Democracy Canceled in Michigan Because of Incorrect Font Size on Form
Over two hundred thousand people in Michigan are unhappy about a state law that allows Republican governor Rick Snyder to declare martial financial law in struggling municipalities and bypass local governments by installing wee tyrant "emergency financial managers" who are allowed to void the official status of public unions, sell off public assets, declare dead cat carcass legal tender, etc. Whatever they want, as long as all the budget savings are immediately passed on in the form of corporate tax cuts. So the unhappy citizens all signed petitions to force the state to hold a public referendum on the law and then promptly submitted the signatures. What do you think of that, Republican members of the state body responsible for certifying the petitions? Let's check the report: "Republicans cited the wrong font size on the title of the petitions circulated by Stand Up For Democracy, a coalition of groups that launched the petition campaign, as the reason for not approving the initiative for the ballot. Opponents gathered 203,238 signatures, roughly 40,000 more than needed to get a repeal question on the ballot."
The Board of State Canvassers deadlocked 2-2 along party lines Thursday on whether Michiganians will get to vote in November on a repeal of the controversial emergency manager law — sparking angry shouts of "shame" and "fascists" from the audience.
The vote means for now the question won't appear on the general election ballot, but supporters said they'd challenge the decision before the Court of Appeals to try to force the question onto the ballot.
The printer says the petitions met the state requirement that the font size on the petition headlines be 14-point, so the Republicans are using their own standard from outer space, as usual. [Detroit News]
As an actual nerd, I have this personal rule that anyone who ran Gateway Computers is prohibited from calling themselves either tough or a nerd. They're like eMachines without the quality. (In fact, I'm pretty sure they owned eMachines.)
Little known fact. Good King George rejected those petitions from the American Colonists requesting they be treated as English subjects because he didn't like their fonts.
That long "S" just drove him nutz - and the American Revolution was the result.
Plus, of course, the Americans were such crappy spellers.