If You Can Read This, Then You Should Be Worried

A slightly obscure attack on how our beloved web works, thanks to the phone and cable companies. From The San Fran Chronicle

Panel dumps Net neutrality House committee drops amendment banning two-tier Internet

Internet carriers would have a free hand to charge the likes of Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and eBay Inc. extra for faster delivery of services to consumers under a bill approved by a House committee Wednesday. ....

...The Web companies had hoped to amend Wednesday's legislation, thereby enshrining the status quo of "network neutrality," the catchphrase that has come to represent a system in which all Internet traffic is treated equally. But the effort failed when an amendment introduced by Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., was defeated 34-22 in a largely party line vote earlier in the day.

Internet carriers, including AT&T Inc., have been strident supporters of upending the Internet's tradition of network neutrality and have lobbied Congress to make it happen. They argue that Web sites, particularly those featuring video and audio that require significant bandwidth, should be able to pay extra so that users don't have to wait as long for downloads.

Suite Fightin' Man: The Series

Sir Mick one of the stars of a TV Pilot.... really.

.... If ABC does order the series, Mr. Jagger is expected to appear regularly, though not in every episode. "We'll work around his schedule," Mr. Burnett said. Not much has been worked out as to how successful the band of thieves might be in their heist, and like the serialized shows that inspired this one, a big question remains about how the series will continue after its first season.

I Can't Wait For The Spin On This

"... George Bush has become something of an embarrassment."

Tony Snow, newly appointed White House Press Secretary, 11/11/05.

Read the whole thing, which is mostly an analysis of how Mark Warner's chosen replacement won the Governorship of Virginia, here.

Suite Fightin' Man

Seldom have Republican's been so uniquely on the wrong end of the "Money=Power" equation.

• Mick beats George to suite
• PRESIDENT George Bush can’t get no satisfaction — after Mick Jagger grabbed his hotel room. The Rolling Stone splashed out £3,600 a night for the suite days before the US leader tried to book it.
• 
  Now Mick, 62, who has been a fierce critic of the Bush-led war in Iraq, is refusing to give it up.The veteran rocker hired the luxury Royal Suite at the five-star Imperial Hotel in Vienna, Austria, for June when the Stones are due to play a gig in the city.
• Bush’s aides then tried to book it to tie in with a summit meeting.
• 
  But Mick put his foot down and insisted he was keeping the booking.
• 
  A source close to the millionaire singer said last night: “White House officials had wanted to reserve the suite and all the other rooms on the first floor.
• 
  “But Mick and the Stones had already booked every one of them.

Yeah Baby! Read the rest here

Jean-Claude 1989 - 2006

After a year of marked by declining health, Jean-Claude (‘Cuteheart’) is no longer struggling with pain and disability. To the end she remained the best dog either of us has ever known.

Comfort Food Pt. II: Poising For Bigger Things?

The musical shock of this year for me is "The Believer" the new album by Rhett Miller. I have been quite un-moved by Miller's past efforts, which have all seemed professionally crafted, reasonably honest, and reliant on the fantasies of past-their-prime critics and fans who wanted to hear much more than was actually available in Miller's ouvre'. Inoffensive, but all hope, no dreams. Props of course for effort, but call me when you get something real.

I got the call. "The Believer" shares many of the joys of Nile's "Streets" mentioned below but with a suburban rather than urban life-force. This is much more Tom Petty than Tom Verlaine. Miller has found ways to hatch new life into some popular but over-fished ponds. His melodies zig and zag perfectly between familiar and unexpected but never fail to reach home with exhilaration and elan. This is not easy to achieve. And the bad part of me is totally unmoved by the failures, no matter how noble (you should never discuss band like Apples in Stereo with me).

This succeeds. Big Time. And, Boys and Girls, he's a looker too.

Comfort Food

It's been a long hard tax season. Lately I've found a few things to keep me interested in life. And I'd rather push my impeccable musical opinions than my faultless political snoopings.

One gets through marathons like tax season by having some clear goals, Mine has been to drink Basil Hayden's at The Top Of The Tower in NYC, savoring a thirty story view of the Big Apple and reflecting on the magnificence and poetry of urban life.

Providing some great inspiration and hope before this trip is veteran never-quite-a-hit Willie Nile's "Streets of New York". A really great comfort food album. Nothing strikingly new, but A+ post-Dylan-post-Springsteen-post-Clash singer songwriter Rock. Melodies that are at once reassuring but peppered with surprising turns. The lyrics are often semi-surreal but with great rhyme and meter. And the whole effort sounds fresh and full of joy, even at it's darkest.

I really really like this album, and if you find yourself synching w/what I like about Bruce, Bob and Joe Strummer I am sure you will like this one too.

Well, That's It Then. Illinois, Model For America?

I have to admit a fair amount of ambivalence here. Ryan's death-penalty moratorium and generally socially-progressive stances during his term made him the best damn liberal democratic governor I've ever had....

