This is why we need to be thinking about the 2014 midterm election

Back in August, I wrote about how the repeal of Public Act 4 — Michigan’s anti-democratic Emergency Manager Law — would, by law, leave Michigan without any law creating Emergency Managers or Emergency Financial Managers. I showed pretty clearly how the law prevents PA 72, the predecessor to PA 4, from coming back.

This week, the Michigan Court of Appeals chose to completely disregard the Michigan constitution and, in essence, allow the resurrection of Zombie Law PA 72 anyway.

We couldn’t have done it without you! Last weekend, my wife Anne and I threw a party to celebrate our victories on election day and to thank many of the volunteers that worked so hard in the Ann Arbor area to make those victories possible. One of the sweetest victories that we achieved was the repeal of Public Act 4 […]

Yes, Ronald Reagan Socialized Medicine In The United States There are two dirty secrets in American politics. The first is that the GOP is the real “food stamp party”. The second is that we already pay for each other’s health care in the dumbest possible way, thanks to Ronald Reagan. Every time an uninsured person waits to the last possible […]

Letting ideology trump protecting our most vulnerable citizens

Michigan’s Tea Party Republicans are doing everything in their power to block the formation of a state-run health insurance exchange. These state exchanges are mandated by the Affordable Care Act and, if they are not formed, the federal government will do it for them, taking away the state’s ability to control their own destiny. As I wrote last summer, this self-defeating behavior is harmful to Michigan’s most vulnerable citizens.

Details after the jump.

Lazy blogging

You might have noticed we’re in a bit of a lazy mode at the moment after the election and the celebrations last weekend. Never fear: we’ll be back in frantic blogging mode soon enough. In the meantime, here’s another Open Thread with fun links for you and the kids (after the jump.)

This’ll never work…

I don’t generally do Open Threads because there is nothing lamer than an Open Thread with no comments. But, what the hell, I’m not afraid of lame. I embrace lame from time to time.

Some fun links after the jump to get you started.

You can thank Rush Limbaugh and Fox News for that There’s plenty of recrimination going on about why President Obama cleaned Mitt Romney’s clock in last week’s election. At the end of the day, however, the reason for the drubbing is simple: America is not a far-right, super-conservative nation. We are, largely, a centrist country that probably leans a tad […]

We’re not getting Obama on the ballot until Malia is ready 2012 was extraordinarily important election because it decided whether ObamaCare would be maimed before it could even go into effect. However, whether the law gets funded and properly will be a constant question because of an election too many Americans just skipped—2010. Republicans got about 500,000 fewer votes for […]

Seizing the moment

“Tuesday night, we found out that the majority of Americans agree with my approach”

That was President Obama yesterday wasting no time in claiming the mandate handed to him by a plurality of Americans: It’s time for an end to Republican obstructionism and, absolutely without question, it’s time to quit pretending that it’s acceptable to balance our budget and reduce our deficit by raising taxes on seniors and the middle class while letting our wealthiest Americans continue to avoid paying additional taxes. It was his first public appearance since the election and it was powerful.

Video, transcript and commentary after the jump.

“Nice guy”, my ass When we moved to Dexter about seven years ago, our State House Representative was the amazing House Speaker Pro Tempore Pam Byrnes. She was term limited out of office and, in the crashing tea party wave of 2010, this historically Democratic seat was lost to “Nice Guy” Republican Mark Ouimet. As I have reported in the […]

Oh, what a difference 2 years makes In addition to Michigan delivering its 16 electoral votes to Pres. Obama by 54 to 45% and re-electing Debbie Stabenow to the Senate by a whopping 20 point margin, there’s a lot of additional great news for Democrats & progressives here in Mitt Romney’s (original) home state: Proposal 1 (Emergency Financial Manager Law) […]