Good News for Michigan Cigar Aficionados.

The Michigan Legislature failed to enact a total ban on smoking in bars, restaurants, cigar bars, and similar commercial private property. This legislation is now dead until the next Legislature is in session.

The organization Cigar Rights of America has been recently formed to help cigar smokers fight the creeping fascism of smoking bans and excessive tobacco taxes.

Academe' Now Squawking for Government Cheese.

Believe it or not, after a few decades of tuition increases well above the inflation rate, colleges and universities want even more money, claiming a hunk'o Uncle Sugar Daddy's Big Bailout Cheese Wheel.

Here's the ten year history of tuition for LSA students at Michigan:

• 1999-2000 $6335
• 2000-2001 $6515 (+2.8%)
• 2001-2002 $6935 (+6.4%)
• 2002-2003 $7485 (+7.9%)
• 2003-2004 $7975 (+6.5%)
• 2004-2005 $8200 (+2.8%)
• 2005-2006 $9215 (+12.4%)
• 2006-2007 $9725 (+5.5%)
• 2007-2008 $10,445 (+7.4%)
• 2008-2009 $11,035 (+5.6%)
• 1999-2009 +$4700 (+7.4% APR)

When are the administrators of this institution going to face reality? Why do students and their families (or the rest of us, by way of government financial aid) bear the burden, year in and year out, of the academe's dreams of grandeur?

Artes, Scientia, Veritas.

The Ann Arbor News reports that a University of Michigan professor is under investigation for hiring a female UM law student to...well, to...you know...and it got a bit out of hand. Our hallowed alma mater has reassured us, however, that there are strict rules in place to govern faculty-student romantic relationships, such as the requirement to file a "Conflict of Interest" working plan with the appropriate departments. We are much reassured.