see EDITORIAL page 5

Editorial
Where you want to be. May-June 2014

Yeah, we know. Its early. Way

early. But theres only one sane
choice for voters to make when cast-
ing ballots for our next congressman:
DEAN VANDERSTELT.
Left of the Line news magazine
sees no point in waiting to hand out
our endorsement for the 2nd Con-
gressional District seat in the U.S.
House of Representatives.
It goes to the Democratic busi-
nessman Vanderstelt.
Our cur-
rent Republican
congressman,
Bill Huizenga of
Zeeland, brings absolutely nothing to
the table for citizens of the district.
Zilch.
Nada.
Zero.
Congressman Huizenga is the
most destructive, far-right represen-
tative West Michigan has ever sent to
Washington and the results and his
record prove it.
Incredibly, Huizenga has support-
ed shutting down our federal govern-
ment and, in so doing, has given aid,
comfort and his vote to those crazies
on the far right who were willing
and are still willing to drive the
United States into a catastrophic debt
default that would cripple the middle
class and consign poorer Americans
into a life of poverty.
Huizenga loves the ruinous Paul
Ryan Budget, and has in fact glee-
fully voted for various versions of
that same idiotic proposal that would
destroy Medicare as we know it a
program that is a savior for senior
citizens - by turning it into a voucher
plan that will bankrupt them.
Huizenga has lent his support
and his vote more than 50 times to
the tea partys obsession with repeal-
ing the Patient Protection and Afford-
able Care Act without substituting
any alternative whatsoever.
Getting rid of Obamacare
would drive children and the poor
off the health plan, and return many
to the days when pre-existing condi-
tions meant you could not get insur-
ance.
But wait.
Perhaps we exaggerated about
Republicans
not having a
health care
alternative. As
one Democratic
representative
observed, the
GOP does have
plan. Here it is:
Dont get
sick. But if you
do get sick, die
quickly.
Elsewhere
in these pages,
Huizengas
bogus pose as
a friend to the
environment
is exposed as
a fraud. The
congressman rates basically a zero
from every meaningful environmen-
tal interest group that isnt controlled
by his pals, the Koch brothers, and
his cronies at Fox News and in the tea
party.
But the forthcoming election isnt
just about throwing the ridiculous
Huizenga out into the street and onto
his keister where he belongs.
Its about breaking the GOPs
dangerous stranglehold on the U.S.
House of Representatives.
Those yokels, having almost de-
stroyed the nations economy under
their heroes, George W. Bush and
Dick Deficits Dont Matter Cheney,
somehow survived to wrest a death
grip on an important branch of the
nations legislature.
Beginning in 2010, when Demo-
crats lost control of the House,
Republicans then have used their
wedge in the U.S. House to system-
atically throttle any hope of a robust
economic recov-
ery engineered
by President
Barack Obama.
They lied when
they squawked
that Obama
would destroy
America.
Instead, the
presidents
administration
single-handedly
saved the auto-
mobile industry
when Repub-
licans like Mitt
Romney were
rooting for the
Big Three go
bankrupt.
Republicans, should they ever regain
the White House and Congress, like
they did completely from 2001-2006
- God forbid - would again take this
nation into war for no good reason.
Members of the GOP want to
bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.
Theyd have no problem, either,
dragging America into war over the
Ukraine crisis, Syria or over a phony,
trumped-up crisis like Benghazi.
As We See It
Dean Vanderstelt for Congress
Dean Vanderstelt

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2
Still Ringing True
All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. The general spread of the light of science has already laid
open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs,
nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride legitimately, by the grace of God. Thomas Jefferson, 1826
Vol. I No. II
May-June 2014
Progressive views for the 2nd Congressional District
3
First issue rating: Excellent

We really enjoyed Vol. 1 No. 1: It
was excellent.
We look forward to reading
your future publications and are
pleased to offer our support.
Best wishes and warmest per-
sonal regards.
James and Nancy Waters
Muskegon Heights
Editors note: Mrs. Waters is the
Muskegon County Clerk.

Stop man-made climate change!
Natural gas. We use it every
day. We heat our homes, warm our
water, cook our food, and use elec-
tricity generated from natural gas.
Many of us only think about the bill
from the gas or electric company.
Seems pretty straightforward, but
there is more to the story. Lets go
past the bill we pay and look into
background of this product we use
every day.
In Michigan natural gas comes
wells from 500 to 9,500 feet below
the surface.
Gas wells have been in Michi-
gan since the 1930s. Once the wells
stopped producing gas they were
abandoned. But in the early 1950s
a technique called hydraulic frac-
turing, or fracking, was developed
to extract more gas from the same
well. The process uses a solution of
mostly water, some sand, and a mix
of chemicals. Some of the chemi-
cals in the mix cause cancer.
The mixture is forced into the
ground under high pressure. This
breaks up the rock holding the gas.
Now the broken rock releases the
gas and it flows through the well to
the surface.
When fracking started it took
10 tanker trucks to deliver about a
100,000 gallons of water to frack a
vertical well. Newer wells go down
vertically, then out horizontally for
up to two miles. Fracking a larger
well takes 20,000,000 gallons of
water and require 2,000 tanker-
trucks rumbling down the road to
the wellhead.
Most of the fracking mix comes
back out of the ground and must
be disposed. This polluted water
is injected back into the earth for
eternity, or so the plan goes.
If the fracking mix does not follow
the plan, it could migrate into the
underground water that is used for
drinking.
Once natural gas exits the well
it is piped to where it is burned.
During transmission some of the
gas escapes into the air. When
burned, to produce heat or elec-
tricity, the gas releases products
of combustion into the air. These
products of combustion, or air pol-
lution, are major contributors to
climate change.
Man-made climate change is
happening now. It is a looming ca-
tastrophe to mankind and all life on
the planet.
We must stop man-made cli-
mate change now!
Technology exists to reduce
the pollution that brings on climate
change. Wind power, solar power,
and energy efficiency can greatly
reduce our reliance on burning fos-
sil fuels that cause climate change.
More than technology we need
political will. The political will
to make the change to a cleaner
economy.
Don Munski
Spring Lake
Editors Note: Mr. Munski is the
Letters
see LETTERS page 16
2nd
congressional district
Counties: Lake, Oceana, Newaygo, Muskegon, Ottawa and portions of Allegan,
Kent and Mason.
Cities: Fremont, Grand Haven, Grandville, Holland, Hudsonville, Jenison, Kent-
wood, Muskegon, Muskegon Heights, Norton Shores, Walker and Wyoming.
David Kolb
The Outside
4
see OUTSIDE page 5
We can measure earthquakes.
In laboratories across the west-
ern United States, ink-filled needles
poised above data paper jerk up and
down leaving a red trail to record
every response to the earths geolog-
ical stimulus, measuring the magni-
tude of every individual shift of plate,
the grinding of Mother Earths teeth,
if you will.
Measuring the quantity and
quality of Republican lies is another
endeavor altogether.
I propose the invention of a
Lie-Ger-Counter so accurate that
it can quantify these abominations to
a more certain degree than simple
Pants On Fire description.
It would measure not only the
enormity of the bewildering assault
on truth, but the mind-blowing twist-
ing of fact and the thimble-rigging
fraud of public deception practiced
daily by the front men in Congress
who are working for everything the
Grand Old Party believes in.
