Man, I’m glad our Republican legislature and governor don’t have better things to do than making illegal abortions illegaler. Gov. Rick Snyder signed a bill this week banning a type of late-term abortion. The legislation was approved last month by the legislature and mirrors a federal ban on the practice, called partial-birth abortion by opponents of the procedure, that was […]

Well, at least they don’t try to hide it anymore. Republican State Sen. Dave Robertson of Grand Blanc wants the governor to be able to appoint far more people in the government than he already does, saying “the heart of the issue is political power.”“ Michigan’s governor appoints about 100 people directly to run the departments of state government, but […]

Local control, local government, local self-determination. These are the hallmarks of the tea party Republicans and conservatives in general. Recent efforts by Michigan Republicans prove conclusively that this is a lie. They are not interested in local control; they are interested in conservative control. Period. In September, I wrote about two bills passed by the House to limit domestic partner […]

They’ve pretty much villified and demonized the unionized teachers in Michigan and taken every available step to stripping them of any ability to bargain for and/or receive decent labor agreements. So who is next on the Michigan Republican’s hitlist? Police and firefighters, of course. Police and fire unions are opposing a bill they said would limit compensation and suitable health […]

Yesterday, Senate Majority Floor Leader Arlan Meekhof introduced SB 729. This bill makes Michigan a “Right to Work (for Less)” state BUT ONLY FOR TEACHERS. This is the concept first floated by Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville last month. To remind you, here’s a transcript from the Off the Record show where he first floated it: Tim Skubick: Right to […]

As I have written about before, tomorrow, October 1st, over 41,000 Michiganders will be thrown off the welfare rolls in Michigan. Nearly 30,000 children are affected by this. Over half of these families live in Detroit where, as reported by the Detroit News, 21,000 families will now be without benefits. In Part 1 of a 2 part MLive series, there […]

You know what I hate? I positively detest the phrase “union thugs” or “union goons”. It implies this organized group of people willing to harm others to make sure they get their way. When you look at what Republicans are doing to unionized teachers in Michigan, you realize that when Senate Majority Floor Leader Arlan Meekhof says making our state […]

On Mackinac Island at the GOP Leadership Conference this week, Governor Rick Snyder got a frigid reception from tea party types on his position on a new bridge to Canada, Right to Work for Less bills, and a new proposal for doctors to report children’s body mass indices in an effort to curb childhood obesity. The question, at this point, […]

Can something be “more illegal” than it already is? I guess it can if you are a Michigan Republican. Yesterday, the Michigan state House and Senate both passed bills that outlaw so-called “partial birth abortions”. Problem is, these types of abortions are already illegal under a federal law passed eight years ago. Thankfully they aren’t wasting their time worrying about […]

Not that this is any surprise but Michigan Republicans are poised to make sure that schools, counties, cities and the state itself do not offer domestic partner benefits to their employees. Michigan cities, counties, schools, universities and the state itself would be prohibited from offering domestic partner benefits to the live-in companions of their employees under legislation narrowly approved by […]

I have a new piece up at A2Politico where I look at the Michigan Republicans attacks on teachers in our state. I also look at how, although teachers are fighting back, politically-speaking, they are also working hard to make things better for our schools, particularly the ones facing the biggest challenges. Teachers unions are also working to help poorly-performing districts […]