With economy in shambles, Congress gets a raise

A crumbling economy, more than 2 million constituents who have lost their jobs this year, and congressional demands of CEOs to work for free did not convince lawmakers to freeze their own pay.

Instead, they will get a $4,700 pay increase, amounting to an additional $2.5 million that taxpayers will spend on congressional salaries, and watchdog groups are not happy about it.

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“They don’t even go through the front door. They have it set up so that it’s wired so that you actually have to undo the pay raise rather than vote for a pay raise,” Ellis said.

The "Haves" (Them) and the "Have Nots" (You).

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US Congress moves toward passage of domestic spy bill

The vote demonstrated that there is broad support within the Democratic Party beyond Rockefeller for the expanded powers and immunity clause. This year, Rockefeller received $42,000 in political donations from Verizon and AT&T, the two main companies targeted by lawsuits for their role in the NSA domestic spying program.

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Democrats zero for 40 on Iraq

Since taking the majority, they have forced 40 votes on bills limiting President Bush’s war policy.

Only one of those has passed both chambers, even though both are run by Democrats. That one was vetoed by Bush.

Indeed, the only war legislation enacted during this Congress has been to give the president exactly what he wants, and exactly what he has had for the past five years: more money, with no limitations.

And they wonder why we think they are doing a shitty job.

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Democrats Plan a Shorter Workweek

The House majority leader, Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, told fellow Democrats this week that the House would not be in session next year on Fridays, except in June for work on appropriations bills.

Explaining that decision to reporters, Mr. Hoyer said, “I do intend to have more time for members to work in their districts and to be close to their families.”

His comments drew snickers from Republicans, who are quite happy to share their view that the American people did not get much value for all the extra time lawmakers spent in Washington.

Read more, but I'm betting you're working more than four days a week.

45 REPUBLICAN PEDOPHILES

This is horrendous, but something we've known for a while. It's just nice to see a list like this to show to those that would deny it. Remember, this is only pedophiles. Larry Craig isn't even on this list nor are the countless cases of "anti-gay" closet-cases in the Republican Party. Guns, God and Gays? Sounds like a description of the party rather than just a set of wedge issues now.

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House may ban Net taxes for another four years

Under mounting pressure from their Republican colleagues, the Democrats on a U.S. House of Representatives panel have finally scheduled a vote on a bill that would extend by four years a soon-to-expire federal ban on Internet access taxes.

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Democrats Seem Ready to Extend Wiretap Powers

Two months after insisting that they would roll back broad eavesdropping powers won by the Bush administration, Democrats in Congress appear ready to make concessions that could extend some crucial powers given to the National Security Agency.

Administration officials say they are confident they will win approval of the broadened authority that they secured temporarily in August as Congress rushed toward recess. Some Democratic officials concede that they may not come up with enough votes to stop approval.

And we let them get away with doing this shit.

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To end the war in Iraq; whatever happened to Senate Rule 22?

I just want to add that middle-income voters, are tapped out and do not have that two percent the Democrats want. Do the above mentioned congress members want to see a copy of our property tax bills, our utility bills, and our food bills? We should gladly supply them with these copies. To every voter who voted for this change and are shaking their head at this tax surcharge to fund the war, start making copies of your bills and send them onto your congressional member. As for wealthier Americans, their accountants will go into overdrive to avoid this tax surcharge.

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THE MESSAGE: Hip Hop Is The New Apple Pie

Now, unable to do anything useful about our catastrophe in Iraq, Congress moves on to a more manageable mortal threat — rap lyrics.

And we let them get away with this shit.

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Congress raises limit again as U.S. debt nears $10 trillion

According to the folks who follow this stuff closely, the national debt has been rising by an average of $1.36 billion per day since September of last year.

And each citizen now has a share of nearly $30,000.

But Congress has an easy solution to deal with the mounting red ink. Instead of fretting over it, members simply allow the government to borrow more money, much to the consternation of some critics.

And this will be the downfall of America.

Read more, but demand more financial responsibility from your representatives.

Congress Quietly Approves Billions More for Iraq War

The Senate agreed on Thursday to increase the federal debt limit by $850 billion -- from $8.965 trillion to $9.815 trillion -- and then proceeded to approve a stop-gap spending bill that gives the Bush White House at least $9 billion in new funding for its war in Iraq.

