There's a huge loophole being left in ethics reforms  Published:
Friday, January 12, 2007 at 6:30 a.m. Nothing is as deceptively
euphoric as Washington in full flower. And in the first days of
2007, the cherry trees, the Congress and the idiots of the
nation's capital were all blossoming. We saw the blooming cherry
trees - a result of botanical confusion that 70-degree winter
days meant spring had sprung. We saw the blooming of a new
Congress - as in the first hours of the first day, Democrats
made a show of rushing ethics reforms through the House they now
control. By a vote of 430-1, as still-embarrassed Republicans
had no choice but to go with the flow, the House members voted
to ban themselves from taking freebees from lobbyists - no
meals, gifts or travel. It was a morality show designed to
demonstrate that the evils and abuses symbolized by Tom DeLay's
pal Jack Abramoff are now ancient history. Then we heard the
blooming idiots. They were the pols, pundits and think-tank
denizens who gushed that these s