CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN - AT 11:09 A.M. ET:  If Republicans were smart, they'd start looking into a number of Obama appointees.  This is already an ethically challenged administration, and the problem seems to be getting worse, as Fox reports:

President Obama's pick to oversee bioterrorism at the Department of Homeland Security failed to report her role as an adviser for a lobbying group that has pushed for more money on anthrax vaccines and biodefense research, the Washington Times reported Tuesday.

Dr. Tara O'Toole, who is awaiting confirmation as undersecretary of science and technology, did not report her position with the group called the Alliance for Biosecurity, which is funded by the drug industry, in a recent government ethics filing, according to the newspaper.

The group reportedly spent over $500,000 lobbying Congress and federal agencies -- including Homeland Security -- since 2005.

Note the legal excuse:

But Homeland Security officials told the newspaper that O'Toole was not required to disclose her involvement with the alliance on ethics forms because the group is not incorporated.

COMMENT:  Government to the highest standards.  Isn't that what we were promised?  Changing the old ways.

Kind of reminds us of Al Gore's "no controlling legal authority" and Bill Clinton's "I didn't inhale."

There are Republicans who cross the line also, of course.  The difference is, they get investigated by the press.  Immediately.  Faster than immediately.

September 8, 2009