Eclectablog himself wasn’t able to attend the grassroots-organized rally in support of the public school system in Lansing this morning; fortunately I was able to attend, with a contingent of my fellow Bloomfield Hills-based public school advocates. Yes, that’s right: Even in Bloomfield Hills, where most of the residents seem to think that the deliberate, systematic destruction of the Michigan Public School System will somehow spare them, there’s a solid base of concerned parents and other residents who know the truth: Sooner or later, Gov. Snyder and the Republican-held state legislature will come after us as well, unless they’re stopped.

With that in mind, here’s a collection of photos & videos from today’s event, which was arranged for by a completely grass-roots organization called, simply enough, Save Michigan’s Public Schools.

Note: Please forgive the shaky video and scattershot photos; I’m not much of a videographer and my battery ran low about 2/3 of the way through, so I had to skip some speakers. I’ll post the videos first, then the photos (warning: there’s a lot of pics!)

Tony Trupiano acted as the MC of the event and led things off:

Ten teachers from ten different school districts were brought up to give short snippets about life in a Michigan public school today, under the “leadership” of Rick Snyder and the legislative Republicans (unfortunately I missed part of the first speaker):

I was a little surprised that Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Schauer, as the headline speaker, was scheduled so close to the beginning of the event, but perhaps he wasn’t available later in the day (broken into two parts due to a phone call coming in partway through his speech…):

Other speakers included State Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer, State Representative Ellen Cogen Lipton, State Board of Education President John Austin and Michigan Parents for Schools leader Steven Norton, along with numerous others.

However, the real eye-opener of the event, for me at least, was this speech by a very talented, energetic and determined teacher and creative writing director by the name of Jeff Kass. I missed his introduction, but as I understand it, he’s an award-winning writer and poet who teaches at-risk kids in the Ann Arbor school district. He also works with an organization called The Neutral Zone in Ann Arbor, “Where teens lead, create and innovate”. Here’s an article about Jeff from a couple of years ago; he sounds like an amazing guy, exactly the sort of teacher that we should be encouraging instead of trampling on:

Elizabeth Stieg, Howard Baron & Ken Jackson

Senate Dems were in the house (so to speak)

As was the Ban Fracking petitioners

Natalie Mosher, Joe & Kathy Carney

Former MI-08 candidate Lance Enderle

The big-head “One-Term Nerd” arrives!

Not-Quite Rick Snyder

Followed by his very own Skunk Works

Our Next Governor, Mark Schauer.

Teachers aren’t Hogs, Rep. Lyons!

Big Head, the Pig & Skunkworks

All for the kids.

Question & Answer

State Senator Vince Gregory & former State Rep. John Stewart

State Senators Steve Bieda & Gretchen Whitmer

Sen. Whitmer w/the Big Head of Rick Snyder

State Rep. Vicki Barnett & Friend

Sen. Gretchen Whitmer Speaking

Rhee-Ject

Socrates

State Sen. Ellen Cogen Lipton, State Board of Ed. members Casandra Ulbrich, Michelle Fecteau & ???

Rep. Ellen Cogen Lipton w/State Dem Representatives

State BoE President John Austin & Board Member Casandra Ulbrich

Jeff Kass

Stop Bullying our Teachers!

Students Speaking

Posthumus Pig & Skunk Works

Steven Norton

Casandra Ulbrich & Elizabeth Stieg

The biggest problem Democrats have  had in selling the Affordable Care Act is about to become its greatest strength.

Approximately 85% of American adults are insured through their employer or the government. The vast majority of the insured will barely notice when Obamacare goes into effect in January of 2014.

That doesn’t mean they won’t benefit from the law.

Obamacare makes it so their insurance companies can’t cap their lifetime coverage or rescind their plan when they get sick. The currently insured are already getting free preventative care that to the ACA, and insurance companies, for the first time, have to prove that they are spending 80-85% of what they charge customers is spent on actual medical care.

Of course, this won’t stop Republicans from blaming every rate increase, slow elevator and grumpy doctor on the president’s signature legislative achievement — even though the growth of health care costs continues to slow.

Obamacare is primarily designed to help the 15% of America that isn’t currently insured — the people we pay for when they show up in the emergency rooms at the worst possible moments.

I was briefly part of that 15% when I found myself denied by my old insurer for a pre-existing condition that they knew about because it was my old insurer. I’ve never gotten over the feeling that I should avoid going to the doctor and when I get there, I can’t help but feel I still should hold back information that might be relevant to my care. I’ve never felt less free than when I think these thoughts. And for those who earn less and have a family to support, the feeling must be infinitely worse.

