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What, you didn’t think we’d notice?

I received emails and phone calls this afternoon from Representatives Lisa Brown and Barb Byrum letting me know that Senate Republicans snuck in a last-minute notice that they will take up the anti-Choice H.B. 5711 tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. The hearing will take place at 10:00am in Room 110, Farnum Building, 125 W. Allegan, Lansing.

Details after the jump.

I didn’t see that one coming at all

This wrote about Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson’s brief to the Michigan Supreme Court in which she says that if the petitions to repeal Public Act 4 are insufficient to meet the rules set out in our state constitution, the so are ALL of the other ballot initiative’s petitions. My comment in that post was that “gives me hope” and I suggested that this was an unintended and undesirable side effect of this court challenge.

I’m having second thoughts on that.

Didn’t think of THAT didjya?

Secretary of State Ruth Johnson filed a brief (pdf) with the state Supreme Court last week that gives me hope. In the case the Court is hearing in front of a packed courtroom today regarding the font size issue with the Public Act 4 repeal petitions, her office suggested that if the PA 4 repeal petitions are disqualified, the petitions for ALL SIX of the other ballot initiatives would also be disqualified.

Details after the jump.

Mitt Romney: sinking to new lows every day

Playing off the anger generated by anti-Obama types on the right who took the President’s words out of context to make it sound like he was maligning small businesses, Mitt Romney has now gone full Breitbart in his latest attack ad. Pretty much any journalist with a pulse has written put this one in the “lying his damn ass off category”.

More, including the Obama campaign’s response ad and video after the jump.

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Forward!

In 2008, Anne and I worked tirelessly to get Senator Barack Obama elected. After the election, Anne wanted to do more. Realizing that she had literally thousands of photos of people who had attended Obama rallies in Michigan, she put together a photomosaic of then President-elect Barack Obama. Titled “Out of Many, We Are One”, it is composed of thousands of faces of people she photographed that summer and fall. She posted it on Flickr and, much to her surprise, it was picked up by Time magazine. In January of 2009, it ran as a full two-page spread in their Person of the Year issue.

A special offer for our Eclectablog readers after the jump!

THIS is how we treat our heroes?

Astronaut and Stanford physicist Sally Ride passed away this week from pancreatic cancer. She was the first woman American* and the youngest American of either gender to travel into space. My family has a small but important (to us) connection with Dr. Ride. When my daughter was in grade school, she had a project where they dressed as their heroes and, during an open house, played the role of their hero, answering questions and chatting with the parents that visited. My daughter was there, dressed in a blue jumpsuit and sporting my motorcycle helmet, a third grade astronaut. Her picture even ended up in the local newspaper.

When Dr. Ride, a lesbian, passed away this week, she left behind her partner of 27 years, Dr. Tam O’Shaughnessy. Because of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), O’Shaughnessy will receive no federal benefits, benefits she would receive if she were a man. Despite their life-long partnership, she is treated as if she were just an acquaintance.

The two met when they were 12 years old.

Fool us three times? Shame, shame, shame. If you can stand it, try a little experiment: Ask a Republican how Mitt Romney would be different than George W. Bush. I’ll tell you the answer you’ll get later and why it’s a lie. But first, let’s review how Mitt compares to George. THE SAME Advisers According to the Washington Times: Mr. […]

Public Act 4: Anti-democratic, anti-American

Tomorrow, Wednesday, July 25th, the Michigan state Supreme Court will hear arguments regarding the petitions used to gather signatures to put Public Act 4, Michigan’s Emergency Manager Law. At issue is whether or not a concocted lie about the font size of a single phrase on the petition, “REFERENDUM OF LEGISLATION”, is enough to disenfranchise Michigan voters and throw away the voice of the nearly quarter million people who signed the petitions.

You can join the protest at the Supreme Court tomorrow and free bus rides are available from around the state. Details after the jump.

Teach a Republican to fish…

Anne and LOLGOP are teaming up to pair his Greatest Hits tweets with some of Anne’s photos. Their first one, shown below, has been shared hundreds of times on Facebook already and it was just posted last evening.

We’re calling the new series “Graphically LOLGOP”. Enjoy.