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There’s shit going down in Washington now around the proposed ban on insider trading of politicians (which for some weird reason up til now hasn’t been illegal). According to this New York Times article, the proposed legislation would also require certain “political intelligence firms” to register as lobbyists, and that gotten them up in a huff. From the article:

“Hedge funds, private equity funds and investment advisers — many of which are not currently registered under the Lobbying Disclosure Act — might now be required either to register or to alter their business practices to avoid the need for registration,” the bulletin said. “If, for example, a hedge fund calls a Congressional committee staffer to gather information about the status of a bill that relates to the fund’s investment decisions, the fund may need to register.”

If you can judge someone by their enemies, then this bill seems kind of like my new best friend. Let’s wait to see how much it’s watered down in the next few days:

House Republicans and their floor leader, Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, said they would amend the bill, going to the House floor this week, to strengthen it.

But Representative Louise M. Slaughter, Democrat of New York, said, “I think ‘strengthening’ here is a euphemism for ‘weakening.’”