I’m not sure if I should laugh or cry…

Joshua Green at Bloomberg Businessweek has a hilarious piece about the utter fail whale that is the Tea Party caucus in Congress at the moment. In it, he details how utterly “hapless” (to use his word) the anti-Boehner contingent was when it came to their failed attempt to replace him as Speaker of the House.

He lays it out in three steps (which you can cackle at after the jump.)

Good for the goose but not for the gander

On December 22nd, The Journal News in an area just outside of New York City published an interactive map of those people in that area holding handgun permits. By clicking on the dots on the map, you could identify the name and address of the people with these permits. As the newspaper said in its piece, “Map: Where are the gun permits in your neighborhood?”, the data does not include owners of rifles or shotguns which can be purchased without a permit. It also “does not mean the individual at a specific location owns a weapon, just that they are licensed to do so.”

The gun fetishists went nuts.

“It’s an invasion of privacy!” they cried.

“It violates my rights!” they whined.

“It’s puts people in danger!” they warned.

Watching them fall all over themselves to put their 2nd Amendment rights above the 1st Amendment rights of the newspaper to share public information has been very illuminating.

Much more after the jump.

Thirty-fourth time’s a charm?

Republicans have been trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act since it was passed. The last time was in July 2012. That was the 33rd attempt.

Today, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann introduced legislation to try it again for the 34th time.

More idiocracy after the fold.

Wow

Before we head off into 2013, I wanted to take a moment to look back on 2012, a year that put Eclectablog on the map.

As you can see from the chart below the fold, Eclectablog had a stellar year in 2012. When we started the year, we were getting well under 100,000 pageviews per month. Not bad for a small blog but certainly not in the Big Leagues. By the end of the year, however, we had 3,307,857 pageviews and nearly 3 million unique visits. Our highest month was, not surprisingly, October, with well over a half million pageviews. Even in December, when people were sick of the election and politics in general, we had 272,000+ pageviews.

Much more after the jump.

Small government, my butt

As I wrote last week, the hypocritical “small government” Republicans passed 282 bills during the short inflamed duck session. So many, in fact, that when Governor Snyder took a holiday break outside of the state, Lt. Governor Brian Calley was enlisted to sign 50 of them.

More after the Eclectablog cliff.

Oh, the humanity (unless it’s not in my district) Yesterday, Representative Peter King from New York took to the House floor to lambast Speaker John Boehner and others who are holding up disaster relief to victims of Hurricane Sandy. “I can’t imagine that type of indifference, that type of disregard, that cavalier attitude being shown to any other part of […]

Inflamed duck, indeed I knew that Republicans had passed a lot of bills through the Michigan legislature during the lame inflamed duck session but I had absolutely no idea just completely batshit nuts they had gone until this morning. That’s when I read this headline at Michigan Radio: MICHIGAN GOVERNOR MAKING HIS WAY THROUGH 282 BILLS Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder […]

Chapeau: doffed

2012 was a year full of politics in Michigan. As a political writer, particularly one writing from the progressive side of things, I never had a single day where there wasn’t something happening in Michigan worth writing about. We weren’t far into 2012 before I realized that women were standing up and speaking out in larger numbers and with a louder, stronger voice than any other group of people in our state. So much so that I have taken to calling 2012 the Year of Michigan Women in Politics.

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has vetoed SB 1293, a bill that would have overhauled Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and which contained a provision that would have required women to purchase a separate insurance rider that would cover abortions. A second bill, SB 1294 contained a provision requiring this for BCBS insurance, as well. Since 1294 was tie-barred to […]

Those who benefit most should pay the most

Americans for Tax Fairness has a powerful new video out that spells out this ridiculous argument over the stupidly and incorrectly-named “fiscal cliff”. The video shows just how absurd the Republicans’ position and arguments are. They want a massive tax break for the upper 2% to continue and are holding a $2,200 per family tax break for the rest of us hostage in order to preserve it.

Have a look (after the Eclectablog Cliff.)

The next move is yours Governor. The entire world is watching.

There are three bills sitting on Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s desk awaiting his signature to become law. Or, preferably, to be vetoed into the rubbish bin of Michigan history where they below. The three bills are Senate Bill 1293, Senate Bill 1294 and House Bill 5711. The three bills will make Michigan one of the (if not THE) most regressive states in the country with regard to women being able to obtain a safe, legal abortion.

I want to emphasize one of the words in the last sentence because it is very important: LEGAL.

Abortion has been legal in this country for 39 years. This medical operation to prevent a nonviable bundle of tissue cells from developing inside a woman’s uterus into a human has been legal for 39 years. The anti-abortion forces in this country, not content to simply not have abortions themselves, have spend nearly four decades making access to this legal medical procedure nearly impossible. In Michigan, they are about to see this wish come true.

Think about it: what other medical procedure can you think of that has been legislated nearly out of existence despite being legal?

The New York Times has a brilliant and scathing op-ed piece today titled “An Affront to Michigan Women”. It is aimed directly at Michigan Governor Rick Snyder.

Some excerpts and further commentary after the jump.