Subject: U.S. Congressional News

• Paranoia Roundup: Immigration edition

  This will come as no surprise, but Aliso Viejo's Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minutemen (not the immortal patriotic heroes of Lexington and Concord– Jim's are the flabby guys who have figured out how to combine xenophobia and birdwatching by scanning the horizon for Mexicans instead of great blue herons) is engaged in wishful thinking again. I'm not referring to his plans for a "multistate civilian border patrols" reported in this morning's Register. No, I'm referring to something else h

  March 30, 2006

• Hirelings and Slaves and Tuneless Members of Congress

  Just when I thought I was done writing about the national anthem, an alert reader who was never a contestant in the Miss Teen USA pageant (which is a shame, since given the circumstances, he was probably a shoe-in for the Congeniality award) , tipped me to this story from ABC's Nightline. Nightline dispatched an intrepid reporter to Capitol Hill to ask members of Congress their views on the singing of the anthem in languages other than English. The results were predictable: "The often-partisan

  May 9, 2006

• Behind every great man...

  For some reason, I had forgotten that former OC congressman and current chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission Christopher Cox is married, but married he is, and to a very industrious woman. Like many who belong to the bedrock traditional values strata of the Republican Party, which loudly proclaims the value of a stay-at-home wife, the Coxes are a two income couple. And a good thing, too, because while political appointments like hubby's have a limited shelf life, Mrs. Cox's busines

  August 2, 2006

• Eddie Rose on "The Good, the Bad & the Ugly"

  Eddie Rose writes: "In California this year, we have--with one notable exception--the WORST slate of candidates, including a man who can't pronounce the name of the state he claims to serve! Were it not for the importance of several ballot propositions, it probably wouldn't make much sense to go to the polls at all--unless you believe that we should simply vote for the LESSER OF EVILS. What an option! Here are my recommendations: Prop. 1A: Use existing gas taxes for roads and transportatio

  October 29, 2006

• Hughcifer Unhinged

  When it came to this election, Hugh Hewitt, our favorite unintentional radio comedian, fought a long, hard battle against reality. One expects no less from him. He took extraordinary measures to blind and deafen himself, even engaged in a little body-snatching from the Democratic political graveyard, in his attempt to hammer the world into the shape of his strange little fantasy-- a three seat gain for Republicans in the House of Representatives. And even though Hewitt couldn't make reality d

  November 8, 2006

• The Grinch Who Stole O'Reilly

  Our rootstacular music contributor, Buddy Seigal (who in another life is rootstacular musician extraordinaire Buddy Blue) sent this in to us a couple days ago, at which time we muttered into the curb, "If ever that Clockwork blog is up and ruining again, we'll share this with our vast reader." But we also felt duty bound to credit the original source, and although we found references to this Rep. John Dingell ditty from the usual suspects (like Wonkette, Democratic Underground, Kos), we could no

  December 20, 2005

• White House Oil Men: OUT! More Taxes on Gas: IN!

  My how times change. The boost that 9/11 gave the oily men in the White House was as short-lived as any post-Seinfeld sitcom starring Jason Alexander. It seems like only yesterday that Dickless Cheney was defending our latest Blood for Oil campaign by suggesting Americans essentially have a God-given right to our "way of life"--even if, no, ESPECIALLY if that means giving a petroleum-jelly-covered middle finger to Kyoto, worldwide imbalances in energy consumption and all the nasty diseases assoc

  May 23, 2006

• Monday's Headlines & Surprises: Rhinotillexomania

  August 27, 2007

• Ringy Dingy With the Wingy Dingies

  Don't you hate it when solicitors, poll takers and bill collectors phone just as you're sitting down to dinner? But who in their right mind would hang up on their Man in Congress? In this case, Dana Rohrabacher was conducting a telephonic town hall the other night. The thing that became most clear while the rabidly right-wing Republican reached out and touched me: constituents in his Huntington Beach-based 46th District are nuttier than he is. Most callers during the 35 minutes this listener c

  July 28, 2008

• HAPPY 9/11! Now Go See the Film About the Film About 9/11 That You Didn't See ... er, Check That ...

  Perhaps you remember the flap all over right-wing radio two years back about Disney/ABC's handling of the two-part miniseries, The Path to 9/11, which partly blamed the Clinton Administration for not taking out Osama bin Laden, allowing the terrorist leader to fester and then KABLOOEY! goes the World Trade Center and Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. Well, the Lincoln Club and Republican Party of Orange County screen a documentary tonight that “exposes the systematic way in which the Clintons, Cong

  September 11, 2008

• The Year in Oval Office Bootie Calls

  January 7, 1999

• A Real Lou-Lou

  June 17, 1999

• Endorse-O-Matic!

  November 7, 2002

• Same Cox, New Box!

  August 4, 2005

• Its a Wonderful Life

  August 18, 2005

• Barbara Coe Ties National Council of La Raza To Notorious Salvadoran Gang

  California Coalition for Immigration Reform head witch Barbara Coe keeps getting wackier and wackier. This week, she forwarded a press release to her Know Nothing nation about how National Council of La Raza presidents Janet Murguia was scheduled to testify before the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee about including homeowners as part of any bailout plan. Any reasonable person can disagree with Murguia, but Babs went balistic as usual. "Isn't it enough that La Raza has

  January 9, 2009

• John Taylor Describes His Last Day on the Job at Nixon Library

  John H. Taylor, who left his longtime gig as the executive director of the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace Foundation to lead St. John Chrysostom Episcopal Church and School as the Rancho Santa Margarita church's vicar, describes the events of his last day on the job in Yorba Linda here.It was highlighted by a visit from Edward Nixon, Dick's younger brother and the sole survivor among Hannah and Frank Nixon's five boys, who recounted childhood tales, hawked his new book The Nixons: A Fami

  February 18, 2009

• Is Re-election Loretta Sanchez's Most Difficult Option?

