louisiana

This is a deeply strange story, ably picked apart by the smart conservative blogger Ed Morrissey. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) has been making the rounds today claiming that the climate bill includes a provision that — in the words of the Washington Examiner — “requires President Obama to act like Venezuelan strong man Hugo Chavez” [...]

Moments after Rep. Joseph Cao (R-La.) voted for the Democratic health care bill, countless anti-Cao Twitter feeds, Web forums, and Facebook pages were born. Here’s a sampling of comments from “Bye Bye Joseph Cao,” a group that, according to Facebook, five of my friends had joined.

“I think it’s pretty clear that Harry Reid and the Democratic side … wants illegals counted in the Census, wants illegals in the reapportionment of the House,” Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) said on a conservative talk radio show late yesterday, as reported by The Hill.
Vitter is co-sponsoring a bill with Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah) that [...]

The New Mexico Independent caught up with Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) at an event on health care today in Las Cruces, N.M., during which she reaffirmed her opposition to a government-run health insurance program to compete with private insurers.
Democrat Mary Landrieu of Louisiana said there would be “very limited opportunity, if any, for me to [...]

When is it fair to accuse a member of Congress of being a “birther”? I’m wrestling with this a little today. Jason Linkins calls Rep. Charles Boustany (R-La.) a “birther” because, in a video shot and edited by The Huffington Post, he said that President Obama’s birth records were “certainly being looked at” and that [...]

Emily Cadei reports that Cedric Richmond, a Democratic state representative from New Orleans, will run against Rep. Joseph Cao (R-La.). Richmond narrowly missed the runoff in the 2008 Democratic primary against then-Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.), who was caught hiding bribes in his freezer and then stubbornly, incredibly, held on until he was ousted by Cao [...]

From The Times-Picayune of New Orleans:
Former Democratic Congressman William Jefferson was found guilty of 11 of 16 corruption charges today by a federal jury. [...]
Jefferson was charged with soliciting bribes and other crimes for a series of schemes in which he helped American businesses broker deals in West African in exchange for payments or financial [...]

Justice may be blind, but it sure ain’t quick.
Forty-six months after federal agents found $90,000 of aluminum-wrapped cash in his freezer, and thirty-seven months after FBI agents raided his office on Capitol Hill, former Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) begins trial today in Virginia on charges that he sought cash in exchange for promoting U.S. business [...]

Bobby Jindal, the Republican governor of Louisiana, is slated to deliver the GOP response to President Obama’s first address to Congress. If I remember it right, this will be the first time Jindal will speak before a national TV audience, not counting press conferences during Louisiana natural disasters. The landfall of Hurricane Gustav prompted him [...]

No shocker here.
President George W. Bush announced today that he will release oil from the country’s emergency reserves in the wake of Hurricane Gustav. The reason? Because an oil company asked, of course.