Returning Fire.

Frustrated by the FEC gutting of campaign finance reform last week, John McCain promises to hold up FEC appointments in the Senate until a more reform-sympathetic panel is appointed. Turns out Dubya’s kept a ringer on the panel a year beyond his term, Democrat Karl Sandstrom, expressly for the purpose of stifling reform. (He appointed a new Republican to the FEC in March.) Hmmm…why am I picturing Karl Rove and Mitch McConnell in a smoke-filled room?

Card-carrying members of the public library.

Armed with the Patriot Act (what a wonderfully Orwellian name) signed by Dubya last October, the FBI begins scouring libraries to check “terrorist” reading habits. Good news for your local Barnes and Noble, I suppose, who’ll probably be selling a lot more copies of The Anarchist’s Cookbook from now herein. I’d love to see a sample list of what books make the FBI’s red flag list.