Michigan Democrats Against Securing Elections

Compare and Contrast:

The Detroit News: Proposal requiring proof of citizenship to vote falls short votes in Michigan House

and

NPR: Michigan election review finds 16 non-citizens likely voted in November 2024 presidential election

We've gone from Democrats in the state saying:  No non-citizens are voting in our elections, our elections are totes secure;

to Democrats now saying, well, at least one non-citizen voted in the 2024 election, and his ballot counted, but it's not a real problem;

to Democrats now saying at least 16 non-citizens voted in the 2024 election but it's still super rare and just fine;

One can expect Democrats to start saying it is just fine and dandy that non-citizens are voting any day now.  

Given that you can vote in  Michigan with no ID at all, using an affidavit claiming you're a citizen,  and you can vote with just a student id card - which does not establish citizenship in any way, it's a rather clear and unnecessary vulnerability. Combine it with motor voter registration, and its an open door for non-citizens to vote in this state, and other shenanigans.

But, Michigan Democrats won't close the loophole. Instead, they consistently vote against measures to prevent that happening.

Funny, that. 

More On Canada

Yes, pun intended in the title.

Understand dear readers, the main element of the Canadian identity is one thing and one thing only.  It's not poutine, it's not hockey, it's not peacekeeping, its not even the reason the Geneva Convention is now referred to as the Geneva checklist. 

It is one thing and one thing only:

 They are not American. 

The Canadian psyche is locked in on differentiation from being American.

Ask them what is a Canadian, they're going to almost reflexively say Not American.

They may then proceed to other elements of their national essence like Government-run healthcare and gun control, but again these are simply enumerating ways how the country is different from America.

Indeed so much of Canadian identity is simply being not American or trying to differentiate itself frrm the US.  From a reaction to the USA's  melting pot, Canada announced the policy of multiculturalism. Most things Canadian are simply reactions to America.

So much so that they threw the election to the Liberals, after almost a decade of Liberal misrule and decline.  

The Liberals immediately got a campaign issue by immediately championing standing up to Trump for Canada and claiming to be preservers of Canada's unique (non-American) identity.

This  championing is even as the Liberals have: consistently degraded the Canadian identity; gone woke on the nation's history; imported tons of immigrants with no attempt to Canadianize them; and have tried to trade in what it means to be Canadian for a more universalist, citizen-of-the-world, euro-type definition. 

And Trump came along and threw the Liberal party and Mark Carney, who is perhaps the very definition of a citizen of the world, not just a lifeline, not just some red meat patriotism to campaign on, but a literal red carpet to hold onto power.

Even further polling showed that Trump running his mouth cost the conservatives. Politico: Poll: Canadians despise Trump and distrust US

Had Trump not decided to inject himself into Canadian politics with the repeated stupid "51st state" nonsense, and then did his quixotic tariff attack over the questionable claim of fentanyl being illegally smuggled over the border,  there would be a conservative in power in Ottawa right now to turn Canada around. 

So yes, the results of this election is Trump's fault.  This was an absolute blunder and completely counter-productive.

The more on Canadians certainly share the blame and will get the government they voted for good and hard as a result. But, had Trump not decided to run his mouth, the results would have been far different.

The Conservatives would have been a far better friend and ally to the USA than what we're about to get.

On the upside, with the Liberals back in power and likely pushing ahead full steam with corruption, net zero, and other progressive economic bromides, it can be predicted that Canada's per capita GDP for the entire country will now continue its drop and slip below that of the state of Mississippi.

So, they've got that decline going for them, which isn't nice, but, at least it will be very Canadian.

President Trump's Unforced Error - Woe Canada

An election that Canada's conservatives had in the bag after years of Liberal Party misrule and the promise of further misrule was lost due to President Trump unnecessarily injecting himself repeatedly into the race.

The Detroit News:  Mark Carney’s Liberal Party wins a Canadian election upended by Trump

The Liberals looked headed for a crushing defeat until the American president started attacking Canada’s economy and threatening its sovereignty, suggesting it should become the 51st state. Trump’s actions infuriated Canadians and stoked a surge in nationalism that helped the Liberals flip the election narrative and win a fourth-straight term in power.

Yep, Trump unfortunately often says stupid stuff, and then keeps saying stupid stuff, and this just cost him an ally as a result and put a

 Instead of the campaign being about Liberal party misrule, it became all about Trump.

