Keelhaul Kyl

The jackass Senator not only is a cosponsor of the "Stinking Pile of Immigration" bill--he's also standing in the way of sunshine-in-Gummint laws.

As if Sen. Jon Kyl (R.-Ariz.) didn't already have it bad enough for his brokering the immigration deal, he's now taking heat for opposing a bill that would give the public greater access to government information.

After days of trying to figure out which senator was blocking the Open Government Act, the Society of Professional Journalists, of which I'm a member, today narrowed it down to Kyl. He acknowledged he was holding up the bill, citing concerns from the Justice Department. He said he would continue to block it until the Bush Administration and senators could work out a deal.

[Actually, the objections to the Bill came from Shifty-Eyed himself, the AG, Alberto "Soon-to-be-Private-Citizen" Gonzales.]

The fact that the legislation is sponsored by Sen. John Cornyn (R.-Tex.), a former state attorney general and state supreme court justice, has me quite confident that the bill takes into account the executive branch's concerns. Even if there are problems with it, why has the Bush Administration waited until now -- two years after the bill was introduced -- to do anything about them?

Kyl's willingness to go to bat for the administration on this bill won't win him many fans in the blogosphere. Bloggers should be especially outraged at his blocking the bill because it makes much-needed improvements to the federal Freedom of Information law.

Another Arizona (R). Must be the heat down there...fries their brains or something.