While workers struggle in Wisconsin, Ohio and other state capitols, the GOP is pushing a bill through Congress that states if an eligible transportation worker fails to vote for union representation, he or she will be tallied as an active vote against representation. Just to highlight how undemocratic this is, consider that 41.6% of eligible voters cast a ballot in last November's midterms, and imagine a law that tallied all of those who didn't go to the polls as votes for the GOP.

Rupert Murdoch's commercial rivals, unswayed by arguments that spinning off Sky News into an independent company should appease concerns over a lack of media plurality in Great Britain, are claiming the arrangement is "pure window dressing." As one critic charged, "This deal will create a hugely powerful newspaper, television, online and ISP media conglomerate which will dwarf every other media organization in the UK, and would not be permissible in most other democracies."

It is still a men's world in UK newspaper journalism, according to a survey released last night by the campaigning group Women in Journalism. The study found that 74% of news journalists on the nationals are men and that men also dominate political and business journalism. Somewhat less surprisingly, just 3% of sports journalists are women. Meanwhile, eight out of the top 10 newspapers report having almost twice as many male editors as women editors.