John Boehner: Living the Goodlife (Unlike His Constituents)

U.S. News and World Report will have a story that details how the government conducted physical searches of homes without a court order. Someone on Keith Olbermann said that this would 'gut the 4th amendment.' By the way, U.S. News and World Report is considered an extremely right-leaning publication.

You've heard about them, and now you can get your own! Order your official 'Don't Shoot I'm Human-Dick Cheney Hunting Vest' at http://www.dontshootimhuman.com/ (Next week they'll have hats and t-shirts.)

The news is out on Republican Rep. John Boehner: He is a high roller. He likes the goodlife and enjoys having other people pay for it. The Washington Post has the goods on Boehner. Here is an excerpt:

...The Center for Public Integrity said that Boehner accepted 42 privately sponsored trips from January 2000 to December 2005. That put him on the road to foreign countries and "golfing hotspots," often with his wife, Debbie, for about half a year, "only nine days of which he listed as being 'at personal expense,' "the center said...

Boehner also flew at least 45 times on corporate jets owned by companies "with a financial stake in congressional affairs" from June 2001 through September 2005, the center reported. The corporations on whose planes Boehner flew included tobacco companies such as R.J. Reynolds Tobacco (15 times), UST Inc. (seven times) and Swisher International Inc. (seven times)....

...Among the places Boehner traveled on privately financed trips were Edinburgh, Scotland; Venice; Brussels; and Barcelona, the center said. Two of his domestic destinations, which the center pointed out are famous for their golf courses, were Boca Raton, Fla., and Scottsdale, Ariz.

The report said Boehner received more than $160,000 in food, lodging, transportation and other expenditures on his privately paid journeys. His benefactors included the Chicago Board of Trade, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, CSX Corp. and the Sallie Mae Foundation.

The congressman also "hosted many high-end fundraisers to wine and dine potential donors and Republican colleagues," the center said. Boehner's Freedom Project political action committee, which he used to help fellow Republicans get elected to Congress, paid more than $119,000 for golf-outing fundraisers from March 2003 through the end of 2005, the center said. It also paid $25,000 to Duck Soup, the "unofficial band of the PGA Tour."

WHOA!!!!!!!! Now if we can just find out his tanning secrets!