If it’s a union-negotiated contract, it’s GOT to go

The Michigan Court of Appeals smacked down a lawsuit by Michigan Tea Party Attorney General Bill Schuette that attacked a union-negotiated contract that allowed for healthcare benefits for the domestic partners unionized state employees.

The contract does not specifically reference same-sex couples but they ARE covered by it so, of course, our AG felt the need to attack it. After all, anything that benefits both teh gayz and union members is not to be tolerated.

More after the jump.

Are you woman? Are you man? We’re your biggest Twittered-up fans

Last night, LOLGOP was on SiriusXM’s Politics Powered By Twitter show. You can listen to it after the jump. If the link doesn’t work for you, hop over to the HyperVocal website where they have transcribed some of the highlights and included their own commentary and impressions after talking to our very own Eclectablogger.

It’s a spectacularly fun interview. Enjoy (after the jump.)

Oh, gee. What a surprise.

A new report out this week from Bridge Magazine reveals that Governor Rick Snyder’s claims about the benefits of Right to Work for Less (RTWFL) are a sham. It points to evidence coming out of Indiana which became a RTWFL state in 2012 that shows companies that have moved there did so for reasons that had nothing to do with crushing unions and driving down worker pay.

For example, Android Industries is portrayed as having moved to Indiana because of the new RTWFL status. However, the Bridge piece reveals that’s a load of manure.

Details and more after the jump.

And as long as the “carried interest” loophole gives millionaire hedge fund managers a massive tax break, we have a revenue problem, too Tune in to Fox News for a few minutes and they’re bound to tell you what America’s problem is — as if they’re not it. The truth is we don’t have a spending problem, we have a […]

Legendary chutzpah, monolithic greed

One of the top shareholders in AIG, the insurance giant bailed out by the American taxpayers during the Wall Street meltdown, is Maurice Greenberg who once ran the company. He is suing the United States government because he says that, in the process of bailing out the company that feathers his nest so softly, they lost him money. However, that level of greed was not enough for Greenberg and he is trying to get AIG itself to join him in his lawsuit. This comes the same week AIG released a video thanking American taxpayers for saving their ass and talking about how proud they are that they paid back their debt and gave the taxpayers a tidy profit in the process.

Video and more after the jump.

We haven’t forgotten

Michigan Republicans surely hoped we would all “just settle down” and forget about the travesty that was their inflamed duck session. On the contrary, we not only did not forget, we are more fired up than ever to put a stop to their destruction of our state.

The first step happens tomorrow when the legislators return to the Capitol for the swearing in ceremony of the new legislature.

The AFL-CIO will be there with working families from across the state to remind them of the shameful things they have done and let them know we aren’t backing down.

Details after the jump.

This gon’ get ugly, kidz…

A group of internet gun fetishists and survivalists known as “The Citadel” [insert dramatic sound effect] have purchased 20 acres of a mountaintop in Idaho with plans to purchase thousands more and are planning on building a walled compound to house 3,500-7,000 gun worshipping families. The requirements for acceptance into this community include demonstrating proficiency with the rifle of your choice by hitting a man-sized steel target at 100 yards with open sights at the Citadel range, demonstrating proficiency with a handgun of choice by hitting a man-sized steel target at 25 yards with open sights at the Citadel range, and that every able-bodied Patriot of age within the Citadel maintain one AR15 variant in 5.56mm NATO, at least 5 magazines and 1,000 rounds of ammunition. Not only do you have to love guns, you have to be armed whenever you go into the City Center. That’s their law.

It’s pretty easy to see where this is going to end up. Follow me over the jump for all the insanity you could ever hope to read about.

Think (and check facts) before you rage out

I was surfing Daily Kos a couple of days ago and came across a cross-post of a piece from Delaware Liberal titled “Outrage in Milford”. The piece was inspired by this sign:

The top sign says one thing in English but the bottom sign, in Spanish, says something entirely different:

You must have a permit to play on this field. Violators are subject to police action.

There were several of these signs at playgrounds across the city.

Hideous racism, right? Actually not. Read on (after the jump.)

Hmmm…imagine that

One of my favorite up-and-coming bloggers, Amy Kerr Hardin, has a piece up right now at her site Democracy Tree that shows the incredible hypocrisy behind Michigan Republicans’ efforts to “reform” Michigan schools. The piece, “Education Achievement Authority — NOT Fiscally Responsible”, shows that John Covington, the Chancellor of the Education Achievement Authority of Michigan, has applied for and received millions of dollars in federal grants in order to fund the EAA’s efforts to fix Michigan’s poorest performing schools. Seems he has found that the current level of per-pupil funding is inadequate.

Much more after the jump.

Let’s get some perspective on this, shall we?

One of the most widely prevalent myths being perpetrated on the right is that the federal budget should be seen as just a much larger version of a family budget. “American families are forced to live within their budget every day,” we’re told. “The federal government should do the same.”

Laura Clawson at Daily Kos has a marvelous piece up this morning that shows just how fail that argument is, mainly because it leaves out some very inconvenient truths about what our federal government looks like.

Her piece is titled “You want to compare the U.S. budget to a family budget? Let’s be real about it.” It stems from a piece making the rounds on Facebook that said it’s easier to look at the federal budget if you lop off eight zeros and then look at it like a family budget.

Much more after the Eclectacliff.

Yeeouch

After Secretary of State and Superwoman Hillary Clinton collapsed due to flu-related dehydration and exhaustion and bonked her head last month, conservative conspiracy theorists descended on Fox News and various right-wing failblogs to explain that she was making up her concussion to avoid having to testify on the attack at the Benghazi embassy on September 11th that resulted in the deaths of four Americans.

At a December 17th State Department daily press briefing, Fox News “reporter” Justin Fishel asked a question that seemed to imply that he was making this absolutely absurd accusation.

The response from the State Department after the fact is nothing short of epic. Check it out after the jump.