Cross-posted to DailyKos and Diatribune

Growing up, I was a fan of Sierra On-Line adventure games for the PC. Unlike the console arcade games of the time, adventure games placed story above action, and thinking above reflexes. My favorite line of Sierra adventure games was Space Quest, a space comedy about Roger Wilco, a normal, every day guy who finds himself trapped in unusual – and hilarious – situations.

A few weeks ago, while searching online for information about Space Quest, I was surprised to come across an Adventure Classic Gaming interview with Scott Murphy, one of Space Quest's co-creators. Even more surprising was how, after reading the interview, I realized that it serves as an illustration of the screwed up values of corporate America today, and how they can impact real people.

Cross-posted to DailyKos and Diatribune.

Earlier this week, the Employee Free Choice Act failed to gain the 60 votes it needed for consideration by the United States Senate. While this was not unexpected, the defeat of the bill represents a failure by many of those in Washington to stand up for the rights of ordinary workers.

However, Even in defeat, Tuesday's vote on the Employee Free Choice Act brings with it some good signs for the future. Making progress in American politics is a long-term effort. And, although we may not have been able to pass the EFCA now, it is increasingly likely that we will be able to in the future.

As a college student, I took a number of classes on public policy. Often, those classes would stress the incremental nature of American politics, and the slowness of change. Bills take years, if not decades, to go anywhere, if they move at all.

Cross-posted to DailyKos and Diatribune

Labor issues are very important to me. That's why, a few months ago, I contacted both of my U.S. Senators to ask them to support the Employee Free Choice Act when it comes before the Senate.

It took quite some time, but I eventually heard back from U.S. Senator Bob Casey Jr. The only problem is, his reply didn't address the EFCA. At all.

To start, I feel I should note that my original e-mail to Senator Casey was exactly the same as the "template" e-mail I set up in at the end of an entry about the EFCA a few months ago. I didn't change anything, except for where I filled in the "blanks" with the appropriate names.

Last month, I received the following reply e-mail from Casey's office:

Dear Mr. [WayneNight]:

Thank you for taking the time to contact me. I appreciate hearing from all Pennsylvanians about the issues that matter most to them.

Cross-posted to DailyKos and Diatribune

Imagine the following scenario: You work a decent, well paying, union job at a local brewery. The town you live in is fairly small, and the brewery provides the majority of employment for the area. You love your job, and you need to hang on to it, in order to keep your family afloat. If you were to be laid off, you likely wouldn't be able to find anything else in the area. Certainly nothing that pays as well.

One day, you, and the other employees, are called into your boss's office, to talk about the future of the business. He blasts the union - calling them "those guys from Philadelphia" - and threatens to close the company if the workforce remains unionized.

What would you do in that situation? Because it's precisely the situation that workers at D.G. Yuengling & Son faced last year - and, it's why the Teamsters Union is now boycotting Yuengling's products.