The conservative Heritage Foundation is campaigning against Obamacare. But their arguments are unsubstantiated lies. Do Republicans really think they can just willfully spread lies about the Affordable Care Act and get away with it? Sure they do, because their rabidly extremist supporters will believe anything they’re told by their spin masters. They’d like you to believe that Obamacare is the […]
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As I announced earlier this year at the Netroots Nation conference in San Jose, California, in 2013 the conference will be held at the Cobo Center in downtown Detroit. This will be an incredible shot in the arm for the city as thousands of progressive organizers and organizations come to Detroit for several days to share ideas and strengthen their relationships. It will also be a tremendously energizing moment for the many Democratic campaigns that will be in full swing next summer as we head into the final months of the 2014 election cycle.
This clearly has corporatist, Republican-supporting groups freaked out. They want to keep Michigan in the hands of their well-funded Republican legislators for as long as possible and the thought of losing the House or, even worse, having corporatist poster child Rick Snyder removed from office must give them cold sweats at night.
As part of their response, the Virginia-based Koch brothers front group the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity wrote an opinion piece for the Detroit News titled “Netroots nation comes home to the unions’ roost”.
Truth is stronger than fiction. It just needs to speak louder than the absurd. Obamacare’s opponents will say anything — no matter how ridiculously untrue — in an effort to sabotage the law. Worse yet, plenty of people believe the lies. The scare tactics aren’t going to stop the law from being implemented. But they may prevent people from signing […]
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Republicans aren’t telling the truth about Obamacare. So what else is new? Ever since the news broke that the Obama Administration is delaying the mandate requiring employers to provide health insurance to their employees until 2015, the GOP has been salivating over the news like a junkyard dog that hasn’t eaten in weeks. They see it as an “admission” from […]
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It’s not often that less than 3% of a state’s citizens get to create new law without having to let the voters decide or the governor to sign it into law but that is exactly what’s about to happen in Michigan. Yesterday, the State Board of Canvasser approved petition language submitted by Right to Life of Michigan that would force women to purchase a separate rider on their insurance to cover abortion. Not just government-subsidized or government provided health insurance. ALL health insurance. I’m calling it the “Plan Ahead for Your Abortion” law. If Right to Life can get only 258,088 in 6 months, the measure goes to the legislature which has 40 days to approve it. If they do, and they will, it becomes law. The rest of Michigan voters will have no say in it and it won’t require Governor Snyder’s signature.
It’s clever, for sure. Right to Life Michigan KNOWS they are on the wrong side of this issue from the majority of Michigan residents and from Governor Snyder himself so they have to bypass the normal process and exploit a loophole made possible by a legislature full of conservative extremists put in place by decades of Republican gerrymandering.
More, including video, awaits you after the jump.
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Michigan Republicans have made it patently clear that they have no intention of letting Democrats score any legislative victories whatsoever. In the recent House appropriations legislation debates, for example, Democrats introduced over 70 amendments and every single one of them was shot down by the House Republicans. But even Republicans don’t think that EVERY idea that Democrats have is a bad one. It’s just not something they want the rest of Michigan to believe. So, in order to deny Democrats any legislative victories in the current session, Republicans have begun using an approach that I haven’t heard of before: introducing legislation that is identical to a bill that was introduced by a Democrat and then supporting that one instead.
I’m not kidding. Details after the jump.
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Michigan’s experiment with Emergency Managers has begun to catch national attention, thanks largely to the efforts of Rachel Maddow and her staff. One of the things that has become quite clear from the things I have written about here and the terrific reporting by The Rachel Maddow Show is that, despite the fact that our state is relying on budget-cutting Emergency Managers to solve problems that are complex and multi-faceted, they have yet to show that they actually WORK. Simply stated, outside of one tiny village, there has yet to be a city or school district that has emerged out from under and Emergency Financial Manager or an Emergency Manager and remained financially stable.
The Detroit Public Schools has been under the control of an Emergency Manager or Emergency Financial Manager for many years. The first Emergency Financial Manager, Robert Bobb, actually left the school district in a bigger financial hole than when he arrived. He was replaced by Governor Snyder by an auto industry marketing and sales guy, Roy Roberts.
Roberts is very proud of his work and went on national television to tell the world that the Detroit Public Schools are back and, not only are they back, they are kicking some serious academic ass, surpassing the state average MEAP scores in a majority of categories.
As it turns out, it was a complete lie. Click through for details.
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Earlier this month, I wrote about Congressman Tim Walberg’s lying about his vote against the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). He claimed in an interview that he had, in fact voted FOR the VAWA. As it turns out, he voted for a watered-down House version but voted against the version that eventually passed.
I wrote to my Congressman about this and, this weekend, received a reply. You can read his offensive response after the jump.
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Baptist pastor Mike Frey appeared before a Minnesota House of Representatives hearing on marriage equality yesterday to speak out against passage of legislation that will legalize same-sex marriage. His argument — stay with me on this — is that when teh gayz have teh buttsecks, enzymes on the head of the sperm enter the bloodstream and cause AIDS.
This medical genius also explains that women’s vaginas have super powers that prevent this from happening.
Video with transcript after the jump.
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The two biggest lies perpetuated by the fossil oil industry (“Big Oil”) and their corporatist minions in decision-making roles in our government are that TransCanada’s Keystone XL Pipeline will bring thousands and thousands of jobs to the U.S. and, perhaps more importantly, will increase our national security by making us less reliant on oil imported from the Middle East and other foreign countries that aren’t allies like Canada.
Both are complete and utter lies and there is solid proof to dispel both.
Much, much more after the jump.
Read more ›In what might be one of the most brazen acts of public lying in some time, my “representative” Republican Congressman Tim Walberg went on the air today a lied about his vote against the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.
Details after the jump.
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Chris SavageChris Savage is the owner and publisher of Eclectablog and the co-host of The GOTMFV Show podcast.
Mitchell RobinsonMitchell Robinson is associate professor of music education at Michigan State University. His research is focused on music education and education policy. Follow him on Facebook HERE and Twitter at @MRobmused. His own blog is at MitchellRobinson.net.
Barb ByrumBarb Byrum is currently in her third term as Ingham County Clerk, serving as the county’s chief elections official. As Clerk, Barb has successfully conducted 25 elections, 4 union elections, and served on Michigan’s Election Security Commission, the Secretary of State’s team of advisors tasked with strengthening and better securing elections in the state. Follow her on Twitter at @BarbByrum.
