washington ethics

* " A secret U.S. military program that pays Iraqi newspapers to publish articles favorable to the American mission appears to violate a 2003 Pentagon directive, according to a newly declassified document released Thursday." (link)

* "In the latest example of these backstage dealings, Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-Calif.) told The Washington Post that he helped steer defense funding, totaling $37 million, to a California company (PerfectWave ), whose officials and lobbyists (Wilkes et al) helped raise at least $85,000 for Doolittle and his leadership political action committee from 2002 to 2005." (link)

* btw - everyone is excitedly pointing to this statistic: "Since the Republicans took control of Congress in 1994, the number of home-district earmarks jumped from 4,155 valued at about $29 billion in 1994 to 14,211 worth nearly $53 billion 10 years later, according to the Congressional Research Service."
80% growth in 10 years? the remarkable thing about that is that it isn't orders of magnitude higher.

* according to ABC, "As things stand, the ethics situation in Washington is not working to Bush's advantage."
priceless.

* line of the day goes to Jane: "Fred Barnes' chin will be dusted for George Bush's ball prints..."