How the world’s biggest spenders attack the most conservative government spendthrift since Eisenhower Speaking to House Democrats Friday, Bill Clinton reminded his audience how Republicans’ concerns about the deficit depend on who is in the White House. Having eliminated the deficit he inherited from Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush and then being forced to watch the work he did […]

Hmmm…where have I heard THAT before…?

For the two years leading up to the cataclysmic events in December of last year that lead to Michigan becoming the country’s 24th Right to Work for Less state, Governor Rick Snyder told anyone who asked that Right to Work wasn’t “on his agenda” and that it was “too divisive”. That lasted right up until Dick DeVos and other rich Michigan businessmen reportedly delivered the ultimatum that Republicans do as they were told or face primary challenges funded by corporate interests.

Well, the “too divisive” label has now been used by Governor Snyder on another labor related issue: prevailing wage. Snyder says this, too, is “too divisive”.

Details after the jump.

A nonpartisan issue that’s about fairness over politics

Yesterday, Democrats in the Michigan State House introduced a Joint Resolution that would significantly reform the redistricting process that happens every decade after the national Census. In contrast to the current process where the political party that is in control creates districts that favor their candidates and makes it harder for the opposition party to win seats, the new process would be conducted by a bipartisan commission, would be far more transparent, would allow input from any Michigan citizen and, perhaps most importantly, would prohibit the type of gerrymandering that currently plagues our state.

Details on this extremely important resolution, House Joint Resolution I, after thejump.

Fighting racism and stereotypes one gun shop at a time

After receiving complaints from various folks in the Royal Oak area, Dawud Walid,
executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Michigan (CAIR) paid a visit to Target Sports and found them selling a target depicting a skeleton wearing a turban and traditional Muslim clothing. He purchased a couple of the targets and then had a conversation with the store owner, Ray Jihad. By the time their conversation ended, Jihad had agreed to stop selling the shooting targets.

Details after the jump.

Now you’re going too far

After the Obama administration bent over backwards to accommodate the Catholic Church’s complaint that having to provide health insurance to their employees that covers birth control, the Church threw it aside claiming it wasn’t good enough. Why? In part because it doesn’t allow any employer that wants to to impose his or her religious views on their employees.

My rant after the jump.

Well, that didn’t take long

Just two days after some of the more anti-woman elements in the Michigan State House of Representatives introduced legislation that would essentially mandate invasive transvaginal ultrasounds for women getting an abortion, Republican House Speaker Jase Bolger says he’s not interested.

Maybe he saw what happened down in Virginia when they tried the same thing there. Details on this and more after the jump.

It’s like they don’t realize how ironic they are being

Currently in Michigan, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in in charge of protecting and preserving land and other property under its control from damage or improper use. The Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act says that “it is the goal of this state to encourage the lasting conservation of biological diversity.” Republican state Senator Tom Casperson from Escanaba, however, wants the legislature to take over that overseeing of the protection of our natural areas in Michigan and to forbid the DNR from passing any laws or taking any action that will set aside land for the purpose of maintaining biological diversity.

This is from the party that repeatedly tells us that regulations are strangling our state and frequently advocates for a part-time legislature. The irony is rich and deep.

Details after the jump.

Don’t miss this opportunity

If you’ve never seen the Vagina Monologues, it’s something you simply must do. It’s for nearly everyone. Young women. Middle-aged women. Old women. And, men, too. Men can learn a LOT from the Vagina Monologues.

If you’re in Michigan, you have several opportunities over the next month starting tonight. Details after the jump.

Well hallelujah…

In what was not by any far stretch of the imagination a forgone conclusion, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder gave his hearty endorsement to the expansion of Medicaid coverage in Michigan as part of the Affordable Care Act. I couldn’t be more pleased.

Tea partiers in Michigan, however? Not so pleased.

All the fun after the jump.

They aren’t giving up so neither can we

With the pushback they received after their explosive inflamed duck session and their loss of six seats in the state House of Representatives, you would think Michigan Republicans would be taking a breather, girding themselves for the battles ahead.

And you would be wrong.

On the contrary, fresh from the winter break, they came roaring back in and in the first few weeks, have shown that they aren’t satisfied in winning the War on Women in Michigan. They appear to believe there is so much more crushing of women’s rights and paternal “protecting” to be done.

Details after the jump.

A winning strategy…for Democrats

As national Republicans are working hard to reverse the trend of Hispanic voters leaving their party in droves, Republicans in Michigan seemed bound and determined to do just the opposite. In what is a seemingly never ending push to solve problems that do not exist, Republican state Senator Joe Hune has introduced legislation to bar undocumented immigrants from obtaining any government benefits. There are already laws on the books to prevent this, but that is irrelevant when a good sound bite full of empty symbolism is in the making.

Hune’s justification is nearly comical. Read it and much more after the jump.