District Judge Elizabeth Halverson, who has been suspended with pay for eight months, has announced she will run for office again if forced from her post by the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline, which finally filed formal charges against her. Halverson, as a judge, has been accused of falling asleep in court, abusing employees, mishandling jury trials and general incompetence, and as a citizen, keeping a filthy yard.

At the same time, the Nevada Supreme Court has ordered the commission to justify why it took so long to bring formal charges against Halverson.

Is it any surprise? Another judge in Clark County who has been accused of behaving like a pig wants to continue to wallow at the government trough. And why do bad judges and lawyers continue to practice--or in this case paid--for so long after problems begin to appear leaving the public exposed and vulneralble to a legal system voted one of the worst in the country? Perhaps the oversight committees are part of the problem?... Or the fact the legal system basically polices itself?...Do you think?

Or another question to ask the public...do you care?

Judicial Hellholes are places where judges systematically apply laws and court procedures in an inequitable manner, generally against defendants in civil lawsuits. In this sixth annual report, ATRF shines the spotlight on six areas of the country that have developed a reputation for uneven justice.
1 South Florida
2 Rio Grande Valley
and Gulf Coast, Texas
3 Cook County, Illinois
4 West Virginia
5 Clark County, Nevada
6 Atlantic County, NJ

From pg. 22 of the report:
The Los Angeles Times conducted an in-depth report on the Clark County judiciary entitled, "They're Playing With a Stacked Judicial Deck." As the paper reported: "A common perception among a dozen out-of-state lawyers interviewed about their experiences in Nevada
courtrooms is that justice in Las Vegas is just another form of legalized gambling."
Lawsuit shenanigans have increasingly tarnished the reputation of Clark County's
civil justice system. Clark County "courts are clogged with frivolous litigation and
the rolls of the state bar are spotted with unethical and incompetent attorneys."
"Indeed, frivolous class action lawsuits know no boundaries in a city that sings to
lawyers in siren song fashion."
...

As I have written before, it is so nice to know that the Times reports more on our corrupt legal system than Nevada's own media. Our newspapers seem to enjoy relaying and replaying our scandals but seem reluctant to upset the party by actually uncovering corruption, unless the players aren't part of Nevada's favorite sons and daughters club, such as former Chicagoan Lacey Thomas.of UMC "fame."

Nevada's largest teachers' union has launched its initiative targeting the state's gaming industry in an effort to get more funding for public schools.

The Nevada State Education Association submitted its petition to the secretary of state Monday. The proposal would raise the gaming tax on Nevada's largest casinos to 9.75 percent, from 6.75 percent. The union estimates that an additional $250 million per year, although others contend $400 million is more accurate, could be used for public schools and teacher raises.

The higher tax would apply only to casinos that make more than $1 million a month in gaming revenue.
...
The union's next step is to gather 58,628 signatures by May. 20.

How much would you like to bet that the initiative will be rejected just hours before the deadline to place on a ballot leaving no time for a re-write?

The guest list appears to be:

Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, Assembly Minority Leader Heidi Gansert, Clark County Commission Chair Rory Reid, Washoe County Commission Chair Bob Larkin, Elko County Commission Chair John Ellison, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, Reno Mayor Bob Cashell, North Las Vegas Mayor Mike Montandon, Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson, Sparks Mayor Geno Martini, and Chancellor Jim Rogers.

As to that southern Nevada mutiny over the Governor's budget plan, Governor tells Chancellor, local officials to "face reality"

Zac Moyle, executive director of the Nevada Republican Party, was arrested last weekend, apparently over unpaid speeding tickets.

Gov. Jim Gibbons spent the last week of September on vacation in Cabo San Lucas.

Now he is attending a Republican Governor's Association forum in Oahu, Hawaii and will return Sunday morning.

Well...did he at least party with Sammy Hagar while in Cabo? Ah, TEQUILLA! So, did Warren Trepp pay for this vacation or was Gibbons interviewing future undocumented housekeepers?

In a response to Senator Lieberman's request for an analysis of the impact on the U.S. if the Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act of 2007 (bill S. 280) were to be passed the E.P.A. wrote the following:
...emmissions under S. 280 would be approximately 1-3 percent lower than 2000 levels in 2030 and 1-5 percent lower than 1990 levels in 2050.
...reductions in Gross Domestic Product would range between 1.1 percent and 3.2 percent. (If enabling technologies are widely available.)
...gasoline prices would increase $0.68 per gallon and electricity by 25 percent by 2050. (That would only be the cost of the bill--not other factors that might lead to $10-20 a gallon gasoline prices.)

