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A Louisiana federal judge critical of Interior Department offshore drilling restrictions on Thursday gave the department 30 days to decide whether to issue five deepwater drilling permits for Gulf of Mexico projects. Judge Martin Feldman’s order features his latest attacks on drilling restrictions imposed after the BP oil spill, alleging that permitting delays have “become increasingly unreasonable.” Interior lifted a formal ban on deepwater permits in October but has yet to resume permitting. Thursday's order mandates decisions on five permit applications in which Ensco Offshore Co. – one of the companies that has sued Interior over drilling restrictions – has...

Two Republican senators are introducing a resolution that would end the constitutional right to citizenship that comes with being born on U.S. soil. Rand Paul (Ky.) and David Vitter (La.) are introducing a resolution this week that would amend the Constitution so that a person born in the United States could only become an American citizen if one or more of his or her parents is an legal citizen, legal immigrant, or member of the armed forces, according to a joint press release Thursday. Vitter said the legislation would help reduce illegal immigration. “For too long, our nation has seen...

Sen. David Vitter blocks NOAA nomination to protest slow pace of offshore drilling permitsBruce Alpert, Times-Picayune Published: Friday, December 10, 2010, 7:00 AM For the second time in recent weeks, a Louisiana senator is blocking Senate confirmation of an Obama administration nominee to protest the slow pace of permits for offshore drilling in the wake of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. This time it is Republican Sen. David Vitter, who is holding up the nomination of Scott Doney to be chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Just before Thanksgiving, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., dropped her nearly...

Louisiana's U.S. Senate candidates tangled over illegal immigration, the federal deficit and the role of money in politics Thursday during their final face-to-face meeting of a campaign that has grown increasingly nasty and personal as Election Day nears. The hour-long debate between Republican incumbent David Vitter and Democratic challenger Charlie Melancon featured some of the strongest attacks of the campaign, as Melancon repeatedly accused Vitter of hypocrisy and panelists pressed the senator on whether he broke the law when he committed a "serious sin" involving a Washington, D.C., prostitution ring. Vitter refused to go beyond his previous statements about the...

This newspaper makes the following recommendations for Tuesday's ballot. CONGRESS U.S. Senate David Vitter Much of Sen. Vitter's first term in the Senate came in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the levee breaches that left 80 percent of New Orleans under water. The senator fought hard to hold the Army Corps of Engineers accountable and to get recovery resources for South Louisiana, including vital funding for coastal restoration. He was a leader in the push to finally close the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet, the corps-built waterway that contributed to the devastation during Katrina. He also played an important role in...

Boo freakin' hoo! The Louisiana Hispanic Chamber of Congress chick is mad because Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) dares to use the word "illegals" 4 times in his effective ad against an opponent (Charlie Melancon) who supported laws that help illegal aliens. Poor baby. The truth hurts. She also makes an absurd statement that "the majority of those here illegally are not even Latino". In fact, 61% are from Mexico alone. But compounding her error she goes after "blonde, blue eyed waitresses" supposedly from Eastern Europe. Uh, who's being "racist" now? Youtube Link HERE To see Sen. Vitter's great ad click...

Video of Senator Vitter cornering administration hack Rebecca M. Blank on the Obama administration's willful disreguard for the jobs of the people in the Gulf. (or worse)

Breezing into tomorrow's primary, Sen. David Vitter seems only to be running against expectations, with polls spotting him a 70-point lead over Chet Traylor, who, having raised less than $100,000, has turned off his harsh radio attacks on the incumbent. An independent poll by Public Policy Polling released this week shows that Vitter's approval ratings have gone up since June, Melancon's dipped slightly, and the Republican maintains a double digit lead, 51-41 percent. Compared to a June poll by PPP, most of whose clients are Democrats, Vitter's job approval rating improved to 53-41 percent from 45-43 percent. It was Melancon...

Sen. David Vitter, R-La., on Sunday told Fox News he and his colleagues are trying to determine whether the administration has seriously considered mass legalization for illegal immigrants based on a newly discovered memo outlining ways to grant legalization without going through Congress. The draft memo, first obtained by Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley's office from the U.S. Customs & Immigration Services, outlines ways the administration was exploring to legalize swaths of illegal immigrants "in the absence of Comprehensive Immigration Reform," according to Fox News. "Then this 11-page memo has gotten out, and it's not alleged anymore," Vitter told Fox...

Peggy M. Traylor, the late wife of former Louisiana Supreme Court Associate Justice Chet Traylor had “professional wagers” income of over $100 thousand for the reporting years of 2008 and 2009, according to documents obtained by Lincoln Parish News Online (LPNO). Chet Traylor retired from the court May 31, 2009. The documents do not reveal under what circumstances or from whom the income was received, as appears to be required by the state’s ethics laws. RS 42:1114 A. Other than a legislator, each public servant and each member of his immediate family who derives any thing of economic value, directly,...

