The fight to preserve workers’ rights is FAR from over. Get informed.

One of the premier Democratic Party clubs in the state is the Western Washtenaw Dems, a club I’m proud to be a member of. Started in 1999 by former House Speaker Pro Tempore Pam Byrnes, the group is both a social club for Democrats on the western side of Washtenaw County as well as an active political force in our county. They regularly sponsor important and timely speakers, panels and forums and this Thursday is one that area Democrats won’t want to miss. It features Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer, Michigan AFL-CIO president Karla Swift, Michigan AFT president David Hecker along with moderator Ron Motsinger from the IBEW.

Details and a downloadable flyer after the jump.

Earlier this week, I wrote an “open letter” to newly-elected Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lon Johnson. My primary goal with the piece was to start a conversation with Chair Johnson and among Michigan Democrats across the state about the future of our party. There’s no question that we must evolve as a party in order to retake control of our state from the overreach of our drunk-with-power, ideologically-corrupt Republican opponents. From new ways of engaging activists to improved communications with the citizens of our state, if we’re not moving forward, we’re losing ground.

It is my opinion that Lon Johnson gets that. However, there are many across the state who are reluctant to adopt new ways of doing things. Perhaps they are fearful of change. Maybe they enjoy the voice they have and the power they have now and don’t want to challenge the status quo. Whatever the reason, change is hard and will not always come easily. The first step is to have the conversation.

I was thrilled, therefore, when Chair Johnson took time from his crazy first-week-on-the-job schedule to respond to my letter.

His response is after the jump.

“Alright, let’s cue the Michigan tape…”

The Rachel Maddow Show takes on Michigan’s Emergency Financial Manager situation again: “THE most radical Republican experiment in the 21st Century. Why this is not a bigger national story still blows my mind.”

Video after the jump.

How do you build a city up armed only with implements of destruction?

This afternoon, Governor Rick Snyder announced that he will appoint an Emergency Financial Manager for Detroit calling it a “sad day” that he wished “had never happened in the history of Detroit”. As I have already detailed in a post that has been cited by MSNBC and Huffington Post among others, this will result in 49% of the African Americans in Michigan being without a democratically-elected government.

Click through for more.

Exploiting legal loopholes is only allowed if you are Republican or conservative

With the date when Michigan officially becomes a Right to Work (for Less) state looming (March 28th), Michigan Republicans and the anti-union, anti-teacher conservative lobby group The Mackinac Center for Public Policy are in freak-out mode that unions would try to preserve some of their rights before they are stripped from them.

Click through for all of the gory details and hypocrisy.

Shameless

In what might be one of the most brazen acts of public lying in some time, my “representative” Republican Congressman Tim Walberg went on the air today a lied about his vote against the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.

Details after the jump.

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.