For the uninsured, entrepreneurs and those chained to a job for insurance, the ACA frees us to seek better opportunities and the best care available without the fear of going broke if we have to see a doctor.

Of course, Republicans still have a huge advantages in their propaganda war against the Obamacare. Not only do they have former vice-presidential candidates willing to lie about the law using the scariest words possible, they get to compare the costs regulated, guaranteed plans offered in the Obamacare marketplaces to the sh*tty insurance many of us have today.

That’s why even when we get great news about the rates being offered in California’s exchange, Republicans can offer distorted examples to make it seem as if the costs of insurance are skyrocketing.

So here are 5 things you need to know and tell everyone you know about Obamacare rates:

1. Everyone earning up to $45,960 for an individual or $94,200 for a family of four will get subsidies to help them pay for their health care.
Hopefully you’re in the 62% of Americans who are aware that this help is coming for those who need it their most, guaranteeing you will not pay more than  9.5% of your family’s income on health insurance. Figure out what you’ll be paying here.

2. For the first time, insurers can’t turn you down.
This makes it impossible to compare today’s rates to next year’s rates when people with pre-existing conditions must be offered comprehensive coverage. It’s not just comparing apples to oranges, says The Washington Post’s Ezra Klein, “It’s comparing apples to oranges that the fruit guy may not even let you buy.”

3. For the first time, the coverage insurers offer will have to meet actual standards.
The New Republic‘s Jonathan Cohn explains:

Next year, when you go to buy coverage in an Obamacare exchange, you will know that your plan will include a set of “essential health benefits.”  You’ll have a choice over how much financial protection you want: You can go for a “bronze” plan, which will have high co-payments and deductibles, or you can pay more to get a “silver,” “gold,” or “platinum” plan that would leave you paying less out of pocket once you get care. But even if you opt for a bronze plan, the law will limit what you pay in out-of-pocket expenses to $6,350 for an individual. Your exposure will be lower if, because of your low income, you qualify for additional financial protection from the government.

4. The poorest will still be covered under Medicaid, which should be expanding.
Obamacare was designed to cover everyone earning 133 percent or below the poverty level with fully-subsidized Medicaid. More than two dozen Republican-led states are turning this nearly federally funded expansion down, even though their residents will still be paying for it. Only Arizona’s Jan Brewer has overcome her state’s Republican Party to implement expansion — though we are close in Michigan. Remember: It took until the early 1980s until all states accepted basic Medicaid so this fight isn’t over.

5. We already pay for each other’s insurance in the dumbest way possible.
Thanks to a 1986 law signed by Ronald Reagan, the costs of the uninsured already factored into your coverage. Republicans are preventing this law from covering as many people as it could — because of this at least 19,000 Americans could die each year. But the fact that several million more Americans will have coverage next  year is the beginning of an experiment that we know works. Just about every other industrialized country in the world covers all of their citizens and they all pay less for care.

Are Senate Republicans just running out the clock before summer recess? Or are they seriously considering Medicaid expansion’s merits?

After a day reportedly spent largely discussing Medicaid expansion, the Michigan Senate adjourned without voting on the issue. There’s no guarantee they’ll vote on it Wednesday or Thursday, when they adjourn for summer recess.

I really have nothing to go on but my gut, here, but the delay is making me anxious. Very anxious. Especially considering that Governor Rick Snyder is in Israel (although reportedly weighing in on Medicaid expansion, which he’s long supported) and Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley is out of town, and therefore unable to cast a tie-breaking vote if needed.

This gives me pause, too:

Senate GOP Press Secretary says there will not be a vote on Medicaid expansion unless there are 13 GOP Senators that support it.

— Chris Gautz (@ChrisGautz) June 18, 2013

Do I smell a rat? I’m generally an optimist — if maybe a cockeyed one — but there are too many things about the current scenario that make me nervous.

I had high hopes after the Medicaid expansion bill passed the Michigan House by a wide margin (76-31). That meant a lot of Republicans changed their minds.

But I’m not alone in my opinion that the Senate is a much tougher nut to crack on this one. Especially with the very vocal Michigan Tea Party threatening not to vote for any Republican who supports Medicaid expansion.

Is Michigan’s decision-making being dictated by threats? I sure hope not. And I certainly hope those threats won’t encourage some Republicans to put their own re-election ahead of what’s best for the majority of Michiganders.

