Subsidizing hugely profitable companies is a good idea why again? President Obama is leading the charge on ending taxpayer subsidies to the massively profitable oil companies. This week, the Senate voted in a procedural vote on Senate bill 2204, the Repeal Big Oil Subsidies Act, to do just that. The vote was a lopsided 92-4 but that’s not because Senate […]

We can’t afford not to. Republicans like to pretend that poor people get rich off the government. As if that makes sense. 99 percent of Republicans do or will depend on the social safety net at some point in their lives. Like most Americans, they’re one illness from poverty, one illness from never being able to afford health insurance on […]

What the good judge giveth, the Appeals Court taketh away

On March 20th, Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina sent Flint Emergency Manager Michael Brown packing as she overturned the work of the review team that put him in place. Once again it was for violations of Michigan’s Open Meeting Act.

I characterized that decision as “for now” and I was, not surprisingly, right. Yesterday, the Court of Appeals overturned her ruling and Brown is back in while the state appeals the decision.

Lipton Lite?

Once the darling of the tea party, Michigan Lt. Governor Brian Calley seems to have fallen out of disfavor of late. Calley, the father of a child with autism, has championed mandatory insurance coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of autism. This does NOT sit well with his tea party brethern, nosiree Bob.

I have been tempted to write about Calley’s interesting situation. His tea party support suggests that he’d be against any sort of mandate like this but, apparently, having an autistic child has pried open his heart a bit, at least in that regard. At any rate, I haven’t been inclined to criticize him for his hypocrisy or for his use of his position of power to advocate for a cause that’s near and dear to his heart and family, not when it can help out a group that needs it.

But the tea party is. They are totally inclined.

Drinking the “tea” in Michigan

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette has an op-ed in today’s Detroit News regarding the Supreme Court case involving the Affordable Care Act that reads like a tea party manifesto. He appears to representing the small number of Michiganders that call themselves tea partiers while the rest of us have our views disregarded.

He describes it as “an unprecedented power grab” and says it “ends limitations on federal powers”. Neither of these things are true and, as LOLGOP said earlier today, the vast majority of SCOTUS watchers believe they will uphold the ACA as constitutional.

Supreme Court to decide if being smart about health care is constitutional. The fact is: We’re already mandated to pay for our fellow Americans’ health care. The question is: Will we be mandated to pay for our own? This week the Affordable Care Act faces its first big challenge of the year. The Supreme Court will hear arguments about the […]

They’ve taken our country back, alright…

I haven’t yet written about the senseless killing of Trayvon Martin, not because I had nothing to say but because I wasn’t sure I had anything to add to the conversation. Then, over the weekend, an Iraqi mother in California was beaten to death and left with a note that said “Go Back To Your Country, You Terrorist”. It was then that I realized that fearful, angry conservatives have achieved their goal of “taking our country back”. They have taken it back to the 1950s and before.

We have officially made the change to Wordpress which will allow us to do much more in terms of layout and useful tools.

If you encounter glitches along the way, please tweet me or send an email using the Contact link at the very top of the page.

I am pretty excited about this and hope you enjoy the new look. Many thanks to my wife Anne and Ms. LOLGOP who were largely responsible for this happening.

You win some, you lose some Last night the Michigan Court of Appeals stuck down a ruling by Ingham County Judge William Collette barring the Snyder administration from moving forward with a Consent Agreement with the city of Detroit until after a March 29th hearing on violations of the Open Meetings Act. A three-judge appeals panel reversed a ruling by […]

All the cool kidz are doing it On this, the second year anniversary of the Patent Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka “Obamacare”), the Obama campaign has a new petition up where you can let everyone know you actually LIKE Obamacare. It’s a great idea, taking the whole “Obamacare” thing, embracing it, and turning it into something positive. Today is […]

Breaking: sky still up, world still here Two years ago today, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law. Despite much huffery and puffery from the GOP and every tea partier in the land, the sky has not fallen and, miraculously, the world has not come to an end. My Congressman, Tim Walberg, “The Original Tea […]