Rum, Romanism and Rebellion

Raúl Grijalva is one of the new co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. He will be heading up the group along with Lynn Woolsey of California.
This is from a statement released by Grijalva’s office:
I am honored to become Co-chair, I believe it is time for our Caucus to move to the next level and continue […]

Barack Obama has announced he is resigning his senate seat as of Sunday:
It has been one of the highest honors and privileges of my life to have served the people of Illinois in the United States Senate. In a state that represents the crossroads of a nation, I have met so many men and women […]

So, you are watching a soccer game (because you all do, of course) and some thug in shorts tries to kneecap an opposing player. The referee ejects the offending player and whichever semi-literate yobbo Fox Soccer Channel has doing the “color” says: “The team will be more compact with ten men and will actually play […]

Best named race: US Senate in Alabama, Sessions v. Figures.
UPDATE: Even better, Colorado State Senate District 14, Bacon v. Fries.

Hey, why are people talking about Michelle Bachman’s narrow behind? Like I even care about that. They wouldn’t bring that up if she were a man.

For those that have asked…here is the Arizona delegation’s vote on the “rescue package.” The rescue package…you used to get to buy that for those Adventure People figures, right?
Jeff Flake (R - Mesa)  - Nay
Trent Franks (R - Glendale) - Nay
Gabrielle Giffords (D - Tucson)  - Aye
Raúl Grijalva (D - Tucson) - Nay
Harry Mitchell (D […]

As expected, the President vetoed expansion of the S-CHIP program this morning. His claim is that the program is too expensive.
So, here is my question: the previous congresses have spent so much money on pork barrel projects that even John McCain refered to them as “drunken sailors” (being a Navy man, McCain presumably knows what a […]

The news out of Rhode Island is that former Senator Lincoln Chafee has quit the Republican party. He actually “disaffiliated” himself a couple of months back, but has been mum about it, befitting his role as a private citizen these days.
I can already see the talk from our Republican friends: “The guy was a RINO, […]

I was thinking about Larry Craig’s rationale: that a guilty plea is not an admission of guilt. Somehow he was intimidated or nervous and felt he had to plead guilty.
You know, he might have a point there. He and his colleagues have spent so much of the past few years evicerating the rights of criminal […]

There are moments when I wonder if there is some element of the Republican party that wants to make sure that Jon Stewart has enough material. “Wide stance“? At least he didn’t blame a black guy.
Maybe it is more nefarious than that. Some of these guys are so wedded to the notion that gays are […]

Once again, the logic of our friends on the right leaves me dizzy. I guess I should stop expecting consitency and sense from those guys.
The current deal getting conservative panties in a bunch is the knock against Senator Harry Reid for daring to criticize General Peter Pace. They shout, how dare he criticize a man […]

Patrick Leahy and Arlen Specter pushed a bill through the Senate Judiciary Committee called the Habeas Corpus Restoration Act, that would reverse the revokation of the right of detainees at Guantamano Bay to a hearing. Specter was the only Republican on the committee to vote for the bill, which means our own Jon Kyl voted […]

Anyone notice that Harry Mitchell voted against the Democratic budget resolution? Here’s the release from his office:
WASHINGTON, D.C. - For the second time in six weeks, U.S. Rep. Harry Mitchell voted against the Democratic budget resolution, saying the latest plan also fails to assuage his concerns about increased government spending and tax cuts.
Despite Mitchell’s nay […]

Story is still developing, but a group of eleven Republican congressmen visited the White House this afternoon, met with the President and high ranking members of his staff and told him that he has no credibility on Iraq. Think Progress has the story.
I have only heard two names (Mark Kirk of Illinois and Charlie Dent […]

I’ve been asking around because I haven’t been able to figure out why Jon Kyl’s questions to Alberto Gonzales have been virtually unreported by either the local or national media. It’s strange, both because we kept hearing in the last campaign about how valuable Kyl is because of his high profile on committees like Judiciary, […]

As much as I disliked John Ashcroft or even Edwin Meese, I always thought the guys were smart and knew what they were doing. They were serious people who were up to the job. I don’t get that impression about Alberto Gonzales. I don’t know, something about him just tells me he is way out […]

Check out this video of General Services Administration official Lurita Doan, captured after her testimony in front of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
I knew that being out of power would only amplify the conservatives mix of self-righteousness and whiny victimhood, but I didn’t know that they would go downright bonkers.

I haven’t had a lot of time to write things on here over the last few days, but a few statements given during the Iraq debate have struck me as rather dumb.
First, we start with John Shadegg. His statement on the House floor was unremarkable.  I can sum up his and one hundred other of […]

Ike Skelton made an unusual move today during the House Armed Services Committee meeting.  He allowed freshmen members to ask the first questions of Secretary Robert Gates and General Peter Pace.  The members were able to elicit some suprising admissions from the two of them, with Pace admitting that our non-deployed forces are not ready to fight and Gates […]

Former Massachusetts Rep. Robert Drinan, the only Jeebie to serve in the United States Congress, has died.
Drinan initially ran as an anti-war candidate, defeating a pro-war Democrat in the primary.  He quickly became an articulate spokesman for what we now term the progressive wing of the party. He served on the House Judiciary Committee that […]