Such utterly blatant pandering ought to be below ANY politician. Even tea partiers. It was a VERY busy couple of days at the World War II memorial in Washington, D.C. First, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann made an utter spectacle of herself, diving in front of cameras to slather herself in patriotic, anti O-BAH-mah rhetoric with elderly WWII vets as a […]

What IS it about Texas Republicans??? I posed this Q&A on Twitter this morning: Q: If a bad guy says, "Come closer and I'll shoot this guy" and someone comes closer, who do you blame for the guy getting shot? A: Obama. — Chris Savage (@Eclectablog) October 3, 2013 This is, at its most basic level, the situation in Congress […]

Hallelujah All photos by Anne C. Savage, special to Eclectablog As I wrote back January (has it been that long?), the Detroit City Council set itself up to be the punchline of a bad joke when it rejected an offer by the State of Michigan to make the fabulous Belle Isle our state’s newest state park. However, in his best […]

Gerrymandered from reality Everything is working out as well as it possibly could for people like me who wanted to see the Tea Party get the fight over Obamacare they wanted. Speaker John Boehner hoped to focus his caucus on negotiating about over the debt limit, as public overwhelmingly believes that raising it should be tied to spending cuts. Tea […]

That was a day we will all remember President Obama signs the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, photo by Congressman Keith Ellison Well, I looked out the window the morning, Day Two of Obamacare, and the sky was still UP and the sun was rising. IN THE WEST! No, wait [turns around] IN THE EAST! Despite warnings of the […]

For millions of people who are uninsured or can’t afford to buy insurance on their own, the day has come: You’re somebody. If you’ve lived without insurance or, like me, pay exorbitant rates because you buy individual insurance or have a pre-existing condition, October 1, 2013, is a day to celebrate. It means you’re no longer a nobody in the […]

Standing proud for kids, teachers, and public education The Michigan Education Association (MEA), Michigan’s largest teachers union, threw their support behind Mark Schauer for governor today, giving him their official endorsement. Schauer is the son of a high school teacher and a product of Michigan’s public school system. As governor, he’ll be a fierce advocate for public education, our educators, […]

Don’t feed the seagulls. Last Thursday, Democratic candidate for governor Mark Schauer ventured into the lion’s den and made a campaign appearance in conservative Howell, Michigan in Livingston County. From the reports that I’ve seen, over 100 people showed up which is remarkable because (a) we’re still 13 months out from the election and (b) there are people who would […]

File this one under “Hypocrisy, blatant” This right here? This tells you everything you need to know about just how hypocritical Republicans in Washington, D.C. are: One other option includes canceling health-insurance subsidies for some government employees, including members of Congress and their staff. But there’s internal resistance to this measure among House Republicans, mainly because low-paid aides would be […]

“Why won’t you compromise on our refusal to compromise?!” – House Republicans That’s gonna leave a mark So, this is hilarious. After five years of Republicans refusing to compromise on just about everything and doing all they could to impede any initiatives President Obama put forward, including their own, we get these sorts of comments from GOP leadership regarding his […]

A conference for anyone who is interested in fair government. The corrosive impact of money in our elections, particularly here in Michigan, is clearly evident to anyone who pays the slightest bit of attention. Even the elections for our state Supreme Court justices are fueled by money from corporate interests and wealthy individuals. Unfortunately, due to the permissive laws of […]