Will this session NEVER end???

The Michigan legislature concluded its inflamed duck session yesterday by passing another flurry of highly partisan legislation before they lose some of their votes.

The highlowlights of what they did yesterday after the jump.

Curiouser and curiouser… The destruction of the two Americans for Prosperity tents on the grounds of the Michigan State Capitol building during Tuesday’s anti-Right to Work for Less rally has stirred interest nationally. Those on the right portray it as a violent upheaval of “union thugs” and “union goons” who acted as predicted: with violence and mayhem and racism and […]

Aye, aye, aye…

Americans for Prosperity, which lost a couple of tents during the anti-Right to Work for Less rally in Michigan, is seeking “justice” for those tents, gosh darn it.

Details after the jump.

I suspect we all know the answer to THAT question…

H.B. 5711 is a bill that is was passed by the Michigan Senate last night that puts onerous requirements on facilities providing abortions — so onerous that most people paying attention believe it will shut down large numbers of clinics that offer these services.

Tucked away into this bill is a ban on the use of “telemedicine” — the use of computers, the internet and telephones to connect patients and physicians — by physicians to authorize medical abortions by, instead, prescribing medication.

Why is this important? Because just this past summer, Gov. Snyder was all about the utter awesomeness of “telemedicine”

Details after the jump.

What, you think we wouldn’t notice?

Yesterday, I wrote about how Fox “News” contributor Steven Crowder used Andrew Breitbart-style editing of video from Michigan’s anti-Right to Work for Less rally on Tuesday to paint union members the worst way possible.

The story has been picked up nationally and, last night, was quoted heavily in a post at the New York Times news blog The Lede.

Details after the jump.

It IS impressive…

If you thought the speed with which Michigan Republicans went to chit chatting about making Michigan a Right to Work for Less state and actually accomplishing that was impressive, you should keep watching because they aren’t done yet, not by a long shot. The frantic pace continued yesterday, just one day after they kicked unions to the curb and brought a record number of people to the Capitol to protest.

Read about the four major pieces of legislation that passed in the House after the jump.

Wrong place, wrong time

The right wingnut blogosphere is apoplectic that Lansing, Michigan’s iconic “Hot Dog Guy”, Clinton Tarver was a victim of union thug violence at yesterday’s anti-Right to Work for Less rally. The reality is that Tarver is simply a victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He also happens to be married to the Michigan Republican Party’s Ethnic Caucus Vice-Chair — perhaps one of the loneliest leadership positions in the entire state.

The full story (that you’re NOT hearing from the conservatives on your Facebook page) after the jump.

Not that this is a surprise or anything… The American Legislative Exchange Council is a national pro-business, anti-worker group that creates model legislation for use by its conservative members who are in state legislatures. Not surprisingly, ALEC’s fingerprints are all over the new laws that make Michigan the country’s 24th Right to Work for Less state as shown by some […]

“It is the certainty that they possess the truth that makes men cruel.” – Anatole France If you’re like me, you want to turn green and climb to the top of the Empire State building to swipe at planes when you hear average, non-billionaire Americans telling you what they heard on Fox News: “Right to work” is a victory for […]

Here we go again…

NOTE: More on this story which has been picked up by the New York Times HERE.

And even more HERE.

Yesterday, I wrote about how Americans for Prosperity representatives helped knock down their own tent on the grounds of the Michigan State Capitol building during an anti-Right to Work for Less rally there. Subsequent to posting that piece, I was alerted to comments on Reddit by user “mtalna”. You can read those comments HERE. What is evident from the comments is that there is a lot of editing that has gone on with the videos Fox News is now running in nearly constant rotation making it look like all of the violence and hostility at the rally yesterday came from union members. As it turns out, significant portions of it were faked and creative Breitbart-style editing helped it along much more.

Details after the jump.

It is done. At a press conference moments ago, Governor Rick Snyder announced that he has already signed the two bills that make Michigan a Right to Work for Less state. There was a bill for both the private sector and public employees’ unions. Snyder blamed labor for forcing this on him with the Proposal 2 ballot initiative. No mention […]