Dude, are you SERIOUS???!

There’s a piece in today’s Livingston County Press & Argus that starts with this statement: “Both those for and against the Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare,” agree on one thing: Emergency room visits by those with little or no insurance are driving health-care cost increases.” The article then goes on to prove that’s not entirely correct. Apparently Republican state Senator Joe Hune DISAGREES with this.

All the facepalming details after the jump.

Faux poutrage is SO unbecoming…

Detroit News editorial page editor Nolan Finley is outraged that President Obama has the audacity to invite musicians to the White House. Though he was silent when previous presidents did this, it was enough to prompt a stupiditorial column in the paper this week.

More on this utter stupidity after the jump.

They are counting on us to be too stupid or distracted to care

If there is one thing that you could count on hearing in the stump speeches of Michigan Republicans during the 2010 midterm campaign it was that they were going to lower your taxes, by God. Smaller government funded by fewer taxes was their recipe for success.

Of course, they immediately got to work NOT lowering taxes and passed the Emergency Manager Law, started a campaign to destroy all unions that is well into its third year and have continued to attack women’s reproductive rights and freedoms with an anti-woman zeal not seen since the days of New England witch trials.

But today, April 15th — Tax Day — it’s worth taking a moment to pause and realize that not only did they not lower our taxes, for more than half of the people living, working and trying to get by in Michigan, they actually RAISED taxes.

Click through for much more.

There’s still lots of room in the tip jar

Today is the last day of our Second Quarter fundraiser. I, for one, and happy about that, mainly because I hate begging you for money. But these are necessary to help pay for all of the things that we spend our time and money on over the year. For example, this year we’ll be heading back to the Netroots Nation conference for a week which is in California this year.

If you’d like to donate, you can use the Paypal widget after the jump, putting in what ever amount you wish and even making it a recurring donation if you’d like. If you’d rather send a check, send me an email (click HERE) and I’ll provide you with my mailing address.

As a reward for putting up with the fundraiser this quarter, there are some photos by my wife Anne C. Savage if you click through. Her photos are the primary reason that this site looks as good as it does. Enjoy.

Don’t make me execute you to prove how pro-life I am. The only thing worse than abortion is birth control. I’m sick of big government letting the gays marry the people they love. I’m going to deport you from this country I want to secede from. I’m afraid of the government registering my guns so I’m registering myself in a gun owners organization.

Conservatives are so good at repeating each other that they never listen to themselves.

Here at Eclectablog, we do a lot of listening and do our best to use the far right’s words and actions against them in our ongoing mission to save and — one day — grow the middle class.

But nothing we do matters if we don’t have your support. Everything you can do — sharing on Facebook and Twitter, adding the discussion, contributing your hard-earned money — helps make what we do matter.

Details after the jump.

Counting bugs was never so fun (or useful)!

From my very good friends at the Huron River Watershed Council comes a terrific opportunity to meet some wonderful protectors of the amazing and beautiful Huron River and help to assess the river’s health at the same time.

Click through for details.

Hey, Republicans, are you listening?

The percentage of Michigan residents covered by health insurance through their job has dropped from 78.1 percent in 2000 to 62.9 percent in 2011 according to a new report out by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. That’s the second highest decline in the entire country, second only to South Carolina.

The study was done to get baseline information prior to the implementation of many of the core components of the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) so that we’ll have something to compare to as the ACA is rolled out.

Some of the key findings and more after the jump.

Helping people frame the progressive message is what we’re all about

Welcome to Day 5 of our Second Quarter fundraiser. We’ll keep it short and sweet. The tip jar was pretty quiet yesterday so I’m hoping you’ll consider making a contribution today. Although we run ads on the site, they bring a scandalously low level of revenue so your direct contributions are extremely important.

Click through for details.

Let’s take a breath here for a minute, shall we? You can’t read an article or blog post about the race to fill departing Senator Carl Levin’s seat without hearing how Gary Peters is the leading contender, almost as if the seat is his if he wants it. While Peters is, without question, a great candidate and certainly someone to […]

Tell Michigan’s House and Senate Appropriations Committees to include Medicaid expansion in this year’s budget

Both the Michigan House and Senate Appropriations Committees are holding hearings TOMORROW Thursday, Apr. 11, where they might decide to include Medicaid expansion in this year’s budget. Expanding and strengthening Medicaid is vitally important to Michigan’s citizens and economy.

Our friends at Michigan Consumers for Healthcare are asking everyone to show their support for including Medicaid expansion in this year’s budget.

Click through to find out how you can easily take action.

“Don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget and I’ll tell you what you value”

Earlier today I wrote about the budget priorities of the Michigan House Democrats. In that piece I wrote, “In stark contrast to our far-right ideological Republicans and our corporatist Governor, the Democrats’ priorities reflect concern and care for middle class families, children and seniors. Their budget is a sincere reflection of their values.”

Little did I know that just a few hours later, House Republicans would show their values. It’s a very ugly thing to behold.

All the gory details after the jump.