Boys will be boys pigs

It’s just another episode in a long, long string of episodes where some Michigan Republican men can’t get into any sort of back and forth with a woman without whipping out the sexist derogatory slurs. This time, it’s state House Representative Frank Foster.

While visiting the neighborhood of a Michigan Nurses Association staffer, he called her a “cunt”.

That’s it. We’ve had it. So long.

Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is a magnificent place and really is a world all to its own. Touching three of the Great Lakes, its climate, geography and culture is completely separate in many ways from the rest of the state.

Over the years, there have been at least four different attempts to secede from the state to form the state of “Superior” or “Ontonagon”.

With the massive overreach of the current government of Michigan, some in the Upper Peninsula are renewing the call for secession…

We’re just not that into you. And neither are they.

In a true testament to exactly how politically polarized things have gotten in Michigan, former Monroe County Republican Party chair Jeff Andring has filed paperwork to recall Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville.

Andring says it’s because Richardville isn’t conservative enough.

[More after the jump.]

We’ve sunk THIS low???

The Michigan Democratic Party has been busy recruiting a candidate to run against Tim Walberg in the 7th District where I live. However, as I reported back in March and others have reported since then, they aren’t recruiting Democrats, they are recruiting Joe Schwarz. A Republican.

I’m not kidding.

Kicking cities while they’re down

Michigan Republicans passed a budget last year that gives businesses $1.6 billion dollars in tax breaks, paid for by slashing school funding and raising taxes on over half of Michiganders. Now, they are about to hand them another half billion dollars by phasing out the personal property tax (PPT).

It’s generally agreed that the PPT is not a particularly smart tax. It forces companies to pay taxes on equipment that they purchase which has the effect of encouraging them NOT to make capital investments that can help them thrive and grow.

However, here’s the rub: getting rid of it will take nearly half a billion dollars out of city budgets, many of which are largely dependent upon this tax. If you think the problem with bankrupt cities and Emergency Managers is bad now, this will make it worse.

Have a look at this chart from the Michigan Municipal League’s Replace Don’t Erase website…

Birds of a feather The most-reviled governor in the country, Scott Walker of Wisconsin, will be in Troy Michigan tonight to headline a Republican fundraiser. The venue is the same one where Americans for Prosperity held their forum a couple of months ago — The San Marino Club on Big Beaver Road. As you might imagine, there will be a […]

Why would ANYONE want to be a teacher in Michigan??? Last month, I wrote about the latest attack on teachers in Michigan, an effort to strip benefits and cut into their pensions. Facing an unfunded liability of over $45 billion, Michigan Republicans are set to take it out of the hides of teachers with Senate Bill 1040. The bill will […]

The Michigan Republican House caucus won a round in court yesterday. The court allowed three bills passed in an illegal and unconstitutional use of “immediate effect” to remain on the books. The Court of Appeals has halted a lower court’s injunction ordering House Republicans to grant requests from Democrats to hold recorded roll call votes on whether to put new […]

Wrong is wrong, illegal is illegal I have been writing about how Michigan House Republicans have been refusing to acknowledge Democrats’ request to have a roll call vote on whether or not to make a bill take “immediate effect” rather than wait until 90 days after the end of the legislative session. Our state constitution says that they can do […]

It’s much, much worse in Michigan than we even realized

Last night, Rachel Maddow broke a huge story that has been happening since Republicans took over in Michigan in 2011 and has gone completely under the radar. Since January 2011, 566 bills have been signed into law. Of those, 546 of them, 96.5% were passed under “immediate effect”. Here’s the video from last night’s show that will blow your mind. Pay particular attention to around 12:30 where they show it in action. It’s astonishing.

This is new in Michigan governance. This is not the way that Michigan was set up. This is not the way it was supposed to be…Michigan Republicans are using what is supposed to be an emergency provision for everything, even for the most contentious and partisan and divisive things that they want to do…

Constitution schmonstitution, part eleventy billion When I wrote about Michigan Republicans being put under a restraining order to keep them from violating the state constitution a few days ago, I wrote, “It will be interesting to see if the Republicans are so intent on betraying the state constitution that they appeal to the appeals court.” Turns out they ARE and […]