Public Education is a partnership and has been for many decades now. That partnership includes our local communities, the school board, our cities, the state, and the federal government, to simplify this part of my message. For many years Public Education was working well. It educated us all, kept to constitutional promises, improved over time. It was a natural or […]

Hearings set for Dec. 3 and 4 on two pieces of legislation critical to the LGBT community and beyond. Take action now. If you believe that every Michigander deserves equal protection under the law — with no exceptions — the time to be heard is now. The Michigan Legislature is holding hearings on two pieces of legislation this week that […]

Unfair as it may be, there are certain things we northerners think of when you think of southern states. The first is bigotry and intolerance. Another is a near worshipful devotion to guns and anything related to guns. Hunting is part of it but just walking around with a big weapon strapped to your body is a much bigger part […]

Like many of you, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. Being a literal person, Thanksgiving is a time and an opportunity to give thanks for the many things in our lives that we are truly thankful for and blessed with. The people, the opportunities, the occasions, the events, the connections, and sometimes just being alive. Oh sure, we […]

Since the post-election apocalypse, I have noticed a definitive shift in in the way people are communicating, talking, and thinking. There is a deeper and more pronounced urgency for some, an urgency that I find both impactful and also curious. I have been here before; I have been at this place after a sound beating down where people find themselves […]

She sees the benefits of Obamacare, both personally and professionally. When Judy Stone, M.D., was in private practice as an infectious disease specialist, about one-third of her practice was made up of patients who could not afford to pay. But she never turned them away. “I wasn’t raised to ask for payment,” Dr. Stone says. “I was raised to believe […]

There is one thing that Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette has in common with April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse, the two women who are challenging Michigan’s bigoted same-sex marriage ban: they both want their case to go to the Supreme Court of the United States as quickly as possible. The difference is that Bill Schuette is using our tax dollars […]

The price tag for the attorneys and associated staff that are handling Detroit’s bankruptcy is expected to hit at least $200 million. However, some terrific reporting by WXYZ in Detroit is turning up some scandalous things. The law firms who are running the show are ringing up incredibly large tabs for things like receiving emails, reviewing press coverage, and one is even paid to take a chauffeured car in from another state. …

It’s disgraceful that it’s still more controversial to avoid a dumb war than it is to continue two of them endlessly. On the Friday before Thanksgiving, two massive stories were leaked into the newsosphere with hopes that they’d be completely ignored as we prepare for gullet stuffing season. First, an eighth investigation, this one led by House Republicans, debunked the […]

The past three weeks I have been involved in a project that is irrelevant to this discussion save the fact that it gave me time to think. The work I was doing allowed me time to clear my thoughts and to allow a stream of consciousness that maybe I didn’t realize I needed, but I did. We are a few […]

“Our nation is a nation of immigrants. More than any other country, our strength comes from our own immigrant heritage and our capacity to welcome those from other lands. No free and prosperous nation can by itself accommodate all those who seek a better life or flee persecution.” – Ronald Reagan Last night, President Obama announced the he is taking […]