The system works great -- for Sensenbrenner

F. James Sensenbrenner makes an appearance in Jack Lohman's blog, Moneyed Politicians:

My recent visit to Jim Sensenbrenner’s Town Hall meeting would have been comical were it not so sad.

Sensenbrenner gets very offended when you imply that we have a corrupt political system. Like, this is the first time he’s heard about it?

“The system is working,” Jim says in his defense. “People are in jail!”

Of course some congressmen are in jail, Jim. Just not enough of them.

That's a good start, but there's plenty more. Read it here.

Big Oil execs testify before big shareholder

Hawaii Reporter:

The ranking Republican on the House Select Committee on Energy and Global Warming has owned $1.2 million in stock in the oil and gas companies whose executives testified this week before the panel. Rep. James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin reported at least $100,000 of his own money in each of four of the five companies represented at Tuesday's hearing -- Exxon, BP, Chevron and ConocoPhillips, but not Royal Dutch Shell -- according to his most recent personal financial disclosure form, for 2006.

Sensenbrenner, who CRP estimates to be the House's 16th wealthiest member with a net worth of at least $21 million, also owns stock in Halliburton and El Paso Energy. One other member of the committee, Democrat Earl Blumenauer, reported between $50,00and $100,000 invested in a natural gas company in his home state of Oregon.

As Democrats lambasted the oil executives Tuesday for collecting tax breaks while earning record profits, Sensenbrenner gave them credit for pursuing alternative energy sources. "Any reasonable energy policy must recognize that we need affordable supplies of energy, and that oil and gas must continue to play a dominant supply role for the foreseeable future," he said in his opening statement.

That's our guy. Taking Care of Business, as Elvis used to say.

A dollar hardly covers his emissions

WisPolitics reports on the recent "Future Wisconsin" conference held by conservatives:

U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Menomonee Falls, made a surprise appearance.

Sensenbrenner began by giving a dollar to the master of ceremonies, WISN-AM talk radio host Jay Weber. He joked that it was to buy a carbon credit to offset the hot air that he was about to give off.

"This issue is back. This issue is alive and well and our beloved governor has signed onto this," Sensenbrenner said, referring to global climate change.

Sensenbrenner believes that conservatives will be able to use climate change as an issue to show that conservatives are on the side of the people in the state of Wisconsin and throughout the country.

After 39 years as a state and federal legislator, Sensenbrenner clearly owes more than a buck.

Sensenbrenner, our Daddy Warbucks,personally makes millions from war

Its no secret that Rep. F. Jim Sensebrenner is worth big bucks -- somewhere between $21-million and $31-million, according to Open Secrets.Org, a project of the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP).

Where does all of that money come from?

A good chunk of it goes to Sensenbrenner in his role of Daddy Warbucks,as a major investor in military contractors doing business with the Pentagon.

Sensenbrenner has between $5.2-million and $7.6-million invested in "defense" contractors, who are reaping billions of dollars in profits from the war and occupation of Iraq -- a war, needless to say, that he supports every time he gets a chance to vote.

Those investments earned him at least $3.2-million between 2004 and 2006, CRP reports.

Sensenbrenner is not alone among members of Congress in raking in the spoils of war:

According to the most recent reports of their personal finances, 151 current members of Congress had between $78.7 million and $195.5 million invested in companies that received defense contracts of at least $5 million in 2006.

Its a bipartisan list, topped by Sen. John Kerry, who has somewhere between $28-million and $38-million invested in military contractors.
Back to our man Sensenbrenner, who earned more than Kerry from his investments:

A spokesman for Sensenbrenner, who has supported the administration's policy in Iraq, said the congressman's stocks were left to him by his grandparents and are managed almost entirely by his investment advisors. There has been no conscious effort on Sensenbrenner's part to invest in companies that have received defense contracts, his representative said.

Nor, it should be noted, has there been any effort to divest himself of those holdings.

A Los Angeles Times blog has this observation:

There's the irony that should keep the talk radio folks buzzing -- Kerry the Vietnam War veteran-turned-antiwar activist increasing the family money pot through investments in companies that help wage war.

