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Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) in Critical Condition; Senate Majority Potentially at Stake

Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) is recovering from surgery at George Washington University Hospital to stop bleeding in his brain caused by an arteriovenous malformation, a condition which causes arteries and veins to grow abnormally large. Johnson's condition was described as "critical" by hospital officials early this morning.

Former FCC General Counsel: Fake TV News Must Be Disclosed

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Publicist Mike Morris, identified as a reporter during a VNR broadcast

"Congress and the courts have stressed that as fiduciaries given the free use of the public airwaves, broadcasters are obligated to operate in the public interest. Flagrantly deceptive practices are inconsistent with that obligation and can find no sanction in the First Amendment."

Those words were written by Henry Geller, a former general counsel of the Federal Communications Commission and assistant secretary of commerce for communications and information. Today, the StarTribune in Minneapolis/St. Paul published an op/ed that Geller and I co-authored. The piece (copied below) describes why full disclosure of video news releases (VNRs) is both vital to the public interest and supported by legal precedent.

If you think the public should be told where its news really comes from, you can still support VNR disclosure, via the online action hosted by our colleagues at Free Press.

Will the new Congress try to impeach President Bush? Could a state?

After decisive Democratic victories in the recent congressional elections, some speculated that the party may seek to impeach President Bush from office, as the Republican Congress did to Bill Clinton in 1998. After all, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), the incoming chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, introduced a resolution late in 2005 (which now has 38 co-sponsors) authorizing a special House committee to investigate the administration on a number of matters and possibly make a recommendation for impeachment. Following the elections, however, Conyers echoed the sentiments of Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), insisting that impeachment is now “off the table” in the 110th Congress. Conyers' office has separately confirmed to Congresspedia that he has no intention to reintroduce his bill in the new session of Congress.

Specifically, Conyers' resolution would have investigated the administration's:

Prospects for Ethics Reform in the 110th Congress

Guest poster: Paul Blumenthal of the Sunlight Foundation

Exit polls show that the 109th Congress severely misread the American voters and believed that passing lobbying and ethics reforms was unnecessary, despite the parade of FBI raids, criminal indictments, and jailed lawmakers and lobbyists. The leaders of the new Democratic majority have promised to enact the reforms the previous Congress shied away from.

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