It seems rather implausible that a born-and-raised southern belle would find herself fighting to keep pro-choice issues safe thousands of miles away in Michigan, but Dessa Cosma is just such a person. Reared between Augusta, Georgia, and New Orleans, Louisiana the chief field organizer for Michigan’s Planned Parenthood Affiliates chapter was introduced to the issue of choice in a rather startling – though not unexpected – manner.

“When I went to college, my very first semester at the University of Georgia, I was walking through the plaza of the student union, and there was this big, nasty, horrible display from this organization called the Genocide Awareness Project, and it was these huge 30 X 20 boards with supposedly aborted fetuses,” she recalls. “They had pictures of lynchings; the Nazi concentration camps; and they were equating abortion with genocide.

“I just started crying: I wasn’t crying because it was sad, I was crying because it was so wrong, and I was so pissed off about it. That day, when I got back to my dorm, I called this organization called Choice USA, based out of DC, and the next day they took a flight down to Athens, Georgia, and they taught me how to organize a counter-protest, and so I did. Within like 24 hours of having seen this horrible display, we got a counter-protest going – we have leaflets and everything – and ever since then, I’ve been hooked, so that’s kinda how I got my start.”

And thus, a community organizing star was born.

After college, Cosma hoped to pursue work in Africa as an aid worker for women in developing countries, but duty called her up to Michigan, instead. Following Ryan, her longtime partner (and a Michigan native), Cosma began a new life as a field organizer for Planned Parenthood Affiliates of Michigan.

Prior to life in Great Lakes state, though, Cosma’s existence was nothing short of remarkable. In 2004, she helped organize folks in Athens, Georgia, to attend the March for Women’s Lives – which, until Obama’s Inauguration, was the largest rally ever held on United States soil. As a self-taught organizer, Cosma became quickly versed in the tricks of the trade; adapting strategy as mere political survival tactic in her career’s earliest days.

“I was so excited, and I spent, seriously, four months doing nothing but organizing for the [March for Women’s Lives] rally. I was in school, but I wasn’t really going to school. I got 100 people on a bus to go to DC for a weekend, and because I had never really organized something that huge before, I learned a lot by trial and error, so it a good experience of having to just do it. There wasn’t really anybody for me to ask, “How do I do this?” or whatever; I just had to do it, so I basically learned how to organize by doing that, and it ended up being really successful.”

The action wasn’t just limited to Cosma’s collegiate experience, either. Set against a backdrop of southern-style repressiveness and reactionary political foundations, Cosma grew up surrounded by a progressive family and an even more forward-thinking bastion of faith.

“I grew up Unitarian Universalist, which is a very progressive religion,” she recalls. “So, growing up like in an enclave of progressiveness, I think it was a constant reminder that I wasn’t a freak for being progressive. I wasn’t wrong; I never had a doubt for my political views, because I have always known people who share my progressive values. It was always kind of okay and encouraged to be political, and part of the tradition with UU is social justice activism. I grew up knowing that the leaders from my church were leaders in the civil rights movement and the fight for marriage equality and in women’s suffrage, so I knew that that was the history of my faith.

“My grandfather was a civil rights worker in the 60s. My mom did a lot of work with LGBT teens in Augusta, which is so… you know, being out in high school in Augusta is like just asking to be beat up. So [my mom] did a lot of work with teens, and all of those things really helped me strengthen my own ways of articulating my values.”

As the Senior Field Organizer for Planned Parenthood, Cosma has put her progressive and activist upbringing to good use by leading the Michigan Affiliate into a number of successful, savoring victories. Even in the face of backwards-thinking legislature and enough anti-choice laws on the books to earn the state an ‘F’ on Planned Parenthood’s national rating scale, Cosma played a significant role in steering the Affiliate onto tough, triumphant political ground, and has helped render the organization a formidable force for any anti-choice obstructionist to come up against. The future, indeed, is bright.

“Just since I’ve been here in Michigan, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of Michigan has gotten more strategic and more savvy and more sophisticated, and just amazingly so,” she says. “It’s been really cool to see that happen, and to be a part of that, and obviously, I’m a small piece of that. I’ve really enjoyed being an organizer through that transition from being important and relevant to being good in all that’s strategic and powerful.”

Few members of Michigan’s progressive community can say definitively that they have gone to fisticuffs in defense of a candidate. Though many may have nurtured the desire (and perhaps let a Twitter update suffer their wrath instead), Ray Plowden may be the only one yet to have thrown punches for Jack Kennedy.

“The first fight I got into at school was with a guy in the same grade, and he was for Nixon and I was for Kennedy,” Plowden remembers. “We argued about it on the playground; he pushed me or I pushed him, I don’t know who it was, but we started tussling over Nixon and Kennedy.”

Playground shenanigans aside, it was a chance encounter with the dynamic young presidential candidate in 1960 that got Plowden hooked on the political bug. As the son of a civil rights activist, Plowden grew up in a world surrounded by progressive gatherings and political campaign work – in fact, it was his father, a vocal member of the NAACP, that hoisted young Ray up onto his shoulders so that he could watch Kennedy give a stirring Labor Day speech while campaigning in Detroit. Given this atmosphere of civic interest and community involvement, it’s not hard to see why Plowden would have elected for a lifetime of groundbreaking activism.

“My dad would take me to rallies; he would take me to meetings… I was bored out of my mind, I guess. [But] things seeped in, because when I went to college, I became an activist on campus,” Plowden says. “I went to Morehouse College in Atlanta: the college of Martin Luther King. You always had these activists from the sixties and early seventies who always came on campus; always got us involved in things; always told us that, ‘You get your degree here, but don’t forget your community.’ So with that background from my mom and dad and their activism, and my college and that activism, that’s what guided me to my progressive principles.”

Interestingly, although a career in progressive activism seemed all but etched into stone, Plowden opted to join the world of banking upon graduating from Morehouse. Like any good tale of betrayal and redemption, Plowden’s transition from banking to political involvement occurred almost accidentally, through a series of serendipitous accidents. After being passed over for transfer to another department, Plowden – out of spite – decided to give his bosses at the bank their just desserts by quitting his position to go work with progressive heavy John Conyers, a force to be reckoned with by any standards, let alone Congressional ones.

