The Senate was asked to support the troops this morning via a defence spending bill that included money for soldiers in Iraq, Katrina aid and, of course, drilling for oil in the Alaskan wildlife refuge. Attaching ANWR drilling to a defence spending bill that must get passed was the brainchild of Senator Stevens of Alaska who has been trying to dig up the refuge for twenty years, a move that Senator John McCain called, "disgraceful" and "disgusting." This is probably his most fail-safe attempt to date and it failed. Screw you, Stevens. more ›

Last month, you remember, there was all this hoopla over the notion of opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, thanks to its inclusion in a budget bill. Thanks in large part to public response, and to 20 Republicans who were able to suss out what "wildlife refuge" means, that provision failed. more ›

You may or may not be aware, but Congress is all in a tizzy (repeatedly) over a number of bills either recently passed or currently on the docket, and reconvened earlier this week to try to get all warm and fuzzy before the year ends. Seattlest did some digging and if any of you are even half as confused as we are, we hope this helps. We're going to break these bills down, James Brown short-sentence-with-rhythm style. more ›