The Ethically Challenged Tom Delay

When we last left our family values heroes, the Right Wing Republicans,they were meeting in Congress under emergency circumstances to try and override the entire judicial system in order to shove a feeding tube back into the stomach of a brain-damaged bulimic woman in order to user her as a political football.

Spearheading that effort is a foul-smelling, greasy-hair Republican from Texas who pulled the plug on his own father only 1.5 decades before taking on this latest fight. While Tom "ChickenShit" Delay might have ducked into the shadows after his extreme hypocrisy was realized by anyone with a brain, he actually has a much bigger problem on his hands that he's really not able to dodge: numerous ethics violations.

Ethics violations from this Jesus loving, family values Republican in lockstep with our golden-boy president? Say it ain't so! It turns out our buddy Tom doesn't just have a few issues he needs to try to hide from you, me, and the good people of Texas - he has several, and I invite you all to find a good seat, get some popcorn ready, sit back, and relax while this hilarious American political story unfolds. This ought to be interesting.

Recently the GOP agreed to investigate their own budding star, and while that sounds like something partisan as the 9/11 panel, think about the fact that Delay has already received and unheard of four admonishments by unanimous votes of the bipartisan House Ethics Committee. He's on a roll!

Each day as you read the headlines on CNN.com, MSNBC.com, or other corporate news outlets that underreport everything except Martha Stuart's prison release, you will see additional corrupt actions by our ethically challenged House leader - the title of which again underscores the reality that this guy isn't just another white Republican face in the crowd - he holds an extremely powerful figure of authority and voices the talking points of his infinitely corrupt party by designation. Along with Bush, Bill Frist, and other recognizable faces, Tom is their leader.

There have been so many violations, it's really getting difficult to keep up. Therefore, allow me to outline for you just a small, documented part of Tom's behavior, which doesn't include the black jokes he tells on hole 14 at the all-White country club he receives a hero's welcome at daily.

Let's take a look at Tommy Boy's collection of admonishments (these are basically slaps on the wrist from the ethics committee telling him to knock it off):

• K Street Project (1999) – Admonished for threatening Electronic Industries Alliance for not hiring a Republican as its president. The Ethics Committee itself initiated this investigation. Source: “Ethics Panel Chastises DeLay For Threatening Trade Group,” The Washington Post, May 14, 1999
  
  
• Westar Energy (2004) – Admonished for creating the “appearance” that Westar Energy executives were provided special access at a West Virginia golf retreat as result of $25,000 in corporate contributions to Texans for a Republican Majority, a political group affiliated with DeLay. At the time of the retreat, the House was about to consider an energy bill that Westar hoped to influence. A complaint filed by former Rep. Chris Bell (D-TX) initiated this investigation. (Read more here) Source: Memorandum to Members of the House Ethics Committee
  
  
• Texas Redistricting (2004) – Delay used government resources for political purposes. Delay’s staff contacted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) during the 2003 Texas redistricting battle to obtain information from FAA databases on the whereabouts of Democratic Members of the Texas House who had fled Austin in a plane for the purpose of denying the House a quorum. This means, post 9/11, Delay used a federal aviation body to actually hunt down state legislators. Think of the accusations of not taking national security seriously, had this been a Democratic House member taking the same action. A complaint filed by Bell initiated this investigation. (Also found in the memo cited above). Source: Memorandum to Members of the House Ethics Committee
  
  
• Medicare Bill (2004) – This one is my favorite. Delay was admonished for offering to endorse House Member Nick Smith’s (R-MI) son, who would be running for Congress, on the House floor in exchange for Rep. Smith’s vote in favor of the Medicare/prescription drug bill. It was found that Smith was offered $100,000 in corporate contributions in exchange for his vote - and when Smith decided not to play along, he was threatened and taunted that his son would never win a congressional election. The Ethics Committee itself initiated this investigation. (Sound unbelievable? Read more here, here & here.) Source: Investigation of Certain Allegations Related to Voting on the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003
  
