Eclectablog

Severely Depressing New Michigan Poll Numbers for Mitt Romney

2012-02-15T15:42:00.000-05:00

I knew Governor Romney. I was friends with Governor Romney. Mitt, you're not our Governor Romney.

by @rkref

PPP Polls has new numbers out, and it's bad news for Mitt. Even worse news than finding out the car he was driving in his latest commercial about Michigan was made in Canada.

More than half of Michigan voters support how the President bailed out Detroit. Supporters of the so-called "bailout" favor the President an 81-15 margin.

The strange justice of Mitt's political career coming to in an end in Michigan would be Shakespearean if it weren't so David Simon-ish.

Wednesday afternoon Emergency Manager news round-up - 2/15/2012

2012-02-15T13:17:00.009-05:00

All the news that's fit to make you cringe

Lots of news to get to today. Lots more after the jump, too, so make sure you click through.

UPDATE: My article for The Nation magazine on Michigan's Emergency Manager law will be in the issue that goes to print today and will hit the stands later this week. It may or may not be online unless you are a subscriber. I'll keep everyone posted when it's available.

Michigan Forward to turn in petition signatures February 29th
Michigan Forward's petition drive to repeal Public Act 4 is near its end and they will turn in well over 200,000 signatures on February 29th. They need just over 160,000 valid signatures so this should be enough to put them over the top.

A coalition seeking to overturn Michigan's law giving more power to state-appointed emergency managers said Monday it plans to turn in petition signatures at the end of the month to put the law on hold and force a vote on it.

The Stand Up for Democracy coalition needs to collect roughly 161,300 valid voter signatures to get the issue on the November ballot. It said it has collected more than 200,000 signatures so far and plans to turn them in Feb. 29 for state officials to verify.

"The fact of the matter is we really can't wait anymore," said Brandon Jessup, the chairman of Michigan Forward and a member of the coalition seeking to overturn Public Act 4 of 2011. "We're doing great with the campaign and we want to move on to the next step."
Mother Jones takes on Michigan's Emergency Manager situation
Paul Abowd has written a most-excellent piece for Mother Jones that's worth your attention. It's titled "Michigan's Hostile Takeover" and focuses mainly on Pontiac EM Louis Schimmel. I spoke at length with Paul during his investigation.
Highland Park Mayor trying to avoid EM while school district gives up fighting one
Highland Park Mayor DeAndre Windom is working hard on the city's Deficit Elimination Plan in order to avoid the imposition of a second Emergency Manager.

“I will fight this battle until the battle is over. So, I mean, I wake up every day knowing that we’re faced with challenges and knowing that, you know, people just want to come in here and pull the plug on the city,” Windom told WWJ’s Vickie Thomas.

The city is currently facing a deficit of over $11 million, and Windom said he’s bringing in help.

“I’m putting together a financial advisory team of qualified, competent individuals who will work to help the city of Highland Park,” said Windom.

Meanwhile, the school district has given up its fight to appeal the imposition of an EM.

Highland Park school board members voted unanimously to not appeal the state's decision to appoint an emergency manager, reversing a previous decision made before the district went into receivership.

Two board members -- including Robert Davis, who earlier this month filed a lawsuit in Ingham County Circuit Court to ward off state intervention -- were not present for the vote.

Emergency manager Jack Martin, who will not sit on the board in his new capacity, attended the Tuesday night meeting. Board members approved two mandates given by Martin: That board members will retain all current salaries and benefits, and that any school closures, consolidations or renovations must be approved with his oversight.
Judge voids decisions made by Highland Park and Detroit EM Review Teams
Ruh-roh, Raggy. this doesn't look good:

In a decision that could potentially limit the sweeping powers of Michigan's new emergency manager law, an Ingham County judge ruled Wednesday decisions made by the financial review teams for Highland Park Public Schools and the city of Detroit are null and void because they have been made in secret.

The ruling by Ingham County Circuit Court Judge William Collette means emergency manager Jack Martin has no authority in the Highland Park School District, because Gov. Rick Snyder appointed him based on recommendations that are null and void, according to the attorney who filed suit.

Stay tuned on this...
Detroit Police union agreement has wage freeze to avoid Emergency Manager
In an effort to fend off an Emergency Manager for the city of Detroit, the Police union may agree to a wage freeze:

Mayor Dave Bing announced Friday that a tentative concessions agreement has been reached with police unions, a key piece of his plan to stave off a state takeover of the city.
The Bing administration now will turn its attention to the Detroit Fire Fighters Association to work on an agreement similar to the one reached with the uniformed police unions, which still needs to be ratified by union members.

"The police unions and my administration have negotiated a tentative agreement, which provides much needed savings, but does not sacrifice public safety," Bing said. [...]

This is what we're taking to the membership," [President of the Detroit Police Officers Association Joe] Duncan said. "It's the best we can do … the bottom line is, we could do nothing and have an emergency financial manager come in, or we could do this."
48 school districts on 'watch list' to receive an Emergency Manager
Think your school district is safe from getting an Emergency Manager? You might be very wrong:

Under the watchful eyes of Michigan education officials, more than 40 school districts are battling to control deficits and avoid falling under state control.

Altogether, 48 districts — their finances battered by rising benefit costs and state aid cuts — are under monthly monitoring by the Michigan Department of Education. The number of school systems in the red has soared over the past decade after bottoming out at 10 in fiscal 2003.

The department's watch list of districts in deficit includes two systems under state control — Detroit and Highland Park — and a third, Muskegon Heights, that asked the state for an emergency manager last month to help deal with an $8.5 million deficit.

The list provides a glimpse of which districts could be next in line for an emergency manager if their deficits balloon into fiscal emergency.

Detroit Public Schools EM closes schools, charters others
Detroit Public Schools EM Roy Roberts is closing, chartering or consolidating 22 schools in the district.

Twenty schools in the Detroit Public Schools system will be closed, chartered or consolidated into other buildings, DPS emergency manager Roy Roberts announced Wednesday.

In addition to the schools announced already this week, Roberts confirmed the closings of additional schools due to declining enrollments, deteriorating conditions or low performances. At a later date, Roberts will announce 15 schools to be added to the Educational Achievement Authority, a newly created statewide school district targeting the state's lowest-performing schools.

The district currently operates 130 schools. Over the past five years, 125 schools have been closed. About a third of DPS students are affected...

As Michigan Citizen points out, this means there will be only two public schools in southwest Detroit.

“It’s like this is some kind of strategic effort to get rid of DPS altogether,” [President of the Local Schools Community Organization (LSCO) at Southwestern High School Cheryl] Elum says. “Every time you close a school you lose more students. Every time they even announce a closure, many parents don’t want to wait for the doors to close before they move. In the corporate world, how long do you follow a bad plan?”

That’s a great article, by the way. Highly recommended.

The creation of the Edcuational Achievement Authority will require $35 million for just the first two years alone, according to the Detroit News.
Detroit assets at risk due to financial emergency
Major Detroit landmarks and other assets may be at risk due to the city's financial emergency:

Pontiac sold the Silverdome, Wayne County got rid of golf courses, and Dearborn unloaded a senior citizen complex in Florida.

Now, the city of Detroit's most venerable assets — from Belle Isle to the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel — could end up on the auction block as the city fights for its financial life.

