It’s clear to me that the single biggest item on the Progressive agenda right now should be campaign finance reform. I’ve written about this before but it bears repeating: every single battle that you can name that we’re fighting would be world’s easier without the influence of humongous amounts of money from corporations and wealthy donors. Now a (no surprise) […]

The uber-conservative Thomas More Law Center out of Ann Arbor has asked a federal court to force the Detroit-area SMART transportation authority to run ads on their buses that are seen as anti-Islam. The Thomas More Law Center, a conservative legal group, filed a motion for a temporary restraining order on Thursday that asks a federal judge to side with […]

It’s happening. Slowly but very, very surely, Michigan is shifting to a new energy economy and crawling out of its economic abyss. This past Friday we learned that we’re now no longer the state with the highest unemployment. Nevada is. We’re number TWO! We’re number TWO! Rah. And, today, Vice President Joe Biden attended the groundbreaking ceremony of a new […]

In a sea of bad, very bad and even worse news on the ecological/energy front, score one for the good guys. Last Friday, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment (MDNRE) denied a permit for the Wolverine Power Supply Cooperative, Inc. to build a new coal-fired power plant in Rogers City, Michigan. While the permit was NOT issued, the […]

The so-called “Tea Party” in Michigan is positively terrified of becoming an official political party. Tea Party “officials” in Michigan are running away in a tizzy from a recent effort to put “the Tea Party” on Michigan’s ballot in 2010. Announced first on OutsideLansing.com, it appears that an unknown group or individual has financed a petition drive to put the […]

Popcorn time once again as far-right Tim Walberg and farther-right Brian Rooney battle it out for who wants to deny women their legal right to choose to have an abortion most. Yesterday, Walberg sent out an email that said this: Voters Never Have to Question Where I Stand Voters never have to question where I stand, my principles or priorities. […]

As predicted, the odious “Papers, please” law recently passed in Arizona is spreading like cancer throughout the country. In a couple of weeks, it hits Michigan. A Michigan lawmaker said she believes the state’s law enforcement officers need the authority to arrest illegal immigrants and is drafting legislation similar to Arizona’s new immigration law. Rep. Kim Meltzer, R-Clinton Township, said […]

Last Friday, my wife Anne C. Savage and I took a mental health break by putting our kayaks into Pickerel Lake northwest of Dexter, Michigan to drink some beer and check out the wildlife. You have probably already seen her remarkable photo of the newborn baby Canada Goose peering out from under the wing of her mother. This photo is […]

More good news for Michigan! Looks like President Obama will be back to make yet another Commencement address in June. Congratulations to Kalamazoo Central High School for winning the Race to the Top Commencement Challenge. This means President Obama will speak at their Commencement ceremony on June 10th at 7:00 p.m. Well done! Here’s the official White House press release: […]

Please Digg this blog entry HERE. Thanks! For those attending the 2010 Spring Commencement ceremony at the University of Michigan, the day started around 4 a.m. We arrived at the U of M football stadium, “The Big House” (capacity: 108,000), at 6 a.m. to pick up our press credentials. The rain started shortly thereafter and we spent the next three […]

Well, they did it. The teabaggers had a rally right smack in the middle of the University of Michigan campus, here in the heart of the Liberalville that is the People’s Republic of Ann Arbor. And can I just say this?: ho hum. Seriously. You take away the racist and homophobic and violent signs and what you have left is […]