Karl Rove and the GOP have launched a last ditch attempt to turn the tide of the election, and salvage what they can.  And the reporters at The Onion have the news:

http://www.theonion.com/...

[Hastert's] Office of the Speaker website states: "At home we put children first, and Republicans are doing just that in the House."

The Foley/Hastert debacle ties into one of my particular hobbyhorses, which is federal support for autism research and treatment, which is woefully lacking given the soaring numbers of people diagnosed with autism.  
See below:

Carlos Delgado, an all-star first baseman from Puerto Rico, was recently traded to the New York Mets.  The Mets have informed him that according to team policy he will no longer be allowed to remain out of sight as a protest when "God Bless America" is played, but will have to stand at attention with the rest of the team.  He had previously declined to do so as a protest against the war, and the connection baseball had forged bewteen "God Bless America" and what Delgado saw as a belicose U.S. foreign policy.

In Denver, a 50-year old mother of four, who has a son fighting in Iraq, has been arrested by federal police while riding a municipal bus across federal grounds, because she wouldn't show her i.d. when a guard demanded that all riders do so.

One of the purest exercises of the federal government, like disaster relief, is the funding of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA), and which has therefore always been underfunded and faces threats of further cut-backs.  This year funding was supposed to be significantly increased -- but the appropriations are at issue now, and need the support of those so inclined.  

Below is a letter from the Director of the National Center for Learning Disabilities