Yes, you read that right: outlawing workplace safety rules. Governor Rick Snyder has, apparently, identified one of the chief reasons Michigan businesses aren’t successful and why businesses refuse to come to Michigan: they are afraid we’ll pass a law requiring businesses to implement ergonomically safe workplaces. Well, they need not worry anymore. Today, Snyder signed a bill outlawing laws that […]

THIS is positively astounding. In 2007, Judy Taylor, an artist based on Mount Desert, won a competition to create a mural for the lobby of the Department of Labor (MDOL). The work was to depict the “History of Labor in the State of Maine,” and was commissioned by the Maine Arts Commission. Taylor’s work is of 11 panels which you […]

Ouch. That’s gonna leave a mark. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has quickly fallen out of favor with the citizens who elected him, reaching levels of unpopularity lower than first term Republican governors in neighboring states and almost as low as the end-of-term numbers reached by his Democratic predecessor [Jennifer Granholm], according to a new poll. The poll by Public Policy […]

Unemployment and job creation numbers are, apparently, better than previously reported Job growth may be stronger than it appears. Another healthy drop in unemployment claims reported last week is the latest clue that job gains might be more robust than the Labor Department’s monthly reports show. Some economists say jobless claims and other recent data show that employers likely added […]

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder laid out his plans to force encourage local municipalities and agencies to consolidate services to become more efficient. He’s going so far as to withhold state revenue-sharing funds to force their hand. Gov. Rick Snyder called Monday for local government employees to pay at least 20% of their health insurance premiums, and for less expensive retirement […]

Ever get the feeling that society is winding down, like an unwound clock? Here’s what I mean: Road-crunching trumps repaving in more counties LANSING — Half of Michigan’s 83 counties are expected to turn paved roads to gravel this year due to insufficient funding — three times the number from 2007. Before 2007, only 12 counties had converted paved roads […]

Americans have come to learn in recent years that factory farming, particularly of livestock and poultry, is a gruesome, animal-torturing enterprise. When the cubic footage of a chicken’s cage is scientifically calculated to maximize egg production, you can damn well be certain that the chicken’s level of agony is not going to factor into that particular equation. The farming industry […]

Heh, heh. Gotta love English major humor. Well, I do, anyway. I’m just sayin’…

Normally I really enjoy Talking Points Memo bit this piece from Josh Marshall is, in my opinion, just laughable in how full of wrong it is regarding the U.S.A.’s response to the situation in Libya. At the end of last week I couldn’t help tweeting that everything I was seeing in Libya was bringing out my inner foreign policy Realist. […]

I am reposting this from Voice of Detroit without adding much to it. It pretty much speaks for itself. Essentially, Republicans in the Michigan Congress are trying to enact a lifetime ban on social services for anyone convicted of a felony. The implications for felons who have paid their debt to society and are trying to begin new lives is […]

Beautiful. Spend three quality minutes with this video. A response from a teacher to a patronizing jerk who asked him, “You’re a teacher, Taylor. Be honest. What do you make?” In addition to being a teacher, Taylor Mali is a slam poet. His website is here. Here’s a transcript of the video (link). He says the problem with teachers is, […]