Daily Kos: The OTHER Scandal Hastert Doesn't Want Voters Talking About

by georgia10
Sat Oct 07, 2006 at 04:22:11 PM PDT

There are two things Republican Speaker Dennis Hastert doesn't want voters to discuss before the election. One is how Republicans handled Mark Foley's behavior. The other is Prairie Parkway.

Prairie Parkway refers to the highway to be built along the I-88 and I-80 corridor in Plano, Illinois (Hastert's district). There was immense local opposition to the project, with citizens arguing that the proposed highway would contribute to sprawl and destroy valuable farmland.

Think Progress has an excellent timeline on the matter. In short, when members of Congress made their financial disclosures earlier this year, Speaker Hastert reported a whopping $1.5 million profit on a land deal (reports of the actual profit vary between $1.8 million to $2 million).

WP Op Ed: Rationing Education

By Jennifer Booher-Jennings

Thursday, October 5, 2006; Page A33

In dire circumstances -- a battlefield, a devastating natural disaster or an overcrowded emergency room -- we accept the rationing of scarce resources as a necessary if regrettable choice. We triage. We divide patients into three groups: the safe cases, those suitable for treatment and the hopeless. And we ration resources in an effort to do the most good for the largest number.

But there are areas of life where we have rejected the idea of triage. Public education, an institution charged with disbursing equality of opportunity for all children, is certainly one of them. In our loftiest moments, we see public education as one place where we dispense with the blunt, utilitarian logic of triage and seek equal treatment for all. But try as we might, deep inequalities persist and belie our rhetoric.

Glenn Greenwald: Increasing desperation

There is a palpable desperation among Republicans as a result of the Foley scandal and related election troubles, which is giving rise to a significant increase in their willingness to peddle blatantly dishonest and irrational claims in order to save themselves. Let us begin with Bill Kristol, who uttered what I think is the single most despicable statement yet in the Foley scandal, when he was asked by Brit Hume on Fox News what Democrats might do if they takeover the House:

KRISTOL: Well, Democrats care about the children, Brit, and so I think they should pressure states to raise the age of consent from 16 to 18 so that it's clearly illegal for people like Mark Foley to hit on 17-year- old pages. . . . They could certainly pass a resolution supporting the Boy Scouts in their effort to keep people like Mark Foley from becoming scout masters, I think the Democrats could really do a lot of good for our children.

The controversial Boy Scouts policy to which Kristol is referring, of course, is one which bans gay men generally -- not "people like Mark Foley" -- from being scoutmasters, but Kristol's statement purposely recognizes no such distinction. Kristol is overtly arguing that the Mark Foley case proves that gay men cannot be trusted around young children. Many of the basest right-wing commentators have subtly implied that equivalence, but none has so overtly equated the two as explicitly as Kristol did Thursday night.

Glenn Greenwald: Does the Foley scandal prove the existence of a God?

(Updated below)

The Foley scandal is so perfectly tailored -- one could even say artistically designed -- to expose every character flaw of this country's Republican leaders (and their followers), and it has evolved so flawlessly (like the most brilliantly coordinated symphony), that one is almost inclined to believe that it was divinely inspired. It is difficult to believe that human beings (let alone Democrats) could create something so perfect (as Billmon wrote in comments here the other day, the relentless efficiency of this scandal is proof positive that Democrats had nothing to do with it). I agree with John Podhoretz's description:

This whole Foley business is one of the most dazzling political plays in my or any other lifetime - like watching an unassisted triple play or a running back tossing a 90-yard touchdown pass on a double-reverse.

The perfection of this scandal lies in its substance, not its theatrics

Glenn Greenwald: Howard Kurtz's role in the Foley story

(Updated below - Update II)

Most national journalists have been far more aggressive and diligent in reporting this Foley scandal than they have been with almost any other political story over the past six years, with one glaring exception -- Howard Kurtz, the media critic for both CNN and The Washington Post. On Monday, Kurtz reported that someone whom he described as "a strategist for Rep. Mark Foley" and "Foley's former chief of staff" had attempted, on behalf of Foley, to negotiate a deal with ABC, whereby ABC would agree to conceal the content of the IMs in exchange for an exclusive interview with Foley. This is how Kurtz "reported" the incident:

On Friday afternoon, a strategist for Rep. Mark Foley tried to cut a deal with ABC's Brian Ross. The correspondent, who had dozens of instant messages that Foley sent to teenage House pages, had asked to interview the Florida Republican.

Foley's former chief of staff said the congressman was quitting and that Ross could have that information exclusively if he agreed not to publish the raw, sexually explicit messages.

There was no reference whatsoever to the key fact in that story -- that the person negotiating the deal for Foley was actually Tom Reynolds' current Chief of Staff, Kirk Fordham

Glenn Greenwald: How many days does Denny Hastert have left?

(updated below - updated multiple time (Updates I-IV) - Update V)

Deciphering the Foley scandal events of the last few hours is a virtually impossible task, because all of the key players are contradicting one another (as well as their own earlier pronouncements) at a rate so fast and furious that it is difficult to keep track. What had been the huge news just hours ago -- the resignation (or termination, depending on whom you ask) of Tom Reynolds' Chief of Staff, Kirk Fordham -- now seems like old news. The only fact that emerges clearly is that the scandal grew a lot bigger today, and a lot worse for Republicans (UPDATE - things are much clearer now - see Update V below).

Glenn Greenwald: Mark Foley and the unmasked Republican Party

Denny Hastert is smack in the middle of one of the tawdriest and ugliest sex scandals in American political history. As a result, he has been the target of aggressive criticism, even from a few members of his own party, and, by all accounts, is desperately battling to keep his job.

In need of moral absolution and support from a respected and admired figure who possesses moral authority among Hastert's morally upstanding Republican base, to whom does Hastert turn? A priest or respected reverend? An older wise political statesman with a reputation for integrity and dignity? No, there is only one person with sufficient moral credibility among the increasingly uncomfortable moralistic Republican base who can give Hastert the blessing he needs:

Rush Limbaugh.

Glenn Greenwald: John Boehner = Denny Hastert, at least -- Plus, key questions for Tom Reynolds

(Updated below - Updated II - Update III - Update IV - Update V)

(1) The editorial in The Washington Times calling for Denny Hastert's resignation lays out the case quite persuasively, but it is worth remembering that any criticisms of Denny Hastert in the Foley scandal apply equally, at least, to the next-in-line, Majority Leader John Boehner. If Hastert has to resign, how can Boehner stay?

Not only does Boehner admit to having known about what the Washington Times calls the "red flags" raised by Foley's "suggestive and wholly inappropriate e-mail messages," Boehner, ever since this scandal emerged, has been at least as dishonest as Hastert has been (which is saying a lot, since Hastert, as the Washington Times notes, "dissembled, to put it charitably"). And it was Boehner who actively and inexcusably blocked the efforts by House Democrats on Friday to instruct the House Ethics Committee to investigate this matter.

Glenn Greenwald: Various Foley scandal items

Several matters relating to the Foley cover-up scandal:

(1) My post on the letter sent by Denny Hastert to the DOJ is below.

(2) I need to clarify and correct something I wrote the day after the scandal was first disclosed (Saturday). In this post, I argued that the "pedophile" rhetoric being righteously hurled at Mark Foley was not really appropriate, given that many (if not most) Americans live in states where it is perfectly legal for an adult of any age to have sex with a 16-year-old. The notion that an adult who has sex with a 16-year-old is a "pedophile freak" who deserves to be imprisoned with the key thrown away is (independent of whether it's right or wrong) inconsistent with the values enshrined in the laws of many (if not most) states, which provide that 16-year-olds are capable of consenting to sex (and even getting married).

Glenn Greenwald: This needs to be investigated

(Updated below - Update II - Update III - Update IV - Update V)

It has been reported, by Michael Crowley among others, that Mark Foley's former Chief of Staff, Kirk Fordham, is currently the Chief of Staff for NRCC Chairman Tom Reynolds. And it has also been reported by The Palm Beach Post (h/t John Aravosis) that when the Foley story first broke (when just the e-mails, but not the IMs, were to be released), Fordham was "loaned" by Reynolds to Foley to give him advice on how to handle the crisis:

Kirk Fordham, who worked as Foley's chief of staff for 10 years, returned to Foley's side to advise him during the past couple of days.

"He has the ability to look forward and see how things play out," Fordham said. "He wanted to do what was right for his family and for his district."

Glenn Greenwald: Hastert's letter to the DOJ advances the cover-up and worsens the scandal

(updated below)

The letter sent by Denny Hastert yesterday to Bush Attorney General Alberto Gonalzes was sent with the intent of stemming the tide of this Foley cover-up scandal by enabling Hastert and friends to hide behind the fact that there is now a pending DOJ criminal investigation which they requested. But Hastert's letter should have the precise opposite effect. The letter itself is actually one of the most incriminating and scandalous actions to be revealed in this story yet, and demonstrates just how deeply corrupt and amoral the trappings of one-party rule have made the Republicans in Washington.

Digby: Another One Bites The Dust

More e-mail shame and exposure. Where does it end with these Republicans?

A top aide to presidential adviser Karl Rove passed along inside White House information to superlobbyist Jack Abramoff at a time when she was also accepting his tickets to nine sports and entertainment events, according to e-mails released yesterday in a bipartisan congressional report.

Digby: Out Of The Woodwork

I know this will come as a great shock to everyone, but it appears that Hastert may have lied about what he knew and when he knew it.

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert's chief of staff confronted then-Rep. Mark Foley about his inappropriate social contact with male pages well before the speaker said aides in his office took any action, a current congressional staff member with personal knowledge of Foley and his behavior with pages said yesterday.

The staff member said Hastert's chief of staff, Scott Palmer, met with the Florida Republican at the Capitol to discuss complaints about Foley's behavior toward pages. The alleged meeting occurred long before Hastert says aides in his office dispatched Rep. John M. Shimkus (R-Ill.) and the clerk of the House in November 2005 to confront Foley about troubling e-mails he had sent to a Louisiana boy.

Digby: "Sure I Slept With Her"

... but I swear I didn't try to kill the lying bitch. Vote Republican!

In other races, the Foley case has created an unfavorable backdrop for Republicans. In Pennsylvania this week, Representative Don Sherwood, a suddenly endangered Republican, bought time on television to offer an apology in response to allegations that he had abused his mistress.

Hello?

Digby: Focus On The Hucksters

James Dobson is not just an average run of the mill preacher. In fact, he's not a preacher at all --- he's a child psychologist:

Dobson holds a doctorate in child development from the University of Southern California (1967). He was an Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Southern California School of Medicine for fourteen years. He spent seventeen years on the staff of the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles in the Division of Child Development and Medical Genetics.

His organization, Focus On The Family, is allegedly based on an amalgam of Biblical precepts and psychology and he dispenses his child rearing and marital advice in modern psychobabble terms. He's more than a religious leader --- his followers look to him as a doctor, particularly in the field of child psychology.

Digby: Freedom Rider To Torture Apologist

This is exactly why so many Democrats want to defeat Holy Joe Lieberman:

Student Kevin Miner, who said he'd voted for Lieberman twice in 2000, said one question had been eating him up for a long time: "I want to know what the moral reasoning is from a man who went from being a freedom rider to a torture apologist. I want to know what happened."

[...]

Echoing Republican arguments, Lieberman told the student: "We're at war. It's hard for a lot of people to understand this, because it's a different kind of war." The people we are capturing are "enemy combatants," and in many countries are given fewer rights than prisoners of war. "We are now giving them more rights than prisoners of war get in most countries of war."

Digby: I Know You Are But What Am I

I just heard two wingnut congressmen on Hardball advance the new GOP talking points and they are doozies:

"The issue is not Denny Hastert. The only issue now is what did the Democratic leadership know and when did they know it? Nancy Pelosi and Rahm Emmanuel need to go under oath before the ethics committee and clear their names."