  Near the end of this Reid Wilson story on TheHill.com, Republicans indicate they will go hard at the congressional seat currently held by Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) in 2010. "We are looking to some unconventional districts where we believe we can draft a top-flight candidate to create additional opportunities," says Ken Spain, the National Republican Congressional Committee's communications chief. Days earlier, Sanchez was coy with Politico.com on whether she

  April 3, 2009

• OC's Scariest People

  Our Congressional delegation tops this year’s list of 33 villains (31 for October, plus two more to get to the Dia de los Muertos, ese)

  October 25, 2007

• Cox Quiet On Cover-Up

  May 22, 2003

• To Your Corporate Health

  June 26, 2003

• Mondo Washington

  May 2, 2002

• The General's Last Stand

  Vang Pao devoted his life to fighting communism in Laos—until his onetime ally, the U.S. government, arrested him

  July 5, 2007

• This Week in Living Legends

  January 19, 2006

• Lou Sheldon's Movin' On Up

  January 12, 2006

• I Scream, You Scream

  July 7, 2005

• Pussies Galore!

  July 29, 2004

• Can Chris Cox rescue the CIA?

  July 22, 2004

• Hail the Preemptive Heroes

  April 10, 2003

• Casting lott

  December 26, 2002

• Ashcroft to Mueller to Anybody Else

  June 13, 2002

• Mondo Washington

  March 21, 2002

• Golden Smog

  May 17, 2001

• Objection!

  April 26, 2001

• C-SPAM

  October 21, 1999

• Constitutional Cuisinart

  February 25, 1999

• Covert Campaigner

  November 26, 1998

• Cox and Bull

  November 19, 1998

• Ron Packard, Military Whore

  October 8, 1998

• Opening Shot

  September 24, 1998

• The Loser Wins

  August 27, 1998

• Poof!

  February 12, 1998

• Yes! Dornan is Completely Nuts!

  March 6, 1997

• As Rep. Calvert Beams Over Gipper Statue, Many Fume

  Courtesy U.S. Capitol"Ladies and gentlemen, the statue of Ronald Reagan," the announcer inside the Capitol Rotunda said last Wednesday before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi helped 87-year-old Nancy Reagan to her feet so she could tug back the blue drape cloaking Chas Fagan's 7-foot bronze statue of the Gipper.The audience rose to politely applaud. Among them were a bipartisan collection of the type of folks you'd normally see shouting each other down on the Sunday chat shows. From the right came for

  June 9, 2009

• Kamala Lopez

  June 11, 2009

• Lt. Dan Choi on His "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Setback

  Former Tustin resident Lt. Dan Choi issued the following statement regarding a military panel in New York recommending he be discharged from the Army: Dear friend -- I've got some bad news. After 10 years of service to our country--including leading combat patrols, rebuilding schools and translating Arabic in Iraq for 15 months--the Federal Recognition Board issued its recommendation on Tuesday that I be discharged from the Army for "moral and professional dereliction" under the military's

  July 2, 2009

• Friday Film Funnies Fun: Van Tran, Assemblymember and Police Obstructor

  Don't believe the Red County gang: state assemblymember and Little Saigon don Van Tran had next to no chance to unseat incumbent Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez in next year's 47th District congressional race. All Tran had on his side were mostly Vietnamese voters and all Mexican-haters, while Loretta has all the Dems, wabs, and some Vietnamese voters on her side despite doing next to nothing in her 12 years in Capitol Hill. No amount of weekly press releases by the National Republican Congression

  August 7, 2009

• Orange County Clergy Goes Hollywood for Obamacare

  Yes, the people popping up everywhere to disrupt explanations of Obamacare by congress people and administration folk seldom get covered these days. A favorite was two days ago on CNN, when the anchorwoman cut to such a town hall where a U.S. senator was detailing the plan. Without hanging in long enough so viewers could figure out what the senator was explaining about the plan, CNN cut back to the doe-eyed newscaster, who said she'd check back in should "something happe

  August 11, 2009

• Pelosi Coming to OC, Maybe Celebrates Her Disapproval Spike

  ​It'll only cost ya $150 to see Nancy Pelosi in Orange County. The Democratic Party of OC's 15th annual Harry S. Truman Awards Dinner on Dec. 4 will feature the House Majority Leader as keynote speaker. Santa Ana State Assemblyman Jose Solorio will take home the Truman, while Florice Hoffman will net the Samuel Gompers Award and Marti Schrank the Lifetime Achievement Award. No, we don't really know what any of these things mean.Hey, look at this: The latest Field poll finds Pelosi "not po

  October 20, 2009

• Dana Rohrabacher Grills Nicole Kidman

  One of these people won an Oscar.​She came to Capitol Hill to do the good celebrity thing and talk up a worthy cause: women's rights.He came to Capitol Hill to glower, vote against Joe Wilson and deny the existence of global warming.It's no surprise these two titans of beauty clashed.

  October 26, 2009