Moe Lane

…but fair warning: if he does go for it (background here and here) and wins the Republican nomination, Dr. Carson should be prepared to see the Democratic party go after him hammer and tongs for his presumption in opposing whatever white guy gets the Democratic nod.  And it’s going to be a white guy. White Democrats are still trying to figure out this entire “vote for a minority in statewide races” thing; and their party leadership knows that.

So maybe expect to see less of this sort of thing said about Ben Carson: (more…)

Just coming in over the wires: guess the Senator wasn’t willing to serve one more term.  Surprising, actually.

As to my list of vulnerable 2014 Senators: he was Low Risk, largely because I figured that the only way he’d leave was if Levin was tapped for a Cabinet post.  But a retirement works, too.  Bad news for Democrats, because that’s going to be an expensive seat to keep…

Moe Lane

*I’d say ‘cuts and runs,’ except that this may be health-related (no personal knowledge, but he’s not looking so hot), and I do have SOME scruples.

Hey, do you want to see what it looks like to have your planned judicial delaying tactics trip, fall, and face-plant before it even clears the door?

…Yeah, sorry about the metaphor, but sometimes the convoluted ones are really the only ones that fit.  Case in point:

Opponents of the state’s new right-to-work law promised a challenge of the controversial bill that passed the lame-duck Legislature in December.

But those challenges may become a moot point since Gov. Rick Snyder asked the Michigan Supreme Court on Monday to review the bill and determine whether it passes constitutional muster.

(more…)

You know it’s bad when a group decides to emulate the Old East German response to people voting with their feet:

The president of Michigan’s largest union is instructing officials to prepare to sue its own members, according to a leaked memo issued after the state adopted right-to-work laws in December.

Steven Cook, president of the Michigan Education Association, circulated an email to local unions officials and staff instructing them to monitor revenue streams in light of the right-to-work laws, which are set to go into effect on March 27, 2013. The law allows workers to opt out of union membership unless they have an existing contract with their employer.

(more…)

For those wondering, it’s a Hawaiian term by way of Bob Heinlein: semantically equivalent to ‘no worries, mate’ – which is also foreign (Australian) slang, or at least semi-foreign (it gets tricky when you try to define the Anglosphere)… where was I?

Right.  It’s two weeks before freaking Christmas and the average tension level across the blogosphere is so high that it’s oscillating under the strain.  So I’m going to deliberately not be stressful here on MoeLane.com today.  Light and fluffy, or at least less of the running and the shouting and the screaming and the smoke and the rampaging army ants and whatnot.  So: cheerful videos, probably.  Blasts from the past, and so forth.

Starting up: remember this one?

The Great Grand Rapids, Michigan LipDub Video.  If that doesn’t make you smile… well, watch it again, I guess.

“It profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world … but for Wales, Richard?”

When asked by a reporter about a claim by Michigan state Democrat that “there will be blood” should Republicans pass a union-choice law in Michigan, [White House Press Secretary Jay] Carney professed ignorance and then downplayed the comment.

“I haven’t see those comments, and I’m not sure they mean what someone interprets them to mean,” he said.

Via AoSHQ. (more…)

Scenes from the lack-of-class struggle in Lansing, Michigan: first off, the destruction of the Americans for Prosperity tent by union goons.  Apparently merely existing was too much of a provocation.

Reportedly, two of the people in that tent when it was torn down were in wheelchairs.  I assume that I don’t have to explain why going after people in wheelchairs is close to the very definition of “barbarian?” (more…)

Charming:

Unions tore down AFP tent at MI capitol, with elderly trapped underneath, while chanting “This is what democracy looks like.” #thankaunion!

— Adam Nicholson (@acnicholson) December 11, 2012

Here’s a picture of the former tent in question.

The AFP tent in ribbons after an attack by a union thug. twitter.com/AdamGabbatt/st… #righttowork

— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) December 11, 2012

Moral of the story, besides the obvious? GET A CAMERA. The Left STILL doesn’t get how bad they look when they get recorded Acting Badly.

More over at Twitchy. Much more, including random acts of assault, battery, and the now-deleted tweet where Michigan House Democrats egged on the aforementioned union thuggery.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

The Monroe News has reported that the legislation (part of House Bill 4054) just (4:45 PM) passed 58-52 in the state house, and will now go to the State Senate (I’m being told that the Senate will vote on this legislation within five business days).  Governor Rick Snyder (R) has already indicated that he will sign the legislation if it gets to his desk; given that the Michigan Senate has a two-to-one Republican majority, this is likely to occur.  Right-to-work opponents have already showed their disapproval of the measure, to the point where the cops had to use pepper spray to get control of the Michigan State Capitol.  All in all, today’s demonstration is unlikely to be the only response by Big Labor to Michigan’s union reform bill/law, in the same way that water is somewhat wet and the sun’s surface can get a trifle warm sometimes.

More as it happens.

UPDATE: Annnnnd Fox News reports that they’ve just passed a similar bill in the Senate.  Five-day delay before the final version gets passed; I assume that the first labor-induced (I am so dreadfully sorry for that) rioting has been tentatively penciled in for Monday morning.

Moe Lane (“Breaking: Right-to-Work legislation passes Michigan State House.“)

The councilwoman in question is one JoAnn Wilson, who wants Barack Obama to bailout the city of Detroit.  The quote in question?

“After the election of Jimmy Carter, the honorable Coleman Alexander Young, he went to Washington, D.C. and came home with some bacon,” said Watson. “That’s what you do.”

…For those unfamiliar with Mr. Young; he was mayor of Detroit from 1974 to 1993.  In the beginning of his tenure Detroit was a mildly struggling Rust Belt city trying to deal with an economic slump; by its end Detroit was deemed to be the perfect setting for Robocop.  It is a measure of just how bad things have gotten since that Mr. Young’s administration is seen as a Golden Age, but not as much as the one that Robocop now looks quaint.

Via AoSHQ.

It’s an interesting situation up there in Michigan: as the Detroit News rather sourly notes, the Republicans control the legislature and the governorship, while the extremely-Big Labor-friendly Proposal 2 went down in flames (58/42, not that the Detroit News wanted to mention that statistic).  This opens up the possibility of right-to-work legislation being introduced in either the current or the next state legislative turn; it also opens up the virtual certainty of a Big Labor response that will make the Wisconsin recall meltdown look like… well, I was going to write ‘a petulant, foot-stamping, and ultimately impotent temper tantrum conducted by spoiled brats with no conception of how the world really works,’ except that that was what the Wisconsin recall meltdown really was.  Anyway, it’ll be worse in Michigan.  To the point where things may start actually be set on fire.

But does it matter?  …Maybe not.  Consider the chart below:

(more…)

Would you?

It would no doubt be controversial, but the idea of dissolving the fiscally struggling city of Detroit and absorbing it into Wayne County is being tossed around in Lansing.

Then again, what does one do with Detroit? It’s probably – almost certainly – the largest utterly failed city in American history: large portions of it have already been abandoned. Would it perhaps make sense to shut down the rest and relocate as much of the population that wishes to leave? I honestly don’t know at this point.