I was looking for some info on Ukraine's budget, found myself at Verkhovna Rada page, discovered an entity called MP's Club "Parliament" instead (info in Ukrainian is here, info in an imitation of English is here):

The public organization ‘MP’s Club Parliament’ is an unprofitable non-governmental association of members of Ukrainian parliament (Verkhovna Rada) of all convocations. The main goal of the Club is to create an effective discussion place for parliamentary and business elites of Ukraine. Club was founded on 1999th and since that time is working in format of discussion panels and round tables, also on the international level.

These people don't seem to be affected by the current political and financial crisis: on Sept. 27, for example, the club's members and their families were having a good time in the Carpathians - fishing, playing pool and football, and test-driving cars as part of the "'Parliamentary Family' collective recreation day."

Last year's crisis wasn't an obstacle to holding a similar event, either - a few pictures of our glorious "elite" enjoying "friendly interaction" in October 2007, sometime right after the election, are here. The official Land Rover and Jaguar dealer in Ukraine was one of the sponsors of this gathering, and so was the Nemiroff vodka company, with one of their wonderful products, LEX, "the vodka for the Great, the Successful, the Courageous, for those who change this world and hold it on their shoulders" - "EGO SUM LEX: for those who create their own world, where I am the Law." A 1-liter gift edition of LEX - "which can make a good VIP present" - costs around $30. No wonder we have what we have when it comes to law-making.

To see more pictures of the pool-playing, vodka-drinking guys we keep re-electing, click on the links on the right-hand side of this page.