Facing mounting debt and the prospect of a state-appointed emergency manager, the city is looking at all options to shed expenses and raise revenue. If city officials can't come up with a viable budget plan, an emergency manager would have the power to sell assets as part of a financial takeover of Detroit.

Even the Detroit Institute of Arts is worried:

[A]s Detroit city officials frantically try to stave off state intervention, whether by consent decree, emergency manager or even municipal bankruptcy, the city's dire financial situation raises once taboo speculation: Is the city's timeless art collection immune from the city's urgent need for cash?

As the streetlights flicker and the city's dollars trickle away, the DIA stands alone among the city's institutions as a trove of treasures. The Detroit Zoo, the Detroit Historical Museum, the Charles M. Wright Museum of African American History, and libraries and parks all can command market value — but lions and tigers or even rare books cannot begin to match the store of riches locked behind the DIA's grand façade. [...]

"Let them get desperate with something else," said Tina Bassett, a member of the DIA's board of directors and chair of its development committee. "It's something we're so proud of."
Flint EM shares info with City Council, gets an earful from residents
Flint EM Michael Brown shared his budget plan with the City Council during a 3-hour meeting last week. The news wasn't good.

Brown updated council members on his ongoing projects.

He said the city has brought on labor counsel to review all of the city's union contracts for possible renegotiation. He's also met three times with state police representatives about possibly increasing the police presence in the community.

"I really do believe they (the state) understand the challenges we’re facing," he said. "They want to help but what they want is a plan moving forward."

He said the city is crafting a public safety plan and will ask Flint Mayor Dayne Walling as well as county officials and others to be a part of the process.

Brown said the city made changes in retiree healthcare in the areas of co-pays and generic prescription medications that are estimated to save the city $1 million annually.

At the same meeting, he got an angry earful from Flint residents:

Several angry residents spoke out against Flint's emergency manager tonight at the first council meeting that has been held since the state takeover of Flint began Dec. 1.

"I hate the idea of an emergency manager," Flint resident Nayyirah Shariff said. "We have someone far removed, Gov. Snyder, who looks at our city and says we are an impoverished city. But impoverished because of policies they help perpetuate."

There's video at the link.

Brown hired Megan Hunter for a two-year stint to help develop the city's comprehensive master plan.

In other Flint news, the fire chief has asked Brown to pink slip half the city's firefighters.

It's being called a bizarre request. Flint firefighters union president Trent Farnsworth has asked Flint's Emergency Financial Manager Mike Brown to pink slip half of the fire department.

Farnsworth said he has a good reason for the request. He is trying to renew a federal grant that currently covers the wages of approximately 39 officers. In order for the city to qualify for the SAFER grant, firefighters must be in a "pending layoff situation."

The nearly $7 million grant expires in June. The application deadline for renewal is Feb. 24.

"We could lose a good portion of our personnel," said Farnsworth.
Public Act 4 still being wielded as a cudgel
As has happened countless times before, Public Act 4 is being used to threaten people. This time in Allen Park.

Still reeling from a failed multi-million dollar deal with a Hollywood movie producer, Allen Park could face financial ruin and an emergency manager takeover if city leaders don't take quick action.

Tuesday night the mayor and council failed to reach a deal on a vote to add a two-year, 4-mill levy to the May ballot. The vote was a 3-3 tie, which means the council must vote again. One member was absent. [...]

The mayor says the state gave him and his administration until the end of the month to outline a plan to stabilize the city's finances.

It's being wielded against the unions, as well, of course:

The city wants wage and benefit concessions from its police and fire unions and has engaged in a standoff with the groups that could end with the appointment of a state emergency financial manager.

In a letter sent Wednesday to bargaining groups for 61 police officers and firefighters, Mayor William Matakas, speaking for the City Council, asked for a pair of givebacks.

The city wants all affected employees to take a 10-percent cut in their base salaries and pay 20 percent of their health and other benefit costs.
FCC confirms Joe Harris can't sell city's radio broadcast license
I've been reporting on the weird on again, off again eBay sale of Benton Harbor's radio station equipment by EM Joe Harris. It turns out that, as many suspected, he's not actually allowed to sell it on eBay which may explain why it was pulled from the listings.

According to the Federal Communications Commission, The Benton Harbor community radio station license that was on eBay last week cannot be sold in that manner.

In an email sent to ABC 57 News, an FCC spokeswoman provided this information:

“The Commission approves the assignment or transfer of all broadcast stations. A low power station can only be assigned or transferred to a local not-for-profit entity.”

Oops.

More at The Maddow Blog via Laura Conaway.

I hope you enjoyed that. I must say I didn't...

The Daily Show Takes On the Birth Control Nontroversy

2012-02-15T10:33:00.000-05:00

First they came for us coming for their birth control

The argument that the right wing trying to deny women birth control is somehow a defense of liberty is an argument only a man would make. So let's go to our panel of men to discuss it!

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

The Vagina Ideologues - Sean Hannity's Holy Sausage Fest

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor & Satire Blog

The Daily Show on Facebook

The problem with building a house on a slippery slope is that everything falls into Hell and then you become Hitler.

UPDATE: Joshua Holland argues that the GOP's argument against birth control reveals that they're not too clear on the whole where babies come from thing.

GOP Talking Points Locked in Theater of the Absurd

2012-02-15T08:57:00.005-05:00

Remember how the GOP got everyone all enraged at the deficits they created?

Who did the GOP instantly blame for the costs of two wars, trillions in tax breaks, completely unfunded, wasteful expansions of Medicare plus an economic crash that suddenly dwarfed their own massive failures abroad? The man who inherited the costs.

With a TV channel and apoplectic emails repeating the same talking points over and over, the GOP managed to make deficits the issue from 2009-2010. It was brilliant. Instead of focusing on how to fix the mess they created, they blamed the mess on the guy with a mop.

We all know the GOP’s agenda in 2001 was to set the surplus we created on fire, possibly to create conditions where they could call for the demise of social insurance. Comparing Bush and Obama on deficits is like comparing an arsonist with a firefighter.

But even making that comparison is a win for the GOP. We’re validating the argument that deficits matter more than job growth.

The fact is, when the economy is stalled, people will believe who ever sounds angriest. When they economy is improving, people are too busy to care.

Now the GOP is a in a tough spot. As the economy and the President’s approval show renewed strength, we’re into the tribal regions of Absurdistan. What are we hearing?

The President is waging a war on religion. You don’t have to be in the pews every Sunday to know the pious card is poison for swing voters.

Smart GOPs know this is a loser, so they’re trying to make the price of gas an issue, pointing out that it was under $2 a gallon the day President Obama was sworn in.

Yes, when the global economy seemed as if it were about to crumble under the enormity of Bush/Cheney’s failure, gas got cheap. Now that the economy has improved, it’s rising.

It’s gamed in some deep, dark profound ways, no doubt created by conservative polices. But it always happens.

You know what’s up more than gas prices? The Dow.

Another loser for the GOP. What’s next?

This President is Taking Away America’s Free Time with All These Jobs!

Miniskirts Are Destroying America! Less Miniskirts. More Viagra!

The “No Horseplay” Rule at Public Pools is Sharia Law!

What hysterical talking point from the GOP do you expect next?

Emergency Manager law - Public Act 4 forum this SATURDAY in East Lansing

2012-02-15T08:41:00.002-05:00

Hear ye, hear ye

I want to commend your attention to the Public Service Announcement banner at the top of the site today. It will run through Saturday evening. It's an announcement for a public forum on Public Act 4, the Emergency Manager law, happening this Saturday, February 18, 2012, in East Lansing.

