U.S. Representative James Traficant (D-Ohio) has been found guilty on all 10 charges he faced, including kickbacks, fraud, bribery, and racketeering. The Congressman, known for his
hatred of the IRS(
God bless him) and his love of
pork barrel projects, has lit up the Congress with his
bombastic behavior since he was elected in 1984. Controversy has never been far from Traficant, he still claims that the trial is due to the
bizarre, humorous, and grotesque story of his mob-funded election to Sheriff of Youngstown. He claims that he will run as an
independent in the newly formed 17th District in the next congressional election. Will he be out of jail? Does he have a chance? What is
Congress going to do with him?
Fascinating background information courtesy of investigative journalist Dan Moldea's website
posted by insomnyuk
on Apr 11, 2002 -
11 comments
A 401(k) is not a Pension! In a pension plan, your employer invests some money and gives you some of it when you retire. In a 401(k), they, um, don't.
Congress seems a little confused on this issue, however. It turns out that the 401k might be more boondoggle than boon to average people planning to retire before they die.
posted by ilsa
on Apr 11, 2002 -
21 comments
Bye Bye Amtrak? "If Congress and the Administration do not appropriate adequate funds for FY '03, Amtrak may be forced to discontinue
all long-distance train service effective October 1." Rail advocacy groups have
differing reactions.
posted by mrbula
on Feb 2, 2002 -
28 comments
Psychotronic and other space-based mindcontrol weapons would be banned under a bill introduced in the US House of Representatives by Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) last October. If it passes, can I take off my
tinfoil helmet?
posted by MrBaliHai
on Jan 14, 2002 -
10 comments
America the Polarized NYT's Paul Krugman says that Congress is polarized because Republicans have moved to the right, while Democrats have remained fairly constant. He (and a political scientist) attribute the change to economic polarization, the sharply widening inequality of income and wealth.
posted by pmurray63
on Jan 6, 2002 -
24 comments
Cowardice in Washington? Joan Ryan, of the SF Chronicle, takes congress to task for abandoning the capitol at the first sign of danger. Is hiding in a bunker 'letting the terrorists win?'
posted by housepox
on Oct 23, 2001 -
14 comments
Silicon Valley backs Senate bill that would allow companies to report computer network attacks to the government without having to worry about the public finding out. The reasoning: it would encourage
more companies to report the problems and help the
government track down the culprits. A
similar bill is in the House.
posted by thescoop
on Sep 25, 2001 -
3 comments
The register chimes in on new anti-terrorist bills that attack due process, the fourth amendment, and encryption. Sample letters and information on how to contact your reps are available at the
Electronic Frontier Foundation. Act quickly, because congress sure will.
posted by skallas
on Sep 24, 2001 -
42 comments
Quid pro quo anyone?
Secretary of State Katherine Harris, who was at the center of Florida's disputed presidential election last year, will run for Congress in 2002, a top Republican official said Tuesday.
posted by dchase
on Jul 24, 2001 -
16 comments
It's that time of year again! Yes kids, it's time once again for the
annual introduction of the Flag-Protection Amendment, currently being debated in the House of Reps. Last year the bill passed the House 305-124 and was defeated in the Senate by only six votes. It's again expected to pass the House and again expected to get shot down in the Senate, but considering the zany sitcom that 21st century American politics has become, who knows what that wacky Legislative branch will do?
posted by Shadowkeeper
on Jul 17, 2001 -
26 comments
Chinese-American congressman denied entrance to Department of Energy offices U.S. Rep David Wu (outspoken and rather instrumental in the Wen Ho Lee case) was denied entrance twice, despite having Congressional identification. "Energy Department officials told Wu's office the caution was justified because congressional IDs are easy to fake... But Capitol Police recalled only one incident of possible congressional ID forgery, 20 years ago and never proven."
posted by Dean_Paxton
on Jun 4, 2001 -
40 comments
Something else tax-related...
There is NOW a genuine effort in Congress to eliminate the income tax! House Resolution (H.J. Res. 45 -- The Liberty Amendment) sponsored by heroic congressman Ron Paul, that would repeal the 16th Amendment and free us from direct taxation, which is one thing the Constitution originally guaranteed, before it was vandalized by unscrupulous politicians early in the last century, who promised the income tax would hit only "the rich" (where have you heard that before?) and would never be more than a few percent. Politicians have such senses of humor. Anyway, YOU can help Rep. Paul's effort to repeal the income tax: join the petition to the U.S. House of Representatives and encourage everyone you know to do the same. This is a real opportunity, so if you oppose the income tax, here's your chance to do something concrete and effective (and still easy) to help the fight against it. Time is a factor, so please do it today.
Found on
deuceofclubs.com, an amazingly witty site where a person can lose countless hours of their life at, reading all sorts of non-tax-related mayhem.
posted by lizardboy
on May 26, 2001 -
13 comments
Bipartisan Support for SUV Mileage Reform U.S. enthusiasm for gas-guzzling SUVs is itself fueled by idiotic federal policy.
