The Los Angeles Times has a profile up of Rep. Bob Ney, the Republican Congressman who allegedly traded trips and other benefits from disgraced Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff in return for help with legislation. Here are six things about Bob Ney to know and learn:

Ney is the first member of Congress accused of directly trading […]

From Fox News Sunday via Think Progress:
[CHRIS] WALLACE: But you do not believe that currently he has the legal authority to engage in these warrant-less wiretaps.
[SEN. JOHN] MCCAIN: You know, I don’t think so, but why not come to Congress? We can sort this all out. I don’t think — I know of no member […]

Last September, CNN’s newest star performer, rightwing talker Glenn Beck, told his listeners that he felt animostiy for the families of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. From Media Matters:
[You] know it took me about a year to start hating the 9-11 victims’ families? Took me about a year. And I […]

A news fantasy: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger suggested that he might reconsider legalizing gay marriage, if he had assurance that gay Californians would vote for him in his reelection bid this year.
Asked what triggered his change of heart, the governor said, “I saw ‘Brokeback Mountain.’ It haunted me for days.”
The topic of gay marriage came up […]

“This is domestic surveillance over American citizens for whom there is no evidence or proof that they are involved in any illegal activity, and it is in contravention of a statute of Congress specifically designed to prevent this.”
– Robert Reinstein, dean of the law school at Temple University (New York Times, Jan. 20, 2006)

WaPo snafu: The Washington Post today turned off the comments function of its Weblog at www.washingtonpost.com because people just wouldn’t follow the rules:

… there are things that we said we would not allow, including personal attacks, the use of profanity and hate speech. Because a significant number of folks who have posted in this blog […]

Italian Court Told to Prove Jesus Existed
ROME - Lawyers for a small-town parish priest have been ordered to appear in court next week after the Roman Catholic cleric was accused of unlawfully asserting what many people take for granted: that Jesus Christ existed. Hey, in most parts of the United States it’s unlawful to assert […]

Moral compass gone astray: What will finally drive a stake through the Republicans’ false claim that they are the party of high morals? I doubt it will be the latest soap opera to play out within their ranks. Buzzflash has named Rep. Connie Mack, Republican of Florida, as it’s Hypocrite of the Week:
[Rep. Mack] […]

From the journal “Nature”:
Scientists studying virus samples from the human outbreak of avian influenza in Turkey have identified three mutations in the virus’s sequence. They say that at least two of these look likely to make the virus better adapted to humans.
The Turkey outbreak is unusual, because of the large family clusters of cases; […]