A public forum on P.A. 4, the Emergency Manager Act
Saturday, February 18, 2012, 11 am - 5 pm
Edgewood United Church
469 N. Hagadorn Road, East Lansing, MI

Join us for lunch with:

A speech by Reverend Edward Pinkney of Benton Harbor

Panel discussion with six panelists

Question and Answer period

Info: 517-332-8693, cindy@edgewooducc.org
Livestream will be at http://www.peaceedcenter.org/

You can download a flyer for the event HERE (pdf).

Rick Santorum takes sides: he's with the 1%

2012-02-15T07:04:00.001-05:00

See ya at the polls, buddy

Not sure exactly how this math works out electorally-speaking but Rick Santorum seems to think his path to victory is slamming "The 99%".

At a campaign event this week (with really bad lighting, I might add) he derided Occupy protesters who were putting up a fuss:

“I think it’s really important for you to understand what this radical element represents,” Santorum said to the cheering crowd of about 350 people. “Because what they represent is true intolerance.”

Yes, yes. Radical intolerance. Well, Rick, that's what happens when the greed of those in power drives others to desperation after so long. But then ... then he said THIS:

“[President Obama is ]trying to divide America into one percentage versus another percentage. That’s not what a leader of this country should do but Barack Obama has sided with the 99 versus one.”

“He supported this movement, this movement that is intolerant and disrespectful. He supported them and embraced them,” Santorum said to loud cheers from his supporters.

Hmmmm...support the 99% or support the 1%???

Rick, c'mon. Even Mitt Romney is trying to pretend he supports the 99%. But you keep hugging your 1%. But not in a gay way or anything. We know how you feel about that.

Pete Hoekstra pays for his racist ad, Debbie Stabenow now up by 14 points

2012-02-15T06:55:00.000-05:00

Karma IS a bitch

This makes me smile:

Debbie Stabenow's taken her biggest lead yet in 4 polls of the Michigan Senate race PPP has conducted dating back to December of 2010. She now leads Pete Hoekstra by 14 points, 51-37, and has an even wider 17 point advantage over Clark Durant at 50-33. In 3 previous polls Stabenow led Hoekstra by an average of just 7 points and on the most recent one, in July, her lead was 9.

What's interesting is that Stabenow's approval numbers have barely budged at all over the last 6 months. Over the summer we found her at 46/40, and now she's at 47/41. But Hoekstra's numbers have taken a turn for the worst. In July his favorability was narrowly positive at 31/30. Now he's dropped a net 11 points to a -10 spread at 28/38. There hasn't been a big shift in his numbers with Democrats or Republicans but with independents his numbers have flipped from +10 (33/23) to -10 (29/39).

Hoekstra appears to have been damaged by his controversial Super Bowl ad. 54% of voters in the state were familiar with it, and within that group 45% said it made them less likely to vote for him compared to only 16% who considered it a positive and 37% who said it didn't make a difference to them either way. Independents said they were turned off by it and he's gone from leading with them by 6 points in July to now trailing by 4 points.

Not much more to add to that except: BWAHAHAHAHAAA!!!

Occupalooza comes to Traverse City, Michigan THIS SATURDAY!

2012-02-14T15:54:00.007-05:00

Occupy the pinky

This Saturday, up in the frozen pinky of Michigan, a group of fine organizers is having an event they call OCCUPALOOZA. Admission is a suggested donation of 99¢ (of course!)

The event will feature speakers, live music, a silent auction and a food drive. It starts at 5:30 p.m. and goes through 11:00 p.m. and is being held at the InsideOut Gallery at 229 Garland Street in Traverse City (click HERE for a map.)

There is more information about the event at www.occupytraversecity.org as well as at their Facebook page. In addition to what's on the poster (on the right there, click the image for a larger version), they will be having a live filming for a scene in a new film called The Saga of Larry Tunner (something I'll be writing more about soon), a local business panel, tables for Move to Amend & Public Act 4 repeal petitions, and much more.

I'm very excited that I will be attending this event. I hope to write up a post about it, probably more than one. I'm looking forward to meeting up with the coalition of people that have been organizing the tremendous signature-gathering effort for the repeal of Public Act 4 as well as folks involved with the local Occupy movement. I also hope to spend some time with Derek Bailey, a Tribal Chairman for the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa & Chippewa Indians as well as candidate for the Democratic nomination in Michigan's 1st Congressional District.

UPDATE: I will be speaking at the event at 7:50 p.m.

If you are in the area, this looks like it's going to be a spectacular event and I'm truly looking forward to it!

NOTE: If you are attending, organizers are asking for food donations. Donations will be accepted at the door and the Northwest Food Coalition will receive, and distribute them to the most needy food pantry.

How Rick Santorum Could Beat Mitt Romney in Michigan

2012-02-14T14:44:00.005-05:00

Metaphorically

Rick Santorum should believe in God. The fact that he’s still in this race is a tribute to some higher power or, more likely, the weakness of the GOP’s bench. It’s also a tribute to his appeal to the sort of Republican who hates both birth control and abortion—breeders, as @Azrielenish calls them.

Now, I see that Santorum is about to make a huge mistake and focus on jobs. HUGE. MISTAKE.

He’s never going the win the argument that he knows money better the Ritchie Mitt, even if Mitt is and was dead wrong about saving Detroit. He can focus on manufacturing a bit, but too much he’ll be giving the election away.

This is his chance to be the Not-Romney of all Not-Romneys and to do this, he has to go a place that fills him with dread. Where? A woman’s uterus.

Rick Santorum needs to focus almost entirely on LIFE.

Mitt Romney was ostensibly Pro-Choice until he was in he was in his late 50s. You have iPods and ketchup packets older than Romney's Pro-Life beliefs. Romneycare not only covered abortions (and undocumented workers and gay couples), it covered the exact birth control mandate that has been in the news all week. Why no GOP candidate has gone after for him for this in a sustained way evades me. If the Santorum campaign can get a few dimes together to put some ads on in the U.P., just air ANY 30 seconds of this clip.

Can you trust Mitt Romney when it comes to life? That’s the one question you should ask every time you get in front of a mic, Rick. It exposes Mitt’s two huge problems—he lied about his pro-choice beliefs his entire political career and he’ll say anything to be elected.

Some argue Democrats should vote for Santorum in the GOP Primary. Your host, Chris Savage is against this and I don’t think it’s necessary. If Rick Santorum puts on his big Not-Romney pants and talks life and a little manufacturing, Mitt’s done.

A little Valentine's Day fun from We Are the People Michigan: "No more sweetheart deals"

2012-02-14T12:55:00.000-05:00

It's true love

A fun video from our friends at We are the People Michigan:

They have a petition circulating:

Dear Legislator,

Almost one year ago, the state Legislature approved a $1.8 billion tax cut for big corporations that was paid for by slashing funding for public education.

The new business tax has failed to create more and better jobs for Michigan workers since it took effect in January, and yet, this year's new budget proposal includes additional cuts to K-12 schools.

We can't afford more handouts and sweetheart deals for corporate CEOs at the expense of our students and local schools.

To get our economy moving again, we must invest in public education to give our children a better future.

I strongly urge you to fully restore last year's cuts to K-12 schools.

You can sign the petition HERE.

