Until we restore Glass-Steagall, more big bank bailouts are inevitable

By on May 18, 2013 in GOPocrisy

Either we break up the big banks or the big banks break us

Attorney General Eric Holder made actual some news this week amid the GOP’s scandal frenzy: he told the House Judiciary committee that big banks are not too big too jail. He was willing to criminally prosecute the nation’s largest banks, though he hasn’t done so since the financial crisis.

“Let me be very, very, very clear… banks are not too big to jail,” Holder added.

This is a small relief because the fact remains that the big banks are bigger than ever, much bigger than they were when they were able to prevent the decent reforms that followed the financial crisis to take the the crucial step of breaking up the big banks.…


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Bound Together gives Pontiac students confidence and hope

By on May 17, 2013 in Education

Good people are fighting every day for Michigan’s students. This organization is among them.

Just when you begin to despair over the seemingly endless battles public education is facing in Michigan, you find a reason to feel optimistic.

In Pontiac, one of the Michigan school districts that’s struggling the most, an organization called Bound Together is providing an environment where children in grades 1 through 6 can come to learn, to express themselves and to gain confidence that can lead to a better future.

Established in 1994, Bound Together is an independent after-school program that offers tutoring in math, reading and reading comprehension three days a week, followed by a nutritious meal.…


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Michigan Senate Republicans reject Medicaid expansion

By on May 17, 2013 in Michigan Republicans

Heartless is as heartless does

If you were a lawmaker and were given the chance to reduce the number of uninsured Michiganders by nearly half and save the state nearly a billion dollars over the next ten years, what would you do? If you were a Michigan Senate Republican, you would reject it. That’s what Michigan Senate Republicans did yesterday when they passed Department of Community Health budget without a provision to expand Medicaid as allowed by the Affordable Care Act.

They even killed a Democratic amendment to put Medicaid expansion back into the bill. It went down on a 13-25 vote.…


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VIDEO: Progress Michigan goes after ‘skunk works’ group working to commoditize/profitize Michigan public schools

By on May 16, 2013 in Corporatism, Education, Privatization, Rick Snyder

Ooo-ooo, that smell…

Last month, after the Detroit News tore back the curtains on the secretive “skunk works” group, staffed by some of Gov. Snyder’s aides and aimed at destroying our public school system while funneling the proceeds to for-profit charter schools, the group was quickly reconfigured to be one that was more, shall we say, public? The Governor’s staffer was replaced with State Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan who vowed any discussion of vouchers and the like would be “off the table”.

My pals at Progress Michigan endeavored to learn more about the group with a Freedom of Information Act request but were, in part, denied because “the Basecamp server that housed ‘Skunk Works’ discussions and files was shut down following the revelation of the group’s existence, making several files unavailable.”

They did receive some documents however.…


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GOP Sen. Pavlov attacks regulation of charter schools, State Bd. Of Ed. Pres. John Austin responds (beautifully)

By on May 16, 2013 in Education, Michigan Republicans

That’s gonna leave a mark

Republicans are going Code Red to defend their desire to exempt charter schools from any sort of additional scrutiny, including being held to the same educational standards as public schools are. Toward that effort, state Senator Phil Pavlov went on the attack against the State Board of Education for even suggesting it. Pavlov is the chair of the Senate Education Committee. He then went on to blame the State Board of Education for the dire financial situation schools like those in Buena Vista and Pontiac find themselves in.

State Board of Education President John Austin, someone whose name has been talked about as a terrific choice for Lt. Governor of Michigan given his experience in education, is not taking this lying down. He put out a statement today, slamming Sen. Pavlov for his blatant politicization of our education system in Michigan. It’s a thing of beauty.

Read it over the jump.


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A majority of Michiganders support marriage equality — up 12.5 percent from last year

By on May 16, 2013 in Rick Snyder

This is what a blue state state looks like

56.8 percent of Michigan residents support same-sex marriage, according to a new poll from the Glengariff Group. That’s up 12.5 percent from a year ago largely due to a shift in the views of Republicans and independents.

In 2004, the state approved a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, even as it voted for John Kerry.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a policy question move as quickly as this one,” said Richard Czuba, president of Glengariff.

On the heels of Minnesota becoming the 12th state to legalize equal marriage, it seems that a candidate named “same-sex marriage” would easily beat Republican Governor Rick Snyder in a head-to-head match-up.…


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Not sure why Medicaid expansion matters? Try living without health insurance

By on May 16, 2013 in Michigan Republicans

You don’t know what it’s like until it’s your life.

Clara Sanders-Stevens works hard every day, directing the Project 21 after-school program for the Oak Park School District. But, because she’s an independent contractor, she’s responsible for her own health insurance. And she just can’t afford it.

I don’t need help with food or rent, but I need health insurance — especially in the event I have to go to the emergency room or I’m hospitalized. But when you start talking about $400 or $500 a month for insurance, it’s just not going to happen for a lot of people like me.…

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Some Michigan schools flourish while others lock their doors for lack of money – an end run to privatization

By on May 16, 2013 in Education

Follow your tax money (right into the pockets of for-profit school shareholders)

Yesterday, the same day that we learned that the Snyder administration had bowed to the suitable outrage and national media attention they had received over the closing of the Buena Vista school district due to lack of money and had released funds, we also learned that two Michigan high schools are closing as well. These to high schools, Albion and Inkster, won’t reopen in the fall because their school districts cannot afford to do so. In Albion, “officials hope to reach a deal with nearby Marshall for students to attend high school there”. In Inkster, the high school will be run by a charter.

And yet, in school districts across the state, we see new buildings and renovations going on. Flat-screen televisions in the hallways, brand new campuses, state-of-the-art sports facilities. How is this possible? How is it that students in one district can go to school in a cutting-edge, shiny new facility while students in other districts see their schools shuttered for lack of funding? It can be explained by how we fund our schools and the shiny new buildings and hallway televisions don’t always tell the full story.


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