These passenger cars have been classified as "light trucks" since 1975, when they omprised only 20% of all U.S. vehicles. Today, SUVs are nearly half of everything on the road.
Result: DOT says gas mileage is at a
20 year low.
Bush and Cheney distort the truth a lot in order to push pro-oil-drilling agenda. Read what retired president Jimmy Carter says about their
misinformation and scare tactics.
posted by steve_high
on May 18, 2001 -
4 comments
HR 1542, the so-called
Internet Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act, will do exactly the opposite of what its name implies, reducing Internet freedom and broadband deployment by eliminating many regulations designed to force the Bells into being more competitive, and also by outlawing voice over IP.
From the article: "This bill ... does nothing more than strip-mine the remaining competitive safeguards of the current law, green-lighting the Bells to bludgeon any remaining competitors into oblivion."
posted by donkeymon
on May 8, 2001 -
4 comments
US Census not to be adjusted for undercounts. (NY Times, req'd registration)
Many political strategists, Democrats and Republicans alike, say that reliance on unadjusted population figures favors Republicans in the drawing of Congressional districts, since, they say, adjustment through statistical sampling would add to customarily Democratic neighborhoods most of those who have been uncounted.
They visited my home/office four times and never once brought the Long Form. Damnation.
posted by methylsalicylate
on Mar 2, 2001 -
13 comments
Colin Powell to become the secretary of state, which seems ok on the surface, but after looking at the
functions of the position, wouldn't he make a better
secretary of defense instead? I can't say I'm comfortable with the thought of the leading US diplomat and negotiator being someone so closely tied with military force (side question: would a war man negotiate peace treaties or get us into more bombing missions?). I also find it odd that in the acceptance speech, he can speak of the horrors of Iraq's "weapons of mass destruction" and in the same breath talk about how the US should build up a missile defense system (our missiles aren't capable of mass destruction?). What do you think about the appointment?
posted by mathowie
on Dec 16, 2000 -
35 comments
Ficus2000 hoped to bring reform and change to congress by providing a choice to uncontested congressional seats, a ficus tree. "The United States Congress is full of babbling idiots and bumbling morons," said Ficus campaign strategist and filmmaker Michael Moore. In one poll, the plant had a 91% lead on incumbant RP Frelinghuysen, however lost in the
election. Too bad, at least the ficus would've produced clean air
posted by Zebulun
on Nov 9, 2000 -
4 comments
Keep pushing for low power FM. Budget negotiations are on hold but Congress could come back and try to again kill low power FM. Voice your concern (if you are concerned) to your representatives.
posted by mmarcos
on Nov 5, 2000 -
0 comments
FLASH! Sanity breaks out in Congress! Doesn't sound like grandstanding to me; sounds like these guys have a clue on software and business method patents. "Healthy skepticism" sound like real friendly words to me.
posted by baylink
on Oct 4, 2000 -
0 comments
THOMAS allows you to look up, and even
link to, any bill that's been before any congress.
For example, I could link to
H.R. 1304, the Quality Health-Care Coalition Act of 2000. I could also mention that Tom Coburn (R-OK) added Section 2h to the bill, which says Doctors have no collective bargaining rights when it comes to ensuring women have access to abortion services.
posted by alan
on Jul 2, 2000 -
5 comments
Another day, another piece of
unconstitutional net-censorship legislation in Congress. And this time it's authored by your pal and mine, John "Watch Out for Charlies!" McCain. Perhaps we should start a deadpool for all these bills, giving out some cash to whoever guesses the dates on which the courts throw them out?
posted by aaron
on Jun 27, 2000 -
4 comments
speed limit -- A bill banning Internet sites which publish or even link to drug-making information looks set to sail through Congress
posted by palegirl
on Apr 26, 2000 -
3 comments
NPR doesn't like low-power FM radio? Great. LA radio sucks rocks, so I was kind of excited by the idea of having more stations pop up here that don't have to answer to a giant mother network (a la KROQ or KLOS). It's disappointing to see that NPR wants to join in with Corporate Radio. Write your congressman! Tell 'em to vote down H.R. 3439!
posted by RakDaddy
on Apr 11, 2000 -
1 comment
Yay! The flag burning amendment is dead , at least for another year. What offends me most is: why did 63 Senators vote for this? Second most: do these people actually believe themselves when they preach that people have fought and died for the flag? I *hope* that no soldiers have fought for the flag, per se; I would hope that our military fights for the ideals of which the flag is a nice, abstract representation.
I've put up
a short page with links to the official Congressional Record transcripts of the debate, for those who are interested. (It gives me reading for my plane ride tomorrow, if I can avoid the calling of my Sims family.)
posted by delfuego
on Mar 29, 2000 -
5 comments