“Congressman Conyers saw my work and asked me to come join his staff as the deputy chief of staff. And I agreed; I [thought that] this [would] piss the bank off. They told me, ‘look: we’ll hold your job open for a year. We think you’re more conservative than that and you shouldn’t be going to work for a liberal politician like John Conyers.’ I joined his staff and he just took me everywhere, schooled me in politics and campaigns, community activism; although I had that foundation through watching my dad in the NAACP, this was insider baseball-type of stuff.”

Eventually, Plowden’s one year of political service turned into 13, and it wasn’t long before the idea of returning to a managerial position at the bank seemed as long-gone and distant as the notion of belting a Richard Nixon supporter in the sandbox. Plowden’s position as the chief of staff to Conyers soon blossomed into a fulltime stint with Michigan’s chapter of America Votes. Following a brief disbanding of the organization in 2005, after the previous year’s disappointment of the presidential election, Plowden took a position with the SEIU, serving for two and a half years as the state council director for the union organization. Currently, Plowden continues to serve as state director for the newly reformed America Votes table, and has been integral in adapting the foundation of the Michigan Voice table.

In addition to crediting his parents and Congressman Conyers for inspiring his life of community service, Plowden also makes a special point of recognizing his wife of 35 years, Jerri, for supporting him through a multitude of career changes, life-altering decisions, and a partnership that transcends all earthly bounds.

“She has been my rock, my foundation, my number one advisor and consultant,” says Plowden fondly. “When I was hemming and hawing about law school, she pulled out the law school study book, and told me to get cranking. I wouldn’t be where I am today without her.”

In a shattered economy where more and more workers are finding themselves stripped of that title, every day, is there any room for greed? We would hope that the answer should be a firm, resounding “NO!” but it seems as though JP Morgan Chase feels differently.

In fact, the banking giant that has already received a substantial bailout, courtesy of the American taxpayers, disagrees so adamantly that it is on the verge of throwing Chrysler off the deep end and effectively putting as many as 300,000 American auto workers out of their jobs. Chase carries a large part of Chrysler’s debt, and the bank is refusing to negotiate with Chrysler on its debt, threatening to force the auto company into bankruptcy – a move that will not only make thousands of jobs for hardworking middle class families vanish, but will disrupt health insurance coverage for current workers and Chrysler retirees, too.

In a recent story by the Free Press, Governor Granholm even called out the major banks, arguing that “any banks that received rescue money from the federal government should be open to concessions on the Chrysler debts they hold.” This includes JP Morgan Chase.

In light of this despicable and reprehensible behavior, Progress Michigan (in conjunction with Fire Dog Lake) is calling for a boycott of JP Morgan Chase. In order to support the hardworking middle class auto workers who make this country great, we are encouraging you to close down your Chase bank account and to cut up your Chase credit card. Even if you don’t have an account with Chase, you can still sign our petition of solidarity and show that you are standing strong for the American middle class.

It’s time we stopped letting powerful special interests accept taxpayer dollars while walking all over the hardworking middle class. Join our boycott of JP Morgan Chase today and send a signal to the banking giant that we’re serious and saving our working families and auto employees.

Unemployment is one of those words that have become a buzz phrase in modern American culture. Here in the Great Lakes, the word has almost become synonymous with everyday reality.

However, unemployment is no laughing matter. With national jobless rates reaching 8.5% just recently, and Michigan’s unemployed continuing to hover around 12% (the highest of any state in the country), everyone seems to be in total agreement that something must be done.

In the meantime, wonderful tools like the Unemployment LifeLife are starting to spring up. By going to the Unemployment LifeLine’s official website, jobless Americans are just one click away from accessing a virtually endless database of resources that connects out of work citizens local unemployment offices, veterans’ services, and even child care services.

As a collaborative project between Working America, the Working America Education Fund, the AFL-CIO and the AFL-CIO's Community Services staff, the Unemployment LifeLine is designed to bring opportunities to the countless thousands of families who may have written off hope as all but lost. It is a powerful resource tool that could just provide the life-preserver Michiganders have been desperately searching for.

So don’t wait: if you’re unemployed and have been struggling to make ends meet, head over to the Unemployment LifeLine today, and begin setting the stage for a new tomorrow. Hope doesn’t have to be a far off promise just reserved for other people – it can be a powerful reality.

For as long as there has been civilized society, there has been esteemed forms of education. One might even go so far as to lump modern educators in with greats like Socrates, Plato, and any sophist thinkable.

Linda Myers is certainly no exception. As the campaign consultant for the Michigan Education Association, Myers has a long and distinguished career both as an educator and an education lobbyist and advocate. In layman’s terms, she’s a frontline fighter, acting on behalf of perhaps one of society’s most integral pillars: teaching, and the students who benefit from it.

Growing up in small, South Dakota town, it was an advanced case of sibling rivalry that first inspired Myers to pursue a path as an educator: “I’m a twin, and I wanted to do something different than what my twin was doing, and she was doing the same thing: she opted for nursing, and I opted for education,” she recalls fondly. “That was kind of how we did it. She became a very successful nurse and is now retired, and I’m still working because I love what I do.”

After teaching for 16 and a half years (specialty subjects included English, Spanish, and journalism), Myers eventually received her Master’s degree in Education Leadership from the University of Nebraska, and shortly thereafter took a post in the far-off land of Michigan, where she began her work with the MEA in Kalamazoo. It was here that Myers fully realized her true calling as political education advocate, and left her teaching career behind for good in favor of a devoting to public service that would help propel the MEA and its cause greatly forward.

Over the course of her long-running stint with the MEA, Myers has been at the head of championing – and combated – a number of education-related caused. Most famously among these would be Proposal A, a 1994 school-funding bill that altered the education funding system from a per-district standard to a more troublesome per-pupil arrangement. As a major victory, Myers also helped pass a CPR bill through the legislature, which requires all teachers to have a background or training in CPR treatment and therapy, just in case the unthinkable should happen to a student in class. This, Myers says, is a triumph truly to be proud of.