Mitt Romney spits on Michigan's unionized autoworkers in Detroit News op-ed

2012-02-14T11:40:00.007-05:00

And they call Obama "elitist"?

Today, in a Detroit News op-ed titled "Taxpayers should get GM shares' proceeds", Mitt Romney doubled down on his previous New York Times editorial in which he declared the Obama administration should have let the auto industry perish.

From the NYT piece "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt":

IF General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won’t go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed.

Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With it, the automakers will stay the course — the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check.

Of course none of this turned out to be true. It's so far from how things actually went, in fact, that Romney is now having to scramble to save face in his home state. To do this he has picked up the gun again and taken firm aim at his other foot. With today's Detroit News piece, he scored another direct hit.

He starts out his piece this way:

I am a son of Detroit. I was born in Harper Hospital and lived in the city until my family moved to Oakland County.

This is a blatant attempt by Romney to be seen as a hard-core Detroiter. But here are the facts: Romney lived in Detroit until he was only five. Then his family moved to affluent Bloomfield Hills. In other words, they were part of the "white flight" mass migration of wealthy white Detroit residents to the burgeoning communities ringing the industrial city. Bloomfield Hills. Rochester Hills. Beverly Hills. Auburn Hills. The rich white people of Detroit literally ran for the "Hills" and Mitt Romney was among them.

According to his Wikipedia entry, Romney "aspired to be an executive in the [automotive] industry". Mitt didn't want to build cars. Mitt wanted to be the boss of the people who built cars.

The boss of the unionized autoworkers.

And what does Mitt have to say about these workers today? This, referring to "bailout" of the auto industry:

[I]nstead of the free market doing what it does best, we got a major taste of crony capitalism, Obama-style.

Thus, the outcome of the managed bankruptcy proceedings was dictated by the terms of the bailout. Chrysler's "secured creditors," who in the normal course of affairs should have been first in line for compensation, were given short shrift, while at the same time, the UAWs' union-boss-controlled trust fund received a 55 percent stake in the firm.

The man who once dreamed of being the boss of a company full of unionized workers feels that they should have taken a back seat to other creditors. Mitt Romney is disgusted that the workers of Chrysler were given a majority stake in the company they work for. That, apparently, is only for those who headed for the "Hills".

Here are a few of those "union bosses", marching in the Labor Day parade in Detroit in 2011:

[Photo credit: Anne C. Savage. Used with permission.]

From Justin Hyde, writing for Yahoo! Autos:

Chrysler's secured creditors were a group of Wall Street banks — including J.P. Morgan, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs — and investment firms, some of whom had bought the company's secured bonds in the months ahead of bankruptcy hoping to cash in. They could have rejected the government's offer of 28 cents on the dollar in cash for their $6.7 billion in bonds and paid to liquidate Chrysler themselves, but decided that not only would they come out even further behind, they'd also be blamed for destroying an American automaker. (GM's secured creditors − also mostly Wall Street banks — were paid in full, and endorsed the Obama bankruptcy plan.)

As for the "union-boss-controlled trust fund," that's what's known as a VEBA trust that now pays the health care of 426,409 retirees from GM, Ford and Chrysler — and in return, owns all future health-care obligations from the companies for those retirees. With this, Romney appears to argue that before hundreds of thousands of UAW retirees got health care, Wall Street should have been made whole.

The profound fallacy in Mitt Romney's absurd argument that Chrysler and GM should have been forced to go through the normal bankruptcy process is the suggestion that there were, at the time, any banks willing to lend money to any company, much less two of the largest companies in the world. No financial institution was going take a risk that large at that point in time. I remember that time well, actually. I was purchasing a new car myself and, even with a solid credit rating, I had a tough time getting a loan!

To suggest that the route Romney recommended was even possible is to rewrite history and deny that we were in a crisis of almost zero-lending by America's banks. Justin Hyde again:

[Romney:] "The president tells us that without his intervention things in Detroit would be worse. I believe that without his intervention things there would be better."

The crux of Romney's argument: If Obama had not acted, private companies would have stepped in and run a "managed bankruptcy." What this ignores is that in the fall of 2008, before Obama was even sworn in, no one on Wall Street or anywhere else was willing to lend GM and Chrysler a penny — let alone the $81 billion they and their financial arms eventually needed.

Both companies' bankruptcies required money on a scale not seen in legal history. Unlike airlines, which can keep running with much smaller short-term loans while they restructure, automakers need massive amounts of up-front capital to pay suppliers and workers while they build cars; their finance companies need even more to keep making car loans that can bring in revenues. The potential damage wasn't just layoffs; Chrysler executives testified on the first day of bankruptcy that without immediate cash the company risked destroying hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of equipment.

Even after Obama took office, GM and Chrysler searched frantically for paths to avoid bankruptcy, including a possible merger. Chrysler held a one-week garage sale of its assets in February 2009, inviting anyone with enough money to bid for parts of the company. No one bit.

But Romney is struggling. Given the Clown Show of 2011™ (i.e., the Republican Presidential Primary), the Michigan primary in a couple of weeks has taken on a level of importance that is unusual. Suddenly Romney NEEDS Michigan to come through for him.

Unfortunately, after today, he is now hobbling into our state on crutches with a self-inflicted bullet hole in each foot.

When Romney first published the NYT op-ed, the response in Michigan was swift and negative from auto workers and auto executives (the real "bosses"). In her book A Governor's Story, former Governor Jennifer Granholm wrote:

Within days, in an act many saw as treasonous to the state he'd won through pandering in the primary, Mitt Romney penned an op-ed for the New York Times entitled "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt". Auto executives and workers alike were apoplectic. Romney's column was the only topic on the local news shows. My legislative director, Tim Hughes, spoke for many when he declared, "Romney will never, ever win Michigan again. In fact, he'd better not even try to set foot in the state after knifing us in the back like that."

Given the recent "surge" by Rick Santorum and in light of this newest insult to Michigan autoworkers, I'm inclined to agree.

This latest effluvium from Mitt Romney simply confirms what everyone in Michigan knows: Mitt Romney has no interest in the working class. His interests are ensuring that business owners are successful, even if that is at the expense of the workers. The idea of the workers owning a controlling share of a company is his worst nightmare. That is an arrangement that prevents the type of profit-skimming Romney came to know and love during his time at Bain Capital.

Mitt Romney spit on union members with this Detroit News piece today. I believe he will amply paid back for it by Michigan's voters.

[Romney headshot CC image credit: Flickr user Gage Skidmore, Bain Capital Demons CC image credit: Flickr user EN2008]

How Severely Conservative is Mitt Romney?

2012-02-14T08:44:00.001-05:00

If you have to ask...

Mitt Romney is so severely conservative that he apologized to Dick Cheney BEFORE he asked the former VP to shoot him in the face. He asks the Catholic Church for permission before he neuters his dog (but not before he puts his dog on the roof of his car). Mitt Romney is so severely conservative doesn’t even remember who was President from 2001-2009. He even once tried to shake Terri Schiavo awake with his own two hands.

Yep, months into the GOP primary Mitt Romney is desperately trying to prove two things: he’s a conservative and he was born in Michigan.

Remember when Ronald Reagan gave his big “I am a conservative” speech?

No? Because it never happened. Though Reagan expanded abortion rights and raised taxes as governor of California, no one ever questioned if he was a conservative because he never questioned it—and he had a record of opposing Medicare and communism and all the conservative tropes of his time.

