Thank you kindly

Hi, folks. As you know, Eclectablog is a fully self-funded effort. We make a small amount of money from the ads but, frankly, it’s barely worth the effort. Most of the funds that we have to pay writers and expand our coverage with better equipment and to pay for travel comes from our quarterly fundraisers. I hope you’ll consider showing how much you value Eclectablog by making a donation today.

Details are after the jump.

Why should we believe this guy?

[I apologize for the light blogging these past couple of days. We’ve had a death in my family and that, as you can probably imagine, has taken up much of my attention.]

Last night in his State of the State address, Governor Rick Snyder implored Republicans and Democrats alike to set aside their differences and work together. “I appreciate that people had different perspectives on issues,” he said. “And what I’m saying is, I’m hoping we can find common ground where we can work together and I hope all of you join me in doing the same thing.”

Multi-millionaire Dick DeVos said much the same thing in an op-ed after Republicans made Michigan a Right to Work state. “We can’t finish rebuilding this state unless we pull together,” said DeVos.

These are easy things to say when you have the ability to win all of your political battles. When the deck is stacked completely in your favor, you can say nice things about “working together” and “pulling together”. Because, at the end of the day, if your political opponents disagree with you, you can simply run them over just like Governor Snyder, the Michigan Republicans, and their financial backer Dick DeVos have done for the past two years.

Medicaid expansion protects us all from rate hikes and could prevent the death or bankruptcy of up to 670,000 Michiganders Tell Governor Snyder to expand Medicaid now In the fight to put a public option of the Affordable Care Act, many missed that the law contained a historic boost to Medicaid, our single-payer health insurance program that covers the poorest […]

No, we are NOT letting this go

Tomorrow night is Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s State of the State address. Given his track record over the past year, particularly in the past two months, there’s no reason why any of us should believe a word he says. He spent $144,000 to run a full page ad in the Wall Street Journal, bragging about crushing our labor unions by making Michigan the 24th Right to Work for Less state, something he claimed he was not interested in doing. He’s made it harder for Michigan women to obtain legal abortions. He’s raised taxes on over half of Michigan residents, hitting those hurting worst the hardest. He’s basically done everything possible to make Michigan hostile to workers and a low-wage Mecca for businesses with a little far-right conservative ideology thrown in for good measure.

Meanwhile, Republicans voted a known perpetrator of election fraud, Jase Bolger, as the Speaker of the House again.

If you are in the Lansing area tomorrow afternoon/evening, consider joining the AFL-CIO and others from around the state to protest what Governor Snyder and his drunk-with-power ideologically-driven Republican colleagues have done and continue to do to our state.

Details are after the jump.

Support your local blogger!

Hello, again. Welcome to Day Two of our First Quarter Fundraiser where we come to you, asking you to show a bit of financial support for the work that I, Anne and LOLGOP do here at Eclectablog. For your time, we have a little inauguration goodness for you after the jump.

Go outside and play, children. Grown-ups are trying to govern.

There was a time when a handful of legislators could cast a political protest vote against raising the debt ceiling in this country and it didn’t make a bit of difference because, at the end of the day, everybody knew that the majority of lawmakers, including Republicans, would vote to raise it. They have to. They are paying for things they have already spent money on. Barack Obama did this as a Senator in 2006 and admits now that it “was just an example of a new senator making what is a political vote as opposed to doing what was important for the country”.

But what’s happening now is completely different. Republicans and conservatives are actually contemplating defaulting on the bills we owe. And that changes everything.

Much more analysis after the jump.

Why would you support a political party that calls you a liar?

A study by the Pew Research Center revealed that only 6% of the country’s scientists now consider themselves to be Republican vs. 55% that call themselves Democrats. In a piece at Salon, Amanda Marcotte makes the case that this is for a very good reason.

After seeing the film Chasing Ice last night, I am certain Marcotte is 100% correct.

Much, much more after the jump.

Aw, geez…

Thanks largely to the absurdity of conservatives and Republicans in Michigan, our fair state continues to be the butt of jokes nationally. From the Daily Show to The Colbert Report and beyond, we have become the laughing stock of the country.

Details including the most recent foray into Absurdistan after the jump.

Paying for what you believe in

Hi, folks. It’s that time of year again where we come to you, hat in hand, asking for you to support the work we do here at Eclectablog. We work hard throughout the year to bring you news and analysis that you can’t get anywhere else. In return, four times a year for a week, we ask you to support us financially.

Your contributions allow us to pay our server bills, purchase new equipment to make our content more rich and interesting, and to help pay for the travel that we do to cover events both in Michigan and elsewhere.

Whatever your reason for reading Eclectablog, we hope you find it of enough value that you’re willing to help support us financially. Please consider making a donation of $25, $50, or even $100 to help us continue to improve your experience. Details on how to do that after the jump.

This right here? THIS IS THE COOLEST THING THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION HAS EVER DONE YESIMSHOUTING

On November 14th, a petition was submitted to the White House on their We the People website that said this:

“Those who sign here petition the United States government to secure funding and resources, and begin construction on a Death Star by 2016.

By focusing our defense resources into a space-superiority platform and weapon system such as a Death Star, the government can spur job creation in the fields of construction, engineering, space exploration, and more, and strengthen our national defense.”

The White House policy is to respond to petitions that 25,000 signatures within 30 days. This one has over 34,000 signatures so the White House responded. Their response can be read HERE but, it’s so epic and awesome, I’m reproducing it here on the blog (after the jump.)

Snyder’s Supreme Court appointment will set the tone for the 2013 legislative session

As I anticipated (rather testily) last month, Democrats are losing a voice on the Michigan state Supreme Court. Thanks to the unethical behavior of Diane Hathaway, whose name will now forever be associated with the betrayal of Democrats and Michigan citizens in general, we went from a 4-3 Republican-to-Democrat ratio to what will be a 5-2 balance once Governor Rick Snyder makes his appointment.

This has many people across the state wondering what Snyder will do with this opportunity.

On the one hand, he could continue his recent trend of appeasing the far right conservatives in his party, cementing the partisan divide that has so intensely polarized our state and that has created warring factions who despise each other.

On the other hand, he could choose a more moderate candidate who is more palatable to Democrats in Michigan. By doing this, the Governor could begin to repair some of the damage that was done when he chose to force Right to Work legislation through during the inflamed duck session and the animosity he created by passing laws that hinder women’s access to legal abortion services in our state.

My analysis after the jump.