“I worked five or six years on [the CPR bill], and it finally came to fruition, I got to go to the signing of [it]. Even though it’s a minor bill, it was a victory for me,” she says. “I always felt successful when some of the other management lobbyists would come in and say, ‘Linda, you’re the hardest one to defeat on that because you’re so sincere about it; you tell such a good story.’”

Still, with all the legislative warfare and blood spillage, perhaps the hardest adjustment for Myers has been the loss of the bells. The school bells, that is.

“[The] hardest thing for me, after I got out of teaching, was getting used to not living by bells,” she laughs. “‘The bell rings, so I’ve got five minutes here. I’ve got a fifteen minute lunch period.’ [Now] I can truly go to lunch and not be interrupted. But that was the hardest thing: but, I’d have a hard time going back to a classroom today. I think it’s a tough job, and I don’t know if I could handle it anymore.”

Ironic sentiment for someone who takes a tough job and makes it look like a session of recess. For as long as Michigan schools will continue to operate, we should be grateful to have a fearless fighter like Linda Myers speaking on their behalf.

All over Michigan, working families are – with a great degree of misfortune – starting to grow rather accustomed to hearing the dreaded phrase “pay cut” uttered out loud. Now, however, it appears as though the Michigan legislature is ready to join us in what has been one of the most catastrophic economic downturns in recent memory, of which one can never comment enough on.

That’s right – today, the State House voted in favor of Senate Concurrent Resolution 11 (SCR11), which cuts lawmakers’ pay by 10%. We here at Progress Michigan have been fighting upwards since 2007, when a measure like this one first began to generate buzz at the Capitol.

The last time this idea was thrown about, the Senate seemingly balked at the idea, choosing instead of passing it to dismiss it as a case that required “further study” before submitting approval. But now both the Senate and the House have approved of a plan that will render a 10% salary cut for Michigan lawmakers, and give them an avenue for “sharing the pain” of the millions of suffering Michigan families.

Action like this is really long overdue. With these legislative pay cuts, our great state could see more money poured back into our struggling economy, rather than into the pockets of already overpaid legislators. This will also allow for a much-needed connection to be developed between our lawmakers and residents that will, with any amount of luck, spring forth a dialoguing process that could put a stop to this economic recession, once and for all.

It seems as though things are starting to look a bit sunnier outside, and that’s not just thanks to the blossoming springtime.

The good news: our State House passed House Bills 4381, 4378, and HJR N today – better known as the ethics legislation to help reform Michigan’s state government. For those of you not too terribly familiar with this measure, here’s a brief overview. If written into law, the bills would:

• Require Michigan’s state and local officials to disclose all their financial assets publically and abstain from voting on potential conflicts of interest;

• Prohibit state office holders and administrators from becoming lobbyists for at least two years after they are voted or termed out of office;

• Dock the pay of any state legislator who misses a session.

Sounds like a good deal, right? This could just prove the shot in the arm our state government so desperately needs. After all, 47 other states already have laws in place to ensure that their elected officials represent the best interests of the people they are supposed to be serving, not powerful special interest groups and greedy private assets. Seven other states bar legislators from becoming lobbyists for two years after leaving office (21 states uphold a one-year ban), and, well, why shouldn’t state lawmakers miss out on their pay if they miss out on an important session? Honestly, isn’t that one of the first lessons we have pounded into our skulls from the moment we take that first after school babysitting job in eighth grade? Don’t show up for work, and don’t expect to get paid. It’s time for lawmakers to stop being exempt from these rules of the world, too.

Now, of course, on the flipside of good news, there’s almost always bad to accompany it. In this case, it’s that the decision on the fate of these bills is now left in the hands of the Republican-controlled State Senate, who have a long and even more recent history of stonewalling on important measures until the bills effectively die a slow and painful bureaucratic death. Let’s hope, in this instance, that Senate Majority Leader Bishop sees the light of day and brings the bills to vote, just as he should.

And there you have it. Either Michigan’s government is on the verge of a full frontal, all-ethical overhaul, or else we may be hearing from Special Interest Representative Mike Bishop at some point in the near future. Here’s hoping our leaders in Lansing spring for the former outcome.

At the tender age of 13, receiving the class vote of “Most Likely to become President” should have sent a viable signal to the world that Steve Pontoni was destined for a life of political superstardom. Now, some 16 years later, the Ann Arbor native is one of the most recognizable and sought after voices in Michigan’s progressive community, using his advanced technological know-how to rock the America Votes table – a collaboration of progressive groups, working to bring change through progressive policy to the country – and Information Staff Services Incorporated, where he currently works as the corporation’s Political Technologist.

Growing up in Ann Arbor’s hotbed of liberal ideas and philanthropic activism, Pontoni always had an abiding interest in politics – an interest, he says, that was nurtured early on by his family and academic father.

“Well, my parents are very liberal: my dad is a classic Ann Arbor academic, liberal, and my mom kind of followed suit. It was a constant conversation at dinner – talking about, you know, what the important issues of the day [were],” he says. “The focus was on everybody having equal rights and being open-minded and having a pro-choice, pro-environment [stance]; all these things were just part of the common discussion in our family, so I never even had to think twice about it. This was always just ingrained. Being in Ann Arbor, it’s hard to avoid it: this is a city that prides itself on having liberal values.”

After attending Albion College and the University of Michigan, Dearborn (he’ll be finishing up with his Bachelors in Political Science momentarily), Pontoni embarked upon a career in the corporate sector, though his longstanding interest in political theory and practice never strayed far from his immediate consciousness. Evening gigs as a volunteer for the Democratic Party soon turned into real working positions, and before long, he knew that he had discovered the perfect marriage between a political habit that just wouldn’t quit and the world of business.

“I always wanted a part in politics; I always had an interest – I always studied presidents, and John F. Kennedy was my hero growing up. So it was always something; I just never knew how to really get into it. It was a real challenge for me to find a way to break in the way I wanted to.”

