Blast from Congressional Past

And now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Blast from the Past

As Congress approaches the next big budget fight over whether to raise the debt ceiling, many Democrats are being haunted by their past votes. In 2006, when Democrats were in the Senate minority and George W. Bush was president, every one of them voted against raising the debt ceiling.

Earlier this week, we heard White House Press Secretary Jay Carney say President Obama feels he made a mistake by voting no when he was senator.

The conservative Weekly Standard reports West Virginia Democrat Jay Rockefeller now says he'll vote yes. But when asked why he voted no in 2006, Rockefeller said he's unpredictable and joked "I don't know, that was a long time ago. I was a boy."

Montana's Max Baucus supports raising the debt limit now, but when asked why he voted no five years ago said -- quote -- "We all have at one time or another."

And over in the House, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer also calls his '06 no vote a mistake.

House Calls

A new analysis of White House visitor logs alleges the Obama administration is releasing names of who comes to visit but the logs have gaps and leave out information.

The Center for Public Integrity combed through the more than 1 million logs. It says it found holes where thousands of visits were not listed, including those by lobbyists, campaign donors, friends and policy wonks.

The logs also reportedly left out key information about the visitors, like who they met with and why.

But the administration argues that the logs are more for security purposes and are not meant to be a transparency tool.

Mother Earth Type

And finally, Bolivia wants a United Nations treaty to give Mother Earth the same rights as humans.

Postmedia News reports officials in the South American nation want the U.N. to recognize the earth as a living entity, which humans have sought to dominate and exploit.

The document also calls on the U.N. to establish a "Ministry of Mother Earth" that would provide the planet with an ombudsman who would hear nature's complaints as voiced by activists and other groups.