The Hill is reporting that one of the leaders of the anti-war movement in the House, Democrat Rep. Jack Murtha, is claiming that Republicans will join him against the Iraq war -- next year.

House Appropriations Defense subcommittee Chairman John Murtha (D-Pa.) said Monday that he expects that Republican lawmakers will begin abandoning President Bush's Iraq policy after the GOP picks a presidential candidate next year. "As soon as the primaries are over, you'll see Republicans start jumping ship," Murtha said in remarks at the National Press Club.

Murtha also is predicting that Democrats will pick up 40 to 50 seats in the House next year. To put his predictions in context, might I remind readers that Murtha, one year ago, was predicting that by this time (September '07) we would have surrendered in Iraq and our troops would be "redeploying" to areas outside of Iraq where we could provide "quick response" strikes on terrorists -- from bases as close as Okinawa, Japan, 4899 miles away.

I believe that Murtha's predictions this year are also in error. Iraq will be in play next year, but will be more of a problem in the general electorate for Democrats than Republicans. And with Congressional approval lower with a Democratic Congress than it ever was with a Republican one, I don't think you'll be seeing any Democrat landslide in '08. What are the Dems going to do, run against themselves? (Oh wait, there's MoveOn.org...)

If (a big if) Republicans clean up their act and pledge fiscal conservatism under new leadership, I think that the Senate will remain in the Democrats' control, but the House might switch again. If Iraq is going particularly well, however, that might change - Republicans could win the Senate as well. All bets are off if the Republicans continue to act like idiots. I think that the House Republicans have, for the most part, learned their lessons. The Republicans in the Senate, as of yet, have not learned theirs (as evidenced by Larry Craig and Ted Stevens), and might not until after 2008.

Sen. John Sunnunu, R-N.H., might as well pack his bags. He can barely get a 43% approval rating and now former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen is going to run for his seat. From an e-mail sent to the press

because we have major problems facing this country, and there is an urgent need for real change in Washington," Shaheen said. "We've proven in New Hampshire that we can work together to get things done. I want to take that common-sense approach to Washington and help get this country moving in the right direction."

She will make an announcement Sunday. Just by entering the race preliminary polls show her leading the incumbent. That doesn't happen often. Meanwhile Sen. Ted Stevens, he of the bridge to nowhere, is now facing the problem of what happens when one accepts free help. According to the guy who did the bribe (CEO, pipeline company)

"I gave Ted some old furniture," Allen said. "I don't think there was a lot of material. There was some labor."

Nothing to see here. Move on, move on. Except for this:

The workers were Veco employees, probably one to four at a time, Allen said. He said the work on the home lasted for "probably a couple of months." Later, he said it might have been as much as six months. The remodeling work in summer and fall 2000 more than doubled the size of the house, a four-bedroom structure that is Stevens' official residence in Alaska.

Gosh, we just threw some old furniture around and didn't do much besides DOUBLE the size of his house. Maybe Sen. Ted Stevens could find that bridge and keep driving.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (don't ask me how I find these things) runs an article today concerning a public demand in Alaska by conservative Republican State Representative Mike Kelly that GOP Senator Ted Stevens, GOP Representative Don Young, the Alaskan Senate Rules Chairman John Cowdery, and the Alaskan GOP Chairman Randy Ruedrich resign before the next election.

Fairbanks Republican Rep. Mike Kelly made a public call this weekend for U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, U.S. Rep. Don Young, and two other prominent members of the GOP to step aside to help restore trust in government and keep the party strong. Kelly, a Republican, wrote in a letter to the editor published Sunday in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner that the Alaska Republican Party needs new leadership and has only two options in the coming year - "further revolution" or reform. "A new governor and changes to ethics legislation gave us a start," he wrote. "Next steps would involve selfless sacrifice for the benefit of the Republican Party and the conservative agenda by powerful individuals whose action could permit a new team of conservative candidates to rise without risk of offending current longtime office holders.

Needless to say, the Republicans Kelly targeted have refused to go along. But they might soon not have a choice in the matter. From the same article:

Stevens and Young are both under investigation by the FBI for ties to VECO Corp., the oil field services company formerly run by Bill Allen, who earlier this year pleaded guilty to charges of bribing state lawmakers. Cowdery was one of the state lawmakers whose offices were searched last August by the FBI. Ruedrich stepped down as head of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission amid allegations that he misused the position for political purposes.

Ted Stevens and Don Young are selfish egotists, either oblivious to the damage that they are doing to the national Republican Party or so cocksure that they don't care. In which case they might as well be Democrats. With that in mind, there's a very real possibility that Republicans in Alaska run candidates against Stevens and Young in the GOP primaries, turning those races into referendums against corruption. That's how the current Republican Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, won in the last election.

CQPolitics.com reported yesterday that Alaska's Republican Senator Ted Stevens placed yet another expensive earmark into a Senate spending bill. This one, worth $3.5 million, benefits one company. And, of course, that company has ties to Stevens:

Sen. Ted Stevens, who as a top appropriator has mastered the art of the congressional earmark, tucked $3.5 million into a Senate spending bill this year to help finance an airport to serve a remote Alaskan island. The airstrip would connect the roughly 100 permanent residents of Akutan to the outside world. The biggest beneficiary, though, would be Seattle-based Trident Seafoods Corp., which operates one of the world's largest seafood processing plants on the volcanic island in the Aleutians.