But, being a Republican, he could only be saved so much....

From CNN

Ex-governor guilty of racketeering

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- Former Gov. George Ryan, who drew international praise when he commuted the sentences of everyone on Illinois' death row, was convicted of racketeering and fraud Monday in a corruption scandal that ended his political career in 2003.

Ryan, 72, sat stone-faced as the verdict was read and afterward vowed to appeal.

"I believe this decision today is not in accordance with the kind of public service that I provided to the people of Illinois over 40 years, and needless to say I am disappointed in the outcome," Ryan said.

Well, Maybe We Should Bring Back Some of That Thoughtful WWII Propaganda Art

Japanese. Blackface. R&B. Group. On Sony.

Help For Our Old Age?

The whole marriage legitimacy would be nice, but I'll be happy just to have the money.

Here's a most likely doomed shot accross the bow. Reported in The Advocate:

Federal legislation would give gay couples equality in Social Security

Legislation introduced in the U.S House of Representatives last week would amend the Social Security Act to afford same-sex couples the same benefits, responsibilities, and obligations as others who pay into Social Security. The Equal Access to Social Security Act, H.R. 5152, would add the term "permanent partner" to the Social Security Act in addition to the terms "husband" and "wife," which are already present in the legal code.

"Same-sex couples are denied more than 1,000 federal benefits that other taxpayers are entitled to," said Democratic congressman Jerrold Nadler of New York, who authored the bill.

'I Told You So' Award - All Time Winner

Pete Hamill, reviewing the messy ending to the 2000 Presidential Campaign, wrote in January of 2001 (use this link, then go to 'Journalism' and down to 'Politics'):

[W]e should be prepared for armed melodrama. Bush is not a worldly man. His father was head of the CIA, ambassador to China, and president of the United States. The son stayed home. During the Vietnam War, he hurried into the Texas National Guard, defending the skies over Houston. He has visited only two foreign countries, one of them Mexico (the other seems to have slipped his mind). He was the first presidential candidate in memory who needed briefings about geography.

But he knows where Iraq is, and is completely aware of what his father failed to do in that country: remove Saddam Hussein. A son in rivalry with a father can be a very dangerous man. To show "leadership", the new President Bush might defy the European allies of the United States, and risk another oil crisis, by seizing on some slight -–real or imagined – to finish off Saddam Hussein. He would thus force his father to admire him and get a boost in the public opinion polls.

A Short Hello, And Goodbye

As many of you know, this is the last week before 'Tax Day' and I am experiencing a great crunch at work. Battling this is the toll that the months since 1/1/06 take too. So, time is limited and I'm hoping to keep up a bit here but, it's going to be a little less timely.

We believe that we will find that May brings us refreshment and some new visions.

That being said. I do want to give a heartfelt thumbs up to 'The West Wing'. Yesterday's episode was pitch perfect, with all the exquisite sadness and triumph that has made the show so great. Truly, Brad Whitford is some one we should be thankful for.

And we've loved John Spencer since LA Law and were grateful every week to have him back in our lives when TWW began. Anyone who's ever lost a father knows what all the character's, especially Whitford's Josh Lyman, were feeling. All that Josh has achieved thanks to Leo unfolded in front of him even as Leo left the arena. Thanks Boss.

Can't Say That I Blame 'Em

I love Illinois! Even the Republicans hate the Republicans.

"We just want him to raise money. Late at night. In an undisclosed location." -- an aide to Judy Baar Topinka (R), quoted by the Washington Post, when asked if the Illinois gubernatorial candidate wanted President Bush to campaign for her.

Sorkin Rising

I really needed a lift his morning and I found it in the NY Times:

[In The Works for Next Season] NBC pilot, "Studio 60," which also takes place backstage at a variety show (this one more like "Saturday Night Live") and features both an A-list cast (Bradley Whitford of "The West Wing," Matthew Perry of "Friends" and Amanda Peet of the movie "The Whole Nine Yards") and a creator with a track record at NBC (Aaron Sorkin, also of "The West Wing.")

Nobody writes for TV like Aaron Sorkin. If you have never seen SportsNight (Sorkin's pre-West Wing creation), you gotta get a DVD. If I think that a TV sitcom about a sports show is one of the best things to ever hit the box, then it must have something, no? Yes.

Now, if they can just find parts for Richard Schiff and Dule' Hill.....

Remembering the Poor and The Meek

From Slate: a key piece of the puzzle may be rising.....

The Religious Left
It is fruitful and has multiplied.

Lo and behold, there is a religious left. The Catholic Church is helping to lead the fight against immigration restrictions. A week doesn't seem to pass without some group convening a conference on religion and liberalism. Last year, Rev. Jim Wallis' progressive manifesto, God's Politics, became a best seller; now Jimmy Carter's book attacking the religious right is on the list.

