So the Republicans have come to their senses. Even if just for a moment.

Warning: policy discussion ahead.

House Votes to Reverse GOP Ethics Rules

To catch up, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has had allegations leveled at him about improper behavior. Ok overly simplified, but I am going to keep this short. DeLay was admonished twice last year by the House Ethics Committee for previous conduct. So he used his position to basically put new members into the ethics committee who are close to him, having received money from his political fundraising committee (or something of that sort).

Then in January the Republicans changed the Ethics Committee rules so that if the committee was evenly divided on whether to seek an investigation into possible wrong doing, that the case would then be dropped, instead of pursued as it was previously.

What this effectively did was prevent an investigation into Tom DeLay's actions unless one Republican would agree to vote to launch an investigation. Seeing as DeLay replaced two of the members of that Ethics Committee with members more to his liking, getting a Republican to vote for an investigation seemed impossible.

So the Democrats refused to allow the committee to meet. Basically as a protest to these new rules, and the protection of Tom DeLay.

SOOOOOOO!

Finally today the Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert brought up for vote to reverse the changes to the ethics rules.

So now let the fun begin! Lets see where this investigation goes. Although I wonder if things are already swept under the rug. Hmmm.

Some reaction:

"'We were absolutely right,' insisted Rep. David Dreier, R-Calif.

Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y. countered, 'When they thought no one was looking, they passed a package that effectively neutered the committee ... to protect one man from investigation.'

Senior committee Democrat Alan Mollohan of West Virginia argued that the Republican rules would have seriously damaged the committee's ability to conduct investigations.

'What is at issue is ... whether the House is going to continue to have a credible ethics process. Nothing less than this is at stake here tonight.'"

In other news:

House OKs Bill Toughening Abortion Consent

Well I had written a alot on this and then blogger just erased everything! Lovely. Well I basically said that I see the slippery slope, that first it was denying federal funds to clinics that perform abortions, or provide information on family planning. Then it was,

"Last year, Congress made it a separate crime to harm a fetus during an assault on a pregnant woman."

Soon enough it will be working to overturn Roe V. Wade, mark my words.

That is enough for tonight.