Rep. Kildee calls for an immediate up-or-down vote on a bill he introduced to restore emergency unemployment benefits. Since last November, Congressman Dan Kildee (MI-05) has been at the forefront of efforts by U.S. House Democrats to extend, and then renew, unemployment insurance (UI) benefits. Immediately after the bipartisan passage of a bill in the U.S. Senate on Monday to […]

Paul Ryan’s latest budget has the same goal as his last three budgets: It slashes taxes for the rich while slashing pretty much everything for everyone else. The biggest benefit will go to the richest .01 percent — who have seen their share of income quintuple in the last forty years. Those who earn over $1,000,000 a year would see […]

It’s not a racist dog whistle. It’s just racist. The national effort to raise the minimum wage (which hasn’t been done since July 24, 2009) is a winning issue for Democrats. Because of this, conservatives Republicans corporatists are freaking out. It’s got them so freaked out that economist Art Laffer, the father of “trickle down economics”, skipped past using coded, […]

Crowdsourcing for a cause. A GOOD cause. Eclectablog webhost and occasional contributor Charles Gaba has been on what can only be described as in incredible one-man mission to make sure the truth gets out about how successful the Affordable Care Act has been. He’s been tracking people signing up for health insurance through the ACA at his site ACASignUps.netfor several […]

This shall not deter our fight An Ypsilanti Township woman who was married during the 24-hour window when same-sex marriage was legal in Michigan a week and a half ago was assaulted on Monday, the victim of an anti-gay hate crime. The day of unbounded joy was, apparently, a catalyst for brimming hatred to overflow into the tragically violent attack. […]

Please proceed. Republicans want you to believe that even Democrats are jumping ship in their support for President Obama and the Affordable Care Act. Unfortunately, the truth is getting in the way of this convenient (for them) meme. There was solid proof it overnight in Ann Arbor. The last time President Obama came to Ann Arbor in January 2012, demand […]

A major oil spill in the Great Lakes would be devastating to Michigan’s natural resources, the health of our citizens, and our economy, and the boom in domestic oil drilling and Canadian tar sands makes such a spill a real possibility. But the potential for this kind of a catastrophe has been almost entirely missing from the national conversation about […]

The real Obamacare horror story for the GOP? It helps the people it’s supposed to help A new ad featuring a Grand Rapids resident complaining that her new health insurance plan is “not affordable” due to Obamacare leaves out an important fact. Shannon Wendt turned down Medicaid coverage for family, according to posts she made on her Facebook wall. The […]

This explains EVERYTHING This past week, Terri Lynn Land held her first conference since she announced her candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat. Her entire campaign so far has relied on millions of dollars of ads being run by the Koch brothers-funded group Americans For Prosperity. Land herself has been doing private fundraisers and avoiding the press in an unprecedented […]

Photo by Anne C. Savage, special to Eclectablog After District Court Judge Bernard Friedman ruled Michigan’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional last Friday afternoon, he did not stay his own decision pending the outcome of any appeals. Because of this, Republican Attorney General Bill Schuette, acting on behalf of Gov. Rick Snyder, filed an emergency request to stay the decision. […]

12 million success stories and counting… You have to admire Ted Cruz’s honesty. Dude wants to repeal Obamacare and do pretty much nothing about the nearly five million uninsured Texans, except point to their bootstraps. He’s proud that his state rejected Medicare expansion, which could have covered about one million of his constituents. He does not like the ACA in […]