GOP Ethics: Lewinsky Warrants Shouting But Foley Warrants Silence

How hypocritical can you get?

Re Clinton (h/t Dover Bitch at FDL)

Republicans were aghast at Clinton's behavior, with many saying it showed he had lied and abused his power.

"It's vile," said Rep. Mark Foley, R-West Palm Beach. "It's more sad than anything else, to see someone with such potential throw it all down the drain because of a sexual addiction."

But when it comes to the sleazy online sexual solicitation of Congressional pages by the aforementioned Republican Congressman Mark Foley, well check out this video (courtesy of crooksandliars.com) and note the response by the Republicans to Nancy Pelosi's request for a roll call vote.

The 16 year old page in question worked for Republican Rep. Rodney Alexander of Louisiana and was the first Congressional person to recognize the inappropriateness of this. But does he report it to the folks in charge of ethics? Noooooo! Does he report it to the folks in charge of the Congressional Page School? Nooooo! He reports it to the person in charge of getting Republican Congresscritters reelected, Rep Tom Reynolds. Shows where his priorities are, eh?

So what does our defender of youth Mr. Reynolds do? Does he contact the ethics folks? Nooooo! Does he contact the Page School? Noooo!

(He) said Friday that when he learned of the e-mail exchanges 10 to 11 months ago, he called the teen's parents. Alexander told the Ruston Daily Leader, "We also notified the House leadership that there might be a potential problem."

Then the Washington Post reported yesterday

The resignation rocked the Capitol, and especially Foley’s GOP colleagues, as lawmakers were rushing to adjourn for at least six weeks. House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) told The Washington Post last night that he had learned this spring of some “contact” between Foley and a 16-year-old page. Boehner said he told House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), and that Hastert assured him “we’re taking care of it.”

So it appears Alexender told Boehner and Boehner told Hastert. Anybody giving any thought to the safety of Congressional pages? Apparently not. Obviously "taking care of it" apparently doesn't include informing the (admitedly toothless) ethics committee or the (more blatantly obvious) Page School. See Firedoglake's analysis here. Hastert now claims he doesn't remember being told about it. Gee whiz, what would it take to make an impression on him?

What is painfully, indisputably clear (and I challenge anyone to provide evidence about this incident that proves me wrong) is that for the GOP getting reelected is more important than any other moral value. It trumps all others. This is a sad epilogue to an already sad week.

New York Times seems to have a reasonably good summary (as of 09/30/06) G.O.P. Leaders Knew in Late ’05 of E-Mail. However, for some reason they don't bother to report that...

The emails include Foley discussing what a great body a teenage friend of the boy had, and asking the boy for a "pic" - or "picture" in America Online "pick up" vernacular.

See the email at Americablog and come to your own conclusion.

Ugh.

A Bright (but very dark) September Day

A Bright September Day

It happened in a hurry
That the rules were washed away
It was done with little notice
On a bright September day

"They hate us for our freedoms"
So due process we'll give up
Call them "enemy combatants"
And forever lock them up

(chorus)
They don't need to see the evidence
Or learn who turned them in
Interrogation methods
Set by Presidential whim
So forget habeus corpus
The Constitution too
Just say "enemy combatants"
And make them disappear from view

A self inflicted wound
Was administered that day
The terrorists made a nation
give it's principles away

So the patriots of yesteryear
who died for rights held dear
Had their sacrifice diminished
Because it was an election year

(bridge)
The use of fear is all it takes
To make a once great nation yield its place
And become one of those other states
Where folks vanish without a trace

(chorus)
You don't need to see the evidence
Or learn who turned you in
Interrogation methods
Set by Presidential whim
So forget habeus corpus
The Constitution too
If you're called "enemy combatant"
Your rights are gone - you're through

The steps along this process
and the use of fear this way
to keep some seats in Congress
on the next election day

Are aftershocks remaining
From another...
Bright September day

---

Once upon a time, America stood for something in the world and the protesters in Tiananmen Square chose a model of the Statue of Liberty as an important symbol of their protest.

