Republicans on the wrong side of history yet again Governor Rick Snyder is refusing to recognize over 300 same-sex marriages that took place on Saturday. None of the rights and privileges extended to heterosexual married couples will be given to these newlyweds as Gov. Snyder and Attorney General Bill Schuette pander to their homophobic base in an election year. Unfortunately […]

Same-sex marriage makes people cry [All non-Twitter photos by Anne C. Savage, special to Eclectablog.] Around 300 same-sex Michigan couples took advantage of a one-day window when they were allowed to marry legally yesterday. Four County Clerks — Nancy Waters in Muskegon, Barb Byrum in Ingham, Lawrence Kestenbaum in Washtenaw, and Lisa Brown in Oakland — opened their offices on […]

Now can we just call it “marriage”? In a huge victory for marriage equality, U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman ruled today that Michigan’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional: IT IS HEREBY DECLARED that Article I, § 25 of the Michigan Constitution and its implementing statutes are unconstitutional because they violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to […]

The fight continues Yesterday’s narrow passage of the legislation that will expand the failed Education Achievement Authority experiment statewide was a blow to those of us who rely on data and facts to inform our decisions. With the help of two supposed progressives from Detroit, Representatives John Olumba and Harvey Santana, the bill passed by only two votes. THEIR votes. […]

Yes, this is the best Republicans have to offer Chris Christie’s Bridgegate scandal has not been shut down and it’s only getting closer to the governor. Questions about his administration’s willingness to inflict traffic on taxpayers and a tangled web of conflicts of interest involving the governor’s associates at the Port Authority remain unanswered. Now, reporting by The Nation‘s Lee […]

SAVE THE DATE! On Wednesday night, I’ll be moderating an issues forum organized by the Plymouth and Canton Democratic clubs. The panelists are an all-star cast: Karla Swift, president of the Michigan AFL-CIO David Hecker, president of the American Federation of Teachers of Michigan Emily Dievendorf, executive director of Equality Michigan Libby McGaughey, Vice President of Planned Parenthood Advocates of […]

New rule: If you don’t volunteer to help a campaign, you can’t complain After Democrat Alex Sink failed to win a Republican seat that has been held for decades, analysts — including respected analysts like Charlie Cook — have revised their prognosis for 2014. They now see a Republican wave coming — or, in the very least, a “really bad […]

First, I want to reiterate what I said yesterday: there is a very good chance that Republicans are close to having enough votes to to expand the State School Reform/Redesign district (HB 4369) which, for now, is only the EAA. They may vote as early as today if they get enough votes. Two Democrats, John Olumba & Harvey Santana, are […]

The G-7 countries issued a joint statement this morning warning Russia to back off in Crimea. In the statement they say, in no uncertain terms, that they will not recognize Crimea returning to Russian control if the proposed referendum passes. Their statement makes it clear that, with Russian soldiers patroling the streets in Crimea, if the referendum passes, it will […]

“It can’t be true…I personally do not believe that.” My home town of Dexter has been in the national news a bit lately. It started when Congressman Tim “the Original Tea Partier” Walberg invited a resident of our Stars Hollow-like village, Julie Boonstra, to be his guest at President Obama’s State of the Union address as a “victim of Obamacare”. […]

If 2012 was the year of the “clown car,” the 2016 GOP presidential primary will be Reservoir Dogs. And the dogs have already started circling, as two savvy yet vicious politicians recognize the Tea Party is only big enough for one filibusterer. For the past few years, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul pretended to be friends and kept their divisions […]