Tom Delay loves the smell of napalm in the morning.

[Pepperbelly]

He's finally got a House Ethics Committee he likes.

-snip-

Republican leaders put on the committee two new members who have donated to a DeLay legal fund: Rep. Lamar S. Smith (R-Tex..) and Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.). Smith gave DeLay $10,000, making him among the seven largest donors among congressional members, and Cole gave $5,000, according to an analysis of disclosure records by the watchdog group Public Citizen.

-snip-

Hastings was in the speaker's chair in 2003 when the vote on the bill to add a prescription drug benefit to Medicare was kept open for nearly three hours while GOP leaders rounded up enough votes.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A58884-2005Feb2?language=printer

[paineinthearse]

1. Committee positions for sale? Isn't that unethical?

I have a contact on the House rules committee, will inquire.

[paineinthearse]

3. Hefley removed for being "too independent"????? WTF!!!

"Hefley said in an interview yesterday that he believes he was removed because he was too independent. He said there is "a bad perception out there that there was a purge in the committee and that people were put in that would protect our side of the aisle better than I did." "Nobody should be there to protect anybody," he said. "They should be there to protect the integrity of the institution.""

Isn't that the whole idea behind an ethics committee? To rise above the partisan politics for the "good of the institution"?

First they do it with removal of the Senate Veterans Affairs committee, now this.

Ehics? No, ETHUGS!

[BOSSHOG]

2. Hard to tell about the motivation here

One would easily think that delay had hastert fire an honest politician to be vengeful, hateful and spiteful (typical delay). Or, does tom know that there is bad news for him coming out of the Grand Jury in Texas and he needs political cover in DC? Its really hard to believe that such action is coming from the christian conservative political party of values and staunch ethical behavior.

[Toots]

4. How would he know what Napalm smells like?

He could not get into the military no matter how hard he tried because thse damn upity minorities filled up all the empty slots.