Gathering petition signatures is an act as old as democracy itself. It is direct and easy to understand: Sign the petition to show your support. Sign the petition and the person or issue will be placed on the ballot for everyone to decide on. Many of us have signed or circulated petitions for issues or candidates that we believe in.  […]

8 clinic workers murdered. 17 attempted murders of clinic workers since 1991. 6,900+ reported acts of violence including bombings, arsons, death threats, and assaults since 1977. 19,000+ reported acts of disruption, including bomb threats, hate mail, and harassing calls since 1977. This is the face of domestic terrorism in the United States of America, most of it perpetrated by people […]

If you don’t want 4 percent of Michigan’s voters making decisions for everyone, it’s time to speak out. Right to Life of Michigan has garnered enough signatures to force through an initiative that would forbid insurers from offering abortion coverage unless women buy a separate rider in advance — even in the case of rape, incest or a threat to […]

You have GOT to be kidding me [Photo credit: Anne Savage, special to Eclectablog] After high school kids in Steubenville, Ohio were busted for repeatedly raping an unconscious 16-year old fellow classmate and then posting their exploits on the internet, a federal prosecutor, U.S. Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld, has come up with a solution: teach young rapists how to avoid […]

Sign the petition and make your voice heard. The very first post I wrote for Eclectablog was about Senate Bill 136, the “Religious Liberty and Conscience Protection Act.” This bill would allow healthcare providers, facilities and insurers to refuse to provide or cover “objectionable” healthcare services on religious or moral grounds. As I explained in that post and two that […]

Okay, THIS is cool!

Democracy for America (DFA) has launched an exciting new project to help activists and organizers achieve their goals with a far more powerful set of tools than they would have otherwise. It’s called YouPower and it’s revolutionary.

Click through for details and to sign one of the first petitions started with YouPower.

Ensuring our energy policy doesn’t compromise our water supply

In 2005, President George W. Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (pdf) into law. This comprehensive law does everything from providing new subsidies and incentives for renewable energy production (like wind, solar, biomass, wave & tidal, and geothermal) and tax breaks for energy conservation improvements on homes to providing incentives for increased drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and exempting oil and gas producers from certain requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act. It even extended Daylight Savings Time by a week. There’s a fine summary of this 551 page bill HERE.

One of the components of the Energy Policy Act was Section 979 which compelled Energy Secretary to study the interaction and interplay of water-related issues and energy-related issues. The intent was to ensure that we fully understand how our country’s energy policy impacts our water resources.

The study is eight years late and there’s a petition to sign to move it forward. Details are after the jump.

C’mon, Governor Snyder, do the right thing

As regular readers of this site know, we have been calling on Michigan Governor Rick Snyder to expand Medicaid coverage in our state, one of the many excellent provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, aka “Obamacare”.) You can read LOLGOP’s pieces on this HERE and HERE and my piece HERE.

Now the Michigan Democrats are starting to move on this issue. Today, State Representative Andy Schor (D-Lansing) introduced a House Resolution today calling on Governor Snyder to expand Medicaid under the federal ACA.

As Rep. Schor notes in his press release, “under the ACA, the cost of expanding Medicaid to more residents would be covered 100 percent by the federal government from 2014 through 2016. After that, the federal government would cover no less than 90 percent of the cost.”

Much more after the jump.

PLEASE NOTE: All that stands between 17 million Americans getting free public health care and lower rates for all is the GOP. Republican governors in states that re-elected President Obama are considering turning down the best thing to happen to the middle class since Medicare. Because of this people are going to die unnecessarily and we’re all going to pay […]

The BFDness of Obamacare continues to roll out

Earlier this week, LOLGOP explained how a component of the Affordable Care Act, lovingly called “Obamacare” by those who understand that our President cares about Americans without health insurance, includes a huge expansion of Medicaid. He also explained how this is free to states for the first two years and they are on the hook for only 10% of the additional costs after that. He also explained how upwards of 670,000 more Michiganders will be covered by health insurance under this expansion of one of the most beloved and official government programs that we have.

Follow me after the jump for a couple of other things about it that make it even more attractive. And don’t forget to sign our petition!

This right here? THIS IS THE COOLEST THING THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION HAS EVER DONE YESIMSHOUTING

On November 14th, a petition was submitted to the White House on their We the People website that said this:

“Those who sign here petition the United States government to secure funding and resources, and begin construction on a Death Star by 2016.

By focusing our defense resources into a space-superiority platform and weapon system such as a Death Star, the government can spur job creation in the fields of construction, engineering, space exploration, and more, and strengthen our national defense.”

The White House policy is to respond to petitions that 25,000 signatures within 30 days. This one has over 34,000 signatures so the White House responded. Their response can be read HERE but, it’s so epic and awesome, I’m reproducing it here on the blog (after the jump.)