As a major player within Michigan’s Democratic Party, Pontoni has taken the lead in galvanizing young people – particularly college students – to take a more active role when it comes to who decides what makes a community tick. Heading up the Youth Caucus for the Democratic Party, he knows how important youth can be in picking America’s leaders and overthrowing old policy standards from the establishment.

“It’s the only way that we really make change, is when young people get engaged, because old people protect power – if you have power, you have to protect it. Young people don’t get caught up in that; they’re delightfully naïve, in that they don’t know what they’re not supposed to know and they don’t know what they’re not supposed to do, so young people can make change in a way that older folks can’t,” Pontoni says. “We saw it this year – we had a young movement of people behind Obama early, and it changed the whole political climate. We saw that with Kennedy; we saw that with Clinton. In this day and age, it’s going to take a young insurgence that will push the old people the change and [ensure] that we have it; still, change has to happen with the people who have the power, whether they see that it’s coming or whether they see that they have to keep their power, that’s where young people can step in and help.”

Despite being self-described as “impatient,” it’s arguable that the progressive community in Michigan would be significantly less action-driven without the considerable influence of Steve Pontoni. And as a role model for Michigan’s up and coming progressive youth, let’s hope that he will continue inspiring future generations of activist forces to be reckoned with.

In a world where bad news seems to be the continuing norm, here’s some really good news for you: just yesterday, the State House voted to pass House Bill 4454, which would help protect Michigan homeowners facing foreclosure by issuing a 90-day moratorium period, in which the homeowners can meet with bankers and work out terms for making house payments, based on the individuals income level and financial needs.

As the state with one of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation, this is good news indeed.

Let’s face it, folks – there’s really no benefit to home foreclosure. Everybody loses when somebody loses their home. Foreclosed homes drive down the property values of entire communities, banks get ruined, and abandoned houses fall into dangerous disrepair; a phenomenon that has lead to the decline of whole Detroit neighborhoods. In the past year, the average price of a home in Detroit – by all accounts a major U.S. city – has fallen to a surreal $18,000, due to the sweeping trend of home foreclosure dragging down city property values.

Something has to be done before things grow even worse, and thankfully, the State House has taken the first step forward towards protecting Michigan families from being thrown out on the street.

But now, let’s hope that the Senate has the good sense to act, too. The legislation will be passed on to Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop and company, and now it’s their opportunity to stand up for hardworking Michigan families by protecting them from the nightmare of home foreclosure. If you want to tell the Senate to take action, go to http://progressmichigan.org/stopforeclosure and send a letter to your state senator, asking them to support HB 4454 today.

Remember, the loss of a home is a loss for all of us. Our economy will only continue to stagnate and suffer if we turn our heads and refuse to do anything to stop this growing crisis. It’s up to our leaders in Lansing to take the bull by the horns and cast a shield over Michigan residents who face the horror of losing their home. Together, with the help of our legislators, we can all pull through for a brighter tomorrow.

First Prop 2, and now Obama, too. Today, the president announced that his administration will be overturning the backwards policies of his predecessor by lifting bans on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. (In 2001, George W. Bush signed a directive, banning federal funding for the study of stem cells created after the date of the signing, according to a story by the Free Press).

This announcement could not have come at a better time. In January, we saw our great state’s unemployment rate hit a staggering 11.6% - the highest it’s been in 25 years. After lifting the statewide ban on embryonic stem cell research in November and now, with movements at the federal level, Michigan could see a healthy amount of jobs created for our workforce in the medical researching fields.

Put quite simply, presidential approval translates to big bucks. Meaning that, after voters overwhelmingly affirmed Proposal 2 last November, Michigan will now be literally able to put our money where our mouth is, and gain even more funding for this innovative research that we would have been able to just with the passage of Prop 2. Instead of remaining in the intellectual dark ages – up until the passage of Prop 2, Michigan was one of only four states that still upheld a ban on embryonic stem cell research – Michigan is now entitled to a tasty slice of the federal money pie. Dollars by the barrelful look to pour in from the feds – money that will allow scientific researchers in Michigan to develop cutting-edge technology and breakthrough on cures for debilitating, degenerative diseases like juvenile diabetes, cancer, Parkinson’s, and Lou Gehrig’s.

Good news, indeed. Great news, even. It’s about time that our workforce was thrown a significant helping hand for all that we’ve had to endure. And it’s about time that Michigan’s patients and their families had a leader – and a future – they could all believe in.

In a democracy, who exactly are the “right people”? When it comes to voting and selecting the people who will speak and make decisions on our behalf, doesn’t it come with the territory that all voices, great and small, deserve to be heard? When we head to the polls, aren’t well all supposed to be the “right people”?

Not according to the Michigan Association of School Boards. Just two days ago, in an interview given to the Grand Rapids Press editorial board, MASB Executive Director Kathy Hayes whined that the biggest problem with school board elections is that the “right people” rarely tend to show up to the polls.

Um, what? Excuse me, Ms. Hayes, but did we just hear that right? You’re actually advocating for elections that should be attended by the “right people”? Who exactly are these “right people,” anyway? Individuals who fit your staunch, anti-union rhetoric?

Ms. Hayes, as a part of the educational community, you really ought to know better. What kind of message do you think it sends out to young and impressionable people when you broadcast the notion that only certain sects of our population are entitled to have their say in picking our leaders? Maybe we need to give you a brief history lesson: the fact that all taxpaying Americans retain the right to vote is one of the most basic and fundamental principles of this country. It’s a right that hasn’t always been guaranteed, but over the course of our country’s 200 plus year history, we have weathered enough societal turmoil and tribulation on this issue to have transformed voting from a patriarchal privilege to an unalienable right. Who are the “right people”? Just check with the U.S. Census Bureau.