The E.P.A. analysis does not try to calculate the cost to the U.S. if higher operating costs cause these business to move overseas nor the cost environmentally if they move to countries with little or no environmental protections at all. In another letter to Senator Spector the E.P.A. reports that Bingaman-Specter (S. 1766) requires a smaller percentage reduction of emissions in covered sectors, but since S. 1766 has broader coverage than S. 280, the total abatement achieved by both bills is similar.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's longtime relationship with a powerful Nevada real estate developer has given rise to a lawsuit by a public interest group.
Judicial Watch wants to know if the Nevada Democrat and other state politicians exerted undue pressure on the federal government on behalf of his friend.

Mr. Reid was at the head of the Democrats' campaign against the "culture of corruption" in Washington. But for years, the Los Angeles Times reported, Reid was active in clearing hurdles to the development.

Judicial Watch is suing the Bureau of Land Management for documents related to the 43,000-acre Coyote Springs housing and recreational development northeast of Las Vegas, now in its early stages. The lawsuit alleges the bureau failed to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request of March 8.

Lawyer and lobbyist Harvey Whittemore, a shareholder in the law firm of Lionel Sawyer & Collins, is the driving force behind the project and a political contributor to Mr. Reid. Mr. Whittemore has employed Leif Reid, a son of the senator, as an attorney.

I wonder just how many politicians and atttorneys are going to get rich from this, especially after the glowing support by Senator Reid, Senator Ensign, former Governor Kenny Guinn, President and CEO of the Nevada Development Authority Somer Hollingsworth, Joe Pantuso of the Southern Nevada Homebuilders Association, and Pat Mulroy of the Southern Nevada Water Authority to name a few.

For more on Coyote Springs see
Water for new town flows to lobbyist: Whittemore gains water rights for development without contention seen in other parts of Nevada
Huge development under way in Nevada desert

From WTOP.com; Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told Congress on Wednesday that the federal government will hit the current debt ceiling on Oct. 1.

The current debt limit is $8.965 trillion. Unless Congress votes to raise that ceiling, the country would be unable to borrow more money to keep the government operating and to pay debt obligations coming due.

The Senate Finance Committee earlier this month approved increasing the limit on the national debt to $9.82 trillion.

That is about $30,000 per person already, so what is another $850,000,000,000 or $2,900 per person?

In the Las Vegas Sun today key state legislators are differing over the meaning of proposed rules designed to reduce the $900 million in tax breaks that Nevada businesses can get for building environmentally friendly buildings.

Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, says businesses seeking sales and property tax breaks must adhere to the criteria for "green construction" buildings set out in AB621, passed by the 2007 Legislature.

But Senate Commerce and Labor Chairman Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, says some companies got opinion letters supportive of their building projects from the state Tax Commission before the new law was passed.

Because of their reliance on a 2005 law governing tax breaks for green construction, they should get tax breaks regardless of what was stated in the 2007 law, Townsend said.
...
During the June 1 floor vote on AB621, Townsend said the legislation eliminated sales tax breaks for all buildings except the CityCenter project being built by MGM-Mirage; Fontainebleau; the Venetian's Lido-Palazzo Resorts projects; the Molasky Corporate Center; the Echelon Place project by Boyd Gaming, and the Panorama Towers project. All are in Clark County.

Legislators revised the older green construction law after learning it would result in more than $900 million in sales and property tax breaks, reducing funding for local government and public schools. The new law is expected to cut the tax breaks in half.

Yep, there just might be a law suit in there somewhere; hasn't Buckley heard of ex post facto? Probably not since education isn't big in Nevada and UNLV students are more noted for hotel management than government but wasn't that Juris Doctor from the University of Arizona supposed to cover that? Just a thought.

But strangely, all the changes haven't affected the biggest projects being built by the most powerful corporations in the state, which just happen to be the ones the legislators most want to keep happy so that they get to keep their "50 percent" positions in Carson City. Frankly, my dear, I am amazed.

On LasVegasNow Brian Atkinson Turner, son of former Commissioner Yvonne Gates, and his wife, Katherine O'Gara, were taken into custody on drug and child endangerment charges.

