Sex discrimination? Republicans say "Thumbs up!"

Picture this: you're a female employee, and you were hired to do the same job as the man sitting next to you, only at a dollar an hour less. Every week you both get paychecks, and every week his is bigger than yours. That means every time you get paid, your employer discriminates against you by paying you less than what they pay your male counterpart, right?

Well, not if you look at the world the way the Supreme Court looks at it, or now, the Republicans in the Senate.

The U.S. Senate had a chance this week to fight against sex discrimination in employment by reversing the Supreme Court decision limiting the ability of workers to sue to redress discriminatory pay decisions by their employers. Since the Republicans never seem to tire of telling us how well they treat women, you would think that they would leap at the chance, right?

Oh, but wait, there's another player involved! If you let women sue their employers, even for illegal discrimination, it might cost the employers money. And if that happens, the big corporations won't like it.

I guess it was an easy choice for them, but not in the way you'd want. Heeding the voice of their corporate overlords, the R's in the Senate voted to block consideration of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which would have allowed the courts to consider each deficient paycheck a new act of discrimination, thereby reversing the decision by the Supremes.

So the next time you think your paycheck seems a little light, if you're a woman, thank your Republican senator.