Additionally, the administration has been given emergency authority to tap further into a $70 billion "bridge fund" to provide new infusions of money for the occupation while the Congress works on appropriations bills for the Department of Defense and other agencies.

Translation: Under the guise of a stop-gap spending bill that is simply supposed to keep the government running until a long-delayed appropriations process is completed -- probably in November -- the Congress has just approved a massive increase in war funding.

The move was backed by every senator who cast a vote, save one.

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Leahy: Cheney Told GOP-Led Congress It Was ‘Not Allowed To Issue Subpoenas’

In fact, we were about to issue subpoenas then and one of the senators came to our meeting and said that the vice president had met with the Republican senators and told them they were not allowed to issue subpoenas.

Not quite sure that’s my understanding of the separation of powers, but it seemed to work at that time.

Read the rest and watch the video.

Blunt: Government shutdown 'inevitable'

House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (D-Mo.) on Tuesday became the latest Republican to predict a government shutdown this fall when Congress and the White House spar about the size of an annual spending package that is assured to eclipse President Bush's request.

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The Best Health Care Is Reserved for Congress

In an excerpt from his new book, Practicing Medicine Without a License, Don Sloan, M.D., shows that members of Congress enjoy health coverage with unlimited doctor visits, no deductibles and no co-pays -- all for $35 a month. So what about the rest of us?

Well, isn't that nice?

Read the rest.

House members seek $4,400 pay raise

Despite low approval ratings and hard feelings from last year's elections, Democrats and Republicans in the House are reaching out for an approximately $4,400 pay raise that would increase their salaries to almost $170,000.

When do I get a raise?

And quite frankly, I don't believe you all deserve a raise and since I'm paying you...

Read the rest.

Their men in Washington: Undercover with D.C.'s lobbyists for hire

How is it that regimes widely acknowledged to be the world’s most oppressive nevertheless continually win favors in Washington? In part, it is because they often have something highly desired by the United States that can be leveraged to their advantage, be it natural resources, vast markets for trade and investment, or general geostrategic importance. But even the best-endowed regimes need help navigating the shoals of Washington, and it is their great fortune that, for the right price, countless lobbyists are willing to steer even the foulest of ships.

Because everyone has a price.

Learn more.

White House contempt

House Judiciary Committee Democrats warned yesterday they would pursue a contempt of Congress motion if the White House fails respond to subpoenas for testimony and documents related to the firings of U.S. attorneys last year.

The deadline for a response is Thursday, June 28. If the White House does not comply, it opens the possibility of a constitutional showdown between the two branches. In an ironic twist, the Department of Justice (DoJ) would be called on to enforce the contempt motion.

And isn't contempt of Congress an impeachable offense? (If so, then add it to the ever growing list.)

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House keeps pet projects from scrutiny

After promising unprecedented openness regarding Congress' pork barrel practices, House Democrats are moving in the opposite direction as they draw up spending bills for the upcoming budget year.

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Rather than including specific pet projects, grants and contracts in legislation as it is being written, Democrats are following an order by the House Appropriations Committee chairman to keep the bills free of such earmarks until it is too late for critics to effectively challenge them.

And we let them get away with this shit.

Here's more.

Records: Senators who OK'd war didn't read key report

A new biography of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has once again raised the issue of whether members of Congress read a key intelligence report before the 2002 vote to authorize war in Iraq.

Clinton did not read the 90-page, classified National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, according to "Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton."

For members of Congress to read the report, they had to go to a secure location on Capitol Hill. The Washington Post reported in 2004 that no more than six senators and a handful of House members were logged as reading the document.

Six? Fucking six? That really means that 94 didn't read it. Ninety-fucking-four! What the hell do they do out there on the Hill anyway? Why do we pay you lazy sumbitches?

And yet, we allow them to get away with such non-action.

We all should be pissed off!

Here's more.

Benchmarks and Bullsh*t

The news I have for "netroots" types and Huffington Post liberals who see the Democratic Party as the major if not only hope for the antiwar movement can be summed up in two words: forget it. Majority leader Sen. Harry Reid recently let the cat out of the bag when he said, "There is new reason this week to believe that a bipartisan consensus on Iraq is emerging."

Translation: the sellout is coming, if it isn't already here.

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