It’s time for ACTION!

I have a piece up today at the AFL-CIO NOW blog that discusses the travesty that happened at the state capitol yesterday. I wanted to expand on a couple of things that I discussed there. Mainly, that the Republicans, including Governor Rick Snyder are complete and utter hypocrites on the topic of unions and union-crushing Right to Work for Less (RTWFL) laws.

Much more including how YOU can get involved after the jump.

This is what happens when you vote Republican

In a move that surprises just about nobody, Governor Rick Snyder announced at press conference this morning that when anti-union Republicans send “Right to Work for Less” (RTWFL) legislation to his desk, he will sign it.

After spending the past year being coy about his position on RTWFL, it was widely suspected that he would support such legislation. With gerrymandered districts ensuring Republican dominance for the foreseeable future, the will of Michiganders as a whole is being thwarted by a cadre of drunk-with-power ideologues that have been waiting for decades to jam anti-union, anti-worker, anti-woman and pro-Big Business bills through the legislature and into law. The perfect storm of the 2010 midterm election and the redistricting that happened the following year gave them their opportunity.

Details after the jump.

Forming a more perfect union

Republican attacks on labor unions are, perhaps, one of the most hypocritical positions that they have. As they hold the U.S. Constitution aloft and bow down in solemn reverence to the Declaration of Independence, they seem to forget a couple of key things.

First, our country is, at its very core, a UNION. We are the UNITED States of America. We work together for the common good of all of our citizens, at least when we’re doing it right.

Second, one of our most basic tenets, right there in the 1st Amendment, is the right to peaceably assemble.

Labor unions are one of the purest expressions of democracy and freedom in this country, a fact that is often lost in the discussion. I want to remind our legislators of this so I started a petition called “Unions ARE Democracy. Unions ARE Freedom. Stop Republican attacks on unions in Michigan, say NO to ‘Right to Work’ for Less.“

And the winner is… the anti-Labor conservatives

NOTE: This is an abbreviated version of a post I published at the AFL-CIO NOW blog. Click HERE to read the whole piece.

For months and months, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has been playing Switzerland on the topic of “Right to Work For Less” (RTWFL) — the Orwellian-named anti-labor union drive — saying “It’s not on my agenda” but never promising to veto RTWFL legislation. He literally used that exact phrase every single time he was asked about it right up until this past week.

Today, all of that changed. After a meeting with top Republican leaders from the state House and Senate, it’s now “on the table”.

Rushing through an ideological experiment because they can — not because it’s smart Michigan Republicans have embarked on what they are calling “reform” of our state’s K-12 school system. They are rushing to implement plans long proposed by conservative, anti-teacher groups like the Mackinac Center for Public Policy with laws that would increase the number of charter schools, impeded the […]

What could go wrong???

Michigan Republicans are moving forward with a couple of bills that will make it easier to get handguns in our state and to ease restrictions on where concealed weapons may be carried.

Apparently, one of Michigan’s biggest problems is that it’s just too damned inconvenient to get a gun and who wouldn’t want concealed weapons in churches, schools, bars, and stadiums?

Details and more after the jump.

Guess they’re getting just too damned inconvenient…

What do you do when a major metropolitan city like Detroit, Michigan just gets too goddam inconvenient? Dissolve it!

That’s what dumbass State Senator Rick Jones is proposing.

I’m not kidding. Details after the jump.

This is a Big Government takeover, Republican style. Period.

Although many of us here in Michigan have been fearful regarding what the Republicans in our state legislature would do during the lame duck session which lasts for the next three weeks, few of us envisioned the draconian steps they would take to hand over the education of our kids to private, for-profit corporations and destroy our public school system once and for all. That is, however, exactly what they plan to do.

A new package of bills is making its way through the legislature (there’s an Education Committee meeting on them today, in fact) that will all but end public education as we know it in Michigan. The bills, House Bill 6004 and Senate Bill 1358, House Bill 5923, and Senate Bill 620 are revolutionary and are so far-reaching/over-reaching that school superintendents and other administrators across the state are sounding alarm bells far and wide.

All the gruesome details after the jump.

They love you until you’re born

It’s getting pretty tough for Michigan Republicans to surprise me anymore but, dammit, they went ahead and did it anyway. This week, they introduced legislation that establishes a tax credit for unborn fetuses.

I’m not kidding.

Letting ideology trump protecting our most vulnerable citizens

Michigan’s Tea Party Republicans are doing everything in their power to block the formation of a state-run health insurance exchange. These state exchanges are mandated by the Affordable Care Act and, if they are not formed, the federal government will do it for them, taking away the state’s ability to control their own destiny. As I wrote last summer, this self-defeating behavior is harmful to Michigan’s most vulnerable citizens.

Details after the jump.

When you lose Livingston County’s largest newspaper, you’ve lost

The Livingston County Press & Argus has a blistering op-ed today, slamming House Republicans for re-selecting known election fraudster Jase Bolger as their Speaker once again. They slam Bolger. They slam Livingston County House Represenatives Cindy Denby and Bill Rogers. Frankly, they slam almost the entire GOP House caucus.

And they pull exactly zero punches. Details after the jump.