A contender, absolutely, for our
new Lie-Ger-Counter test is the
recent publicity campaign ginned
up to enshrine our Congressman Bill
Huizenga, R-Zeeland, into the Pan-
theon of Heroes dedicated to saving
our environment.
Readers, I kid you not.
If you were to read without requi-
site incredulity the recent headlines
and stories flogged to the media pro-
claiming Bills prodigious pro-envi-
ronmental work, youd be convinced
our congressman just loves him some
trees, fresh water and national parks.
This PR blitz resulted in headlines
like these: Great Lakes Prioritized,
or Lawmakers Press for Sleeping
Bear Dunes Wilderness all featur-
ing the efforts of our erstwhile, tree-
hugging congressman. Its all smoke
and mirrors, folks.
The Huizenga Noise Machine is
hoping that two or three votes here
and there, padded with a hypocritical
hoorah for bipartisanship the con-
gressman doesnt actually believe in,
in time for his next phony baloney
re-election campaign, will be enough
to make you forget about the man
behind the curtain supporting all the
anti-environment legislation Repub-
licans have been pushing as part of
their real agenda.
You see, the speechifying and
bell-clanging has only one purpose:
to divert voter attention from the
abysmal, awful, sickening, dismay-
ing Huizenga environmental record.
Take the Huizenga stance on Sleep-
ing Bear Dunes National Lakeshore,
signed into law by President Obama.
It was very nice of Huizenga to actu-
ally vote for this, since it was his first
vote to protect a national park since
he has been in Congress.
Little did you know that the 2014
Sleeping Bear Dunes Protection Act
happened to be the ONLY national
parks protection legislation passed
by Congress since 2009, a vote coin-
ciding precisely when Democrats last
held control of the House of Repre-
sentatives.
Since then, the House GOP includ-
ing Huizenga has BLOCKED all
other legislation to add lands to our
national parks system.
This annual achievement was a
truly bipartisan initiative that was a
standard for Congress until the tea
party crazies ran the GOP off the
rails in 2010. That was Bill Huizengas
class of 2010, by the way.
Huizenga this year is promoting
himself as Mr. Bipartisanship and Mr.
Environment. Last year, though, what
he WASNT ballyhooing was his sup-
port for the wretched bill HR 4089,
which was given the ridiculous title
of The Sportsmans Heritage Act by
John Boehners spinmeisters.
There isnt a true environmental
group out there who didnt recognize
HR 4089 for what it was a naked
and blatant attempt by the anti-en-
vironmentalists in the U.S. House to
destroy the historic Wilderness Act of
1964.
Heres what Wilderness Watch
wrote about this disgraceful measure,
supported by a Bill Huizenga vote:
HR 4089 would give hunting,
fishing, recreational shooting, and
fish and wildlife management top
priority in
Wilderness,
rather than
protecting the
areas wilder-
ness character,
as has been the
case for nearly
50 years. This
bill would al-
low endless,
extensive habitat manipulations in
Wilderness under the guise of wild-
life conservation and for providing
hunting, fishing, and recreational
shooting experiences. It would allow
the construction of roads to facili-
tate such uses and would allow the
construction of dams, buildings, or
other structures within Wildernesses.
It would exempt all of these actions
from the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA) review. Finally, HR
4089 would remove Wilderness Act
prohibitions against motor vehicle
use for fishing, hunting, or recreation-
al shooting, or for wildlife conserva-
tion measures.

Bill Huizenga
With friends
like Huizenga,
environment
doesnt need
enemies
David Kolb is a reporter, edito-
rial writer, columnist and author. His
work has appeared in The New York
Times, Washington Post, Interna-
tional Herald Tribune, the Daily Kos
and many other publications and
media outlets. Kolbs journalism has
earned numerous first-place awards
from the Associated Press, Michi-
gan Press Association, United Press
International and the American
Legion. A World War Chronicle, a
collection of Kolbs editorials about
World War II, was nominated for the
Pulitzer Prize. Kolb is publisher and
editor of Left of the Line news maga-
zine.
5
OUTSIDE from page 4
Oh, if that were all.
Bill Huizengas environmental re-
cord in his two terms has been rated
one of the worst by any wildlife and
wilderness protection group you can
name.
Huizengas lifetime score with
the League of Conservation Voters?
Eight percent.
With the Sierra Club? Zero per-
cent.
Clean Water Action? Zero per-
cent.
Defenders of Wildlife? Zero per-
cent.
National Parks Conservation As-
sociation? Zero percent.
On the other hand, Huizengas
loyalty to the finance, insurance and
real estate lobbies is a true-blue, red-
blooded 100 percent.
You can find all of this, by the way,
on the Project Vote Smart web page,
at votesmart.org a great web site.
Type in Bill Huizenga in the
search field, and then click on the
interest group ratings button on his
page.
There, our congressmans ex-
treme right-wing leanings are dis-
played in all their glory.
So, yeah, we need a Lie-Ger-
Counter.
We also need an earthquake.
An earthquake at the polls in
November to shake up the 2nd Con-
gressional District.
An earthquake to shake out the
most far-right, anti-environment rep-
resentative elected to a position of
high responsibility in West Michigan.
They have no regrets at all for lying
our brave military into a stupid,
hopeless, incomprehensible, unnec-
essary war in Iraq.
Four thousand of our people
dead.
Tens of thousands of our military
wounded, many of them grievously.
Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi
casualties.
Billions of Americas wealth
sucked down that Republican-Halli-
burton rathole.
Right-wing, yes-man Huizenga
would have been completely on
board with all of this. Guaranteed.
The GOPs last man in Congress from
the 2nd, Pete Hoekstra, certainly was.
Huizenga proudly stands with
the political party hell-bent on turn-
ing back decades of progress on
affirmative action and voting rights.
The hated Jim Crow laws of
the evil Confederacy are embraced
by the Grand Old Party, because
re-implementing them means fewer
Democrats going out to vote.
Republicans want college stu-
dent loan rates to soar disastrously
higher.
Republicans hate public educa-
tion.
They cant stand criminal attor-
neys because lawyers win big cases
against corporate raiders and right-
wing cabals.
They held up the farm bill for
years in order to punish the working
poor.
Perhaps worst of all, Huizengas
party insanely denies the existence
of global warming, a threat not only
to the United States but the world.
In sum, todays lunatic GOP
stands for NOTHING that would up-
lift the average, ordinary American.
Republicans have nothing in
common with former party legends
such as Abraham Lincoln and Teddy
Roosevelt.
Patriots like Dwight Eisenhower
would never get elected today in a
party primary. Ronald Reagan? To-
days fanatics in charge of the party
would call him a RINO a Repub-
lican In Name Only as they like to
put it.
Who would they give us for
president? Scoundrels and ignora-
muses. Sarah Palin. Michele Bach-
mann. Rick Santorum.
Cliven Bundy, too, probably.
Dont recognize the name of this
pro-slavery Republican? Look it up,
people. These are GOP heroes.
The 2nd Congressional District
has been transformed into an virtu-
ally impregnable Republican politi-
cal fortress, buttressed with millions
of right-wing cash.
