The biggest problem Democrats have  had in selling the Affordable Care Act is about to become its greatest strength. Approximately 85% of American adults are insured through their employer or the government. The vast majority of the insured will barely notice when Obamacare goes into effect in January of 2014. That doesn’t mean they won’t benefit from the law. Obamacare […]

Aye aye aye…

As I wrote last Friday, Republicans in the state House threw a bipartisan piece of legislation designed to help failing school districts back in the faces of Democrats who were trying to make improvements and ended up passing a bill that, once again, harms students and throws teachers to the curb.

Recall that, during the debate, Republicans acted like complete jackasses, absurdly blaming the teachers for the financial crises in places like Inkster and Buena Vista, calling them “hogs” and saying that “they should never try to get another job in education”. It was offensive to its core.

Well, there’s a bit more to this story and, unfortunately, Democrats played a major role in botching this up royally. Click through for details.

The grassroots making things happen in Michigan

The rally to support public education in Michigan that happens at the state Capitol on Wednesday (details with links, etc. HERE) is getting bigger by the day. In a major coup, organizer Rochelle Noel informed me over the weekend that Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Schauer is now scheduled to speak at the rally.

Details after the jump.

Who knew we had six wind energy scientists in the state legislature? Six Michigan Republicans have decided that Michigan shall not have wind energy installations on the Great Lakes. Why? Not, supposedly, because they are against renewable, clean wind energy. No, it’s because they have decided that (a) it’s not feasible and (b) we should never conduct studies to determine […]

A candidate for a new age

Public Policy Polling (PPP) released a poll today that, among other things, asked the question, “If the candidates for Senate next year were Democrat LOLGOP and Republican Justin Amash, who would you vote for?” The answer? LOLGOP won 23% to 22%.

Think about that just for a minute. Justin Amash is losing to a Twitter handle.

Click through for more.

There are new signs of hope. Let your legislators know voters overwhelmingly support doing what’s right for everyone. When it comes to accepting Medicaid expansion, there are no losers. Everyone wins. And it’s possible that the Michigan legislature may be coming around to that idea. A Democratic source in the House told Eclectablog there’s still hope for Medicaid expansion. Some […]

The edifice begins to crumble I was on the the Night Shift with Tony Trupiano Show last night talking about Governor Rick Snyder relentlessly flouting the law in the hiring of Detroit Emergency Manger Kevyn Orr. Tony brought a Detroit Free Press op-ed to my attention that I hadn’t seen and which is a must-read, in my opinion. Titled “It’s […]

Financial Review Team??? We don’t need no stinkin’ financial review team

The Detroit Free Press has obtained copies of the emails between Governor Snyder’s staff and Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr that prove that he was basically offered the position before the financial emergency had even been declared in Detroit. Under Emergency Financial Manager law that was in effect at the time, Public Act 72, a state review team had to make the determination that Detroit was actually in a financial emergency before an Emergency Financial Manager was hired. This detail … sorry – LAW – did not appear to get in the way of Governor Snyder making the assessment himself and hiring Orr before the process had been completed.

All the gory (and illegal) details await you after the jump.

Some Republicans will say anything to see the Affordable Care Act fail. The best defense is the truth. Now I’ve heard everything. Well, probably not, when it comes to myths the GOP invents about Obamacare. But this one’s a doozy. On the May 29 edition of The Last Word, I saw Tea Party Republicans leading citizens at a town hall […]

Why it’s harder to end a war than begin one. This week we found out that President Obama’s policies on drone strikes are tighter than libertarian, anti-drone hero Rand Paul. We also heard a president of the United States make a nuanced, adult and — to many — an unsatisfying case for a course correction on the global war on […]

Either we break up the big banks or the big banks break us Attorney General Eric Holder made actual some news this week amid the GOP’s scandal frenzy: he told the House Judiciary committee that big banks are not too big too jail. He was willing to criminally prosecute the nation’s largest banks, though he hasn’t done so since the […]