  
• Pending case: Illegal Campaign Contributions (2005) – The House Ethics Committee last year was asked to investigate Rep. DeLay for allegedly using his political action committee, Texans for a Republican Majority (TRMPAC), to launder corporate money to Texas state campaigns in 2002, a violation of state law. The committee decided not to take action on the complaint until after Travis County (Austin), Texas District Attorney Ronnie Earle completes his investigation of TRMPAC activities and until indictments against DeLay associates in Texas are disposed of. Source: Memorandum to Members of the House Ethics Committee

But wait...there's more:

• Celebrations for Children (CFC) – This charity, which counted DeLay political operatives among its officers, planned to sell tee times to Long Island golf courses, as well as VIP tickets to Broadway plays, yacht cruises and other events that offered access to DeLay during the 2004 Republican convention in New York. The plan was an attempt to misuse the charity’s IRS tax-exempt status to circumvent the ban on raising soft money. After the charity’s plan drew unfavorable attention from the House Ethics Committee, the charity backed away from its convention plans. (Read more here) Source: “Charity Tied to DeLay Is Questioned; Group Asks Lawmakers To Demand Ethics Probe,” Washington Post, March 24, 2004
  
  
• Moscow Trip - A trip DeLay took in 1997 to Moscow may have been underwritten by business interests lobbying on behalf of the Russian government. The $57,238 cost of the trip was reportedly transferred from a mysterious company registered in the Bahamas, Chelsea Commercial Enterprises Ltd., to the nonprofit group, the National Center for Public Policy Research, which officially paid for the trip. On the trip, DeLay met with two registered lobbyists for Chelsea, including Jack Abramoff.Source: “A 3rd DeLay Trip Under Scrutiny; 1997 Russia Visit Reportedly Backed by Business Interests,” Washington Post, April 6, 2005.
  
  
• Legal Defense Fund Contributions – After Public Citizen complained about possible ethics violations, DeLay was forced to return contributions to his legal defense fund from registered lobbyists because House ethics rules explicitly prohibit such contributions. Link Source: “Gifts Broke Rules, DeLay Trustee Says,” The New York Times, December 8, 2004
  
  
• The South Korean Vacation - U.S. Exchange Council, a business-financed group created with the help of a lobbying firm headed by DeLay’s former chief of staff. The Council is a registered foreign agent, and House rules state: “a Member, officer or employee may not accept travel expenses from a registered lobbyist or agent of a foreign principal.” (Read about it here)Source: “S. Korean Group Sponsored DeLay Trip; Visits May Have Broken House Rules,” The Washington Post, March 10, 2005

So what, praytell, do you have to say for yourself Thomas? Shhhh...let's listen:

"The time has come that the American people know exactly what their representatives are doing here in Washington. Are they feeding at the public trough, taking lobbyist-paid vacations, getting wined and dined byspecial-interest groups? Or are they working hard to represent their constituents? The people, the American people, have a right to know. I say the best disinfectant is full disclosure." --Tom Delay on the House Floor, 1995.

Well said. Now, if you agree with what Tommy says above, instead of ordering that Dominos pizza at 2:51am this Saturday night (maybe some projection happening here?) how about clicking here.

Senator Danforth Smartens Up

The other day in the New York Times, a great op ed piece was written by John C. Danforth, a former U.S. senator from Missouri, and ambassador to the U.N. Typically I would strongly disagree with almost every point this man makes politically, but his piece caught my eye the other day because he ended up bitch-slapping his own party, especially the 25% that call themselves the Religious Right conservatives.
A former Republican Senator from the midwest breaking ranks with the Republicrap norm is certainly interesting, but isn't exactly news that would trump Michael Jackson arriving to court in his P.J's. The most politically gasping aspect of his article, however, comes to the forefront once you realize his background: Danforth is an ordained minister, and his complaint is that his party is catering to religious conservatives. Roll that in your Phillies Blunt and puff it.

