Thursday, February 2, 2012

Indiana - Giving Arkansas a Run For Its Money

The State Legislature that once tried to legally redefine the area of a circle and require pi be rounded off has again demonstrated its ignorance by passing out of one chamber, a bill that would equate creationism with science.  Yes, Indiana's motto surely must be "Indiana - Giving Arkansas a Run for its Money".  Try attracting science and technology companies, those companies that make billions clinging to the tenets of actual science, to a state that screams "we are science illiterate and we are proud of that fact".

Meanwhile, both chambers have passed, and the Governor who wants to be Vice-President has signed, a bill making Indiana the 23rd so called right to work state.  It is shear nonsense that Indiana will attract more companies by this means.  Plain and simple, this is a union busting measure.   I would suggest that any person who opts to not pay union dues, be forced to forfeit the collective bargaining muscle of the union members and forgo the grievance process afforded by working in a union shop.  Fair is fair.  No dues - no services.

Adding to the triumph of the 18th century over anything modern, the Legislature has kicked a mass transit bill to the curb yet again. 

Watch out Arkansas, Indiana's on the move.

3 comments:

Paul K. Ogden said...

I think the creationism bill was changed so it is a comparative religion class which is not constitutional.

Indiana's legislature is no different than any other legislature in the country. Ever person thinks their state has the worst legislature. I googled it once. Indiana doesn't even rate in the top 20 when it comes to mentions of the "worst legislature."

Nicolas Martin said...

Paul, it seems logical that states which have more residents would have more "worst" mentions. This would be especially true of more populous states with controversial political figures. Also, Hoosiers tend to be more apathetic and compliant than, say, Texans. When Indiana passed the first eugenic sterilization law, there was little protest among Hoosiers, according to reports from that time.

Anonymous said...

From radio discussions and numerous articles on Real Clear Politics and in the Economist, I would contend the New York and California state assemblies have to rival or exceed Indiana if you're remotely concerned about economic dysfunctionality.

That being said, I wish our state legislators would stay out of religion and gun silencers and retackle Kerman-Shepard and mass transit. I'll vote for Ed Delaney when hell freezes over for walking out of the statehouse, but I think he's got a reasonable question on what has our education reform has netted us?

Lastly, with the Bureau of Labor statistics citing less than 12% of American workers being union members, I'm less sympathetic about RTW belly-aching, when unions aren't lumped in with corporations as part of the corruptive monetary influence upon our electons.
I'm a heck of a lot more concerned about "right to compete" than right to work, when it comes to the taxpayer getting a square deal on choice of vendor or contractor for a government job.

I guess I can dream.