CBC: Carney vows to govern for all Canadians after winning election upended by Trump

Mark Carney achieved what seemed like an impossible feat just a few months ago, leading the Liberals to another victory after an election that was shaped by U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war and threats of annexation. 

. . .

Then came Trudeau's early January resignation, U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war and persistent barbs about making Canada the 51st state — flipping the political script.

With Trump announcing, pausing, then re-announcing devastating tariffs on Canadian goods, the campaign largely became a race about who is best to steer Canada through global uncertainty.

Carney focused campaign on Trump

Carney tried to define himself as a steady, mature outsider who is best to deal with the unpredictable president and map out a new economic and security relationship. Heading into the campaign, Carney did not have a seat in the House of Commons. That changed Monday as CBC News projects he's won the Ottawa riding of Nepean.

While criss-crossing the country, the freshly minted leader pointed to his time as the governor of the Bank of Canada during the 2008 global financial crisis and head of the Bank of England during the Brexit years as evidence that Canadians should trust him to steer the country's economy through turbulent times.

This is the result of a completely unnecessary and unforced error on Trump's part.

Michigan SOS Jocelyn Benson Put Her Finger On The Scale, Gets Her Wrist Slapped

Michigan's Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a partisan Democrat, has been working hard to influence the election in Michigan in favor of the Democrats.

She tried to have Cornel West kept off the ballot, as that crazy proggy would draw a share of Black and hard progressive Democrat voters away from Que Mala Harris.

At the very same time, she tried to keep RFK Jr on the ballot, because he would likely draw off an element that would otherwise vote for Trump. Keeping him in play and West off would potentially swing the projected to be very close election here in favor of Harris.

She's now lost both attempts in court:

WDET: Cornel West is back on Michigan’s presidential ballot, judge rules

The Detroit News:  Michigan appeals court orders RFK Jr. removed from November ballot

Now, she is appealing both decisions to the Michigan Supreme Court. The Court's Democrat majority there may perhaps decide the issues on the basis of partisanship rather than law.  We shall see.

This is indeed the same Jocelyn Benson that has been previously had illegally attempted to ban carry at polling places, and had illegally ordered clerks during the 2020 election not to verify signatures on absentee ballots, again favoring Democrats and opening the doorway for shenanigans with unverified ballots being counted.

So, our Secretary of State is rather definitively partisan and has been using election laws and regulations in a rather partisan fashion.  Since she very much runs those who count the votes, expect further electoral shenanigans to favor the Democrats from the person who should be instead focusing on making sure this is a clean election.

Court: Election Redistricting To Favor Dems Has Racial Consequences

The Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission , which just happened to redraw districts that ended up (quelle surprise) being heavily in favor of Democrats, drew some ire as the resulting districts diluted Blacks into multiple districts.  This dilution prevented Blacks from being assured of having a lock on Blacks as representatives in some districts that previously were assured of having a Black representative as a lock.

The Detroit Free Press: Court orders metro Detroit legislative maps redrawn

Now, the cracking and redistricting they are complaining about wasn't actually done to "prevent Black people from voting for the candidates of their choice"  it was about ensuring Democrats all won those seats. 

Putting Black-majority areas with their voters that vote 90%+ Democrat into other previously less partisan district ensured that result, even as it made Blacks not a majority in each of these districts. This meant in the Dem primaries a Black candidate wasn't assured of winning. Such lack of a racial lock is apparently bad. In short in their pursuit of a lock for the Dems (for noble, non-partisan reasons, of course), the Commission ticked off a key Dem constituency.

 Note, the results of the un-packing being complained about in the article:

The panel ordered the commission to redraw the following districts:

• House District 1, currently represented by state Rep. Tyrone Carter, D-Detroit.
• House District 7, currently represented by state Rep. Helena Scott, D-Detroit.
• House District 8, currently represented by state Rep. Mike McFall, D-Hazel Park.
• House District 10, currently represented by state Rep. Joe Tate, D-Detroit.
• House District 11, currently represented by state Rep. Veronica Paiz, D-Harper Woods.
• House District 12, currently represented by state Rep. Kimberly Edwards, D-Eastpointe.
• House District 14, currently represented by state Rep. Donavan McKinney, D-Detroit.
• Senate District 1, currently represented by state Sen. Erika Geiss, D-Detroit.
• Senate District 3, currently represented by state Sen. Stephanie Chang, D-Detroit.
• Senate District 6, currently represented by state Sen. Mary Cavanagh, D-Redford Township.
• Senate District 8, currently represented by state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak.
• State Senate District 10, currently represented by state Sen. Paul Wojno, D-Warren.
• State Senate District 11, currently represented by state Sen. Veronica Klinefelt, D-Eastpointe.

