March for Democracy and Freedom in Michigan

UPDATE: This march has been cancelled. See my update HERE.

For five days later this month, July 23-27, the Michigan Chapter of the National Action Network will march from Detroit to Lansing along Grand River Avenue, to protest the egregious actions of Republicans in Michigan. From overreaching voter suppression laws to the Public Act 4 — Michigan’s anti-democratic Emergency Manager Law — activists from around the state are outraged by Republican efforts to disenfranchise Michigan voters.

An organizing meeting will take place this Saturday, July 7, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. at the Historic King Solomon Baptist Church in Detroit (6100 14th Street, Detroit.)

I spoke with Rev. Charles Williams II, president of the Michigan Chapter of NAN this afternoon. He told me that this march is modeled after the Selma to Montgomery march led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1965.

A tangled web of Big Business interests wants to disenfranchise YOU! When most of us think of the Chamber of Commerce, it’s likely that what comes to mind is your local Chamber working to promote local businesses in your community. But when it comes to state and federal level Chambers, however, the truth is that they have a dedicated agenda […]

Out of the frying pan and into the fire

On June 18th, Sterling Corporation employee and Jeff Timmer resigned from the Board of State Canvassers, leaving only one Republican on the elections board and a Democratic majority. While some feared that the remaining Republican, Norm Shinkle, would resign as well, leaving the group without a quorum and unable to approve a number of ballot initiatives pending for the November election, Governor Rick Snyder acted quickly and last week appointed Colleen Pero to the Board.

Described in glowing terms on the official announcement, Pero sounds like an innocuous and innocent choice. The truth is, however, quite the opposite. Colleen Pero has deep connections to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the Heritage Foundation, the Federalist Society and a host of other far-right, pro-business lobby groups.

Corporations should not win elections

Last Friday, June 29, 2012, David Cobb from Move to Amend spoke to an energized crowd of about 100 Washtenaw/Ann Arbor-area activists about the corrosive influence of money and corporate personhood in our elections.

Photos from the event taken by Anne Savage after the jump along with information about how you can join our local group, Michiganders to Keep Big Money Out of Elections.

With 50 Republican senators and President Mitt, kiss life-saving health care reform goodbye I occasionally disagree with Ezra Klein but I can’t really think of a time when he’s been wrong. (If you can, I’m sure you’ll correct me in the comments.) In a simple way that even a clown like LOLGOP can understand, he explains how politics actually works—whether […]

Are you freaking KIDDING me???

So, did you hear about the former Michigan Republican Party spokesperson who asked if the SCOTUS decision on the Affordable Care Act justified armed insurrection?

His name is Matthew Davis and he just got hired as an op-ed contributor by MLive, one of Michigan’s largest media outlets. I am, sadly, not kidding.

Shoot ’em up, shoot ’em up, rah, rah, rah!

For some on the right, this whole “every American having access to healthcare coverage” thing is just too goddam much. I wrote yesterday about some of the instant freakout responses. Today we have another and it’s a doozy.

Former Republican Party spokesman and Lansing “civil rights” attorney Matthew Davis sent out a press release titled “Is Armed Rebellion Now Justified?”.

His press release and more after the jump.

A different kind of candidate Former US Rep. Patrick Murphy from Pennsylvania today endorsed Trevor Thomas for Congress in Michigan’s Third Congressional District. Murphy was the first Iraq War veteran to be elected to Congress and was the author of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010. Trevor Thomas is a passionate public servant who will stand up […]

Going off of the rails on the crazy train…

It’s hard to believe that it’s been over two years since the Affordable Care Act, our beloved Obamacare, was signed into law. After all, the sky is still up, right?

Today’s Supreme Court ruling upholding the constitutionality of Obamacare is exactly what happens when the right challenges the constitutionality of a law that was supported, endorsed, and championed by a president who is a constitutional scholar: they get their asses handed to them. The result has been predictable, even if the SCOTUS ruling was not.

Much more after the jump.

Let’s roll!

This Saturday, June 30th, 2012, Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz will be in Ann Arbor to kick of a Day of Action canvass and phonebank for Obama for America (OFA), the campaign to re-elect President Obama.

Starting at 10:00 a.m., the event includes both phonebanking and canvassing and YOU are invited. Before things get started, Ms. Wasserman Schultz will speak to volunteers to let them know what is at stake this year and how important their role is in the 2012 campaign.

Details after the jump.

What Democrats learned from 2004 Here’s the bad news: While the American economy is still doing better than the most of the industrialized world, it’s still a bummer. You know the private sector is doing quite well compared to the public sector. If the GOP hadn’t forced layoffs of more than 600,000 workers in the public sector, the unemployment rate […]