Posted by bsekaran on July 10, 2009
A common question asked by companies seeking to establish themselves in Michigan centers around the issue of young flight out of the state. Why do recent high school and college graduates feel the need to leave Michigan in search of “better” opportunity? Well, state legislative cuts to scholarships like the Michigan Promise certainly don’t help the situation. As the state faces a scarcity of young talent compounded with a fiscal crisis, legislators are forced to make tough choices about what to cut next. Unfortunately, their choices may further exacerbate the economic woes plaguing the state.
The state senate recently voted to cut the $4000 Michigan Promise Scholarship that the Granholm administration passed to help retain young talent in the state. The scholarship went to high school seniors that passed the state’s academic tests and chose to attend a Michigan college of university. Breaking the promise to these students would only re-entrench their distrust in the Michigan state government, further encouraging their exodus out of the state. Moreover, without this scholarship many students may choose to attend colleges outside the state of Michigan that have comparable costs. Oftentimes, $4000 is the difference between attending and not attending college and the value of this scholarship cannot be measured in college attendance rates alone. It also impacts student and parent spending practices and graduate retention rates. If Michigan wants to retain young talent in the state the legislators of the state should either stop making promises they can’t keep or keep the promises they make.
I strongly encourage the state house to consider the direct and indirect implications of cutting this scholarship and not follow in the footsteps of their senatorial counterparts. Programs and grants have to be cut, however, this goes beyond a simple budget cut. Parents and students were planning on this scholarship when deciding whether to send their kids to college or when they were making family budgets for the future. It represents 10% of the average college educational costs and makes a substantial impact on the financial viability of Michigan households. In order to retain credibility in the eyes of the next generation of Michigan youth we must avoid this cut.
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Posted by bsekaran on June 3, 2009
Hey all,
This is just an announcement for an event on Saturday June 6th called the Millenial Mayors Congress in which a group of mayors will join young people ages 18-35 to try and make decisions regarding the Southeast Michigan Community. Anyone is welcome to join and be a part of the audience or panel discussion. The event will be held on Saturday June 6th from 9:30 am to 3:00 pm and at the Detroit Regional Chamber (1 Woodward Ave, 19th Floor, Detroit, MI 48226). It is a wonderful opportunity to have your voices heard.
~Bala~
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seburke on April 13, 2009
Amazon.com has apparently been preparing changes to its search feature and ranking system for months, culminating in a recent flurry of alterations which basically amount to excluding books about sexual minorities from some of the more prominent search results. Amazon explains:
In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude “adult” material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature.
A compilation of Playboy centerfolds retained its search ranking. Books like Orlando by Virginia Woolf, Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence, A History of Sexuality by Michel Foucault, Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg, and a biography of politician Harvey Milk were stripped of sales ratings. So what, exactly, does Amazon.com mean by “adult” content?
Amazon later claimed that at least some of the de-listings were due to a glitch, but many are suspicious of this excuse, given the fact that this “glitch” primarily seemed to target content dealing with sexual minorities, and that it has not yet been “resolved.”
An online petition indicating opposition to Amazon’s policy can be found here.
Update 1
There is a persuasive argument to be made for this event being the result of either anti-gay religious groups or internet trolls intentionally flagging books with content on sexual minorities, which may be what Amazon means by a “glitch” – perhaps their system automatically removes books from search listings when they have received a certain amount of flags. It looks like they may need to revise that system to avoid giving this kind of power to groups of motivated users.
Update 2
A hacker has claimed responsibility for the Amazon “glitch,” but Amazon denies outside involvement, maintaining that it was an internal “cataloging error.” Neither story makes perfect since: the targeted books were not all LGBT-themed, but many were. Amazon has, however, at least temporarily disabled the feature which allows users to flag books for inappropriate content.
Update 3
The argument for a glitch is becoming more persuasive, and it looks like it’s being fixed.
Posted in Civil Rights and Liberties | Tagged: adult, amazon, Amazon.com, bisexual, books, bookstores, censorship, discrimination, gay, GLBT, glitch, heterosexism, homophobia, homosexuality, lesbian, LGBT, market, minorities, petition, prejudice, ranking, search, sexuality, social issues, social science, transgender | 1 Comment »
Posted by brettt37 on March 24, 2009
On December 18, 2008 a grand new resolution is brought before the United Nations General Assembly by the French and Dutch Ambassadors. It declares that all people are born with basic dignity which ought to be respected and that this dignity applies to homosexual and transgender persons. It condemns the criminal penalties placed on homosexuality by many countries including India, Saudi Arabia and Jamaica. It also strongly denounces the tendency of the police and courts in many countries to allow lynch mobs against LGBT people to go unpunished or un-investigated.