As an organization, we here at Progress Michigan absolutely condemn the insensitive remarks made by Kathy Hayes, and we demand that Ms. Hayes and the MASB issue a public apology for such an ignorant and inflammatory statement. We’re not alone in this, either: joining us in demanding this much needed apology and retraction are the Michigan Election Coalition, the Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote organization, taxpaying citizens concerned about the state of education in Michigan, and, of course, the Michigan Education Association – an organization committed to protecting the rights of educators and making sure that we have the resources to all be a part of the “right” crowd.

So, there you have it. Almost 24 hours prior, Progress Michigan and our partners in this fight called on Hayes to apologize, and we have yet to hear a single peep back in reply. Do you hear that tapping sound, MASB? No, that isn’t a bored student’s fingers drumming against the rim of a desk – that’s us tapping our collective foot, impatiently waiting for you to retract your inane statement and correct your actions. We suggest you don’t procrastinate.

There are few of our rights that are considered more American – and fewer still that are as frequently tampered with – as that of our right to vote. Enter Jocelyn Benson, one of our country’s premier voices and tireless champions for voters’ rights, in Michigan and the rest of America.

A native of Pennsylvania, Benson is perhaps best known as a ruthlessly vocal advocate for voters’ rights and as an expert on secretary of state histories and job responsibility – not bad for the daughter of two middle income special education teachers. Growing up in Pittsburgh, Benson gained an early interest in social activism and community organizing, spurned by her parents’ idealistic commitment to education reform and teachers’ advocacy.

“I grew up with, from an early age, being filled with the idea that it’s upon all of us to make sure that everyone’s involved, and that everyone’s educated,” Benson says. “The least of us are who we must all focus on, because we all benefit when everyone’s engaged and everyone’s empowered and everyone’s educated in our country. I really got that value from [my parents].”

This budding interest in social justice soon blossomed into an influential and highly accomplished law career, nurtured by a stint in Montgomery, Alabama, where Benson took up service as an investigative journalist investigating white supremacist activity, having graduated early from Wellesley College. Having held a long-standing interest in Montgomery’s movement of civil rights disobedience in the 1960s, she quickly developed the kind of significant social outlook that would serve her well in her fight for social justice.

“I take my students every year to the bridge in Selma where the activists stood up against attacks from Alabama state troopers to march for voting rights,” she says, reflectively. “To me, remembering that struggle reconnects me to the sacrifices that were made by previous generations to secure the right to vote. Standing in the place where the march occurred gave me a sense of wanting to do whatever I could with my life, in this generation, to further the work of those activists who sacrificed so much.”

It wasn’t long before Benson met and married Ryan Friedrichs, a fellow social justice activist, and moved to Detroit to pursue a career in law, studying under the tutelage of Judge Damon Keith, one of the last of the great judges from the civil rights era. Since then, Benson has served as an Assistant Professor of Law at Wayne State University Law School, and is in the process of penning a book that examines the crucial roles that a state’s secretary of state plays in the election administration process.

Still, Michigan voters need not fear the threat of disenfranchisement – Benson won’t be abandoning her effort to defend voters’ rights any time soon. Paying particular focus to both the 2000 and 2008 Presidential elections, she knows that we’ve come a long way from the days of the “white males only” exclusive club of American voters, but more than acknowledges that we still have a long way to go.

“In the general election of 2000, there was a significant loss of voter confidence in the election process due to what occurred during the Florida recount. Several states have enacted many reforms since that election, but not many in Michigan. There have been several reforms in other states, such as early voting and election day registration – policies that have an effect of promoting and ensuring a lot of people the right to vote fully, so that no one on election day has to wait in line for five hours,” Benson says. “What we saw in 2008 was a cautious expectation that things could go wrong, and we saw some success based on election reforms that had been enacted in the years following the election of 2000.

“Michigan was one of the first states in the country that enabled citizens to register to vote when they received their driver’s license, and that was such an innovative reform that it became a national law several years later,” Benson says. “So we’ve had that leadership in the past where we’ve been a model for other states, but we’ve really fallen behind. We’ve barely seen any election reform in recent years while other states are moving forward – they have early voting, they have options to register to vote online – all of these things.”

Clearly, there’s still much work to be done if Michigan wishes to regain a leadership position on election reforms. But with a determined and strong-willed fighter like Benson leading the charge, who’s to say we can’t take the country by its electoral reins?

Contrary to what you may have heard, Anne Woiwode is no tree hugger. As the state director of the Sierra Club, Michigan chapter, Woiwode has been subjected to almost every granola-crunching, hemp-wearing cliché in the book, and even she was dubious of the organization’s hippie-dippie reputation in the beginning.

“I was a little skeptical [about joining] at first, because I thought of the Sierra Club as tree huggers, but I learned that it really was a very active way for people to participate in implementing policy,” Woiwode says. “I really didn’t get focused on environmental issues until after being an activist, and I’ve always cared about protections for the outdoors, but it wasn’t really until I began to understand the importance of how a group like Sierra Club does its work that I got interested in these kinds of issues.”

Growing up near West Chester, Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia, Woiwode developed a thirst for political activism early on, thanks to a politically active family that encouraged an awareness of community involvement. Her mother, inspired by a volunteer stint with the Planned Parenthood chapter in Wilmington, Delaware, founded Chester County’s own chapter, and her father served as the local township supervisor for seven years.

After graduating from college with a degree in politics – that’s “politics,” not “political science” – Woiwode sought out a position with the then-fledgling advocacy group ACORN, and spent a year working as the only organizer in South Dakota’s fourth largest city: a tiny town of only 14,000 people. It was an experience that shaped her outlook on activism, and gave her many of the essential community organizing skills that would come into play in her work with the Sierra Club.

“I was doing canvassing, organizing, policy research, all the media stuff. It was intensive, sort of trial-by-fire. It didn’t last a terribly long time, but I learned a great deal, and actually held on to the mimeographed organizing manual that ACORN had, so that sort of set me off to a lifetime direction. I think I’d grown up and gone to school thinking about theory, and thinking about the sort of bigger pictures, and really learned about the engagement, participation that getting out there involved as a result of getting into direct organizing after that.”

