DC News Briefs: Lost Relatives, Historic Votes and ... Mani-Pedi's?

A few days ago I did my first DC News Briefs blog, and I find I like the format -- perfect for the latest juicy news from inside the beltway. So, friends, here's another installment of news tidbits direct from our nation's capital -- the strange, the remarkable, the trivial (but interesting), and some things guaranteed to piss you off. Expect this to become a regular feature -- hell, I'll even give DC briefs their own label.

A Record Vote in More Ways Than One: The Oct. 3 House vote on the $700 billion financial bailout package was historic in more ways than one. Aside from the massive socialization of risk/privatization of profits trade off that occurred, it was also notable because all members of the chamber showed up to cast their votes. Shamefully, this marked the first time in five years that the entire body had cast a simple yes or no on a piece of legislation. Way to go, team!

Palin and the Princess: Apparently VEEP candidate Sarah Palin is distantly related to Princess Diana and FDR. But she's not the only one with some presidential DNA -- apparently Barack Obama is related to Dick Cheney, Gerald Ford, and Bush 41 and Bush 43. Damn. McCain's got connections as well -- to Laura Bush, of all people, as well as King Louis VII of France. No wonder the Maverick has delusions of grandeur.

Uncle Sam Gives a Mani-Pedi: Less than a week after the federal government -- um, that would be you and me -- so generously offered an $85 billion bailout to insurance giant AIG, the company held a week-long retreat for its executives at the luxury St. Regis Resort in California, running up an astonishing tab of $440,000. The executives spent $200,000 for rooms, $150,000 for meals and $23,000 for the spa. No wonder AIG needed that additional loan of $38 billion just to make ends meet.

Remember the First Stimulus? October 15 is the last day to file for those stimulus rebates. At last count, at least 4.3 million Americans had yet to claim their $300 to $600 booty. You can find out if you're eligible for the debt-funded windfall on a prior blog I did on the topic. By the way, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is still talking about another stimulus bill -- the House passed a measure just before they recessed, but the Senate failed to follow suit.

Voter Suppression Rears its Ugly Head Again... and Again, and Again: According to an investigation by the New York Times, upwards of tens of thousands of eligible voters in as many as six swing states have been removed from the registration rolls or have been blocked from registering in ways that might to violate federal law.

Obama Makes Record Ad Buy: Already advertising at record levels, Barack Obama has scheduled a half-hour commercial for prime time on Oct. 29, six days before Election Day. I guess he's betting that he can lure people from FOX, who will showing the sixth game of the World Series at the same time -- or perhaps, now that Chicago's teams are out of the running, he just doesn't give a crap. The Obama campaign has lined up a 30-minute block of time at 8p.m. on both NBC and CBS -- the latter of which is already pushing back "The New Adventures of Old Christine" to sell the time. The campaign is still working on ABC.


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