But here at Left of the Line, we
dont believe such a daunting pros-
pect of unlikely victory should be
cause to sit on the sidelines.
It should be a rallying cry!
Defeating Huizenga, even forc-
ing him to the brink, would count for
a victory beyond measure.
Electing a moderate Democrat
like DEAN VANDERSTELT, who sup-
ports our president and most liberal
and progressive policies, would
send shockwaves across the nation.
It would be akin to the shot fired
at Lexington and Concord, the spark
that ends the tyranny of Republican
domination of West Michigan, and
indeed, in the U.S. House of Repre-
sentatives where that political party
has been responsible for so much of
the damage and misery that plagues
ordinary Americans.
Reprint this editorial endorse-
ment.
Share it with your friends and
neighbors.
Dont sit this election out.
Do EVERYTHING you must do to
register and then vote come Election
Day, Nov. 4.
Liberals and progressives are
the REAL patriots.
We must save our republic from
the Republicans.
And we can start doing the job
by throwing Bill Huizenga out of of-
fice and electing a good man, DEAN
VANDERSTELT, as our next con-
gressman.
EDITORIAL from page 1
6
By The Very Rev. Jared Cramer
Left of the Line
Though Gov. Rick Snyder has previously vetoed a bill
with similar provisions, this initiative was brought before
the Legislature by a Right to Life petition that garnered
315,477 signatures around 4 percent of our states vot-
ers.
And, as a priest, I feel compelled
to say that this bill is immoral and
cruel.
The new law requires not only
that women purchase this coverage
separately, but that they purchase it
before they are pregnant. There are
no exceptions for any circumstances
not even rape or incest.
Thus, this bill means that, in
the State of Michigan, if a woman is
raped she cannot have the abortion
covered by her regular insurance and must pay out-of-
pocket for it.
If a young girl is violated by a relative and winds up
pregnant by incest, she will have to pay out-of-pocket for
an abortion.
If a woman is pregnant and suffers severe complica-
tions that put her life and the life of her unborn child both
in jeopardy, she will have to pay out-of-pocket to have an
abortion that would save her own life.
No matter the circumstance, unless the separate rider
is purchased in advance, there can be no insurance cov-
erage for women placed in these horrible situations.
The measure passed our Legislature despite the pow-
erful and gripping stories of several women legislators,
including Democratic Senate Minority Leader Gretchen
Whitmer, who revealed that she had been raped 20 years
ago while she was in college.
I want to be very clear: I agree with my own churchs
teaching that abortion is always a tragedy but it is not a
black-and-white question.
Scripture itself acknowledges that life in the womb
is different than life outside the womb (see the different
penalties in Exodus 21:2225).
That said, we should absolutely find just ways to low-
er the amount of abortions that happen through increased
education, contraception and social programs.
However, this law uses money as a coercive force
upon women in painfully difficult situations.
It creates a situation where, once more, women who
have money will have access to health care and freedom
to make their own choices, but women in poverty will
be forced to follow the misguided will of our Legislature
no matter the horrific situation that resulted in their
pregnancy.
This is wrong.
This is reprehensible.
And the fact that this has been supported by so-
called Christian organizations makes my face turn red
with shame.
I call upon all citizens of our state, and in particular all
Christians in our state, to stand up and call for the repeal
of this cruel law.
Instead of using money as a
coercive force, instead of forcing
women to make the choices some
people want them to make, lets
work as a state to create communi-
ties where women never feel like
abortion is their only option.
Lets pass laws raising the
amount of money we provide for
young families and single moth-
ers in low-income households. Lets make our churches
places of grace and welcome where women do not feel
like shame in church makes this their only option.
And, God help us, lets never put a woman who has
been raped, who has been the victim of incest, or whose
very life is in danger in the even more horrible situation
of realizing that her insurance will not cover her abortion.
We can do better and the justice and love of God
calls us to be a very different community than the one
created by this law.
The Very Rev. Jared C. Cramer serves as rector of St.
Johns Episcopal Church in Grand Haven and as dean of the
Lakeshore Deanery of the Diocese of Western Michigan.
GOPs new abortion law
Immoral and cruel
...this bill means that, in the
State of Michigan, if a woman
is raped she cannot have the
abortion covered by her regu-
lar insurance and must pay
out-of-pocket for it.
7
By Chris Savage
Left of the Line
The State School Reform/Rede-
sign District was created by the state
of Michigan in 2010 to take over the
lowest performing five percent of
Michigan public schools.
A year later, the new entity
signed an exclusive contract with
a group calling
itself the Educa-
tion Achievement
Authority. The EAA
was headed up by
John Covington,
former superinten-
dent of Kansas City
Public Schools,
and partnered with
Eastern Michigan
University through
an interlocal
agreement.
The EAA was
essentially the Re-
publican answer to
doing something
about struggling
public schools.
Shortly after the
EAA came into
existence, Coving-
tons former school
district in Missouri
lost its accredita-
tion. This was the
first of many red
flags that have
been raised since
the inception of the
EAA.
The EAA was
given control over 15 schools in the
Detroit Public Schools system. Three
of them were turned over to charter
school companies and the rest are
operated by the EAA itself. After the
first year of its existence, it lost nearly
a quarter of its students.
As state legislators, primarily
State House Rep. Ellen Lipton and
State Sen. Hoon-Yung Hopgood, in-
vestigated the EAA, they learned that
students were being given a substan-
dard education.
A profound lack of resources,
neglect of special needs students in
violation of federal law, and a dis-
ciplinary system in total chaos led
Lipton and Hopgood to file FOIA
requests for more information. Rather
than providing the information volun-
tarily, the EAA administrators forced
them to pay thou-
sands of dollars in
exchange for the
information they
requested, despite
the legislators
roles on the House
and Senate Educa-
tion Committees.
What Hop-
good and Lipton
found after sifting
through the reams
of information
they obtained
confirmed what
they had already
learned. In the
meantime, Re-
publicans in the
Legislature were
moving forward
with legislation to
expand the EAA
statewide and
codify it into state
law.
The House
initially passed the
legislation in 2013.
The Senate made
significant chang-
es to the bill then
sent it back to the House. This spring,
nearly a year after it first passed the
House, legislators passed a third ver-
sion with the help of two Democrats,
Harvey Santana and John Olumba.
After the vote, I learned former
gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos
and other wealthy corporate charter
school proponents had threatened
uncooperative Republicans with mas-
sive funding of primary opponents
if they chose not to support expand-
ing the EAA. This was a tactic DeVos
used to force enough Republicans to
vote for Right to Work in December
2012.
In the midst of this mostly parti-
san legislative battle, I began run-
ning a series of well over a dozen
interviews with former and current
EAA teachers and administrators.
Many were done anonymously be-
cause of a culture of fear and intimi-
dation that exists with John Coving-
tons EAA.
These interviews confirmed what
Rep. Lipton and Sen. Hopgood and al-
ready learned: the EAA was in disar-
ray. Students were being physically
abused. Resources were severely
lacking. Special needs students were
being neglected. Educational prog-
ress, simply put, was not being made.
The EAA uses a computer pro-
gram called BUZZ as the basis for
what it calls Student Centered Learn-
ing. Students are taught and tested
using this platform. However, the first
year the EAA opened, there were not
enough computers for the students
and the BUZZ platform was nonfunc-
tional.
