The middle class will make their voices heard in Lansing this week

It will be a busy place in Lansing for the next couple of days as people from all over the state are stepping up to voice their concerns over Republican policies that are taking the state back years, taking away their right to vote for their leaders and busts unions.

A group of community activists are organizing “A Storm the Capitol” rally beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the Corner of Michigan Ave., and Capitol Ave. in Downtown Lansing. The Facebook page for the rally says it will run until 6 p.m. Wednesday, and it says many people are staying the night for an all-night vigil until the doors of the Capitol open in the morning.

The House is expected to take up the main bill in the anti-union and anti-Democratic Emergency Financial Managers (EFM) package of bills on Tuesday because the Senate approved a different version of House Bill 4214 last week. Many people want to voice their displeasure with that anti-freedom bill.

But those patriots will not be alone on Tuesday. The AARP is holding a “It’s Not Fair Rally” from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesday on the Capitol steps and lawn to protest the Governor's plan to tax pensions. The AFL-CIO and Michigan League for Human Services will also be on hand on Tuesday to stand up for Michigan’s poor, middle class and elderly. They don’t have a lobbying firm.

One of the 40 anti-union and anti-middle class bills introduced so far in this legislative session will be considered, and the House Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on HB 4287 that will do away with the prevailing wage law. The hearing will start at 10:30 a.m. in 519 House Office Building, 121 N. Capitol. The meeting is open to the public.

On Wednesday beginning at noon on the Capitol steps the Michigan AFL-CIO affiliate unions and Working Michigan are holding a rally to stand up for Michigan’s middle class.

At 9 a.m. Wednesday in Room 519 of the House Office Building, 121 N. Capitol, the House Education Committee will take up HB 4306, a bill that forces local school boards to privatize services. All committee hearings are open to the public.

As always, a small contingent of teabaggers armed with video cameras will be there to try and provoke a confrontation. At a recent three-hour rally, a teabagger Republican and Grand Traverse County Commissioner managed to get 31 seconds of a confrontation on tape where a guy gave the teabagger the finger, which he promptly posted to a rightwing blog. They are trying, and failing, to paint these peaceful and energized working people as violent union “thugs,” so I expect them to be more and more desperate as public opinion continues to swing to the side of union workers.

Be careful, and the best thing to do is just walk away.

Huge crowd turns out so see Obama in Detroit

DETROIT - I was part of the largest crowd I have ever seen in my entire life in Hart Plaza to see Democratic Presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama on Labor Day.

Their were numerous lines snaking up and down streets trying to shoehorn into Hart Plaza, and the lines were crossing past one another. There was no way to fit that many people into Hart Plaza, so my wife and I found ourselves with thousands of other people in he middle of Jefferson Avenue near Cobo Hall watching the speech on a huge monitor. Despite the heat and the crush of people, I saw no one unhappy, upset or disappointed.

They, like me, are inspired by leadership that will restore dignity to our country, and our country will be respected in the the world again as the good guys who respect law, freedom and liberty. He will help us regain the moral high ground that treats the weak and vulnerable with dignity, and we do not torture people.

On a day that honors organized labor and the positive effect its has had for millions of workers, union or not, he briefly spoke of the accomplishments of labor that included the eight-hour day, the 40-hour work week, the minimum wage, overtime and a safe workplace from a time when workers had no idea if they would return home from work at all or would return home from work with all of their limbs.

Obama cut the speech short out of respect for the fast approaching Hurricane Gustav as it moved closer to landfall in the Gulf Coast, so it took far longer to get there than his speech took. Instead, he asked for a moment of silent prayer and asked people to contribute to the relief effort. No one seemed disappointed at the shortened speech.

I have now seen both presidential candidates, and the contrast between the two could not be more stark. The excitement generated by the Obama rally was infectious.

The trip up was a unique experience. Always looking for a carpool or to share a ride, a friends emailed me that the AARP was sponsoring a bus trip with pickups in Okemos and Southfield. The trip was sponsored by the Divided We Fail campaign, a nonpartisan partnership between AARP, the Service Employees Union (SEIU) and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB). It’s dedicated to finding bi-partisan solutions to ensure affordable, quality health care and long-term financial security for all Americans.

I met some great people, and had a blast, both on the bus and at the rally. It was fun to share the experience with people of like mind, and I got to see a lot of downtown Detroit snaking through the long lines. I also saw many different designs and varieties of Obama T-shirts and memorabilia.

Because the group is nonpartisan, they are also doing the same thing for Grampy McSame’s The purpose of the trip is to show the colors, so to speak, with the distinctive red t-shirts, The organizer asked if anyone want to take the same trip Friday. There were no takers.