As we move into the new year, I want to take a moment to thank the many folks who have supported Eclectablog over the past year and to give you a look at what’s on the horizon for this blog and my writing, in general. First, I must first begin with thanking my beautiful life partner and wife, Anne C. […]

A couple of weeks ago, Michigan Radio reported that Benton Harbor mayor-elect James Hightower held an informational meeting for City Commissioners and Benton Harbor City department heads to prepare for the departure of Emergency Manager Joe Harris. A further story today suggests that Hightower and the newly elected commissioners are taking the return of their city to democratic rule very […]

I’m pleased to be able to announce that I am teaming up with Christine Barry, owner of Blogging for Michigan and Tony Trupiano, host of First Shift with Tony Trupiano to do a weekly segment on First Shift. The segment, called “Blog Role”, will focus on the Michigan blogosphere and what bloggers in our state are working on writing about. […]

While the rest of the world laughs at the United States for even entertaining the idea that a person like Newt Gingrich is qualified to be president, he raises the level of his stupidity and pandering insipidity to eleven: Caller: If you’re fortunate enough to be nominated, would you consider having Sarah Palin as your running mate? Gingrich: She is […]

Just so we are all clear on this, if Newt Gingrich were to become president, this woman, Calista Gingrich, would be the First Lady of the United States of America. You know, instead of Michelle Obama. Photo by Anne C. Savage Sorry to be superficial but I think you can tell a lot by looking at a person’s eyes and […]

Gotta love this headline in the Detroit News this morning: Michigan Legislature praised for reform bills Sounds good, right? Here’s the thing: the only people “praising” the Michigan Republicans in the article are Michigan Republicans. But Michigan Republicans, I must say, think Michigan Republicans are totally freaking awesome. The closest you get to praise are these to bits: The Senate […]

If you followed my writing about Ace the pit bull from Detroit, you know that there are as many as 50,000 stray dogs in Detroit, most of them pit bulls. Detroit Dog Rescue (DDR) puts the number at 50,000-100,000. The Detroit Animal Control Center simply cannot handle even a portion of this number of animals. Dogs that are brought there […]

This is a public service announcement from the Eclectablog Online Media Group (OMG): A week ago tomorrow, while everyone was getting ready for the holidays and not paying that much attention, THE REPUBLICANS TOTALLY CAVED IN TO THE DEMOCRATS! Image courtesy of Daily Kos I just wanted to be sure we don’t forget that because it seems to me that […]

I traveled to Europe in the waning days of the 2008 election and, in fact, wrote a piece for Huffington Post about my experience including watching the last presidential debate between at 3:00 a.m in a little hotel in Gemona, Italy. My [business] trip started in Brussels, Belgium. My first clue that American politics reach firmly across the Atlantic ocean […]

From Congressman Gary Peters’ Facebook page: If you live in or near Pontiac, I hope you can join me tomorrow (12/29/2011) at a community forum from 10:00-11:30 a.m. at the Bowen Center at 52 Bagley Street. Your thoughts and opinions are very important to me so I’d like to hear what’s on your mindas we move into the New Year.

One of the main points I have raised repeatedly since the passage of Michigan’s Emergency Manager law, Public Act 4, is that the imposition of an Emergency Manager (EM) does little, if anything, to solve the underlying problems that bring municipalities and school districts to the crisis point where an EM is deemed necessary. With Joe Harris set to depart […]