According to research by professor John Green, white religious voters made up 21 percent of Kerry's tally, compared to 11 percent for Al Gore in 2000. If you add African-Americans and Latinos, who as a group are also very religious and liberal, the religious left amounted to about 40 percent of the Kerry vote.

The Rest Is Here

Like I Was Saying...

In Honor of DHS (now ex-) Official Bryan Doyle, loyal republican hack and sex offender, GT12 offers this extensive list of Republican Christians and their sex crimes.

It's long, but I particularly want to give info to my friends and readers who have had to put up with Ted Kennedy and Bill Clinton insults.

Thanks for the Link, Randi Rhodes.

Myth: Republicans value sexual morality

Specific examples, in alphabetical order
(If links are broken or missing, Google.com is your friend.)

Adelphia Communications Corp.: Donated large sums of money to some of the most conservative members of Congress. They are also the first cable company to offer hard-core adult movies to subscribers. Daily Kos article

Edison Misla Aldarondo, Republican legislator, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for molestation of his daughter and her friend for eight-year period starting when they were 9. Full Article

Randal David Ankeney, Republican activist, arrested on suspicion of sexual assault on a child with force. He faces 6 charges related to getting a 13-year-old girl stoned on pot and then having sex with her. Source Also accused of sexually assaulting another girl. Denver ABC Article

Dick Armey (R-Texas), former professor, has been accused by The Dallas Observer of sexually harassing female students.

Jim Bakker, televangelist with Pat Robertson at Robertson's Christian Broadcasting network. Committed adultery with Jessica Hahn [1] and then used charitable donations to pay her hush money[2]. Fellow televangelists say he's gay. [3][4]Indicted on 23 federal charges of fraud, tax evasion, and racketeering [5].

Bob Barr, Republican Congressman from Georgia. Sponsored the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act, saying "The flames of hedonism, the flames of narcissism, the flames of self-centered morality are licking at the very foundation of our society, the family unit." Was married three times. Paid for his second wife's abortion. Failed to pay child support to the children of his first two wives and while married to his third and present wife was photographed licking whipped cream off of strippers at his inaugural party.

Merrill Robert Barter, Republican County Commissioner, pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual contact and assault on a teenage boy. Booth Bay Register Article

Robert Bauman, Republican congressman and anti-gay activist, was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old boy he picked up at a gay bar. Source: Washington Blade

Parker J. Bena, Republican activist and Bush Elector, pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography (including children as young as 3 years old) on his home computer and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and fined $18,000. Source

William Bennett, Drug Czar under George H. W. Bush, compulsive gambler who has had to wire as much as $1.4 million to cover gambling losses in a 2 month period. NY Press Article Washington Monthly Article

Louis Beres, chairman of the Christian Coalition of Oregon. 3 of his family members accuse him of molesting them when they were pre-teens. Editor and Publisher article

Howard L. Brooks, Republican legislative aide and advisor to a California assemblyman, was charged with molesting a 12-year old boy and possession of child pornography. Sacramento Bee article

John Bolton Bush's appointee ambassador to United Nations, corroborated allegations that Mr. Bolton’s first wife, Christina Bolton, was forced to engage in group sex have not been refuted by the State Department. Raw Story Article

Mike Bowers Former State Attorney General, prosecuted the famous "Bowers vs. Hardwick" case, based on Georgia anti-sodomy laws. Admitted to a 10-year adulterous affair Slate article

Pat Buchanan predidential candidate, media talking-head. His campaign refused to confirm or deny whether Pat has had chlamydia or any other venereal diseases.

Andrew Buhr, Republican politician, former committeeman for Hadley Township Missouri, was charged with two counts of first degree sodomy with a 13-year old boy. Source

Jeffrey Buley (http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/36931.htm), New York Republican Party's top lawyer, and senior political adviser to Gov. Pataki (R), arrested for assaulting his wife in a drunken rage. They have two young children.

Ted Bundy campaigned for the Republican Party. Infamous serial rapist who murdered 16 women. Source: BBC

Jim Bunn Congressman of Oregon: With his success due in great part to support from the Christian Coalition, Bunn won his congressional seat, then immediately ditched his wife (and mother of his five children), married a staffer, and put his new wife on the state payroll for the unheard-of salary of $97,500. Salon.com article

John Allen Burt, Republican anti-abortion activist, convicted of sexually molesting a 15 year old girl at the home for troubled girls that he ran. Source: Pensacola News Journal

Dan Burton, Republican Congressman who, while married, fathered a child by another woman. Salon.com Article

George W. Bush, Republican president, accused in a criminal complaint and lawsuit of raping Margie Schoedinger, who was later suicided. Accused by Tammy Phillips, a former stripper quoted in the National Enquirer in 2000 saying she had an affair with Bush that had ended in 1999.

John Butler, Republican activist, was charged with criminal sexual assault on a teenage girl.

