Last month I wrote about a conservative religious group attempting to open a charter school in Brighton, Michigan. The group was originally called the “American Christian Academies” then later rebranded themselves the “American Classical Academies”, retaining the ACA acronym. The ACA was recently successful in getting the Brighton Area Schools to sell them one of their elementary school buildings for […]

A few days ago I posted an article on my Facebook page about a speech Catholic Pope Francis gave, a speech the Washington Post described as “roughly the equivalent of a CEO sending his or her top executives off to Christmas vacation with a cleverly-worded list of everything they do wrong at the company.” The speech makes it clear that […]

One of the newly-elected legislators who will take his seat on the floor of the state House next month is Todd Courser from the Lapeer area. Though he has yet to take office, I have written about him several times already and, judging by his bizarre rhetoric and behavior, there will be an abundance of Eclectawords written about him over […]

Back in 2011, a man named Pasquale “Pat” Battaglia posted a blog entry on the website of the Lapeer County Tea Party Patriots titled “The God and Country Education Project”. In it, he introduces something he calls “American Christian Academies” and denounces the “progressive” movement who he says have taken “less than 3 generations to completely obliterate our schools”. Fast […]

There is no question that newly-elected Todd Courser is going to provide endless fodder for this website for at least a couple of years. He hasn’t even taken office yet but Courser is already acting as if he owns the place and has a lock on what it means to be conservative and Republican. Courser seems fixated on ensuring that […]

Last week I wrote about Warren, Michigan Mayor Jim Fouts’ decision to deny Douglas Marshall space in the City Hall atrium for a “reason center” where atheists could share their worldview. In his letter to Marshall, Fouts said, “The city has certain values that I don’t believe are in general agreement with having an atheist station, nor in general agreement […]

Warren Republican Mayor Jim Fouts has been allowing a Christian group to have a “prayer station” in the Warren City Hall since 2009. The group hands out flyers and offers prayers to people that walk by. Douglas Marshall recently requested permission to host a “reason center” where atheists could share their worldview in the City Hall atrium, as well. Fouts […]

Last week, Governor Snyder pretended that he’s suddenly concerned with adding protections for LGBT folks to our state’s civil rights law, the Elliott-Larsen Act. As I have already said, this is a sham. Governor Snyder’s own words show how squishy his “support” is: “I’m encouraging them to say there’s been a lot of dialog and discussion on this. It’s been […]

An extremist group’s rights don’t get to trump everyone else’s, unless we let them. I’m utterly disgusted by Right to Life of Michigan’s latest crusade, this time against U.S. Representative Gary Peters and his daughters. Now I truly understand how disgusted and outraged my parents were when an evangelical relative showed me photos of aborted fetuses when I was 10 […]

What’s happening in Kansas is particularly reprehensible, but discriminatory laws in the name of religion are a troubling national trend. I admit, I don’t know much about Kansas aside from The Wizard of the Oz. Dorothy was sure eager to get out of there. The good-hearted girl would be even more desperate to escape these days, I’d wager. The eyes […]

Groups with firmly held beliefs don’t want the rest of us making their healthcare choices. Why do they think they can control ours? A Michigan woman being denied care at a Catholic hospital while having a miscarriage because of the dictates of bishops. Another in Texas being kept on life support against her wishes and those of her family because […]