The Constitution and free speech*

After making clear they weren't going to mention the slavery bits, or prohibition, members of the House of Representatives proceeded to read aloud the U.S. Constitution to open the second day of the 112th Congress. As they reached the Article II requirement that the president must be a natural born citizen, a woman in the gallery got up and screamed, "Except Obama," and added something about Jesus (video here). The outburst invited a terse gaveling from the chair.

*Update: David Weigel at Slate has tracked down the birther screamer. Her name is Theresa Cao and, naturally, she has a blog. Peruse it here if you'd like.

Facts for factions

A Pew survey finds 62 percent of Americans want the media to exercise a watchdog role over politicians. Meantime, only 29 percent of Americans think the media gets the facts straight - the worst result in over two decades of polling.

Partisan leanings account for some of the disparity. People allied with the party in power are much less likely to support watchdogs than those allied with the party out of power.

The media's increasingly fragmented and opinionated approach to coverage only amplifies this, as readers expect watchdogs to chase away the opposition. In this worldview, "facts" are whatever helps the watchdog get the job done - and like with members of Congress, people tend to like their own facts and dislike everyone else's.

Hey, big spender

A Los Angeles Times search of public records found that, in the last six years, state Sen. Gil Cedillo spent $125,000 out of his campaign funds for fancy hotels, expensive meals and extravagant shopping sprees. Cedillo is running for the congressional seat recently vacated by Labor Secretary Hilda Solis.

From the LAT:

Cedillo's expenses include $7,022 at Nordstrom; $3,483 at Banana Republic; $1,418 at Ann Taylor; $498 at Bloomingdale's; $450 at Crate & Barrel; and $375 at Macy's.

-snip-

All told, Cedillo has spent about $77,000 on restaurants, $29,000 on hotels and $21,000 on airline tickets over six years in the Senate. (That does not include tens of thousands of dollars spent on fundraising events at restaurants, hotels or banquet halls.)

The restaurant charges that Cedillo reported as meetings, office or travel expenses include $424 at Ristorante Buca Mario in Florence; $298 at Ristorante San Francesco in Assisi, Italy; $501 at Emporio da Gula in Foz do Iguacu, Brazil; and in Los Angeles, $964 at Cicada; $559 at La Serenata de Garibaldi; $229 at Blair's; and $1,373 at the Palm.

Cedillo told the Times that all of the items he bought were gifts for others and called his many overseas excursions "relevant to the extent that they enrich my capacity as a legislator." Good government advocated Bob Stern said "it sounds like he is using campaign funds to supplement his lifestyle."

Lawmakers all a-Twitter

Does knowing a plane crashed in the Hudson 15 minutes earlier than it's reported by the New York Times count as revolutionary? I'm not sure it does, but I am interested in the Twittering going on in the halls of Congress, as attention-starved lawmakers slip the surly bonds of their staff flaks and Tweet from inside closed door meetings and gatherings.

From Time magazine:

At least four GOP Representatives, for instance, Twittered in real time President Obama's meeting two weeks ago with their conference on Capitol Hill to discuss the stimulus plan, raising questions about the levels of privacy members can now expect from closed-door meetings.

That's a micro-blogging trend I can get behind.

The Sunlight Foundation even offers a running feed of Congressional Tweets (you can even download a widget for you website). After watching for a few minutes, one realizes how boring legislators can be. However, there are nuggets of news there - for instance, a couple lawmakers just Tweeted that the stimulus bill is unlikely to come up for a vote until Friday.

As Twittering becomes more common on Capitol Hill it's also likely to become more formalized (think about the campaign blogs), meaning they will be written by staffers to promote their boss's agenda. But for now, let's hold out hope that something interesting leaks out.