I’m in Ithaca, New York this weekend and tired from a 9-hour drive so instead of my usual Eclectablather, I offer you this amazing video. She’s really, really good at Sun Salutations. So’s the lady.

In the increasingly likely event that Michigan Forward and Stand Up For Democracy secure enough petition signatures for the referendum to repeal Public Act 4, the law immediately goes on hold. This leaves the question “what now?” Will the previous law go back into effect or, because PA 4 replaced that law, will there simply be no law allowing for […]

For most of the summer, Jonathan Mahler has been working on an article for the New York Times Magazine about Benton Harbor. At one point, my wife and I met him there over pizza and beers to give him a bit of our perspective, primarily as outside observers unhappy with the new powers granted the city’s Emergency Manager Joe Harris. […]

More “We can’t wait” goodness from the Obama adminstration today. The White House today will announce new rules proposed by the U.S. Department of Labor that would provide minimum wage and overtime protections for nearly two million workers who provide in-home care services for the elderly and infirmed. Many of these workers provide critical in-home health care services such as […]

Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff for Secretary of State Colin Powell was absolutely amazing on The Rachel Maddow Show last night. He was talking about the end of the Iraq War and the shameful response coming from Republicans, including those running for president. The only way I can explain it, Rachel, is their hatred of President Obama. And […]

Back in April, I released exclusive audio of Benton Harbor Emergency Manager Joe Harris audaciously talking about how he had taken over the town and was now in complete control. The EFM order, an “order” or directive, has the force of law. It is the same as a resolution or an ordinance so you’re running the city. You are the […]

Alright! Now THIS is more like it! Michigan’s unemployment rate fell by eight-tenths of a percentage point last month to 9.8 percent. This is the first time since November of 2008 that Michigan’s jobless rate has dropped below 10 percent. The national November unemployment rate is 8.6 percent. The jobless rate fell by eight-tenths of a percentage point in November. […]

There is a very good reason that people that watch Fox News are more stupid than their non-Fox watching counterparts: Fox actually lies to them. Check this out. When the unemployment rate numbers came out last week showing that we had dropped below 9% for the first time in forever, here’s the chart that Fox used: Check that out. The […]

A couple of weeks ago, I spent about 20 quality minutes in the Green Room of Fox News Detroit with Nolan Finley, the Editorial Page Editor of the Detroit News. In that short time, I got to listen to him debate charter schools with another guest. His main and emphatic argument, one echoed by most charter school proponents, is that […]

Oh, my. Who could ever have thought that Republican members of Congress would turn out to be hypocrites about earmarks? At the beginning of the 112th Congress, a wave of Republicans swept into control of the U.S. House of Representatives, pledging fiscal restraint. One of the first policy changes instituted by the new Republican majority was to institute a moratorium […]

Today the Michigan Senate Government Operations passed an S-1 substitute bill to SB 0865 on to the full Senate. The bill creates a transition team that will be assigned to municipalities and school districts under the control of an Emergency Manager. From the Senate summary: The bill would create a new act to do the following, with respect to a […]