This court decision “could restore small-d democracy across Michigan” Last night, Rachel Maddow reported on something that regular readers of this blog already know: a recent federal appeals court decision has major implications for the potential striking down of Michigan’s anti-democratic Emergency Manager law. While this news is, in my mind, HUGE, it barely got noticed anywhere including in Michigan […]

Support Netroots Nation and score some unique swag in the process

Despite what you might read in the Detroit News, Netroots Nation is decidedly NOT exclusively funded by the labor unions and fat cat “union bosses”. Every year, in fact, they hold an auction to raise funds to make the country’s largest gather of progressive organizers the amazing event that it is.

This year’s auction is now underway. There are all sorts of amazing items to bid on. Jewelry. Clothing. Political memorabilia. You can read more about the auction HERE and check out the auction site where you can peruse the 100 different items up for bid HERE…

That’s okay, though. At least billionaires will still have low taxes. Judge Gerald E. Rosen, the federal District judge appointed to be the mediator in Detroit’s bankruptcy process, sent a letter signed by 87 federal district court judges to Vice President Joe Biden asking that the Senate take action to reverse cuts in funding to the Judiciary due to the […]

Confirming what has long been accepted: ALEC is nothing more than a front group for corporate interests The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) calls itself “a nonpartisan public-private partnership of America’s state legislators, members of the private sector and the general public” that “works to advance the fundamental principles of free-market enterprise, limited government, and federalism at the state level”. […]

Of course a corporate front group wants to stop this… When I was in grade school, you couldn’t run barefoot through a grassy field full of clover because there were so many honeybees that you were sure to be stung. Now, 40 years later, there are no wild honeybees left in America. Why? Neonicotinoid insecticides used to control aphids and […]

You got your Right to Work and your corporate tax cuts. Now show us the jobs. For two months in a row, Michigan’s unemployment rate has gone up. It went up 0.3 points to 8.7% in June and, in July, it was up another 0.1 points to 8.8%. In contrast, the US unemployment rate was flat at 7.6% in June […]

What’s this? ANOTHER judicial smack-down of Governor Snyder and his Republican colleagues? Yes. Yes it is. [Caricature by DonkeyHotey from photos by Anne C. Savage for Eclectablog] Another day, another Republican bill signed into law by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder ruled unconstitutional. In this case, it’s not the entire law, just the part that requires state employees to pay 4% […]

Please, Congressman, join the rest of us in the reality-based world I’m going to break my rule about promoting OFA events today because this one is aimed directly at Congressman Tim Walberg, my “representative” and someone I want to see go down in flames in November 2014 when Pam Byrnes cleans his clock in the 7th District. Organizing for America […]

Go away, Janice. Just. Go. Away. Former Troy, Michigan mayor Janice Daniels was recalled from office last year. Her public homophobic statements, incomprehensible tea party rants at public meetings, and damage to the local economy by impeding a major public transportation hub from being built in Troy all led the citizens there to unceremoniously toss her out of office. You […]

Rising to the level of his incompetence, maybe? Michigan state Treasurer Andy Dillon, the man in charge of assigning and overseeing not only Michigan’s finances but all of the state’s many Emergency Managers, is attempting to close his 2010 gubernatorial campaign committee. However, there is over $100,000 not accounted for so the elections division will not allow him to close […]

You have GOT to be kidding me [Photo credit: Anne Savage, special to Eclectablog] After high school kids in Steubenville, Ohio were busted for repeatedly raping an unconscious 16-year old fellow classmate and then posting their exploits on the internet, a federal prosecutor, U.S. Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld, has come up with a solution: teach young rapists how to avoid […]