Category Archives: Uncategorized

Gals having sex with aspirin between their knees…. will it evolve into the meme to end all memes?

By Mark | February 16, 2012

Rick Santorum’s old, white, incredibly rich, evangelical patron, Foster Friess, made the news this afternoon when he told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell, in response to a question about his candidate’s Puritanical views on sex and contraception, and how they’re likely to go over with American voters, offered a piece of sage advice on the subject of [...]

Also posted in Civil Liberties, Politics, Pop Culture, sex, Special Projects | Tagged abstinence, abstinence-only education, Andrea Mitchell, angry old white men, aspirin, Baer Aspirin, birth control, Bristol Palin, Carolyn Maloney, contraception, Darrell Issa, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Foster Friess, gals, health insurance, knees, memes, old white men making decisions on women's health, prescription drugs, women's health, women's rights | 14 Comments

Romney, hoping to stem the Santorum surge, pretends to drive a car through Detroit in a desperate attempt to connect with Michiganders

By Mark | February 16, 2012

Given Rick Santorum’s recent, come-from-behind primary wins, and the fact that Super Tuesday is just a few short weeks away, the February 28 primary in Michigan is shaping up to be more important than anyone could have predicted. According to the most optimistic polling that I’ve seen, Romney, the son of former Michigan Governor George [...]

Also posted in Detroit, Michigan, Politics | Tagged attack ads, automotive bailout, Big 3, crony capitalism, George Romney, Keith Olbermann, Mitt Romney, Nate Silver, Obama, political ads, political attack ads, polls, republican primary, RIck Santorum, Rombo, Super PAC, Super Tuesday, unions, Vernors | 25 Comments

Is “Oh, shit, I’m about to crash” a suitable headline for an article about a young woman’s violent death?

By Mark | February 12, 2012

I think it’s commendable that AnnArbor.com is marshaling their considerable resources in order to draw attention to the risks posed by distracted driving, but I found their headline today to be unnecessarily sensationalistic, to the point of being offensive. “Oh, shit, I’m about to crash,” while it may have well been what the young woman [...]

Also posted in Ann Arbor | Tagged 99 Designs, AnnArbor.com, Bonnie Raffaele, car accidents, cell phones, design spec work, distracted driving, epitaph, epithet, future of journalism, graphic design, Kelsey Raffaele, Sault Ste. Marie, spec work, the sad state of journalism, young drivers | 11 Comments

On anti-Chinese racism, Emperor Norton, my political ambitions, and lots of other stuff in between

By Mark | February 12, 2012

A few days ago, an irate reader of this site left a comment, vowing that, if I should ever decide to run for Mayor of Ypsilanti, he would make it his mission to stop me. He was apparently compelled to make this solemn oath, you see, because, in coming out against anti-Chinese racism a few [...]

Also posted in Mark's Life, Politics, Ypsilanti | Tagged accusations of racism, anti-Asian, Bummer and Lazarus, Chinese, dog names, dogs, Doug Skinner, eccentric individuals, Emperor Norton, Emperor of these United States, Imperial Majesty Emperor Norton I, Joshua Abraham Norton, Keep Ann Arbor Funky, local currency, Lord's Prayer, Mark's political ambitions, Mayor of Ypsilanti, mental illness, Pete Hoekstra, Protector of Mexico, race baiting, rice, San Francisco, San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge, Shakey Jake, Stephen King, The Dead Zone, Transbay Tube, xenophobia | 14 Comments

CPAC and Occupy…. Anything that makes Andrew Breitbart go this fucking nuts, has to be good

By Mark | February 12, 2012

The big Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) just wrapped up in DC. After a few days of speeches, in which each of the Republican presidential candidates tried to prove that he, and not his rivals, was the rightful heir to the sainted Reagan mantle, Romney end up on top, with 38 percent of the straw [...]

Also posted in Observations, Politics | Tagged allegations of rape, Andrew Breitbart, angry Republicans and their ideas, anti gay Republicans caught doing gay stuff, asshole Republicans, Bob Dole, closet case, Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC, gay sex, George Bush, James O'Keefe, James O'Keefe school of journalism, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Occupy, Occupy Wall Street, republican primary, RIck Santorum, Ron Paul, the collapse of the Republican party, the sad state of journalism | 9 Comments

God Bless America

By Mark | February 7, 2012

A few days ago, I posted video here of Bill Murray, on the first episode of Late Night with David Letterman. I have no way of knowing how many people took my advice and watched the clip, which was absolutely brilliant, but it only garnered one comment. (Someone, making the case that he was still [...]

Also posted in Art and Culture, Mark's Life, OCD | Tagged American culture, anxiety, Bill Murray, black comedy, Bobcat Goldthwait, celebrity culture, comedy, depression, Disney, Falling Down, FDR American Badass, Joel Murray, Juno, Late Night with David Letterman, Mark, mental health, OCD, Police Academy, pre-war jazz and blues, reality television, Scrooged, Shakes the Clown, Sleeping Dogs Lie, Tara Lynn Barr, the cesspool that is American culture, the Taliban should win, World's Greatest Dad | 15 Comments

Cases of justifiable homicide up 79 percent in Detroit

By Mark | February 6, 2012

A new iPad-centric magazine called The Daily launched a few days ago. And, unsurprisingly, one of their first articles was about Detroit. (Nothing, after all, attracts readers like a nicely written piece of Motor City ruin porn.) I’m having a little trouble taking the magazine seriously, as they refer to themselves as “a category first: [...]

Also posted in Detroit | Tagged crime, Detroit Police, Jeremy Waggoner, justifiable homicide, murder, people who get away with murder, ruin porn, The Daily, vigilantes, vigilantism | 34 Comments

Enjoying a beautiful day in Ypsilanti… and raising a few questions

By Mark | February 5, 2012

I took Clementine and Arlo out today, on a walk around Ypsi. It felt good. We dropped books off an the library, bought candy at the Rocket, did some science experiments at the park, raced rafts made out of bark and twigs down the river, broke up the last bits of ice that we could [...]