Hmmm... from The Onion:

Why can't The Onion be true for once?  Why must they tease me like this?  All we want is a Justice Department that actually promotes justice and the rule of law in this country... not one led by "Cabana Al" Gonzalez.

At least I laughed.  Hope you did, too.

An interesting macro-level legal comment on the Jefferson indictment. -Josh

I wrote last week about the ongoing case involving bribery allegations against Louisiana Democrat William Jefferson. In the piece, I mentioned the potential Catch-22 in the case: If Jefferson is indicted based on evidence obtained in an FBI raid of his Capitol Hill office, that could encroach upon separation of powers (in that the FBI, a department of the executive branch, would be able to peruse internal documents of members of the legislative branch charged with acting as a "check" on executive overreach); if separation of powers are preserved and evidence from the raid is not used in the case, however, Jefferson might get away scot-free.

Monday, however, Jefferson was indicted, despite the fact that a Washington, D.C. Appeals Court had yet to rule on the constitutionality of the controversial FBI raid of the Congressman's office, and whether that raid in fact violated the doctrine of separation of powers.

Like most Americans whose names don't rhyme with Back Sabamoff, USA Today is disgusted with the state of politicians' "shameless money schemes."

They go on to classify some of the tactics used in these dishonest practices:  nepotism, as symbolized by Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA), undisclosed land or investment incentives, as represented by Sens. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Harry Reid (D-NV) - to which list I would add Sen. George Allen (R-VA) - and direct action taken by the likes of Reps. Alan Mollohan (D-WV) and Charles Taylor (R-NC) to steer favorable legislation towards endeavors that they directly benefit from.

Bob Ney is done!

Yeehaw!

I have no sympathy for this man.  He shamed himself, his position, his colleagues, his party, and his constituents.  Prosecutors are recommending a sentence of 27 months, and I hope he serves every day of it.

He should have been gone long before now.

Guilty.  Guilty.  Guilty.  Guilty.  Guilty.  Nothing like a little justice to brighten up a cold Friday the 13th, is there?

'Some things in life are bad,'
'They can really make you mad,'
'Other things just make you swear and curse,'
'When you're chewing on life's gristle,'
'Don't grumble, give a whistle,'
'And this'll help things turn out for the best, and...'

I'll be honest with you all: like a lot of people who work in politics, I walk a fine line between optimism and pessimism.  My outlook changes with the headlines, and sometimes it's hard to keep upbeat about things when it seems like society and government are falling to pieces around you.

But you never know where the silver lining is going to show up.  Monty Python had it right in the above song - sometimes you have have to look at the bright side of life.

So among the scandals of today?  What, you're probably asking, could possibly be the bright side of Pagegate, Abramoff, Cunningham, Jefferson, and all the rest?  Well, it's simple:

All of a sudden, everyone's interested in politics.

We've been saying Congress can't police its own ethics. And we've got a petition telling Congress to come back, make information on what happened public and set up an independent ethics commission.

Here's another twist on policing themselves. Jonathan Turley, a well-know law prof here in DC, writes in the WaPo of his own experience as a page and proposes getting members of Congress out of the business of overseeing them.

As you read his column, about his own experiences and other page-related scandals, you see that this is another arena where Congress has failed to police itself, to keep its own House in order. Over many years and with different parties in charge. Here's part of what he says: