Thanks to Larry Geller (Disappeared News) for his report of the state’s dropping its appeal of a federal court ruling that struck down limits on contributions to political committees that do not contribute in turn to candidates (“Hawaii abandons appeal of campaign contribution case“). He provides links back to several of the key documents. Recommended!

What this means for now is that political committees that restrict their activities to independently campaigning for or against candidates or issues can receive unlimited amounts from contributors, as long as these committees don’t contribute to candidates or coordinate with their campaigns. The case did not strike down the limits as applied to candidates or PACs that contribute to candidates.

Remember the discussion here not too long ago about “sacred cows“? The Sacramento Bee has had one of those sacred cows in its sights for a while now–the National Guard. In a series of investigative stories, the Bee uncovered fraud and abuse in the California National Guard. I wonder what a similar investigation would find here?

And speaking about foreclosures, check out Pro Publica’s “Cheat Sheet on Bank Investigations and the Probes That Have Petered Out.”