36% of Americans approve (and 53% disapprove) of the job that the Republican-controlled Congress is doing. So what is Congress doing about this? The lede paragraph of this AP report says it all: The Republican-controlled Congress helped itself to a $3,100 pay raise on Friday, then postponed work on bills to curb spending on social programs and cut taxes in … Read More
Rewriting Resolutions, Rewriting History
What a night on the floor of the House. For those of you in a cave, it went something like this: Conservative pro-war Democrat Rep. John Murtha from PA came out recently and spoke against the war, urging "immiediate withdrawal". For that, this decorated war hero was attacked by the Bush White House as being part of the "Michael Moore" … Read More
Oil Exec Follow-up
As I wrote yesterday, it looks like oil exceutives lied to Congess (not under oath, however). Well, today I can report that the story may have legs: Democrats asked the U.S. attorney general Wednesday to investigate whether top executives from big oil companies lied to Congress when they said their companies did not take part in Vice President Dick Cheney’s … Read More
“Bring It On”
sez Matt, and I think he’s right: This effort to launch a probe, not of Bush’s secret torture prisons but if who spilled the beans on the secret torture prisons is, of course, absurd and shameful. So I agree with Lindsey Graham: Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said: "Talk about not seeing the forest for the trees. The real story … Read More
Operation Rage
We all remember Frist’s embarrassing diagnosis of Terri Schiavo without examining her (a diagnosis that turned out to be 100% wrong). Now he’s revealing his skills as a surgeon: Frist was now sputtering. "This is an affront to me personally. It’s an affront to our leadership. It’s an affront to the United States of America!" Turning sorrowful, he vowed that … Read More
Faux Outrage And Real Hypocrisy
The Carpetbagger (via Kevin Drum) points to the hypocrisy of the Republican "outrage" over Senator Reid’s "stunt" yesterday. He explains why: It’s more than a little amusing to hear congressional Republicans worrying about such niceties. Which party likes to hold open five-minute votes indefinitely until the get the results they want? Which party prevents the minority from offering amendments (.pdf) … Read More
This Is An Important Post Because This Is What It Is All About
Neo-cons were certainly thrown today by Senator Reid’s invocation of a rule calling for a closed session of the Senate. Mostly, they just said that Reid was throwing a "temper tantrum", which is of course, bullshit. Not to mention a childish response to a serious concern. In order for the Senate to discuss matters of intelligence, it is prudent — … Read More
Harry Reid: Kicking Ass
Whaa?!? The hot breaking buzz is on Senator Harry Reid, and his surprise invocation of a rare closed door session of the Senate to discuss Iraq and the faulty intelligence during the run-up. Frist is pissed, talking about the lack of senatorial courtesy (something which Republicans feel they have not been obligated to give, since they have a majority). CNN … Read More
Not Smiling Now
CNN reports: Rep. Tom DeLay failed to comply with House requirements that he disclose all contributions to a defense fund that pays his legal bills, the Texas Republican acknowledged to House officials. He wrote officials that $20,850 contributed in 2000 and 2001 was not reported anywhere. Another $17,300 was included in the defense fund’s quarterly report but not in DeLay’s … Read More
Frist Is A Lying Bastard
You know how Frist was saying that he was never aware of his stock holdings, so he can’t be held responsible for the tremendous profit he made on their sale based on what would generally be acknowledged as insider information? Well, it turns out that, in the reality world, Frist was . . . uh . . . you know … Read More
Congress Hearts Guns, Cheeseburgers
Why do free market conservatives hate the free market? Look, I understand that consumers have responsibilities. If you smoke, and get cancer, you really have nobody to blame but yourself. You knew the risks, and you took them. The same is true for fast foods. I think Americans of all political stripes understand that. So if you want to sue … Read More
Frist Stock Problem Worse
Things are getting worse for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, currently under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for an insider trading and stock dumping scandal involving shares of his family’s company, HCA. Frist has defended himself by pointing out that his stocks are in a blind trust, eliminating any conflicts of interest. However, … Read More
Congress Channels English Parliament
Oh, I like this: A controversial bill that offered abandoned U.S. military bases to private industry for the construction of oil refineries and granted federal insurance to refiners ensnared in litigation passed by a razor-thin margin in the House Friday afternoon 212-210 as Democrats chanted "shame, shame, shame." "Harumph, harumph" Now if we can only get Congress and the President … Read More
Other Shoe Drops (More To Follow)
A separate grand jury has indicted DeLay. The charge? Money laundering: Both indictments accuse DeLay and two political associates of conspiring to get around a state ban on corporate campaign contributions by funneling the money through a political action committee to the Republican National Committee in Washington. DeLay’s earlier indictment charged that conspirators carried out a fund-raising scheme by having … Read More
The Iron-What’s-Her-Face and Tom Delay
Mmmm. This is an interesting turn of events: A DOCUMENT linking Margaret Thatcher to a US corruption probe is so explosive civil servants have been asked to ensure it remains "sealed". The 79-year-old former Premier is said to have met Congressman Tom DeLay in Britain while he was on a suspected favours-for-freebies scam. In return for his free holiday, DeLay … Read More