Day: October 21, 2005

No confidence in Congress: From the National Journal’s PollTrack analysis of public and congressional insiders opinion polls:

Texas Rep. Tom DeLay’s (R) troubles are leaving his colleagues in Congress guessing at the future of the GOP leadership in National Journal’s Congressional Insiders poll.

Today’s CNN/Gallup/USA Today numbers don’t have much good news for the GOP, either. Half of respondents said they viewed the party negatively, a 5-point jump since Gallup’s mid-September numbers. Four in 10 said they held favorable views of the Republican Party.

Democrats, on the other hand, saw a 5-point gain in favorability, with the party’s positive number rising to 52% and the negative number dropping 4 points to 36%.

Numbers like that might make congressional Democrats more optimistic about their own prospects in the next election cycle. Twenty of the 35 Democratic insiders predicted a switch in party control that would put current House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in the the House speaker’s chair in 2007. Ten said current speaker Dennis Hastert would keep his post.
[…]

Money down the pee-hole: Here’s something to go with those infamous $150 toilet seats — $2 million for waterless urinals. As part of a growing trend of tacking earmarks onto appropriations bills, the money would be diverted from the Navy’s fiscal operations budget into a study of flushless urinals for use on ships and at military installations. The technology could save the armed forces hundeds of thousands of dollars annually in water and sewage costs.

The main congressional backer for the urinal earmark is Rep. Vernon Ehlers, R-Mich., a self-described environmentalist. Of course, the study might be conducted by Falcon Waterfree Technologies, which is located — surprise — in Ehlers’ district.

“They are not the only company doing this,” Ehlers said in a brief interview outside the men’s restroom near the House floor, reported CongressDaily.

Ehlers, who said he has used waterfree urinals “six or seven times” in the last several months, said he became interested in the issue after learning that the military plans to install new bathrooms at several installations.

The technology, he added, could come in handy particularly in Iraq, where troops “don’t have the water to flush a thing.”

But waterfree urinals might remain just a pipe dream for Ehlers, as House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman C.W. (Bill) Young, R-Fla., said conferees on the Defense spending bill will be looking hard at any area they could slash funding — including earmarks — when they begin work next week.

The folks at Yellow Cake Walk, shown above at the White House, also staged a protest at Karl Rove’s house in D.C. last Saturday:

Turning off our cell phones early and removing their batteries, we parked 3 blocks away, not wanting to alert his goons to our presence. We donned oversized Bush, Cheney, and Condi Rice masks. We also had three large signs. Our favorite: A for sale sign we placed in his front yard “Home for Sale: Owner guilty of treason, moving to prison.”

Amazingly, within two minutes of arrival at his house, Rove himself came out with another gentleman (we speculate his lawyer), and drove off with the guy in his Jaguar!

…His being home also contradicts his offices claim in Sunday’s Washington Post that he missed the Saturday AM fundraiser breakfast in Virginia because of a “scheduling conflict”… He was at home!

Rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic: Sounds like President Bush’s chief of staff Andy Card is considering staff changes in the West Wing:

White House senior officials are exploring staff changes to address broader structural problems that have bedeviled Bush’s second term, according to Republicans who said they could speak candidly about internal deliberations only if they are not named. But it remains unclear whether Bush agrees that changes are needed and the uncertainty has unsettled his team.

“People are very demoralized and unhappy,” a former administration official said. “The leak investigation is [part of it], but things were not happy before this took preeminence. It’s just been a rough year. A lot has gotten done, but nothing is easy.”

The Washington Post suggests that Bush might replace his current set of cronies with another set, including budget director Joshua B. Bolten, lobbyist Ed Gillespie or [closeted heterosexual Republican Party] chairman Ken Mehlman.

Or they could just give up. The President and Vice President could just resign. It is impossible to imagine how anyone – including House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who would then become president – could do a worse job governing the country and dealing with foreign relations.

In an ongoing attempt to diversify his porn empire and bolster sagging circ of his flagship Hustler magazine, First Amendment champion Larry Flynt is going chest to chest with Hooters by creating Hustler Bar & Grille.

“I expect it to be a class operation. We’re not going to be like McDonald’s,” Flynt told Advertising Age.

The food will be served by Hustler Hunnies, wearing tight midriff-bearing T-shirts and short-shorts. Hustler centerfold models will make appearances to sign autographs.

“When you look at a sexy concept like Hooters, there is no other competition,” said Brad Saltzman, president of Gerald Bernard Hospitality, which will run the restaurants. “I’ve been to Hooters once and I don’t think people go there for the food. If you have great food like a Cheesecake Factory with phenomenal service and an immaculately clean restaurant, add that with Hustler memorabilia and Larry Flynt memorabilia and you really have a winning concept.”

Urp!