I'm guessing 99% of the conservatives who might be visiting this site would rather wipe their ass with the New York Times than read it, given that it's a super-pink Commie, boys kissing-endorsing liberal rag who wants all of our troops to be beheaded immediately (maybe that's why it actually supported the invasion of Iraq before we went in), so I've decided to paste selected paragraphs from the article itself for your reading pleasure. If you need to clean feces off your screen after reading it, that's your problem.

"By a series of recent initiatives, Republicans have transformed our party into the political arm of conservative Christians. The elements of this transformation have included advocacy of a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, opposition to stem cell research involving both frozen embryos and human cells in petri dishes, and the extraordinary effort to keep Terri Schiavo hooked up to a feeding tube."

I'm guessing he's singling out the erosion of the popular Republican philosophy "less government, more states rights," by stating this.

"Standing alone, each of these initiatives has its advocates, within the Republican Party and beyond. But the distinct elements do not stand alone. Rather they are parts of a larger package, an agenda of positions common to conservative Christians and the dominant wing of the Republican Party."

Actually John, beyond the Republican party there isn't much advocation for any of this bullshit. The Green party is disgusted. The Libertarians are disgusted, and even the Nazi Reform party has raised a shaved brow.

"High-profile Republican efforts to prolong the life of Ms. Schiavo, including departures from Republican principles like approving Congressional involvement in private decisions and empowering a federal court to overrule a state court, can rightfully be interpreted as yielding to the pressure of religious power blocs."

Here's the states' rights argument. it's the core of Republican principles, although progressives personally don't care about states rights. That philosophy was used as a battlecry for racism, sex discrimination, and anything else that was obnoxious that the South tried to get away with for years. I point you to public school integration in the middle of the century to get some examples of this. Progressives believe that equality, justice, and advancement of the human race is the same in Texas as it is in Maine. We believe what's right is right, period.

"It is not evident to many of us that cells in a petri dish are equivalent to identifiable people suffering from terrible diseases. I am and have always been pro-life. But the only explanation for legislators comparing cells in a petri dish to babies in the womb is the extension of religious doctrine into statutory law."

I beg to differ - my grandmother, suffering from the first stages of Alzheimers has no right to look to science for help if it's going to ruin the chance of some discarded jack-off & egg batter to get thrown away in a medical bag and sent to the hazardous waste dump. Sorry Grandma but , Juggs Magazine byproduct has as much of a right to life as you do.

"But in recent times, we Republicans have allowed this shared agenda to become secondary to the agenda of Christian conservatives. As a senator, I worried every day about the size of the federal deficit. I did not spend a single minute worrying about the effect of gays on the institution of marriage. Today it seems to be the other way around."

Again, keep in mind, this is coming from an ordained minister. He forgot to mention the religious influence on lack of birth control, lack of sex education, AIDS here and around the world, on population density issues, on the death penalty, on faith based initiatives that put pastor's in charge of your mental health rather than mental health professionals, and a huge host of other problems we face by not killing the Christian conservatives immediately .

"The historic principles of the Republican Party offer America its best hope for a prosperous and secure future. Our current fixation on a religious agenda has turned us in the wrong direction. It is time for Republicans to rediscover our roots."

Well written John. This is some of the only common sense I've heard from your side of the isle since Rush Limbaugh thanked the ACLU for defending his drug-abusing right to privacy. Oh, wait...nevermind.

Threatening the Judiciary

Something really fucked up has been going on in our Capitol building, and while it reveals the true, shriveled, black-as-coffee souls of Right wing politicians in our House and Senate, it's not getting any attention in the "liberal media." It needs a spotlight cast upon it so bright, that these scumbag, closet whore-chasing Republicans get thrown in a small, windowless room, have their testicles attached to generators, and get an interrogation that yields enough evidence to imprison them with all the minority felons they've been oppressing for years. I'm talking about the tone and attitude created by these "leaders," regarding the judicial system, starting with our dim as fuck President on down to the most useless state House member.

