Mark Souder should not resign

I'm so disappointed. I caught just a snippet on the radio that über-conservative Indian Republican Congressman Mark Souder was resigning from Congress following a sex scandal.

Apparently, he had a heterosexual love affair.

C'mon. The rule for Republicans is "live boy or dead girl." Live girl doesn't cut it. Why, when you're caught with a live girl who is not your wife giving you a blowjob in your car parked in the House of Representatives' lot, for the next fifteen years your title is "respected statesman."

Oh, no! Prophecy!

I hate prophetic dreams. Last night, I had a long, extensive dream in which I was trying to explain to King County Judge Prochnau why I blogged my last round of jury duty (after the duty had ended, of course), and why I described the defendant's attorney as having "a rectangular head, like a cereal box with lips."

I'll have to pay close attention to the mail for the next month or so.

Political maneuvering and Orwellian thought

The ever-interesting Phil Plait documents a truly cynical attack on science funding. Using the arcane parliamentary procedures of Congress, Congressman Ralph Hall (R-Texas) attached language to the America COMPETES Act, a regularly refunded grants bill for science funding, then using other arcana called for the bill to be "recommitted," sent back to committee-- which had already filled its calendar and didn't have time on its schedule to reconsider the bill. Hall effectively killed the bill.

It could have avoided the recommittment via a voice vote on the floor, which could have quashed Hall's addition. Here's the ugly part: Hall's language called for the banning of pornography on government employee's computers. Which means that Hall either gets what we wants-- the bill killed-- or he gets what we wants-- a claim that Democrats quashed an effort to get porn off government employee's computers.

Okay, that's sad enough. We're rapidly falling behind in competitiveness, and Congressman Hall is okay with that.

What annoyed me, though, was Bart Gordon (D-Tennesse), who followed up with: "We’re all opposed to federal employees watching pornography." I find that very sloppy language. Does he mean ever? Or just on taxpayer time? Will there be porn testing in the future, like there's drug testing now?