How 'bout Tom Delay's nifty little consolation prize: a seat on the House Appropriations Committee? The better to 'crack down' on trading earmarks for votes, heh?

Indictments? No problem.

Yeah, these guys are so serious about reform.

Really.

The brazenness with which the republicans game the system seems to know no bounds. If only we had another political party that could speak with a uniform voice on real reforms and force the republicans to admit their belief in quid pro quo legislation or walk away from it. If only.

I have no problem with, say, Archer Daniels Midland paying to fly a bunch of congresspeople to Nebraska for a seminar on corn. What I do have a problem with is a company in, say, Tennessee that makes designer radiator caps for tractor trailers sending a bunch of congresspeople to, say, Aruba, shaking their hands for a couple of minutes as they get off the plane, and calling that a business trip when it's really a corporate-funded vacation. How do you put the kibosh on the latter without discouraging the former? Simple. Appoint a Travel Committee with equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans to approve each trip. If it's a trip to West Virginia for an inspection tour of coal mines, I doubt the committee will take very long to sign off on it. If it's not legit, I'm sure the committee would love to hear about Representative Soandso's explanation why this is not the case.

Strange, isn't it, how mention of the 29th president seems to pop up rather often in political discourse as of late? I predict such references will increase. Could it be because, perhaps unconsciously, political pundits realize there is a pretty close race going on for the title of "Worst President of The United States of America?"

Corruption was part of the "normalcy" of the Harding whitehouse. When all the hanky-panky and outright thievery of the Iraqi Reconstruction story comes to light, will it top the Teapot Dome scandal?

The word "normalcy" was part of Harding's gift to the English language. H.L. Menken called these neologisms "Gamaielese". George W. Bush also often seems to be speaking his own version of our language.

The parallels between the characters and the careers of these two men are many.

Who the winner will be of this dubious title remains to be seen. No doubt about the looser though; then as now, it is the American people.

Another President who comes to mind amid this tragic and endless dust bowl of scandal is Hoover. His utter lack of insight and his contempt for those less fortunate than himself are perfectly mirrored in this administration and its minions in Congress. Hoover said that anyone who hadn't made a million by the age of forty was worthless, and he came out with lots of idiotic predictions like "prosperity is just around the corner." How do you spell Mission Accomplished?

Boehner says that these special interest trips don't affect his judgement, but this year he proposed and Congress passed legislation that will make it illegal for borrowers to refinance their consolidation loans when they locate another lender offering lower rates. Students and parents use Consolidaton loans to lock-in interest rates and extend terms. If Congress tried to eliminate refinancing of home loans, they would be run out of the country.

How did this happen? Maybe its becaue most of Boehner's trips to Florida were on Sallie Mae's private jet and Sallie Mae is against competition?

The next question is whether America's students and parents are going to let them get away with it?