See how there's not a single, solitary R in that list?   

This is the result of  the creation of solid D-majorities in those districts by filtering Blacks into each to create solid D-safe districts instead of keeping solidly Black districts.

In short, the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission screwed up by not simply coming out and stating the truth - this wasn't racially motivated, it was instead very politically motivated to create Democrat-safe districts, which in doing so got rid of Black majority districts to spread that solid D-voting bloc around.

In short, it was gerrymandering of the very sort they bemoaned happening before, but since it helped the Ds, so it was the noble kind of gerrymander.

It's likely the redrawing will again create districts that favor Blacks by race (I had thought that doing things based on race was bad, but you know apparently locking things up for certain races is just ducky). 

It may even create a district where Republicans have at least a shot at winning, and my current gerrymandered (but for the best of intentions, right?) district which is in the list ordered to be redrawn, may even stop being completely overwhelmed by Detroit voters.  

One can hope for that anyways.

So A Candidate For President From New York . . .

So, let me get this straight. 

A candidate for president with New York residency is accused of hiding a payoff by classifying it as legal fees.

Sounds real bad, doesn't it?

So, when exactly can we expect Alvin Bragg to charge Hillary Clinton (New York residency baby!) with felonies for hiding her payments for the Steele Dossier and other false election activities to influence the election. Not to mention her acts to the whole false Russian collusion story and investigation that many on the left still cling to, Durham report notwithstanding.  remember that she was running them through the law firm Perkins Coie falsely labelled as legal fees?

Hillary Clinton and the DNC have indeed even admitted to doing it.

AP: DNC, Clinton campaign agree to Steele dossier funding fine

Politico: Federal campaign watchdog fines DNC, Clinton campaign over dossier spending disclosure

Should be an absolute slam dunk case for Alvin Bragg, given the investigation is already done for him and tied up in a very neat package.

I'm sure he'll get around to it any day now.  Really, any day now he'll assemble a grand jury and enforce justice without partisanship nor favor.

If you believe that, I have a bridge in Brooklyn in great shape to sell you, along with a corrupt partisan district attorney.

Does Detroit Have More Registered Voters Than Population Actually Eligible To Vote?

It certainty appears so.

Per the City of Detroit Election Website, there were 508,535 Detroiters registered to vote for the 2022 election.

The total population of Detroit per the 2020 census is 672,351 and the current census population estimate for 2021 is 632,464.

Of that population,  the census has 32% of the population under the age of 18. Hence that 32% of the population is ineligible to be registered to vote.

That would imply that around 202,388 of the population is too young to vote. Even if we ignore the 2021 estimate and pretend the population didn't change at all from 2020 that would make 215,152 people ineligible to vote.

That would imply the total pool of people in Detroit eligible to register to voter is 430,076, or if you believe the population hasn't declined even a bit since 2020, a total of 457,199.

Anyone see the issue?

Even if Detroit managed to register 100% of those eligible to vote, which would be quite an unlikely feat of efficiency indeed, there should be 78,459 or 51,336 less voters on the voting rolls than there are currently.

Interestingly, even after losing population since 2020,  Detroit now has more registered voters.  The registered voter total in 2020 was 504,714.

So Detroit both lost population and yet increased the number of registered voters from 2020, yet even if the population remained the same since 2020 the city has at least, statistically speaking, 51,336 more registered voters now than the population should be able to provide.

While not proof of fraud, this does indicate Detroit needs a serious clean-up of their voter registration rolls. Having between 51,336-78,459 more registered voters than people who are actually eligible to vote certainly provides the means and opportunities for shenanigans to take place. 

Given our re-elected Secretary of State's refusal to clean up voter rolls in this state, don't expect that to happen anytime soon.