Posted in Civil Rights and Liberties, International | Tagged: Gay Rights, obama, Resolution, sexual orientation, UN, UN declaration on sexual orientation and gender identity | 1 Comment »
Posted by brettt37 on January 26, 2009
Here we are at the end of January. Earlier this month our new president was sworn in, twice. We threw parties and had weeks worth of jubilant, self-congratulatory newscasts. A wave of unprecidented excitement swept across the nation as nearly every American joined in the celebratory mood. But what exactly were we celebrating?
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Civil Rights and Liberties, politics | Tagged: Billl Clinton, campaign promises, Don't Ask Don't tell, healthcare, obama, politics, president Obama | Leave a Comment »
Posted by dzhuang on December 22, 2008
Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season. Have a fantastic new year!
Some of you might have been curious about the lack of activity at MYPA. We are currently undergoing some renovations for the new year… Check back once January hits! Stay tuned. We’ll keep you up to date.
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Posted by dzhuang on December 9, 2008
As Democrats are pushing for the auto bailout in Congress, urging for a quick and effective rescue of the Big 3, Republicans are stalling the push forward, discontent with certain provisions of the bailout plan. Republican support will be critical, especially in the Senate where a filibuster is probable if there are not at least 60 votes in support for the bill. Originally, lawmakers sought to complete and finalize the bailout plans today; however, they will likely need to renegotiate and resolve several issues over the weekend to ensure the bill’s passage. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Economy | Tagged: 15 billion bailout, auto bailout, auto companies, auto industry, auto manufacturers, automakers, Big 3, car czar, Ford, General Motors, restructuring, taxpayers, unions | 2 Comments »
Posted by abharadwaj on December 3, 2008
Too often when discussing the bailout, and the proposals the Big Three (General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford) submitted on Tuesday, we think only of ourselves in Detroit. We think about how if the auto industry failed, we’re looking at unemployment rates that shoot through the roof. We think about Obama, and how he’s going to bring ‘change we can believe in’, and worry about the rust belt literally rusting away. We think and worry about whether we’ll still have our jobs the next day, or if we’ll become mere numbers in the unemployment statistics.
Chrysler assembly worker Leroy Feltz works on a 2009 Jeep Wrangler at the Toledo Supplier Park Jeep plant in Toledo, Ohio December 3, 2008 (Reuters).
Rarely do we wonder about people outside of the U.S., or even outside of Michigan, who can and will be affected if the auto industry folds. In their proposals, the Big Three have asked for a combined 34 million – a proposal Washington is still debating today. Many have commented on the car companies’ propensity for losing money quickly, and while this isn’t always an accurate accusation, it does have its slivers of truth – slivers that have potential to cost them the bailout.
In any case, as politicians discuss the proposal at the capital, European nations have sounded their own responses to the proposed bailout. According to an article in TIME in partnership with CNN online, “Europeans warn that a rescue of Detroit amid a major global slowdown could be the first shot in a new trade war”. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Economy, International, Michigan | Tagged: 34 million, bailout, Big Three, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, global competition, international responses to the bailout | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ben on November 30, 2008
The world today has changed in the last eight years. Terrorism is abound and most recently the attack in Mumbai are a reminder of how fragile things are and the impact that will make on Obama once he takes office in January. Obama has not said much in response to the Mumbai attacks because he recognizes that there is only one president at a time. The test for Obama will be his foreign policy. Obama was elected president but foreign policy was not the issue that was the catalyst to him being elected it was the crash of the Wall Street Markets. CNN found that those who found that foreign policy and terrorism were the most important issues to them voted overwhelmingly for McCain over Obama.
Obama is going to inherit two wars from the Bush Administration, and with it being reported that the Secretary of Defense Robert Gates will remain on for at least a year in the Obama Administration, Obama will have to guide the Defense department slowly from the Bush Doctrine to the Obama Doctrine. With issues like Iran and the situation in Mumbai–if they do not better by the time Obama takes office– it will be Obama-driven in terms of how America will respond to the crisis. With the announcement of his foreign policy team imminent, Obama will face the serious threats in the world and it will behoove him to have the best team possible there with him.
Throughout the election, Obama showed over and over his ability to remain calm under pressure and that calmness will be necessary for him during his first year in office, maybe more. Vice President-Elect Biden was right when he said Obama would be tested because every president has been tested and every president to come will be tested as well.
What makes the difference is the response to the test.
Posted in 2008 Presidential Elections, Blog News, Conflict and War, Youth | 1 Comment »
Posted by brettt37 on November 26, 2008
It seems like one word is on every Michigander’s lips these days, and that word is bailout. It has become an issue of paramount importance to all of us to see that Michigan sees its own little slice of that 700 billion dollar pie so that we all don’t end up worse off than we already are. As important as I think some aid to the sagging auto industry is, federal funding alone won’t keep these manufacturing behemoths from collapsing under their own weight, they need a new direction and sound management. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Education | 2 Comments »
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