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Where Did the Money Go?
Everyone who visits New Orleans asks the same question that locals ask -- where is the money? Congress reportedly appropriated over $100 billion to rebuild the Gulf Coast. Over $50 billion was allocated to temporary and long-term housing. Just under $30 billion was for emergency response and Department of Defense spending. Over $18 billion was for State and local response and the rebuilding of infrastructure. $3.6 billion was for health, social services and job training and $3.2 for non-housing cash assistance. $1.9 billion was allocated for education and $1.2 billion for agriculture.

Aug. 23, 2006, 11:46PM
Senator who put 'secret hold' on bill to open federal records is a secret, too

By REBECCA CARR
Cox News Service

WASHINGTON — In an ironic twist, legislation that would open up the murky world of government contracting to public scrutiny has been derailed by a secret parliamentary maneuver.

An unidentified senator placed a "secret hold" on legislation introduced by Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., that would create a searchable database of government contracts, grants, insurance, loans and financial assistance, worth $2.5 trillion last year. The database would bring transparency to federal spending and be as simple to use as conducting a Google search.

http://www.removerepublicans.com/

with some indictments already taken place.The dems need to get their crap together when handed a gift this good!

What Does James Dobson Know?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/10/5/104722/784

Republicans' 2006 Senate prospects sour

http://thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Campaign/100505.html

This is not how Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.) hoped things would turn out.

High-profile candidates she hoped could defeat incumbent Democrats are shying away from 2006, and some of her own Republican colleagues are looking vulnerable.

On Monday, Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) bowed out of a race next year against Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.). Late last week, Gov. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) said he wouldn’t challenge Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) next year.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), which Dole chairs, has failed to recruit candidates it considers top-tier in Michigan, Florida and Vermont; no one is challenging Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.); and Republicans are embroiled in primaries in Nebraska and Rhode Island.

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Little is known publicly about Miers' position on abortion, an issue of surpassing importance to outside groups on both ends of the political spectrum.

When delegates to a national American Bar Association convention adopted a position in favor of abortion rights in 1992, she worked as head of the Texas state bar to force a reconsideration of the issue by submitting it to a referendum by the 360,000-membership. "This issue has brought on tremendous divisiveness and loss of membership..." she said in early 1993.
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B...AD&SECTION=HOME

much more...

http://www.dailykos.com/

Gay Republican set to become House Majority Leader
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Gay_Republican_eyed_to_become_House_0928.html
AP is reporting that Rep. David Dreier (R-CA) is expected to at least temporarily succeed House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) as majority leader, following DeLay's indictment.

RAW STORY revealed Dreier was gay and lived with his chief of staff last year. LA Weekly then outed him, and he promptly disappeared from the television news show circuit. Our story, which originally ran Sept. 20, 2004, follows in full.

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A Republican congressman from California who has repeatedly voted against gay rights measures is said to be gay himself, and at least three MediaNews Group newspapers are said to have instructed its reporters not to ask questions about the congressman's sexuality or how it relates to public policy.

CBS/AP) For Ben Affleck, the closest role he's had to senator so far was his part as CIA agent Jack Ryan in Tom Clancy's spy thriller "The Sum of all Fears."

But the Washington Post reports some want Affleck to say goodbye to the Hollywood Hills and hello to Capital Hill as the Democratic senator from Virginia.

Post columnist Amy Argetsinger says Virginia Democrats are desperately seeking a big name to take on rising Republican star Sen. George Allen next year.

"They need someone who is smart and photogenic and has a lot of his own money to subsidize a campaign. It just so happens that Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner have been looking for real estate in Charlottesville," Argetsinger tells CBS affiliate WUSA.