Support your local blogger!

Hello, again. Welcome to Day Two of our First Quarter Fundraiser where we come to you, asking you to show a bit of financial support for the work that I, Anne and LOLGOP do here at Eclectablog. For your time, we have a little inauguration goodness for you after the jump.

Go outside and play, children. Grown-ups are trying to govern.

There was a time when a handful of legislators could cast a political protest vote against raising the debt ceiling in this country and it didn’t make a bit of difference because, at the end of the day, everybody knew that the majority of lawmakers, including Republicans, would vote to raise it. They have to. They are paying for things they have already spent money on. Barack Obama did this as a Senator in 2006 and admits now that it “was just an example of a new senator making what is a political vote as opposed to doing what was important for the country”.

But what’s happening now is completely different. Republicans and conservatives are actually contemplating defaulting on the bills we owe. And that changes everything.

Much more analysis after the jump.

Why would you support a political party that calls you a liar?

A study by the Pew Research Center revealed that only 6% of the country’s scientists now consider themselves to be Republican vs. 55% that call themselves Democrats. In a piece at Salon, Amanda Marcotte makes the case that this is for a very good reason.

After seeing the film Chasing Ice last night, I am certain Marcotte is 100% correct.

Much, much more after the jump.

Aw, geez…

Thanks largely to the absurdity of conservatives and Republicans in Michigan, our fair state continues to be the butt of jokes nationally. From the Daily Show to The Colbert Report and beyond, we have become the laughing stock of the country.

Details including the most recent foray into Absurdistan after the jump.

Paying for what you believe in

Hi, folks. It’s that time of year again where we come to you, hat in hand, asking for you to support the work we do here at Eclectablog. We work hard throughout the year to bring you news and analysis that you can’t get anywhere else. In return, four times a year for a week, we ask you to support us financially.

Your contributions allow us to pay our server bills, purchase new equipment to make our content more rich and interesting, and to help pay for the travel that we do to cover events both in Michigan and elsewhere.

Whatever your reason for reading Eclectablog, we hope you find it of enough value that you’re willing to help support us financially. Please consider making a donation of $25, $50, or even $100 to help us continue to improve your experience. Details on how to do that after the jump.

This right here? THIS IS THE COOLEST THING THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION HAS EVER DONE YESIMSHOUTING

On November 14th, a petition was submitted to the White House on their We the People website that said this:

“Those who sign here petition the United States government to secure funding and resources, and begin construction on a Death Star by 2016.

By focusing our defense resources into a space-superiority platform and weapon system such as a Death Star, the government can spur job creation in the fields of construction, engineering, space exploration, and more, and strengthen our national defense.”

The White House policy is to respond to petitions that 25,000 signatures within 30 days. This one has over 34,000 signatures so the White House responded. Their response can be read HERE but, it’s so epic and awesome, I’m reproducing it here on the blog (after the jump.)

Spoiler: It’s their shamelessness On Wednesday, Vice President Joe Biden said that the president was willing to consider executive orders to help fight gun violence. Biden was purposely vague to remind Congress that if they didn’t act they would end up with some of the president’s solutions — like comprehensive background checks, some restrictions on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines […]

This will be interesting

As he himself predicted last summer, Benton Harbor Emergency Manager Joe Harris has been booted. In his place will be Tony Saunders II, a marketing guy from WYLD Marketing Group.

Details after the jump.

Seriously, you didn’t think we’d notice?

As I noted in my piece earlier, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), the public-private group that runs the Pure Michigan campaign, has a page on their website called “Right to Work” that isn’t linked by any other pages on the site. (There’s a screenshot of it HERE in case it “goes away”.)

It got me wondering why, wasn’t it linked from anywhere else? Was it linked at one point but the links quietly disappeared in the hue and cry about their bragging about crushing unions in Michigan in their full-page Wall Street Journal ad???

Turns out, that’s exactly what happened. Details after the jump.

Pure Audacity

If you go to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) website right now, at the very top is the Pure Michigan Logo. On another page called “Right to Work”, this bold graphic dominates the page:

The “Right to Work” page is shown at the top as being part of the “Grow Your Business” section of the website yet the page itself isn’t linked from the “Grow Your Business” page or any other page that I could find on the site.

Note that it directly references our state’s new status as a “Right to Work” state, basically a message to prospective companies that Michigan workers are primed and ready to be exploited by corporations looking for a place to pay rock-bottom wages.

The MEDC is a private-public entity, designed to foster economic growth in Michigan and their tourism campaign, “Pure Michigan”, is known nationally as one of the most recognizable and successful efforts in the country. So, it was shocking to see our governor, Rick Snyder, take out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal with essentially the same message as the MEDC website.

Much more after the jump.

If it’s a union-negotiated contract, it’s GOT to go

The Michigan Court of Appeals smacked down a lawsuit by Michigan Tea Party Attorney General Bill Schuette that attacked a union-negotiated contract that allowed for healthcare benefits for the domestic partners unionized state employees.

The contract does not specifically reference same-sex couples but they ARE covered by it so, of course, our AG felt the need to attack it. After all, anything that benefits both teh gayz and union members is not to be tolerated.

More after the jump.