Mitt Romney doth protest too much. At his CPAC speech Friday, he used the word conservative about 25 times. Scott Walker, who has become the Pixar bad guy who represents conservatism, didn’t use the word once. Why is Mitt so desperate to define himself as conservative?

Because he knows the truth. He knows that as businessman he relied on government bailouts and loopholes. As the savior of the Olympics, he needed government money to make it work. And as governor, his signature accomplishment is what Frank Luntz would call a “government takeover” of health care.

Don’t miss the Obama’s campaign role in this framing.

Lee Atwater famously recognized that only one Democrat could pose a serious challenge to George H.W. Bush’s re-election, Bill Clinton. And from the moment Bush was elected he planned to shut Clinton down. But Atwater got sick and couldn't complete his mission.

The Obama team saw Romney and Jon Huntsman as the only serious challengers in 2012. They offered Huntsman a job he was beautifully suited for, and they took Mitt Romney’s signature progressive accomplishment and made it their own—right down the free birth control coverage, even for employees of religious organizations.

That’s severely beautiful stuff.

CC image by MittRomneys

Nonprofit group looks to help Benton Harbor citizens buy city radio station - for themselves

2012-02-13T19:54:00.004-05:00

There IS goodness in the world

[NOTE: I have edited the title of this piece because PRC does not actually purchase radio stations or licenses themselves. They help other groups to do this.]

Laura Conaway at The Maddow Blog reports in a piece called "The Silencing of Benton Harbor, Michigan" that a private non-profit called Public Radio Capital is looking to help keep Benton Harbor's city radio station in the hands of the people of Benton Harbor.

As of Saturday afternoon, the auction of the public's station had drawn three bids, with -- I think -- two from actor and human rights activist Ben Patrick Johnson. Right after eBay posted the third bid, of $5,200, the listing disappeared.

What gives? Eclectablog, where Chris Savage has been covering the story, sends over a comment on one of his posts in which someone suggests that you can't sell an FCC radio license without permission from the FCC. An industry site called Radio Info reports the same, writing that "the FCC must approve any transfer."

Another group following the story, the nonprofit Public Radio Capital, provides support for acquiring and building public radio stations. Erik Langner says Benton Harbor's license cannot be sold and transferred on eBay. Instead, Langner says anyone interested in the station would have to go through the usual procedures at the FCC, like proving the new owner is based in Benton Harbor and not out to make a buck.

Public Radio Capital already gathered the listed price of WBHC and would like to help keep the station going. "We want to make it possible for a local nonprofit to buy it," Langner says.
[Emphasis mine]

From PRC's "About" page:

Public Radio Capital’s mission is to strengthen and expand public media to provide local communities nationwide with more in-depth information, unbiased news, diverse music and cultural programming. Founded in 2001, PRC has led its clients through more than $270 million in radio transactions, securing public radio access for 59 million people.

PRC has worked with more than 200 public media organizations, ranging from first time station owners to the largest, multi-channel public radio station owners in the country. We help public media to buy and finance new channels, preserve existing public radio outlets, and strengthen their organizations and services.

PRC is the only nonprofit in the nation that focuses on expanding the capacity and asset base of public radio. We are currently supported by major grants from the Argosy Foundation, Ford Foundation and Surdna Foundation, and other philanthropic investors.

This may be as close to angels on earth as I've heard of in a long time. If you have thoughts about what group might be in a position to take on the responsibility of hosting a community radio station in Benton Harbor, contact me and I'll put you in touch with Mr. Langner who has reached out to me.

[CC Photo credit: Flickr user gak]

Washington State Passes Marriage Equality

2012-02-13T19:16:00.000-05:00

Grandma, why did you have to wait till you were 68 to marry grandma?

For 59% of college freshmen, gay marriage is as controversial as bar soap v. liquid soap. So when Washington State legalized gay marriage today, I’m still left a bit distraught that these couples had to wait so long to marry the people they love. Even worse, their marriages are still second-class marriages as they are denied many of the federal rights of so-called straight marriages.

Personally, I’m not for GAY marriage. I’m for marriage for all. The fact that right-wingers are pushing for a amendment banning gay marriage proves that Constitution as it is provides for equal access marriage for any two, non-related adults. But I know that point of view won’t prevail soon.

We’re in for another generation of hemming and hawing about this wedge issue for the benefit of the few who pretend they have a monopoly on morality. Even if the recent Prop 8 defeat is upheld in the Supreme Court, it will likely only affect California. I’m afraid that by the time full marriage equality is achieved, most of the people who should ashamed of their resistance to such an inalienable right will be dead.

The opponents of gay marriage are so aware that they're on the wrong side of history that they're demanding our rights be put to a vote. That's Chris Christie's stand.

Here's the stand of the man America hopes will run against Christie in 2013, Cory Booker.

Much better.

How can we speed this up? We have a President who refuses to enforce the ridiculous Defense of Marriage Act. That’s step one. Next step, a Congress who agrees with a majority of Americans that it is time for gays and lesbians to settle down.

CC image by Fibonacci Blue

Where is Mitt Romney on the Emergency Manager Law?

2012-02-13T15:13:00.004-05:00

But I'm severely Michiganderish

As Mitt Romney was pretending that Bain Capital created jobs earlier this year, he said, “I’m a numbers guy.”

Well, here’s a number that any numbers guy will hate: 26 percent.

That’s the percentage of Michigan voters who believe Mitt is a Michigander. 62 percent do not. This helps explain why Mitt is currently losing by 6 percent to the man who has become the both the dream candidate of conservatives and liberals—Rick Santorum.

How did Mitt Romney, the son of a popular governor, born in raised in Michigan lose his Pure Michigan pedigree? Well, he lived his adult life in Massachusetts where at 57 years old, where he suddenly discovered he had always been a pro-life, severely conservative Republican. Who doesn’t go through mental puberty in their late 50s?

Madonna left Detroit scores ago but at least 30 percent would likely consider her a Michigander. Why not Mitt?

Clearly, Mitt lost his home state when he advocated that GM and Chrysler should “go bankrupt.” For the son of a man who made millions in the American auto industry, coming out against saving Detroit with government funds was like a knife in the heartland.

Denied government support at a crucial time, the American auto industry and the one out of eight jobs tied to it would have likely crumbled into the giant gap between the rich and the poor. Instead, the government stepped in and General Motors is once again the biggest car company in the world.

Now, Mitt needs to win Michigan to somehow keep the fairy tale of his inevitability alive. This is our chance to make him take a hard stand on the most important issues facing actual Michiganders.

We know because Mitt Romney had to overcompensate for his moderate past, he’s for destroying unions with “right to work”. A stand many believe would cost him the state in the general election.

But what does he think about the Emergency Manager Law? Tea Partier Todd J. Griffee made the conservative case against the law last June:

It is my conservative belief that government should be smaller, less-intrusive, more localized, and constitutionally based, and this bill is contrary to those beliefs.

If I’m using this Google correctly, Mitt Romney hasn’t taken a stand for or against the law. Romney needs Michigan a lot more than we need him.

I’m thinking we can even use Twitter to ask @MittRomney where he stands on the Emergency Manger Law, which Republicans are now using as a model to subvert elections in Indiana. You can ask Mitt or his staff to take a stand.

When one out of four people think you’ve flipflopped on your home state, now’s the time to stand for something.

