Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testified before the House Budget committee today.  His prepared statement on the economic outlook is available from the Fed's public Web site

So why do I care?

Michigan polling and public relations firm EPIC-MRA polled Michigan voters on the Governor's race after the first MI-Gov debate this Monday.  Jennifer's up.  

For those who haven't been following closely, our local nutjob Republican is a man named Dick DeVos.  DeVos is the head of Michigan-based Amway (yes, that Amway), and is the "R" candidate for governor in this November's election.

The AP is quoting DeVos saying he wants creationism taught in Michigan's public school classrooms.

The Michigan Democratic Party has e-mailed a link to its new TV ad in the Michigan governor's race.  

As Jordan LFW so kindly diaried today, the Detroit News shows our beloved incumbent Governor with a steady or slightly improved lead in this race: 50-42 vs. 49-42 last month.

Jennifer's Republican challenger is the chairman of the Amway company, who is known locally for outsourcing more than 1,400 jobs from Michigan to China.  While this is a particularly grevious sin for a manufacturing state that's keenly aware of offshore job competition, the Republican camp has reassured us that they weren't what we might call "real" jobs... many of the 1,400 who were put out on the street were just managers and other white-collar positions.

Would the Kossack community please offer their thoughts on this latest ad.  I'm interested to hear how you think this ad plays, and how you feel it fits with the Dem's overall message.

More importantly... is this a legitimate expression of angst against the death of American labor?  Or is it, as Stomp 442 thoughfully asked yesterday, nothing more than race baiting?

For many years now, several man-made mountains in southeast Michigan have been growing out of control, much to the consternation of local residents.  The mountains are actually trash dumps, and the trash therein is largely comprised of solid waste imported from Toronto, Ontario.

TODAY, a victory for the Michigan environment and for Michigan Democrats.  More below the fold.

I breathed a few heavy sighs before writing this.  There are SO many important races and issues before us, and I hate seeing us use our energy on the same thing every day.  BUT... the law of politiodynamics reminds us that an object with Joementum tends to remain in motion unless resisted by an opposite and superior force (poetic license added).  SO...

The Connecticut Secretary of State has a very helpful Web interface.  Through the SOS site, the public (that's Us, thank the Founders) can look up information on the various local, statewide, and national races on the CT ballot.

There's a mistake, and a huge one.  Out of curiousity, I followed the links through the CT SOS site to see what party affiliation our friend Joe was claiming these days, to my shock and chagrin, he is listed as one of two Democrats in the November U.S. Senate race.

Details and a CALL TO ACTION below the fold.

I have to admit, this one blindsided me. Right in my own back yard, there's a race with national implications. It's right up there with Ned Lamont (who just won CT-Sen, for those of you who might not have heard of that race yet) and Cynthia McKinney (who just, and almost as famously, lost in GA-04).

I didn't see it coming. I grew up in this district, most of my family lives there, and yet I didn't notice that this would become one of three incumbent primary losses tonight. I didn't notice that the Republicans were about to nominate a badly distasteful uber-rightist to replace a reliable Red vote in the U.S. House.

Worse yet, we may have blown this opportunity already. And MY BOOTS weren't on the ground when they should have been. I'll suggest a lesson or two to be learned below the fold.

Ah, holidays with family.  There's nothing quite like it, as we all know.  When mine gets together, there are always a few uncomfortable moments of silence when we realize that some of us are very, very far apart politically.  (Case in point: I was offered a nice fresh cup of coffee in a Focus on the Family logoed mug.)

The big surprise, however, was a throwaway line from my own mother is response to someone else's complaint about the state of war in Iraq.  Her answer, at first, seemed like an almost-harmless repetition of a common talking point: "well, I'd rather be fighting them over there".