Rep. Pitts' Brilliant Plan for Mideast Peace: Talks Between Corpse, Vegetable There’s only one minor hitch in Pitts’ clever Middle East peace plan: Yasser Arafat died in 2004 and Ariel Sharon has been in a permanent vegetative state since his stroke in 2006. Wanna take another stab at that one, sir? Read more More
Rep. Darrell Issa Takes to Reddit to Explain Congressional Birth Control Hearing Rep. Darrell Issa, “Internet defender and techie,” went on Reddit for a publicity stunt to answer questions about SOPA, pausing briefly to deflect a discussion on his Congressional birth control hearing. Read more More
███ Worked! ██ Senators ████ S█PA & P█PA ██ Did the Internet blackouts work? At least 18 senators have dropped their support for the controversial Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the wake of Wednesday’s online outrage-via-outage. SOPA support dropping, too. Here’s a handy infographic. Read more More
Letter to Santa from a Warrior of the Indentured Educated Class Sadly, a lot of kids won’t be getting a present from Santa Claus this year. But Cryn Johannsen is asking for a gift anyway, because she’s been nice: “Here’s what I want for Christmas — a Congressman or Congresswoman.” What kind? Find out. Read more More
Congress Repeals Incandescent Light Bulb Ban Tucked inside the new spending bill is language that effectively overturns the 2007 legislation to make light bulbs 30 percent more efficient. That law was passed with overwhelming bipartisan support. Read more More
Santa’s Naughty List: House Passes Payroll Tax Plan in Calculated Political Maneuver The House passed a payroll tax plan — largely along party lines — that would keep alive Social Security payroll tax cuts for some 160 million Americans at President Barack Obama’s request. Then an oil pipeline got in the way. Read more More
Tired of Arguing with Dining Room Tables, Rep. Frank Will Not Seek Re-election in 2012 Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank, a 16-term Democrat, has decided to not seek re-election in 2012 and will retire when his current term ends. One has to wonder if Frank has simply grown tired of politics in Washington. Read more More