GOP Overreaching Has Officially Started

These two moves to brazenly ignore existing law and bend the rules for their own benefit should officially symbolize the starting gun for the GOP's radical right-wing overreaching:

PROTECTING THEIR LEADER IF HE IS CRIMINALLY INDICTED: The Washington Post reports, "House Republicans proposed changing their rules last night to allow members indicted by state grand juries to remain in a leadership post, a move that would benefit Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) in case he is charged by a Texas grand jury that has indicted three of his political associates, according to GOP leaders... House GOP leaders and aides said many rank-and-file Republicans are eager to change the rule to help DeLay, and will do so if given a chance at today's closed meeting."

HIDING THEIR OWN FINANCIAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST: The LA Times reports top congressional Republicans "are trying to limit the personal financial information that top federal officials must disclose" as part of the 9/11 Intelligence Reform Bill. Tucked within the 497 page bill "is a provision to repeal the requirement that senior-level officials report their personal financial assets valued at more than $2.5 million. It also would end the practice of disclosing the dates of stock transactions." The proposal to limit financial disclosures "initially covered only top-level intelligence officials [but] it was recently expanded to include all executive branch officials...new disclosure policies would make it harder to detect when officials have personal financial stakes in matters before them."