The Ann Arbor Independent - A locally owned newspaper in Ann Arbor

by James Jackson I can not stand the idea of entitlements. An entitlement is something that a person believes s/he deserves without any questions or limitations. An entitlement is something a person receives because s/he believes it is…

by P.D. Lesko Sometimes, endorsements can help a candidate get elected. Sometimes they can't. Sometimes, a political endorsement can actually cause voters to be less likely to vote for a candidate. That's exactly what's happening in…

by Robert C. Smith The amount of stimulus funding send from Washington, D.C. to Washtenaw County between 2009 and 2011 is a staggering $767,218,458 million dollars, the 4th largest amount given out within the state. That's $2,222 dollars…

by P.D. Lesko Former Second Ward Council member Stephen Rapundalo was not popular. He had earned a reputation among constituents and city staffers as being nasty. One police officer, when asked about Rapundalo prior to the November 2011…

By P.D. Lesko Operation Hilarity may not be quite so funny to Markos Moulitsas Zuniga. Moulitsas Zuniga owns the liberal blog Daily Kos which has over 300,000 registered users and serves up 2,000,000 pages per month. Moulitsas Zuniga…

by Sophia van Buren She sat there on the couch across from me, arms crossed, chin slightly jutting out from her face, her sharp features contorted into a look of disapproval.  Her pale blue eyes looked sternly into mine, like a mother…

by K. Frank I line up with about twenty others in the waiting room. Each one of us is holding a white envelope containing information and forms to fill out to apply for food stamps. We’re escorted by a uniformed police officer through the…

by P.D. Lesko Congressman John D. Dingell, Jr. is 17 months away from breaking the late Congressman Robert Byrd’s record for total combined congressional service in the House and Senate. Dingell has been in the U.S. House since 1955, when…

by P.D. Lesko The (mostly) boys over at Daily Kos are sticking their wooden spoons into the political pot that is Michigan once again and trying to stir up trouble for a Republican. First, it was Governor Rick Snyder. Although many people…

by P.D. Lesko Judging from the number of bills Michigan GOP members pushed through the state Senate today, one could be led to believe that voter fraud in Michigan is a problem of epidemic proportions. However, nothing could be further…