VoteKansas.org

...and then reporting. Perfect:

The mini-controversy likely shows that in addition to facing a federal investigation into his relationship with a powerful lobbying firm, Lewis must also fend off a movement in the Republican Party's conservative wing, many of whom vehemently oppose the earmarking system.

Here are the aforementioned "handful".

Republicans in the Senate are circulating a document that tallies the numbers in regards to judicial nominations. Below are some of the numbers from that document:

• 46 — The number of current vacancies on Article III courts — 17 in the courts of appeals, and 29 in the district courts.

• 22 — The number of judicial nominations pending in the Senate, including 10 court of appeals nominees and 12 district court nominees. (Three of these nominations are to fill “future vacancies” anticipated in the future, but the judgeships are not currently vacant.)

• 27 — The number of vacancies for which the President has not submitted a nomination, including 9 vacancies on the courts of appeals and 18 vacancies on the district courts.

• 21 — The number of judicial emergencies in the federal court system.

• 43 — The number of judicial nominations confirmed during the 109th Congress, including 2 Supreme Court Justices, 10 court of appeals judges, 30 district court judges, and 1 Court of International Trade judge.

• 204 — The number of Article III judges who were confirmed in the 107th and 108th Congresses, including 35 court of appeals judges and 169 district court judges.

• 5.4% — Overall vacancy rate in the federal courts. (46/853) The vacancy rate for the courts of appeals is 9.5 percent (17/179), and, for the district courts, 4.3 percent (29/674).

The AP:

The $1,000 payment was just one example cited in an audit that concluded that up to $1.4 billion - perhaps as much as 16 percent of the billions of dollars in assistance expended after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita - was spent for bogus reasons.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency also was hoodwinked to pay for season football tickets, a tropical vacation and a sex change operation, the audit found. Prison inmates, a supposed victim who used a New Orleans cemetery for a home address and a person who spent 70 days at a Hawaiian hotel all were able to get taxpayer help, according to evidence that gives a new black eye to the nation's disaster relief agency.

At least one Hawaiian Senator is waving the white flag in the effort to institute a race-based Hawaiian government -- for this year at least:

Inouye also said he believed it "would be unwise" to battle for a new vote this year on the Native Hawaiian federal recognition bill after the Senate rejected an effort last week to bring the bill to the floor for a debate and vote.

Instead, supporters are expected to offer a new version of the Native Hawaiian bill after the next Congress convenes in January.

Roll Call today runs an article noting a string of victories for the GOP:

Last week’s assassination of Iraqi terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the solidification of the Iraqi government, the GOP’s open-seat victory in California’s 50th district and Tuesday’s news that White House adviser Karl Rove will likely not be indicted in the CIA leak probe have combined to fuel a sense of cautious optimism among Republican Members and aides.

Congress Daily PM notes that conservatives in the House have some work to do before funding for Alaska's Bridge to Nowhere is officially denied. Basically, if conservative efforts are not successfull the bridge funding could be reinstated by the end of the week.

Congress Daily PM: 

Today Pat Buchanan skewers Republican Study Committee Chairman Mike Pence with a column that is critical of the conservative leader's immigration reform plan. Buchanan calls Pence's plan "stealth amnesty" and calls instead for among other things border security:

Nowhere in his column does Buchanan acknowledge that the Pence plan is a border security first proposal. Indeed, a key provision of the Pence plan puts a two year wait on implementing a guest worker program while the border is being securied, fence and all. After that waiting period, the Department of Homeland Security is required to certify the security of the border. Essentially, this provision is identical to the Isakson amendment that failed in the Senate. That amendment was lauded by conservatives of all stripes and its defeat signaled the end of any conservative support for the Senate McKennedy bill.

Buchanan gets nastier, sinking so low as to call Mike Pence a traitor to the conservative cause:

In "The Godfather," Don Corleone warns his son Michael that, after he dies, someone inside the family will come to Michael with an offer of peace from the Barzinis, who murdered Michael's brother. Whoever brings you the offer, Don Corleone warns his son, will have betrayed you. Tessio, lifetime friend and high-ranking captain of the Corleones, comes to Michael with Barzini's offer. A mistake.

Rep. Mike Pence appears to have accepted the Tessio role in the great immigration battle of 2006.

Buchanan says that the adoption of the Pence plan will mark "the end of Mike Pence as a rising star of the GOP."

Speaking of Godfathers, who made Pat Buchanan the Godfather of the conservative movement? Since when did he get to decide who was a rising star and who was not?

