Please, not the thongs…
Don’t plan on visiting Delcambre, Louisiana, if you have saggy pants that show your undergarments. It is against the law and carries a penalty of up to six months in jail and a $500 fine. Ouch. It includes thongs, and since it does, I am totally against it. Totally.

That “new car” smell…
The new Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, Mark Funkhouser (Democrat), recently received a new car from a local dealership, which is not really a big deal. But, it is a “free” car that he can use while in office. They will give him a new one every year. He still gets about $600 monthly for a car allowance. This is a sweet deal. Before he was mayor, he was the city auditor.

Earmarks…
It’s the time of year in the House and Senate for the appropriations bills to start making their way through the process. There will be press releases and statements made from the office holders across the country touting what they have done for their states.
The will tout these “earmarks” as their own even if they didn’t have anything to do with them and even if they don’t hold a seat on the appropriations committee.
I recently saw that Great Falls and Butte are in line for about $14 million from the Senate Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee. This was according to a press release from U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont.
When I read this, I remember earmarks and appropriations were campaign issues in 2006. The democrat leader in the Senate, Harry Reid, promised to get Tester a seat on the Appropriations committee since the man he was running against had long held a seat on the committee that writes the checks for projects like these two.
Tester did not get the seat as promised.
Montana is down to one member with a seat on Appropriations. That’s U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., so he will be the key to any earmarks that end up coming Montana’s way.
Montana senators are not members of the Appropriations committee, they have not even had a chance to vote on the Great Falls and Butte earmarks yet. But, they do understand that these “earmarks” garner some press coverage. This is even if you don’t like earmarks as some candidates said in 2006.
But, we sure appreciate Tester and Baucus keeping us informed about what is happening on other committees in the senate besides the ones they actually have a seat on.

Polls, Polls, Polls…
It does not look too good for Republicans in 2008, at least according to a poll published by the Wall Street Journal/NBC News.
The Democrats, if they play their cards right, could easily take more congressional seats and maybe even the White House.
But, the Democrat’s base supporters are not too happy about what has happened to the promises made in 2006 not being fulfilled. The war in Iraq is still happening and energy prices have been higher than ever. Then, we have the immigration deal. I feel there’s a shift in the momentum the democrats had, but the Republicans are not doing anything to capitalize on it either.