s mainly because then they’d have to go through the other bin to look for write-ins.

    “In tune”, a votes for a write-in candidate are not valid unless the candidate has filed candidacy papers (affidavit of identity, etc.) by the second Friday before the election. A week before the election is too late.

    I agree that Amonsen was something of a one-issue candidate. However, since he was allied with council insurgents Anglin and Briere, his appeal was probably broader than just that one issue. Given the very small number who voted yesterday, compared to the 20,000 or so people who live in that ward, I’m sure both candidates had the potential to bring in a lot more votes.

    Moreover, even groups of voters who are thought to be highly motivated are not uniformly adherent to any set of instructions. Losing 10% or more of your votes to errors is a high price to pay for the advantage of surprise.

    And yes (to “Popular?”), Joan has demonstrated her vote-getting ability in past elections; “popular” is political shorthand for that. If you think I’m mistaken, I expect you’ll have an opportunity to disprove it next year.


       —Larry Kestenbaum    Nov. 8 '07 - 08:58AM    #
  34. Amonsen’s list of supporters is a who’s who of the Republican establishment in Ward 2 (with a few exceptions). Many of them own $$million homes on or near the golf course.

    This was a clever strategy by the Republicans to regain the seat they once owned in the 2nd second ward. Of all the seats in the city, this is the one, on the odd year, they should be able to win. The 2nd Ward Repubs. have always been a close -knit, disciplined group of voters.

    They ran a last minute stealth campaign using the Republican list to contact as many voters as they could and they almost pulled it off. They also hoped to pick up a few votes with their misleading mudslinging about parks. The key to their strategy was a very low turnout of Democrats because the Dems. would not realize there was a real race. Rapundalo should be complimented for raising his troops just in time.

    If Amonosen had run as a Republican the Dems would have come out to easily defeat him, same thing if he ran as an independent. In Tune may be correct, Amonsen should have stayed under-the-radar a little longer and they might have pulled it off.

    I agree with Larry, Lowenstein is a popular council member, in her last two contested elections, I think she won every precinct.


       —LauraB    Nov. 8 '07 - 09:47AM    #
  35. Larry: Amonsen may have links to Mike Anglin given the two so called “progressives” that supported and I assume, worked for both of them but I can’t believe he was aligned with Briere.

    Briere actually is a Democratic Progressive and has been for a long time, I can’t believe she would support the 2nd Ward Republican establishment. She may not be aligned with Rapundalo but it seems she would have less in common with Amonsen.

    Something else is interesting about this race. The 2nd Ward is divided, many of the richer people live on one side of the river, Amonsen and Jane Lumm for example, while the middle class voters are in Rapundalo’s neighborhood on the other side, mostly up off Plymouth Road. Amonsen would have no problem raising thousands from his neighbors on a moments notice.


       —LauraB    Nov. 8 '07 - 10:10AM    #
  36. Laura: I agree that Amonsen is probably a Republican, and that he exploited the vestiges of the once-powerful 2nd Ward Republican network in his campaign.

    However, I’m skeptical at the notion that Amonsen’s campaign was a strategic move by the Republican Party, which is hopeless and moribund in Ann Arbor. I think Amonsen was running because he didn’t want the golf course to be sold. Simple as that.

    I didn’t mean to suggest that Mike Anglin, or my friend Sabra Briere, helped Amonsen in any way. Rather, I was referring to Amonsen’s quote on Arblogger , in which he explicitly aligned himself with both of them:

    “I’m in agreement with the same issues that Sabra [Briere] and Mike Anglin got elected on. And if I get elected I’ll work with them to change the dynamics of city council. We need sensible growth in Ann Arbor, but not at the expense of parks and core services. What good is a fancy police station (and garage) if we won’t have enough budget to pay for the police officers we need?”

    In an odd-year November election, with nothing else on the ballot, a hard-campaigning independent candidate running on that kind of platform would be a contender in any ward. And progressives would be split, just as they were with Anglin/Woods.


       —Larry Kestenbaum    Nov. 8 '07 - 11:01AM    #
  37. “What this showed was even whipping up some folks to vote at the last minute on one issue doesn’t really outweigh a larger community sentiment toward a more rationale approach to governance.”

    I don’t think this shows this at all. I’ll say it again, a couple dozen vote swing and Amonsen would have been elected (on the assumption that all write-ins would have gone to Amonsen which Larry notes probably isn’t the case). But even if it was a 50 vote swing, it still was a very close race for an incumbent in any case, much less against a write-in. If you want to derive a lesson from this race, it’s that a relatively small number of motivated voters have the ability to topple an incumbent. Or, for the more cynically inclined, it’s that so few city residents make the effort on a regular basis to vote in city elections. The only “larger community sentiment” I see at work is apathy.


       —John Q,    Nov. 8 '07 - 02:42PM    #
  38. I vote for the latter.


       —jcp2    Nov. 8 '07 - 05:55PM    #
  39. I hate to ruin the day of people who think that Amonsen is a Republican. But FWIW, the database run by the Michigan Dems says that Amonsen is a “Strong Democrat”. Ditto Rapundalo, by the way.


       —David Cahill    Nov. 8 '07 - 06:55PM    #
  40. “... the database run by the Michigan Dems says that Amonsen is a ‘Strong Democrat’.”

    How much can he bench?


       —HD    Nov. 8 '07 - 07:29PM    #
  41. Amonsen himself did not say he was a Democrat but rather an independent who has voted for Republicans and Democrats. All the A2 Democrats I know are fairly left, they don’t ever vote for Republicans. Amonsen certainly had a lot of Republicans listed on his web site but perhaps it was just the whipped up fear of the city meddling with “their” backyard golf course and open views.


