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House Of Representatives

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offbeat news

NY Times Reveals Congressmen Have Bad Taste In Cars, No Eye For A Deal

Representative Michael R. McNulty pays $816 for a 2007 Mercury Mariner Hybrid, which he chose for its utility. Representative Redolphus Towns pays $715 a month for his Lincoln MKX, he bought it to save money on fuel. Representative Louise M. Slaughter needed a car that handled safely in the snow, so she picked a Buick Lucerne, for which the US Taxpayer pays $808 a month. All have chosen to take advantage of the benefit on offer to any member of the US House of Representatives: any car of their choice leased for them with no price limit and all expenses, including gas, paid for. More »

10:20 AM on Thu May 1 2008
By Wes Siler
2,587 views, 51 comments

Latest by Mike the Dog: Dang hamster! I think it ate my reply. @mytdawg: AFAIK the plastic jugs showed up about '68. more »

gas prices

House To Gas-Gougers: Beware

With the same gusto they mustered when legislating timelines for troop withdrawals, the House of Representatives today signed off on legislation that would severely punish gas-gougers. Not surprisingly, the White House has already threatened a veto claiming the law is a form of price controls. While we personally disagree with the White House (about everything) and think it is cute that Congress is trying to do something before $4 per gallon gas causes voter revolts, our reading of the bill is it was doomed to begin with. You want vague language? Read this:
The bill directs the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department to go after oil companies, traders or retail operators if they take "unfair advantage" or charge "unconscionably excessive" prices for gasoline and other fuels.
Anyone care to define "unconscionably excessive?" To our eyes, the dozens and dozens of arcane tax loopholes oil companies receive (calculating the taxable value of their inventories based on old stocks, not market value, etc.) would qualify as "unconscionably excessive." We also think limiting refinery capacity just in time for summer is unconscionably and excessively dickish greedy. In other news, Gordon Gekko is out of prison and Wall Street 2 is nigh. – Jonny Lieberman More »

11:15 AM on Thu May 24 2007
By Jonny Lieberman
590 views, 51 comments

Latest by JonMinMN: Berkeley's a fine school. I was accepted to the U of Chicago, but chose to stay closer to home. That more »