It's such a wild Hail Mary that you almost have to admire it.

Digby: Accidental Truth

"If they throw Denny Hastert off the sled to slow down the wolves, it won't be long before you'll be crying, 'Hey, you've got to throw somebody else over because they knew about it too,'" Baker said.

Out of the mouths of poohbahs. Just how many of these guys knew about it, Jim?

Digby: Wingnut Kumbaaya

Following up on this Beinert nonsense to which Ezra and Atrios link today, may I just point out that while the right is outraged about a German opera company omitting a scene offensive to Muslims, they don't seem to be in the least bit concerned about a similar issue quite a bit closer to home:

American Family Association Chairman Donald E. Wildmon says NBC will not air the scene showing Madonna being crucified in the upcoming November special.

"NBC does not want a fight with AFA and the Christian community,” said Wildmon. "NBC may wiggle and wobble, but in the final analysis, they will not show that scene. We expect a public announcement from NBC canceling the scene within two weeks.”

Digby: Degenerate Politics

I think one of the things that is most depressing about these Foley revelations and cover up is that Bush was able to force through that stomach churning torture legislation before it broke. I doubt that he could have done it in the political environment this week. Too bad about the constitution. So much for those unalienable rights. But it's all of a piece, isn't it?

This is all illustrative of a depraved, degenerate, exorbitantly hypocritical Republican culture, led by the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Matt Drudge, that excused Abu Ghraib as blowing off steam and who today are pushing the idea that one of the boys who exchanged IMs with Foley was playing a "prank" on the congressman and it was all in good fun.

Digby: Angels Of Mercy

Just in case you haven't had your daily dose of shocked, stunned, disbelief at something that is going on in Iraq, check out this story from CBS on conditions in Baghdad:

An assembly line of rotting corpses lined up for burial at Sandy Desert Cemetery is what civil war in Iraq looks like close up.

The bodies are only a fraction of the unidentified bodies sent from Baghdad every few days for mass burial in the southern Shiite city of Kerbala, CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan reports.

Billmon: Always the Dollars

"It took months for everything to calm down, but finally my guys got out on bail and the bosses wanted me to send my brother Dominick out to Vegas. With them it was always the dollars, always the fuckin' dollars."

Nicky Santoro
Casino
1995

There's been a fair amount of speculation about why the Republican House leadership studiously looked the other way when it was brought to their attention that Mark Foley had a page problem, with most concluding it was because the GOP was anxious to hold his Florida seat, and didn't want to oust a popular incumbent. Andrew Sullivan:

If Hastert didn't know, he should have . . . My guess (and I do not know for sure) is that he chose not to know, because he needed a seat in Florida.

There's obviously something to this. If you believe the undead corpse of Bob Novak (who should know) House Republican campaign chief Tom Reynolds personally persuaded Foley to run again this year after word spread that he was thinking of callling it quits.

But saying the bosses were worried about losing Foley's seat gets the emphasis very wrong. It wasn't the seat the machine was trying to protect, much less Mark Foley personally, but Foley's cash horde -- and his future income-generating potential.

Higher Minimum Wage No Longer Regarded in US as Sure-Fire Job Killer

By Kim Chipman
Bloomberg

Monday 07 August 2006

Prominent economists of all ideological persuasions long believed that raising the US minimum wage would retard job growth, creating unintended hardship for those at the bottom of the ladder.

Today, that consensus is eroding, and a vigorous debate has developed as some argue that boosting the wage would pull millions out of poverty.

From Author, Help for White-Collar Workers

By Steven Greenhouse
The New York Times

Thursday 14 September 2006

On a recent book tour, Barbara Ehrenreich, the author of "Nickel and Dimed," was nearly brought to tears when an information technology marketer told her of growing so desperate after being laid off that she took a job as a janitor.

At another reading, a woman complained of an economy so volatile that she did not think of jobs anymore, but of intermittent income streams from tasks like house-sitting and designing Web sites.

Inspired by such tales, Ms. Ehrenreich has started an organization called United Professionals to help white-collar workers, be they unemployed, uninsured, downsized, stressed out or merely anxious.

David Sirota: Another open letter to Thomas Friedman

Mr. Thomas Friedman
The New York Times Washington Bureau
1627 I Street, N.W., 7th Floor
Washington, D.C. 20006

Dear Tom:

It's been 8 months since I last wrote to you, and I must say, you have really outdone yourself in that time. You have long been one of the biggest proponents of the hostile takeover of our government by Big Money interests and you have always occupied a special place as one of the most pompous and grandiloquent horse's asses in all of American pop culture - and, I know, that's saying a lot in the era of Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and David Brooks. But recently, you have really gone the extra mile, striving mightily to mimic in column form the depths of human behavior previously reserved for the sweatshop task masters you hold up as the great hope for humanity's future.

You have continued to shill for the Iraq War you helped push America into, too dumb, too arrogant or too embarrassed to acknowledge what America's intelligence agencies, Colin Powell, John Warner and others acknowledge: that it's time for a change. As you pimp yourself out on television, we the little people you look down on with such scorn are able to watch you lose your grip on reality. Oh sure, your media friends and the fancy elites you hang out with would never mention any of this to your face – questioning your contradictory statements and caustic demands for more Americans to die in Iraq is as odious to the cocktail party crowd as asking you whether your 70s pornstar moustache symbolizes your long lost desire for another career in the San Fernando Valley.

But I digress.

Molly Ivins: Return of the War Criminal

AUSTIN, Texas—The Old War Criminal is back. I try not to hold grudges, but I must admit I have never lost one ounce of rancor toward Henry Kissinger, that cynical, slithery, self-absorbed pathological liar. He has all the loyalty and principle of Charles Talleyrand, whom Napoleon described as “a piece of dung in a silk stocking.”

