Another Small House Project

To give ourselves a break from the big summer projects, Mark and I have also worked on a couple of mini projects, which include reorganizing the garage, putting up drywall in the basement, and working on the landscaping. This little area is next to the front porch, and was infested with lots of prickly weeds and dead bushes.

 

When we were done, here is what it looked like:


Right now there are just black-eyed susans, but I think we have some other plants we'll be able to add in, and we have a beautiful red mum I need to plant! We also used our first batch of compost from the composter, which was pretty good looking. The compost does seem to be taking awhile to decompose, but that might be because I keep forgetting to rotate it.

Eventually we'll have to re-do that retaining wall because it's starting to become unstable. At that point, we may add in some stairs to allow for easy access to the backyard.

Bigotted Government Officials

You may have recently heard about Michigan's Assistant Attorney General Shirvell attacking UM's Student Assembly President, Chris Armstrong because of his sexual orientation. To me, this has been a bizarre case, because one might wonder why on earth the Assistant Attorney General might get involved and target a UM student. One reason seems to be that Shirvell is a UM alum. A weak connection, but I suppose some people remain actively involved with their alma mater after they graduate (not me!). Second, apparently Armstrong has a liberal gay agenda he has been trying to push as student president! (Yes, lobbying for a 0% tuition increase is clearly both liberal and gay in intention!)

Let's break this down for a moment. First, Shirvell is a government official. It does not really matter what he believes in regards to Armstrong or anyone else, he is a public official, and anything he does whether part of his public or private life, is subject to public scrutiny. What makes this even more odd is Shirvell had a blog that he used as a forum to attack Armstrong, as well as personally protesting at events that Armstrong was present at. I mean, Shirvell was kind of making this a personal vendetta, and he hadn't even met Armstrong in person when he started this "campaign" against him. Haven't these politicians learned anything from all the recent scandals, dealing both directly with government issues and personal/character issues? Second, Shirvell works with Mike Cox, who is best buds with Kwame Kilpatrick, and if you've been following anything with these latter two, then you're already aware of all the "alleged" illegal activities that surrounds them. Also, in skimming the Cox wikipedia entry, I just learned that he caused adultery to become a "first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a resulting life in prison sentence." Really, this is what we're spending our time on in Michigan? Since both Cox and Kilpatrick have committed adultery, they both could be put away for life, if their wives pressed charges. Hmmmm....

In a somewhat surreal moment for me, Anderson Cooper interviewed Armstrong on his 360 show. Clearly Cooper has already made up his mind about the situation, with his polite questions and facts that try to make the interview objective. I love Anderson Cooper--oh Channel One days...

If you feel opposed to Shirvell, you can join facebook pages against him and for Armstrong. You can also sign a petition to get Shirvell fired. Unfortunately, Shirvell was hired by Cox, and so his position is not something we can vote on directly. Although, now that we're on the subject, shouldn't we also get Cox out of office as well?