Over at ShopFloor, contributor Carter Wood takes a look at legislation co-sponsored by Sens. Dick Durbin and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) that would designate employers as "Patriot" and entitled to favorable tax treatment if they follow a checklist of favored employment practices (including waiving their right under existing labor law to weigh in against unionization should their workforce be considering that issue). The unsettling implication: only those willing to sign away some of their rights under existing law are to be deemed patriotic, while those who decline to sign away such rights risk the label "unpatriotic".

It's considered a pretty serious breach of political civility these days to suggest that one's domestic adversaries fall short of patriotism just because they aren't on board with one's particular policy demands. So we expect to hear a lot of criticism of this bill's cheap terminological ploy. Anyone? Anyone?