“Being a teacher is not what I do, it’s who I am.” – Dr. Jill Biden

This past weekend, the American Federation of Teachers held what can only be described as an energizing, empowering and successful national convention in the Cobo Center in Detroit, Michigan. During the four-day event which concludes today featured such luminaries as Sandra Fluke (women’s reproductive rights activist) and Walmart plaintiff Betty Dukes (both of whom received AFT Women’s Rights awards), Diane Ravitch (education historian, writer), David Hecker (AFT Michigan), Charles Blow (New York Times op-ed columnist), Rev. Dr. Wendell Anthony (Detroit NAACP), Bob King (UAW), Karla Swift (Michigan AFL-CIO), Chris Michalakis (Metro Detroit AFL-CIO), U.S. Rep. Dale Kildee, Dr. Jill Biden and Vice President Joe Biden.

One of the highlights of the week was the keynote speech by AFT president Randi Weingarten who unveiled a new approach for AFT she dubbed “solution-driven unionism”. During her speech, Weingarten talked about the “new normal” facing Americans today in face of severe budget cuts jeopardizing public education, healthcare and other critical services; families losing more than 30 percent of their wealth during the economic crisis; and more than 100 bills introduced in state legislatures to demonize and attack public employees and undermine public services

Much more with lots of photos and quotes after the jump.

If you have to stop people from voting to win, your ideas suck. Two startling admissions by Republican officials in the past few months have been noted and then allowed to fade into the torrent of information fed at us each and every day. We cannot let this undeniable proof that our democracy is being subverted be allowed to slip […]

Keep going, Mitt! You’re doing GREAT!

The Mitt Romney International Tour of Shame and Embarrassment™ continues to provide “interesting” insight into his foreign affairs skills (or utter lackthereof.) The tabloid Daily Mail reports that a Romney campaign official called London mayor Boris Johnson “eccentric, odd”.

The official also said that Romney wasn’t well prepared for a trip of this magnitude. Apparently Mitt Romney needs to be briefed on how not to act like an embarrassing buffoon with the social graces of prep school bully when he’s abroad. His campaign staff need similar briefings, too, it appears.

Wait. WORSE than Sarah Palin???

Mitt Romney is in England this week, presumably to watch his wife’s dancing horse compete to prove his foreign policy bona fides by showing his fluency in Wealthsh.

It’s not going so good.

If fact, it’s going so bad that got an entire hashtag devoted to his his Europefail: #RomneyShambles.

Endless peels of laughter at Mitt’s expense after the jump.

Larger version suitable for sharing after the jump.

Forward!

In 2008, Anne and I worked tirelessly to get Senator Barack Obama elected. After the election, Anne wanted to do more. Realizing that she had literally thousands of photos of people who had attended Obama rallies in Michigan, she put together a photomosaic of then President-elect Barack Obama. Titled “Out of Many, We Are One”, it is composed of thousands of faces of people she photographed that summer and fall. She posted it on Flickr and, much to her surprise, it was picked up by Time magazine. In January of 2009, it ran as a full two-page spread in their Person of the Year issue.

A special offer for our Eclectablog readers after the jump!

Public Act 4: Anti-democratic, anti-American

Tomorrow, Wednesday, July 25th, the Michigan state Supreme Court will hear arguments regarding the petitions used to gather signatures to put Public Act 4, Michigan’s Emergency Manager Law. At issue is whether or not a concocted lie about the font size of a single phrase on the petition, “REFERENDUM OF LEGISLATION”, is enough to disenfranchise Michigan voters and throw away the voice of the nearly quarter million people who signed the petitions.

You can join the protest at the Supreme Court tomorrow and free bus rides are available from around the state. Details after the jump.

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Drunk with power, House Republicans continue to silence their opposition

Yesterday the Michigan Legislature met for one day before reconvening again on August 15th. This occasion brought several protests to the Capitol, mainly from groups supporting women’s rights and disgusted with the way female legislators are being treated by their Republican colleagues.

After the jump, details about the protests and interviews with Matt Wall from the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) and Democratic Representative Barb Byrum talking about the delivery of 115,000 petition signatures to House Speaker Jase Bolger demanding an apology for his treatment of Rep. Byrum and her colleague Rep. Lisa Brown as well as Rep. Byrum’s account of being prevented from speaking on the floor of the House again yesterday.

Corruption in the House of Bolger

A press release from Kent County Prosecuting Attorney William Forsyth has revealed a jaw-dropping level of corruption and fraud on the part of Michigan House Speaker Jase Bolger and Democrat-turned-Republican Representative Roy Schmidt. You can read the back story on Schmidt’s last minute dick move switch from Democrat to Republican that effectively ruined any chance of Democrats having a viable candidate HERE and HERE.

Forsyth’s investigation reveals that Schmidt and Bolger conspired to hire the weightlifting buddy of Schmidt’s nephew, Matthew Mojak, to run as a Democrat but not actually campaign. This would have forced Democrats to run a REAL Democrat in the primary as a write-in candidate, virtually assuring they would lose and that Schmidt would essentially have no opponent in the November general election.

The level of corruption and fraud perpetrated by Representative Schmidt and House Speaker Bolger is beyond anything witnessed in this state in recent memory.

A majority of Americans still blame George W. Bush for what George W. Bush did Did you hear that George W. Bush’s institute just put out a book about the economy? That’s the kind of news that turns everyone into LOLGOP. I said, “Dick Cheney’s book about hunting tips is to follow.” The great Rob Delaney offered: Same publisher as […]