The Daily Background

Well, I’ve decided that it’s time to start doing roundup posts after a roundup hiatus of several months. Without further ado…

Craig’s List

# The Idaho Statesman has been, over the past five months, compiling a list of men who claim to have had relationships with Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho), who recently pled guilty to “lewd conduct” in an airport men’s room. They didn’t feel they had enough substance to publish their report until the Roll Call piece got out there though.

(The Statesman’s article includes such golden denials from the Senator as “I don’t go around anywhere hitting on men, and by God, if I did, I wouldn’t do it in Boise, Idaho! Jiminy!”)

# Minipundit theorizes about how much it must suck (no pun intended) to be a closeted gay Republican member of Congress.

# Conservative reaction to Craig’s resignation? GOP Senate leaders are calling for an ethics investigation (CREW has filed a complaint already), Sam Brownback has said the allegations are “very odd,” some conservatives and conservative bloggers are calling on Craig to resign.

# Craig is undecided about seeking re-election.

Numbers

The number of uninsured Americans and children has gone up since last year, though the number of those living below the poverty line has decreased.

# The US has the most firearms per capita according to a new study which has concluded that for every 100 Americans, there are about 90 guns. That adds up to 270 million guns for a population of about 300 million people. When can we all agree that the libertarian bullshit about how “the world would be a safer place if only everyone had a gun” is just that– bullshit?

Misc

# Tim Johnson (D-South Dakota), who has been out of the Senate due to a brain hemorrhage last December, will be running for re-election in 2008. The same cannot be definitively said for Larry Craig, who is reportedly still making up his mind.

# Today’s quote of the day (and it’s a real doozy) goes to Fred Thompson.

# Want to know the real reason Gonzales resigned? He wanted to “spend more time eavesdropping on his family.”

Filed under: Z-The Daily Brief, Z-TDB Blog