The Hill.

The Hill is a non-partisan blog that is run by mix of professional journalists in addition to 'common' guys. What makes The Hill unique is that it is focused specifically on the trench warfare that goes on the Congress via parliamentarians and non-germane language. Although the content matter is really in the weeds, (not even the 24-hour networks will cover this stuff.) a surprising amount of their content is genuinely interesting; if not for the news quality of the pieces, but for all the wacky stuff that goes on in the halls of Congress.

I nearly died from laughter from a post in 'The Floor Action' section of the sight which detailed the multiple failure of a minibus appropriations bill which weakened the previsions of the embargo held on Cuba since 1962.

From what I can manage, the story went something like this: when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) brought the bill to the floor Florida Sens. Marco Rubio (R) and Bill Nelson (D) as well as Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) objected to the parliamentarian that the language concerning Cuba was not germane to the bill because it was a legislative and not appropriative measure. (The three senators also argued that the dictatorial ruling regime in Cuba is teetering and that lowering trade barriers could bolster its grip on power. Yep, the surplus of histrionics will never end.)

That's not all, the parliamentarian sustained the objection and Reid quickly brought to the floor the same bill stripped of the Cuba wording. That version however was shot down by Sen. Jim Moran (R-Kan.), the author of the Cuba provision, who commented that the new version was not the version that had come out of committee. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) also objected, complaining that bill spent too much and would fund abortion in Washington D.C. and around the world. (For those keeping track, that's dictators, abortion, government waste, and non-germane bills all in 30 minutes or less.)

Apparantly, Reid couldn't find anyone to vote on this bill without the Cuba provisions. So he did something called "filling the tree" and submitted a new(?) version of the bill.

I'm still not sure if it's now legal to buy Cuban sugar.