In 1980, Woiwode’s husband – a Detroit native – took a position back in Michigan, and the family packed up with their newborn son and set forth to make a new home in the Wolverine State. To combat a growing restlessness, she began volunteering with the local branch of the Sierra Club, and, 28 years later, now holds the reins as the state director of the Michigan chapter.

It’s been a long, uphill battle, filled with smokestacks, landfills, and the bad guys who profit from them, but under Woiwode’s determined leadership and watchful gaze, the Sierra Club has prospered tremendously. (Tree-mendously?) Snarling in the face of some of the most intimidating opponents out there – chemical giants, industrial polluters, and corrupt politicians spring to mind – Woiwode, time and time again, has proved herself a formidable force to be reckoned with. With her at the helm of the Sierra Club, the organization has been at the forefront of countless battles to keep smog out of Michigan’s skies and to protect the Great Lakes from dangerous pollution and the effects of global warming. One prominent success that stands out for Woiwode is the passage of a bill that defined parts of Michigan’s vast National Forests as wilderness – a bill that was signed into law by Ronald Reagan and met with approval in spite of a definite lack of initial, Congressional support.

Currently, the Sierra Club is gearing up to meet with one of its greatest challenges yet: global warming, with Michigan right at the center. The threat of eight dirty coal plants being built large at exactly the time when other states are creating jobs by moving in the direction of 21st century energy, but if anybody is up to the task of taking the bad guys down, it’s Woiwode. At least one legal challenge has already been already brought up by the organization against a plant proposed in Holland, and Woiwode, coupled with a coalition of environmental groups called Clean Energy Now, has maintained a persistent call on Governor Granholm to put the brakes on more outdated coal technology in Michigan, and instead move our state forward into the future of clean energy and the good-paying jobs that go with it. Success was granted when, during Granholm's 2009 State of the State address, the governor announced that seven of Michigan's eight coal plant proposals would be forced to go back to the drawing board and consider clean energy first.

All this is a continuation on an issue that, as Woiwode puts it, never really receives the luxury of being put on the backburner. “As we move forward in an increasingly crowded world with global warming and other issues predominating, our ability to survive will be dependent on our ability to live within the confines of the world as it exists, and we cannot pretend that we are disconnected from it,” Woiwode says. “An awful lot of the environmental issues connect directly with our ability to be human, and then they connect as well to this whole range of issues; not just our ability to survive, but also issues of equity.”

Mere tree hugger? Definitely not. Smartest kid in the class? Without a doubt.

From the infamous Supreme Court struggle of Roe v. Wade to the unceasing assaults from the Bush administration, few issues have sparked as much volatile opinion and partisan ferocity than that of a woman’s right to choose. Fewer still can say they are as familiar with this as Sarah Scranton, Executive Director of the Michigan Planned Parenthood chapter.

An outspoken voice and tireless advocate on behalf of reproductive rights, Scranton has been involved with the influential organization for six years, beginning as a youthful, idealistic college volunteer and eventually rising in the ranks to take the helm of the ship, where she has helped steer Michigan’s voice for choice through hostile legislation and an even more hostile legislature. Growing up in a family that encouraged community involvement, if harboring a bit on the apolitical, Scranton began developing an early interest in volunteer activism, eventually earning a degree in political science and public policy. Though she was certain that she would be seeking out a career path devoted to public policy, opting to focus on the issue of choice, as expected, didn’t arrive trouble-free.

“On the choice issue, that’s obviously one that can be very volatile to families and personal relationships: my immediate family is all pro-choice, but it was never one of those big issues,” Scranton says. “They were never strongly for either side, just kinda like, ‘Well, yeah, I’m pro-choice.’ The interesting piece is that my dad comes from a large Catholic family, and so they’re all very much anti-choice, so that’s been sort of interesting as I’ve become so involved with Planned Parenthood.”

In spite of opposition from her extended relatives, Scranton still regards the choice issue as one of irrefutable importance – one that has impacted her own life directly. “A lot of my friends, and myself included, have used Planned Parenthood in high school and in college. I’ve had friends who’ve had direct experiences with having to make the hard decision of whether or not to have an abortion. I’ve seen how it’s impacted people’s lives, so it’s always been something that I’ve really, deeply cared about. I’m so grateful that I get to work on it every day.”

It’s no secret that, over the last few years, Scranton and the rest of the Planned Parenthood team have been dealt more than their fair share of overwhelming roadblocks and challenges, particularly from an unrelenting anti-choice base within the Michigan state legislature and Michigan’s branch of Right to Life, which, according to Scranton, is one of the most powerful chapters of the anti-choice organization in the nation. Three pieces of restrictive, anti-choice legislation have been passed through both the House and the Senate since Scranton joined up with Planned Parenthood, and such basic concepts as access to contraception and reproductive health have been continuously placed under attack by special interest forces that, as Scranton puts it, are simply “wasting our time.” Perhaps most prominent of these is Senate Bill 776, which, though ultimately vetoed by the governor, acquired approval from both branches of the legislature and would have prohibited late-term abortion, even without exceptions for procedures that are required to save the life of the mother.

Still, Scranton’s Planned Parenthood is nothing to sniff at in Michigan, either. Over the last several years, the group has successfully pushed through a few healthy pieces of pro-choice legislation, including a bill that has required hospitals to provide emergency contraception to rape survivors, and has been instrumental in the elections of Governor Jennifer Granholm and Senator Debbie Stabenow. As for the future, Scranton is optimistic about choice in Michigan and the role she and Planned Parenthood will continue to play in maintaining a strong, dependable backbone within the progressive community. “In 2008, we helped elect some of the pro-choice legislators who will be here in January for the first time: eight out of the nine Democratic pickups in the House are all pro-choice, and so we’re really excited about that, because these people ran on these issues. Sometimes, we get people elected who kind of shy away from what we believe in, and these people we can actually point to will be winning on our issues.”

In addition to electoral victories, Scranton has most recently enjoyed some personal victories of her own: this past year, she gave birth to her first child, a girl who, Scranton proclaims proudly, has left her more assured in her pro-choice convictions than ever before. While raising her daughter, Scranton is confident that she will be sticking firmly with Planned Parenthood and continuing in her determination to keep choice safe for Michigan and for the next generation.

