Outside the Beltway

Labor and management are not simply adversaries at the negotiating table; they represent two very different cultures, if not social classes.

Scott Walker’s attempt to crush the Wisconsin public employee unions may be the first wave in a fight to elect Republican governors in 2012.

Opposition to marriage equality is no longer the wedge issue it used to be.

A former Democratic state attorney general thinks Wisconsin’s Republican governor may have violated state ethics laws while on a prank phone call.

Huge news in the marriage equality debate today as the Obama Administration has decided not to defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court anymore.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker did not campaign on the union-busting package he’s proposing now.

Federal laws designed to protect unions add yet another wrinkle to the Wisconsin standoff.

There are a lot of issues on the table, so to speak, in the WI situation. Here I try to entangle them a bit.

A new national poll suggests that moves to restrict the collective bargaining rights of public sector unions are not popular with the public at large:

Should public schoolteachers make more money than the people paying their salaries?

Of the 314 police and firefighter unions in Wisconsin, only four endorsed Scott Walker.

Why not include police, firefighters and state troopers in the ban on collective bargaining?

It’s time to end the ability of public sector labor unions to hold taxpayers hostage.

Republicans won the right to govern Wisconsin. What does that mean for Democrats?

In the Middle East, protesters are marching for democracy. In the Midwest, they’re protesting against it.

Facebook has come up with new settings to meet the needs of users in same-sex relationships.

Neither side is covering themselves in glory in the battle over the Badger State budget.

TSA screeners will now have the right to join a union. Or at least a union that can’t actually negotiate much of anything.

Was the 2011 SOTU a blatant rip-off of past speeches? Or simply banal?

The blogging of Mark Levin’s magnum opus continues.

Once again, it looks like efforts to reform the Senate’s filibuster rules have fallen victim to that old devil politics.

Streets in New York City like this one on Staten Island went unplowed for days thanks to a work slowdown by sanitation workers, which raises the question of what Public Sector Unions should be allowed to do.

A capsule look at the world situation as 2010 draws to a close.

The repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is a sign that the political ground is shifting. Will the GOP take notice?

Judicial activism doesn’t mean “reaching a decision I don’t like.”

What will Republicans think of a candidate for President who admitted to smoking marijuana as recently as two years ago?

Citibank is helping the US catch up to the rest of the world with free, easy wire transfers.

Is President Obama’s Federal pay freeze a sign that he’s moving to the right, or just pointless symbolism?

It appears that full body scanners, operated by leering yahoos under the cover of government authority, may finally be rousing the sheep who have meekly submitted to the absurd delays and indignities that have been piled on since 9/11 and sundry botched attempts.

The U.S. Postal Service is warning Congress that it could run out of cash next year without a government bailout. Meaning that this is the perfect opportunity to reform an organization that has been out-of-date for a decade now.

Sharron Angle’s attorney is charging that “Harry Reid intends to steal this election if he can’t win it outright.” She touts various “shenanigans” in a fundraising letter.

The biggest outside spender in 2010 isn’t the Chamber of Commerce but the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

Reason’s Meredith Bragg and Nick Gillespie have a pretty amusing rejoinder to the Obama administration’s attempts to smear the anonymous funding of television ads opposed to their agenda in a video titled “Who is Publius? or, Who’s Afraid of Anonymous Political Speech?”

The Tea Party movement and the populist backlash against DC mayor Adrian Fenty are a sign that things are changing so fast that a lot of people simply can’t adjust.

DC schools superintendent Michelle Rhee has radically transformed the system for the better. Naturally, the teachers unions want her gone.

Affluent whites are astounded that Adrian Fenty appears about to lose his bid for re-election as DC’s mayor. But the majority black population is less than thrilled with his tenure.