$2.13 an Hour [IS]

Waiters, like all tipped workers, receive only $2.13 an hour minimum wage in 18 US States, including in my home state of Virginia.  Including their tips, employers are legally required to pay them the (paltry) federal minimum of $7.25, but employers often fail to do this. The $2.13 rate was set twenty-four years ago in 1991, which was a small increase from $2.01 an hour in 1981.  The federal minimum wage (which is still way to low and in real value far lower than it was in the 1960’s) has gone up several times in the last quarter century, but servers are still earning the “quaint” rate of $2.13 an hour, a rate that would not even cover their street parking driving into work.
Such a low rate makes tipped workers’ poverty in Virginia and other stingy states twice the rate of those in states where they are paid a full minimum wage plus tips.  And guess what, the restaurant business is doing just fine in California, Nevada and the other full minimum-wage states.
Furthermore, tipped workers have such a variable income — as well as variable scheduling (from the same employer that decides whether to actually pay them $7.25 or to illegally pay them sub-minimum wage) — that they often do not know whether they can pay their rent one month to the next.
It’s time to rectify this injustice now.
Guest:  David Cooper, Economic Analyst at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, DC (and a former tipped worker)
Read his published study here.

Indiana/Arkansas and Iran [ISLM]

I explain why this week begins the phase in American history where you will no longer hear the argument that you shouldn’t serve someone just because their gay. (Even Walmart has pressured the Arkansas Governor to not pass a law that discriminates against gays and lesbians, similar to the recent Indiana law that is receiving intense criticism ).
I also note how the battles in Indiana and Arkansas also shows Americans that there are no civil rights protections for gays and lesbians in a majority of U.S. states.
I also argue that President Obama should do a better job of keeping the Republicans abreast of the negotiations with Iran, because imagine if the tables were turned and it were a Republican President and a Democratic controlled Congress.
Additionally, I address the news that Israel spied on the Iran negotiations and reported their findings to the Republicans in Congress.
Lastly, I argue the contents of a nuclear deal with Iran are just as important as whether a deal gets done at all.

Governor Pence Backtracks [IS]

Religion Should be a Shield, Not a Sword [IS]

I explain why Governor Mike Pence’s 2015 “Indiana SB 101” law is different from President Bill Clinton’s 1993 “Religious Freedom Restoration Act.”

Indiana's New Anti-Gay Law [IS]

I explain all the complicated groups fighting each other in the Middle East.
Then I was joined by guest Brad Bannon and callers to discuss Indiana’s new Anti-Gay ‘Religious Freedom’ bill just signed into law by Republican Governor Mike Pence.
In the third hour, I was joined by Bob Deans. Bob is the director of editorial content at NRDC.
We talked about how Congressional Republicans are attempting to kill the EPA’s “Clean Power Plan.”