Odds and Ends

We had the first snow of the season yesterday! Hooray... winter? Anyway, here's news...

Congress is back in session today. They've, umm, got quite a bit of work to do.

President Bush issued his first signing statement since his thumpin' last year. Added to a military appropriations bill, it "challenged several requirements to provide information to Congress." Take that, legislative branch!

Speaking of ol' Bushie, business lobbyists are working overtime for favors from his administration. They, "nervously anticipating Democratic gains in next year's elections, are racing to secure final approval for a wide range of health, safety, labor and economic rules." Some cited examples are proposals "to roll back rules that let employees take time off for family needs and medical problems" while "electric power companies are pushing the government to relax pollution-control requirements." You know, all good stuff for America.

Now, news from the housing crisis: "Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Monday he is confident there will soon be an agreement to help thousands of homeowners avoid mortgage defaults by temporarily freezing their interest rates." Well, that's nice.

Rudy Giuliani... not only Mr. 9/11, but Mr. Tax Cuts too.

The disgraced Paul Wolfowitz may be back in the administration as "chairman of the International Security Advisory Board, [which] advises Rice on disarmament, nuclear proliferation, WMD issues and other matters." Wow, I feel safer already!

Right-wing boogeyman Hugo Chavez got pwned in the Venezuelan elections, as voters narrowly defeated his constitutional reforms which would've 'let him stand indefinitely for re-election and endorse[d] a huge leap to a socialist state'. "From this moment on, let's be calm," Chavez said, "There is no dictatorship here."

Finally, Time magazine's Michael Kinsley takes on the GOP's stem cell gloating.