You can probably count out talk radio in Milwaukee. As much as they'd like to go after Kerry, it would be difficult to do without talking about Sensenbrenner, their fair-haired conservative boy. But don't put anything past them. It wouldn't be the first time they had only bothered to tell half of the story.

Credit where it's due

Even a blind pig, they say, finds an acorn once in awhile:

Sensenbrenner calls for action in Tibet

After meeting with the Dalai Lama in India on Friday, GOP Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined in a call for an international team of observers to travel to Tibet and "find out exactly what has happened" during the recent crackdown, Sensenbrenner said in an interview...

Sensenbrenner sharply denounced China's conduct and also criticized the U.S. State Department, saying it erred in removing China recently from a list of top 10 human rights violators.

"China ought to get back on the list and get back soon," said Sensenbrenner, who spoke by phone from India.

"The United States has prided itself on being a leader on questions of human rights," Sensenbrenner said. "This is the most severe human rights violation that has occurred in 2008. And the United States government and State Department should not sit idly by while the Chinese beat up and torture innocent Tibetans."

...Sensenbrenner is the senior Republican on a 10-member congressional delegation led by Pelosi to the United Kingdom and India - a trip devoted largely to the issue of global warming.

Maybe one of these days he'll come out for civil liberties for Americans and fair treatment of Mexican immigrants. Or he'll become a believer on global warming.

He doesn't do hallways

From Bob Hague, a reporter at Wisconsin Radio Network:

My encounters with Congressman James Sensenbrenner over the years have been few and far between. Our only face to face meeting must have been sometime in the late '80s, in Rice Lake for a Lincoln Day dinner, if memory serves. So I was interested in a rare opportunity to see Sensenbrenner in action Monday, and in Madison, of all places. The occasion was a conference on global warming, sponsored by WisPolitics.com and WisBusiness.com. Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin was also there, but I missed her remarks.

Anyway, Sensenbrenner delivered his speech, on why cap-and-trade schemes designed to reduce greenhouse gasses are a bad deal for the U.S. in general and Wisconsin in particular. The attendees gave him their respectful attention and there was an interesting q&a session. That done, I unplugged my recorder and headed out into the hallway at the Monona Terrace Convention Center to see if I could get a second story (we're always looking) about who Sensenbrenner might be backing for the GOP presidential nomination.

I had set my coat and bag on a couch and was just getting ready to plug in my microphone when Sensenbrenner emerged from the meeting room, with a print reporter at his elbow. "Congressman, could you give some specific examples of . . . " was all this other reporter managed to get out before Sensenbrenner snapped out "I don't give hallway interviews!" and, pulling on his topcoat, barked to a couple of his staffers, "let's get the heck out of here!"

I wonder whether Sensenbrenner has never given hallway interviews, or if he stopped after what happened to Congressman Dave Obey?

Speak to F. Jim up close and personal

Something you'd like to share with Congressman Sensenbrenner? Maybe on a topic like global warming, immigration, government spying, or the war in Iraq?

These are some whirlwind meetings, scheduled 45 minutes apart, so have your questions and comments ready:

Sensenbrenner will hold listening sessions at 11 a.m. Friday (Feb. 1) at Dousman Village Hall, 11:45 a.m. at Genesee Town Hall, 12:30 p.m. at Wales Village Hall, 2 p.m. at Nashotah Village Hall, 2:45 p.m. at Merton Town Hall, 3:30 p.m. at Merton Village Hall and 4:15 p.m. at Pewaukee Village Hall.

Sessions also are set for 9:30 a.m. Monday (Feb. 4) at Butler Village Hall, 10:30 a.m. at Lannon Village Hall and 11:15 a.m. at Sussex Village Hall. For more information, call his Brookfield office at (262) 784-1111.

Welcome to the real world

From the Politics Ain't Beanbag Department: A college political science prof who wanted to show the world how campaigns should work is getting a lesson in how they do. Journal Sentinel columnist Dan Bice reports:

Two Concordia University professors who launched a joint campaign this year are getting a big lesson in what happens when you mess with U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner.

It ain't pretty.

In fact, it's gotten downright nasty, with threats, name-calling and talk of backroom deals.

Clearly, this isn't how they draw it up in the textbooks.

