checks and balances

May we all bow our heads in thanks for checks and balances.

The House stepped in and reigned in the amount of time that the Patriot Act has been extended -- from six months to one. And the House may hate poor people, sick people, children and college students too, but they won't confirm this until next year.

Interesting article in this morning's Post, saying that Congress has grown some cajones this year, marking 2005 as "the year legislators stood up". And, says the Post, "What is most striking is the pushback is coming not just from Democrats and moderate Republicans, who often disagree with Bush, but also from mainstream conservatives."

Pure glee.

It doesn't help, the article says, that Representative Tom DeLay (R-TX), the (until recently) House Majority Leader, has been indicted for campaign finance violations. There's no one to "enforce" loyalty. (Is it "loyalty" when it needs to be enforced?)