Half of the EAA educators are
first-year teachers and half of those
are from Teach for America, which
provides the new teachers with just a
few weeks of training before putting
them into some of the most challeng-
ing classrooms in the country. These
inexperienced teachers were being
asked to create curriculum for the
EAA.
The EAA uses its own testing
regimen to show student progress. It
claimed that, after just one year, their
students were advancing more than
a year in their test scores. However,
recently released MEAP scores show
something quite different: students
are not only not progressing, they are
actually getting worse in some areas.
The DeVos threat of funding
primary opponents was used on state
senators in late April as they looked
to take up EAA expansion legislation
Chris Savage
The Education Achievment Authority
Michigans failed experiment on Detroit students
see AUTHORITY page 18
The EAA was essentially the
Republican answer to doing
something about struggling
public schools.
8
By Mary Valentine
Left of the Line
Politics is such a nasty busi-
ness.
I heard that repeatedly when I
ran for office back in 2005. And yes,
it can be.
But if we good people fail to
participate, thats who we leave our
decision-making process to, those
nasty people. So lets all engage
and lift it up out of the basement of
nasty business.
Nowhere is it more important
to do that than in the 91st, the dis-
trict presently being served by our
own Democratic State Rep. Collene
Lamonte.
As an educator, Collene stands
up for our students in Lansing. It is
critical for each of us who wants a
top-notch education for our students
that she retain that seat.
The 91st is what is sometimes
called a swing district, swinging
wildly back and forth between Dem-
ocrats and Republicans. In Lansing it
is called a marginal seat.
Whichever party holds that seat
only has a marginal hold on it, be-
cause it could slip back to the other
party at any moment. Democrat Paul
Baade was the only representative
who held that seat for more than two
terms over the 26 years I have lived
here.
Back and forth it goes from
Republican to Democrat and back
again. Why is it important to know
this?
Because in Lansing, whoever
holds the gavel, whoever has the
majority, sets the agenda. If it is in
the hands of Repub-
licans, as it is now,
education funding is
in the sewer and our
students suffer.
What we all know
is that when our
citizens are less edu-
cated, there is more
crime, higher prison
rates, lower wages,
a whole pile of bad
news.
In the hands of
Democrats, though,
there is hope for
reasonable funding
of education, which leads to an in-
formed citizenry, not to mention more
and better jobs and less crime. It
only makes sense to educate the next
generation, and not on the cheap,
either.
So if we Dems carelessly let the
91st slip through our fingers in the
next election, our chances to set the
agenda shrink dramatically.
When Collenes Republican op-
ponent was in the Legislature, fund-
ing to education was CUT by an un-
precedented $480 per student. When
the Republicans got that gavel, they
raised taxes on the poor, the old and
the middle class. They decimated
funding for educa-
tion.
Thats why voters
threw her out.
But the other
side has no intention
of sitting idly by and
letting Collene con-
tinue to do her good
work.
They will
throw wild accusa-
tions at her, just as
they do every elec-
tion year. They will
spend hundreds of
thousands of dollars
on television ads, mailers and robo
calls, dragging up every piece of
information and skullduggery at their
fingertips to tear Collene down.
Remember when they hurled
hateful, lying accusations at Nancy
Frye? When they tried to lead
Dont let the right wing capture the 91st District
Collene Lamonte
High stakes
see VALENTINE page 17
9
West Michigan Plumbers
Fitters and Service Trades
Local Union No. 174
The United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing & Pipefitting Industry
We do it right the first time.
10
By Tony Roberts
Left of the Line
I would like to tell you what made me a liberal.
I grew up a short distance from the Old Dutch Refinery
(now owned by Marathon) in Muskegon. A creek marked
half of the property line of our 13-acre mini-farm. I re-
member sitting on a makeshift bridge across that creek
when I was a small child, watching the fish swim under
me. We had a garden in the lowland next to the creek.
This was in the early 1950s.
By the time I was old enough to go play with the
neighborhood kids, there were pretty rainbows float-
ing on the creeks surface and if we
stepped into the creek, we went up to
our ankles in squishy black muck.
This was due to the fact that the
refinery was dumping waste into the
creek, which ran into Mona Lake. The
smell was horrible and on many days it
traveled all the way to neighborhoods
as far as the corner of Apple Avenue
and Quarterline Road.
In the 1960s, our neighbor found
a dead duck floating in the creek. He
spread the word and the neighborhood decided to sue
the refinery.
There were township meetings where it seemed that
the state was supporting the refinery, rather than the
people of the neighborhood. In the end, the neighbors,
thinking they couldnt win against such a big company,
accepted a buyout from the refinery and dropped the
lawsuit.
Each neighbor received $3,000 - minus the lawyers
fees. In return, they signed a document saying that they,
or their heirs, could never sue the oil company for the
damages to the neighborhood. The oil company dredged
the muck out of the creek. It looked fine when they were
finished, but the smell remained.
Shortly thereafter, the oil company drilled test wells
on our property to check the water quality.
All the neighbors were immediately given water
tanks for their kitchens and were warned not to drink
the water coming from their wells (this after many years
of happy days entertaining family and friends around the
kitchen table, drinking endless cups of coffee made with
that poison water).
Many in our neighborhood died of cancer over the
years. Both my parents and all of my mothers (and some
of my dads) siblings died of cancer as well.
This brings us to recent history, when Marathon Oil,
probably at the urging of the EPA, bought up all the
houses in that area, tore them down, and made a green
space out of the whole area, so
nobody could ever build a house and
live on that poison piece of land.
It seems they had found a plume
of benzene underground, moving
by osmosis from the refinery toward
Mona Lake.
I talked to a civil defense worker
about five years ago, who said if you
fly over the refinery property, you will
see trenches full of oil. He said they
used that oil to make asphalt for area
roads. In the last year or so, they have FINALLY started
attempting to clean up the refinery site. That plume of
benzene is still under there, headed for Mona Lake and
on to Lake Michigan.
So, when conservatives talk about deregulation and
defunding the EPA, I go a little crazy.
This is the main (though not the only) reason that I am
a liberal.

Toni Roberts is a retired educator and union secretary.
She is married, with two sons.
Toni earned an associates degree from Muskegon
Community College, where she studied biology and ecol-
ogy. A gardener of 40 years, Toni tends her garden in the
woods in Dalton Township, and sells books and papers at
The Secret Garden store in Pentwater.
...when conservatives talk about
deregulation and defunding the
EPA, I go a little crazy. Tony Roberts
Creek in Muskegon taught an important lesson
11
By Roger Rapoport
Left of the Line
Muskegon County Clerk Nancy
Waters proudly made history Sat-
urday morning March 22 when she
flung open city office doors and
began issuing marriage licenses for
same sex couples from across the
state. Her decision was applauded as
a long overdue response to the rights
of gay, transgender and bisexual
partners denied marital benefits and
the freedom to
raise children
as they saw fit.
Like 250
couples across
the state, the 48
quick marriag-
es performed
in Muskegon
were cause for
celebration. But not for long.
Less than a day after Reagan-ap-
pointed U.S. District Judge Bernard A.
Friedman in Detroit struck down the
states constitutional ban on gay mar-
riage, she was forced to stop thanks
to an appeal filed by Republican At-
torney General Bill Schuette.