“When I had my daughter, I never felt as pro-choice, and I knew how much this issue really mattered and how much I’m going to continue to fight for it; to make sure that she has all of the freedoms in her lifetime that I’ve had in mine. The one thing I know is that I’ll always be a very strong advocate for the issues I care about, and choice is definitely at the top of that list, and I can say that with 100% backing.”

For most in the progressive community, it’s enough to lay claim to one significant accomplishment. However, John Freeman is not most people, and certainly no flash-in-the-pan progressive. With a laundry list of career accomplishments that could span the lifetimes of several community organizers, Freeman has perhaps embarked on his toughest challenge yet; working to reform health care with newly-conceived organization Health Care for America Now.

On Thursday, the Michigan Nurses Association – Michigan’s largest union for registered nurses – endorsed Proposal 2, the ballot proposal that would lift Michigan’s state ban on embryonic stem cell research. This is exceptionally good news, as it continues to prove that medical professionals all over Michigan are lining up in favor of embryonic stem cell research.

“Prop 2 would allow Michigan scientists to pursue the most promising medical research today ¬– embryonic stem cell research – which could end the suffering of people with diseases such as Parkinson’s, heart disease, juvenile diabetes, Alzheimer’s, spinal cord injuries and more,” said Thomas Bissonette, representative of the MNA and a nurse on the front line, at the press conference in which the MNA endorsed Prop 2. “Few people understand better than nurses and doctors what their patients must endure … and what might help them.”

Predictably, the most vocal opponents of Prop 2, the Michigan Citizens Against Unrestricted Scientific Experimentation group (MiCAUSE), have begun to lash out in any and all ways possible. First it was the tremendous lie about Prop 2 raising our taxes (it doesn’t), and now it’s the TV ad featuring the flashing logos of phony corporations like Cloneway and HumanHarvest being used to scare voters into going their way.

As the nurses at the press conference pointed out, everybody knows somebody who could benefit from stem cell research. We all have a brother, a cousin, an aunt, a parent, or a friend who has suffered from a terrible and debilitating disease, and have all endured the anguishing of watching that loved one waste away, powerless at the hands of Michigan’s archaic ban to stop it.

The merits and benefits of Prop 2 far outweigh the negatives; if there even are any negatives. It will lift Michigan’s decades-old ban on embryonic stem cell research and allow the members of our scientific community to begin developing cures and treatments for diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, cancer, diabetes, and Crohn’s. It will allow us in the mitten state to do what they’ve been doing in over 40 other states all over America. It will bring in new and better industries and technologies to Michigan and inspire our fledgling economy to flourish, rather than continue to languish and waste away. Most importantly, it will open up doors for so many suffering from debilitating and degenerative diseases.

Rather than taking away life, as its opponents like to erroneously claim, Proposal 2 will help save it and reclaim it. The ballot language specifically mandates that research will be conducted on stem cells that are created at fertility clinics and would otherwise be thrown away in the garbage. Instead of tossing these stem cells out like bad milk, why not use them to develop cures and treatments for patients all over Michigan? Nurses and doctors all over the state are in agreement: voting “yes” on Proposal 2 is the right thing to do.

Remember the days when the only people who could vote were white males that owned property? We thought those days were long behind us, but apparently, John McCain and his Michigan crew feel otherwise.

Recently, Michigan Messenger uncovered a John McCain and Michigan Republican Party co-plot that seems to have come straight out of the 18th century playbook. In a phone interview with Michigan Messenger writer Eartha Jane Melzer, James Carabelli, chairman of the Macomb County GOP, revealed that the party has a list of foreclosed homes in Macomb County, and will be doing everything in its power to make sure that those voters are turned away from the polls.

As if it wasn’t enough for John McCain to take up residence with Trott and Trott – one of Michigan’s premier foreclosure law firms – and spend the past eight years supporting legislation that has brought about Michigan’s highest foreclosure rate in decades, but now he feels the need to keep these people from casting ballots, too. What do you do for an encore, Sen. McCain: demand that voters have a credit score of 825 in order to cast a ballot?

People, the time to speak up is now. Go to http://progressmichigan.org/nohomenovote and let John McCain know that this is unacceptable. Every American deserves the right to vote, whether they’re Republican, Democrat, or independent – it’s one of the most basic elements of what makes this country great. Some groups – women, minorities, lower classes – have fought and even died for the right to vote: a right that is supposed to be guaranteed, regardless of sex, race, and yes, even property ownership. Don’t let John McCain and the Michigan GOP or any other group or party undermine that Constitutional fact. Sign the petition today and spread the word!

On Monday, July 21st, a protest was held outside the Michigan campaign headquarters of Senator John McCain. This protest – with a heavy presence by members of ACORN – was launched in response to the financial connection between McCain and the law offices of Trott and Trott – a law firm that owns the building in which McCain’s HQ has taken up residence and has also carved out a reputation as one of the most brutal, cutthroat foreclosure practices in the state, as pointed out by Eric Baerren and Todd Heywood of the blogs Michigan Liberal and Michigan Messenger, respectively.

Given the fact that McCain’s camp has chosen to either pay rent to or receive generous “in-kind” contributions from a law firm that profits off of the suffering of so many Michiganders who have lost their homes, it’s perhaps not surprising that the McCain camp responded to the protest by pleading ignorance. A spokeswoman for the campaign stated that she was “unaware” of the protest outside: a statement which only served to further reiterate the image of the ostrich with its head firmly planted in the sand attitude that seems to be a defining mainstay of McCain’s approach to the issues.

Displaying this kind of obtuse “bunker” mentality demonstrates just how truly out of step McCain’s perception of the real world seems to be. From 2006 to the end of 2007, Southeast Michigan had seen its foreclosure rates jump a staggering 90%, and Michigan’s overall rate of home foreclosures pushed us into the third place slot in 2007, only trailing Nevada and Florida in terms of the highest number of state-wide foreclosure rates in the nation. By aligning with those who profit off the backs of others who have lost or are losing their homes, McCain is affecting an attitude much like the administration of George Bush before him – see what you want to see and ignore everything else.