Come to think of it, Talleyrand looks pretty good compared with Kissinger, who always aspired to be Metternich (a 19th-century Austrian diplomat). Just count the number of Americans and Vietnamese who died between 1969 and 1973 and see if you can find any indication he ever gave a damn.

As for Kissinger’s getting the Nobel Peace Prize, it is a thing so wrong it has come to define wrongness—as in, “As weird as the time Henry Kissinger got the Nobel Peace Prize.”

Bush's Failed Policy of Kill, Kill, Kill

By Robert Parry
October 6, 2006

On March 30, 2003 – 3 ½ years ago and only 10 days after the U.S. invasion of Iraq – I solicited assessments from a few trusted military analysts and wrote that “whatever happens in the weeks ahead, George W. Bush has ‘lost’ the war in Iraq. The only question now is how big a price America will pay, both in terms of battlefield casualties and political hatred swelling around the world.”

The article, entitled “Bay of Pigs Meets Black Hawk Down,” argued that one of Bush’s most egregious miscalculations was his assumption that the Iraqis wouldn’t fight a foreign invader. Like the wishful thinking in the Bay of Pigs disaster (Cuba, 1961), U.S. policymakers assumed an invasion would be welcomed, not opposed.

Sailor Says He Watched Marines Kill Iraqi

This is a tragedy.--Dictynna

By LINDA DEUTSCH, AP

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (Oct. 7) - A Navy corpsman testified Friday that Marines in his patrol seized an Iraqi civilian from his home, threw him into a hole and put at least 10 bullets in his head and chest after growing frustrated in their search for an insurgent.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Melson J. Bacos said he saw a Marine put fingerprints from the victim onto a rifle and on a shovel to implicate him as an insurgent.

"I was shocked and I felt sick to my stomach," Bacos said.

Olbermann video: Bush would sell America out to preserve GOP power

RAW STORY
Published: Friday October 6, 2006

Keith Olbermann delivered a 'Special Comment' in his Thursday evening broadcast on the subject of lying, specifically that committed by members of the Administration, up to and including President Bush. His Thursday 'Special Comment' was among the longest he has produced on his MSNBC show Countdown. A full transcript is available here.

Lloyd shot dead by US troops, inquest told

Leigh Holmwood
Friday October 6, 2006
MediaGuardian.co.uk

ITN reporter Terry Lloyd was shot in the head by American troops as he was being driven to hospital, the inquest into his death was told today.

An account by an Iraqi witness that was read out at the inquest in Oxford claimed Lloyd was still alive after the original attack on his car but was killed by US troops as he was driven from the scene.

Paul Krugman: The War Against Wages

Should we be cheering over the fact that the Dow Jones Industrial Average has finally set a new record? No. The Dow is doing well largely because American employers are waging a successful war against wages. ...

[C]onsider the latest news from Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart already has a well-deserved reputation for paying low wages and offering few benefits...; last year, an internal Wal-Mart memo conceded that 46 percent of its workers’ children were either on Medicaid or lacked health insurance. Nonetheless, the memo expressed concern that wages and benefits were rising, in part “because we pay an associate more in salary and benefits as his or her tenure increases.”

NY Daily News: W sez he can tinker with privacy reports

WASHINGTON - President Bush, again defying Congress, insisted he has the power to alter the Homeland Security Department's reports about whether it obeys privacy rules while handling background checks, ID cards and watch lists.

In the law Bush signed Wednesday, Congress stated no one but the privacy officer could alter, delay or prohibit the mandatory annual report on agency activities that affect privacy, including complaints.

But Bush, in a signing statement attached to the agency's 2007 spending bill, said he will interpret that section "in a manner consistent with the President's constitutional authority."

We Had Abortions

The Editors, Ms. Magazine

These women invite you to join them in a campaign for honesty and freedom.

In its 1972 debut issue, Ms. magazine ran a bold petition in which 53 well-known U.S. women declared that they had undergone abortions —despite state laws rendering the procedure illegal. These women were following the example of a 1971 manifesto signed by 343 prominent French women, who also had declared they had abortions.

Even then, to many it seemed absurd that the government could deny a woman sovereignty over her own body. It is even more absurd in 2006 to learn that an abortion ban has passed into law in South Dakota, although it has been stayed until an initiative to remove the ban is voted on this November. Whatever happens in South Dakota, 17 other states now have trigger laws or pre-Roe v.Wade laws that could automatically ban abortion if the Supreme Court were to reverse Roe. Experts believe that as many as 30 states could outlaw abortion if Roe is overturned. A myriad of restrictions already limit access to abortion in the U.S. for poor women, young women and women in the military.

Katha Pollitt: Is Foley Truly the Worst Scandal in Washington?

By Katha Pollitt, The Nation. Posted October 6, 2006.

Rep. Mark Foley was a cancer in the House, and the GOP leadership screwed up royally in protecting him, but why can't Democrats attack Republicans on more serious issues that matter to the country?

I know the election is just a month away and the Democrats need every vote, but... Did Mark Foley really deserve to be drawn and quartered for engaging in lubricious instant messaging with male former Congressional pages?

Foley's advances were creepy and disturbing and bordered on sexual harassment, to say nothing of bad taste -- I'd definitely put "I always use lotion and the hand" in the Too Much Information category. But given that by law Senate pages must be 16 years old or more, and that 16 is the legal age of consent in Washington (and most states), to call him a "child molester" (Tucker Carlson on MSNBC) and "child predator" (various pundits) seems rather severe. Almost as severe as, um, calling Bill Clinton's affair with the 22-year-old Monica Lewinsky "vile" and voting to impeach him. Which, as it happens, Representative Foley did. "It's more sad than anything else," Foley went on, prophetically, "to see someone with such potential throw it all down the drain."

Manufacturing chemical may hurt thyroid

By Lisa Lambert
1 hour, 42 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Exposure to perchlorate, a widely used industrial chemical found in U.S. drinking water, may prevent some women's thyroid glands from functioning properly, a government study has found.

