An asylum for the preservation of illusion.

Quick, Somebody Think Up a Pun on "Istook"

One of my personal very favorite people in Washington is the representative of the good people of the 5^th district of the State of Oklahoma, Ernest Istook. Rep. Istook served for several years as the chair of the House Appropriations Transportation and Treasury Subcommittee. That powerful post allowed Rep. Istook to wage war against Amtrak and Urban Transit, which he considered wastes of money, while pumping transportation dollars into road projects in his district.

So it is not without a bit of schadenfreude that I see that Rep. Istook's boat has been caught in the ever-widening whirlpool of the Congressional lobbying scandal. Like Tom Delay, Rep. Istook has been caught using lobbyist money to fund Oklahoma state candidates, some of it from Jack Abramoff. Granted, it looks like criminal charges are unlikely (Rep. Istook wasn't skirting state campaign financing laws in funding the candidates, like Rep. Delay) but the taint of the scandal will undoubtedly weigh heavily on his Oklahoma gubernatorial bid.

No Way to Run a Railroad

There's been a lot of Amtrak news recently as the fight for the railroad's existence heats up. this article contains a welcome image: a protest in East Lansing Michigan to save the train. Related is President Bush's recent recess appointments to the board. The recess appointments allow Bush to put people on the board who have not been vetted by Congress. Given, that a majority of Congressmen consisting of senators and representatives from both sides of the isle have made it clear that they are not willing to let Mr. Bush dismantle the system, it is understandable why they don't like his choices: an oil man and a Kmart executive who's admitted to never riding the train.