Police arrived at the home in Southern Highlands because they received reports that O'Gara was driving erratically, possibly under the influence, and with her three-year-old in the car, unrestrained. Inside the house, they found filth and garbage and more, including marijuana and a hydroponic growing system favored by indoor pot farmers. A loaded handgun was in the glove box of the car, just inches from where the child had been.

Law enforcement are still tracking down leads about Gates and has long suspected that some of the money paid by Gates to her family members-- more than $400,000--for her campaign made its way back into her own pocket.

So far, Turner is only charged with possession with intent to sell marijuana and was released Wednesday evening on $10,000 bail.

Signed into law

- First minimum wage increase in a decade. (Note that Congress has given themselves at least seven pay raises during the same time period.)

- Implementation of many remaining 9/11 commission recommendations, including screening of all air cargo.

- Short-term authority to expand the government's ability to eavesdrop without warrants on communications that pass through the United States.

Vetoed by President Bush

- Time line to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq. House upheld the veto.

- Expansion of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. No override votes have been held.

Passed House and Senate in different forms; awaiting compromise

- Expansion of the health care program that covers lower-income children. The House bill also includes significant changes in Medicare. Bush has threatened to veto both versions.

- Student aid expansion.

- Energy legislation with new efficiency standards for appliances, tax breaks and subsidies for hybrid cars and demonstration projects for burying greenhouse gases underground. (Hey, if burying the gases works--which has been a proposed solution even I have heard of--does that mean Harry Reid will stop posturing on stopping the three coal burning power plants proposed in Nevada?)

- $20-billion for water projects. Bush has threatened to veto. (Compromise bill has passed the House and is awaiting a Senate vote.)

Killed by Republican filibuster in Senate

- Immigration legislation.

- Requirement for the government to negotiate directly with drugmakers for lower consumer prices under Medicare.

Passed House

- Farm bill that includes crop payments to farmers and funds for conservation and nutrition programs. Bush has threatened a veto. (The bill it covers farm price and income support, soil and water conservation, alternative energy development, nutrition programs, agricultural trade, farm credit, research and extension, forestry, rural development, horticulture, organic agriculture, crop insurance, food labeling, meat and poultry inspection, and some sort of tax increase.)

Passed and awaiting presidential action

- Tighter congressional ethics provisions and greater disclosure of lobbyists' fundraising. (Disclosure doesn't mean fewer contributions, just greater measures by parties to figure out how to make contributions look innocuous. Remember how much money the Democratic National Committee had to return because it came from Chinese frontmen, Buddhist temples, etc. during the Clinton/Gore campaigns, though not until after they won in 1992 & 1996. Several millions! I wonder where some of Hillary's money is coming from and if she will continue Bill's legacy of quid pro quo for Chinese money.)

- Legislation calling for $33.6-billion over the next three years for science, technology, engineering and mathematics research and education programs.

And after Nancy Pelosi claimed that this new Congress would work more than the 103 days Congress put in last year, the first thing she did is call a day off to watch the NCAA basketball tournament and since then Congress still only works two to three days a week.

On Yahoo News: The FBI and IRS have searched the home of Republican Sen. Ted Stevens in a ski resort in Alaska as part of an investigation into his links with an oil-services company

Stevens is the subject of a grand-jury investigation into his links with managers of VECO Corp., the state's largest oil-services company, as well as numerous unrelated fisheries matters.

In May, Bill Allen, then the chief executive of VECO, along with a vice president, Rick Smith, pleaded guilty to several federal corruption charges.

The New York Times is reporting that Congressional Democrats reached tentative agreement Friday night on a major overhaul of lobbying rules that would for the first time require lawmakers to identify lobbyists who assemble multiple donations and turn them over to candidates.

The disclosure of what is known in political circles as bundling would be a central element of the first major changes made in lobbying rules in the aftermath of the Jack Abramoff scandal and other Congressional corruption cases tied to lobbying.

Under the tentative proposal, Congressional contenders and the respective campaign committees would be required to notify the Federal Election Commission once one individual had delivered more than $15,000 in contributions within six months or $30,000 in one year.