Digby: Father, Teacher, Coach

So the president supports Denny Hastert to the max:

The president also voiced support for Hastert, calling him a "father, teacher, coach" and said the Illinois Republican "wants to ensure these children on Capitol Hill are protected."

What he wants to do now and what he did are two different things.

Digby: Free Speech For Wingnuts

Via Kevin Drum, I see that the CBS News "free speech" segment has some funny ideas about what is permissable and what isn't. Bill Maher isn't allowed to talk about religion but some rightwing fundamentalist is allowed to freely share views like this:

This country is in a moral free-fall. For over two generations, the public school system has taught in a moral vacuum, expelling God from the school and from the government, replacing him with evolution, where the strong kill the weak, without moral consequences and life has no inherent value.

Digby: Bad Memories

We'll return to our regularly scheduled sexual cyberstalking programming in a few moments, but may I just take a moment to ask just what in the hell is going on with this?

A review of White House records has determined that George J. Tenet, then the director of central intelligence, did brief Condoleezza Rice and other top officials on July 10, 2001, about the looming threat from Al Qaeda, a State Department spokesman said Monday.

Billmon - 10/05/06

Civility

Courtesy of Pajamas Media:

The FBI is investigating a possible threat against the north Louisiana teenager who was on the receiving end of suggestive e-mails from disgraced former Rep. Mark Foley, a Louisiana congressman said Tuesday.

Another Hirohito Moment

"Could we have handled it better? Could the page board have handled it better? In retrospect probably, yes."

Denny Hastert
Press Conference
October 5, 2006

"Despite the best that has been done by everyone . . . the war situation has developed not necessarily to our advantage."

Emperor Hirohito
Radio Broadcast Announcing Japan's Surrender
August 15, 1945

Actually, Hirohito comes off looking better: He at least told the truth, if delicately.

The Lavender Bund

Speaking of crazy ideas, there's another conspiracy theory going around -- fundamentalist politico Tony Perkins was apparently spinning it to CBS News last night -- to the effect that the Foley cover up was perpetrated by a secret cabal of gay GOP House members and staffers. Some have speculated that this is or will soon be a Rovian line of defense.

Ten Thousand Years

One of the most impressive qualities about the wingnuts -- and the key to much of their past political success -- is their absolute, fanatical unwillingness to surrender, even when reality has them surrounded and is blasting their ranks to pieces with fragmentation grenades and massed artillery fire. At a point when most Democrats would be frantically looking around for a white flag to wave, the GOP hardcore are making banzai charges.

Call of the Wild

It looks like Roger L. Simon and Instacracker -- as well as PJ world headquarters -- decided to assist in the public outing of one of the targets of Foley's cyber stalking.

I know it's a grisly, disgusting scene, but that's just the way the food chain works in the cyber ecosystem: The predators kill the prey and eat their fill, then leave the remains for the scavengers -- hyenas, vultures, maggots -- to pick over.

It's About the Power, Stupid

First, last and always:

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., told a leading conservative Wednesday that he would resign as the top congressional leader if it would help the Republican Party stave off defeat in November.

But conservative activist Paul Weyrich said Hastert has rejected calls for his resignation because he believes it would prompt “a feeding frenzy” that ultimately would lead to the downfall of other GOP leaders as well.

Sowing the Seeds of Fascism in America

Author Stan Goff, a retired 26-year veteran of the U.S. Army Special Forces, sounds a warning call that many of the historical precursors of fascism—white supremacy, militarization of culture, vigilantism, masculine fear of female power, xenophobia and economic destabilization—are ascendant in America today.

Major Destruction of Workers Rights at NLRB Today

By Nathan Newman | bio

The National Labor Relations Board ruled today that a range of professionals are now deemed "supervisors" and thus lose all protections under labor law. That means if they say a positive thing about unions, their bosses are free to fire them at will. The AFL-CIO has more here.

To put this denial of labor rights in perspective, 32 million workers or 25% of the workforce already have no right to form a union under federal, state or local law (see this GAO report and this ARAW summary).

Cursor's Media Patrol - 10/05/06

House Speaker Hastert 'vows to hold on,' looking for Democrats to blame, but The Hill reports that the source who leaked Foley's suspect e-mails was a GOP staffer. And a clumsy attempt to "scapegoat" Rep. Reynolds' Chief of Staff may have transformed an ally into "the John Dean of the Foley scandal."

With a new poll showing that the U.S. public is 'unwilling to pay for more war in Iraq,' attacks in Baghdad kill 13 U.S. soldiers in three days, the highest three-day toll since the start of the war, and the total number of wounded tops 20,000.

<>"Democracy Now!" interviews the author of a study of U.S. reconstruction in Afghanistan who finds "contractors making big money for bad work," Nato takes over Afghan security, and a British charity uses muppets to teach Afghan children 'a land mine lesson.'

Although key senators say it has been outlawed by Congress, the White House refuses to explicitly rule out waterboarding, with the apparent implication that "It still won't state publicly that it won't violate the law," and a former senator decries 'The Waterboarding Republic.'

The Republicans on the National Labor Relations Board vote to define down "supervisor," potentially denying millions the right to organize, as Lou Dobbs asks 'Are you a casualty of class war? Earlier: Stephen Colbert on "forced promotions."

Two FCC public hearings on media consolidation "resembled baseball playoff games," reports the AP, "with attendees whooping, clapping wildly and even booing as the five commissioners sat quietly and listened for more than seven hours." Plus: 'The telecom slayers.'

Harper's gets a preview of an article on the recent tribulations of "Brand Kazakhstan" from 'the world's leading Boratologist,' a church offers visitors the opportunity to walk on water, and a new book takes a tour of the "fictitious parallel history of the United States" constructed by the religious right.

Arrest over Cheney barb triggers lawsuit

By Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News
October 3, 2006

A Denver-area man filed a lawsuit today against a member of the Secret Service for causing him to be arrested after he approached Vice President Dick Cheney in Beaver Creek this summer and criticized him for his policies concerning Iraq.

