How the GOP plans to punish Barack Obama’s success. If you’re a homophobe, if you’re a health insurer who spends less then 80-85% of your revenue on actual health care, if you’re a member of Al Qaeda, the answer to the question “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” is simple. No. If you live in […]

Learning is not fundamentalist. What did the GOP learn from eight disastrous years of George W. Bush and the worst financial crisis in a half-century? Nothing good. If we’d followed their advice to shrink government spending dramatically, the US line in the chart below would be flat—much like Europe’s and the UK’s. It might even be nosediving as Italy’s is. […]

This is going to be big

Next Saturday, May 5, 2012 is the kickoff of the second attempt to recall Rick Snyder. It will start with a huge rally at the state Capitol building and you won’t want to miss it. The event starts at 2:00 and thousands of people are expected to attend.

In fact, it’s essential that thousands of people DO attend. The huge rallies in Wisconsin galvanized the activists and volunteers there and we need to do the same here as we fight back against a conservative/corporate takeover of Michigan.

Please plan to attend and help spread the word throughout all of your networks.

Speakers include…

Mirror, mirror on the wall…

In one of the snidest, most nasty press releases I have ever read, the Romney campaign engaged in a round of psychological projection that is truly transcendent. It’s clearly an effort to take Mitt Romney’s Achilles Heel and then attempt to smear President Obama with the same tar brush.

The result is so comically laughable that even those on the right have to be giggling about it…

If you think elections just don’t matter, this should wake you up

Yesterday, two Republican men denied a quarter million Michiganders their political voice, a voice guaranteed by the constitution of the state and firmly-rooted in the basic tenets of our democracy.

Two men.

It’s astonishing that our system is set up to give two men this much power.

The excuse that both men gave was that, because the the heading on the petition was too small, the petitions were invalid.

But this was not and never should have been about the fonts.

Brothers and sisters, can ya spare a dime?

Hi there. Thanks for stopping by. Can I ask what brought you here today?

Is it first-hand reporting like you got yesterday when I covered the Board of State Canvassers meeting where two men stole the voice of a quarter million Michiganders?

Is it insightful commentary like you got yesterday from LOLGOP’s analysis of Why Mitt Lost Massachusetts?

Is it to keep up on all the news of interest with regards to state and national politics?

Whatever the reason, please consider how much you value what you find here and then make a donation to Eclectablog that’s appropriate.

[More after the jump.]

Democracy not upheld

After hearing testimony from both sides, the Michigan Board of State Canvassers voted by a vote of 2 to 2 NOT to validate the petitions to repeal Public Act 4 — Michigan’s Emergency Manager law. By doing so they threw out the signatures of nearly a quarter million Michigan citizens.

The vote was followed by chants of “SHAME! SHAME! SHAME!”

[More after the jump.]

My, my, how you’ve grown!

Hello, again. A very big and heartfelt thanks to those of you that have already called in your pledge — wait. Sorry.

That’s NPR.

This is Eclectablog. We don’t have open phone lines.

We have this:

We also have a LOT of readers. Seriously. Look at this: […]

Hallelujah!

I’m going to let the Stand Up for Democracy press release speak for itself:

Citizens in the Stand Up for Democracy Coalition are announcing they have received notice from the Secretary of the Board of State Canvassers reporting the group has collected 203,238 valid voter signatures needed to place the repeal of Public Act 4 (aka the Emergency Manager Law) on the November 2012 general election ballot. According to the report, the group exceeded the 161,305 valid signatures needed by more than 40,000.

[More after the jump.]

You’re not fooling anyone, Mitt. Remember: we have the internet.

It’s not just Latinos that Mitt Romney is pandering to lately. His latest pander target is young people. Namely students.

During a news conference this week with Marco Rubio (his first since mid-March, by the way), Romney had to jump back in after it was nearly over when he remembered to throw in the fact that he suddenly agreed with President Obama on extending low interest rates on student loans, something that Republicans seem ready NOT to do…

What’s more pathetic? That he says these things or that people believe them?

Last night, Mitt Romney assumed the mantle of Republican nominee for the 2012 presidential election. Newt Gingrich thinks that’s insulting (to voters, he says) and Ron Paul thinks… well, who knows what Ron Paul thinks?

What came out of Mitt Romney’s mouth was a string of lies as long as the plane trip between here and the last job he outsourced.

Let’s take a look…