Ken Calvert, Congressman (R-Ca), champion of the Christian Coalition and its "family values." Sued as an alimony deadbeat by his ex-wife. Said "We can't forgive what occurred between the President and Lewinsky." In 1993 he was caught by police receiving oral sex from a prostitute and attempted to flee the scene.

Charles Canady, Congressman (R-Florida), Judiciary Committee member. Lied to his constituents about his adulterous affair with Sharon Becker, which caused her divorce.

Lincoln Chafee, Republican Senator, admitted former cocaine user.

Helen Chenoweth, Congresswoman (R-Id.). Admitted to a six-year adulterous affair with a married associate. In 1995, Chenoweth had denied the affair when asked about it by The Spokane Spokesman-Review, but now she claims a pardon from a higher authority: "I've asked for God's forgiveness, and I've received it," she revealed.

Keola Childs, Republican County Councilman, pleaded guilty to sexual assault in the first degree for molesting a male child.Honolulu Star-Bulletin Article

Kevin Coan, Republican St. Louis Election Board official, arrested and charged with trying to buy sex from a 14-year-old girl whom he met on the Internet. Source: Newmax

Roy Cohn, continually condemned gays and gay rights. Was a closet gay who died of AIDS. Wikipedia Article

Dan Crane, Republican Congressman, married, father of six. Had sex with a minor working as a congressional page. Salon.com article

Paul Crouch Televangelist, Former President of Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). Paid $425,000 in hush money in an attempt to cover up a gay affair. Christianity Today article

Richard A. Dasen Sr., Republican benefactor of conservative Christian groups, convicted of sexual abuse of children, promotion of prostitution and several counts of solicitation, enough to add up to a sentence of 126 years in prison. Investigators estimated that he spent up to $5,000,000 on prostitutes.
Missoulian Article on the trial Missoulian Article on his conviction

Richard A. Delgaudio, Republican fundraiser and Bush pioneer, was found guilty of child porn charges. WBAL Channel article

Peter Dibble, Republican legislator pleaded no contest to having an inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old girl. News Channel 8 Article

Nicholas Elizondo, Republican director of the "Young Republican Federation" molested his 6-year old daughter and was sentenced to six years in prison. Halfway down this Bakersfield Californian article

Larry Dale Floyd, Republican Constable in Denton County, Texas Precinct Two. Arrested for allegedly crossing state lines to have sex with an 8-year old child and was charged with 7 related offenses. Age 62 at time of arrest. Dallas News Article Atrios Article

John Fund, of the Wall Street Journal, a prominent anti-abortion columnist and GOP fund raiser. He lost his position after it was revealed that he impregnated the daughter of an old girlfriend and then encouraged her to abort his child. American Politics Journal Article

Jeff Gannon Partisan blogger with no journalism credentials and a fake name who got invited to Bush's Press conferences. Is also a pimp and a gay prostitute. Truthout Article. See also dKospedia's page on Jeff Gannon.

Jack W. Gardner, Republican Councilman, had been convicted of molesting a 13-year old girl. when the Republican Party, knowing of these crimes, put him on the ballot. Article with documents

Richard Gardner, a Nevada State Representative (R), admitted to molesting his two daughters. Review Journal Article

Newt Gingrich, married three times. Gingrich campaign worker Anne Manning admitted that she gave Newt oral sex while he was still married to his first wife. Informed one wife he was filing for divorce while she was in the hospital recovering from cancer treatments. Salon article

Philip Giordano, Republican mayor sentenced to 37 years for forcing two 8 and 10 year old girls to perform oral sex on him in his City Hall office. NBC Article Newsday Article

Rudy Giuliani, had an adulterous affair. Pocketed $80,000 for speaking at a charity benefit for tsunami aid which raised $60,000 for the victims themselves (Feb 2005).

Matthew Glavin, president and CEO of the Southeastern Legal Foundation, big player in the Clinton Impeachment, and many anti-gay jihads, has been arrested multiple times for public indeceny, one time fondling the crotch of the officer who was arresting him. Full Article

Marty Glickman (a.k.a. "Republican Marty"), Republican activist, was taken into custody by Florida police on four counts of unlawful sexual activity with a juvenile and one count of delivering the drug LSD.

