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A little common sense out of the Michigan Court of Appeals (PDF):
This case arises from the beating of Ryan Young. In the early morning hours of June 11, 2009, Young was celebrating his birthday with friends at a local bar. Defendant was also at the bar. Young did not know defendant, but defendant joined Young and his friends at their table and defendant and Young talked and became acquainted. At about 3:30 a.m., Young and defendant were dropped off at Young's apartment. Young testified that he went into his bedroom to change and asked defendant: "did you want to do anything or did you just want to go to bed," to which defendant responded: "yeah, I'm going to do something you fucking faggot."Read the full court ruling at the above link.
Young testified that defendant choked him "so bad" that he "could not get away from him" and Young thought he was going to die because defendant "wouldn't get off me and just stop punching me." Young believed that he was fighting for his life. Young remembered defendant cutting off his oxygen until he passed out and that, when he came to, defendant was "just still bashing my face in" until he went unconscious again. Young believed defendant hit him "a good 30 times." According to Young, he never tried to touch defendant and neither of them ever fell asleep-except when Young went unconscious from the assault. Young testified that there was no discussion about flipping the television on or anything and that he believed this was because defendant had the assault already planned.
(Via - Pam Spaulding)
Residents of Grand Rapids, Michigan responded with this video after being named one of America's "dying cities." I hate hate hate the song with a blinding white super-hate, but I have to admit the production is stunning.
The GOP-dominated Michigan House has approved a bill penalizing state universities that offer same-sex partner benefits to members of their faculties. If the bill becomes law, any state college that offers domestic partner benefits will see their funding cut by 5%. The measure was authored by Tea Party-backed Rep. Dave Agema (left). Todd Heywood reports at the Michigan Messenger:
Shortly after 8 p.m. Thursday night, State Rep. Dave Agema (R-Greenville) posted the following status update to his Facebook page announcing the amendment: "I had an amendment put into the education budget that takes 5% away from colleges that give same sex/unmarried benefits and places up to $60 million of that into the MPSRS K-12 budget if colleges do not stop skirting the law and the will of the people. Colleges can’t say they are short of money when they skirt the law and give such benefits. The Dems didn’t like this – it passed."The bill now goes into a conference committee between the two state chambers. Heywood notes that Agema has introduced a similar measure several times in recent years.
"The gay movement’s tactics smell more and more like Joe McCarthy than Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Hounding people and going after their livelihoods, because they express a view held by numerous mainstream Christians is mean, intolerant, and unacceptable to most Americans. We call on Joe Solomonese, Evan Wolfson and other mainstream gay marriage groups to call off their dogs, renounce these tactics of intimidation and religious bigotry, and restore the face of their movement into something more resembling tolerance and fair play for all Americans." - NOM president Brian Brown, in a press release denouncing Equality Michigan, who is pressuring a local city to fire recently hired human resources executive Crystal Dixon based on her anti-gay past.
In 2008 Dixon lost her job as vice president of human resources with the University of Toledo after penning a viciously anti-gay opinion piece for a local newspaper. Dixon claimed that she was writing as a private citizen, even though she referenced the university in her column. Her case remains among the small handful continuously cited by anti-gay groups as evidence of escalating "homo-fascism."
Equality Michigan: "Jackson residents deserve someone who is qualified to serve as their human resources director. The job in question places Crystal Dixon as lead negotiator for contract agreements and will make her an influential voice in searches for department heads. She needs to be capable of providing equal opportunity and advocating for the interests of all Jackson residents. Her job history simply makes her unqualified to serve the entire Jackson community."
Borders Books will close 200 locations as part of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filed today. Analysts say today's actions may not save the company.
The filing — which comes 40 years after Borders started as a used bookstore on Ann Arbor's South State Street — gives the chain a chance to reorganize by slashing expensive leases and reducing its debt load, actions that could return the company to profitability. But it also presents the possibility that Borders will fail to identify a sustainable business model over the next several months of the bankruptcy proceedings, an outcome that could lead to its liquidation. Borders, which lost $604.8 million from 2006 to 2009 and another $168.2 million in the first 11 months of 2010, plans to cut about 30 percent of its 640 stores, equal to about 200 locations — a move analysts view as absolutely critical to its survival. The company is losing about $2 million a week on the stores it plans to close, according to court documents. Borders also indicated in bankruptcy documents that it may close an additional 75 to 136 stores based on extenuating circumstances.
