Shocker: Michigan court rules that Michigan legislature can pass right-to-work laws.

Whether or not a non-elected administrative board wishes otherwise.

The Michigan Legislature’s right to create a law that bans mandatory union membership trumps the authority of a state agency that oversees public employment, an appeals court ruled on Thursday.

The state legislature passed the “right to work” law in December amid union protests in Lansing, dealing a stunning blow to organized labor in the state that is home to U.S. automakers and the symbol of industrial labor in the United States.

The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that the legislature had the authority to create the law that makes union fees voluntary because it has the constitutional right to “speak for the people on matters of significant public concern.”

Continue reading Shocker: Michigan court rules that Michigan legislature can pass right-to-work laws.

Hamtramck City Council candidate suggests innovative “Walled City” approach to handling Detroit.

Mind you, they’re not going to do this.

Yet.

Prosperous suburbs surrounding Detroit — and even the struggling enclaves within — are working to distance themselves from a city in financial ruin.

In Hamtramck, one City Council candidate is taking that idea to the extreme.

Richard Fabiszak has proposed that Hamtramck build a 12 or 14-foot wall around the city, keeping out Detroiters, and requiring state-issued identification to get in.

Continue reading Hamtramck City Council candidate suggests innovative “Walled City” approach to handling Detroit.

Dr. Ben Carson for Michigan Senate in 2014 would be a really good fit…

…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: Continue reading Dr. Ben Carson for Michigan Senate in 2014 would be a really good fit…

Senator Carl Levin (D, Michigan) to retire*.

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.

Rick Snyder mousetraps Michigan Right To Work opponents.

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.

Continue reading Rick Snyder mousetraps Michigan Right To Work opponents.

Michigan Big Labor ready to sue its own captive membership.

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.

Continue reading Michigan Big Labor ready to sue its own captive membership.

I am unilaterally declaring today to be a No Huhu Wednesday.

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.

Jay Carney refuses to condemn union violence in Michigan.

“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. Continue reading Jay Carney refuses to condemn union violence in Michigan.

Labor union goons go violent in Michigan.

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.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtbWbw66KrI&feature=player_embedded

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?” Continue reading Labor union goons go violent in Michigan.

Breaking: Union thug violence towards right-to-work supporters in Michigan.

Charming:

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

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)