There’s still time to be heard. The voices of reason should be relentless, too. We’ll just be more polite about it.

Contact as many Republican Senators as you can — especially your own — and let them know Michigan’s voters support Medicaid expansion. Call, email, post on their Facebook walls or tweet at them. While you’re at it, use social media to publicly thank members of the Michigan House who voted in support of Medicaid expansion.

Let’s show the Michigan Senate how powerful a force for good can be when it comes to public opinion.

Aye aye aye…

As I wrote last Friday, Republicans in the state House threw a bipartisan piece of legislation designed to help failing school districts back in the faces of Democrats who were trying to make improvements and ended up passing a bill that, once again, harms students and throws teachers to the curb.

Recall that, during the debate, Republicans acted like complete jackasses, absurdly blaming the teachers for the financial crises in places like Inkster and Buena Vista, calling them “hogs” and saying that “they should never try to get another job in education”. It was offensive to its core.

Well, there’s a bit more to this story and, unfortunately, Democrats played a major role in botching this up royally.

I spoke to Democratic state Representative Adam Zemke about the way things played out in the wee hours of Thursday morning last week. Zemke, like a lot of Democrats, was not thrilled with the legislation but saw it as the best chance to get help for kids in failing school districts but getting them into one that is more stable. The root cause of the school failures is not just mismanagement at the local level, he told me, but of the slashing of revenue from public schools by Republicans. “It’s pretty clear we have a revenue issue in those schools,” Zemke said.

The school dissolution legislation was a bipartisan bill sponsored by Democrat David Rutledge and Republican Bill Rogers. With schools facing either an Emergency Manager or becoming privatized if they couldn’t come up with a suitable debt elimination plan, something had to be done to offer a better alternative and this bill was a step in that direction. Without it, Inkster and Buena Vista schools simply wouldn’t open in the fall.

There were two issues that were being debated heavily between Democrats and Republicans. The first was the right of intermediate school districts (ISDs), the county level school administration, to have the right of first refusal on overseeing newly created districts if one was dissolved. The other was an amendment to give teachers in the dissolved district first crack at any new teaching positions created when dissolved school districts were merged with others.

The ISD issue was a non-starter with Republicans. Period. However, there were still conversations being had about giving teachers an opportunity for any new jobs. It make sense, of course. These teachers are familiar faces to the students dealing with having to be uprooted and sent to a different school. Having teachers they know would help with that transition.

On Thursday, Republicans announced they were going to vote on the bill before they recessed that night for the rest of the summer. Dmeocrats caucused with the MEA, AFT, and AFSCME, all of whom urged them to vote for the legislation with the provision that teachers be protected. This would have been introduced as an amendment during the second reading of the bill. They were willing to give on the ISD right of first refusal issue in order to support students and teachers.

However, there were a group of Democrats who were unwilling to budge on the ISD issue. All the needed was 24 votes to get the labor provision into the bill but they could only secure between 16-21 because a very small handful of Democrats simply would not budge.

In the end, they got neither the labor provision OR the ISD right of first refusal provision, all because a few Dems dug their heels in and would not compromise.

Zemke told me, “Democrats could have claimed a win and gotten something better for students and teachers. Instead, they got nothing. We had a chance to show leadership on this issue and we wasted it.”

It’s the classic self-punch.

Democrats don’t have much power in our state legislature these days. They should be using what power they do have very wisely to push for whatever improvements in bills that get passed that they can. If they can’t provide leadership in this way, and on the school dissolution bill it’s clear that a small minority simply could not — or, rather, WOULD not — then they need to get the hell out of the way for those who can and will. We need them to be good leaders and cannot afford this sort of self-defeating garbage. There’s simply too much at stake.

UPDATE: To be very clear on this, I understand why Democrats wouldn’t support the bill without including the teacher/student protections. I support that including Rep. Rutledge’s decision not to support a bill he initially co-sponsored. The point is they could have had those protections if they were willing to concede on the ISD provision and some Democrats simply were not willing to do that so they lost both. Ironically, the teachers unions themselves were willing to make that concession.

And, make no mistake, this isn’t a bill that will solve our schools’ problems, even if Republicans would like to spin it that way. It’s a Band Aid on a gaping wound as I’ve already said, a wound largely inflicted by Republicans. It’s just that, as powerless as Democrats are now, they need to take their victories, such as they are, when they can get them. This was an opportunity lost to improve a bill that is now a bigger piece of fecal matter than it would have been otherwise.