Mark A. Grethen, Republican activist, convicted on six counts of sex crimes involving children. Orlando Weekly article

Jon Grunseth, Republican businessman and candidate for Minnesota governor, withdrew his candidacy after allegations surfaced that he went swimming in the nude with four underage girls, including his daughter, and tried to grope one. "I've made some mistakes" he said. USA Today article

Dr. W. David Hager Bush appointee, member of Focus on the Family's Physician Resource Council, player in movement to ban the morning-after-pill. Had an adulterous affair, before divorcing his wife he sexually abused her, including sodomizing her in her sleep. Article

Mark Harris, Republican city councilman who is described as a "good military man" and "church goer," was convicted of repeatedly having sex with an 11-year-old girl and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

John Hathaway, Republican Senate candidate, was accused of having sex with his 12-year old baby sitter and withdrew his candidacy after the allegations were reported in the media. Source: Casco Bay weekly

Howard Scott Heldreth, anti-abortion activist who gained fame during the Shiavo media-circus, was convicted of two charges of raping a child in 2002. page at Florida Department of Law Enforcement's Sexual Offender/Predator Unit

Mike Hintz, a First Assembly of God youth pastor, introduced by Bush on the campaign trail, and promoted his policies. Says he supports Bush's values. Two months later, this married father of four turned himself into police, charged with the sexual exploitation of a child. Article Commentary
Also signed an ad (that called for criminally prosecuting business that sell porn), along with another pastor who was repeatedly busted for public masturbation.

Neal Horsley, anti-abortion activist. Has called for the arrest of all homosexuals. Admitted on the Fox News Radio's The Alan Colmes Show, that he's had sex with mules. Put photographs on his Web site of naked men engaging in homosexual acts and a nude woman engaging in bestiality amid shots of grotesquely maimed fetuses. Drug dealer convicted of possession of hashish with intent to sell. He calls for "the establishment of a new government, one that can obey God's plan for government."

Tim Hutchinson, divorced his wife of 29 years to marry a congressional aide he was having an affair with.

Henry Hyde, Judge who oversaw Clinton's impeachment proceedings, prominent opponent of reproductive rights, who had an extramarital affair with a woman who was married and had three children, during the course of which she and her husband were divorced. Salon.com article

Don Haidl, Assistant Sheriff of Orange Country, in violation of California's rape shield law, led a smear campaign against the child his son poisoned and then violently gang-raped on videotape, adding up to 24 felony counts. He said that his son "acted accordingly" because the child was a "slut". The full gruesome story, with many newspaper articles.

Paul Ingram, Republican Party leader of Thurston County, Washington, pleaded guilty to six counts of raping his daughters and served 14 years in federal prison. Source: The Olympian

Bill Janklow, former S. Dakota Governor and Congressman, arrested for drunk driving, disorderly conduct, assaulting an officer, and indecent exposure in 1974. Pardoned his son-in-law for multiple drunk driving convictions in 2002. Resigned congressional seat due to a manslaughter conviction in a reckless driving incident in 2003.

Bernard Kerik, had two simultaneous adulterous affairs.

Earl Kimmerling, sentenced to 40 years in prison after he confessed to molesting an 8-year old girl after he attempted to stop a gay couple from adopting her. Source

Lawrence E. King, Jr., Republican Activist, organized orgies with child prostitutes at the White House during the 1980s. Full page including Washington Times article Discovery Channel documentary

I. Lewis Libby, former Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to Vice President Dick Cheney. In 1996 published a novel containing bizaree sexual content, including beastiality and pedophillia. Full Details (Oh yeah, and he's also been indicted on obstruction of justice, perjury and making false statements, charges adding up to 10 years in prison.)

Rush Limbaugh, triple-divorcee[6], 30-pill a day drug addict. Goodies from The Smoking Gun.com

Bob Livingston, former Congressman (R-La.) resigned from the House in the wake of revelations about his past adultery.

Donald Lukens, Republican Congressman, was found guilty of having sex with a minor - a girl he was accused of sleeping with since she was 13. Time Article

Pat McPherson, Douglas County Election Commissioner. Arrested for fondling a 17-year-old girl. Article

Jon Matthews, Republican talk show host in Houston, was indicted for indecency with a child, including exposing his genitals to a girl under the age of 17. Source: ABC News

Jeff Miller, (R-Cleveland), Senate Republican Caucus Chairman in Tennessee and the sponsor of Tennessee’s Marriage Protection act, getting divorced (as of April 2005) because of an affair he was having with an office aid. Miller described the Tennessee Marriage Protection Act as a means of preserving the sanctity of marriage. He opposed an amendment, however, which stated that “Adultery is deemed to be a threat to the institution of marriage and contrary to public policy in Tennessee.” [7] [8]

Nicholas Morency, Republican anti-abortion activist, pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer and offering a bounty to anybody who murders an abortion doctor The Dallas Morning News article.

Sue Myrick, Congresswoman (R-NC), describes herself as a "devout Christian." Committed adultery with a married man.

Bill O'Reilly Right-wing conservative talk show host on Fox News, sued for sexual harrassment by his producer.

Bob Packwood, Senator (R-Ore.), resigned in 1995 under a threat of public senate hearings related to 10 female ex-staffers accusing him of sexual harassment.

Jeffrey Patti, Republican Committee Chairman, was arrested for distributing what experts call "some of the most offensive material in the child pornography world" - a video clip of a 5-year-old girl being raped. Daily Record News Article

John Paulk, lied about prowling for gay sex while running a fundamentalist group to cure gays.