In Other Election News: A Democrat Get Out The Vote Effort Comes To A Screeching Halt

This particular get out the vote effort lasted all of two minutes.

The Detroit Free Press: 3 men captured attempting escape from Upper Peninsula prison

Gotta try and get that felon vote out and active, but the effort was all for naught.

Three prisoners, assisted by two others, ran for the fence at an Upper Peninsula prison Monday night, but were captured, officials confirmed.

Caught in 2 minutes flat and stymied by the border fence of the prison.  

"It was all over in less than two minutes," he said. "The officers did an excellent job."

All three men climbed to near the top of the first fence before falling and trying again, Gautz said. One had a device he tried to use to help get over the wire at the top of the fence, but it did not work, he said

The three felons, all prime Democrat voters, with resumes including home invasion, armed robbery, and assault, will not be voting in today's primary after all.

Easy In-Person Voting In The Age of Covid

Went and voted in person today in the primary.

No line, there were only two other voters there at the same time I was there.

Checking in, you were requested to wear a mask, and only handle one pen and keep it with you through the entire process.

My id checked (though being n a mask it wasn't exactly a detailed check, but the drivers license matched the info on the voter registration so, it was apparently good enough).  Then in I went. 

I was then handed a ballot and headed to a voting stand to do my voting duty.

Afterwards, I put the ballot in the machine, put the pen in the container marked dirty and voila, done. 

Very easy, no big deal, and no reason not to vote in person at all.

What No Call For T-Dog To Go Vote?

Detroit is on the cusp of another mayoral election. It's a choice of sticking with competent progress and rebirth or regressing to the bad ol' racially-charged days of yore that led to the city's collapse.

On one side there's the current Mayor Mike Duggan who, for all his association with the MacNamara Democrat machine in Wayne County politics, is at least quite competent and has done some very good things for Detroit, including hiring and backing Police Chief Craig.

On the other side of this Democrat-on-Democrat election (Republicans need not apply to run for mayor in Detroit) is Coleman Snow, sorry, Coleman Young Junior (nee Joel Loving), who is basically an actual bastard in the Game of Thrones illegitimate sense trading on his father's name (which does seem to be working and drawing support) and little else.

Coleman's use of the race card is so frequent it has got to be burning a hole in his pocket.

Some choice statements include:

Young said, “It's time to take back the motherland for the people.”

Yes, really as well as claims of apartheid and invoking the memory of Malice Green of all people.

Basically he's running a pure hard left racial campaign hitting all the doctrinal high points.

Except for excessive use of the race card fun and pandering to the lowest common denominator, with ideas such as ordering the police to ignore drivers without insurance and not be permitted to ask for proof of insurance, Coleman is not offering much but the same old, same old, trading on his father's name and some racial animosity.

On this election day we got the following exhortation from him, an exhortation to vote that you don't typically get in a mayoral race:

He also encouraged Detroiters to get out and vote Tuesday.

“Vote Coleman Young,” he said. “Take Ray-Ray, take Pookie, take all them out to the polls and make sure they vote and they vote for Coleman Young.”

Seriously, how did he forget T-Dog? T-Dog be angry that he be disrespected by not being invited by name, ya know?

Hopefully, Detroit voters will not fall for the race-baiting Coleman Young Jr and take a giant leap backwards. Mayor Duggan may not be perfect, but he's head and shoulders above Coleman in competence and he has an actual track record of accomplishments in improving the city.

Election Results Update: Duggan trounced Young 72% to 28%. That 28% of Detroit voters voted for Young is rather worrisome but at least 72% had enough sense to back the mayor who is actually doing good things for the city.

President Trump

I certainly wish President Trump well, and watching the leftists' many heads explode yesterday and today with their howls of mixed grief and outrage while they suffer a collective temper tantrum is rather good fun indeed.

But, remember permanent majorities aren't.

There are two rather apt truisms for this moment:

1. The party in power becomes arrogant. The chance of Republicans screwing up now that they're in charge after 8 long years of Obama is rather high.

2. The party out of power becomes insane. The Democrats have kicked this one up a notch this time by going insane even before being out of power and by rioting and being idiots during the inauguration and now by protesting today making much sound and fury while accomplishing nothing.

It's going to be an interesting Presidential term indeed.

