Category: Political
Nice, positive TV Ad from David LaGrand
Pledging never to be a lobbyist just puts icing on the cake, I think.
Campaign website: http://www.davidlagrand.com
Posted on Oct 27, 2010 - 01:43 PM
David LaGrand Promises Never to Become A Lobbyist
Just saw a press release from David LaGrand. David, who’s running for Michigan State Senate, has pledged to never become a lobbyist if he he’s elected to state office. I worked on his 2006 State Senate campaign, and know him and his family personally. David’s “no lobbying” pledge doesn’t surprise me in the least. In my experience, David LaGrand honestly only wants what’s best for Grand Rapids and Kent County, and becoming a lobbyist after his term(s) are up will do a lot more harm than good for Grand Rapids and West Michigan in general. I wish a lot more politicians would have the same commitment to the better good that David has.
The full press release is available here:
Posted on Jun 07, 2010 - 05:52 PM
“Busted” Posts Written Up By Minneapolis Local Newspaper
It seems like Busted Magazine has moved in to the Twin Cities, Minneapolis area - and local investigative reporters in the area have used my website and blog posts to learn more about the magazine and its publishers.
Jay Gabler from the Twin Cities Daily Planet wrote a piece about Busted Magazine, referencing and linking to my initial “expose” about the magazine and its ownership, and a later article in which I call the guy who runs it, Dan Oakley, a dick.
It makes me happy that more and more people are finding my website and my writing useful.
Edit June 9, 2010: I’m not sure how or why I forgot to link to the Twin Cities Daily Planet article earlier, but here it is:
http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/blog/jay-gabler/busted-magazine-20-pages-twin-cities-mug-shots-just-1
Edit June 13, 2010: Mentioned in the Dallas Observer. See http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2010/06/now_that_dallas_got_busted_its.php
Posted on Jun 05, 2010 - 02:44 PM
The Guy Who Runs Look Who’s Been Busted Is Kindof a Dick
Since I wrote about the new newspaper in town, Look Who’s Been Busted, I’ve gotten a lot of comments and e-mails from people who think that I publish the newspaper, both positive and negative. (For the record, I don’t publish Busted - a guy in Ocala, Florida named Dan Oakley does.) While I think the idea behind the newspaper is kinda scummy - people who get arrested usually have enough problems without being profiled in a local newspaper - I think it’s entirely legal. That’s what the 1st Amendment is for - it’s protecting this guy’s right to say what he wants, which is as it should be.
That said, this guy’s still a dick. Bear with me here…
I got an e-mail the other day from a woman in Oregon who was arrested for possession. It was a wake-up call for her: she started going to rehab, and started getting her life back together. Then, a distant relative of hers calls her up to tell her that her mugshot is on the cover of one of the Clackamas County, Oregon Busted newspaper. Her children found out, her family knew about it, it was a big mess.
So, this woman e-mails me, complaining about it. I tell her I don’t publish Busted, etc, and give her the newspaper’s e-mail address. She e-mails Busted; the text of her e-mail is below:
Do u have anything to do with publishing peoples mugshots who have been arrested? Not even convicted, but only arrested? If so, read on please…....The sickest part of what u do is that u claim to do it for the welfare of the public, when in fact u do it 2 fatten up ur bank account. You don’t know people on a personal level. You are no better than a rapist or a murderer. If you are even indirectly related to the publication of these magazines, u were sent here by the devil and I hope one day one of your children make a mistake that someone else feels they have the right to profit from and make a mockery of. I am a victim of ur publication - I was arrested for possession, and being arrested saved my life, it saved my family. Know this - in our lifetimes, I guarantee you will hurt, even destroy more people than I ever will. DO NOT respond to my email, u post your email address and ask that people write to you so that’s what I’m doing, but DO NOT write to me. No matter what you have to say, I know what you are, I know for a fact you have evil inside you and I believe that ur time in hell will come for caring about NO ONE but yourself!
And here’s the response from the guy who runs Busted:
From: Busted <bustedweekly@gmail.com>
To: (Woman) <emailaddress@email.com>
Subject: Re: YOU WERE SENT TO EARTH BY THE DEVIL
Date: Wed, 3 Jun 2009 15:06:11 -0400
Thanks for your support! Obviously you have purchased our paper. See you in hell you miserable
hippocrate! Your email made me laugh!
Sent from my iPhone
Wasn’t that response just completely unnecessary? The thing that really sells it to me is the signature, though: “Sent from my iPhone”. How appropriate.
Posted on Jun 05, 2009 - 11:28 AM
People These Days Don’t Read :-(
I first saw the Look Who’s Been Busted newspaper back in December ‘08, and decided to write about it soon after. Since then, I’ve gotten lots of e-mails and several comments either praising or damning me personally for publishing Busted Weekly. The thing is - I don’t publish it. I just decided to write about it.
I’m not sure what to think about all this. Basically, it just seems that people don’t read. People are too ready to blame someone for something they don’t like that they don’t actually read the source from which they learned enough to became enraged. It’s a shame - people these days seem to value the feeling of anger more than they appreciate the validity of their anger.
Posted on Mar 08, 2009 - 06:43 PM
President Obama Spiderman Comic Desktop Wallpaper
I bought the Barack Obama Spiderman cover issue the other day. I’ve been a Spiderman fan ever since I was little, and I hoped Obama would be President starting in ‘06, so this is pretty special for me.
In honor of the occasion, I’ve made a bunch of desktop wallpapers with Obama and Spidey’s smiling faces on it. Choose the links below to download the one that’ll fit you best.
Widescreen
Non-widescreen
Let me know in the comments if you’d like other resolutions.
Posted on Jan 27, 2009 - 07:51 PM
WOOD TV Channel 8 Segment on Look Who’s Been Busted
The local news has picked up my earlier article on the "Look Who's Been Busted" newspaper. The writeup and the "official" video is at http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/Look_Whos_Busted_resource_or_wrong; the larger-resolution version that I recorded is below.Posted on Dec 13, 2008 - 05:47 PM