Despite the fact that the Defense
of Marriage Act was partially struck
down last year by the U.S. Supreme
Court, Schuette was quick to lavish
more taxpayer money on his parade
of embarrassing expert witnesses
ridiculed by the court.
Judge Friedmans decision,
which made Michigan the 18th state
to recognize gay marriage, affirmed
the right of two Detroit area women
to lawfully wed and adopt their three
foster children. In Washington, At-
torney General Eric Holder quickly
declared that the Michigan marriag-
es were legal.
But Gov. Rick Snyder, who had
recently stripped same sex couples
working at state agencies or universi-
ties of their domestic partner ben-
efits, declared that while the mar-
riages were
legal they
would not be
recognized.
This is
CFO Snyders
attack latest
attack on the
middle class
that includes
raising taxes
on pensions,
reducing
homestead
tax credits,
cutting earned
income credits, raising public em-
ployees health costs and slashing
revenue sharing to cities that have
been forced to cut back on essential
services such as police and fire to
avoid winding up under state admin-
istered emergency financial manage-
ment.
Snyder has argued successfully
that a constitutional protection of
state employees retirement benefits
were no longer valid due to the citys
bankruptcy. But he has proved less
flexible on same sex marriage.
The case of Deboer and Rowse
vs. Snyder and Schuette is not the
first time Michigans Attorney Gen-
eral has challenged well established
federal law.
Schuette was part of a multi-
state coalition of attorney
generals who unsuccessfully
challenged the Patient Protec-
tion and Affordable Care Act.
Now the right-wing AG has
gone back to court again to
challenge portions of the U.S.
Supreme Court-approved
law that is giving hundreds
of thousands of Michigan
residents reasonably priced
medical coverage for the first
time in their lives.
Ironically, one of his co-plain-
tiffs in the original challenge
to the Affordable Care Act,
Virginia Attorney General
Mark Herring, has dropped
his defense of a same sex
marriage ban in the former
slave state. Like attorney
generals in California, Illinois,
Oregon, Pennsylvania and Ne-
vada, Herring now refuses to
oppose the rights of same-sex
couples:
I cannot and will not defend
a law that violates Virginians
fundamental constitutional
rights.
Judge Friedmans ruling on
the same sex marriage case
brought by DeBoer and Rowse
could become a low point in
Schuettes political career one
with serious consequences for
his re-election campaign.
Sociologist Mark Regnerus,
a taxpayer-funded expert
state witness, was ridiculed
by Judge Friedman for delivering
testimony entirely unbelievable and
not worthy of serious consideration.
The judge criticized a third-party
funder behind this hastily prepared
study who clearly wanted a result
and Regnerus obliged.
Judge Friedman concluded that
this supposedly scientific study of-
fered at the behest of Schuette was
flawed on its face and added that
the witnesss own sociology depart-
ment at the University of Texas has
distanced itself from Dr. Regneruss
views.

see MARRIAGE page 17
Roger Rapoport
Shame on Snyder.
Shame on Schuette.
Snyder and Schuette disgrace
Michigan by fghting against
basic decency for gay couples
The antidote: Mark Totten
Rick Snyder Bill Schuette
12
By Eric Justian
Left of the Line
What do we get from newly proposed Republican en-
ergy laws? Theft of land rights. Higher fuel costs. More
ground water pollution. Future energy insecurity. More
potent greenhouse gasses threatening the weather pat-
terns that allow West Michigan to be one of the nations
most productive fruit growing regions.
These are the things our Republican Legislature is
trying to ram through into law RIGHT NOW with a new set
of pro-fracking bills.
Renewable energy, like wind and solar, is the best
and most responsible thing Michigan can do to ensure
energy security, ensure CHEAPER energy going forward,
along with cleaner
energy, cleaner air and
cleaner water.
But Michigans
GOP-dominated Leg-
islature is insistent on
clinging to an ancient
and uncertain fossil
fuel model that has
failed our state and
has given Michigan
the most expensive
and uncompetitive
electricity in the Mid-
west. Meanwhile, our
neighboring states are
ramping up renewable
energy and seeing a
cost savings from it.
At the end of Janu-
ary Michigans Repub-
licans introduced a set of bills that basically expand toxic
fracking and oil extraction in our beautiful water-rich
state while raising the costs with new, more expensive
extraction methods in a desperate attempt to scrape the
bottom of the barrel for hydrocarbons.
Even stranger, House Bill 4885 lowers Michigans
compensation when a private company takes our natural
resources out of the ground it actually REDUCES the
amount of money Michigan gets for a HIGHLY sought-af-
ter commodity. Its beyond any Earthlike economic sense.
Unless, of course, somebodys paying you handsomely to
sell out the people of your own state.
All the other related House bills (5254, 5255, 5274)
basically expand the type of crap that can be piped
through a pipeline, or for which a corporation can con-
demn and claim public property for transporting stuff
like that. The specific extra crap in question here is
referred to as gaseous or liquid substances, consisting
primarily of carbon dioxide, that will be used to produce
hydrocarbons in secondary or enhanced recovery opera-
tions.
Carbon dioxide injection is an attempt to extract even
more oil and gas from a well. Think of it this way: you do
your hydrofracking and youre limited to how much natu-
ral gas you get by the amount of pressure is already in the
ground. Once the pressure falls, the wells productivity
falls. Bummer.
So how do you fix it?
Why, you hydrofrack ANOTHER hole on the opposite
end of the field, and then pump a mysterious carbon
dioxide mix into the ground to basically blow the last
crumbs of natural gas
toward the well!
Thats why its
called secondary or
enhanced recovery
operations.
This type of tech-
nology should terrify
us.
Heres why: On
one hand our law-
makers and their oil
company cronies tell
us theres plenty of
fossil fuel to be had
and not to worry,
while on the other
hand theyre desper-
ately turning to tech-
nologies that scrape
the bottom of the
barrel at much higher prices with a much lower energy
yield: secondary natural gas recovery and tar sands oil
which needs to be heated by other hydrocarbons just to
flow.
By comparison, just 60 years ago, old Jed Clampett
could go shootin at some food and up from the ground
would come a bubblin crude. Oil. Texas tea. Easy as that.
You used to be able to jam a pipe in the ground and
get oil. Not anymore. Now we need to drill miles under
the ocean, oil companies are turning to tar sands and oil
shale and trying to call it oil, were trying to grasp at
the last remaining whiffs of natural gas, all at a higher cost
with significantly reduced energy yield.
Tar sands give a 6 to 1 yield. That is, it takes one bar-
rel of oil to get six barrels of oil. 50 years ago we had a
100 to 1 yield. Tar sands oil takes almost as much en-
Drill baby drill
GOPs insanity bared for all in new pro-fracking bills
Eric Justian
Commentary
see JUSTIAN page 13
13
ergy to produce it as we get from it. And its nasty,
dirty stuff to transport. Just ask the folks along the
Kalamazoo River who are still recovering from a
massive tar sands oil spill in the Kalamazoo River.
These new types of energy and extraction are
not signs of a plentiful fuel supply as our Repub-
lican leaders want us to think. These are signs of
desperation in the face of dwindling supply and
rising demand. Were scraping the bottom of the
barrel and paying more and more and more for it.