The pair - political scientist Jeff Walz, a Democrat, and Jim Burkee, a Republican - garnered national attention with their plan to appear together and combine campaign literature in an effort to unseat Sensenbrenner, the veteran Menomonee Falls Republican.

The two said it was their goal to create a model for "what campaigns ought to look like."

But last month, Walz dropped out of the contest, leaving Burkee to go solo against the political heavyweight.

Burkee now finds himself embroiled in a heated and nasty dispute with Sensenbrenner and a big-time D.C. lobbyist.

On polar bears, Sensenbrenner plays ostrich

Environmental News Service reports:

WASHINGTON, DC, January 17, 2008 (ENS) - Key polar bear habitat should be held off limits to oil and gas drilling until federal wildlife officials have determined whether the species should be listed for protection under the Endangered Species Act, the chair of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming said today.

"Order matters," said committee chair Ed Markey a Massachusetts Democrat. "You don't put on your shoes before your socks … and we shouldn't be selling the drilling rights in this important polar bear habitat before deciding how we are going to protect them."

Markey convened the hearing in the wake of an announcement on January 7 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that it will delay a decision on whether the polar bear should be listed as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act.

The delay makes it likely the decision on listing will come after the U.S. Minerals Management Service sells oil and gas leases in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea, inhabited by some 2,000 polar bears.

Guess who objects to the delay? Our guy, F. James Sensenbrenner, a non-believer in climate change.

The scientific evidence indicates "going ahead with the lease will not have a major impact on the habitat of polar bears in this part of the sea across Alaska," said Representative F. James Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican.

That drew the ire of Representative Jay Inslee, a Washington Democrat, who argued that such a view ignores the growing evidence that global warming is well underway and already harming the polar bear.

"This is the last chance for the polar bear," he said. "It is unbelievable to me that people are still adopting the attitude of the ostrich. One million square miles of the Arctic disappeared this summer … stunning the scientific community. This is visual evidence. It is not theoretical, it is not hypothetical. It is gone."

No word on whether Sensenbrenner was wearing his socks over his shoes.

No more Tweedledee

The ridiculous two-headed race against Rep. F. Jim Sensenbrenner is over.

One of the two college professors running in tandem for the seat -- the Democrat, Jeff Walz -- has dropped out of the race, leaving Sensenbrenner with only a quixotic Republican primary challenger.

The idea of two friends, one Dem and one Repub, running jointly was good for some free publicity, but didn't accomplish much else.

Maybe, now, the Democrats will field a real challenger.

Greg Borowski of the Journal Sentinel has more.

Campaign lunacy gets green light from FEC

Professors Tweedledee and Tweedledum have gotten official sanction to raise money jointly in their campaign against Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, even though they are in opposing parties and supposedly running against each other as well as Big Jim.

The AP reports:

The Federal Election Commission has given the green light to an unusual joint fundraising plan by two candidates from different parties who hope to knock off Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis.

On Thursday, the FEC approved an advisory opinion that lets Democrat Jeff Walz and Republican James Burkee raise money together as part of their plan to campaign with each other and combine promotional efforts.

The two Concordia University professors told the FEC they wanted to form a joint fundraising committee, which would serve as a "clearinghouse" for contributions. Those contributions would be equally divided between the two candidates' campaigns, although donors could contribute to only one candidate if they choose.

The candidates also said they want to split the cost of joint campaign and fundraising activities equally, including personnel expenses. Solo campaigning by one of the candidates, however, would be funded solely by that candidate's campaign.

"The commission concludes that the Burkee Committee and the Walz Committee may engage in joint campaign and fundraising activities as proposed," said the advisory opinion, which was unanimously approved by the FEC.

Messages left with the campaign office of the two candidates were not immediately returned Thursday. Sensenbrenner's office declined to comment.

Walz, a political scientist, and Burkee, a historian, have worked together in recent years as speakers and commentators. Their goal, they have said, is to show what elections should look like, with an emphasis on decency, cooperation and collaboration. They say they will avoid personal attacks and refuse special interest group money.

So this is how they think campaigns should work.

The trouble is, as I've said here before, is that campaigns are supposed to be about drawing distinctions between the candidates, not blurring their differences.

If it doesn't matter who wins, why would anyone give either of them any money, let alone both?

