Well, the slow disintegration of the Republicans in Congress continues.

Lots of great news stories as Abramhoff has now plead and has agreed to name names. For complete coverage see the WP's December 29th coverage of the scandal.

Republicans are starting to distance themselves. For the exact senators and congressmen returning funds see this story. Especially as news reports emerge of the fake charity such as the Capital Athletes Foundation which never gave any money to athletes but rather seems to have been used to pay for access to Delay during the 2004 campaign. This is just too juicy to miss:

The discrepancy also follows e-mails between Abramoff and members of his lobbying team that say then-House Republican Leader Tom DeLay of Sugar Land wanted to raise money through Capital Athletic for an unspecified purpose. In one of those e-mails, Abramoff announced a $200,000 fundraising goal.

DeLay does not recall making such a request, his lawyer, Richard Cullen, said Wednesday. Capital Athletic's tax return does not indicate whether Abramoff reached his $200,000 goal.

But around the time Capital Athletic's tax form was filed in fall 2003, listing the $300,000 donation P'TACH says it didn't get, a DeLay-created charity called Celebrations for Children was begun with $300,000 in seed money.

Celebrations for Children was a short-lived effort to raise money for children's charities by providing donors with special access to DeLay, plus yacht trips and other enticements, during the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York. Watchdog groups protested, claiming the fundraiser violated a new ban on accumulating unlimited "soft" money, and DeLay dropped it in May 2004.

Between that and Delay's sleazy acceptance of Russian oil money laundered through the fake "U.S. Family Network" for votes in Congress, he's freaking toast!

Oh won't somebody please think of the Children! Or at least think of how to exploit them for political and monetary gain...

Bush has even made a move that will undoubtably remove any smear of Abramhoff from his sterling reputation, he has returned a stunning $6,000 of the $100,000 he received during the 2004 election.

Greg Mitchell brings to our attention the incredible disparity between Clinton lies and Bush lies when it comes to impeachment. With King George (the new moniker for Bush as the imperial president) in trouble for his complete disregard for the law, maybe it's time to start talking about it. It's a pipe dream with a Republican majority, but with this Abramhoff stuff and every other form of Republican mismanagement, in a mere 10 months (dare I wish it?) this majority may reverse.

This is what I've been saying since the 2004 election. Don't worry, don't get your panties in a bunch, everything is going to be ok. It's simple, Republicanism is nothing more than unenlightened self-interest. It doesn't help anybody, it makes people miserable, and the people who believe in it are fundamentally corrupt or incompetent. There is no need to fight them, they'll implode on their own.

In double-plus good news but unrelated to Republican self-destruction we have reports that Fox is considering bringing back Futurama.

Finally, there are interesting reports of an Italian court case in which a judge has ordered a priest to prove Jesus actually existed. Ha! What a wonderful new year! Give Up!