Yesterday I read a story in the Grand Rapids Press about one of Michigan's former governors - William Milliken, who served from 1970 - 1982. Milliken was a Republican, however his pro-choice, pro-union stance would say otherwise. Now, Milliken is very frustrated with the state of his party and plans to stick around and change it. First, some more info on Milliken - then the implications for us...

Milliken signed a law "in 1978 requiring a life sentence without parole for anyone convicted of possessing 650 grams of heroin, cocaine or other illegal drugs." Yet, when he realized that it convicted drug users and petty dealers instead of the big dealers he was intending to catch, he changed his opinion, advocated for those the law hurt.

Imagine that...a politician that changed his stance when it appeared to not be working.

This is what he has to say about that law now: "Yes," he said, "it was a mistake. If I had it to do over, I would not sign it, knowing what I know now."

umm...that's a big fat no. I think we all knew that already but here are some nuggets of wisdom that these federally-funded abstinence courses are teaching our kiddos:

Some federally funded abstinence sex education courses tell youngsters that 50% of all American teenage gay men are HIV positive, touching someone's genitals can make you pregnant and abortion can lead to sterility and suicide, says the Washington Post.

The courses stated that `condoms fail in 31% of cases of heterosexual sex'. Some of the courses went on to say that a fetus is a thinking person when it is just 43 days old. Many of the courses claimed that you can catch HIV from a person's tears.

Don't worry - more genious below...

The protest of over 30,000 people was held during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit. The mostly-peaceful protest turned ugly when some young radicals started looting.

Bush was hoping to use the summit as an opportunity to garner support for his plan to shut down North Korea's nuclear program...as it turns out, the protesters had the audience with their argument that free trade only benefits "wealthy corporation and corrupt politicians" (love to Chile!)

& my favorite excerpt:

Many of Friday's demonstrators oppose the United States, especially over the war in Iraq.

"You are the danger. You are the real terrorists," said Antonia Moreno, a college student who was carrying a sign that read in English, "I am afraid of the United States."

Some other messages read:
"Don't shoot, we don't have oil" and "Lesbians and gays against capitalism and heterosexuality."

& this gem:

"Putin said he was eager to expand trade between his country and Chile. He praised Chile for refusing to back the United States on the war with Iraq."

here

Jim Axelrod, on CBS, just reported on the missing explosives and how it's affecting Bush's campaign. He reported from the road with Bush.

They talked about Bush's suggestion to "not jump to conclusions" and then how Rudy blamed the troops. His closing statements to the segment were "Bush woke up this morning just trying to move the conversation past the missing explosions, it's quite possible he likes this new conversation less."

Now they are covering the Pentagon details and reports on all activity re: the explosives. They suggest that it is possible that the bombs were slowly looted, bit by bit and that the new Iraq government is laying it at the feet of Bush.

They seem to be more willing than before to let Bush hang himself...