Trident and Stevens are no strangers. For years, company founder and Chief Executive Charles Bundrant has been a generous contributor to the Alaska Republican's campaigns. And in December, according to the Seattle Times, a federal grand jury investigating political corruption in Alaska ordered Trident and other seafood companies to produce documents detailing financial ties to the senator's son, former Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board Chairman Ben Stevens.

Senator Stevens apparently lacks the capacity for shame. Every time I start feeling good about the Republicans' chances in 2008, something stupid like this pops up. More often than not, it involves someone from Alaska. What is the problem up there -- lack of sunshine or something in the water? Inbreeding, perhaps?

As David Knowles reported here earlier today, Republican Senator Ted Stevens had his home in Alaska raided Monday by the FBI and others conducting a widespread federal corruption investigation. It has been soundly theorized that an Alaskan oil services company (VECO) did extensive renovations on Stevens' home for gratis as some sort of a thank you for unspecified services rendered, which is generally illegal in politics. In an eerie similarity to the corruption case of indicted Democrat Representative William Jefferson of Louisiana, the founder of the oil services company has already pled guilty to bribery of Alaskan state legislators.

One would assume that such developments would mean that Stevens wouldn't try to ruffle any feathers, or do anything that could be seen by voters as extremely stupid. One would be wrong. According to The Politico's Congressional blog The Crypt, the good senator has decided to place a not-so-secret hold on the ethics bill pending before the Senate:

Republican Sen. Ted Stevens, whose home back in Alaska was raided by federal investigators Monday in a wide-ranging corruption investigation, has threatened to place a hold on the Democratic-drafted ethics legislation just passed by the House and expected on the Senate floor by week's end.

Of all the bills to place a hold on... Not having read the ethics bill yet, I guess I could give Stevens the benefit of the doubt and say that he's placing a hold partially because he wants a tougher bill than the one presented. But I know better. Members of the entire Alaskan Congressional delegation are the poster boys and girls of why the Republicans lost their Majority status in both the House and the Senate in 2006. I was hoping that Republicans had justly learned their lessons about pork, earmarks, and nepotism. I am apparently wrong.

You could see this one coming a mile away. Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), of "Bridge to Nowhere" fame, continues to bring disrepute to his home state. The Feds are looking into the dealings that resulted in the doubling of the size of Stevens' northern home. From the Anchorage Daily News:

Federal investigators and grand juries in Anchorage and Washington, D.C., have been seeking information about a remodeling project at Stevens' Girdwood home in 2000. The project, which more than doubled the size of the dwelling, was overseen by Veco CEO Bill Allen, who two months ago pleaded guilty to bribing state lawmakers and agreed to cooperate with authorities. Veco vice president Richard Smith pleaded guilty to similar charges.

So yesterday, the FBI and the IRS showed up with a locksmith and invited themselves in. The agents were seen leaving the premises carrying garbage bags full of evidence. It's hard to imagine that Stevens didn't clear the place out long ago of any incriminating evidence. Then again, how do you hide a grand remodeling job?

Remember when the current Congress took office amid the hype of "transparency" and "ethics"? Well, it took them less than one whole summer to throw that by the wayside.

It started with the esteemed Rep. David Obey and his little sleight of hand maneuvers and grew to full on hostility of anyone who would question the earmarks of a great man like Rep. Murtha. The Democratic Congress began their retreat from reform almost immediately, yet the media didn't care and the representatives and senators knew it.

The incoming Congress pushed a bill for transparency that got unanimous support and gave them a shot in the arm, albeit a short-lived one. N.Z. Bear shows what was voted on and what's in the new version. It ain't pretty:

Based on what we're hearing from those who would know, key changes include:

• The old version (passed by the Senate) required conference / committee reports to list all earmarks and required the chairman of the relevant committee to distribute the earmark list. But the new version of the bill allows the Majority Leader (as opposed to the Senate parliamentarian, a more objective judge) to determine whether or not a conference report complies with the disclosure requirements.
• The new version removes the requirement for earmark lists posted online to be in searchable format.
• The new version removes the provision that prevented any bill from being considered at all prior to the disclosure of earmarks; now the text only prohibits a formal motion to proceed, which leaves open a procedural loophole that would allow bills to slip through without disclosure.
• The old version prohibited earmarks which benefit a Member, their staff, or their family/their staff's family. The new version waters that down and only prohibits earmarks that would "only" affect those parties --- which means so long as you can make a case that your shiny new project affects at least one person other than you positively, you're all set.

Here's a handy chart that lays it out in technicolor.

Harry Reid surely has changed the way Congress does business, hasn't he? It is now more difficult to track earmarks than it was in January.

End note: This is a truly bi-partisan effort, perhaps we won't have the "Pork King" Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) to kick around after too long. Good riddance senator and take all of the other corrupt bastards with you.

Update (7/31/07 1541): The bill passed and shocka! Murtha voted against it. No silly, not because he's had a sudden outbreak of ethics, he knows the bill will shed a sliver of light on his shady ways. Old John thought he perfected his schtick since his unindicted co-conspirator ABSCAM days.