A 2-step plan to end the failed War on Drugs: Expand Medicaid and end marijuana prohibition

By on May 22, 2013 in Corporatism

The war is over, if you want it

Republicans don’t mention this as they’re busy pretending to repeal ObamaCare 37 times, but they’re voting to take health insurance away from millions of working Americans. Medicaid expansion will insure those who earn up to 133% of the poverty level and previously earned too much to qualify for Medicaid — at least in the states that are smart enough to accept it.

Covering the working poor won’t just keep them out of emergency rooms –  it will keep them out of jail.

“People who are drug dependent pay for their habits with petty crimes,” Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge David Matia told The Cleveland Plain Dealer, which has the best name of any newspaper in America.…


Read full story • Comments { 0 }

22-year old failed fake Michigan Democrat Cody Bailey now running a for-profit charter school

By on May 21, 2013 in Corporatism, Education

When educating your kids is all about making a profit, being a shyster is as good a qualification as anything

Last year, I wrote about fake Democrat Cody Bailey who had his ass handed to him by now-State Representative David Knezek. Bailey barely beat a candidate in the Democratic primary who didn’t even run a campaign and got his clock cleaned by Knezek. As I outlined in my expose, Bailey was anything but a Democrat and ran one of the sleaziest, most fact-challenged campaigns in my experience.

Imagine my (non) surprise to discover this week that Bailey, at the tender age of 22, is now the president of the Taylor Preparatory High School in Taylor, Michigan. What qualifies Bailey to be the president of an educational institution with a lofty mission of being “a bridge to a life well lived” for high schoolers? In a word (well, two words): not much.

Much more on this sordid story after the jump.


Read full story • Comments { 36 }

Apparently you can’t cut your way to prosperity after all. Flint Emergency Manager wants a tax increase.

By on May 20, 2013 in Emergency Managers, Flint, Taxes

Uh, someone didn’t get the memo that the answer to everything is to cut corporate taxes

Flint Emergency Manager Ed Kurtz is leading a push to increase city income taxes by 0.5% for residents and 0.25% for non-residents. That’s a 50% increase. Why? Turns out Flint is out of money and needs revenue. It’s almost as if Flint’s problems weren’t caused by waste, fraud, and mismanagement after all.

More after the jump.


Read full story • Comments { 4 }

Wisconsin marine reunited with dog he served with in Afghanistan

By on May 20, 2013 in Uncategorized

Getchyer tissues ready

Marine Sgt. Ross Gundlach of Madison, Wisconsin worked side by side in Afghanistan with Casey, a 4-year old yellow Labrador Retriever, doing explosives detection. To say that the two formed a strong attachment would be an understatement. Gundlach returned to Wisconsin after his tour was complete and Casey went to Iowa to work for the state fire marshal’s office.

Gundlach tracked Casey down and went to Des Moines to plead his case for taking Casey back to Wisconsin with him. However, unbeknownst to him, an Elks group had already raised $8,500 to buy the fire marshal a different dog and, at a ceremony Gundlach thought was a celebration of Armed Services Day at the Capitol Building, he and Casey were reunited for good.…


Read full story • Comments { 0 }

Koch Carbon piling up mountains of potentially toxic petroleum coke on banks of the Detroit River

By on May 20, 2013 in Detroit, Global climate change

What could possibly go wrong?

On the banks of the Detroit River, giant three-story tall mountains of black rock have been accumulating, quickly and quietly enough to take a lot of Detroiters and neighboring Canadians by surprise. The piles are petroleum coke or “pet coke”, a by-product of the processing of tar sands oil from Canada. A newly upgraded Marathon Petroleum refinery in Detroit now allows them to process the tar sands oil, producing copious amounts of the high-sulfur, high-carbon waste product.

A recent New York Times article shows that Michiganders and Canadians alike are concerned by the use of land directly on the Detroit River to store the potentially hazardous pet coke.

Click through for more.


Read full story • Comments { 5 }

ACTION: Tell the Michigan Senate not to let “morals” interfere with healthcare

By on May 20, 2013 in Michigan Republicans, Petition

Sign the petition and make your voice heard.

The very first post I wrote for Eclectablog was about Senate Bill 136, the “Religious Liberty and Conscience Protection Act.”

This bill would allow healthcare providers, facilities and insurers to refuse to provide or cover “objectionable” healthcare services on religious or moral grounds.

As I explained in that post and two that followed, this bill is dangerous and discriminatory. It puts all the power in the hands of healthcare providers or facilities who might have religious or moral objections to performing a particular service — taking away patients’ choices about their own care and offering no protection for their rights.…


Read full story • Comments { 0 }

VIDEO: Sunday morning politics break – Red-Winged Blackbirds drive off Sandhill Cranes by working together

By on May 19, 2013 in Eclectalife, Michigan

The power of tenacity and coordination

Anne and I like to recharge our mental and spiritual batteries by tossing our kayaks into our beater pick-up truck Steve and heading out to Pickerel Lake in the Pinckney State Recreation Area. It’s actually on a chain of three lakes that includes Crooked Lake.

The wildlife on these lakes is abundant and, especially in kayaks, you can get startling close to the animals.

On Friday night, we whipped up a batch of margaritas and headed out for a sunset booze cruise. While we were paddling, we came across something I’ve never seen before: two Red-Winged Blackbirds systematically attacking and driving off two adult Sandhill Cranes who had strayed too close to their nest.

Video and photos after the jump.


Read full story • Comments { 3 }

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.…


Read full story • Comments { 7 }
eXTReMe Tracker