We didn't say it

Sensenbrenner "is your basic Fat Evil Prick. . . . He has the requisite moist-with-sweat pink neck, the dour expression, the penchant for pointless bile and vengefulness."

Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone did in his new book, Smells Like Dead Elephants: Dispatches From a Rotting Empire.

Baltimore City Paper has more.

Chilly reception at hearing on warming

From Gristmills, a self-described "blogful of leafy green commentary," an offshoot of Grist, the online environmental magazine:

So, the field hearing of the House global warming committee is just getting underway. I was chatting with Rep. Jay Inslee a few minutes ago, when a burly, ruddy-faced man tried to get past us. Inslee said, "Jim, this is David Roberts, he runs a blog with lots of environmental stuff of interest, you might want to check it out." The man scowled, grunted, and kept going.

I was puzzled, until I saw him sit down behind a nameplate: "U.S. Representative Sensenbrenner."

Ah.

'Could I see your papers, Mr. Sensenbrenner?'

50-minute trip for immigration know-it-alls
Staten Island ferry enlightens

By Thomas V. DiBacco

NEW YORK - This month marks the anniversary of the Statue of Liberty in New York's Harbor, an event that will go unheralded in large part because the monument is taken for granted today. But it wasn't always that way. When the statue, officially called Liberty Enlightening the World, was dedicated on a raw, rainy late October day in 1886, it brought to New York the president of the United States, Grover Cleveland, who formally accepted the belated Bicentennial gift from France, the nation's closest ally during the American Revolution.

"We will not forget," he said, "that Liberty has here made her home; nor shall her chosen altar be neglected."

Ironically, none of the speeches on that historic day interpreted the gift in reference to immigration, but because of its proximity to Ellis Island, where some 12 million arriving immigrants were processed from 1892 to 1954, the monument became the gold standard for open-door policies.

The statue is still relevant because of the current debate over immigration policy -- at least that's the thought I had as my wife and I took our first trip last week on the Staten Island ferry for a close-up look at her Lady and nearby Ellis Island. That ferry ride should be required of all the presidential candidates, as well as members of Congress, and know-it-all news pundits like Fox TV's Bill O'Reilly and CNN's Lou Dobbs, crusaders against life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for illegal immigrants. It's only a 50-minute round trip, with 104 boat trips daily, and unlike so many other things in this world, it's absolutely free of charge.

The most impressive aspect of the water journey is how blessedly quiet it is, save for the sound of the ferry's motors. To be sure, on every trip hundreds of people board the ferry (an average of 625), including a good number of commuters who live on Staten Island. Tourists from numerous countries take silent, digital pictures, as do American visitors. But it's the gaze of everyone on the skyline that speaks, reflecting the mind's difficult downloading of the overwhelming majesty of the site and perhaps the harboring of thoughts about what earlier huddled masses underwent to get to this country.

For me, the journey rekindled the stories from my grandfather and father, both immigrants from Italy, about their struggle and survival in a nation so foreign to their native villages.

Even without knowing much about the history of immigration to the United States, looking at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island has a way of lowering the emotional barometer about policy today. For both monuments attest to the hard fact that immigrants came, were processed and, for the most part, became Americans in the best sense of that term.

In all candor and as a professor of American history, I don't have an easy answer to dealing with illegal immigration today from south of our borders. But what immigration history has taught me is that extreme penalties and restrictions don't work.

For most of American history, there were no federal rules, and immigrants flowed easily into the various states. When the federal government did intervene, after the Supreme Court in 1875 opined that regulation was a federal responsibility, national laws reflected prevailing public prejudices: first, restrictions against the Chinese and Japanese, then against southern and eastern Europeans. At the height of anti-immigration restriction laws in the 1920s, the supreme irony is that the pecking order of acceptability was in stark contrast to today's: Then, Latin Americans were warmly accepted, even encouraged.

But what is clear is that it's virtually impossible for anyone today to verify that their first ancestors to America carrying their surname were legal immigrants. States accepting immigrants kept some records but not systematically. Ellis Island authorities, which rejected only 2 percent of arrivals (on health grounds or the view they might become public charges), lost records in fires. So the whole notion that the immigration process in the old days resulted in a proper entry may well be nothing more than legal fiction for many immigrants. As for the federal laws, they were often conflicting and confusing: Restrictions based upon race, place of birth, sex and residence were officially eliminated in 1968, but the long-standing, sort-of affirmative-action policy of encouraging Canadians and Latin Americans was set aside in 1976.

