2 October—Is anybody at all surprised that the highly touted bill to ban members of Congress from insider stock trading and related unethical, possibly unlawful, financial activity isn’t going anywhere? Friday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shed crocodile tears as she told the press that the bill didn’t come to the floor because it didn’t have the votes to pass.

Not enough votes to pass? Gee, that’s strange, because virtually all the representatives on both sides of the aisle couldn’t shut up a few months ago about how enthusiastic they were about the Combatting Financial Conflicts of Interests in Government Act (as it was called), intended to prevent insider trading by members of Congress, federal government officials, and Supreme Court justices.

The idea was to stop insider trading by making officials put any stocks they own into blind trusts, in which the stocks are managed by a third party without their owner’s knowledge or input. Sounds great leading up to an election.

Problem is, Nancy and her ultra-cooperative whorehouse leadership unveiled the draft stock-trading reform legislation last Tuesday, just a few days before the de rigueur extended pre-election recess. Did anybody wonder at the timing? It didn’t give the whores much time to review the legislation or offer changes to close some loopholes and open others. And that’s precisely the point.

These people may be self-serving scumbags first and foremost, but they’re not stupid. Most of them, anyway. The standard refrain is that not patching the loopholes leaves the bill toothless, thereby dooming its chances in a floor vote because our assiduous elected representatives certainly couldn’t support ineffective legislation. That’s what they want gullible voters to believe, at any rate.

Quite as expected—and as usual—our elected Congressional whores are posturing for the benefit of the great unwashed as if they’re outraged at Nancy and her whorehouse leadership for effectively killing the legislation they were colluding behind the scenes to kill even before it was drafted. But we know full well that their righteous indignation is merely a pretense and they’re not really outraged and Nancy isn’t bothered in the very least. Especially Nancy, perhaps, given the family portfolio.

It’s just a matter of keeping up appearances. When the bill’s obituary was announced, the mass sigh of relief likely could be felt and heard all the way up to Wall Street.

Congressional business, dirty as usual . . .