Uh Oh, Proposed Michigan Senate Bill Requires Voters To Think Before They Vote

The bill, which will eliminate straight-ticket voting in Michigan, is accused of being a hardship to Democrat voters.

Don't believe me? Ask the Democrats themselves: The Detroit News: Senate votes to end straight-party voting

[State Senator Morris] Hood [D-Detroit] said eliminating straight party voting would make it more difficult to vote and add confusion and wait times at the polls in November general elections.

Yep, not being able to just fill in the box marked Democrat but instead having to go through the entire ballot and make choices is just too darn hard for the average Democrat voter.

Let's hope this bill becomes a law and people become better informed about who they are voting for as a result.

The Fifth Of May - Proposal 1 Voting Takes Place Today

So I voted today.

Against the Proposal 1 tax increase, an increase that would be the biggest tax increase in the state since 1967, for many of the same reasons quite cogently explained by Tom McMillin.

I voted in favor of the renewal of my local schools hold-harmless millage. Taxes won't go up and if it is not renewed our district, currently ranked one of the best if not the best in Michigan for results in terms of student performance, will drop to the lowest funded district in the state. This would not be a happy occasion.

Most people I talked to seem to have the same position, but we'll see what the majority of voters decide.

We'll see what we end up with when the results come in.

Voted

Went to the poling place at around 11:30 am today, and there were 300 previous voters at that point.

Interestingly enough, they had accidentally given the voter right in front of me two ballots (one was stuck to the other) just before I reached the point in line to receive my ballot. There was a short delay until they frantically tracked down the missing ballot and got it back in order and then all was well.

We'll give them points for paying attention.

Happily, he had not started on that one as it was stuck under the ballot he was actually supposed to have, so I was able to cast my ballot without any pre-completed selections.

Michigan Republicans Don't Miss An Opportunity To Miss An Opportunity

Obama and the Democrats favorability ratings are at a record low, matched only by their incompetence.

Obamacare is sucking the life out of the economy, people hate it and it's going to get worse.

EPA regs will harm Michigan's auto industry.

Obama's foreign policy is at best a shambles, at worst a complete disaster, as is his push for amnesty.

And Gary Peters has been a lock-step Obama supporter throughout this presidency that makes Jimmy Carter look good.

And the Michigan Republicans put up a candidate against him that can't capitalize on any of this and instead of winning with votes to spare is losing, and losing badly, mainly by running as the Democrat-lite candidate.

The Detroit News: Beckmann: The Terri Lynn Land autopsy

It's not over until election day, but seriously, there hasn't been a Republican Senator from Michgian since 1994, and its about time the party realizes they can't win by being Democrat-lite. Sheesh.

So, Is Hillary Going To Run For President Against Her Own Record?

It sure looks like it.

Democrats do tend to have short memories, at least when it comes to Democrat political foibles. This Orwellian bit of historical revisionism might just work for her.

Primary Voting Done

This year's primary looks like it is going to have quite the low turnout.

At 3:00 pm I was voter #99 at my precinct.

I voted yes to Proposal 1 to get rid of the regressive and archaic business personal property tax, an easy decision to make indeed.

Next I was faced with a choice of voting either Republican or Democrat in the primary there wasn't a lot of choices to make this ballot.

On the Democrat side running for Congress there were choices of either a Democrat platform lockstep strongly anti-gun rights candidate, a rabidly anti-gun rights candidate, a foaming at the mouth anti-gun rights candidate or a totally loony anti-gun rights candidate.

Considering my district has been gerrymandered into Detroit, whichever anti-gun rights candidate wins today will most likely be the next Congress-critter save for one slim possibility.

The Republican running for the Congressional seat has a last name of Conyers.

There is a non-zero chance that a lot of Detroiters will see the name Conyers and reflexively vote for it regardless of the (R) appearing after it on the ballot.

So yeah, odds are good I'll be stuck with yet another anti-gun rights congress-critter come November, and one even worse than the current occupant, Gary Peters.

So I voted on the Republican ballot and I voted in the only contested race on it. I voted for State Senator Mike Kowall as he's been solid pro-gun throughout his time in office and deserves to stay in office.

It took all of 5 minutes to vote, how about you?