Non-extreme ways to deal with illegal immigration would accept the view that policy should not be retroactive -- that is, it should not penalize already settled, working immigrants. And the idea of a required national identity card for all Americans is a lot of hooey, wrought with bureaucratic ballooning and invasion of privacy. Nor should policy concentrate on building a border wall that defies economic common sense and smacks of a Berlin-wall era. And if states, such as New York, choose to permit illegal immigrants to apply for drivers licenses (under the reasonable assumption such individuals, like any other New Yorker, would be easier to track), that's really their business.

As for the extremists like Dobbs, O'Reilly and U.S. Rep. James F. Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, who see prison or deportation as a proper treatment for undocumented immigrants, I'd recommend more than a trip on the Staten Island ferry. I'd like to see their papers -- that is, proof positive that their ancestors entered the country legally.

Thomas V. DiBacco is a professor emeritus at American University in Washington, D.C. He wrote this commentary for the Orlando Sentinel.

Kyoto treaty 'a failure' and he seems glad

"A decade after Kyoto, it is clear to me that the [Kyoto] treaty produced far too few results; it is a failure." -- Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner.

Do you think it might have produced more results if the US had participated?

Sensenbrenner, of course, has a long, bad record on global warming. He calls himself a veteran of the climate wars, but it's hard to tell on which side.

Big Bad Jim is Sweet Jimmy now; Vocal on Katrina, mum on Pentagon

"I care that the taxpayers' money is being spent in a prudent manner."

That was Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner defending himself against charges that he was heartless or uncaring, after he voted against any federal assistance for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Spending $51.8-billion was

"throwing money at the problem," he said, and a lot will be wasted, pointing to reports of previous mismanagement of money in New Orleans. He talked about "people with sticky fingers siphoning it off."

Sensenbrenner complained that there were not enough controls or oversight in place. He didn't offer any amendments or suggestions about how to make sure the money was spent appropriately. He simply voted against giving any aid to the victims, becoming one of only 11 people in the entire Congress to take that hard-hearted stand.

So Fighting Jim came to mind, naturally, when the New York Times reported:

WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 — Military officials said Thursday that contracts worth $6 billion to provide essential supplies to American troops in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan — including food, water and shelter — were under review by criminal investigators, double the amount the Pentagon had previously disclosed.

In addition, $88 billion in contracts and programs, including those for body armor for American soldiers and matériel for Iraqi and Afghan security forces, are being audited for financial irregularities, the officials said.

Taken together, the figures, provided by the Pentagon in a hearing before the House Armed Services Committee, represent the fullest public accounting of the magnitude of a widening government investigation into bid-rigging, bribery and kickbacks by members of the military and civilians linked to the Pentagon’s purchasing system.

Given his stand on Katrina relief, you'd think Sensenbrenner would be all over this one, wouldn't you? It's like money being spent on our military is being funneled through the Dept. of Waste, Fraud and Abuse.

Sensenbrenner suggested, after Katrina, that Louisiana politicians had a history of corruption and siphoning off money.

Unlike the Pentagon, of course, which has spilled more money than most other federal agencies and programs have ever seen.

According to one Pentagon official, what's happening in Iraq is just what Sensenbrenner feared would happen on the Gulf Coast:

“In a combat environment, we didn’t have the checks and balances we should have in place,” said Shay D. Assad, director of defense procurement and acquisition policy. “So people who don’t have ethics and integrity are going to be able to get away with things."

So far, Sensenbrenner's record seems just a trifle inconsistent.

He hasn't said a single word about the Pentagon contracts that are under audit and investigation.

He has, however, voted for every dollar the Bush administration has requested for Iraq. And he hasn't uttered a peep about waste, fraud, and mismanagement.

The National Priorities Project says Wisconsin taxpayers already have spent $7.3-billion on the Iraq war alone, with $1.2-billion coming from taxpayers in Sensenbrenner's district, the wealthiest in the state.