Attorney David Lane said that on June 16, Steve Howards was walking his 7-year-old son to a piano practice, when he saw Cheney surrounded by a group of people in an outdoor mall area, shaking hands and posing for pictures with several people.

Billmon: The Way of the Whigs

Howard Fineman is an asshole, but if a blind pig can find an acorn every once in a while I guess an asshole can pass a chestnut from time to time:

Can Democrats blow it even now? Sure. They don’t have the money and the machinery Republicans do.

More important, the Democrats’ message is murky. In the Senate, they decry the Mexican fence, then more than half of them vote for it. They label the Iraq war as a mistake, then vote $70 billion more for it. They object to Bush’s torture bill, yet flinch at a chance to block it in the Senate.

It was that kind of profound indecision on a moral issue (slavery) that led to the demise of the Whigs before the Civil War. The Foley Scandal means that Democrats might be able to succeed with a campaign slogan that says, simply, “Had Enough?” But if they take control of Congress, they’ll still have to do what the Whigs could not, which is explain what they are for, not just what we all are against.

The comparison with the Whigs is spot on, in fact I've made it myself.

Billmon: Breaking Even

...taking almost 7 years to get back to where you started isn't exactly something to brag about...--Billmon

The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a record high today: 11,727 -- four points higher than the previous record, set January 14, 2000. So if you invested $1,000 in the 30 companies in the Dow six years and almost nine months ago, you'd have $1000.34 today!

Auditors: Millions of health records at risk

POSTED: 9:13 p.m. EDT, October 3, 2006

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Security weaknesses have left millions of elderly, disabled and poor Americans vulnerable to unauthorized disclosure of their medical and personal records, federal investigators said Tuesday.

The Government Accountability Office said it discovered 47 weaknesses in the computer system used by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to send and receive bills and to communicate with health care providers.

The agency oversees health care programs that benefit one in every four Americans. Its massive amount of data is transmitted through a computer network that is privately owned and operated.

The century of drought

One third of the planet will be desert by the year 2100, say climate experts in the most dire warning yet of the effects of global warming

By Michael McCarthy, Environmental Editor

Published: 04 October 2006

Drought threatening the lives of millions will spread across half the land surface of the Earth in the coming century because of global warming, according to new predictions from Britain's leading climate scientists.

Extreme drought, in which agriculture is in effect impossible, will affect about a third of the planet, according to the study from the Met Office's Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research.

GOP defeat could benefit conservatives, says Richard Viguerie

Viguerie, a New Right founding father and king of conservative direct mail, is angry about the GOP's wayward leadership and he's calling on his troops to stand down

While a host of conservative Christian evangelical leaders were trying to energize the Republican Party's grassroots base at their Value Voters Summit a few weeks back, Richard Viguerie was sending a different message to conservatives. While he isn't advocating a GOP defeat in November, Viguerie, one of the founding fathers of the modern conservative movement, recently told progressive radio talk show host Laura Flanders, that he has "lived long enough" so that he "no longer fear[s] defeat...Many times, if not most of the times, our best success has come after defeat."

Fresh claims fuel US e-mail row

The US Republican Party is struggling to contain the scandal surrounding former Congressman Mark Foley's e-mails to young men amid new allegations.

US media revealed a possible romantic link with a young congressional worker and that warnings about Mr Foley's conduct went as far back as 1995.

O'Reilly labels Foley a Democrat

Posted by Evan Derkacz at 5:53 AM on October 4, 2006.

Whoopsie, honest mistake... twice.

Digby: GLYASDI

Tony Perkins of Dobson's Family Research Counsel was on CNN earlier and I think we are hearing the contours of the Christian Right's argument. They are going with Newt Gingrich's formulation: Poor Denny was afraid of being called a gay basher so he didn't say anything.

Since when has the GOP been afraid to be called homophobic or gay bashers? They positively revel in it. In fact, just a couple of months ago 202 Republican House members voted for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. (It failed to get the required 2/3rds for passage.) Somehow, I don't think the Republicans are quaking in their boots at being called anti-gay.

Bill Moyers: Lincoln Weeps

October 03, 2006

Bill Moyers is a veteran television journalist for PBS and the president of the Schumann Center for Media and Democracy. "Capitol Crimes," the first episode of Bill Moyers' latest series of documentary specials , airs Wednesday on PBS. (Check local listings.) Click here to listen to an audio version of this commentary.

Back in 1954, when I was a summer employee on Capitol Hill, I made my first visit to the Lincoln Memorial. I have returned many times since, most recently while I was in Washington filming for a documentary about how Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff, Ralph Reed and Grover Norquist, among others, turned the conservative revolution into a racket—the biggest political scandal since Watergate.

If democracy can be said to have temples, the Lincoln Memorial is our most sacred. You stand there silently contemplating the words that gave voice to Lincoln's fierce determination to save the union—his resolve that "government of, by, and for the people shall not perish from the earth." On this latest visit, I was overcome by a sense of melancholy. Lincoln looks out now on a city where those words are daily mocked. This is no longer his city. And those people from all walks of life making their way up the steps to pay their respect to the martyred president—it's not their city, either. Or their government. This is an occupied city, a company town, and government is a subservient subsidiary of richly endowed patrons.

Paul Krugman: Things Fall Apart

Right after the 2004 election, it seemed as if Thomas Frank had been completely vindicated. In his book “What’s the Matter With Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America,” Mr. Frank argued that America’s right wing had developed a permanent winning strategy based on the use of “values” issues to mobilize white working-class voters against a largely mythical cultural elite, while actually pursuing policies designed to benefit a small economic elite.

It was and is a brilliant analysis. But the political strategy Mr. Frank described may have less staying power than he feared. In fact, the right-wing coalition that has spent 40 years climbing to its current position of political dominance may be cracking up.

Digby: L8R G8R

Lord Almighty, it looks like we got us a gen-you-wine Republican sex scandal. And it's a doozy, isn't it? Maybe people will notice that something is seriously rotten under GOP rule now.

