As posted on the Eclectablog website, tonight is a big night for the blog, the first amendment and free speech in general. The Eclectablog site proudly states:
Our third annual Eclectafundraiser party will be Tuesday, May 17, 2016 at the ABC Microbrewery (aka, Corner Brewery) in Ypsilanti from 7-9 p.m. In an effort to better connect with our readers and to help build a more well-connected community, this year’s event will feature an “Ask Us Anything!” interactive discussion with all of the Eclectabloggers and YOU! Even better, the discussion will moderated by two of our favorite progressives: State House Rep. Jon Hoadley and former State House Rep. and Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum.
It is my hope that I will see many of you there to celebrate another amazing year for Chris and Anne Savage’s heroic efforts to keep the blog strong and to make sure that Progressive voices are heard, honored and stories of truth reach an audience that would, in many cases, not get this information anywhere else.
But now to my headline.
With the idiocy of @onetoughnerd and the GOP-controlled legislature, both in the House and the Senate, we at Eclectablog have had much to write about. We have sadly seen the degradation of our great state become a laughing stock around the world, yes the world, as Rick Snyder was named by Forbes magazine as one of the 19 most disappointing political leaders in the world over his handling of the #FlintWaterCrisis.
We have seen his appointments from the Department of Environmental Quality fall like a house of cards, and that process is just beginning. We have seen key staff members leave the administration in hopes that they will escape the light of law, and let them think that’s true as the truth is finally coming home to roost in a big way. Maybe you can run, but you can’t hide folks!
I have plenty of reason to believe that Governor Snyder perjured himself before Congress and his claim, in a story published yesterday, that his memory is failing him and deleted e-mails are just that, is a testimonial to his ongoing idiocy. Anyone paying attention – and I am, I assure you – knows that truth is not something that can be cherry-picked, as Governor Snyder seems to believe it is.
His admission that this is a failure of state government, all the while throwing the federal government under the bus – and they do have some culpability here, to be sure – is further proof that he is NOT taking responsibility for what he has done and for the many people he allowed to be poisoned, and perhaps were allowed to die at his hand, so to speak. Time will tell that story, I promise.
We also see a CEO governor who has become so toxic that not even the racist, misogynistic, and divisive Donald Trump does not want his endorsement. That speaks volumes, doesn’t it?
Snyder’s corporate giveaway of tax dollars is now becoming a huge issue as our state budget, which must be balanced by constitutional mandate, is projected to be $200-$300 million dollars short for the 2016-17 budget year and the programs suggested to be cut are the expansion of the Healthy Children’s dental program, a program that was to expand statewide, the School Aid Fund (imagine!), and fewer state police.
What is missing on that list? For starters, an increase in the corporate tax system that continues to be a huge payday for state companies that are enjoying record profits. How about we examine the GOP line items in the budget that are both unnecessary and favor donors over people? Oh, the list could be and would be endless, but I do not want to digress too much as you can I can only stand so much pain, right?
The GOP and Governor Snyder continue to persecute the LGBTQ community either through passed legislation or threatened legislation. The GOP energy “policy” was hand written by the energy lobbyists and the Democrats’ energy plan, which would be a huge step forward on sustainability including a massive reduction in our reliance on coal, oil, and other forms of pollutants, is ignored and scoffed at by the GOP because they know they do NOT have to consider it.
Need more?
Let’s consider the State Board of Education having the foresight and vision to make sure ALL of our schoolchildren are safe and feel safe, in school, only to be threatened by the Republicans to eliminate them, take away funding, and basically bullying the State Board of Education, whose job it is to eliminate bullying. How’s that for leading by example? Hypocrites!
Had enough yet? Here are a few more:
- Ignoring a real threat presented by what is known as the Line 5 oil/gas pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac.
- Ignoring the will of the people by changing the way we vote during primaries and forcing people to declare a party affiliation to benefit the GOP.
- Ignoring redistricting reform – which is sorely needed – to, again, benefit the GOP.
- And my favorite: Ignoring the state constitution when it is not convenient for the “constitutionalists” currently serving us in Lansing.
I’ll provide more grist for the mill soon enough, but my sincere and hearty, full-throated thanks again to the Republicans at all levels of state government that have made our jobs at Eclectablog much easier. Of course, I wish the exact opposite were true. I wish that FOIA reform was enacted that would allow us to get to the real “meat and potatoes” of what is being perpetrated on us. I wish that our biggest problem were if Mark Schauer and Lisa Brown would be reelected in 2018 because the reforms they created and had passed in spite of a Republican-controlled Senate was far too Progressive for the GOP.
Oh, how I wish!
Until then, Eclectablog will have to get by on what the Governor and the legislature give us. And, as plentiful as it is, it’s also a sad reality of what happens when “good” Democrats don’t vote, as they didn’t in 2012.
All I am asking is for you to make our jobs harder, show up tonight and support the efforts of my colleagues, and stop sitting on the sidelines. Is that too much to ask?
For more information on the fundraiser party tonight, click HERE.
