Well, it’s a rainy day but that hasn’t stopped organizers in Benton Harbor from moving forward with their planned rally and march. We have relocated the staging location to the Benton Harbor library, across the street from the City Hall. It’s a full house with at least 250 people crammed into the library’s auditorium. Organizer John Waltz from Heartland Revolution […]

A friend of a friend, Sara Haile-Mariam, an an independent consultant who makes occasional appearances on news shows to talk politics, made this video after learning about the travesty that happened at the Catherine Ferguson Academy in Detroit. It’s pretty powerful stuff. Yup, they arrested and handcuffed pregnant teenage girls because they were trying to save their school. Absolutely amazing. […]

The good news is that Michigan’s tax revenues this year may actually be a half billion dollars higher than was previously predicted. The bad news is, rather than offsetting some of the $470-per-pupil funding cut Governor Snyder proposes in his budget with the windfall, he wants to save it. “I don’t want to speculate on us having more dollars,” Snyder […]

This is absolutely fabulous news: The [Vermont] state Senate gave preliminary approval Monday to health care legislation that is a key part of Gov. Peter Shumlin’s agenda. The bill, a version of which already has been passed by the House, would put Vermont on a path toward what it calls a “universal and unified health system” and what the Democratic […]

Jesse Jackson was back in Benton Harbor yesterday, this time alongside Congressman John Conyers, Chair of the Michigan Legislative Black Caucus Congressman Fred Durhal, Jr., Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero, Benton Harbor Mayor Wilce Cook, and others. They announced that a lawsuit will soon be filed on behalf of Benton Harbor. Jackson says they will now file a lawsuit, challenging the […]

Really, people, what the hell did you think you were going to get when you voted for a Republican? Some excellent analysis with lots of numbers and lists of Ann Arbor-area folks who contributed to Snyder’s campaign at A2Politico. I’m just sayin’…

Oh, hardee har har har. Yesterday, the group collecting signatures to recall Wisconsin Senator Robert Cowles announced they have enough signatures to put his recall on the ballot. That makes the sixth such announcement since the wave of recall campaigns began. Six down, two to go. Meanwhile, Republican efforts to recall two three Democrats crapped out. A recall effort targeting […]

I have been writing pretty intensively about the dismissal of the Benton Harbor City Commission by the Emergency Financial Manager, Joe Harris. Like many of you, I am incensed at this draconian step being taken, a disenfranchisement of the residents of Benton Harbor and an abridgement of what I think most of us understand as democracy. Taxation without representation is […]

Last week, I wrote about the connection between Congressman Fred Upton, the Emergency Financial Manager takeover of Benton Harbor and Aubrey McClendon, a millionaire developer and owner of the Chesapeake Oil natural gas company. In the piece, I talked a bit about McClendon’s lawsuits against Saugatuck Township in their efforts to prevent McClendon from developing a piece of duneland at […]

This is a repost of a blog we put up last year, an uncharacteristically early spring. Although spring seems to be taking its time this year, this shocking expose on the real and observable signs that global climate change is changing our Midwestern ecosystem is a clarion call for … um … well, something. See if you don’t agree. Spring […]

Dan Benishek is the Republican who replaced Bart Stupak to represent Michigan’s gigantic first district. Benishek was a typical tea party candidate, running on a typical tea party platform. He was endorsed by the major Michigan tea party groups and even Her Highness herself gave him her Wasilla thumbs-up. Like all tea partiers, Dan Benishek hates politicians so much that […]