I just got a note that Congress has passed the Wool Suit Fabric Labeling Fairness and International Standards Conforming Act.
Unfair wool suit labels could be a thing of the past, thank goodness. But it has yet to confirm John Kneuer (rhymes with "glower," which is what I would be doing if I were him) as head of the National Telecommunications & Information Administration.
NTIA is the the chief telecom policy advisor to the White House and is more importantly at the moment responsible for implementing the digital-to-analog converter box subsidy so that a bunch of viewers won't be left in the dark on Feb. 17, 2006, when the switch on analog broadcasts is scheduled to be turned off.
Fat lot of good their nondeceptive wool suit labels will be when they can't tune in the local weather forecast to see whether they should be wearing those suits or not.
I'm sure there have also been important proclamations passed praising llamas and little league baseball teams or renaming a Post Office after some deceased local notable–reading the weekly congressional calendar is often a hoot–but with all the noise about the importance of the converter subsidy, I would have thought they could have also made time to give Kneuer the full power of his office before heading off for the holidays.
They might yet do that, with one of those Friday afternoon "blink and you'll miss them" confirmation votes/not a vote were someone says something like: "nominees 12 through 24 approved by unanimous consent." And poof, they are in. I hope so.
By John Eggerton
