by Walter Brasch Although more than one million Pennsylvanians are members of labor unions, and the state has a long history of worker exploitation and union activism, neither of the two largest university systems has a labor representative on its governing board. The only labor representative on the Board of Governors of the State System of Higher Education (SSHE) in its 28 year history was Julius Uehlein, who served 1988–1995 while Pennsylvania AFL–CIO president. The appointment was...
Monthly Archives: December 2011
Capitol Idea: It’s Time to Nuke Senate Republicans
There’s been much talk in recent years in the U.S. Senate of “going nuclear,” or of triggering a “nuclear option.” Well, it’s time. No, make that well past time, for President Obama to go nuclear on Senate Republicans. The Senate GOP has steadily ratcheted up its obstruction of very nearly everything to come through the chamber. Not only have they been blocking needed extensions of payroll tax cuts for middle class workers and unemployment benefits for jobless Americans,...
Rough Riders: Battle On Over Unrelated Policy In Spending Bills
When is a fight over spending bills not about the spending? When the battle actually is over attempts to inject unrelated conservative abortion, environmental, and other policies into must-pass legislation to keep the federal government open for business. That’s just what’s happening now as environmental groups and others have begun to push back against Republicans who once again want to add so-called policy “riders” onto pending budget bills. Lawmakers still must approve legislation to approve spending for most of...
Selling the New Nixon – What Ailes US
Having, as noted, nothing to stand on, no agreement to unify and no proposals to move forward, the Republican campaigns and the Republicans in Congress have adopted the Nihilist Nothing position: Agree on Nothing, Compromise on Nothing, Accomplish Nothing.
Gun Lobby Helps Bring Down An Obama Judicial Nominee
The issue of gun control has helped to derail one of President Obama’s nominees to a key federal appeals court. A gun-rights group helped take credit after Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked the nomination of Caitlin Joan Halligan to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The Republican filibuster left top Senate Democrats fuming. A gun group, known as the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA), says it sent out...
Confrontation With Wall Street: Consumer Confirmation Battle Expected This Week
The latest political battle between the 99 percent and the 1 percent likely is to take place this week on the Senate floor, as senators are expected to vote on the nomination of former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) created by the Dodd-Frank financial reform law. Created as the brainchild of prominent consumer advocate-turned-Democratic-Senate-candidate Elizabeth Warren, the CFPB is designed to shield consumers from the sorts of financial abuses which helped...
Selling the New Nixon – A Clockwork Luntz
Don't say 'capitalism.' "I'm trying to get that word removed and we're replacing it with either 'economic freedom' or 'free market,' " Luntz said. "The public . . . still prefers capitalism to socialism, but they think capitalism is immoral. And if we're seen as defenders of quote, Wall Street, end quote, we've got a problem."
The Left Split: GOP Hopes To Exploit Labor Support To Push Pipeline Deal
Congressional Republicans, starting with House Speaker John Boehner, clearly want to exploit disagreement on the left over the controversial Keystone XL project to help force President Obama to reverse course and give the proposed transnational pipeline a quick go-ahead. Obama last month announced that his administration would put off, until 2013, a decision to approve the proposed 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the Gulf Coast. The president delayed action on the pipeline after the independent State Department...
Recent Comments