Michelle Malkin is following the story of how Democratic Senator Dick Durbin allegedly violated Senate ethics Rules by using Senate resources to create a plea to YearlyKos activists:

Earlier today, bloggers Reverse Spin and Backyard Conservative called attention to Democrat Dick Durbin’s video to the nutroots YearlyKos convention, which used an official Senate seal. The Senate Ethics Manual explicitly forbids the use of the Senate seal for campaign use. The video had been posted on the DailyKos website since Saturday. (Keep reading Michelle's post.)

And last month, TechRepublican pointed out similar violations of the rules by Harry Reid.

Are these Senate Ethics Rules just for show? Who is enforcing them? Does it matter to those that they represent?

Personally, I don't think a U.S. Senator or a Member of the House -- Republican or Democrat -- should have their web-use governed by a silly, prehistoric ethics manual. We live in the modern world and it's time our public officials start communicating like it.

Videos, blogs, social networking, etc. These are all likely vehicles for "Rule" breaking. But they're also modes of effectively communicating in the modern world.

In June I wrote an op-ed with Paul Blumenthal on Members of Congress being restricted by House Franking Rules.

Now it looks like we need to write one for the U.S. Senate. If not, we'll just be writing another post about how Senator X violated the Rules, again, by trying to communicate a message more effectively.

The New York Times is hammering John McCain for making a phone call to donors in the U.S. Capitol using a non-government issued cell phone stating:

Senate ethics rules expressly forbid lawmakers to engage in campaign activities inside Senate facilities.

But if McCain were merely following the lead of Democratic Senator Harry Reid, who is known in the research department of the NRSC as "Dirty Harry," I'd say that McCain's "violation" wasn't too bad.

After all, at least McCain didn't have the boldness to put his violations on YouTube as GiveEmHellHarry may have done with at least two videos taped in November 2006.

The first video (which I've added a little TechRepublican sugar and spice to in case Harry Reid pulls it down) is a message from Harry Reid to DailyKos readers in what is clearly his office in the U.S. Capitol Building. Topics covered include the excellent work liberals are doing to raise money for Democratic candidates and the importance of voting:

In the second video, Harry Reid is clearly using what appears to be his government-issued phone in his U.S. Capitol office to urge people to get out and vote:

Did Harry Reid violate Senate ethics rules? Hopefully the NYT will investigate and report back to us.