If we lived in a nation that wasn't completely dysfunctional, this scandal wouldn't be at the top of the list of scandals that have been revealed just in the last week:

• A new book by the official court scribe describes an administration so inept, unorganized and incoherent that if most people were aware of the details, the president's fear campaign would blow back hard against him. If the terrorists really are coming to kill us in our beds any day now, then we are in deep shit with these guys in charge.
• We have more news this week-end that Karl Rove and the white house were actively and personally involved in all the Jack Abramoff congressional corruption scandals which feature ripping off taxpayers of many millions of dollars.
• It turns out that Bush fired Colin Powell.
• The intelligence community agree that the invasion of Iraq super-charged the extremist jihadist moviement and is fuelling terrorism far more quickly and broadly than we would have had to deal with otherwise.
  
• We have officially sanctioned torture and the repeal of habeas corpus --- at the least competent president in history's discretion.

I'm sure I've missed something.

Digby: "Get It Right This Time"

In the midst of all the excitement over the GOP congress's under-age cyberstalking, I hope that we don't lose sight of the other white meat --- Woodward's astonishing revelations in his new book "State of Denial."

Yes, Woodward is a court stenographer and his earlier Bush hagiography shows the extent of his fealty to DC insiderism, but that's exactly what makes this book so extraordinary. It's clear that the Republican establishment is feverishly cannibalizing itself from within. Not only is the story of infighting, ineptitude and bad policy compelling, it's especially interesting since it's being told by the Republicans themselves as they begin the work of ex-communicating the Bush administration from themselves and the conservative movement.

Digby: Rules for Scandal

So Tony Snow referred to the Foley matter as "some naughty emails" this morning and got slapped by the press corps. His response warmed me to the depth of my soul. I've been waiting for this for a long time:

"You’re right. That may sound a little bit too glib – I think I’ve used the words… horrifying, appalling, disturbing. "Fill in the blanks," he added. "It’s absolutely inappropriate."

Well I'm sorry, but that just won't do

Digby: Desperate To Stonewall

Everybody's on to Hastert's transparent ploy to shift attention from his own culpability in refusing to keep the disturbed congressmen away from the high school kids. It's ballsy. But there is a more subtle intention. It's also clear that he's desperate to get a formal investigation going either in DC or Florida that will allow them to claim that law enforcement has asked that they not comment any further. The administration discovered with the Plame case that they can stonewall for months with that.

Richard Clarke: Blinded by Hindsight

The New York Times

Sunday 01 October 2006

Five years after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, three years after the 9/11 commission report, and just weeks before a national election, the issues of what happened before those attacks have resurfaced. Suddenly, we are again witnessing heated disputes about such insignificant issues as whether the Clinton administration prepared a draft "strategy" or, alternatively, "a series of required decisions" about Al Qaeda for the incoming Bush administration.

This spectacle was set off by a partisan rewriting of history billed as a television docudrama and shown on the anniversary of the attack. Mr. Clinton, justifiably, denounced the untruths about his administration's record.

Woodward: Kissinger Re-Fighting Vietnam via Bush

Posted on Oct 2, 2006

In his “60 Minutes” interview, Bob Woodward said Henry Kissinger “is almost like a member of the [Bush] family,” and that in his frequent meetings with Bush and Cheney, Kissinger’s dogmatic ‘stay the course’ advice on Iraq amounts to “fighting the Vietnam war again.”

Watch it

---

“60 Minutes” transcript via Crooks and Liars:

Wallace: Cheney stunned Woodward by revealing that a frequent advisor to the Bush white house is former secretary of state Henry Kissinger, who served presidents nixon and ford during the vietnam war.

>> Woodward: He’s back. In fact, Henry Kissinger is almost like a member of the family. If he’s in town, he can call up, and if the president’s free, he’ll see him.

>> Wallace: Woodward recorded his on-the-record interview with Cheney, and here’s what the vice president said about Henry Kissinger’s clout.

The Marriage Placebo

Myra Batchelder

October 02, 2006

Myra Batchelder is a Policy Analyst in the Economic Opportunity Program at Demos.

Struggling to pay the bills in Washington, D.C.? Just get married.

Sen. Sam Brownback, R.-Kan., and Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.-D.C., were out recently drumming up more funding for a new Washington, D.C.-based marriage promotion incentive program for low-income families. It gives low-income couples who choose to get married many advantages, from priority status for low-income and federally-funded housing to "marriage development accounts," which provide a federally-funded match of three to one for their savings. This program is one of many across the country promoting marriage as a solution to poverty.

At the same time, in another part of the country, the legality of marriage promotion programs is coming into question. Americans United for Separation of Church and State recently filed a lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services to block taxpayer funding for a Vancouver, Wash., program that offers "Bible-based" marriage education, citing a violation of the necessary separation between church and state. The debate over marriage promotion programs has officially begun in the courts, and I, for one, hope they are required to change.

Scandal-hit US lawmaker in rehab

Former US Congressman Mark Foley, who has been embroiled in a scandal over sexually suggestive e-mails, says he is undergoing treatment for alcoholism.

The Florida Republican had checked himself into a rehabilitation facility, his lawyer said.

Mr Foley was forced to resign on Friday after it was revealed that he had sent sexual messages to young men, the youngest aged 16, on his staff.

Arms traders 'dodging embargoes'

The lack of a legal framework governing the arms trade is allowing weapons to reach states under embargo like Sudan and Uganda, a report says.

The Arms Without Borders report by leading humanitarian groups, including Oxfam and Amnesty International, is calling for a global arms trade treaty.

The Right Wing Sets Its Sights on MoveOn

By Joshua Holland, AlterNet. Posted October 2, 2006.

MoveOn.org's moneymaking prowess is scaring both the GOP and Vichy Democrats alike, and it's become a favorite target for the Right.

In a country ruled more through complacency than persuasion or coercion, MoveOn.org, the 3.3 million member progressive grass-roots group, continues to rattle the DC establishment by giving ordinary people the tools to get involved in politics.

