I can haz inspiration? The classic response we hear from Obama-haters after he gives any speech is, “Yeah, he gives a great speech but…” And, surely, last night was a great speech. It was more than a great speech, it was an inspirational speech. Never before has a national politician spoken so openly and plainly about the unfairness in our […]

Wait, you don’t get paid for this? The tip jar was pretty quiet yesterday but I am very thankful to those of you that have contributed so far. It surprises people that I don’t get much income from my blogging. As I was walking up to the Capitol building last week with my wife Anne C. Savage and co-blogger at […]

Chewing gum AND walking. A refreshing president. While you were sleeping and after giving an incredibly inspiring State of the State address, President Obama was busy overseeing/authorizing an daring hostage rescue of an American in Somalia and a Danish national. U.S. special operations forces have rescued a kidnapped American aid worker and her Danish colleague in Somalia, the White House […]

Regrets, I’ve had a few… Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney has a problem. A Michigan Problem. It’s not just that he penned an op-ed for the New York Times calling for the bankruptcy of our domestic vehicle manufacturers. It’s not just that he then doubled down on that statement in one of the presidential debates. It’s not just that, as […]

Indispensable! Hi, it’s me again. I got up early so I could bring you a new story about Highland Park schools and the letter our Governor sent to parents in that school district. The letter was clearly aimed at riling them up and encouraging them to demand their elected officials willingly step aside to let the state come in and […]

Warning, Warning! Danger, Will Robinson! Michigan Governor Rick Snyder took the unprecedented step of sending a personal letter (pdf) to the parents of the Highland Park school system. Dear Parent,As a parent of a Highland Park School District (HPS) student, you are probably aware of the dire financial situation that exists in HPS. Over the past few weeks, together with […]

What’s say you and him and her fight? When Michigan Republicans redistricted our state this past year, they intentionally created a major battle ground in Michigan’s 14th Congressional District which makes up much of the metropolitan Detroit area. As was already announced, Hansen Clark who currently represents the 13th District and Gary Peters, Representative from MI-09 will be contending for […]

Brothers & sisters, can you spare a dime? Hello, folks. As I have been talking about for some time, I am going to be doing quarterly week-long fundraising drives for Eclectablog. This is in place of running those incredibly annoying third-party ads for cellulose reduction or hot Russian singles that you see on some blogs. Once a day for seven […]

Historic Detroit treasures lost in rush to save money Eric T. Campbell has a fine piece up at The Michigan Citizen where he talks about the loss of Detroit’s historic school buildings. The Detroit Public School Emergency Managers Robert Bobb and, now, Roy Roberts, don’t appear interested in saving these historic buildings. Once they are gone, they are gone forever. […]

Collective Bargaining Contracts Vulnerable I have been wondering how long it would take for a state other than Michigan to pursue an Emergency Manager law. The wait is over. This week, a Republican-sponsored bill allowing the imposition of an Emergency Manager on a “distressed political subdivision” (i.e., a municipality or school district) passed out of committee and goes on to […]

No earth-shattering news about Michigan’s on-going Emergency Manager Emergency, but there are some tidbits worth noting. Flint Community Leaders Hold Public Forum to Discuss Emergency Manager Emergency.Flint community leaders held a public forum on Tuesday to discuss Public Act 4 and its impact on the community. The panel discussion will revolve around “The Emergency Manager: Concerns and Outcomes for Flint,” […]