WASHINGTON — Rep. Ike Skelton knows what he will do in one of his first acts as chairman of the Armed Services Committee in the Democratic-led House: resurrect the subcommittee on oversight and investigations.

The panel was disbanded by the Republicans after they won control of Congress in 1994. Now, Skelton (D-Mo.) intends to use it as a forum to probe Pentagon spending and the Bush administration's conduct of the Iraq war.

It has been 12 years since Democrats were in control of both the House and Senate. But they are looking to make up for lost time, and in some cases, make the Bush administration and its business allies sweat.

With control of every committee in Congress starting in January, the new majority will inherit broad powers to subpoena and investigate. And that is expected to translate into wide-ranging and contentious hearings.

The agenda is likely to be dominated by the Iraq war, but could include probes into the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance, environmental policies and new prescription-drug program for seniors. Industries, such as oil companies, could also come under closer scrutiny....read the whole article

This is why Rummy was quickly disposed of. The Bushistas didn't want him saying anything stupid under oath.

The long dark night is starting to break, I can see the glorious dawn coming up over the hill..

Congradulations American People!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/?tr=y&auid=872749

I guess it should be no surprise that Nancy Keenan and the national NARAL PAC are lying to Connecticut voters on behalf of Joe Lieberman. They endorsed him even after he voted for cloture on Samuel Alito and came out against CT NARAL's signature issue of last year (trying to require all publicly funded hospitals to provide Plan B contraception to rape victims — Joe famously said that after being raped they were free to take a "short ride" to another hospital if they wanted to).

from fireoglake