We need government to protect us from people like Mitt Romney. In 2009, as it was organizing, promoting and explaining how non-partisan the Tea Party was, Fox News adopted a simple talking point. The Fox Effect describes that Fox’s Bill Sammon instructed his staff to call any suggestion of a buy-in federal health care plan a “government option”. Basically, never […]

Public Act 4 no longer in play in Detroit

Detroit’s financial review team was given the okay to meet yesterday morning by the Michigan Court of Appeals, clearing the way for them to vote to approve the consent agreement between the city and the state in the afternoon. And, last night, the Detroit City Council followed suit in a 5-4 split decision, agreeing to the consent agreement, actually called the “Financial Stability Agreement”, which gives city leaders some measure of control, including choosing some of the members of the financial advisory board… (more after the jump)

The antidote to email forwards from your uncle. Conservatives have been getting their news from clowns for years. But something changed in 2009. From 2001 till the end of January 2009, the conservative movement held the White House for eight years and the Congress for six. And by the end of Bush’s second term it was evident that the GOP […]

Going above and beyond the call of duty? New Hampshire House Speaker Bill O’Brien is displaying a level of complete and utter dickishness unlike anything I have ever seen in my life. State Rep. Tony Soltani is threatening legal action because he says House Speaker Bill O’Brien has refused to accommodate his disabilities in his seating assignment as part of […]

Class, may I have your attention please? Republicans in Michigan are pushing forward with an effort to remove the cap on so-called “cyber schools” (also known as “virtual schools”) in our state. Already passed in the Senate as Senate Bill 619, it has been reported out of the House Education committee and will be voted on in the near future. […]

“I’m sure we can work something out…” In a fawning editorial about Benton Harbor-based Whirlpool (linked in yesterday’s Emergency Manager news round-up), Tom Walsh of the Detroit Free Press wrote this: [T]hings are improving, says Jeff Fettig, CEO of Benton Harbor’s largest taxpayer and corporate citizen, global appliance maker Whirlpool. “Our view is that it’s working and a lot of […]

Okay, Republicans, you can stop cheering now

If you lean out your window, you can probably hear Republicans around the country cheering for high gas prices. Not because they want Americans to use less of this polluting fossil fuel and decrease our dependence on Mideast oil. No, it’s because they are literally counting on gas prices to be the death knell for President Obama’s reelection campaign. It doesn’t matter that he’s not responsible for it (hint, hint: it’s Wall Street.) That doesn’t matter one bit.

Here’s the problem: rising gas prices aren’t actually …

Yes, it’s still the law In what appears to be a never-ending saga of a ham-handed, clumsy implementation of a constitutionally-questionable law, the Snyder administration has finally won a court battle which put Flint Mayor Dayne Walling out of a job (again) and Emergency Manager Michael Brown back in (again). This and the continuing battles in Detroit and elsewhere to […]

The true story of a real boy trying to become a puppet. Yesterday Ann Romney said the general election campaign will “unzip” her husband to reveal just how not “stiff” Mitt actually is. Echoing the “Etch A Sketch” comment from a few weeks ago, Mrs. Romney is suggesting we haven’t met the Mitt Romney yet. Though Mitt has been running […]

Second time’s a charm Michigan Rising has risen like a phoenix from the ashes of the first attempt to recall Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and is giving it a second try. Last week, they submitted petition language in Washtenaw County. They had no trouble getting their language approved last year so there is little reason to believe they will have […]

Romney. It’s Mandarin for “job creator”. In one sentence, what’s wrong with the American economy after 30 years of conservative voodoo economics? We don’t value work. I say “we” because, like it or not, we all go down together. We—though we may know better—allow our society to be co-opted by those who value playing with money more than working for […]