"Senator: Resolve eligibility in court 'I support organizations' that raise birth challenge A Republican senator from Louisiana, David Vitter, is suggesting the dispute over Barack Obama's eligibility to be president be resolved in court. "I support conservative legal organizations and others who would bring that to court," the Associated Press reported a video of the event revealed him saying. Vitter becomes just the latest high-profile leader, and the first U.S. senator, to take such a strong stand on the issue. U.S. Senator supports Obama Birth Certificate Lawsuits (youtube video) It's also significant that the AP, which has stated publicly that...

Via The Dead Pelican, news that Senator David Vitter has picked up a little know Republican challenger for his Senate seat which will force an August primary. Vitter has been trouncing Democratic challenger Charlie Melancon in the polls. Nick Accardo, an orthopedic surgeon from Franklin, says: "He's ineffective as far as really representing Louisiana...We need someone the rest of the Congress holds in better esteem. We need some grown-ups." Accardo has previously run for the U.S. Senate in 1990 as a Democrat, 1992 as a Democrat and 1996 as an Independent. In 1994 he ran for the House of Representatives...

Louisiana’s race for the U.S. Senate looks largely the same way it has since the beginning of the year, with incumbent Republican David Vitter continuing to earn over 50% of the vote in a state with unusually high Tea Party membership. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in Louisiana finds Vitter, who is seeking a second six-year term, with 53% support. His Democratic challenger, Congressman Charlie Melancon, picks up 35% of the vote. Three percent (3%) like some other candidate, and nine percent (9%) are undecided. In April, Vitter posted a similar lead over Melancon. Since January,...

By MATTHEW MOSK and BRIAN ROSS June 23, 2010 — A trusted aide to Louisiana Sen. David Vitter resigned Wednesday morning after ABC News reported that he had been arrested for attacking his ex-girlfriend with a knife, and had an open warrant for his arrest in Baton Rouge on a drunk driving charge. The aide, Brent Furer, worked on the Republican senator's last campaign, and has spent the last five years posted in his Washington office to handle, among other things, women's issues. An ABC News investigation out this morning revealed that Furer had repeated brushes with the law dating...

President Obama announced on national television recently that he was looking for an ass to kick. Well, it seems he found one, the State of Louisiana.  During his address this week to the nation from the Oval Office, the President made clear that he will not offer real help to the struggling people of Louisiana and the Gulf Coast. In his speech, he presented no specific action plans and instead relied on lame platitudes. In contrast, he made clear his support for a destructive national energy tax and a horrible cap-and-trade energy bill, which will devastate Louisiana’s economy. Obama is...

Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) is accusing senior Democrats of “rushing to create media events for television” instead of working to confront the oil spill crisis in the Gulf of Mexico. Vitter – delivering the GOP’s weekly address Saturday – also warned against using the fatal April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig and the ongoing spill as a reason to block future offshore drilling. Vitter cited his meetings with Gulf Coast fishermen and other residents whose lives have been disrupted by the spill, drawing a contrast to what he called counterproductive Washington hearings. “That’s why it’s so frustrating to...

Had she won, Stormy Daniels might have been the only U.S. senator who could perform a lap dance, lip-sync Motley Crue and descend a staircase in stiletto heels. But from The Men's Club in Raleigh, bathed in purple light and dressed as Little Red Riding Hood, the Louisiana-born sizzler announced that she would drop her bid for national office — canceling what could have been the nation's most arousing race.

NASA administrator Charles Bolden attempted to defend the new Obama space policy before a hearing of the Science and Space Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

Incumbent Republican David Vitter has an even more commanding lead this month over his top Democratic challenger in Louisiana's race for the U.S. Senate. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in the state shows Vitter leading Democratic Congressman Charlie Melancon 57% to 33%. Just three percent (3%) would opt for some other candidate, while seven percent (7%) are undecided. In January, Vitter led Melancon 53% to 35%. Melancon also trailed Secretary of State Jay Dardenne, who was considering challenging Vitter for the GOP Senate nomination, by a 53% to 31% margin in that poll.

As the ever-more-curious James O’Keefe arrest story continues to develop, the Louisiana Democrat Party has now weighed in with a reliably breathless, stupid and illogical statement. In a release late this afternoon, acting state party head Michael McHale said the following… “This is a Louisiana Watergate. Louisiana families are shocked and outraged that these men would break the law to carry out their political agenda with this Watergate-like break-in and attempted wiretapping. Given his ties to some of the players involved, Sen. Vitter should immediately denounce the actions of these four men and anyone who may have instigated, supported or...