       —Dustin    Nov. 8 '07 - 07:35PM    #
  42. While the race was close, the implications that more time would have improved Amonsen’s chances is still not clear to me. More time would likely have just shown it to be a one issue campaign. For example, his quote about a fancy new police station shows he doesn’t have a grasp of other current issues. The building is a also courthouse complex required evidently required by the City to maintain. Just saying “I need to look at this issue” is really not leadership. It helps to know what the issues actually are. I hope if he runs again that he will actually learn a little more about the issues, beyond the one issue.

    I don’t believe that more time would have produced any more votes for Amonsen, but would have substantially motivated a large block of, yes, apathetic voters, who don’t vote in a no-opposition election.

    The 5th ward is instructive, Anglin ran essentially a positive campaigns on broader issues. (This is why Anglin won and Shmerl didn’t.) (Also Easthope brought in an unusually strong 2,000 voters or so in a primary in August.)

    Do others have the same loyal base Easthope has? He clearly can beat any challenger in the 5th ward. Who is challenging him in the next primary?


       —in tune    Nov. 8 '07 - 07:42PM    #
  43. I agree with In Tune regarding the time element. If Amonsen had started earlier Rapundalo would have had time to gear up a campaign, raise money, refute Amonsen’s claims and otherwise rally his supporters.

    I disagree about Anglin’s campaign, I like Anglin as a person but he spoke some falsehoods on our doorstep. For one thing we don’t buy his interpretation of the park’s budget but for another he insisted that downtown redevelopment was the reason storm water rates were going up. When we explained the truth, (as did others in our neighborhood) that downtown redevelopment improves storm water detention, he kind of shrugged it off but never changed his web-site or literature. It worries me in that he was told he was wrong but continued to utter and publish untruths.

    Anglin won because he worked so hard going door to door and Woods lost because she did not really campaign. Let’s hope he works that hard doing his homework to correct his misconceptions.


       —Dustin    Nov. 8 '07 - 07:59PM    #
  44. “...Joan has demonstrated her vote-getting ability in past elections; ‘popular’ is political shorthand for that. If you think I’m mistaken, I expect you’ll have an opportunity to disprove it next year.”

    No, Councilmember Joan Lowenstein’s popularity has likely plummeted since her extremely unfortunate comments about the Muslim hijab, right before Ramadan. Will the Human Rights Commission act on those comments?


       —Listen    Nov. 8 '07 - 10:39PM    #
  45. Sorry Blaine,
    Joan Lowenstein’s popularity in this town wasn’t affected one iota her behavior during the Co-Op Boycott drive….

    Next to Easthope, she’s probably the most well-liked and respected member of Council.


       —annarbor1us    Nov. 9 '07 - 12:59AM    #
  46. Not “one iota” loss of popularity, hah!

    Well, I know there are a lot of anti-racist and anti Zionist people in this town who never cared for Ms. Lowenstein to begin with and who care for her even less after the hejab fiasco.


       —hejab fiasco    Nov. 9 '07 - 03:11AM    #
  47. She’s liked, but she’s not well-liked.


       —Dale    Nov. 9 '07 - 04:04AM    #
  48. You know? Making a big deal of something by purposely misconstruing what someone said is ridiculous. And you know what else? Standing outside the co-op with a big F*(@ Israel sign is childish and counterproductive—especially when the person isn’t even brave enough to show his face. That’s really a stand-up person right there. He believes in it so much that he’ll wear a ski-mask. Bravery thy name is the anti-Israel fanatics.


       —OWSider    Nov. 9 '07 - 05:49AM    #
  49. Part of me wants to dislike Joan Lowenstein for her puritanical anti-alcohol crusade. But she earned back all the love when she had her phone ring Hava Nagila during the council meeting as Blaine was in the midst of his rabid tirade.


       —Parking Structure Dude!    Nov. 9 '07 - 07:09PM    #
  50. I must see video!


       —Dale    Nov. 9 '07 - 08:55PM    #
  51. A search doesn’t turn up any video, or even the exact meeting, but I did find an Ann Arbor News article posted on Henry Herskovitz’ website that indicates it was actually Herskovitz who was speaking when Joan’s phone went off.

    My memory sucks. Sorry. It would have been funnier if it had been Blaine.

    Article here. Lowenstein reference in the last paragraph.

    And a pox on M-Live for not archiving old stories.


       —Parking Structure Dude!    Nov. 9 '07 - 09:53PM    #
  52. Is this the same liberal Ann Arbor that pretends to care about giving dogs their own park?

    Your “love”, as you call it, for such happy cheerleading for Israel, cannot reflect any real sympathy for thousands of Arab Ann Arborites, or for their families in Palestine and Lebanon right now.

    Your government cannot simply keep demolishing Arabs, and Arab nations, and expect to be free from criticism for it. How anyone can watch Gaza starve, then say they are a Democrat, as the Democrats back up Israel 100,000% percent, is simply beyond me.

    Is this a liberal Web log, or it is the boys from “Goodfellas”, laughing it up, as the bodies pile up?


       —Listen    Nov. 9 '07 - 10:20PM    #
  53. How can any of us dance while the world is turning? How can any of us sleep while our beds are burning?

    (Hey, I assume Blaine’s out protesting the latest Hamas killings of Fatah partisans, right?)


       —js    Nov. 12 '07 - 10:46PM    #
  54. As the Zionists suffocate Gaza, they enjoy a good laugh at Gaza’s death spasms. (See above.)


       —Listen    Nov. 12 '07 - 11:15PM    #