Thanks for nothing, ladies

UPDATE: I mistakenly identified only nine women members of Congress that voted against the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. The number is actually TEN. Thanks to Kathy Kramer in the comments who pointed out my oversight.

The U.S. House of Representatives today passed the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (VAWA) which had lapsed in 2011. Renewal of the VAWA was repeatedly voted down by Republicans for nearly two years. The version the House passed today was a comprehensive bill that extended protections to Native American women, lesbians & gays, and immigrants. It was passed after a watered-down Republican version was rejected. Because the bill they passed had already passed the Senate, it now goes to President Obama for his signature.

When the bill passed the Senate, every single woman in the Senate voted for it. However, among the 138 House members who voted against it today, all whom were Republicans, there were nine women who joined them.

See the full list after the jump.

They MADE the predatory banksters give them loans, by gawd

Bloomberg Businessweek jumped completely off of the rails with their magazine’s cover image this week. Have a look:

The title says “The Great American Housing Rebound — Flips. No-look bids. 300 percent returns. What could possibly go wrong?”

A larger image and my rant about this after the jump.

Lead on, Lon!

Dear Mr. Johnson,
First of all, sincere congratulations on your recent election to the position of Chair of the Michigan Democratic Party. I was impressed that you ran a completely positive campaign that focused on your own strengths and vision and didn’t resort to tearing down your opponent. That one thing makes me confident that your stated desire to move forward with a unified party, united in our focus on winning back control of our state, is not just sincere but entirely possible.

Having spent a great deal of time speaking with people around the state, including you, and covering your rise to the chair of the Party, I want to take advantage of my cyber megaphone to share some thoughts with you. Some are from people I have talked with, most are my own, and I offer them as a perspective from “the trenches” as someone who has put considerable time and effort organizing at the local level, knocking doors, making phone calls and getting others to do the same.

Read the rest of my letter after the jump.

Aw geez…

Michigan Republican Tom Casperson opened his mouth and removed all doubt about his status as a tea party fool this week when he answered “don’t know” when asked by radio show host Michael Patrick Shiels if President Obama was born in the USA. Casperson joins the ranks of the 37% of Michigan Republican Party delegates that believe President Obama was not born a US citizen, an astonishing figure given that he has released both the long-form and the short-form versions of his birth certificate. There’s also the fact that a birth announcement appeared in a Hawaiian newspaper the day he was born.

Much more with audio after the jump.

The tea party is NOT going to like this

This morning, the Michigan House Appropriations Committee voted to accept a grant from the federal government for $30,670,000 to set up a health insurance exchange in this state as part of the Affordable Care Act (aka “Obamacare”.)

Details after the jump.

People tend to not like being lied to, over and over On Tuesday, Politico reported what the House GOP sees as their secret weapon in winning the political battle over the sequester: Their unpopularity. “And, for once, the GOP is buffeted by its unpopularity: House Republicans kept their majority with mid-teen approval ratings after two years of political warfare,” Jake […]

Awww….

From consummate animal photographer Anne C. Savage, also my wife, it’s Sunni the BSBOL* and Spooky the TSBOL**:

All together now: “Awwwwww…”

* Big Squishy Ball of Love
** Tiny Squishy Ball of Love

At the Michigan Democratic Convention last weekend, the House and Senate Dems previewed two new videos that highlight their newest members and look forward toward the future. I was really impressed with both of them and tracked them down to show here at Eclectablog.

(By the way, my vote for the best one is Senate version. Game on, House Dems, your turn to one-up the Senate Dems! LOL.)

Enjoy (after the jump.)

What we REALLY need is an “OFM” — Organizing for Michigan A LITTLE HISTORY My involvement with Obama for America/Organizing for America/OFA goes back to the spring of 2008. From the very first meeting with local Obama fellows leading up to the house meeting we held in our living room later that month, I was fully “in”. I assumed a […]

And he accuses US of fighting amongst ourselves? Governor, please.

With all of the attention that was paid these past two weeks between the race for the Chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, it was easy to miss the fact that the Michigan Republican Party had a highly-contested race themselves. When the dust had settled at their convention on Saturday, incumbent chair Bobby Schostak had won a narrow 833 to 768 vote over tea party challenger Todd Courser, a favorite of the so-called “Freedom Caucus”. Courser ran on a platform of “liberty and constitutional conservatism”.

The election was so close that Governor Snyder made a surprise appearance at Michigan GOP convention, taking time from the National Governors Association meeting in progress in Washington, D.C. to make an impassioned plea for Schostak’s candidacy. He was even seen pulling people aside to lobby for their votes.

He then accused Democrats of doing the very thing his party was engaged in as he gave his speech. Details after the jump.

This should be a non-partisan issue

As I wrote about last week, the Justice Caucus of the Michigan Democratic Party held a discussion panel at the statewide convention on Saturday titled “Citizens United v. FEC – The Invisible ‘Person’ in Michigan Elections”. Organized by former Washtenaw County Democratic Party Chair and well-known Michigan attorney and activist Stu Dowty, the panel discussion was wide-ranging and covered everything from undisclosed donors in our judicial elections to the repeal of the odious Citizens United Supreme Court ruling.

My write-up after the jump.