Creating laws to build MORE pipelines and use
MORE fossil fuels wont solve our energy crisis. It
wont.
It just makes it come sooner, puts more burden
on future generations and at a horrific cost. Cli-
mate change is already digging into the Michigan
economy and way of life with lower water levels
restricting Great Lake shipping volume and erratic
weather patterns wiping out 95 percent of some
West Michigan fruit crops in 2012 and another
close call in 2013.
It should be noted that natural gas well failures
are releasing far more methane into the atmo-
sphere than previously believed. Methane is a
greenhouse gas twenty times more potent than CO2 so
we may not be getting any traction from reduced carbon
dioxide emissions by using natural gas. We may in fact
be losing ground.
The only responsible thing to do is to move Michigan
toward renewable energy: wind, solar, geothermal heat-
ing and cooling. Wind power is now cheaper than coal
plants, and it rivals conventional natural gas prices.
Holland, Michigan, recently signed two power pur-
chase agreements for wind power at 4.5 cents per KwH!
That is cheap electricity! Add to natural gas prices the
higher cost of enhanced natural gas recovery and wind
puts them all to shame. Not to mention, we manufacture
wind turbine components here in Michigan. And RIGHT
HERE in MUSKEGON. It puts our friends and family to
work and puts food on their tables.
Meanwhile, the price of solar power is experiencing
dramatic drops to the point where a national consortium
of utilizes called rooftop solar an existential threat to
the current utility business model. And Michigan, despite
what many may believe, is an excellent place for solar
power. If theres enough sun to grow crops theres
enough sun to make electricity.
If you want to drop the cost of fossil fuels, USE LESS
of it. Create LOWER demand. If you want to stretch out
our supply of fossil fuels, USE LESS of it. Create LOWER
demand. Renewable energy is now a proven source of
power, used for decades to reliably energize regions
across the United States and growing in use every year.
Lets use more of THAT and stop trying to hasten the
energy crisis by trying to increase supply of a commodity
so clearly dwindling.
These new pro-fracking Republican laws are beyond
irresponsible.
Theyre insane.
Natural gas has always been an unreliable and errati-
cally priced commodity. Natural gas prices were strato-
spheric just six years ago. Through the roof. And now
with just a couple years of low prices, Michigan seems
to be ready to go All In on natural gas as a power source
with plans for more, and very costly, pipelines and nearly
billion-dollar gas power plants that will take decades to
pay off with no guarantee of continued low natural gas
prices.
Meanwhile the one thing were absolutely certain of
is that renewable energy is already rivaling natural gas in
price. And the cost of renewable energy is falling dra-
matically by the month while rising in efficiency.
The world has changed. Renewable energy technol-
ogy has caught up with our needs. There are no techno-
logical barriers to widespread use of renewable energy
anymore.
Now we need our politicians to get with the program,
and do whats right and whats best for Michigan: More
renewable energy.
Eric Justian is a professional writer living near the
natural sugar sand beaches and singing sand dunes of Lake
Michigan in Muskegon.
As Muskegon Critic, he is one of the 50 most-recom-
mended active authors at Daily Kos (dailykos.com) and
has been a front-page blogger at BloggingForMichigan.
org, focusing largely in Great Lakes, renewable energy and
Michigan topics. Erics work also appears at TriplePundit.
com and LiberalAmerica.org .
Eric co-founded a non profit organization dedicated
to strengthening independent businesses and diversifying
Michigans economy into sustainable industries.
JUSTIAN from page 12
Graphic/Occupy Denver
14
From the suburban Chicago Arlington Heights
Daily Herald:
A Republican candidate who believes that God
dictates weather patterns and that tornadoes, autism and
dementia are Gods punishments for marriage equality
and abortion access won the
GOP nomination to challenge
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) in
the Chicago-area 9th Congres-
sional District.
Susanne Atanus, of Niles,
Ill., garnered 54 percent of
the vote in her (March 18) win
over (GOP primary challenger)
David Earl Williams III.
I am a conservative Re-
publican and I believe in God first, Atanus said. She said
she believes God controls the weather and has put torna-
does and diseases such as autism and dementia on earth
as in response to gay rights and legalized abortions.
God is angry. We are provoking him with abortions
and same-sex marriage and civil unions, she said. Same-
sex activity is going to increase AIDS. If its in our military
it will weaken our military. We need to respect God.
Reported by RIGHTWINGWATCH.ORG: Former
Republican Presidential front-runner Michele Bachmann
on the Lars Larsen radio show.
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) is still not pleased
with Arizona Gov. Jan Brewers
(R) decision to veto SB 1062
late last month.
In an interview with
conservative radio host Lars
Larson during last weeks
Conservative Political Action
Conference, Bachmann said
the downfall of the bill, which
would have allowed businesses
to refuse service to gay indi-
viduals on religious grounds,
illustrated how LGBT activists
have bullied voters and politicians.
Theres nothing about gays in there. But the gay
community decided to make this their measure, Bach-
mann said. I think the thing that is getting a little tire-
some, the gay community, they have so bullied the Ameri-
can people, and theyve so intimidated politicians. The
politicians fear them, so that they think they get to dictate
the agenda everywhere.
Bachmann said, however, that liberals likely wouldnt
attempt to change the U.S. Constitution to take away
religious rights because activist judges and President
Barack Obama will simply ignore the document instead.
Hes a lawless president whos violating the Con-
stitution with every executive order, Bachmann said of
Obama.
Also reported by RIGHTWINGWATCH.ORG:
Former Fox News TV star Glenn Beck chose to de-
clare that recent tragedy a stabbing spree at a Penn-
sylvania high school by a deranged student had more
ominous implications.
BECK FROM HIS OWN LIPS: Pray. Pray. Pray. I know
with everything in me that God lives, that God loves us,
that God doesnt punish us. We punish ourselves by
going against universal prin-
cipals. We end up going down
this road. That is not God mak-
ing somebody stab somebody.
That is because we have be-
come disconnected from uni-
versal principles. The hunger,
and dare I say it, starvation, we
will face in the coming years
will not be a punishment from
God. It will be an acceptance
of principles that are wrong.
That are just wrong. God didnt
punish the people in Zimba-
bwe. He didnt punish the people in the former Soviet
Union. He didnt punish people where theyre starving
to death because theyve embraced Marxist principles.
Thats not a punishment. This is a blessed land. Theres
no reason why we dont have energy, all the energy we
need. There isnt a reason we dont have all the clean
water we need, all the clean air we need all the food that
is required. But we are now doing things that go against
The contents of Other Side of the Line may be ofensive to some of our readers,
but we believe you really need to read exactly what the extremists of the right
wing are saying in public. Only by peeking under the rock can you see their true
agenda.
see OTHER page 15
For your pleasure:
A selection of assorted nuts
Susanne Atamus
Michele Bachmann
Glenn Beck
photo/Greg Skidmore
15
natural law. And because of that, we will pay a very
heavy price.
Finally, what would a bag of assorted nuts be with-
out Sarah Palin?
Heres the right wing tea party queen, another GOP
presidential hopeful, at the recent National Rifle Associa-
tion convention in Indianapolis:
The former half-term
governor of Alaska accused
the Obama administration of
adopting counterterrorism
policies that coddle adversar-
ies.
