We’re sorry, the number you have dialed… All photos by Anne C. Savage – used with permission On Monday, February 6, 2012, the Political Science department at the University of Michigan held a public forum/debate on Public Act 4 – the Emergency Manager law. The panelists were Representative Jeff Irwin (D-Ann Arbor); Howard Ryan, Director of Legislative Affairs, MI Department […]

Missed it by THAT much Pete Hoekstra is nearly giddy about all the attention his racist ad had garnered. Hoekstra, a former Republican congressman from Holland, stood his ground Monday, saying the ad did what he wanted: It drew a clear contrast between himself and Democratic U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow. […] “We knew we were taking an aggressive approach on […]

Waaa-aaait a minute… I hadn’t realized this until MaddowBlog retweeted me yesterday, but the media company that created the train wreck of a racist ad for Pete Hoekstra is the same company that did two other catastrophic train wrecks: the infamous “Demon Sheep” ad for Carly Fiorina in California and Christine O’Donnell‘s legendary “I Am Not a Witch” ad. The […]

A face for radio… If you are interested in listening to my Blog Roll segment on The First Shift with Tony Trupiano radi show his morning, click HERE. We talked about a number of topics but mainly about my piece last week about the ticking tax time bomb in Michigan. Enjoy.

Score one for transparency In a stinging rebuke of the Snyder administration, Ingham County Circuit Court Judge William Collette ruled today that review teams that are part of the lead-up to imposing an Emergency Manager on a city or school district must comply with the Open Meetings Act. Ingham County Circuit Court Judge William Collette ruled this afternoon that state-appointed […]

You’re in a hole, Pete. Stop digging. The fallout from Senatorial candidate and racist Pete Hoekstra and his offensive, xenophobic political ad continued unabated today. Another GOP consultant, Mike Murphy, tweeted that the ad was “really, really dumb”. According the Washington Post, “Foreign Policy magazine managing editor Blake Hounshell called the ad ‘despicable.’” Ironically, the ad, which seems to blame […]

Can you hear us yet? The Obama adminstration took further actions in sanctioning the Iranian government yesterday, freezing their financial assets. From his message to Congress: I have determined that additional sanctions are warranted, particularly in light of the deceptive practices of the Central Bank of Iran and other Iranian banks to conceal transactions of sanctioned parties, the deficiencies in […]

Emergency Manager law under the microscope Tonight, a community forum will be held in Ann Arbor on the subject of Public Act 4, the Emergency Manager law. On Monday, February 6, from 6 to 8pm in the Eldersveld Room in the Department of Political Science (Haven Hall 5th Floor), the Undergraduate Political Science Association will host: “A Debate on the […]

Trevor Thomas mulls throwing his hat into the ring in MI-03 There is no question that Congressman Justin Amash of Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District is vulnerable. As a self-identified tea partyer and with the popularity of the failed tea party agenda dwindling more every day, Amash’s own popularity is sinking as well. Enter Trevor Thomas. Born and raised on the […]

Who thought THAT was a good idea? [NOTE: I have posted updates to this ongoing story HERE.] “Twitter Pete” Hoekstra, the man who wasn’t even smart enough to buy his own domain during his run for Governor of Michigan, ran an ad during this year’s Super Bowl that was so blatantly racist and offensive to Asians that even GOP consultants […]

Superbowl, schmuperbowl This is what we’ll be watching this afternoon: This year: live tweets!