It’s time for ACTION!

I have a piece up today at the AFL-CIO NOW blog that discusses the travesty that happened at the state capitol yesterday. I wanted to expand on a couple of things that I discussed there. Mainly, that the Republicans, including Governor Rick Snyder are complete and utter hypocrites on the topic of unions and union-crushing Right to Work for Less (RTWFL) laws.

Much more including how YOU can get involved after the jump.

Stuff just got real

President Obama has weighed in on the Republican push to destroy unions in Michigan.

Considering that President Obama said nearly nothing during the anti-union war in Wisconsin last year, this is huge.

Thank you, President Obama.

The White House statement after the jump.

This is why we need to be thinking about the 2014 midterm election

Back in August, I wrote about how the repeal of Public Act 4 — Michigan’s anti-democratic Emergency Manager Law — would, by law, leave Michigan without any law creating Emergency Managers or Emergency Financial Managers. I showed pretty clearly how the law prevents PA 72, the predecessor to PA 4, from coming back.

This week, the Michigan Court of Appeals chose to completely disregard the Michigan constitution and, in essence, allow the resurrection of Zombie Law PA 72 anyway.

I’ve been fightin’ for tomorrow all my life

Shortly after Wednesday, November 5th, 2008, I changed my iPhone ringtone to “It’s A New Day” by will.i.am and I haven’t changed it since then. Over the past few weekends, whenever our GOTV canvassers called me in our Obama campaign office, my back pocket would ring out with that oh-so-perfect tune.

So much in the lyrics of will.i.am’s song resonated with me in 2008 and still do today, particularly this part:

If you and I made it this far,
Well then hey, we can make it all the way
And they said no we can’t
And we said yes we can
Remember it’s you and me together

I woke up this morning
Feeling alright
I’ve been fightin’ for tomorrow
All my life
Yeah, I woke up this morning
Feeling brand new
Cause the dreams that I’ve been dreaming
Have finally came true

More after the jump.

Betting on the American worker is ALWAYS a good bet

The Big 3 are doing pretty damn good right now. This week get reports that Ford and Chrysler experienced increased sales in October and GM’s stock price shot up after its third quarter report.

The Obama administration literally saved the domestic vehicle manufacturers and they would like to remind you of that. Video after the jump.

The desperation is palpable

An out-of-state group known as the “Judicial Crisis Network” is spending $1 million in Michigan to attack Supreme Court front-runner Bridget McCormack. After you read my interview with her HERE, you’ll quickly realize that she’s a candidate perfectly suited for the Supreme Court. The now-viral West Wing ad released by her campaign gave her name recognition not usually seen with candidates for the bench. As I said in my interview, she’s the real deal, running a real campaign and she’s going to win.

However, that’s only true if we get out the vote for her, along with Connie Marie Kelley (interview HERE) and Shelia Johnson (interview HERE.) The most recent Detroit Free Press poll shows that an astonishing 75% or more of Michigan voters are undecided in the Supreme Court races (one partial term where Johnson is the candidate and two full-term seats where Kelley and McCormack are on the ballot.)

We simply must spread the word on these three incredible women. We must tell our friends, our coworkers, our family — anyone who will listen — that these three women represent the best choice for Michigan’s future.

More after the jump.

We need to educate our friends, relatives and coworkers!

The Detroit Free Press released an astonishing poll recently that showed that in the two Supreme Court races, one for a partial term and one with two seats open for full terms, more than 75% of voters are undecided. Three-quarters of the voters don’t know who to vote for. Of course, Eclectablog readers know:

• Bridget Mary McCormack (interview)
• Connie Marie Kelley (interview)
• Shelia Johnson (interview)

Now it’s time to share this information with as many Michiganders as you can. An easy way of doing that, of course, is to print out the Eclectablog Voters Guide (pdf) and hand it out widely.

As your reward, I present you with the the bloopers and outtakes from Bridget McCormack’s massively viral West Wing public service announcement (after the jump.)

Whoa. Now they’re getting REALLY desperate

Congressman Gary Peters sent out a statement today revealing that the anti-union, pro-Big Business “Protecting Michigan Taxpayers” sued the Michigan Parent Teachers Association (PTA) for their endorsement of Proposal 2, the Protect Working Families ballot proposal that would put collective bargaining protections in our state constitution.

Details after the jump.

Vote YES! on Michigan Proposal 3

Enbridge Energy, the company that owns the pipeline that spilled over a million gallons of oil into the Kalamazoo River has donated $10,000 to Clean Affordable Renewable Energy (CARE) for Michigan, the deceptively-named group fighting Proposal 3 which would require 25% of Michigan’s energy be from renewable sources by 2025. Clean Water Action is decrying this donation and demanding they spend their money cleaning up the environment catastrophe they are responsible for.

Meanwhile, President Bill Clinton has endorsed a YES vote on Prop 3. Details of both after the jump.

It’s a complicated ballot this year. Here’s some help!

I’m going to pin this to the top of the blog today to make sure everyone sees it before they head to the polls to vote. In this post is a link to a printable Voters Guide for the non-partisan parts of the Michigan statewide ballot. There are two on each page — one for you and one for a friend. Please share with others.

The 2012 ballot in Michigan is a complicated one, particularly the non-partisan section where we will vote for the Supreme Court seats and the various statewide ballot proposals. In order to help you sort through this part of the ballot, we have put together a Voters Guide. You can download it HERE (pdf). We’ve put two on each page so you can have an extra one for yourself or to give away to friends, family and coworkers.

Obviously, I am recommending that you vote a straight Democratic Party ticket. We have been assured by our County Clerk that you can fill in the spot for your favorite Democrat (like President Obama, for example) and still fill in the straight party spot without spoiling your ballot.

Aside from that, after the jump are the Eclectablog choices for the statewide non-partisan candidates and ballot proposals along with links to interviews with the Michigan Supreme Court candidates and my posts on the six ballot proposals.

Money should not be able to buy THIS

Sixth (and last) in a series on the ballot proposals on Michigan’s November 6, 2012 ballot. Read them all HERE.

Michigan Proposal 6 is about one thing: allowing billionaire Matty Moroun to purchase a constitutional amendment that will secure his monopoly on bridges and tunnels to Canada. Period. There is nothing else really to be said about it. The Proposal, which requires a statewide vote on any further international bridges and tunnels in Michigan, even includes a clause that excludes Moroun’s existing bridges and tunnel from such a vote.

It’s that vulgar.

More after the jump.