To Colorado Governor - Apology Not Accepted

Fox News: Colorado governor tries to apologize for gun control measures, blames staff, then curses

Proving the adage that a politician only sees the light when you show 'em the heat, Colorado Governor Hickenlooper is trying to "apologize" for his signing of the onerous, ineffective and downright unconstitutional anti-gun legislation into law.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper’s awkward attempt to patch things up with his state’s sheriffs over his support of controversial gun control legislation isn’t going as planned.

The governor, a Democrat, offered a series of unusual explanations during a meeting he held last Friday with a group of Colorado sheriffs for why he signed legislation that restricts the sale of ammunition magazines of more than 15 rounds.

First, Hickenlooper blamed his staff for not anticipating the opposition on gun control. He then apologized for his staff’s inability to effectively communicate and promised to do better in the future. ...

Hickenlooper also said he felt pressure to sign the bill into law because a member of his staff “made a commitment.”

“To be honest, no one in our office thought it would get through the legislature,” he said. “There were several Democrats who said without question they weren’t going to vote for it.”

The measure passed the Democrat-controlled legislature. No Republicans voted for it.

Last year, Hickenlooper spoke in favor of gun-control measures that called for background checks for all firearm sales as well as transfers.

Could it be the recall of a couple anti-gun Colorado senators and an upcoming election have anything to do with this faux apology?

Throwing your staff under the bus for your failings is always a class act by a politician and implies he can't even control his own staff, and given Hickenlooper's record of being in favor of these bills his apology rings hollow.

If you want your apology accepted Governor, you can state that your signing of the bill was wrong and that you'll sign a repeal of the law and that you want that repeal bill on your desk post-haste. Until you do that, it's quite clear that you're not really apologizing at all.

Games The Obama Administration Plays In An Election Year

The level of political pandering by the Obama administration in this, an election year where Democrats are on the ropes for a moribund economy; the disaster of Obamacare; and the tragicomedy of American foreign policy, is rapidly descending from the blatantly obvious to the over-the-top ridiculous.

First, the Obama Administration will continue punt the decision on the Keystone Pipeline, blocking it until after the election in order to prevent annoying its Environmental and Labor interest blocks before the House and Senate elections take place. Environmental because approving it would make Gaia cry, and Labor because denial will prevent a lot of good paying union jobs.

The Detroit News: U.S. delays review of Keystone XL pipeline

On top of that, to pander to the Hispanic and illegal alien voting block, the Obama administration weighs extending its ban on deportations or illegals without criminal records by executive fiat to those immigrants who have only committed a little bit of crime. A little bit of crime is apparently akin to being a little bit pregnant, no biggie right?

The Detroit News: U.S. weighs curbing deportations

Tens of thousands of immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally but don’t have serious criminal records could be shielded from deportation under a policy change being weighed by Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson.

The change, if adopted following a review ordered by President Barack Obama, could limit removals of people who have little or no criminal record but have committed repeat immigration violations such as re-entering the country illegally after having been deported, or failing to comply with a deportation order.

That's quite an extension of an already questionable policy - already ICE and CBP are told to ignore illegals without criminal records and now the Obama wants to extend that immunity to those with criminal records that are not "serious".

Notice that both headlines state the "U.S." either "weighs" or "delays", not the Obama administration in an election year, naturally.

Meanwhile, in a demonstration of obtuseness that only an in-the-tank media commentator can have, Democrat supporter and water carrier Clarence Page asks if for Democrats: Will 2014 be the year of the race card?

Clarence, in case you haven't noticed, and apparently you haven't, from the time Obama first ran for President until the present, Democrats haven't stopped ceaselessly using the race card to deflect criticism from this administration. Sheesh.

The Mummy Votes: Pontiac Woman Who Died in 2008 Apparently Voted In 2010

Being a mummy does cut down on your social life, but it apparently doesn't stop you from casting a ballot.

The interesting story of a lady dead for 6 years, only now discovered in her garage after her auto-payments for her mortgage ran out. She had died in 2008 but somehow cast a ballot in the 2010 election in the Democrat-dominated and run city of Pontiac.

There are no records extant as to whether she voted for Imhotep or just the run-of-the-mill Democrat candidate for governor.

The Detroit Free Press: New mystery in Pontiac: How could mummified body vote in 2010?

It's an interesting article and the whole story is a cautionary example of what can happen if you have your life set on automatic - it can take quite a while for people to realize you're no longer animate.