House Passes Lobbying Reform

411-8

The bill would require members of Congress to disclose more information on their pet projects and disclose any lobbyists who raise $15k or more for them in a six month period. Senators seeking targeted spending projects or "earmarks" would have to publicize their plans 48 hours before the Senate votes on the proposals in publicly available data bases, and declare their families would not directly benefit financially.

The bill now goes to the Senate

Who voted nay on such a great bill you asked? Well, these members from BOTH parties;

Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii)
Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas)
Rep. Allen Boyd (D-Florida)
Rep. William Lacy Clay (D-Missouri)
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Missouri)
Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Arizona)
Rep. John Murtha (D-Pennsylvania) I don't know what that's about
Rep. John Tanner (D-Tennessee)

AK-Sen: Stevens' House Raided

The FBI raided the Alaska home of Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska). The Anchorage Daily News reports agents were at the home for over 10 hours and took away "undisclosed items from inside" as well as "pictures and videos." The raid is part of a widening corruption investigation on whether or not Stevens took bribes from an oil services company CEO who admitted to bribing Alaska politicians.

Stevens is the longest serving Republican Senator ever, having represented Alaska in the US Senate since 1968. He was President pro tempore in the Republican majority, making him third in line for the Presidency between 2003 and 2007. Appointed to the Senate upon the death of Bob Bartlet (D-Alaska), he was first elected in a special election in 1970 and reelected ever since, never gaining less than 67% of the vote. He's up for reelection next year and has indicted he plans to run.

Cheney: His Own Entity

His Royal Majesty Lord Dick Cheney won't listen to Congress or the people, and he won't even listen to the President either.

After throwing executive privlidge in the face of Congress, the Vice President decided that when the head of the executive branch makes the rules, he no longer has executive privlidge, he has Cheney privlidge.

Apparently our government now has four branches; Executive, Legislative, Judicial and Dick Cheney.

Kagen: Jefferson Should Resign

Freshman Congressman Steve Kagen (D-Wisconsin) has called for William Jefferson (D-Louisiana) to resign from Congress amid his indictment on corruption charges;

Kagen, part of a Democratic freshman class that ran on pledges of creating a more ethical Congress, said Rep. William Jefferson, a Louisiana Democrat, is entitled to a presumption of innocence. However, Kagen, D-Appleton, said "all members of Congress must be held to a higher standard. Congressman Jefferson should consider resigning for the good of the Congress and for the good of the nation."

Nobody says Republicans are naturally corrupt and Democrats are not. They both can be equally corrupt and the GOP only got that way by becoming too comfortable in the majority. Republicans lost partially on their problems with corruption, but that also came from the lack of Republican outcry against other GOP members who were corrupt. A Democrat trying to force out a corrupt Democrat is a good thing; It's what the Republicans never did.

Jefferson should resign or he should be expelled. Forget about how if affects the Democratic Party. I would feel this way if it were a Republican, it's only fair to give equal treatment to creeps on both sides of the isle.

Rep. Jefferson Indicted

On 16 counts.

I despise this guy. The people of New Orleans made a mistake sending this guy back to Congress, but it's their mistake. He should, and may have to, resign.

We cannot have these types of people in Congress, Republican or Democrat