Come on. Enemies, who
would utterly annihilate Amer-
ica, they whod obviously have
information on plots, to carry
out Jihad. Oh, but you cant
offend them, cant make them
feel uncomfortable, not even a
smidgen, she said. Well, if I were in charge, they would
know that waterboarding is how wed baptize terrorists.
Palin also objected to any efforts to rein in the NRA-
fueled weapons mania that organization promotes 24/7:
Do you know why those clownish little Kumbaya-
humming fairytale-inhaling liberals want to be tough all
of a sudden and control your guns? Its cuz guys like (U.S.
Sen.) Al Franken (D-Minnesota), and (Senate Majority
Leader) Harry Reid, (D-Nevada), they are not satisfied
with just taking your money and your job, your truck and
your property and your rights, your health care - they
didnt want to just stop at that.
OTHER from page 14
Why are young Americans today destined to bring about the
largest political shift in 50 years? (page 29)
What were the Boston Tea Partiers really protesting? (page 9)
Alexander Hamilton was never president. What achievement
earned him his place on our $10 bill, and why have we
forgotten it? (page 47)
What does the film Ferris Buellers Day Off have to do with the
decline of the American middle class? (page 89)
Why cant our government seem to do anything right anymore?
(page 133)
What can you do to make a difference? (page 167)
We The Future
Order online:
SeanMullally.com
`
About RIGHTWINGWATCH.ORG
RIGHTWINGWATCH.ORG is a great web site to
see Republican crazy in all its glory. Rightwingwatch.
org is affiliated with People for the American Way,
and is dedicated to monitoring and reporting on the
activities of right-wing political organizations.
Their researchers monitor dozens of broad-
casts, emails and websites, and use their expertise
on right-wing movements to analyze and distill that
information for the general public.
Sarah Palin
16
Democratic candidate for the Ottawa
County Board of Commissioners,
District 10.
Gated Community Governor
Rick Snyder is a GCG a gat-
ed community governor. Too elite
to live in the governors mansion
in Lansing, he resides in a gated
community in Ann Arbor where his
daughter attends a posh private
school. At taxpayer expense, the
governor is chauffeured round-trip
to Lansing every day.
This aloof, privileged lifestyle is
reflected in Snyders governance. He
refuses to relate to ordinary people.
The governor rushed to declare
Detroit bankrupt and put city em-
ployees and elderly pensioners at
risk in federal court. While Snyder
could have legally shielded pen-
sioners from financial ruin, he sided
with banks. He did not wish to slow
down the bankruptcy process.
Snyders choice of Kevyn Orr,
a bankruptcy attorney, for Detroits
Emergency Financial Manager, is
proof that the governor planned
bankruptcy from the start. This cold,
heartless action undermines the
Michigan Constitution and jeop-
ardizes the individuals Snyder has
sworn to serve.
It is time to show Snyder the
door and to elect a servant of the
people, Democrat Mark Schauer!
Bob Bird
Holland
Thank you, Left of the Line!
Thank you for what you are all
doing with Left of the Line.
I read the first issue and feel
hope stirring in my heart.
We have a strong and dedicated
group of liberals in this area. To-
gether, we can well make a differ-
ence.
Lisa Fox
Muskegon
The Comatose Kid rides again

Gov. Snyder is The Comatose
Kid and not The Comeback Kid.
The Nerd must be in a deep coma in
his Gated Community to think that
Michigan is living in prosperity. Are
the following signs of prosperity?
Emergency Financial Managers
dictate in 12 cities and townships
and in 6 school districts
At least 56 public school dis-
tricts are in deficit
Detroit, Michigans largest city, is
in the throes of bankruptcy with city
retirees fearful of losing their pen-
sions and health benefits
The Detroit Institute of Arts, a
world class museum, worries that
its treasures will be sold to appease
creditors
One out of every four children in
Michigan (half a million) are living in
poverty
Michigan is last in per-capita
spending on roads and bridges
Wake up, Gov. Snyder! Wake up,
taxpayers! The only groups benefit-
ting from Snyders management are
corporations and the rich!
Vote for Democrat Mark Schauer
for governor in November! Mark is
an experienced legislator in tune
with the needs of Michigan families!
Bob Bird
Holland
LETTERS from page 3
Democrat Sarah Howard is challeng-
ing a Republican incumbent for Michi-
gans 30th State Senate District.
Howard will face incumbent Sen.
Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive, in the
November election. The 30th District
includes all of Ottawa County as well as
Sparta Township and Grandville City in
Kent County.
Howard mentioned education, eco-
nomic growth, equality and the environment as key issues
for her campaign.
Until recently, Howard was a partner at a Grand Rap-
ids law firm, where she represented individuals, nonprofit
organizations and companies of all sizes.
Working with many and diverse clients from the
business community has given me a background that
helps me understand the challenges businesses face and
has prepared me to find solutions to these challenges,
Howard said in a news release.
Howard also spoke of her experience as a mother
who appreciates Michigans long tradition of supporting
and properly funding a strong public education system.
Howard was listed in the Best Lawyers in America
for commercial litigation in 2013 and 2014. She is a 1994
honors graduate of Mount Pleasant High School, a 1998
honors graduate of Western Michigan University, and
a 2001 honors graduate of University of Michigan Law
School. Howard lives in Grand Haven with her husband,
Kevin; their two young daughters, Thia and Clara.
Sarah Howard seeks 30th State Senate District
Sarah Howard
Turn 2 Blue events
launched by Vanderstelt
Democratic U.S. Congressional
District candidate Dean Vanderstelt
is attempting to turn the district
blue.
The Vanderstelt campaign
recently launch a series of events
to raise awareness and
to work collaboratively
with other Democratic
candidates within the 2nd
Congressional District,
The event series is
called Turn 2 Blue, ref-
erencing the number of
the 2nd U.S. Congressional
District and the goal to
turn the district from a Re-
publican (red) represent-
ed, to a Democratic (blue)
represented district. In
addition to the event
series itself, the campaign
has introduced the Twitter
hashtag #turn2blue.
17
people to believe I had ties to Iraqi terrorists?
They think that if they throw enough mud at good can-
didates, Democrats will become discouraged and stay
home from the polls.
So the first job of each of us who cares about the edu-
cation of our students is to ignore the mud-throwing and
make sure we and all of our friends and family get to
the polls to re-elect for Collene.
But in these days of stiff partisanship, that simply is no
longer enough.
So make a contribution to Collenes campaign in order
to give her the resources to fight back against the mud-
slinging.
No amount is too small and the maximum is $1,000.
If every person who loves public education gave a mere
$25, we would have the Republicans running scared in no
time.
You can also knock on doors for her, take Election
Day off to get voters to the polls, bring food down to the
headquarters when the election is going at a fever pitch,
make phone calls, stuff envelopes.
Even liking her FB page and that of other Dems can
boost our chance to retain that seat.
The 91st District race is one of the most important
battles liberals and progressives can fight in this upcom-
ing election.
Victory means we have a chance to take back the
House. Defeat means the Republicans will have the
means to continue to destroy public education, and hurt
our neighbors and friends.
Will you stand with me and fight to re-elect Colleen
Lamonte?