It makes me heartsick to realize how severely our standing in the world has declined in the past five years. Can you envision something like that happening in a foreign country now? I doubt it could even happen in Great Britain or Canada. Now the pressures of a political campaign have led us to the point of abandoning our long-held moral principles in a rush to retroactively legalize what, under normal circumstances could be viewed as war crimes. Sickening.

But Glenn Greenwald lays out our choices for the way forward very clearly. It is essential that Democrats, despite their failings, win at least one house of Congress in November.

I wrote the above lyric yesterday while listening to C-Span2. I would have uploaded it last night but a tornado knocked out the power in my neighborhood. Luckily we didn't have any damage but some of my neighbors weren't so lucky. Fortunately, no injuries have been reported.

Comma, comma, DUMB (doobeedoo), dumdum

My answer to President Bush's dismissal of the war in Iraq a "just a comma".

BUSH: Yes, you see -- you see it on TV, and that's the power of an enemy that is willing to kill innocent people. But there's also an unbelievable will and resiliency by the Iraqi people. Twelve million people voted last December.

Admittedly, it seems like a decade ago. I like to tell people when the final history is written on Iran -- Iraq, it'll look like just a comma because there is -- my point is, there's a strong will for democracy.

Dumdum defined

Shorter Lieberman: “I’ve worked with Republicans to get us where we are today”

Joe, Joe, Joe. I hate to break it to ya, but your well intentioned "bi-partisanship" is being used by the Republicans solely for their own political purposes. What have you gotten out of it? What have they done for you besides helping bankroll your independent run? Do you really want to be associated with people like Mel Sembler?

Jeebus. You are just a useful tool to those folks.

I know being a US Senator is important to ya, but aren't those alarm bells ringing in th eback of your head? Where does it all end?

How Do Votes Disappear? A Diebold Tale

On yesterday's Mark Steiner show (on WYPR, Baltimore's NPR affiliate), there was a discussion about the problems Maryland experienced with electronic voting last week.

"Lee in Catonsville" (an election judge in Baltimore County) reported that the electronic poll books kept crashing.

"...something like every 63rd voter one of them would crash. And first it would be the first one, then it would be the second one, then it would be the third one, then it would be back over to the first one..."

But more alarming to me, was this

"We had a problem in my precinct - on the electronic poll books it showed that at the end of the day, all of them were in agreement, 829 people had checked in and been issued the voter access card to vote electronically on the touch screen machines. We counted the total votes on the touch screen machines and there were 822 people who had cast ballots on those machines. Did seven people who walked in, stood in line to wait, got an access card then walk out without voting? I seriously doubt that. And I have no idea what happened to those seven votes but that’s eight tenths of a percent of the votes in that precinct that just disappeared. And, you know, in a general election who’s going to know that all isn’t off one candidate…"

(my transcriptions above)

I’m wondering if the seven missing voters coincided with poll book crashes. If you want to suppress the vote in a precinct, maybe you can just arrange for the poll books to crash at a set interval.

There should, in my opinion be a forensic reenactment of the voting in this district using the same equipment. I am willing to give up a day’s work to go to the polling place and vote 829 times if need be.

You can listen to this Mark Steiner show (mp3) at http://tinyurl.com/nhrh3. The above call can be heard starting at about the 25:00 minute mark.

How Low Can You Go Joe Lieberman?

David Sirosa posed the question "Seriously folks, how low can you go? in response to the truly pathetic attack by Joe Lieberman's ex-spokesman Dan Gerstein on Ned Lamont's volunteering in an inner city public school. Basically Gerstein is saying (on behalf of Lieberman) that since Lamont only co-taught (as a volunteer) it's misleading to portray himself as a teacher.

He taught two periods on Monday's for the full school year for chrissakes! I know at least one substitute teacher who teaches less. Does that mean he can't call himself a teacher? Jeebus! I only typically play guitar once a week so I better stop calling myself a musician.