Perhaps somebody should inform Dick Armey and Newt Gingrich that they are no longer welcome in the conservative tent. After that, someone should tell Quin Hillyer over at the American Spectator that his service in the cause of the conservative movement is no longer needed as well. After all, how could a guy who thinks the Pence plan is "ingenious" be a real conservative? Hillyer writes:

"There are plenty of other details to the Pence plan, but suffice it to say that as conservatives study the plan, they continue to find that just about every question is answered and every base covered, and all according to principles conservatives hold dear. Read it for yourself to see...

"In short, the plan is ingenious. Not only should conservatives rally behind it, but so should the White House. It provides the president with a near-perfect escape from the rock-and-hard-place dilemma of trying to please, all at once, Hispanics, big business, and the mainstream Americans who insist that the first requirement of a guest is that the guest abide by our society's laws.

"Such insistence is absolutely the right thing. But it doesn't, by any means, require that Americans fail to exhibit our usual humaneness, nor does it require that we keep necessary jobs unfilled.

"In sum, the Pence bill offers security and prosperity in equal measure. You can't beat that."

Conservatives should be weary of the Buchananites who are methodically preparing to call any immigration reform agreement a betrayal. It seems to me that those who would cast overboard one of the conservative movements brightest hopes for the future over a disagreement about immigration policy care more about their own opinions and the forceful projection thereof than they do about conservatism.

It is not yet clear how Congress will settle this issue. As it looks right now, there is a chance that nothing at all will happen. Or perhaps an eventual compromise will emerge. And yes, maybe it will resemble the Pence plan. If it does, I can think of few other current members of Congress who have earned the consideration of conservatives.

The House of Representatives is debating the Transportation, Treasury and Housing and Urban Development Appropriations bill. Contained in this bill is an appropriation that Hill sources tell me was secured by Rep. Jerry Lewis, the Minority Maker, for a swimming pool in the city of Banning California. The appropriation is for FY 2007 and it is half a million dollars.

That's a lot for a swimming pool...especially considering Lewis secured money for the same pool in the FY 2006 and 2005 versions of the bill. In both of those previous years Lewis secured $250,000 for the pool.

When this bill passes Lewis will have secured a grand total of $1 million for one pool. This thing could be gold plated!

Footnote: In FY 2004 TTHUD bill Lewis secured $325,000 for a pool in Salinas, CA.

UPDATE: Red State is hot on the trail as well:

UPDATE: Andy Roth notes that Jeff Flake is gearing up for another battle against pork like the above mentioned gold-plated swimming pool.

UPDATE: Meanwhile, as if you needed a reminder of the Appropriators' mentality, there is this nugget from the Hill:  

Appropriations members have already vowed to fight any move to strip spending from the bill. “I’m not going to take their crap,” Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) said last week. The Illinois appropriator said he included several projects for his district and would fight to keep them all.

“They think they’ve gotten a little steam building, and we’re going to have to shoot them down,” LaHood said.

Byron York points out some issues that may lay on the horizon for the Daily Kos crowd. After the Yearly Kos convention the phenomenon has received more press than ever. This, says York, will have drawbacks:

Following up on the post below regarding House and Senate Democrats pandering to the most liberal and extremist wing of their party is this column by Michael Barone. Barone characterizes the nature of the extreme left:

Successes are discounted, setbacks are trumpeted, the level of American casualties is treated as if it were comparable to those in Vietnam or World War II. Allegations of American misdeeds are repeated over and over; the work of reconstruction and aid of American military personnel and civilians is ignored.

Hugh Hewitt comments on the Dems dilemma:

UPDATE: Thanks to Jack Kingston's blog for uploading this video of Barbara Boxer fielding a question about impeachment.

UPDATE: Danny Glover rounds up blogospheric reactions to the Yearly Kos convention.

Exhibit A, Virginia Democrat Jim Moran:

Moran, D-8th, told those attending the Arlington County Democratic Committee's annual Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner on June 9 that while he in theory might oppose the fiscal irresponsibility of “earmarks” - funneling money to projects in a member of Congress's district - he understands the value they have to constituents.

“When I become chairman [of a House appropriations subcommittee], I'm going to earmark the shit out of it,” Moran buoyantly told a crowd of 450 attending the event.

The leftist of the leftists, the Daily Kos acolytes attending Yearly Kos in Las Vegas this weekend, showered praise on liberal congressmen attending the convention. Harry Reid seems to have gone over pretty well:

There's just one problem for the two-fisted frontman of Democrat politics: Outside the convention hall, the Nevadans who sent Mr. Reid to Washington aren't quite so thrilled with the job he's doing.