MoveOn’s ability to bundle small campaign contributions from tens of thousands of rank-and-file progressives and challenge candidates backed by the full weight of the American corporatocracy is causing Washington’s traditional power-brokers to lose some sleep. Last year -- a non-election year -- MoveOn's PAC raised over $9 million from 125,000 donors who threw in less than 50 bucks each on average. It’s expected to spend $25 million on candidates and independent ad buys in a full-press attack on the Republican Congress this cycle.

Record ozone loss during 2006 over South Pole

2 October 2006

Ozone measurements made by ESA’s Envisat satellite have revealed the ozone loss of 40 million tonnes on 2 October 2006 has exceeded the record ozone loss of about 39 million tonnes for 2000.

Ozone loss is derived by measuring the area and the depth of the ozone hole. The size of this year’s ozone hole is 28 million square km, nearly as large as the record ozone hole extension during 2000, and the depth of the ozone hole is around 100 Dobson Units, rivalling the record low ozone values in 1998. This year’s record ozone loss was reached because these two measurements occurred during the same time period. (A Dobson unit is a unit of measurement that describes the thickness of the ozone layer in a column directly above the location being measured.)

President [Hillary] Clinton Jails 938,000 Illegal Enemy Combatants

Hilarious...should be read by all Republicans.--Dictynna

Temporally realigned by admin on 2006/9/29 7:58:32 (1870 reads)

By Ion Zwitter, Avant News Editor
Washington, D.C., February 2, 2009

A mere two weeks into her tenure, President Hillary Rodham Clinton has announced a sweeping roundup of illegal enemy combatants, the first step in a comprehensive program designed to protect the American people from potential terrorist activities. In accordance with the Military Commissions Act of 2006, the nearly one million detainees will be held indefinitely without trial or recourse to legal counsel until such time as the President determines they no longer pose a threat to the United States and its allies.

[...]

While the names and crimes of the detainees are classified to protect the interests of national security, a clue as to some of their identities could be gleaned by means of a stroll though major government offices around the country. Four of the nine Supreme Court Justices, for example, failed to show up for work, as did approximately 220 congressmen, 52 senators and a number of governors and presiding justices of district and appellate courts. The vast majority of absentees, coincidentally, were Republicans, in particular those congressional republicans who had voted for the impeachment of former president Bill Clinton.

Glenn Greenwald: John Hinderaker's defense of Denny Hastert

(updated below - updated repeatedly - watch this ABC News report from tonight)

There are numerous intellectually honest conservatives who are viciously criticizing Denny Hastert and even demanding his resignation for his role in covering-up Mark Foley's predatory conduct and then lying about it once the story broke. And there are also some generally rational though deeply misguided defenses of Hastert being mounted elsewhere by some Bush followers. And then -- in a category of its own -- there is this defense of Hastert, promoted by Instapundit, and authored by John Hinderaker.

After reviewing the fact that Hastert was told months ago about the e-mails sent by Foley to the 16-year-old page (a fact which Hastert first categorically denied and -- after Reps. Reynolds and Boehner both said they told Hastert -- he now claims not to recall), Hinderaker offers this defense of Hastert:

I've never been Speaker of the House, but I can imagine that such a conversation would not be among the most significant Hastert has had in the last year, and would not necessarily make a deep impression. Foley was, I take it, generally assumed to be gay.

Glenn Greenwald: GOP House leaders speak out against Internet predators

(updated below - updated again re: Denny Hastert's statement - updated again)

As noted in the post below, one of the laws which Mark Foley appears to have violated is the so-called "Adam Walsh Child Protection Act of 2006" which, among other things, increases penalties for adults who use the Internet to discuss or solicit sexual acts with "minors" (defined as an "individual who has not attained the age of 18 years"). GOP leaders hailed this law as a vital tool in protecting our nation's children against Internet predators:

Denny Hastert, who said the Act was critical in "preventing child exploitation, stopping child pornography and creating new criminal offense penalties protecting children from the Internet," proclaimed:

"At home, we put the security of our children first and Republicans are doing just that in our nation’s House. We’ve all seen the disturbing headlines about sex offenders and crimes against children. These crimes cannot persist. Protecting our children from Internet predators and child exploitation enterprises are just as high a priority as securing our border from terrorists. . . That’s why today we passed the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006.”

Legislating Violations of the Constitution

By Erwin Chemerinsky

Special to washingtonpost.com
Saturday, September 30, 2006; 12:00 AM

With little public attention or even notice, the House of Representatives has passed a bill that undermines enforcement of the First Amendment's separation of church and state. The Public Expression of Religion Act - H.R. 2679 - provides that attorneys who successfully challenge government actions as violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment shall not be entitled to recover attorneys fees. The bill has only one purpose: to prevent suits challenging unconstitutional government actions advancing religion.

A federal statute, 42 United States Code section 1988, provides that attorneys are entitled to recover compensation for their fees if they successfully represent a plaintiff asserting a violation of his or her constitutional or civil rights. For example, a lawyer who successfully sues on behalf of a victim of racial discrimination or police abuse is entitled to recover attorney's fees from the defendant who acted wrongfully. Any plaintiff who successfully sues to remedy a violation of the Constitution or a federal civil rights statute is entitled to have his or her attorney's fees paid.

Frank Rich: So You Call This Breaking News?

IF your head hurts from listening to the Washington furor over the latest National Intelligence Estimate, by all means tune it out. The entire debate is meaningless except as a damning election-year indicator of just how madly our leaders are fiddling while Iraq burns.

The supposedly shocking key finding in the N.I.E. — that the Iraq war is a boon to terrorism — isn’t remotely news. It first turned up in a classified C.I.A. report leaked to the press in June 2005. It’s also long been visible to the naked eye. The latest New York Times/CBS News poll, conducted before any revelations from the N.I.E., found that nearly half the country believes that the Iraq war is increasing the terrorist threat against America and only 12 percent thinks the war is decreasing that threat. Americans don’t have to pore over leaked intelligence documents to learn this. They just have to turn on the television.