Tag Archives: Rick Snyder

Voter suppression law passes Michigan House, fight moves to Senate

By Mark | December 8, 2016

Remember how I was telling you last week that you really needed to call your State Reps because Republicans were trying to push aggressive, new voter suppression laws through the Michigan House? Well, last night, at 10:00 PM, the Michigan House of Representatives voted 57-50 to approve the bills [HB 6066, HB 6067, HB 6068]. […]

Posted in Civil Liberties, Michigan, Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged Donald Trump, gerrymandering, HB 6066, HB 6067, HB 6068, Jeff Irwin, Jennifer Schlicht, lame duck, Michigan House of Representatives, Michigan Senate, poll tax, rigged elections, voter fraud, voter impersonation, voter suppression, Voting Rights Act | 9 Comments

As more charges are announced in the Flint water investigation, Democrats demand that Snyder be held to account for his role

By Mark | July 31, 2016

Saying, “Some people failed to act, others minimized harm done and arrogantly chose to ignore data, some intentionally altered figures and covered up significant health risks,” Michigan Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette announced criminal charges yesterday against six current and former state employees of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) and the Michigan Department […]

Posted in Civil Liberties, Michigan, Uncategorized | Also tagged Bill Schuette, Elijah Cummings, Flint, Flint water crisis, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Jim Ananich, lead, lead poisoning, prosecution, small government | 49 Comments

Surprising absolutely no one, Michigan’s testing of welfare recipients for drug use has yielded zero results

By Mark | June 21, 2016

I posted the following on December 28, 2014, in a post titled “Unconstitutional, scientifically unsound, fiscally irresponsible, suspicion-based drug testing of welfare recipients comes to Michigan”. In what seems like a pretty clear attempt to appease the far right and drive more of Michigan’s poor from the public assistance rolls, Governor Rick Snyder signed legislation […]

Posted in Civil Liberties, Michigan | Also tagged demonization of the poor, discrimination, drug testing, drugs, Family Independence Program, Florida, Gwen Moore, House Bill 4118, Senate Bill 275, Trey Radel, welfare, welfare queens, welfare reform | 13 Comments

You no longer have to take the word of the textbooks, this is what Prehensile Monkey-tailed Skink was actually like

By Mark | May 31, 2016

Remember how, several months ago, I told you that a 25 year old video of my Ann Arbor noise band, Prehensile Monkey-tailed Skink, had surfaced in Oregon, and how music journalist Dustin Krcatovich had made it his mission in life to track it down? Well, he was apparently successful. After teasing me with a few […]

Posted in Ann Arbor, Art and Culture, History, Mark's Life, Special Projects, Uncategorized | Also tagged Blackjack Records, Charles Maynard, cultural artifact, Dan Richardson, Dustin Krcatovich, exploding lawnmowers, Fears of Practice, historic artifacts, Matt Krizowsky, Miles Larson, Old Town, Pat Maynard, Pete Larson, Peter Larson, Prehensile Monkey-tailed Skink, Prehensile Monkeytailed Skink, property theft, Scott Derr, Skink, The Collector, Wolf Eyes | 26 Comments

Obama to the People of Flint: “I think there is a larger issue that we have to acknowledge, because I do think that part of what contributed to this crisis was a broader mindset, a bigger attitude, a corrosive attitude that exists in our politics and exists in too many levels of our government. And it’s a mindset that believes that less government is the highest good no matter what.”

By Mark | May 7, 2016

Sorry I’m just now getting around to it, but, in case you missed it, here’s footage of Obama’s speech to the people of Flint a few days ago, followed by a bit of the transcript. [I don’t have anything to add. It’s just really good stuff on the role of government, and what happens when […]