(heavy sigh)

WASHINGTON -- For the second straight day, minority House Republicans ground the House to a standstill Wednesday as they drove home their objections to a Democratic plan to deny a floor vote on lawmakers' thousands of pet projects.

Public anger over the surging number of special member projects called earmarks -- derided as pork barrel spending -- was a factor in the Republicans' loss of House control last November, GOP members concede, and now they say they've gotten religion on the need for openness in government.

Emphasis, of course, on "now".

...About 90% of the raving about pork-barrel spending is bullshit; these are mostly just projects that, however obscure, genuinely benefit people and cost little in the broad scheme of things. Sure, there are extreme examples -- see Bridge to Nowhere -- but for the most part these are things like municipal buildings, offices, public events, aid programs for needy subgroups, research funding, etc. The vast majority of them are respectable. And lawmakers know that.

But they're a hot issue with the public, because nobody likes to hear that their tax dollars are being wasted. Never mind that the vast majority of earmarks are for perfectly legitimate public use; at any moment some pissant congressional candidate, TV commentator or blogger can yell "Hey! You're paying for such-and-such boondoggle!" and next thing you know it's Fiscal Conservatism time again. Give me a break! Going from particular bits of congressional overspending to a sweeping criticism of spending as a whole is like saying "professional wrestling sucks, so let's ban all televised sports." But this is the caliber of political debate today.

Criticizing "earmarks" in general is the pinnacle of easy political bullshit -- Democrats have been guilty of this too -- and it's time we spoke honestly about it. I like government spending and I'm not afraid to say it. How about you?

Filiblustering Baghdad

Pathetic maneuvering and stalling going on down in Washington today, in a remarkable effort by Senate Republicans to do absolutely nothing about the war. They're jumping off the crazy train that is administration foreign policy faster than you can say "surge", yet are refusing to debate any of the 4 proposed resolutions on Iraq currently on the table. I was genuinely moved by the outspoken criticism of the war by people such as John Warner (R-VA) but the current Senate stalemate has Warner effectively filibustering his own resolution.

Here's the traffic report-- it's way backed up down there: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/05/AR2007020500675_2.html

Republican Montana Congressional Communications Director = Dumb.

You gotta be really dumb to do this:

The communications director for Montana's lone congressman solicited the services of two men he falsely believed to be criminally minded hackers-for-hire -- with the expressed goal of jacking up his college GPA -- during an exchange that spanned 22 e-mails over two weeks this past summer.

Read the whole email thread between Todd Shriber and the hackers at attrition.org here. My favorite excerpt?

Hacker: For starters, college name, full name, and whatever number they track you by. Student ID or SS# or whatever else.

And, are there pigeons on campus?

Todd: I can supply all that. Forgive what I assume is dumb question, but what are pigeons? I know you're not talking about the bird.

Hacker: Actually I am.

Todd: Wow, I feel dumb now.

Anyhow, some funny stuff in the transcript. Shriber was fired when this came out. He claims that he "got a little ahead of himself" and that he "got cold feet" towards the end, after this all was exposed. Dumb in college, dumb after college, I guess.

Also, Garrett, don't ever feel pressured to do this. It's ok. Your Arabic grades won't affect your political career.

Republicans Spam Calling As Dems, Attempt to Piss Off Voters

I just saw this and I can't say it any better:

In 53 Congressional campaigns across the country, including the Pennsylvania 6th, the Connecticut 4th, the North Carolina 11th, the New Hampshire 2nd, and the Illinois 6th and 8th (and possibly all races), the National Republican Congressional Committee is conducting a $2.1 million campaign to make it appear as if Democrats are spamming callers with telemarketing calls. The NRCC hired Conquest Communications Group to conduct a massive nationwide robocalling campaign with calls specifically scripted to appear as if they're coming from the Democratic candidate — in violation of FCC regulations on such 'robocalls,' which requires the identity of the caller to be stated at the beginning of the message [47 CFR 64.1200(b)(1)]. The call begins with 'Hello. I'm calling with information about,' and then says the name of the Democratic candidate. There is then a pause; if the recipient hangs up here, they will receive repeated calls back with the same message, potentially up to 18 times or more (according to one callee). If the callee doesn't hang up, they hear a smear message from the machine about the Democratic candidate. The NRCC thinks the legality of the calls is, conveniently, a 'complicated legal question that's not going to get adjudicated this weekend.'"

The NRCC makes me sick.

UPDATE: This went out over Dems-Talk, as I was blogging about it.

UPDATE x2: Google Video posted the full hour and a half HBO documentary called Hacking Democracy

Republicans: Cramming for the Midterms

I was looking through the Washington Post yesterday and came across a fascinating article with a relatively bland title: “House Passes Measure on Religion Suits”. I figured that the article probably wasn’t about preachers going to their local Men’s Warehouse, and so I read on, only to find my jaw clenching tighter in anger with each passing sentence.

The illustrious 109^th Congress – the same folks who brought you the Terri Schiavo Act – has returned from summer recess to hit the ground running: running right to the conservative Republican base. The latest gem is the Public Expressions of Religion Protection Act, which, judging by the title, should presumably protect public expression, most likely of religion. But if you look at a description of the actual bill, you’ll find out faster than you can say “convicted felon Bob Ney” that the Republican Congress has taken a page right out of Roy Moore’s playbook.

PERPA purports (sorry, can’t help myself) to protect expression, but it instead does something quite sinister. The bill states that if plaintiffs win any lawsuit based on the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, judges cannot allow the plaintiff to recover the cost of bringing suit. Allow me to create a hypothetical example.

John Harvard is a resident of Cambridge, MA, and one day he notices that the Cambridge City Council has decided to cover the town hall with the New Testament. John, realizing that the First Amendment bans the government from establishing a religion – and therefore, among other things, bans municipalities from wallpapering town property with Matthew and Mark – calls up his local chapter of the ACLU and files a lawsuit. A judge, looking at the facts, rules in favor of John, and demands that the indecorous council remove their biblical decorations. But, unlike in other lawsuits where the winning plaintiff’s legal fees are then paid for by the municipality, the ACLU doesn’t see a dime of their costs covered.

Read more »