Mary Valentine is a former Democratic state represen-
tative for the 91st District in Muskegon County, where she
served two terms. Prior to that, she was a speech patholo-
gist in the public schools of Michigan for more than 30
years. Presently, Mary is the secretary of the Progressive
Democratic Womens Caucus and the S.S. Milwaukee Clip-
per board. Additionally, she is chair of the NAACP political
action committee, involved with Citizens to Preserve Public
Education, and is a member of the Muskegon Heights Opti-
mist Club. Mary lives in Norton Shores with Phil Valentine,
her husband of 35 years, and is a proud mom of two adult
children and proud grandma of two precious granddaugh-
ters. You can contact her at maryvalentine08@gmail.com .
VALENTINE from page 8
MARRIAGE from page 11
Responding to critics over the cost of continuing his case,
Schuette petitioned the appeals court to fast-track the
matter. That motion was denied in April.
Meanwhile. Michigans Republican leadership,
including its disgraced national committeeman Dave
Agema continues to send the wrong message to same sex
partners thinking of moving to our state.
Unable to marry, receive domestic partner benefits
or enjoy full custody of children they are raising together,
its easy to see why they would choose to live and work
elsewhere other than Michigan.
For plaintiffs DeBoer and Rowse, dedicating their
lives to raising three foster children, Schuettes action
stigmatizes their relationship.
And living as second-class citizens, denied the finan-
cial benefits received by heterosexual couples, they also
run the risk of losing custody of their respective adoptive
children should one of them die.
Under state law they are not even eligible for surviv-
ing spouse death benefits.
Perhaps Judge Friedman summed up the weakness
of Schuette and Snyders defense best in his opinion that
attempts to bring Michigan into the 21st century:
In attempting to define this case as a challenge to
the will of the people, state defendants lost sight of what
this case is truly about: people.
No court record of this proceeding could ever fully
convey the personal sacrifices of these two plaintiffs who
seek to ensure that the state may no longer impair the
rights of their children and the thousands of others now
being raised by same-sex couples.
Shame on Snyder.
Shame on Schuette.
Roger Rapoport is the author of Citizen Moore and
Hillsdale, and is the producer of award-winning movie
Waterwalk. Rogers forthcoming feature film Pilot Error is
based on his novel about the mysterious disappearance of
a French jet in the South Atlantic. Roger and his wife live in
Muskegon.
Upcoming Events for Collene Lamonte
May 25: 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Lost Boat Ceremony
with U.S. Sen. Carl Levin.
May 26: noon-4 p.m., Fruitport Old Fashioned
Days.
May 31: 3-5 p.m., Cheese and Chocolate Recep-
tion at 2097 Norman, Norton Shores.
June 1: Campaign Office soft opening (Grand
Opening to be announced) 986 W. Norton, Norton
Shores.
June 2: 9:30-10:30 a.m., Conversation and Cof-
fee at Suzis Village Inn, Fruitport; 5-6 p.m., Conver-
sation and Coffee at The Brew House, 255 Seminole,
Norton Shores.
June 6: 8:30-9:30 a.m., Conversation and Coffee
at The Ravenna Round Table, 12396 Stafford, Ravenna.
June 7: 10-11 a.m., Conversation and Coffee at
The Book Nook and Java Shop, 8726 Ferry, Montague.
June 9: Conversation and Coffee at Wolfies
Pizza, 420 S. Wolf Lake, Egelston.
June 29: Ken Dobson Fund-raiser.
July 4: Independence Day
July 12: Lamonte Summer Bash at Kruse Park:
Fun for the whole family, including the canines!
18
MAY
May 21: 5 p.m., Muskegon County Young Demo-
crats May Meeting, Muskegon Community College Stu-
dent Union. Snacks provided. Special guest is R.O.A.D.
May 24, Saturday: 3-5 p.m., 18827 North Shore
Drive, Ferrysburg, fund-raiser for Cathy Forbes,
Democratic candidate for Ottawa Countys 34th Senate
District. Guests should park at Coast Guard Park, 18161
North Shore, Ferrysburg. Volunteers will be available to
provide transportation.
May 26: 6:40 p.m., Canvas Kick-Off for Sarah
Howard, Democratic candidate for 30th State Senate
District, Lemonjellos outdoor patio, Holland.
May 29, Thursday: 6-8 p.m., Fund-raiser for
Sarah Howard, Democratic candidate for 30th State
Senate District, at the home of Darryl Fischer and Dan
Gleason. RSVP at info@sarahforsenate2014.com for
home address and other details. Suggested contribu-
tion of $50 to the Committee to Elect Sarah Howard to
State Senate, PO Box 911, Grand Haven MI 49417-0911.
May 29: 7 p.m., Muskegon County Young Dems
Bowling/Mixer, Sherman Bowling Center, 1531 Sher-
man, Muskegon.
May 31: 3-5 p.m., Garden Party featuring cheese
and chocolate with State Rep. Collene Lamonte. Hosted
by Joy Fairfield and Branden Gemzer, 2097 Norman,
Norton Shores. Tickets: $25.

JUNE
June 1-30: Young Dems Call to Action Month to
get all young democratically minded people in Muske-
gon County engaged.
June 8: 3-4:30 p.m., Join Mark Schauer, Demo-
cratic candidate for governor, for an afternoon of music
featuring Legal Rehab at the home of Marcia Hovey-
Wright and Bill Wright, 425 W. Webster, Muskegon.
Tickets: $50. Parking is available on Webster and in the
lot across Fifth Street.
June 18: 5 p.m., Muskegon County Young Demo-
crats Meeting, location to be announced.
JULY
July 7: Last day to register for the August Primary.
Details available at local or county clerk offices.
C A L E NDA R
for a second time in a year. However, as the clock ticked
down to the filing date for the August primary, Repub-
licans still found themselves without enough votes. As
the deadline passed, EAA opponents breathed a sigh of
relief.
Its still possible the EAA expansion will take place.
However, its clear that the pressure being applied
through exposing the failings of the EAA has improved
the legislation and may, in fact, kill it. This would be
a huge blow to Republican Gov. Rick Snyder, who has
championed EAA expansion from the start.
It would, however, be a very positive thing for Detroit
EAA students.
While they deserve something better, the EAA is
decidedly not that something.
Chris Savage is the publisher of eclectablog.com,
Michigans most widely read progressive blog. His work has
appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show and in The Nation
magazine and has been featured by numerous other nation-
al media outlets. He lives in Dexter with his photographer
wife Anne C. Savage. Chriss blog handle Eclectablog is
famous on the Daily Kos web site dailykos.com for its pen-
etrating looks at the destruction wrought by Republicans on
our state.
AUTHORITY from page 7
19
MEMORIAL DAY
TO THANK
TO HONOR
TO REMEMBER
Left of the Line
Vietnam Veterans Memorial
20
Left of the Line
"...ask not what your country can do for you,
ask what you can do for your country."
John Fitzgerald Kennedy 1961
The Challenge
The Response
Were working on it, one congressional district
at a time.
Left of the Line 2014
Contact us at
P.O. Box 1710
Muskegon, MI 49440
Or email us at:
leftofthelinellc@gmail.com
Bless your liberal hearts!
We need your support donations are always
welcome, or buy an advertisement. Rates are
cheap now, but just you wait!