Brent Parker Utah State Representetive. Arrested for soliciting sex from an undercover officer posing as a male prostitute. KSL News Article Deseret News Article

John Peterson, Congressman (R-Pa), accused of sexual harassment and creation of a hostile work environment by six women. Peterson has refused to admit a crime, saying only "I may have been an excessive hugger."

Harvey Pitt, SEC Chief under George W. Bush until he was forced to resign in 2002. Worked for New Frontier Media, a firm which distributed teen sex videos.

Mark Pazuhanich, Republican judge, pleaded no contest to fondling a 10-year old girl and was sentenced to 10 years probation. Pocono Record article

Ralph Reed Former Executive Director of the Christian Coalition. Has called gambling a "cancer on the American body politic." Recieved $3.8 million in payments from 2001-2002 from a former aide of Tom Delay, which specifically benefitted two tribal clients in their efforts to protect casino interests.

Steve Rice City Councilman and former Mayor of Sterling Heights, Republican. Charged with possession of cocaine, a felony. Crystal meth was found on his housemate, Jeremy Burns.

Rick Roach, West Texas Republican district attorney who was elected in 2000 after running a "strong anti-drug campaign." According to the Washington Times, he was "once publicly praised for his efforts to stamp out narcotics in his part of the Panhandle." 2205: FBI agents confiscated two handguns from Roach's briefcase, before raiding his home and discovering "35 more guns, along with a cache of cocaine, methamphetamines, marijuana, scales and syringes."

George Roche III, carried on a 19 year affair with his son's wife, while serving as president of Hillsdale College, which "emphasizes the importance of the common moral truths that bind all Americans, while recognizing the importance of religion for the maintenance of a free society."

Beverly Russell, County Chairman of the Christian Coalition, sexually molested his step-daughter, Susan Smith, who later drowned her two children. Herald-Journal Article Commentary on Newsweek Article

Rick Santorum, used $100,000 of PA state funds earmarked for that state's school children to educate his own children, who were not residents of Pennsylvania. source (http://www.postgazette.com/pg/04323/413787.stm)

Joe Scarborough, former Republican Congressman, currently a conservative talk show host. Resigned his congressional seat abruptly to spend more time with his family, amidst allegations of an affair. His intern, Lori Klausutis, was soon after found dead in his office. The medical examiner, who had his license revoked in Missouri for falsifying information in an autopsy report, and suspended in florida for six years, ruled the case an accident, after giving conflicting information about her injuries. He said he lied about them because "The last thing we wanted was 40 questions about a head injury."

Ed Schrock, two-term republican congressman, with a 92% approval rating from the Christian Coalition. Cosponsor of the Federal Marriage Amendment, consistently opposed gay rights. Married, with wife and kids. Withdrew his candidacy for a third term after tapes of him soliciting for gay sex were circulated.

Dr. Laura Schlessinger, right wing conservative radio host. Promotes family values, estranged from her mother, opposes birth control, has had her tubes tied, espouses saving oneself for marriage, admits to having had sex before she was married, opposes adultery, has committed adultery while she was married, and has slept with a married man, opposes divorce, is divorced and remarried, has posed for nude photos which are available online.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Republican governor, had sex with a 16 year old when he was 28.

John Scmitz, right-wing republican congressman, who had had his committee chairship taken away from him in the California State Senate after issuing a press release attacking Jews, feminists and gays. Forced out of office in 1982 for having an adulterous affair and fathering two children out of wedlock with one of his students. He was caught because his baby was admitted to hospital for having hair tied so tightly around his penis that it was almost severed. His daughter, Mary Kay LeTourneau, was convicted of having an adulterous affair with one of her students, and giving birth to two of his children. Wikipedia article

Larry Jack Schwarz, Republican parole board officer and former Colorado state representative, fired after child pornography was found in his possession. Rocky Mountain News article With his political career over, he went to work in the hard-core pornography industry for Platinum X Pictures, owned by his daughter, porn starlet Jewel De'Nyle (Stephany Schwarz). Wikipedia article

Jim Stelling, Seminole County Republican Party chairman who believes in "family values", as he told a judge. Filed a defamation lawsuit againt Nancy Goettman, a former county GOP executive committee member, for falsely claiming he had been married six times. Stelling has been married 5 times. Article

Don Sherwood, Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Eventually admitted to an affar with a woman 30 years younger than him, after she accused him of physical abuse and attempting to choke her. Post-Gazette article

Tom Shortridge. Republican campaign consultant, was sentenced to three years probation for taking nude photographs of a 15-year old girl. LA Times article

Fred C. Smeltzer, Jr., Republican City Councilman, pleaded no contest to raping a 15 year-old girl and served 6-months in prison. Sex Offender Registry page Article

John Snow, Secretary of the Treasury, securities fraud class action lawsuit, sued by his ex-wife for child support, and has been arrested for DUI.