Really, it’s starting ALREADY???

Now that Mike Rogers has declined to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Carl Levin in 2014, the top contender is former Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land (though she has yet to file her paperwork.) Although she’s member of the Republican National Committee, she is not the first pick of most Republicans — and many of them have not had a problem saying so publicly — but she’s who they have for now.

Huffington Post reports that the website “LandForSenate.com” popped up recently. It’s no big surprise, given Rogers’ recent bowing out. What IS a surprise, however, is that the site redirects to Club For Growth, a virulently far-right, anti-tax group responsible for plowing heaps and piles of money into candidates that meet their strict definition of “conservative”.

Click link for larger version

Whoever purchased the domain and set it up to redirect has kept themselves quite anonymous. HuffPo got statements from Club for Growth and the Land campaign and both say they had nothing to do with it. This leaves three potential explanations so far as I can see:

1. A liberal or Dem group trying make Land look bad
2. An opponent thinking of running for the GOP nomination trying to make her look bad
3. The Club for Growth is lying through their teeth

I communicated with the campaign of Congressman Gary Peters, the leading Democratic Party contender. They assure me that his campaign had nothing to do with it. “Gary is focused on meeting with folks on his “Michigan First” statewide listening tour,” they told me.

Whoever is responsible, it’s a childish and anti-democratic act. This of course leads me to think it’s a Republican. That said, given the shenanigans that went on during the Republican 2012 primary with Democrats advocating for Dems to vote for Rick Santorum in the GOP primary, it could obviously be either party. I doubt Club for Growth is responsible. They’d likely take credit if they were.

Every election cycle my mantra is “it just gets worse every year”. Dirty tricks starting over sixteen months in advance of a Senate election certainly falls into that category.

Sheesh…

It’s not as easy as it looks…

This week at Netroots Nation, in addition to my role as volunteer coordinator for the Netroots for the Troops CARE package assembly, networking, and attending sessions, I’m participating in a session myself as a panelist for a session titled “You Get Paid to Do This? Tips for Supporting Your Blog through Advertising and Fundraising”.

The panel is moderated by my good pal Katherine Haenschen from the inestimable Burnt Orange Report, one of the most successful state blogs which covers the Texas political beat. Katherine has been very successful in raising enough funding to pay her bloggers at BOR.

Also on the panel are Heather “Digby” Parton ( pictured on the right) from the Hullabaloo blog, Roxanne Cooper from Raw Story, and Donal Hughes from Blogads.

From the panel description:

Want to get paid to blog? Today, successful bloggers are funding their work through advertising, direct reader appeals and other mechanisms that afford the time and resources to keep great sites going. This panel will explore successes and failures in blog funding, the trajectory of online advertising and the trend of bloggers consolidating under one site. Panelists will also suggest how the progressive movement as a whole can help sustain and support our blog infrastructure.

We’d love to have you join us, particularly if you are from a group that advertises on blogs or, more importantly, benefits from what bloggers do to help promote the progressive cause day in and day out for little to sometime no pay.

You can RSVP on our event Facebook page HERE. Please share with anyone who you think would be interested.

See you in San Jose where, as I understand it, my pal LOLGOP will be “coming out”:

Yes, I'm "coming out" at Netroots Nation. And I'm also appearing in public for the first time as @LOLGOP. http://t.co/43cFRu7pvF

— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) June 17, 2013

The grassroots making things happen in Michigan

The rally to support public education in Michigan that happens at the state Capitol on Wednesday (details with links, etc. HERE) is getting bigger by the day. In a major coup, organizer Rochelle Noel informed me over the weekend that Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Schauer is now scheduled to speak at the rally.

From their Facebook posting on the Save Michigan Public Schools Facebook page:

OK . . . we know the suspense is killing you (and we can hardly contain our excitement anymore). Don’t miss the Save Michigan’s Public Schools Rally for Public Ed on Wednesday, June 19th, at 11:30 am where you’ll hear Mark Schauer, candidate for Governor of Michigan in 2014, speak on public education in Michigan. Schauer power for public education!

The Michigan AFL-CIO has helped to spread the word about the rally as well, sending out this email last Thursday:

Governor Snyder and his friends in Lansing have cut over $1 billion from education in order to give big tax breaks to corporations. Now, they are going even further with a push to privatize education, taking even more funding from our public schools in favor of for-profit cyber schools and voucher programs.

This must be stopped. We need to send the message loud and clear that our children come before profits.

