Counting bugs was never so fun (or useful)!

From my very good friends at the Huron River Watershed Council comes a terrific opportunity to meet some wonderful protectors of the amazing and beautiful Huron River and help to assess the river’s health at the same time.

Click through for details.

Hey, Republicans, are you listening?

The percentage of Michigan residents covered by health insurance through their job has dropped from 78.1 percent in 2000 to 62.9 percent in 2011 according to a new report out by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. That’s the second highest decline in the entire country, second only to South Carolina.

The study was done to get baseline information prior to the implementation of many of the core components of the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) so that we’ll have something to compare to as the ACA is rolled out.

Some of the key findings and more after the jump.

This whole democracy thing is just getting out of hand, isn’t it? Last year, the Michigan legislature took wolves off the endangered species list and earlier this year, the Department of Natural Resources proposed hunting them again, despite the fact that there are less than 700 of these native animals in the state. A statewide coalition of people began gathering […]

For the Love of Goddess what is the matter with these heartless idiots?

Yesterday the Republican-controlled Michigan House and Senate passed budget bills that rejected the expansion of Medicaid in our state. The impact of this is that hundreds of thousands of working poor Michiganders will continue to go without adequate health care coverage, saving the state exactly nothing. In fact, we will still pay into the program but the only states to benefit will be those that wisely choose to expand Medicaid. In other fact, we actually will be in the hole by $200 million a year which will need to come out of other programs like, you know, food assistance for the poor and stuff.

Details after the jump.

Helping people frame the progressive message is what we’re all about

Welcome to Day 5 of our Second Quarter fundraiser. We’ll keep it short and sweet. The tip jar was pretty quiet yesterday so I’m hoping you’ll consider making a contribution today. Although we run ads on the site, they bring a scandalously low level of revenue so your direct contributions are extremely important.

Click through for details.

It doesn’t ALL go for beer

Hi, folks. Welcome to Day 4 of our Second Quarter fundraiser. As I have said in the past, we make scandalously little money from the ads on this site, despite our rather healthy level of traffic. Much like public television and public radio, our main source of funding comes from “Viewers Readers like YOU!”

Please consider making a donation. Details and some exciting examples of how we use your donations are waiting for you right after the jump.

A rare opportunity

The Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner is the biggest fundraising event of the year for most state Democratic Parties and Michigan is no exception. Named after Presidents Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, these events draw big name speakers and candidates for office.

This year, the Michigan Democratic Party (MDP) has scored a real coup: Vice President Joe Biden will be the keynote speaker. The dinner is on the evening of Saturday, April 20th at the Cobo Center in Detroit. It kicks off at 6 p.m. Tickets are available HERE.

More after the jump.

Let’s take a breath here for a minute, shall we? You can’t read an article or blog post about the race to fill departing Senator Carl Levin’s seat without hearing how Gary Peters is the leading contender, almost as if the seat is his if he wants it. While Peters is, without question, a great candidate and certainly someone to […]

Although, if a free tote bag would get you to donate…

As it happens, this week is also the week of Michigan Radio’s spring fund drive. There’s a bit of irony in that because I donate several hundred dollars a year to them. Why? Because the news I get from NPR is invaluable. The reporting is excellent and I feel like I can rely on them to give me the full story. I also sometimes utilize their content and feel like they should be compensated for that.

During our quarterly fundraisers, we ask you to make the same calculation. Do you get value from what you find at Eclectablog? Is what we do here something that helps you understand the political world around you a little better or to debate an issue a little bit more effectively? If so, please consider making a contribution.

You can do so with the handy Paypal link after the jump.

“Don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget and I’ll tell you what you value”

Earlier today I wrote about the budget priorities of the Michigan House Democrats. In that piece I wrote, “In stark contrast to our far-right ideological Republicans and our corporatist Governor, the Democrats’ priorities reflect concern and care for middle class families, children and seniors. Their budget is a sincere reflection of their values.”

Little did I know that just a few hours later, House Republicans would show their values. It’s a very ugly thing to behold.

All the gory details after the jump.

“Don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget and I’ll tell you what you value”

This week the Michigan House Democrats revealed their budget priorities for the year. In stark contrast to our far-right ideological Republicans and our corporatist Governor, the Democrats’ priorities reflect concern and care for middle class families, children and seniors. Their budget is a sincere reflection of their values. By the same token, Republicans show what they value as they work to eviscerate public education, demonize teachers and other public employees, raise taxes on the majority of middle class Michiganders and cut taxes for corporations by an astonishing $2 billion.

Get the details after the jump.