Oh, noes! My newspaper's editorial page is biased!

A good 50 percent of my hate mail comes from folks accusing me of bias -- liberal, conservative, anti-warlock, you name it. Although the right-wing whack-jobs lately have been the most persistent (and potty-mouthed).

For some unknown reason, I feel the need to explain to folks that I write an opinion column, which, by its very definition, is biased. That, dear readers, is the point and what makes it fun. And it's notable to me that some of my most loyal readers, who have to comment on every post, are those who disagree with me the loudest. Columns and blogs should create a dialogue. My preference is that it's a respectful one, but some people have other ideas.

So when I see post like this accusing the Detroit Free Press editorial board of ... drum roll ... bias, I tend to snort. Feel free to disagree with its analysis. But yes, indeedy, the Freep has the more liberal editorial page of the two Motown papers, although it's pretty centrist. And yet this Republican is shocked, shocked that the editorial page would criticize Mike Cox for cozying up to the NRA. Next thing you're going to tell me is that the Detroit News will endorse a Republican for governor next year.

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Five years after starting my political column, 'hooker' is the insult de rigueur for women in Lansing

How was I supposed to know that when I began writing a political column five years ago that it would one day become fashionable to refer to powerful women in Lansing as hookers?

As most people who follow politics know, Sen. Rick Jones (R-Grand Ledge) became a trendsetter late last year in response to public relations executive Kelly Rossman-McKinney naming him and House Democrats the biggest political losers of 2011 in MIRS.

In his usual thoughtful and demure way, Jones took it upon himself to contact MIRS and compared Rossman to a hooker. It took Jones about a week to finally apologize, but he still seems content to blab about the matter, despite the wishes of Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville (R-Monroe) and any Republican with a brain.

That should be the end of this sorry episode, but alas, it isn't. GOP political consultant Steve Linder jumped into the fray, suggesting Rossman was the problem and that her clients should ask for their money back. He was smart enough to quickly apologize.

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Gov. Rick Snyder's talent message: What happened to letting the market decide?

In Gov. Rick Snyder's latest special message, he made a vague pronouncement that community colleges, universities and trade schools should stop "overproducing" graduates in areas Michigan doesn't need.

He notes that Michigan could use people trained in computer programming, math, health care and engineering. But the governor doesn't say what programs colleges should cut or cut back.
There are a couple big problems with this big government solution. The first is that in Snyder's new business friendly culture, shouldn't we let the market decide? After all, if parents and students want to invest in art history or classical languages degrees, who is Gov. Snyder to dictate that schools stop offering them?

If enough people aren't interested in classes, universities drop them for the semester. The same can go for majors. How is it that the state of Michigan should be getting involved in this process?

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Your Michigan Legislature, a wholly owned subsidiary of Right to Life

The Michigan Legislature is continuing its quest to make embryonic stem cell research as difficult an endeavor as humanly possible in the Great Lakes State.

As of now, both the House and Senate Higher Education budgets require universities to report to the Legislature on all of their research activities -- even though most lawmakers' knowledge of the complexities of stem cell research could fit into a thimble. According to Dr. Sean Morrison, director of the University of Michigan Center for Stem Cell Biology, no other state in the country has reporting requirements.

"There is an extensive history in this area of opponents to embryonic stem cell research, year after year, misrepresenting the facts to scare the public into not supporting this work," Morrison said. ". . . I'm concerned this is an attempt to just collect data points that opponents can spin into misinformation. No matter what numbers are coming from the universities, there will be a reason to restrict research."

Of course, the Senate today might have voted on the Higher Ed budget a little quicker, had most of its members not taken a break to go to the Right to Life of Michigan luncheon. Really, you couldn't ask for a better demonstration of how things work around here.

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How much does Donald Trump want a tax cut? Enough to go birther

Donald Trump says he's interested in running for president as a Republican. Of course, he flirted with the idea of running as an independent back in 2000.

But now the world's classiest millionaire/billionaire (no one really knows for sure) has decided he's definitely a Republican -- and how.

To that end, he's expressed doubt that President Barack Obama was born in this country. And seeing how well that's played with the all-important lunatic fringe, he kept right on going on Fox News today.

"All of a sudden, a lot of facts are emerging and I'm starting to wonder myself whether or not he was born in this country," Trump said, because he's evidently incapable of using the Google to go to Factcheck.org.

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Go forth and vaccinate your children

Over my years as a reporter and editor, I've seen my fair share of scare stories about a supposed link between autism and routine childhood vaccinations.

This dates back to a 1980s study published in the British medical journal, The Lancet. Other studies have not shown a correlation.

There's been plenty of evidence for years that the idea was bunk, but in the name of "balanced reporting," some pretty bad journalism was committed in allowing quackery to be passed off as legitimate medicine. (He said-she said journalism isn't just for politics).

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