Topic “Thom's Blog”

Our democracy is screwed.  It’s been long speculated that Republican state lawmakers are taking their orders from the shadowy right-wing think tank funded by the Koch Brothers and known as the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) – and now there’s proof.  It was discovered in Florida – when Republican State Representative Rachel Burgin introduced legislation in the state House back in November that - oops - still in

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels took his state backwards on Wednesday – signing legislation to make Indiana the 23^rd “right-to-work” state in the nation.  It’s the first state in ten years to go right-to-work and also the first state in the nation’s manufacturing belt to adopt a right-to-work law, which starves labor unions of much-needed funding.

So what can workers in Indiana expect now?  First off – lower wages.&nbsp

No surprises - Mitt Romney won the Florida primary last night by 15 points over Newt Gingrich.  The Romney campaign – with the help of SuperPACs funded by Wall Street billionaires – carpet-bombed the state with TV ads – airing 13,000 TV ads, compared to Newt Gingrich who only aired 200.

But if Romney thought the race would be over soon – he thought wrong.  Last night, Gingrich gave a speech to supporters in front of a sign readin

Today the Republican primary race for the White House hits Florida.  Polls indicate that Mitt Romney is headed for a victory in the sunshine state – but are voters this year really choosing candidates – or special interest groups?  Research shows that election spending by outside groups is up 1,600% this year in the Republican primary compared to 2008 – and about half of all the political ads on the air are paid for by Super PACs – thos

Multi-millionaire lobbyist Grover Norquist is calling for the impeachment of President Obama.  In an interview with the right-wing National Journal – Norquist warned that if President Obama wins re-election and decides to let the Bush tax cuts for the top 2% expire at the end of the year – then Republicans will “have enough votes in the Senate in 2014 to impeach [him].”

According to a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation – 75% of Americans believe the Supreme Court is driven by ideological views rather than objective legal analysis.  Of course – the justices themselves have done one heck of a job advancing this notion.  Scalia, Alito, and Thomas have attended and spoken at right-wing gatherings – gone hunting with prominent Republicans like Dick Cheney – accepted gifts from right-wing or

Indiana is screwed as it crept one step closer to becoming the 23^rd state in the nation to pass a right-to-work FOR LESS law.  The State House passed legislation that was passed by the Senate earlier in the week to bring right-to-work-for-less to the state – putting an end to closed union shops and pitting workers against workers across Indiana, thus killing off the union movement in that state.

President Obama declared the state of the union is “Getting stronger” last night before a joint-session of Congress.  But to ensure the nation continues to get better – the President laid out a series of proposals he's challenging a Republican Congress to pass and send to his desk.

Early reports indicate the President will focus on the issues that are absent from most Republicans debates, which are help for the middle class, ways to reduce wealth inequality, and a plan for renewable energy.  Despite 22 straight months of private sector job creations, glimmers of hope in an economic recovery, and one fewer war abroad since the President took office three years ago – the state of our union is still weak.