It started with Tom Delay blatantly threatening the judges in the Terri Schiavo case by saying, "The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior, but not today." Keep in mind, he was threatening conservative judges for being too progressive and humane. Considering one of the judges, George Greer, has had 24-hour security during and after the Schiavo hearings after a $50,000 bounty was placed on his head by some anti-life guy from North Carolina (Oh? The fucking South? No shit?! I didn't expect any threats to come from the South during the Schiavo hearings? Did you? Oh wait, actually I did, because I forgot those welfare-leeching, death penalty cheering Neanderthals would have their dicks caught in the nearest Nascar gas tank too long to realize just how much of the Constitution they tried to succeed from was getting raped right before their Hitler-blue eyes). Delay's fat, Southern-fried mouth completely embarrassed himself, his state, and his party, considering he's their House leader.

Just when you thought you heard enough from these assholes, Senator John Cornyn, Republican from guess-the-fuck-where....yep, that's right, Texas, who tried to explain his feeling that judges who have unpopular verdicts might share some connection with recent violent acts against the judges themselves, and while defending judges in general, he spent much of his speech on the Senate floor stating his concern for what his party calls, "activist judges." The recent decision by the Supreme Court to outlaw juvenile executions is what set John off. Don't "the culture of life" people support just the darndest issues?

Did anyone else read about or experience vivid examples of Arian groups, the Klan, and other violent Right Wing hate groups using these exact motives, these same instruments of intimidation and hate against judges and lawyers during the 50's, 60's...and 2000's? Do you see a connection here? Do you understand what you're supporting when you vote the "pro-life" people in? Are you cool with this or do you find that those who share the same views about this stuff that you do are completely fucking nuts?

See, when Americans start falling for marketing phrases and bumper sticker slogans like "culture of life," and "activist judges," those who really do value life are completely fooled into supporting leaders who will kill abortion doctors, threaten the lives of judges, lawyers and Americans facing family decisions, all in the name of protecting fetuses. Because if you want the truth, if you want a real slogan you can chew on that represents where these people are coming from, here's one that accurately describes their position on life: Love the fetus, hate the human being.

Co-habitation is for Sinners!

Have you ever been fired from your job before? I haven't personally, but I was a manager in a call center a few years back in which I had to do some firing from time to time. One kid who worked for us continually fell asleep at work, so I had to fire him. Another swore at customers on two separate occasions, and we fired him too. It wasn't fun, but I understood it was for the good of the company, and you know, we just can't curse out customers or drift off to sleep when we talk to them.

Debora Hobbs didn't get fired for any of these reasons. Instead, her lifestyle choice was "outed" to those at work, shocking her friends, family, and even her boss to the point where he threatened to fire her and report her living status to authorities, so the law could deal with it. Her crime? She lives with her boyfriend.
Yep - there is a 200 year old law in North Carolina prohibiting such blasphemy, because after all, why the hell would one want to test compatibility with someone one might give the rest of one's life to, by getting an apartment together for a few months to see how it goes (maybe you're trying to prevent the very divorce the Right will ridicule you for in the future). This is the question that Sheriff Carson Smith asked himself before giving her two choices: get married, move out, or I'll fire your ass.

Those liberal Christ-hating bastards over at the ACLU of North Carolina decided to represent the woman for free, but of course that's not surprising. What should get one a mite nervous however, is the thought of someone evoking a 200 year-old law to push his conservative views on you, who happens to carry a gun for the soul purpose of enforcing those same laws. What do they do if you're caught with a bud of weed in your front pocket? Flog your naked body in the town square? Do they still throw you in lakes down there to see whether or not your a witch, can't swim, or both? Oh wait that was liberal Massachusetts.

I bet that's coming next, because that's what these conservative pricks do. They HATE they way you live your life, and they want to get into it as much as they can to make your personal decisions for you, because obviously you're not capable of doing it, you complete fuck up. Who do you think you are, with your fancy pants birth control pills, and your stupid choices, and your free-thinking decisions? That time went to hell with the Clinton presidency. Now the Right is running America, and you better love it or leave it.