[CC image by DonkeyHotey]

Rick Santorum positively SURGING in Michigan - UPDATED

2012-02-13T12:05:00.002-05:00

Spreading Santorum across the nation

Welly, well. Looks like Michigan-born Mitt Romney is up to his keester in Santorum. Via Steve Benen at the Maddow Blog:

Public Policy Polling just released these results from the state of Michigan.

Rick Santorum's taken a large lead in Michigan's upcoming Republican primary. He's at 39% to 24% for Mitt Romney, 12% for Ron Paul, and 11% for Newt Gingrich.

Santorum's rise is attributable to two major factors: his own personal popularity (a stellar 67/23 favorability) and GOP voters increasingly souring on Gingrich. Santorum's becoming something closer and closer to a consensus conservative candidate as Gingrich bleeds support.

Remember, this was believed to be one of Romney's most likely wins. That "let Detroit go bankrupt" policy notwithstanding, he's from Michigan and his father was governor of the state.

And yet, here we are.

Santorum fever, it's spreading. Just don't catch it. Because that would be... eeeew.

UPDATE: It isn't just PPP that has Santorum up. American Research Group has Santorum up by 6 points in Michigan.

BREAKING: Trevor Thomas files paperwork in MI-03 to unseat tea party candidate Justin Amash

2012-02-13T10:07:00.004-05:00

Let's roll

As I wrote about earlier this month, Trevor Thomas was mulling a run for Congress in Michigan's 3rd Congressional District.

With polling completed and suggesting a very viable candidacy, Thomas filed paperwork this morning to make it official. Here's the press release:

Trevor Thomas Files to Run in 3rd Congressional District, Pledges to Stand Up for West Michigan Families
Announced via Twitter moments ago: @Trevor4Congress "I don't believe @JustinAmash represents the 'Jerry Ford' values of west MI; I'm running for Congress to put party aside and fight for our jobs"
***
Campaign launches www.TrevorforCongress.com and first campaign video
GRAND RAPIDS, MICH - A West Michigan native, Trevor Thomas announced today that he has filed paperwork to launch his bid for the United States Congress in Michigan’s 3rd District. A formal announcement will be held in March.

“It’s time for us to return to the values of Jerry Ford, who put politics aside to do what was best for our country,” Thomas said of his decision to run. “My parents’ generation helped put the world on wheels and furniture in our living rooms. Now it is our time to stand up and fight for Michigan families to ensure they get a fair shake. ”

Thomas has spent his career fighting for fairness, equality and opportunity. In Congress, he will stand up for working and middle class families – like the one he grew up in – and work to ensure all young people have a secure future in Michigan.

“It used to be that if people worked hard and played by the rules, they wouldn’t have to worry about things like job security, health care, or putting their kids through school,” Thomas said. “That’s no longer the case—and lawmakers in Washington have been too busy playing politics to do what’s best for the American people.”

In addition to focusing on jobs, Thomas will build on his experience fighting for members of our military to ensure Michigan veterans, including troops coming home from overseas, receive the benefits and opportunities they are entitled to and deserve.

The first in his family to go to college, Thomas graduated from Grand Valley State University. He worked as a reporter at WGVU-AM (NPR) and a news producer at WOOD-TV 8 (NBC) for five years, before joining Governor Jennifer Granholm’s successful re-election campaign in 2006 and serving in her executive office. Over his career, Thomas has worked on many important state and national issues, including the successful repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

For more on Thomas and the campaign, visit TrevorforCongress.com and watch the campaign launch video at YouTube.com/TrevorForCongress. To keep up to date on the campaign via social media, follow @Trevor4Congress or visit Facebook.com/TrevorForCongress.

Here's his first video:

[Photo credit: Trevor For Congress]

Rick Santorum: Your Dream Candidate

2012-02-13T08:19:00.004-05:00

Can you say, ‘Better than Palin?’

If you had told me a year ago that weeks after the Florida GOP primary former US Senator, Crusade supporter and scatological punchline Rick Santorum would still a ‘serious’ candidate for President, I would have said, “Stop trying to make me feel better.”

Then you’d say, “No seriously. And birth control will be a HUGE issue.”

I would have nodded and left you to your coloring book.

The 2012 GOP primary is when liberal dreams come true. One-by-one terrible frontrunners have been replaced with even worse frontrunners until now, when the GOP is now flirting with the worst of the worst.

As you know, Santorum is completely unelectable for many reasons. Foremost:

1. Santorum oozes the misogyny and homophobia that brings young people and liberal-leaning swing voters to the polls.
In the 21st century you get to compare homosexuality to bestiality once before you’re off the nationally electable list. As @rationalists tweeted, "Rick Santorum says women are too emotionally weak for combat, but emotionally strong enough to raise the child of their rapist." If he's the nominee, every speech he gives will be a Democratic GOTV event. If blah voters needed any encouragement to vote, Rick Santorum would give it to them.

2. Santorum epitomizes George W. Bushness.
He proudly voted to blow the surplus, to invade Iraq and to pass Medicare Part D without funding it. And unlike most Republicans who have erased 2000-2008 from their memories, he’s only blocked out 2006-2008. He’s proud of his record and thinks the only thing Republicans have ever done wrong is TARP. This is a disconnect that would even embarrass Republicans, if that were possible.

3. He lost his last election by 18 percent.
18 percent! And that's when a majority of Americans opposed gay marriage.

You don’t have to have Larry Sabato’s Crystal Balls to know that the only GOP candidate who has any chance of being elected in 2012 is Mitt Romney. Of the four remaining candidates, he’s the only one who has any hope of winning the suburban swing voters who decide Presidential elections, if both parties hold their bases.

But for Romney to pull this off, he needed two things that just don’t appear to be happening. 1.) He needed to emerge from the primaries without having to out-Santorum anyone. Now he’s come out against religious employer-provided birth control, something he mandated in Massachusetts. He's gone to the right quicker than Michele Bachmann at an Erotic Exotic Expo. 2.) He needs the economy to tank.

Scratch the first and cross your fingers about the second.

[Graphic from Santorum fundraising email.]

Eclectablog & LOLGOP: United again for the very first time - A new blogging partnership

2012-02-13T06:43:00.000-05:00

Ring the drums! Bang the bells!

It is with great enthusiasm, pride and excitement that, for the first time since I started Eclectablog, I am bringing on another writer. And this isn't just any writer. This is the genius behind the Twitter phenomenon LOLGOP.

LOLGOP delivers the most consistently incisive progressive political commentary ever crammed into 140 characters. When I interviewed him for A2Politico last summer (now behind a paywall, excerpted HERE), LOLGOP had about 7,000 followers. When Politico.com wrote a piece on LOLGOP in November, he had about 20,000. Today he has a shade under 40,000 Twitter followers.

He's that good.

His tweets are the "tweet of the day" for countless sites. His work appears regularly on the front page of sites like Daily Kos and he is retweeted like nothing you've ever seen. If you're not an LOLGOP Twitter follower, you should remedy that immediately.

What's been missing for LOLGOP is a platform that allows him to break out of the cramped box of 140 characters. That's no longer true. LOLGOP will be posting daily on Eclectablog, bringing his brand political commentary to this site and pointing out the absurdities of Republicans with humor and smarts.

You are in for a very big treat.

With that, I now turn you over to LOLGOP who will introduce himself. And stuff. Also.

[Tap, tap] Is this thing on? Ahem...

