Inflamed duck, indeed I knew that Republicans had passed a lot of bills through the Michigan legislature during the lame inflamed duck session but I had absolutely no idea just completely batshit nuts they had gone until this morning. That’s when I read this headline at Michigan Radio: MICHIGAN GOVERNOR MAKING HIS WAY THROUGH 282 BILLS Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder […]

Chapeau: doffed

2012 was a year full of politics in Michigan. As a political writer, particularly one writing from the progressive side of things, I never had a single day where there wasn’t something happening in Michigan worth writing about. We weren’t far into 2012 before I realized that women were standing up and speaking out in larger numbers and with a louder, stronger voice than any other group of people in our state. So much so that I have taken to calling 2012 the Year of Michigan Women in Politics.

If you think the billionaires aren’t rich enough, women have too much control of their bodies and workers get paid too much, this GOP is for you. As the 112th Congress prepares to go down as the least productive in modern history, we in Michigan can remind you that the only thing worse than a Republican legislature that won’t pass […]

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has vetoed SB 1293, a bill that would have overhauled Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and which contained a provision that would have required women to purchase a separate insurance rider that would cover abortions. A second bill, SB 1294 contained a provision requiring this for BCBS insurance, as well. Since 1294 was tie-barred to […]

Those who benefit most should pay the most

Americans for Tax Fairness has a powerful new video out that spells out this ridiculous argument over the stupidly and incorrectly-named “fiscal cliff”. The video shows just how absurd the Republicans’ position and arguments are. They want a massive tax break for the upper 2% to continue and are holding a $2,200 per family tax break for the rest of us hostage in order to preserve it.

Have a look (after the Eclectablog Cliff.)

The next move is yours Governor. The entire world is watching.

There are three bills sitting on Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s desk awaiting his signature to become law. Or, preferably, to be vetoed into the rubbish bin of Michigan history where they below. The three bills are Senate Bill 1293, Senate Bill 1294 and House Bill 5711. The three bills will make Michigan one of the (if not THE) most regressive states in the country with regard to women being able to obtain a safe, legal abortion.

I want to emphasize one of the words in the last sentence because it is very important: LEGAL.

Abortion has been legal in this country for 39 years. This medical operation to prevent a nonviable bundle of tissue cells from developing inside a woman’s uterus into a human has been legal for 39 years. The anti-abortion forces in this country, not content to simply not have abortions themselves, have spend nearly four decades making access to this legal medical procedure nearly impossible. In Michigan, they are about to see this wish come true.

Think about it: what other medical procedure can you think of that has been legislated nearly out of existence despite being legal?

The New York Times has a brilliant and scathing op-ed piece today titled “An Affront to Michigan Women”. It is aimed directly at Michigan Governor Rick Snyder.

Some excerpts and further commentary after the jump.

Don’t you DARE call it “ping pong”

When Anne and I get together with her family, especially her brother Tom and his wife, we inevitably end up playing some ping pong. The version of this game that we play deserves to be called “ping pong” because when I play it, I look like a ding dong.

This video is a collection of ten of the best table tennis shots from 2012. I personally think these guys are superhuman or something. It’s incredible.

Check out the dude who uses a crutch. Whoa…

Video after the jump.

Eff this effing stuff, indeed

Larue Ford is an Arizona woman who was trying to move back to the Midwest, Indiana specifically, to be near family. However, she was unable to get a job as a driver because of an upaid ticket in Berrien County, Michigan. She paid the $444 ticket but, because of a bureaucratic foul up, she still couldn’t get it erased from her record. While in the Berrien County Clerks office, she finally learned they had screwed up and forgot to collect a $50 “reinstatement fee”. Ford, who has a masters degree in social work was told to appear before the judge when she returned to pay the $50 fee and, on the way out of the Clerk’s office, muttered “fuck this fucking shit”, a pretty understandable grouse considering all they had put her through.

They arrested her and she spent the Christmas holiday in jail for “contempt of court” despite the fact that she had never actually been in court.

More of this story embarrassment to Michigan after the jump.

Hypocrisy is rarely so clearly on display

Last week at his press conference (where, by the way, he didn’t take a single question), National Gun Fetishists Association (NRA) Executive Vice Chair Wayne LaPierre castigated the federal government for its inaction on forming a national registry for the mentally ill.

It’s an appalling demostration of hypocrisy given that what he didn’t mention is that his group has been actively fighting AGAINST a similar registry of gun registrations in this country.

Michigan Republicans owe me $57.50

My kids are in town today and we decided to drive to The Henry Ford to see The Hobbit in 3D and Imax (squee!) It had been snowing and blowing for a couple hours and there were three inches or so of snow on the ground. The road in front of our house was pretty slick but I knew that, once I got on I-94, the main highway into Detroit, I’d be fine. It’s a main artery, after all, with heavy truck and commuter traffic.

We got 5 miles down the highway and decided that it was simply too dangerous to continue. We saw three accidents with cars and trucks in the ditch, one all the way into the woods on the side of the road.

For three inches of snow.

My rant after the jump.

Aye, aye, aye…

Gun fetishists are in complete freakout mode right now because they realize that the rest of the country is no longer buying their tripe about the evil unconstitutionality of controlling guns and ammunition in this country. They are so mindless about this that they have latched onto one of the weirdest reasons imaginable for not passing any gun laws.

I’m going to try to explain this but, I’ll be frank, their “logic” is anything but logical. If you don’t follow it, that’s completely understandable.