The Senate "began consideration of legislation on Monday that would require lobbyists to disclose more about their activities and ban gifts by lobbyists to members of Congress and staff." They "hope to complete action after voting on a long list of possible amendments later this week."

The bill, which is "a response to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal that hit Washington with details of millions of dollars from Abramoff's clients going to win friends and buy influence on Capitol Hill... ...would require lobbyists to be more open about the meals they buy and the trips they arrange for members of Congress"

Critics say, "the proposed changes, the first to lobbying laws in 11 years, are mainly cosmetic."

But not too cosmetic...

Any claim the Republicans might possibly have that they are committed to cleaning up Washington just flew out the window, as they put one of their most corrupt members, the disgraced Tom Delay, on the friggen Appropriations Committee -- the very committee with power to direct the spending of US Taxpapers' dollars whereever its members see fit:

Now that Tom DeLay has been set-up as a scapegoat by and for the GOP -- which is guilty of engaging in the same corrupt practices as the Texas legislator -- expect Congressional Republicans to offer a "major" "reform" package (yes, the separate quotes are deliberate).

When such legislation is offered, ask your representatives and senators and local newspaper editors the following questions:

Tom DeLay finally sees what others have long said:

He should resign as Majority Leader.

It's about time.  Too bad it took so long for the inevitable, but the New Year continues to rock!

Here's my favorite part from the quick Times announcement:

DeLay intends to remain in Congress, these officials said, and plans to seek a new term in November.

Some people never learn.  

Good news:

Embattled Rep. Tom DeLay decided Saturday to give up his post as House majority leader, clearing the way for new leadership elections among House Republicans eager to shed the taint of scandal, two officials said.

Of course, the GOP's sudden push to oust DeLay is really just a P.R. move, a means of scapegoating him for doing what the rest of his putrescent party has been doing... the same party that has defended him lo these many years from ethics charge after ethics charge.

Who knew that it would only take a few dozen polls and an election year for the GOP to pretend to be interested in "reform" again after ten years of corruption?

Illinois congressman Ray LaHood wants DeLay out, and other House Republicans share his sentiment:

"We need to clean up our House here very quickly or a year from now we'll be the minority party," said LaHood...

Oh, that's a great reason to finally do the right thing after eleven years of participating in your party's corruption. "Quick, we have to show voters that we're sorry and we'll be good, so they won't put us in minority-status time-out for another four decades!" Yeah, don't do the right thing because it's the right thing, do it so that you can be rewarded.

What an asshole.

still putting on its shoes. (Attributed to Mark Twain)

I saw this on Talking Points Memo and the full story is here.

AUSTIN -- Media reports that U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay had convinced the state's highest court to hear his appeal were as widely circulated as they were, well, wrong.

Justices for the Texas Court Criminal Appeals agreed merely to consider hearing DeLay's money laundering case. They never said they would accept the case, said Edward Marty, the court's general counsel.

The erroneous media reports, which the San Antonio Express-News published in a wire story and displayed online, come from DeLay's spokesman, Kevin Madden, in an e-mail sent to reporters Tuesday evening, after courts had closed for the night.

-snip-

Madden said this afternoon that he made an error and never intended to "spin" the story.

"In an effort to be instantaneous, I wasn't precise.....My understanding (of the decision) was correct. The way I relayed it wasn't," he said.

So one lies, the other swears to it.  Business as usual in DeLiar World.

According to the Houston Chronicle, Tom Delay will have a primary fight on his hands, in the person of Attorney Michael Fjetland, who has run against DeLay as a Republican and an independent. He has officially filed in the 2006 GOP primary for the 22nd Congressional District.

"I was not willing to run again. I had decided not to," said Fjetland, who filed on Friday. "But when the indictment came down, it became a whole new ballgame. It really does change the entire dimension of the whole thing. If he's convicted and I'm not on the ballot, then no one is."

I'm not sure if this is a serious challenge to the Bugman, but at least he's going to have to spend some time and money on this, I'm sure.

Once again, Ann (Plagiarist) Coulter, you expose yourself as a hate-filled propagandist whose physical emaciation is matched only by your intellectual anemia.

"It probably goes without saying that it is extraordinary for criminal charges to be thrown out by a judge before any jury ever hears the evidence. For the judge to dismiss an indictment before trial, it means he concluded that -- even if the jury finds everything Ronnie Earle alleges to be true -- no crime was committed."

Wow, Ann... now we know why you're so horrifically thin: You're constantly overreaching -- and burning-off way too many calories stretching the truth. The conspiracy charge wasn't thrown out because it was baseless, it was thrown out on a technicality:

...DeLay lawyer Dick DeGuerin argued that one of the charges -- conspiracy to violate the Texas election code -- did not even take effect until September 2003, a year after the alleged offenses occurred.