The second sentence says it all. The Yearly Kos convention is a cheerleading rally exclusively for the uber liberals. It is completely divorced from reality. While Harry Reid is showered with praise in downtown Las Vegas the average Harry Reid voter in the rest of the state is losing respect for him. The contrast highlights a real problem for the Democrats: they must pander to the luny left because they are better at making noise than the average Dem voter. But as they pander to the crazies they disaffect their more moderate supporters.

Meanwhile, it is reported that for what seems like the hundredth time this year Dems plan to roll out a new agenda:

Par for the course...but here's the kicker:

It is a measure of the Democratic Party's yearning for the majority in Congress that the age-old argument over whether its agenda should appeal to liberals or moderates has taken a backseat to strategic disputes over staging and timing.

So they still will pander, but that may have to wait until they learn how to better play politics with the results of their pandering.

Rep. William Jefferson, bolstered by the Congressional Black Caucus, is sticking his finger in Nancy Pelosi's eye. It's fun to watch.

John Fund reports in the Opinion Journal Political DIary email ($): 

Emboldened by support from his fellow Black Caucus members, Rep. William Jefferson has decided to force the hand of Democratic leaders who want him to resign from the powerful Ways and Means tax-writing committee in the wake of allegations that he stored $90,000 in bribe money in his home freezer.

Mr. Jefferson, a New Orleans Democrat, told the 50-member Democratic Steering Committee on Wednesday night that he would fight to keep his seat because he has not been charged with any crime. He thus represents a big political headache for Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who has made no secret of the fact that she wants to make Mr. Jefferson an example of how Democrats don't act as if they are part of a "culture of corruption" that tolerates ethical missteps by their members.

Quin Hillyer at the American Spectator likes the Mike Pence immigration reform bill:

"In short, the plan is ingenious. Not only should conservatives rally behind it, but so should the White House. It provides the president with a near-perfect escape from the rock-and-hard-place dilemma of trying to please, all at once, Hispanics, big business, and the mainstream Americans who insist that the first requirement of a guest is that the guest abide by our society's laws.

"Such insistence is absolutely the right thing. But it doesn't, by any means, require that Americans fail to exhibit our usual humaneness, nor does it require that we keep necessary jobs unfilled.

"In sum, the Pence bill offers security and prosperity in equal measure. You can't beat that."

Quin is certainly no pushover or Kool Aid drinker...the Pence folks I am sure are happy to have his support. 

Conservatives in the Senate today held together to defeat the Akaka bill which would have created a race-based government in Hawaii. Conservatives needed 41 votes today to kill the bill and they mustered just that number. The vote on cloture was 56-41.

Kudos to Lamar Alexander, Jon Kyl, John Cornyn, Jeff Sessions and Senate Leadership for holding the team together and defeating this unconstitutional and insulting bill.

Word on the Hill is that Senate Whip Mitch McConnell's office was particularly persuasive behind the scenes with fence-sitting members.

While this is a great victory, the 56 votes cast today in favor of race-based governing should worry conservatives. Supporters of this bill will be back soon. Watch for Akaka and Inouye to attempt to attach this bill quietly to other vehicles moving through the Senate.

UPDATE: Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist blogs the outcome:

It is a core moral and constitutional principle of the United States that equal protection of our laws and equal participation in our government should never again be denied to Americans because of race or ethnicity. And it is a clear provision of our Constitution that American states be guaranteed a “Republican Form of Government.” Both would be endangered by Senator Akaka’s Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act, which was just defeated on the Senate floor moments ago.

Senator Akaka’s legislation would have created a new, independent government within our country – a government defined by and composed of a specific racial group. Worse still, Senator Akaka recently made clear that this race-based government would have been under no obligation to remain within the United States or to adhere to the most basic of our political principles: “[T]he governing entity will make a decision as to what happens to independence or returning to the monarchy.”

I am amazed and saddened that some would undo the great success story of Hawaiian assimilation into our country that we’ve seen since the people of Hawaii voted overwhelming to become America’s 50th state in 1959.

Vital issues of the greatest consequence face our Nation. If this to be another American Century, we must affirm and strengthen those principles and values that unite our people and oppose the fragmentation of our government and our society along racial and ethnic lines. That’s why I am proud to have voted to defeat Senator Akaka’s proposal and proud that the United States Senate has shown the common-sense to reject this divisive legislation once and for all.