....AND what's more, it's the very Ethics rules they promised during the 2006 election and put in place in the first couple months they were in the Majority. Of course, I NEVER believed they were serious in the first place.

BTW, this news made the Wall Street, but not much headline, if at all, in the liberal mainstream press.

"Congress Relaxes New Rules On Lobbyist Disclosures
By Elizabeth Williamson

WASHINGTON -- Congress has relaxed rules that would have required public disclosure of contributions and parties paid for by lobbyists, narrowing the scope of new ethics rules intended to draw back the veil on Washington's influence game.

New guidance released by Congress late Wednesday exempts lobbyists from reporting their financing of an array of political and charitable contributions, events and parties at political conventions."
http://online.wsj.com/public/article...161964043.html

Oh well----their BIG cleanup lasted ALMOST a year anyway before they decided to weaken it. <G>

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"This is a time for a national imperative not to fail in Iraq." Condoleeza Rice, January 11, 2007

"We're going to have the most ethical congress in history" (Isn that what the Clintons said too?)
What a bafoon she is. Pelosi & her co-horts in crime can't even define "ethical".

Here's a link to the full article for nonsubscribers:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1216...googlenews_wsj

It's partly an attempt to skirt the rules, but it's also partly an effort to address what would have been pretty complex reporting and tracking requirements for lobbyists.

In general, though, this isn't good. Ethics rules should be simple, straightforward and tough. I don't like the practice of establishing rules with loud fanfare, then slowly sliding away from them with later, quiet guidance.

Though it's worth noting that the Dems' ethics rules are *still* stricter than what the GOP had in place.

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Man up.

Did I mention that their rules are *still* much stricter than what the GOP got away with?

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Man up.

No you didn't, but that's ok, "bad rules" are bad rules, no matter who is practicing them.
This is a whole load of hockey puck!

I don't see any reason whatsoever that every dime coming from lobbyist should be disclosed.

We need to know who's buying off our representatives.

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Exactly!!!!

Oh yeah, sure. No more $25 lunches that they apparently could be bought for! <g>

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"This is a time for a national imperative not to fail in Iraq." Condoleeza Rice, January 11, 2007

So I suppose they censured Murtha over threatening another rep who challenged Murtha on his earmarks?

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Barack Obama's Executive Flop

If Obama couldn't lead such a small organization as the Chicago Annenberg Challenge to success, how can any one bellieve he can lead this country to it?