The groups called on McCain to move his HQ and stand with the people of Michigan, not firms that profit from predatory lending. To date, McCain has failed to respond…surprised?

You, too, can tell McCain to move by going to: http://www.progressmichigan.org/mccain.

Minnesota had Jesse “The Body” Ventura, California has its “Governator” Schwarzenegger, and now Michigan can boast the dubious distinction of its own cleverly coined politician: Sen. “Smokestack” Patty Birkholz.

So what do we really know about Senator Birkholz? We know that she’s a Republican from Michigan’s 24th district; she’s a woman who seems to keep her nails trim and her hair neat. She has a simple, unremarkable sense of style. And from the looks of her recent role in the Senate’s energy bill, she’s a person whose insatiable appetite for fossil fuels should cast her out to live among wild mastodons, dressing in saber-tooth tiger skin fashions every day before saddling up Smoky, her pet triceratops, to ride to work on the Capitol. Yes, my friends, Patty Birkholz is hell-bent on keeping Michigan stuck in the Jurassic age, and her tendencies towards coal-ophilia seem to verify this monstrous truth.

Two weeks ago, when Sen. “Smokestack” Birkholz and her Big Coal Stooges in the Michigan Senate voted to keep Michigan locked in the dark ages of coal dependency, they simultaneously sent a signal to the rest of the world that we here in the mitten are not serious about moving forward with an investment in renewable energy and cutting-edge energy efficiency, or even about satisfying our state’s desperation for a diverse economy based on 21st century, good-paying jobs. In a completely boneheaded move, they even defined coal as “renewable,” putting it in the same category as real renewables like wind and solar power.

Michigan has reached an important crossroads, and we are all facing a real choice: we can either move our energy production and consumption into the future, or we can continue to cling to the past, relying on resources straight out of the Industrial Revolution to power our state. Come to think of it, coal has a lot of problems; way more than simply being old and unfashionable:

·         Investing in coal will create far fewer jobs than renewable energy will: in fact, Michigan stands to gain 46,000 new jobs if we choose to invest in renewable energy and efficiency

·         It will hurt jobs and the economy. States like Pennsylvania and Texas – even gun-toting, oil worshipping Texas – have done more to embrace renewable energy and seen thousands of jobs added to their state-wide employment rates. That’s thousands more than coal will create

·         Major banks like Chase, JP Morgan, and Morgan Stanley have backed out of financing coal projects, due to concerns over the inherent costs and risks involved

·         Not only is coal bad for jobs and bad for the economy, but it harms public health and contributes to global warming. Cardiovascular disease, asthma, chronic respiratory problems and premature deaths caused by air pollution from these plants cost Americans an estimated $160 billion every year in health-care expenses

·         Coal is a leading contributor to global warming. A typical coal-fired plant emits 3.7 million tons of CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere annually

What’s more, a consistent reliance on coal-fire will send much of our hard-earned money out of state and – as mentioned above – send a powerful signal to the rest of the contemporary world that Michigan isn’t serious about investing in 21st century jobs and becoming a part of the world’s energy future. And the recent actions of Smokestack Patty and her sooty, fossil-fueled ilk are firmly placing Michigan in the “clinging to the past” column.

It’s unfortunate that Senator Birkholz has chosen to wield her power in such a way that will seriously disable Michigan’s energy future when she could be acting in the interest of pushing our state forward. As we’ve seen, investing in 21st century clean energy has already moved other states forward. Take Texas and Pennsylvania: two of the 23 states that have already planned a Renewable Energy Standard, and are consequentially presented with the same opportunities for growth that we here in Michigan should be embracing, too. Shame on Smokestack Patty and her coal-loving cronies for pandering to dinosaur, coal-burning energy giants instead of moving our state forward. In order to embrace the future and recast Michigan as a leader in emerging industries, we need to accept more clean energy alternatives that will propel our state forward.

Risen from the ashes of the Health Care for Michigan Ballot Campaign is Health Care for America Now phoenix, who, in two short weeks, not only didn’t quit the fight against America’s health care crisis, but took the strategy to a whole new level, too, by launching a $40 million campaign, committed to eliminating America’s health care crisis once and for all. Praise to Michigan health care advocates and their quick turn from ballot drive to full-fledged pressure campaign.

This coalition includes the groups Health Care for Michigan, MichUHCAN, MOSES, Michigan Citizen Action, Progress Michigan, ACORN, AFSCME, Americans United for Change, Campaign for America's Future, Center for American Progress Action Fund, Center for Community Change, MoveOn, NEA, National Women's Law Center, Planned Parenthood, SEIU, UFCW, and USAction.

Many important factors in America’s health care crisis include the inability for many to afford good, quality health care, as well as the millions of American’s who loose coverage because of a preexisting condition. What’s more, the health care crisis in America saps job creation - $1,500 from each car produced in the US alone goes to pay health care costs, putting American manufacturers at a competitive disadvantage, and hampering companies’ ability to create jobs. These costs have gotten so out of control that people now pay more for health care out of pocket than ever before – an average of $2,126, a doubled rate since 1998 – according to the New York Times. All this goes without mentioning that almost 1 million Michiganders alone are currently living without health care coverage, and millions more live in everyday fear of having their coverage stripped without adequate notice.

In the formation of this new coalition, leaders and members alike are expected to take on an untouchable giant that has benefited from the health care crisis for far too long: the insurance industry. For longer than should have been allowed, insurance companies have been continuously driving up health care costs for average Americans and make it harder for people to afford health care coverage on an out-of-pocket basis. They have profited, but people have not.

Bob Dylan once said that the times were a-changing, and this sentiment is certainly as true of America’s ongoing health care crisis as it was of the social scene in the 1960s. We need an American solution to an American problem, and the scrappy warriors from Health Care for America Now are just the ones to bring it for us.