Once upon a time, Michigan prison kitchens were run by state personnel. Because of this, the kitchens were excused from what was seen as redundant inspections by another government agency. However, with Gov. Snyder’s ongoing experiment in outsourcing and privatizing every government service that he possibly can, our prison kitchens are now run by private, for-profit corporations that are beholden […]

In 2012, the group Protecting Michigan Taxpayers was formed as a front group for anti-union forces who wanted to defeat Proposal 2 which would have enshrined collective bargaining rights for workers into Michigan’s state constitution. The group has been dormant since their victory in November of 2012 but was resurrected last spring to push a ballot initiative of their own, […]

The following post is from my friend Stuart Dowty of Washtenaw County. Stu is the Chair of the group Reclaim Our American Democracy (ROAD) and is a fierce warrior in the effort to get money out of our political system and to eliminate the corrosive impact of corporate personhood. The post is in response to law professor Lawrence Lessig’s recent […]

This past week the Obama administration announced sweeping new regulations that will reduce carbon emissions from our nation’s power plants by 32 percent by 2030. “With this Clean Power Plan, by 2030, carbon pollution from our power plants will be 32 percent lower than it was a decade ago,” President Obama said when he announced the new plan. “The nerdier […]

As the group Citizens for Fair Taxes is rolling out its effort to put a proposal on the ballot to compel Michigan corporations to pay their fair share in taxes in order to get our roads fixed, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce is in panic mode. And well they should be. Internal polling by the group shows that 69% of […]

Oh, look. The corporate front group Mackinac Center wants to convert all Detroit Public Schools (DPS) to charter schools. This, they tell us would be “the best safeguard” and would “allow many independent charter school operators to try varying models for converted DPS schools.” In other words, they once again want to experiment with Detroit school children. In Highland Park, […]

I recently wrote about Michigan teacher Mary Davenport, a woman who had received hundreds of thousands of dollars in support from her union, the Michigan Education Association (MEA), only to turn around and claim they “weren’t there when she needed them.” She was duped into being the poster child for the campaign by the corporate front group Mackinac Center to […]

My last post here at Eclectablog created a bit of a stir, and certainly got many of you thinking, which is a good thing. I wasn’t necessarily looking for approval, but I was looking for reaction, and I got plenty of that, most of it supportive and some if it negative and, in my mind anyway, regressive in its tone […]

Each summer, the corporatist front group Mackinac Center for Public Policy funds a massive effort to convince teachers that they are better off without their union and that they should leave it. While complaining that unions are somehow getting rich off taxpayer dollars, the Mackinac Center uses the public schools email system to disseminate their anti-union propaganda at taxpayer expense. […]

For the many of us who watch and participate in democracy on a daily basis, this past week was perhaps the most damaging and disheartening week for Michigan in many, many years. Yes, I said years. It is clear that the Republican agenda – their “in your face” agenda – is clearly working for them, even though their agenda is […]

Another day, another scandal for Aramark, the food vendor for prisons in Michigan. With each new scandal, Gov. Rick Snyder’s dogged persistence in continuing to outsource this state government service to a private, for-profit company is called deeper and deeper into question. This time, maggots were found in potatoes in a kitchen at the G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility near […]