In the meantime, add this to the list of the completely fucked logic of those from the conservative group. They want less abortions, but they're going to take away your birth control. They want less divorce, but they're going to take away your ability to live with someone to prevent that from happening. They want to get to heaven, and they want you to get there too, yet they refuse to let you die, yet they support the death penalty if you killed someone, or performed a medical procedure known as abortion, yet they've supported almost every war in our nation's history. Um, does anyone know what these people want? Do you think they know?

Unintended Consequences

What do gay marriages have to do with domestic violence? In Ohio, apparently plenty.

As covered in earlier blogs and what should be apparent to anyone who can , the Republican party is being run by a small, minority group of religious conservatives that believes in big government interfering in your most personal decisions and life choices. They are mostly Republican, but don't believe in the tradition Republican conservative values of small federal government/states rights. They are conservative the way the Taliban was conservative, the way any fundamental Islamic state in Asia is conservative, they way the people who want to kill us just because we're American are conservative. In other words, they would like to tell you how you raise your children, who you can marry, what forms of entertainment are acceptable, what science you can learn, what you can teach your children, how you have sex, the way you can choose to die, how much you're exposed to their religion in public, etc.

Again, this faction has nothing to do with your grandmother who has a rosary in her dining room, and hasn't missed a Christmas Eve mass in 53 years, except for that time she thought she was having a heart attack but it was really gas. Because chances are, she's disgusted right now too. Especially if she lives in Ohio.
Abusive boyfriends everywhere celebrate the recent verdict.

Thanks to the swing state of 2004, a law amending Ohio's constitution to prevent boys from legally kissing and sharing bank accounts was passed, and has been discovered to provide a loophole allowing guys to beat the living piss out of their live-in girlfriends. Because of this charming amendment, Judge Stuart Friedman ruled that unmarried couples, straight or gay, have absolutely no legal status, therefore Ohio's domestic violence law only applies to married couples per this constitutional amendment. Keep in mind, this law previously protected unmarried couples as well.

This is a perfect example of insane, religious fanatical getting completely out of control, and hurting society as a whole - or specifically, someone you personally know and love - all in the name of religious fanaticism and your Church, Temple, or Mosque blending with your government. Had I written that last sentence in September of 2001, you might have thought I was speaking of Islamic fundamentalists. Sadly, I'm talking about people who live right here in our own country.

And as people stood outside in the rain in Ohio to cast their vote for George the II, did they really want to end up with this entire mess? Did they really think that pushing harder for a theocracy, as opposed to a democracy would get your daughter's ass kicked by the boyfriend you were always worried about in the back of your mind? I would have to say the answer is no, but the more I learn about certain Americans, the more I have my doubts.

Scout's Honor

Once in a while a news story comes along that while tragic, immediately points out how progressives use logic, specific examples, and data to prove their claims, while the Right use scare tactics, stereotypes and fear to push their agenda. One such story broke today.

Back in the late 90’s, one of the hot-button debates in this country involved whether or not the Boy Scouts of America should be allowed to discriminate and ban gay people from their organization, both as troop leaders or Scouts themselves. The argument the Scouts made supporting their discriminatory actions: gay Scout leaders would be tempted to make sexual advances toward the boys in the “platoon.” You know, pedophilia.

Nevermind that if these morons bothered to do one sliver of research, they would have discovered that according to FBI crime statistics, over 90% of grown-ups who are convicted child molesters, were identified as heterosexual in their adult relationships. In other words, Steve, who is married to Suzie, is more likely to molest little Johnny than Frank, who has lived with his “friend” Bob for 37 years.

Enter Boy Scout Director Douglas Smith, who has been with the organization for 39 years. Doug, from all accounts, is a straight, heterosexual man who led the scouts for years toward teamwork, roasting marshmallows, and fag-hating. In other words, your average red-blooded American Scout spokesperson.