For that same $1.2-billion spent by Sensenbrenner's constituents on the Iraq war, 214,341 children could have been provided with health care for the length of the war, or 9,996 units of affordable housing could have been built, the group says.

Heartless when it comes to helping people in need, Sensenbrenner is Daddy Warbucks, the last of the big spenders, when it comes to fighting Bush's senseless, endless war.

Change your name to Sensenbrenner?

A newspaper columnist in Cape May, on the Jersey shore, has a little fun:

My cousin Happy showed up today for the weekend. This is a really BIG weekend in the Wildwoods which is why Happy showed up today, to get a head start on the fun.

Happy isn’t my cousin’s real name. Neither is Sensenbrenner. He changed his last name to Sensenbrenner when he heard about the lucky Congressman who’s won the lottery three times. Happy guessed that it had to be the name...

The rich get richer and the poor get poorer

Just in case you needed further proof that life isn't fair, there's this:

MILWAUKEE (AP) — U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, already a millionaire and heir to the Kimberly-Clark fortune, is on a lucky streak. The Republican hit it big in 1997 with a $250,000 jackpot in the District of Columbia lottery. Then, last spring, he won $1,000 prize in the Wisconsin lottery, and he won another $1,000 in that lottery last week.

"I got lucky," Sensenbrenner said.

Sensenbrenner, 64, was born into a family that helped build Kimberly-Clark Corp., maker of Kleenex tissue and Scott paper towels, and he recently reported a net worth of about $11.6 million. He said he spends about $10 a week on lottery tickets.

The latest winnings came in a Super 2nd Chance drawing, in which people who mail in at least $5 in losing tickets vie for 10 $1,000 prizes each week. Lottery officials put the odds of winning just one time at 1 in 5,000.

Sensenbrenner is a notorious tightwad who travels the globe with his wife while letting special interests pick up the tab.

But it is hard to imagine someone with his money spending his time mailing in his losing lottery tickets.

Maybe he has more time on his hands now that he's in the minority.

Holding the hard line on immigration

Let you think that Fat Jim has moved even slightly on his hard-line anti-immigrant stance, check the Oconomowoc Focus story this week about his talk to local Kiwanians. Some highlights:

"They (illegal immigrants) distort the economy, they take away jobs from the communities, and many times they are paid cash," he said, meaning that often they do not pay taxes for the society they live in...

and

... the Senate's version of the bill ... allows current illegal immigrants, who have lived in the U.S. for five years, to gain U.S. citizenship by paying fines and back taxes for only three of the previous five years.

Sensenbrenner said that is basically giving criminals amnesty.

"By giving illegal immigrants amnesty, not only do you get U.S. citizenship for breaking the law, but you get a lot of money taken away from others."

If U.S. citizens were to only pay limited back taxes, they would be considered lawbreakers and prosecuted, he said.

"Amnesty will never be accepted by the American public," he stated.

Meanwhile, Latino evangelicals are about to abandon the GOP over the issue, The Christian Post reports:

[Rev. Samuel] Rodriguez [president of the National Hispanic Leadership Conference]. and others like him, are now questioning whether they can label the GOP party as the “party of Jeff Sessions, Tom Tancredo and James Sensenbrenner” who were strong opponents of the immigration bill, or the party of George W. Bush and John McCain who are both strongly in favor of the bill.

Sensenbrenner retirement rumored

Human Events, which named Sensenbrenner its "Man of the Year" for 2006, reports:

HASTERT, PRYCE, WHO’S NEXT? Republicans on Capitol Hill were wondering last week if a GOP retirement flood might be getting under way after former House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R.-Ill.) and Representatives Deborah Pryce (R.-Ohio) and Chip Pickering (R.-Miss.) all announced they would not run for re-election next year. Pryce, as vice chairman of the GOP Conference, is the fourth-ranking House Republican. Coming days after seven-termer Ray LaHood (R.-Ill.) announced his exit from Congress, the latest exits have increased speculation that a large number of long-serving Republican House members will soon say they are calling it quits, fearing ’08 will be a bad year for the GOP. Among the most talked-of “no-go” prospects are veteran GOP Representatives Ralph Regula (Ohio), Elton Gallegly (Calif.), Jim Sensenbrenner (Wis.) and Bill Young (Fla.).

Hat tip: Dad29