But disclosure doesn't mean they won't take the money; for the most part our politicians act with impunity and while Dems claim that this measure is to stop the Abramoffs of the world, did they forget that he gave money to Senator Harry Reid, who has created quite a resume of questionable land deals and associations with the underside of Las Vegas politics and organized crime. It also doesn't mean that Dems won't take lots of money from special interests as the following Times story shows:

June was a busy month for Senator Charles E. Schumer. On the phone, at large parties and small gatherings around the nation, he raised more than $1 million from the booming private equity and hedge fund industries for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, of which he is chairman.

But there is another way Mr. Schumer has been busy with hedge fund and private equity managers, an important part of his constituency in New York. He has been reassuring them that he will resist an effort led by members of his own party to single out the industry with a plan that would more than double the taxes on the enormous profits reaped by its executives.
Mr. Schumer has considerable say on the issue. In addition to being the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate leadership, he is the only Democrat serving on both of the major committees, Banking and Finance, that have jurisdiction in the matter.

He has long been a pro-business Democrat and a fund-raising machine for the party, as well as a vociferous supporter of Wall Street issues in Washington, much the way Michigan lawmakers defend the auto industry and Iowa politicians work on behalf of corn farmers.

But in the case of the tax proposals, the strategy behind Mr. Schumer's efforts is putting to the test another set of principles he is known for. He has regularly portrayed himself as a progressive politician who identifies with the struggles of the middle class and is sharply critical of the selfish "plutocrats" who he says control the Republican Party.

Sounds to me as if Dems don't need lobbyists when they go directly to businesses and solicit funds while apparently offering up a quid pro quo. And while Schumer claims to be for the middle class but working so hard to protect the exorbitant "earnings" of hedge fund managers, those same middle class constituents better be aware of changes in the tax legislation for next year decided this year by our Democratic Congress affecting the college savings plans of many parents as reported in the Nevada Appeal.

They are finding that their children with unearned income are suddenly being hit up for higher taxes. The Small Business and Work Opportunity Tax Act of 2007 ("2007 Small Business Tax Act") that was passed on May 25 has extended the kiddie tax to those who are 18 years old or who are full-time students under age 24. The expanded kiddie tax rules apply only to dependent children who have income on investments and whose earned income does not exceed one-half the amount of their support. This provision is effective for most families as of Jan. 1, 2008.

This tax change makes custodial accounts a less attractive way to save for college education and other long-term expenses. If you have custodial accounts set up for minors or are thinking of gifting appreciated securities to these accounts, be sure to talk with your tax advisors before year end to determine if you can take advantage of any potential tax benefits for 2007.

I guess "plutocrats" come in Republican and Democratic party flavors Mr. Schumer.

Steve Miller is reporting in his column at AmericanMafia.com that ex-Las Vegas City Councilman Michael J. McDonald is currently the subject of an IRS tax fraud investigation. A federal grand jury will convene in several weeks to hear the government's case against McDonald. An Indictment is expected soon thereafter.

Steve notes that while McDonald sat on the city council between 1995 and 2003, he was best known for being the pawn of two topless bar owners, and doing the bidding of a shady golf course developer and the local trash collection company. In eight years, he went from a $42,000 per year cop to a multimillionaire real estate developer/business consultant though he never built anything other than his own $1.75 million dollar residence, and his only known consulting job was for a little known topless joint called Pleasures that reportedly paid him $30,000 per month for his "consulting services."

For Steve's full story.

On MSNBC: Sen. Obama has escalated his criticism of Hillary Clinton....

Obama said in part:

"I think what is irresponsible and naive is to have authorized a war without asking how we were going to get out -- and you know I think Senator Clinton hasn't fully answered that issue.

And also:

"[But] the general principle is one that I think Senator Clinton is wrong on -- and that is if we are laying out preconditions that prevents us from speaking frankly to these folks, then we are continuing with Bush-Cheney policies, and I am not interested in continuing that."

But then:

Clinton supporters respond to Obama's new criticism by pointing out that Clinton has been very critical of the Bush's Administration policies on diplomacy. Also, her response at the debate -- and in yesterday's skirmish -- was that it doesn't make any sense to pursue vigorous diplomacy without getting the most of it. You just can't promise to meet with world leaders, they say, without conditions.

Won't it be fun to watch if Clinton and Obama both end the primary season at the top of the heap. Hillary will want the presidential nominee spot and no one in the Democratic party will work very hard against the Clinton machine for fear of cutting their political throats. So how will Obama make up to Hillary to have a chance as a running mate? Probably something on the line of "it was in the spirit of political debate but now is the time to work together for an America which screws the little people." Well...maybe not in exactly those words.

