Wrong. U.S. airlines led by United Continental Holdings Inc. (UAL) may pocket $1.3 billion in higher fares tied to the Federal Aviation Administration’s partial shutdown as Congress deadlocks on the agency’s funding. The FAA already has been unable to collect $28.6 million a day in aviation taxes since midnight on July 22. Missed receipts may climb by $1 billion if […]

Guess who said this: “I think some of our members may have thought the default issue was a hostage you might take a chance at shooting,” he said. “Most of us didn’t think that. What we did learn is this — it’s a hostage that’s worth ransoming. And it focuses the Congress on something that must be done.” I’ll give […]

The Obama administration gets accused of “gutting” Medicare and Medicaid by stupidos who think they can’t achieve large savings by eliminating “waste and fraud”. There is, apparently, plenty of fraud to be “gutted” out of the system. In Michigan this week, two dozen scumbags were indicted for a $60 million prescription fraud scheme. Federal prosecutors have charged more than two […]

My most favoritest television pundit evah, Rachel Maddow, has signed a new, multi-year contract with MSNBC, guaranteeing that we’ll have through the 2012 presidential election. Her contract was expected to expire next year; now it will remain in effect well past that point, according to The Hollywood Reporter, which first reported the contract extension. Phil Griffin, the president of MSNBC, […]

You may have noticed that I added some new functionality to Eclectablog last week. It’s a plugin called SendLove.to. The idea of SendLove.to is that you can rate famous people that are mentioned in any particular blog entry. There are two ways you can do this. The first is that you will see famous people’s names show up in pink […]

In the category of Best State Blogs in Michigan… [Envelope please…] The winners are… Blogging for Michigan Jack Lessenberry Right Michigan I’m taking great pride in this since I am a regular contributor at BfM. Congrats to the whole fantastic crew at BfM. You’re a fine group of bloggers. A special shout-out goes to Christine, the owner and blogmistress at […]

Stuff like this is why it’s so goddam important to turn over that ballot on election day and vote for the Supreme Court justices. With Republicans in charge in Michigan, this is the kind of ruling you get: The state’s highest court says a Fowlerville woman who was sexually assaulted by a deputy inside the Wayne County Jail cannot move […]

Last month, I wrote about how the Northville School District was using the threat of an Emergency Manager to strong arm concessions from teachers in their contract negotiations. Snyder’s budget strips away money from the schools. The schools are forced into a bankruptcy situation. They turn to their employees and teachers for drastic concessions (a nearly 10% pay cut and […]

I love this image that I nicked from the Maddow Blog: When did we become such a selfish, self-loathing, uncaring, unsharing society that the idea of paying taxes to support our enviable way of life was something to be scorned, cursed and eradicated? Massive tax breaks for the oil industry companies which are literally making more money than any other […]

I have decided that, from now on, everything that I dislike will be the Job-Killing [Thing That I Don’t Like]. For example, if I get a (veggie) burger at my local pub and it’s not cooked right? It’s The Job-Killing Veggie Burger. If I don’t like the final winner of American Idol, it will be the The Job-Killing Scotty McCreery. […]

My latest piece at A2Politico gives an illuminating look at the number two administrator in the Snyder administration in charge of our state’s Emergency Managers. His name is Roger Fraser and, until earlier he was the City Administrator for Ann Arbor, Michigan’s sixth largest city, a position he held for nine years. He currently has the position of Deputy State […]