Craig J. Spence, Republican lobbyist, organized orgies with child prostitutes in the White House during the 1980s. Full page including Washington Times article Discovery Channel documentary
Jimmy Swaggart, televangelist, said during a sermon "I'm trying to find the correct name for it … this utter absolute, asinine, idiotic stupidity of men marrying men. … I've never seen a man in my life I wanted to marry. And I'm gonna be blunt and plain; if one ever looks at me like that, I'm gonna kill him and tell God he died." Had an affair with a prostitute.

David Swartz, Republican County Commissioner, pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 11 and was sentenced to 8 years in prison. Rocky Mountain News Article

Randall Terry, Right to Life activist, founder of Operation Rescue, involved in the Terri Schiavo protests. Once imprisoned for sending former President Bill Clinton an aborted fetus. His son Jamiel is gay; his daughter Tila had sex outside of marriage, became pregnant, had a miscarriage - she is no longer welcome in his home; his daughter Ebony had 2 children outside of wedlock and became Muslim. He has campaigned against infidelity and birth control, gays and unwed mothers. Terry himself was censured by his church after committing adultery.

Bill Thomas Republican congressman, had an affair with Deborah Steelman, a health care lobbyist who steered huge campaign gifts to Thomas' war chest.

Strom Thurmond, republican senator and racist, raped and impregnanted a 15-year old African American maid. (BBC Article)

Robin Vanderwall, Republican strategist and Citadel Military College graduate, convicted in Virginia on five counts of soliciting sex from boys and girls over the internet. Virginian-Pilot Article

Robert Waltrip, Bush campaign contributor. Runs a funeral company which had to settle a lawsuit because bodies were being dug up and dumped in the woods. George W. Bush, who had met with Waltrip, was subpoenaed but refused to testify in the case.

J.C. Watts, Representative (R-Oklahoma), loud champion of "moral values." Has out-of-wedlock children.

Jim West, Spokane Mayor. Supported a bill, which failed, would have barred gays and lesbians from working in schools, day-care centers and some state agencies. Voted to bar the state from distributing pamphlets telling people how to protect themselves from AIDS. Proposed that “any touching of the sexual or other intimate parts of a person” among teens be criminalized. Had a sexual affair with an 18 year old boy.Source: Spokesman review

Keith Westmoreland, a Tennessee state representative (R), was arrested on seven felony counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition to minors under 16 (i.e. exposing himself to children). Tennesean Article

Stephen White, Republican preacher. Was arrested after allegedly offering $20 to a 14-year-old boy for permission to perform oral sex on him. Daily Pennsylvanian article Daily yale News Article
Includes content from Demopedia
See also:
T. Rex's Guide to Republican Family Values
Myth: Repuiblicans values sexual morality Includes an experiment you can try at home: use file-sharing software to spy on conservative VS liberal porn habits.
Doublethink: Conservative Babylon

"Feingold Backs Legalizing Same-Sex Marriages"

From The Washington Post:

Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), a prospective 2008 presidential candidate, said yesterday that he thinks bans on same-sex marriages have no place in the nation's laws.

Feingold said in an interview that he was motivated to state his position on one of the most divisive social issues in the country after being asked at a town hall meeting Sunday about a pending amendment to the Wisconsin state constitution to ban same-sex marriages.

Feingold called the amendment "a mean-spirited attempt" to single out gay men and lesbians for discrimination and said he would vote against it. But he went further, announcing that he favors legalizing same-sex marriages.

That puts him at odds with many prominent Democratic politicians who support gay rights but not same-sex marriage. Should Feingold decide to run for the party's presidential nomination in 2008, his position would put him to the left of many likely
rivals.

"Obviously, it's a very difficult issue and evokes a lot of emotions," Feingold said in a telephone interview yesterday. "I think it's something ultimately that people throughout the country will accept, but it's not an easy issue." He accused the Bush White House and the Republican Party of using same-sex marriage as a wedge issue "to hurt Democrats who are against discrimination."

The Wisconsin senator said he is prepared to work with supporters of same-sex marriage to ensure that it is legal in the future.

"Further steps would be appropriate," he said, noting that his first priorities are to defeat the proposed Wisconsin amendment as well as a federal constitutional amendment that is expected to come to a vote in the Senate later this spring.

Bill Gates Steals More Of My Soul

For the last six years, through windows 98, ME, 2000 and XP I have been able to at least have a non-microsoft OS for a key computing device: my Palm IIIxe.

After only a year and a quarter, my Motorola cel phone dies (no wonder they're having problems). I do the math on replacing the phone, acknowledge that at 6 years the old palm is bound to go soon and add the cost of a new PDA and decide that a smartphone is the way to go.

Off I go to Verizon to get a Palm Treo. Like all Palms before, the Treo has used the Palm OS. That is until the Treo 700. That's a Microsoft OS.