When Chris asked me to write for Eclectablog, I immediately said, “No.”

Of course, I wanted to do it. But I didn’t want him to figure out that compared to him, I know nearly nothing about the nuts and bolt of politics. Nothing.

Chris’ reporting and commentary helps people all over these Internets make sense of the war on democracy and the working class being waged by the right wing, especially here in Michigan.

For me, politics is all wingnuts and dolts. I’m trying to counter the fire-breathing halitosis of the right wing news clowns with a few minty fresh LOLs. But I also would like a forum to make pithy points that occasionally stretch past 140 characters—like a real life blogger.

So I said, “Yes,” providing that he explain a few things to me. (See below.) He agreed and now we’re reunited for the very first time.

3 Questions I Need Chris Savage to Answer for Me

Has the Michigan GOP always been like this?
No. In fact, it wasn't until 1991 when John Engler (R-Mackinac Center for Public Policy) took office that the Republican assault on the middle class really began. That was when there was an unabashed drive to divert public funds into private coffers at the expensive of infrastructure and the middle class. Prior to that, Republicans were in the mold of men like William Milliken and another moderate governor with a familiar-sounding name: George W. Romney. Yup. Another George W. This one, however, was moderate. Check out this tidbit from his Wikipedia page:

Romney worked to overhaul the state's financial and revenue structure, culminating in Michigan's first state income tax, and greatly expanded the size of state government. Romney was a strong supporter of the American Civil Rights Movement. He briefly represented moderate Republicans against conservative Republican Barry Goldwater during the 1964 U.S. presidential election.

In other words, he was European-style socialist Muslim bent on destroying our country with his Kenyan ideals of Christian liberation theology communism. Poor George W. must be rolling over in his grave when the sounds of his son Willard "Mitt" Romney waft up into Heaven for him to hear. Unless it's the alternate day when his son is on the other side of the issue, of course.

The Republicans in Michigan government today are a different breed. These are men and women of George Orwell's 1984. They want to fix schools by cutting $1 billion out of education. They want to help our failing cities by slashing revenue sharing funds promised to them. They want small enough government that it can take up residence in your genitalia to prevent sex with anyone of the same gender and to prevent any sort of pregnancy prevention or termination. And they want to (I still can't believe this) cut taxes by raising taxes on 51% of Michiganders.

We've gone down the rabbit hole with the White Rabbit Republicans in Michigan, to be sure.
You’ve noted the tax burden has been shifted from big corporations to the poor, the retired and the working class in Michigan. When, if ever, will people begin to know this?
They will begin to know this in 2012 because that's when the new Republican budget kicks in, what I have called the "Tax Time Bomb" or "Tax Bomb" of 2012™. Our elders are going to see taxes on their pensions that they've never seen before. Our working poor families and others at the lower end of the middle class are going to see the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Homestead Property Tax Credit severely curtailed or eliminated. People will lose the tax break for having children and will no longer be able to deduct charitable donations to food banks, food pantries, universities or public radio & television stations. They will, in fact, pay MORE in taxes than they have in quite some time.

All the while, they will see that businesses have gotten a staggering 86% tax cut. That's when they'll really notice it, actually: when they hear that evil, maniacal laughter coming from the stretch limo that splashes them with mud puddle water as it is driving by.

The most clever part of the Republicans' plan, however, is that these things will all hit in April, just about the time the legislature is debating Governor Rick Snyder's 2013 budget (the one for next year.) Since the new budget has some token give-backs to schools and the arts, etc. these geniuses are going to be redirecting the conversation to their faux benevolence at exactly the same moment people are paying higher taxes. That's a very nice shiny thing to distract the poor and huddled masses. Squirrel!
What is the most important non-presidential election this year?
This is going to be a fascinating year, electorally-speaking. In Michigan, it's not out of the realm of possibility that we will have the presidential election, a powerful Senate seat up for grabs, all of the U.S. Members of Congress, all of the state Representatives, a handful of state Senators, a repeal of Public Act 4 (the Emergency Manager law), and a recall of Governor Snyder all on the same ballot. That's pretty incredible.

At the end of the day, though, for me at least, it's the state legislative races that are the key. I say this for two reasons.

First, if Democrats fail to regain control of at least one of the two houses in the Legislature, we can expect to continue seeing the same legislative steamrolling that we saw last year. 323 new almost entirely partisan laws. Whatever they didn't get to with regard to knee-capping & demonizing the unions and public employees, demoralizing the poor, eviscerating the middle class, and taking away women's reproductive rights in the first two years will be finished off in 2013 and beyond. We simply have to get some control back or I'm going to have to brush up on my German.

Second, the state legislature is the incubator for Representatives and Senators that we send to the U.S. Congress. We have to fill the pipeline with good, progressive, non-corrupt Democrats so that, a few years down the road, we have a pool of seasoned politicians we can send to Washington, D.C. to represent us. The other things on the ballot are all important but making sure your local Democrats win and go to Lansing to represent you is the key to the future. I think that's true nationally, in fact.

Welcome to the new Eclectablog. As always, I'm keen to hear your feedback. I think you're really going to enjoy the intelligent & hilarious commentary that LOLGOP will be bringing to the mix. It'll bring a little levity to a sometimes-too-serious blog, in my opinion. I hope you agree.

P.S. We reserve the right to call this a "soft opening" with a more splashy event later. Maybe even a party where we invite our friends & readers (& friends who are readers) to join us.

Pete Hoekstra pulls racist website down, Debbie Stabenow raises over $150K from it

2012-02-12T13:45:00.005-05:00

Debbie Stabenow: 1, Pete Hoekstra: 0

After the devastating news coverage of the past week over the racist ad and website put up by Pete Hoekstra, he has now redirected the Chinese-themed www.debbiespenditnow.com to his own website www.petespenditnot.com. The YouTube video is still up, however, with over a million views. Comments and ratings are still turned off for the very obvious reasons. On his new site is a new ad without the anti-China references.

Meanwhile, a money bomb for Senator Debbie Stabenow based on reaction to Hoekestra's odious ad and website resulted in a big haul: over $150,000.

Donors have poured more than $150,000 into Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow's campaign in response to an ad run this week by GOP rival Pete Hoekstra. [...]

Stabenow's campaign asked donors to help her raise $144,000 in response to Hoekstra's first ad, the amount his campaign planned to spend airing it.

Stabenow campaign officials report raising more than $150,000 as of Friday morning.

I'm chalking that up as a win for Debbie Stabenow. You can contribute to her campaign HERE.

[Photo credit: Anne C. Savage, used with permission.]

More anti-Choice/anti-abortion laws headed for Michigan

2012-02-12T13:01:00.003-05:00

Government small enough to fit inside your uterus

On the heels of their wildly successful year of "small government" where they created no fewer than 323 new laws, Michigan Republicans turned their attention to making abortion services as difficult as possible for Michigan women to obtain.

Last year, the passed a bill making illegal abortions illegal(er).

From a Detroit News article this morning we learn about new bills trying to make getting an abortion as hard as they possibly can:

Making an abortion illegal after 22 weeks
Creating a new "Choose Life" fundraising license plate for anti-choice groups (with no similar license plate fundraiser for groups working to give women better access to abortion services)
Preventing any providers in a state-run health insurance exchange from offering coverage for elective abortions
Mandatory screening of all women requesting an abortion to ensure she isn't being "forced or coerced to have the abortion against her will"
Mandatory requirement that any woman seeking an abortion be told she told she has an option to view an active ultrasound image and hear the fetus' heartbeat before having the procedure

State Representative Jeff Irwin (whom I have adopted as my own Representative since Mark Ouimet decidedly does NOT represent my interests) had this to say:

They are trying to find every possible avenue to frustrate women and to frustrate providers that are in a position of dealing with this difficult choice and this difficult time in their lives.