Auditors have found that the Department of Agriculture has not been conducting the necessary checks to ensure that subsidy payments are proper.

"USDA has made farm payments to estates more than two years after recipients died, without determining, as its regulations require, whether the estates were kept open to receive these payments," their report said.

Of the identified payments to deceased farmers' estates or businesses, 40 percent went to those who had been dead more than three years, and 19 percent went to those who had been dead for seven or more years.

The report was requested by Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee

Senator Grassley's interest may have to do with the fact that he himself is a recipient of farm subsidies as reported last Monday, the 16th, by Fox News, which may be a conflict of interest worthy of an award--for hypocrisy.

Today, the average farm household earns $81,420 and has a net worth of $838,875 -- both well above the national average. Farm incomes are setting records, and farms have one of the lowest failure rates of any industry.

To be sure, some family farmers continue to struggle. But if farm subsidies were really about alleviating farmer poverty, then lawmakers could guarantee every full-time farmer an income of 185 percent of the federal level ($38,203 for a family of four) for under $5 billion annually -- one-fifth the current cost of farm subsidies.

Instead, small farmers are largely excluded from farm subsidies. Farm subsidy payments are based on acreage, so by definition, the largest agribusinesses get the largest subsidies. Consequently, commercial farmers -- who report an average income of $200,000 and net worth of nearly $2 million -- now collect the majority of farm subsidies. Most farm subsidy dollars go to millionaires.

Fom 1995 to 2005, farm subsidies have been distributed to Fortune 500 companies such as John Hancock Life Insurance ($2,849,799) and Westvaco ($534,210); as well as celebrity hobby farmers like David Rockefeller ($553,782) and Ted Turner ($206,948). Even Members of Congress who vote on farm legislation have received subsidies, such as Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa, $225,041) and Rep. John Salazar (D-Colo., $161,084).

The Washington Post reported that Tyler Farms (a big supporter of the Clintons over the years) in Arkansas has collected $37 million in farm subsidies since 1996 by dividing itself into 66 legally separate corporations. Other farmers evade payment limits by signing up family members, such as the Georgia farmer who reportedly collected thousands in additional subsidies by listing his two-year-old daughter as a co-farmer.

It gets even sillier. Most subsidies are based on land's historical use, even if it is no longer used for farming. So when 75 acres of Texas farmland was recently converted into a housing development, the homeowners on these $300,000-properties become eligible for annual farm subsidies for the lawn in their backyards.

There is not much more that I can say...our country is owned and run by special interests through campaign contributions which lead to legislation to benefit the few while education, health care, small businesses, etc. all lose ground because most of us are simply fodder for the powerful minority who see competition as detrimental to their profits.

Pat Hearn is leaving his job as executive director of the Nevada Commission on Ethics after having the position for less than a year.

Commission Chairman Jim Kosinski said Hearn is resigning the $94,136-a-year job to return to Oregon, where he headed the state ethics commission for 15 years before taking the Nevada job Aug. 1 of last year.

Is that because there are no ethics in the state of Nevada at all?

Apparently earmarks are not earmarks when Democrats tell us they aren't.

From the L.A. Times article "Lawmakers Try To Save Their Earmarks:"
After Democrats won control of Congress, they moved to fulfill their pledge to crack down on the controversial practice of lawmakers slipping projects in spending bills without public scrutiny.

In February, they scrapped Republican-drafted bills loaded with earmarks and passed a bill that they boasted had none.

Among those celebrating the achievement was Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who said that piecing together the $463.5-billion spending bill was difficult, "but we got it done without a single earmark."

But the day after President Bush signed it, Reid wrote federal agencies to "strongly support the priorities" in the discarded GOP bills. "I believe they are essential to the nation and to my home state of Nevada."

Reid was not alone in seeking to save his earmarks.

Lawmakers from both parties -- including Democrats ranging from the most senior, such as Sen. Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, to one of the most junior, such as Sen. Jon Tester of Montana -- pressed agencies to grant their spending requests, according to correspondence obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the Center for Investigative Reporting.

What were those Democratic campaign promises again?

