Stop Public Act 4! The Michigan Secretary of State’s (SOS) office has confirmed that the Stand Up for Democracy coalition has turned in 24,151 valid sheets containing 225,885 signatures, exceeding the 161,305 needed to put the law on hold and the referendum on November 2012 ballot. [NOTE: this does NOT mean the signatures themselves have been validated, just that they […]

A Campaign for us ALL

Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District is currently represented by Tea Party member Justin Amash. Polling shows that Amash is vulnerable and that this seat is actually competitive for Democrats. In February, I wrote about the Trevor Thomas filing paperwork to unseat Amash. Here is what I wrote about Thomas a week before he announced:

After spending some time speaking to Trevor Thomas, I came away impressed. He is smart, eloquent, fiery, and charismatic. He is a passionate advocate for the middle class and those without a political voice. At the same time he is pragmatic and a realist. I believe he will appeal to a broad section of Michigan voters. He is pro-Choice, a supporter of the rights of young people, vets and union members and he is decidedly NOT an establishment candidate, something that many voters will find compelling in the current political climate.

Today I’m joining a host of other bloggers in a blog swarm to help the “Campaign for us all” raise some funds. You can contribute to Thomas’s “Campaign for us all” HERE. It’s important to contribute TODAY because his campaign has a critical fundraising deadline in the next 24 hours.

Oh, now THAT is funny. Not.

Mitt “I’m-a-Michigander-through-and-though” Romney barely got his foot out of his mouth before he stuck the other one back in today. This time it was to have a good belly laugh at the expense of — wait for it — Michigan.

Speaking to a group of Wisconsinites from Texas, he related a “humorous” story about his dad, former President of American Motors and Michigan Governor George Romney sending jobs out of Michigan and to Wisconsin:

“One of most humorous I think relates to my father. You may remember my father, George Romney, was president of an automobile company called American Motors … They had a factory in Michigan, and they had a factory in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and another one in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,” said Romney. “And as the president of the company he decided to close the factory in Michigan and move all the production to Wisconsin.”

Improving education by attacking teachers? Michigan Republicans are not done with teachers yet, not by a long shot. Now they are going after their pensions and healthcare. Lawmakers and Michigan’s largest teachers’ union are locking horns over how to bring the state’s school employee retirement system — underfunded by some $44 billion — back into the black. The Michigan Public […]

Constitution schmonstitution [NOTE: This story has been updated HERE.] The Michigan Republicans in a rather remarkable display of arrogance have taken to passing bills lately and voting to give them “immediate effect”. They are, in general, allowed to do this and it bypasses the normal 90-day waiting period after the bill is signed into law by the governor. However, under […]

Wait. This guy gets paid for this???

I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that Trayvon Martin was shot to death a month ago. Turns out you’re wrong. According to radio Hate Show host Rush Limbaugh, he was actually “over-zealoused” to death. Who knew?

Subsidizing hugely profitable companies is a good idea why again? President Obama is leading the charge on ending taxpayer subsidies to the massively profitable oil companies. This week, the Senate voted in a procedural vote on Senate bill 2204, the Repeal Big Oil Subsidies Act, to do just that. The vote was a lopsided 92-4 but that’s not because Senate […]

What the good judge giveth, the Appeals Court taketh away

On March 20th, Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina sent Flint Emergency Manager Michael Brown packing as she overturned the work of the review team that put him in place. Once again it was for violations of Michigan’s Open Meeting Act.

I characterized that decision as “for now” and I was, not surprisingly, right. Yesterday, the Court of Appeals overturned her ruling and Brown is back in while the state appeals the decision.

Lipton Lite?

Once the darling of the tea party, Michigan Lt. Governor Brian Calley seems to have fallen out of disfavor of late. Calley, the father of a child with autism, has championed mandatory insurance coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of autism. This does NOT sit well with his tea party brethern, nosiree Bob.

I have been tempted to write about Calley’s interesting situation. His tea party support suggests that he’d be against any sort of mandate like this but, apparently, having an autistic child has pried open his heart a bit, at least in that regard. At any rate, I haven’t been inclined to criticize him for his hypocrisy or for his use of his position of power to advocate for a cause that’s near and dear to his heart and family, not when it can help out a group that needs it.

But the tea party is. They are totally inclined.

Drinking the “tea” in Michigan

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette has an op-ed in today’s Detroit News regarding the Supreme Court case involving the Affordable Care Act that reads like a tea party manifesto. He appears to representing the small number of Michiganders that call themselves tea partiers while the rest of us have our views disregarded.

He describes it as “an unprecedented power grab” and says it “ends limitations on federal powers”. Neither of these things are true and, as LOLGOP said earlier today, the vast majority of SCOTUS watchers believe they will uphold the ACA as constitutional.

They’ve taken our country back, alright…

I haven’t yet written about the senseless killing of Trayvon Martin, not because I had nothing to say but because I wasn’t sure I had anything to add to the conversation. Then, over the weekend, an Iraqi mother in California was beaten to death and left with a note that said “Go Back To Your Country, You Terrorist”. It was then that I realized that fearful, angry conservatives have achieved their goal of “taking our country back”. They have taken it back to the 1950s and before.