Bill Gates truly owns the world.

For Example...

You just know that somewhere in this guy's head (or more likely, basement) is some truly filthy stuff. And let's not forget his Pink Jacket and the Rose (all of this from Right Wing Whack Job, Former IL Senatorial Candidate and Banishing Father of a very out Lesbian daughter Alan Keye's Renew America)

The culture war is in part a fight against evil. ...

Homosexuals are difficult to categorize and analyze because there is an extraordinary variety in the sexual perversions that some of them practice. No two gays are alike in their perversions. It is no accident, of course, that we as a society have adopted the phrase "gay and straight." The phrase implies that gays are sexually crooked--i.e. wicked, in contrast with those who are sexually normal, i.e. straight.

If every happy family is much alike, as Tolstoy thought, the marriage bed of a happy husband and a happy wife invariably has a certain regularity and predictability about it. In contrast, sexual perversion leads not only to an ever-increasing variety of crookedness, but to many kinds of misery and many paths to self-destruction.The classic criticism of traditional marriage by unhappy bohemians is that it is boring, routine, and lacking in variety. It is quite true that the blessed estate of marriage seems boring to those who are miserable, because they have explored a variety of self-destructive perversions and can no longer enjoy the simple and normal things of life.

One of the most troubling recent developments in our culture is the rapidly-increasing sympathy for homosexuality by millions of Americans. One who is on a straight path does not admire one who is crooked. However, one who is crooked in one way might have sympathy for one who is crooked in another way. The increasing sympathy for homosexuality signifies an increasing wickedness amidst the masses of people....................

Then he concludes with this, after telling us of CS Lewis' men have heads to think and strive spiritually, bellies to attend to the sensual and chests to mediate between the two.

Manly virtues

Men with chests love truth and virtue, and hate evil. They have courage, fortitude, temperance, authority, resolution, gravity, honesty, justice, self-control, and all the manly virtues (i.e., the Roman virtues). These are the natural warriors against evil.

Lord, send us more men with chests full of manly virtues so we can defeat the forces of evil in this generation.

"Atlanta's the No. 1 sex center in the country"

Just one more example of what behavioral sciences already know: When it comes to sex, those most obsessed with stopping it are usually one's who want it. Shakespeare simply said "Methinks that the lady doth protest too much."

Maybe there should be a war on at least some branches of Christianity.

Ah, the bible belt, land of submerged desires...

Sex tourism thriving in Bible Belt

ATLANTA (Reuters) - In a sleazy hotel room, "Brittany," then aged 16 and drugged into oblivion, waited for the men to arrive. Her pimps sent as many as 17 clients an evening through the door.

A "john" could even pre-book the pretty young blonde for $1,000 a night, sometimes flying in and then flying out from a nearby airport.

None of this happened in Bangkok or Costa Rica, places that have become synonymous with sex tourism and underage sex.

It took place in Atlanta, the buckle of the U.S. Bible Belt, where the world's busiest passenger airport provides a cheaper, more convenient and safer underage sex destination for men seeking girls as young as 10.

Read the rest here then forward it to Pat Robertson

Ireland, Land of ... Well, Religion-Free Governance

From Andrew Sullivan:

"Sexual orientation cannot, and must not, be the basis of a second-class citizenship," - Irish prime minister, Bertie Ahern, yesterday.

Ireland will soon legislate civil partnership rights for gay couples, the legal equivalent of marriage in the UK. What's fascinating to me is how two of the most historically Catholic countries in Western Europe, Spain and Ireland, are now in the forefront of recognizing gay civil equality. Italy and France are, however, less evolved. Perhaps the link between Spain and Ireland is that both countries endured many decades of Church-State collusion, allowing the Church to enjoy astonishing civil powers. The sex abuse scandal helped the collapse of the Church hierarchy's moral authority in both countries. But it's politicization that wounded both Spanish and Irish churches in the long run. There's a lesson there for America's Christianists. There is a price for conflating religion and politics. Eventually, it will come back to haunt you.

A Momentous Event On The Horizon Tomorrow

This fact from our friend Tom H of Highland Park IL

On Wednesday of this week, at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00 in the morning, the time and date will be

01:02:03 04/05/06.

That won't ever happen again in your lifetime.

See? They've Always Been In It For The Money

And they always sound good.

Click Here to watch the Rolling Stones push Rice Crispies. Snap Crackle and Keef darling.

A Prediction

IF Matt Santos wins the Presidency, he will choose CJ Cregg as his Veep.

How Could They Tell?

Headline from ABC News:

Former Sen. Jesse Helms Has Dementia

Never Mind

BLACKBURN, England (CNN) -- One day after Condoleezza Rice said the United States made possibly "thousands" of tactical mistakes in the war against Iraq, the secretary of state says she was speaking "figuratively, not literally."