Apparently after selling 1,000 acres near Kingman, AZ--and giving control of development plans for over 7,000 more acres--to Jim Rhodes, officials at the state Land Department learned that Rhodes has admitted to illegally using his money to aid powerful politicians in Nevada; that he has repeatedly and successfully been sued over allegations of fraud, theft and self-dealing by his investment partners and others he's done business with; and that he has a long history of complaints for shoddy workmanship and construction defects from people who bought his homes.

Jamie Hogue, deputy state land commissioner, said officials at the agency were not aware of those things when Rhodes officials first contacted them about the property nine days before the auction.

If they knew then what they know today, they probably couldn't have done much differently because Rhodes met the bidder qualifications published before the auction, she said.

At that time, land department officials were concerned about who could bring the money to the table.

The character of the high bidder was not an issue, she said.

Character never seems to be an issue. Look how hard Las Vegas city councilmembers have worked to keep Rick Rizzolo's club open, county commissioners to give licenses to felons like Vinnie Faraci, and how many commissioners have been caught or investigated for bribery. Part of the information on Rhodes came to light from Erin Kenney testimony during the G-Sting trial, which showed that after being a commissioner she received $200,000 a year from Rhodes as a consultant, and, from another witness, that supposedly Kenney was paid $20,000 a month while commissioner.

Other names which continue to pop up stinking of corruption along with Rhodes:

Sen. Harry Reid, who got $10,000 in illegal contributions from Rhodes.

Jay Brown, the Las Vegas lawyer who worked for Rhodes and has recently been representing Signorelli in the "imaginary" transfer of Crazy Horse Too from Rick Rizzolo, which manueverings have been extensively covered by Steve Miller. Brown is a longtime friend and investment partner of Sen. Reid. Among Brown's other clients was Mike Galardi, former owner of Cheetahs, who was convicted of racketeering and bribery of Clark County Commissioners in the G-Sting trial.

Galardi has stated he and Mike Malone, the former county commissioner, paid cash to Kenny and Commissioner Kincaid-Chauncey, and arranged sexual favors for Herrera. All of it was done in return for favorable treatment from the commission, he said.

Galardi has also claimed that local cops, prosecutors, judges, even FBI agents and an assistant U.S. attorney had taken payoffs in the form of money, campaign contributions or free services at his strip clubs.

And interestingly, attorney Christopher Kaempfer, partner at Kummer, Kaempfer, Bonner, Renshaw, & Ferrario, apparently passed on a threat by the law firm's client Rhodes to Commissioner Mark James who sponsored freezing zoning in the Red Rock Canyon area, limiting the number of houses Rhodes could build there.

Yep. It takes a whole lot of character to be successful in Clark County, if the meaning of character is money, money, money!

For more go to "New land baron has checkered past," or "Commissioners want more answers from developer Rhodes."

The GOP hasn't spent any time advertising the fact that it has moved its caucus forward, now scheduled for Jan. 19, only five days after Iowa's caucuses, until a sudden avalanche of postings on how the GOP hasn't made any noise.

Democrats have been all over Nevada while Republicans have hardly stopped by. Some may take this as a snub by Republicans who probably see delegate-rich states that have moved to Feb. 5, such as California, New York and New Jersey as more important.

I for one am considering voting for the candidate who spends the least amount of time with tv ads, which probably means some poor sixth party schmoe with no money and no chance--but at least he or she won't be spending hundreds of millions lying about his or her virtue and slamming the other candidates. Thankfully, I have several dozen books in mind to read and a number of DVDs to watch so I won't have to watch 18 months of political balderdash, blather, bunkum, claptrap, drivel, idiocy, nonsense, piffle, poppycock, rigmarole, rubbish, tomfoolery, trash, twaddle, baloney, bilge, bull, bunk, crap, hooey, malarkey.

Toughening ethics laws, once a priority of Democrats, has bogged down in Congress as party leaders find their campaign promises colliding with lawmakers' re-election concerns. Two months have passed since a task force was supposed to have recommended how an independent panel might look into ethics complaints before they go to the House ethics committee. A key sticking point is opposition in both parties to letting outsiders file complaints against members of Congress.

Currently, only House members can initiate an ethics probe. Public watchdog groups call the restriction self-serving and unreasonable.

Before the elections Dems campaigned for change; since they took office, they act just like Republicans. Big promises forgotten for Big money.

For more go to Ethics reform bogged down in Congress.