I remember a 60 minutes piece some years back airing a story about how the Scout leadership was preventing gays and atheists from joining their private club – the same club who consistently uses public facilities, such as schools, firehouses, armory facilities, etc, to hold their meetings. They were aggravated when the cities asked them to have their private club meetings at private facilities, because groups who discriminate like the Klan, the Aryan Nations, and the entire state of Alabama shouldn’t be allowed to use public facilities. The Scout leadership stood their ground, however, and played the pedophilia card.

The most important lesson one could etch into their closed-mind regarding this case is that when you act on fear – when you act on unfounded stereotypes – when you act on myth, on irrationality - you're actually allowing the real perpetrator, the real harm, and the real problem to enter quietly through the back door. Literally.

The War Against Birth Control

Going to K-Mart to get your prescription filled? Think again you Commie Slut! The "culture of life" people are working overtime the week - not the overtime President Bush allowed companies to avoid paying their employees last year, but the kind of overtime where you have your children's' mouths duct taped, while they run across a police barrier, and establish an arrest record at age 10.

The latest gem from this group of completely pathetic assholes who need the culture of life beaten out of them, brings us to your local pharmacy. Let's say you and your wife - as opposed to your girlfriend - want to continue to have some intimacy together, but the bills are tight, the local factory is laying off another 100 of you tomorrow, and you're just not quite convinced now is the time for Junior to come into your life.

Or, perhaps you don't want children? After doing some soul-searching, praying, and questioning yourself as to why you're married in the first place, you realize this just might be the right decision for you.

Maybe you've just had a divorce, and after receiving your ripped up "Catholic Church Member since 1958 baptism" card in the mail, you've decided that you're a little iffy about Rex, your new boyfriend who works at Jiffy Lube, becoming the father of your child.

At any rate, you come to the conclusion that you'd like to have some birth control, because hey, you're a woman with more talents and aspirations than that of an incubator. You see your doctor, she writes a prescription, and you're off to CVS. You're denied. You ask the pharmacist to call your doctor, because you've got the prescription right in your hand. Denied. You phone your doctor, and she says there's nothing she can do. The next pharmacy is 35 miles away in the next town over, because hey, we don't all have Wal-Marts. You wonder if this is legal? You hop over the counter, grab the pharmacist by the throat and strangle her until the ghost of Pat Robertson seeps out of her ears...ok, enough about my fantasies.

Welcome to Red State America everyone. Take a seat and listen up, and damnit, keep those legs crossed. At least eleven states are considering laws in which this situation is completely plausible, and is already happening. Just ask Kmart Pharmacist and Jesus spokesperson Neil Noesen, who refused to fill a university student's birth control prescription because birth control is intrinsically evil. Again, I couldn't even make this stuff up.

So, allow me to pose some questions regarding this issue:

• Those on the Right would like to prevent abortions, so the access to the method of controlling unwanted pregnancies - namely birth control, according to that fancy-pants scientific evidence they hate so much - should be restricted to have more unwanted pregnancies, hence more abortions?
  
• This personal decision should not be left up to the doctor, or the actual person who will endure the pregnancy, birth and decades of child rearing, but to the anonymous, unknown pharmacist behind the counter at K-Mart, because THEY want YOU to get pregnant and have children?
  
• Why are the pharmacists objecting to birth control? What about the boner pills, the cholesterol lowering drugs, the heart medication, the over subscription of anti-depressants? All have risks associated with them that are greater than birth control - why are there no objections to these? What if, the next time you went to get heart medication, the pharmacist denied your request because they objected to the side effects it might have?
  
• Does anyone else think this is fucking insane?

I realize these people are in the minority, and they are a sick sliver of our population, like serial killers, mass murderers, and Bill O'Reilly. But for those of you in those 11 states, this anecdotal nightmare could easily become your reality.

I wonder if Neil the Pharmacist would like me to come over to his house, force him to eat nothing but bacon fat for the next 12 months, cut off his testicles and launch them out of a water balloon cannon into his neighbor's pool, because I've decided that is what is best for his health. Too dramatic? Hardly. Get all the safe sex you can, while it's not too late people.