PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: This sounds promising. Reps. look to cut ties between earmarks, donations:

Two reform-minded Democrats will introduce a bill Wednesday to address the growing controversy around the corruptive influence of earmarks and campaign donations from the companies that receive them.

Reps. Paul Hodes (D-N.H.) and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), who are in their second terms, are co-sponsoring a measure that would prevent lawmakers from taking campaign contributions from entities for which they have requested earmarks, as well as the entities lobbyists and employees.
The members are among more than two-dozen Democrats who have supported a resolution anti-earmark crusader Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) has offered seven times in the past two months. The measure would force the ethics committee to investigate the nexis between campaign contributions from embattled PMA Group lobbyists and its employees and the earmarks lawmakers’ requested for PMA clients.

PMA Group shut down after the FBI raided its Northern Virginia offices last year and is reportedly investigating fraudulent campaign donations from so-called straw donors. The firm had showered millions of dollars in campaign donations on members of Congress and its clients received hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks in return.

PMA beneficiaries include John Murtha, Jim Moran, and Pete Visclosky.

CORZINE STILL TRAILING in New Jersey polls.

MEGAN MCARDLE: Blogging For Big Bucks. I would write more, but the Brinks truck is out back waiting to unload.

Plus, Why Hillary Is President!

RON BAILEY: Yielding to Ideology Over Science: Why don’t environmentalists celebrate modern farming on Earth Day?

Yeah, I thought once Bush was gone everyone would just follow the science.

NASHVILLE SCENE: Maybe Those Tea Party Protesters Were Right About the Bailouts.

MORE MOVES from Netbook to Desktop. Nettop?

FREDDIE MAC CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER found dead, an apparent suicide.

UH OH: ‘Quiet Sun’ baffling astronomers.

ANDREW KLAVAN: Night of the Living Government?

SHOWING GAIA WHO’S BOSS: The 2009 Iowahawk Earth Week Virtual Cruise-In.

PROF. BERNARDO DE LA PAZ on the Texas Question.

MICKEY KAUS: “Shockingly, the New York Times editorial board fails to call for auto czarito Steven Rattner’s resignation in light of his involvement in the ‘widening’ pension ‘pay for play’ scandal. After all, the problem is so much larger than one man! . . . Also the Albuquerque mess! And New York City mess! … Shouldn’t the Times ed board have disclosed that Rattner is one of Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr.’s best friends?”

JEREMY LOTT: Get rid of the Vice Presidency.

I’ve had some related thoughts, but they didn’t go quite that far. On the other hand, Jeremy has a new book out, entitled The Warm Bucket Brigade: The Story of the American Vice Presidency. All I’ve got is a law review article.

PEJMAN YOUSEFZADEH: Your coulda woulda shoulda didn’t post of the day.

THERE’S A HELL OF A GOOD UNIVERSE NEXT DOOR — LET’S GO! Two planets identified as most similar to Earth.

INTERROGATION FLIP-FLOPS CAUSING PROBLEMS FOR WHITE HOUSE: “In a flash, the story was not Obama’s decision, but whether he had changed his position. The White House said no, but struggled to explain why not.”

OBAMA GETS ONE RIGHT:

Hugo Chavez may have gotten a grinning handshake from President Obama in Trinidad. But it was our authentic friend and ally, Colombia, that got substance. The president got one right. . . . It started Saturday, when he put himself next to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe at lunch and then studiously exchanged notes.

Having listened to Uribe, (and that must have been a nice dose of sanity after enduring 50 minutes of ravings from Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega, or weird conspiracy theories by Bolivia’s Evo Morales), Obama then seemed to realize that the long-stalled Colombia free trade agreement should have been passed yesterday.

The president announced that his team must find a way to pass the agreement. With world trade down 80%, the pact opens new markets to the U.S. He demanded immediate action, asking Colombia’s trade minister to fly to Washington this week.

Then it got even better: Obama invited Uribe to the White House and promised to visit Colombia himself, allowing the Colombians to lay out for him their vast economic and social progress, and their desire to integrate into global trade.

Good for him. The Colombians deserve better treatment than they’ve received.

ABC NEWS: RFK Jr. Blasts Obama as ‘Indentured Servant’ to Coal Industry. Good grief.

U.S. NEWS: Democrats hysterical over Tea Party protests.

TEA PARTY PROTESTS GO LOCAL: I’ve been noting that local Tea Party organizations are turning into political machines in favor of fiscal responsibility. Here are some more examples.

Colorado tea-party participants will be a political force in 2010.

Tea Party organizer says you haven’t seen the last of her.

Sick to death of taxes: “Mangold called upon the gathered citizens to get involved in government by attending meetings, talking with legislators and running for office. . . . This week, Kellett said TEA Party organizers across Wyoming are putting together a statewide organization to continue the effort and set up more events.”

HEH: Step One: Das Kapital. Step Three: Heaven On Earth. Step Two: ?

WHAT DOES FIDELITY want from Barney Frank?

THE HILL: Harman: Others in Congress may have been tapped.

GOOD QUESTION: Why is it okay for Obama to oppose gay marriage, but not okay for Miss California to? “I didn’t hear the outrage when Joe Biden said that he and Barack Obama are against gay marriage. No incendiary language, no insults, no four letter obscenities.” Because people figure they’re lying, so it’s okay.

EUGENE VOLOKH: Assault Weapons Bans, in the Violence Policy Center’s own words.