Prosecutors, however, said the crime of conspiracy was already on the books and could be applied to the election code even though such uses were not explicitly in state law at the time.

"Obviously, this was a huge victory for DeLay..."

Sure, it's a HUGE victory ... if you discount the fact that one charge was thrown out on a technicality while the more serious charge of money laundering stands, and the fact that the still-indicted DeLay is unable to return to his House post, and the fact that his party is looking to replace him, and the fact that he has to spend time and money to defend himself against criminal charges, and the fact that the latest legal development reminded voters that he's in trouble.

What are you waiting for, Annie? Break out the champagne!

"A Texas judge declined to dismiss money-laundering charges against Representative Tom DeLay, paving the way for a trial and preventing the lawmaker from reclaiming his post as U.S. House majority leader.

"Judge Pat Priest said he rejected a motion by DeLay's lawyers to drop all the charges, in an e-mail to reporters. He dismissed one charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering."

The fall-out from recently-released Justice Department memos pertaining to Tom DeLay's gerrymandering of Texas continues:

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Friday said that the Justice Department was not motivated by politics when it approved a controversial Texas congressional redistricting plan in 2003, overriding objections within the Civil Rights Division that minority voters would be harmed.

...Gonzales' insistence that politics played no role wasn't shared by some Civil Rights Division veterans. They say the Texas case, joined by the department's recent approval of a Georgia voter ID law later rejected by the court, suggests a troubling trend of politics trumping Voting Rights Act considerations.

"The decisions are politically driven," said American University law professor Richard Ugelow, a 29-year Civil Rights Division veteran who joined the exodus of career staff from Justice in recent years.

William Yeomans, a senior voting-rights expert who left the Justice Department earlier this year, said: "It's clear who benefits from those decisions."

He and other division veterans say it is highly unusual for political appointees to override a unanimous recommendation by career lawyers.

"It's probably not an overstatement to say it's unprecedented for that kind of overruling of the career staff to occur," said David Becker, who left the division last April after seven years.

Nancy Pelosi is now working to create an independent commission to investigate the Justice Department's actions, as well as a disturbing pattern within the DOJ of putting the desires of the Republican Party before the law of the land.

remember in 2003 when democratic state legislators high-tailed it from austin to albuquerque to prevent a vote on the texas redistricting plan...?

   While Texas Senate Democrats remain in New Mexico, their counterparts managed to get some work done in Austin.

    Passage of the map remains far away from a full vote, especially since 11 Texas Democrat senators say the hospitality in Albuquerque, N.M., suits them just fine.

    The Democratic legislators say they'll stay in New Mexico until Republicans and Gov. Rick Perry take the redistricting issue off the table, and said they're prepared to remain out of state up to 30 days, the maximum length of a special session.

remember THIS part...?

...the Republican Party has left Tom DeLay.

I'm sorry. This should probably be a quick post over at the Nerve Center, but this news item just struck me as too too funny not to spotlight.

HOUSTON Nov 22, 2005 -- A hurricane-postponed GOP fundraiser for embattled Congressman Tom DeLay will be held Dec. 5 and feature Vice President Dick Cheney.

The event in Houston had been scheduled for September, until Hurricane Rita struck. The Houston Chronicle reports top-dollar tickets are $4,200.

Two of the most unpopular and ethically challenged characters in GOP politics getting together and charging $4,200 to see them. Yee-haw! All I can imagine is that the Texas GOP is billing this as a "See them while you can before they're serving time" kind of fundraiser --  Quick! Before They Sell Out! (Even More!)

Must be that genius Karl Rove at work again.

The story of Michael Scanlon's "guilty" plea (part of Scanlon's plea bargain) contains one hell of a bombshell:

...it was disclosed that Scanlon, a former aide to Rep. Tom DeLay has been cooperating in a widening criminal investigation of members of Congress since June.

And about that investigation: It's targeting several Congressional Republicans, among them Ohio GOPster Bob Ney and Arizona's John Shadegg, for accepting bribes from Scanlon and his indicted co-conspirator Jack Abramoff.

On Friday, Scanlon was charged with conspiracy. On Monday, the Justice Department's statement of facts that Scanlon signed went considerably beyond the earlier charging document, revealing that trips, tickets to sporting events and campaign contributions went to other public officials besides Ney in exchange for official acts.

The statement of facts said Scanlon and [Jack Abramoff] provided items of value to public officials in exchange for "agreements to support and pass legislation, agreements to place statements in the Congressional Record, agreements to contact personnel in the United States Executive Branch agencies and offices to influence decisions of those agencies and offices."

It's not as if we've needed more evidence that the GOP is mired in a culture of corruption, but it's always nice to have an extra helping; maybe the indictments and plea agreements will start flowing just in time for the 2006 election.