SHOOTING FROM THE LIP

A new feature of Vermont U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy's Weblog is said to be gaining an audience. The feature, called "More From the Floor," provides an excellent public service.

It reminds us today, for instance: "The Senate convenes this morning to resume consideration of S.1805, the Gun Liability bill. While no roll call votes are scheduled to occur today, three amendments are presently pending to the bill: Senator Kennedy's S.Amdt.2619 about armor piercing bullets; Senator Frist's S.Amdt.2625 also about armor-piercing bullets; and Senator Campbell's S.Amdt.2623 about concealed carry." It even gives up-to-the-minute updates.

(To offer our own public service, here's a relevant commentary on that bill: "Down and Dirty in the Gun Debate.")

Not incidentally, "More From the Floor" has been lauded by the Congressional Management Foundation's newsletter for, among other things, its "clear and conversational language to make content accessible to a wide audience." And it has come in for praise from readers, such as students in a law class in Pittsburgh, Pa., who messaged: "There really is nothing like it on the Net."

As much as we'd like to agree with them, however, we beg to differ. When it comes to straight talk, is Leahy's blog any competition for the Washington-based blogger Wonkette? Not a chance. Here, for example, is Wonkette shooting from the lip in a Feb. 25 entry headlined "More on That Gay Thing":

UPDATE: Several readers have written in regarding the Federal No Ass-Fucking Amendment. First of all, to "Worried in Manhattan": Straight people can do it all they want. Your wife is wrong to use that excuse. And to "Stick-in-the-Mud in Seattle": You're right, the amendment will not literally prohibit the gays from getting in the rear; in a literal sense, it will just deny the benefits of marriage to the gays (some of whom practice the back-door love). But we suspect that what really makes the Bushies uncomfortable is ass-fucking. The idea of it, we mean.