Today's edition of quick hits:
* Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), the lead sponsor of the Paycheck Fairness Act, got pretty animated on the Senate floor after Republicans killed her bill with yet another filibuster.
* On the other hand: "Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) suggested Tuesday that a bill designed to bring women's pay up to the level of men's wages would have created some sort of paycheck Politburo."
* Eurozone: "Under growing international and financial market pressure to fix the region's bank problems, European officials on Tuesday took a step toward surrendering a cherished national prerogative by proposing to shift banking regulation to a central authority."
* Syria: "Syria's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that more than a dozen Western ambassadors and envoys were no longer welcome, a response to the coordinated expulsion last week of Syrian diplomats from the United States and 10 other nations."
* Keep suffering: "The U.S. economic outlook has not deteriorated to the point that a further easing of monetary policy is warranted, two top Fed officials said on Tuesday, suggesting the U.S. central bank is not gearing up for action at its upcoming meeting on June 19-20."
* It comes as something of a relief that the New York Times noticed Mitt Romney's indefensible double standard on evaluating his record on jobs.
* End of the line for Siegelman: "The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear the appeals of former Gov. Don E. Siegelman of Alabama and the man convicted of bribing him, a case which has tested the murky limits of when a campaign donation can be considered corrupt."
* And on a related note, I'd hoped this case would have gone the other way: "The Supreme Court on Monday unanimously ruled against a protester who said his free speech rights had been violated when Secret Service agents arrested him after he made critical remarks about the Bush administration's war policies."
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
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Will you be covering the Domestic Terrorist trial of Schaeffer Cox in Federal Court in AK. Last week the government witness arms dealer testified under oath that Sarah Palin aide Frank Bailey and associate Miller introduced them to Cox at the 2008 AK GOP convention.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/geoffrey-dunn/pallin-around-with-terror_b_1564430.html
Walker recall: The city clerk in Madison WI says turnout may be “119%” because of new registrations (WI has same-day registration).
This is utterly idiotic.
People that wish to complain would go to the state labor board office, which already exists. That entitles you to speak with a social worker. If you can provide written evidence to the social worker, then they subpoena your boss and you get to talk with a judge.
That system already exists in most states. All that would happen is that the social workers and judges would get a new set of policies and guidelines.
The existing system is what you use if the employer confiscates your lunches, breaks, overtime, or other compensation.
This would only "create a politburo" in right-to-work states where workers don't have an advocacy group. I'm lookin' at you Oklahoma.
If Republicans in Congress think the Equal Pay Act would put an undue pressure on businesses and result in frivolous law suits, then I propose a 23 percent pay cut for all men. Businesses could afford to hire more workers, stimulating the economy and we'd have parity. Simple. And a win-win.
If Republicans in Congress think the Equal Pay Act would put an undue pressure on businesses and result in frivolous law suits, then I propose a 23 percent pay cut for all men. Businesses could afford to hire more workers, stimulating the economy and we'd have parity. Simple. And a win-win.
Isn't it remarkable how the SCOTUS keeps ruling *against* the rights of actual citizens, and *for* the rights of corporations? How is this not the biggest scandal of the year? What do conservatives think about this, really? Meaning, the conservatives who are ordinary people (which is most of them) not the conservatives who are wingnuts and/or in the pocket of the corporations. Are the wingnuts just doing a superb job of distracting their supporters from how individual rights - most particularly of free speech - are being eroded?
The Supreme Court of the United States is just another failed American Political Institution, it will be going the way of all failed political institutions into the dustbin of history, along with the American experiment in democracy. It was a nice experiment while it lasted, but there is ample proof that the experiment has failed because of a lack of interest on the part of the participants.