Save Michigan’s Public Schools, a grassroots group of teachers, parents, and community members, are organizing a Save Michigan’s Public Schools Rally for Public Ed at the Capitol in Lansing on Wednesday, June 19th.

What: Save Michigan’s Public Schools Rally for Public Ed
Where: Michigan State Capitol Building, Lansing, MI
When: Wednesday, June 19th at 11:30am

Click here to RSVP on Facebook.

I hope you will be able to join this grassroots effort in standing up against Gov. Snyder’s attacks on our public school system and the children who learn in them.

In Solidarity,
Karla Swift, President
Michigan State AFL-CIO

Please attend if you can and, just as importantly, share this information with other, especially on Facebook. Click the image at the top of the page for a printable pdf flyer suitable for sharing and, you know, leaving on the table in the lunchroom where you work and stuff : )

[Mark Schauer photo by Anne C. Savage, special to Eclectablog]

This story has legs

After my piece on the exploitation of Michigan 2013-2014 Teacher of the Year Gary Abud by anti-union groups like the Mackinac Center and StudentsFirst to promote their anti-union agenda, I was interviewed by Tony Trupiano on his Night Shift radio show about it. The segment ran Friday evening and you can listen to it here:

The piece has had well almost 11,000 views since it was published and has gone rather viral, being retweeted by groups like the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten. People across the country, educators and non-educators alike, are outraged at these anti-union groups using Gary’s personal story against his wishes. Daily Kos ran a piece based on my reporting on their front page.

It’s an important story and one I hope that gets wide exposure. Please share widely

We’re so close to making it happen. Keep up the pressure on your Republican legislators.

Medicaid expansion passed the Michigan House last week by a wide margin (76-31), which is incredibly encouraging. Now it goes to the Senate for a vote, which is very likely to happen this week before summer recess begins.

But pretty much everyone agrees that convincing the Senate to reach a compromise and vote YES on the bill is going to be a tougher win. You can bet that the Michigan Tea Party has been rallying its troops to urge every Republican Senator to vote against Medicaid expansion, because, you know, Obamacare.

The numbers are stacked against them, though. As I’ve been writing here for weeks, the overwhelming majority of Michigan citizens, businesses, healthcare providers and hospital systems support Medicaid expansion. Senate Democrats are pro-expansion. Republican Governor Rick Snyder supports it, too, despite the ire of many in his party.

Let me remind you why: More than $1 billion in federal funds to support Medicaid expansion, which could insure as many as 730,000 Michiganders. Paid in full by the federal government through 2017, when their contribution ratchets down slightly to 90 percent, where it stays starting in 2020. Gov. Snyder has a plan to use the initial savings from expansion to pay the state’s share through 2035. Smart.

Then there’s the estimated 18,000 jobs and more than $2 billion in revenue Medicaid expansion is expected to bring in by 2016. That means a more robust economy in Michigan.

Most important of all, lives can be saved by Medicaid expansion. As LOLGOP wrote here recently, one of the many negative ramifications in states not accepting Medicaid expansion is an increased mortality rate.

Republican Senators may be just as worried about re-election as they are about sticking to their political ideology. That’s why it’s imperative to let them know that Michigan voters like you overwhelmingly support Medicaid expansion. Here are two easy tools to make your voice heard:

• From Michigan Consumers for Healthcare
• Petition to the Senate created by Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan

Let’s get this done. It’s the right thing to do for Michigan and its residents.

Here we go again…

Since Democratic House Rep Jim Ananich was elected to the state senate in a special election, his House seat in the 49th district has been a hot commodity. There are several Democratic candidates who will face off in the August 6th primary but one of them sticks out like a bit of a sore thumb. Karyn Miller, the current Supervisor of Charter Township of Flint has an interesting history. As a Republican.

In 2006 when she ran for Township Supervisor, she ran as the Republican candidate against Democrat Doug Carlton. She lost but, in 2008, she switched parties and won and has been Supervisor ever since.

Miller also appears to be anti-Choice. According to her Township Supervisor bio, she once volunteered for the Pregnancy Helpline in Brighton, Michigan. That Helpline is run by the Pregnancy Help Clinic, a rather notorious group who intimidate pregnant women into not having abortions though they are clever enough not to make their intentions obvious.

Finally, Miller had campaign donations to both the Republican Party and the gubernatorial campaign of corporatist billionaire Dick DeVos in 2007 and 2007:

[Source: Michigan Secretary of State campaign finance page, click image for a larger version"]