Meanwhile, the anti-Choice folks are downright giddy:

"We have a strong contingent of pro-life legislators seated right now in both chambers," said Ed Rivet, legislative director for the state's Right to Life organization. "There are more bills introduced that we have an interest in than we've ever had before."

Michigan Republicans: continuing to stretch the meaning of "small government" until it has become completely unrecognizable.

Adding...On a related note (i.e., women's reproductive rights), have a look at who the television networks had on this past week or two to discuss the kefuffle over the Catholic church's antique stance on contraception and new federal rules, via Think Progress:

Major Eclectablog announcement forthcoming. Tune in Monday morning, 2/13/2012

2012-02-12T10:45:00.000-05:00

Hmmm...what could it be...?

As I have been alluding to on site's my Facebook page, I will have a major blog-related announcement tomorrow morning at 6:45 a.m. I will also be discussing it during my "appearance" on the First Shift with Tony Trupiano radio show at 8:35 a.m.

To answer some of the questions raised on my Facebook page:

It's not a new baby
It's not a run for office
It's not a guest appearance on The Rachel Maddow Show
It's definitely bigger than a breadbox

Other than that, you'll need to tune in tomorrow. The only hint that I will give you is that I am very excited about it!

Rachel Maddow covers Benton Harbor and selling of city radio equipment - UPDATED

2012-02-11T11:08:00.005-05:00

Rachel Maddow did a fine job last night of reporting on an issue I wrote about twice this week (HERE and HERE): the selling off of Benton Harbor's city radio station equipment. Here's the video:

This was great journalism - kudos to TRMS producer Laura Conaway - that brought together some seemingly unrelated pieces to show the complete picture including Jonathan Mahler's recent New York Times Magazine article.

[And, yeah, she called Eclectablog "the essential Michigan website".]

By the way, the most recent eBay listing has been updated to correct the misspelling of "Equipment" and replaces the improperly used "negligible" with "negotiable".

It also has one bid.

UPDATE: The eBay post has now been pulled (again). Bizarre.

Click for larger version

Teleprompters at CPAC 2012???

2012-02-10T15:03:00.009-05:00

What the...?

Waaaa-aaait a minute. Are those teleprompter screens I see set up in front of the podium at CPAC 2012??? After all their blathering about President Obama's use of a teleprompter? REALLY???!

Yup. Check it out:

Here's Joe Scarborough with his teleprompters.

And Rick Santorum with his.

And Marco Rubio with his.

And House Speaker John Boehner with his.

And Senator Jim Demint with his.

And Senator Mike Lee with his.

And Herman Cain with his.

And Michele Bachman with hers.

And Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell with his.

And Ann Coulter with hers.

Freakin' hypocrites.

UPDATE: And, yup, Mitt Romney with his, too.

UPDATE 2: Oh, but of course: Sarah Palin with hers, too. (And with notes, I'm told. Also. Too.)

Setting the record straight about Pete Hoekstra's racist and inaccurate ad

2012-02-10T11:01:00.003-05:00

Lies, damn lies. Take your pick.

The racist ad by Senatorial candidate Pete Hoekstra was not just racist. It is based on a complete lie.

Here's what is said in his ad by a woman who is clearly faking her Asian accent in what Hoekstra is calling "satire":

“Thank you, Michigan Senator Debbie Spenditnow. Debbie spend so much American money. You borrow more and more from us. Your economy get very weak. Ours get very good. We take your jobs. Thank you, Debbie Spenditnow.”

Here's the thing: WE DO NOT BORROW "MORE AND MORE" FROM CHINA. Period. That, my friends, is a lie. It's a race-baiting, fear-mongering lie.

When Hoekstra’s point collides with fact, he calls in the help of a large font: he describes China as “the largest foreign holder of U.S. Treasury securities”—which is true—but then describes China’s holdings as increasing from 9.6 per cent in 2002 to twenty-six per cent in 2010. A voter might blanch at the idea of a foreign country holding over a quarter of U.S. Treasury debt, except that it’s not true. The twenty-six per cent is China’s holdings among foreign holders, not overall debt, and “the overall share of treasury [debt] held by foreign entities declined in the past couple of years,” Shih told me. (“One thing that Americans have to realize is that China may be a net lender internationally, but the Chinese government and state-owned enterprises borrow a huge amount of money domestically,” Shih added. “The racist caricature of those thrifty Chinese who take advantage of debt-loving Americans is widely off the mark because China is one of the most indebted countries in the world.”)

I’ll leave it to others to point out why Hoekstra is a hypocrite on spending, who is already driving away Republican supporters.

[Emphasis mine]

Get that? Let's repeat it together:

The overall share of treasury debt held by foreign entities declined in the past couple of years.

In other words, for your very slow, Hoekstra-misled, Limbaugh-addled friends who think otherwise, under the guidance of President Obama, we are now borrowing LESS from China (and from foreign countries, in general, in fact) than we did under his predecessor, George W. Bush.

One other thing: Under the Obama administration, our relationship with China is decidedly improved.

From James Fallows' recent article "Obama Explained" in the The Atlantic, he highlights one of President Obama's major achievements as "putting U.S. relations with China on a better footing than in many years, a task that has to be among the very most important for any president of the early 21st century."

As Obama began his term, official China was growing smug and prideful. The triumphant Beijing Olympics were just behind it; the American financial collapse symbolized the decline of a superpower and the world’s reliance on its new paymasters, the Chinese. [...]

even as Obama was politely listening to lectures about China’s new superiority, members of his administration were executing an elaborate pincer movement to reestablish American influence, real and perceived, among the growing economies of Asia. In practically every formal statement by U.S. officials, from President Obama to Secretaries Clinton, Geithner, and Gates, U.S. representatives hammered home a single message. The message was that America welcomed rather than feared China’s continued rise. This was directed at a widespread Chinese suspicion: that America would try to thwart China’s continued development because it viewed any increase in Chinese influence as a flat-out loss for the United States. [...]

Two years after Obama’s “humiliating” visit to Shanghai and Beijing, U.S. relations with China were a mix of cooperation and tension, as they had been through the post-Nixon years. But American relations with most other nations in the region were better than since before the Iraq War. In a visit to Australia late in 2011, Obama startled the Chinese leadership but won compliments elsewhere with the announcement of a new permanent U.S. Marine presence in Darwin, on Australia’s northern coast.

The strategy was Sun Tzu–like in its patient pursuit of an objective: reestablishing American hard and soft power while presenting a smiling “We welcome your rise!” face to the Chinese. “It was as decisive a diplomatic victory as anyone is likely to see,” Walter Russell Mead, of Bard College, often a critic of the administration, wrote about the announcement of the Australian base. “In the field of foreign policy, this was a coming of age of the Obama administration and it was conceived and executed about as flawlessly as these things ever can be.”

Meanwhile, on Pete Hoekstra's odious website, if you dig into the html code, the woman in the ad is identified as "yellowgirl".

The contrast in class and credibility is striking.