Meanwhile, on the Ann Arbor city council

Having had its say on Arizona's immigration laws, the Ann Arbor City Council is now turning its attention to the important business of banning couches on porches. The pretext for reviving the proposed ban, which failed to pass a few years ago, is, oddly, an arson incident that had nothing per se to do with porch couches, other than that couches burn well and that there was one on the porch of the house that burned. One might think that couches that burn well outside would also burn well inside, which would seem to justify a complete ban on couches anywhere in the house (unless perhaps an exception is made for ergonomic couches made locally of organic material by union workers singing revolutionary songs), but it is hard to see how the flammability of couches justifies a selective ban of outside couches but not inside couches.

Of course, the real issue here, for which the fire issue is providing some (ahem) smoky cover, is that some folks just want to reduce the utility of the students. Given that the students are the reason the Ann Arbor economy is in much better shape than that of the rest of the state, this seems a bit churlish to me.