Stop the attacks on organized labor This past weekend at the Michigan Democratic Party Endorsement Convention, Michigan AFL-CIO President Karla Swift led a training session for people that will circulate petitions for the Protect Our Jobs constitutional amendment drive. As I wrote before, the effort has the goal of enshrining protections for collective bargaining rights in Michigan’s constitution. Bonnie Bucqueroux […]

Here a pol, there a pol, everywhere a pol pol(itician) I’m at the 2012 Michigan Democratic Party Endorsement Convention at the Cobo Center in Detroit where the MDP will choose a host of candidates to appear on the 2012 ballot. Here are some scenes from the event. The vendors area doing a brisk business: Congressman Gary Peters: for the newly-drawn […]

Using financial crises to disenfranchise citizens Last year, faced by over $300 million in debt from a failed trash-to-energy incinerator, Pennsylvania’s capital city Harrisburg attempted to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy. They were, however, rebuffed. A law passed in earlier in the year specifically to prevent Harrisburg from filing for bankruptcy prohibits them from doing so until July 2012. In […]

Dude, ever heard of “Google cache”??? I can’t imagine why he thinks this is going to change one goddam think but human swine Rush Limbaugh has scrubbed the transcripts of the show where he called Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke a slut and where he said women receiving contraception through their health insurance should be required to post videos […]

Better stick with Charlie Daniels, Rush This is sweet. Like Peter Gabriel and Rush (the band, not the pig), the band Rage Against the Machine is telling Rush Limbaugh to stop using their music on his radio Hate Show. They did it via this most-awesome tweet from guitarist Tom Morello: To Rush Limbaugh: Hey Jackass, stop using our music on […]

The Hate Show gets its comeuppance Well, well, well. This is interesting. From my inbox this morning: As of this morning, 50 companies and two radio stations have dropped Rush Limbaugh’s radio show. Even one organization that gets free advertising on his show is demanding to be dropped. So many advertisers have fled Limbaugh’s show that yesterday, 77 of 86 […]

Corporations are NOT people One of my favorite Michigan political movers and shakers, Jocelyn Benson, has launched a petition drive to strip away corporate influence on our elections in Michigan. The petition drive, if successful, would lead to the formation of “The Corporate Accountability Amendment”. Benson and others held a press conference yesterday on the steps of the state Capitol […]

Would you rather keep cleaning off oily ducks or stop the oil spill? Yesterday, at a press conference in Flint, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder unveiled a plan titled “A Special Message from Governor Rick Snyder: Public Safety”. You can read his Special Message in its entirety HERE (pdf) and an Executive Summary HERE. I’m ambivalent about his proposals. Michigan has […]

Nice try, jerks Last month I wrote about how my favorite judge, William Collette, had found Republican redistricting in Oakland County to be unconstitutional: An Ingham County judge on Wednesday struck down a controversial state law that changed the way Oakland County’s commissioner districts are drawn. Judge William Collette said the law was unconstitutional. Plaintiffs hailed the striking down of […]

Patriotism has its limits (apparently) Over the past few years, we’ve seen world record-breaking profits for the Big Oil companies, even when gas cost over $4 a gallon during President George W. Bush’s time in office. (And, yes, despite the rhetoric coming out of the mouths of nearly all Republicans at the moment blaming President Obama for the current cost […]

You have to know where you’ve been to know where you’re going Obama for America, President Obama’s reelection campaign, released a trailer this morning for a new 17-minute documentary on the president’s first term. The film, “The Road We’ve Traveled”, is directed by Davis Guggenheim, the creator of the multi-award-winning film “An Inconvenient Truth”, and narrated by Tom Hanks. Here’s […]