All Your INFORMATION Is Belonging To Us

President Bush's second term hasn't officially begun and the new congress has not yet started and already the Republicans are very clearly drunk with power, high gravity power:

Congress passed legislation Saturday giving two committee chairman and their assistants access to income tax returns without regard to privacy protections, but not before red-faced Republicans said it was all a mistake and would be swiftly repealed.

The Senate unanimously adopted a resolution immediately after passing a 3,300-word spending bill containing the measure, saying the provision ``shall have no effect.'' House leaders promised to pass the resolution next Wednesday.

Oops! A little mistake! You know the sort of easy to make slip up that would make it so you could use the federal government to harass your political foes. Nothing to worry about, it is just the sort of thing that happens every day, or at least every day from now on.

DailyKos has more on the Provisionin question and its author Rep. Istook (R-OK).