Yikes (via Rondam):

Oregonians called Peter DeFazio’s office, worried there was a conspiracy buried in the classified portion of a White House plan for operating the government after a terrorist attack.

As a member of the U.S. House on the Homeland Security Committee, DeFazio, D-Ore., is permitted to enter a secure “bubbleroom” in the Capitol and examine classified material. So he asked the White House to see the secret documents.

On Wednesday, DeFazio got his answer: DENIED.

“I just can’t believe they’re going to deny a member of Congress the right of reviewing how they plan to conduct the government of the United States after a significant terrorist attack,” DeFazio says.

Believe it!

Homeland Security Committee staffers told his office that the White House initially approved his request, but it was later quashed. DeFazio doesn’t know who did it or why.

Well, it’s not like Bush would ever use a terrorist attack for political gain, so I’m sure this is nothing to worry about.

DeFazio’s bottom line:  Read more 

The scandal that is the state of Healthcare in America is coming to the Department of Transportation! Evil privatization! The Feds are selling (well, leasing, really, but what else is a long lease, of, say 75 years?) our Interstate Highways, bit by bit, to private corporations. From MotherJones The Highwayman: DeFazio to Take on Privatization:

Even though [Senator Pete] DeFazio has now ascended to the key post on the Highways committee, it remains to be seen whether or not his efforts will slow the privatization trend, which has the enthusiastic backing of the Bush administration. To this end, the president recently nominated D.J. Gribbin to be general counsel to the Department of Transportation. Who is Gribbin you might wonder? A former general counsel to the Federal Highway Administration, he has most recently been working on behalf of Macquarie Holdings, Inc., a branch of the very same company that has been so avidly buying up the nation's highways

This is worse than just selling the "naming rights" for stadiums (stadia?) and arenas!  Read more