Foley Coverup: Not Vatican scale, but still disgustingly bad

From ThinkProgress

2003 — Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) has sexually explicit IM exchanges with an underage boy who worked as a Congressional page. [ABC News, 9/29/06]

And Sunday's Washington Post has an interesting story. Did the speaker of the house lie?

Only after Reynolds's definitive statement did Hastert concede yesterday that he may have been notified of some of the questionable activities of Foley....

With his statement, Reynolds, who is locked in a difficult reelection campaign, signaled he was unwilling to take the fall alone amid partisan attacks that were becoming increasingly vituperative....

ABC News Video about Mark Foley

This is why snakes should be allowed on planes

Escaped Hamster forces plane to land. 'Nuff said.

If you care about such things...

GreenPeace says in a report:
I am happy to see Samsung where it is (I got amazing customer service from them once, and been a loyal customer since then).

The cover-up is as bad as the crime

Last night, Jay Leno said something like "When the Vatican learned about congressman Foley, they moved him to a new parish just out of habit." The show was taped prior to this news breaking, but as it happens, the house GOP leadership was aware of Mr. Foley's habits for a long time--as long as a year, did nothing, and left him in a position where he would be in contact with more young men.

From the Washington Post:

House Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) told The Washington Post last night that he had learned this spring of inappropriate "contact" between Foley and a 16-year-old page. Boehner said he then told House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.). Boehner later contacted The Post and said he could not remember whether he talked to Hastert.

It was not immediately clear what actions Hastert took. His spokesman had said earlier that the speaker did not know of the sexually charged online exchanges between Foley and the boy.

So who is lying? Foley could go to jail if the Bush DoJ follows the rules. Should Hastert resign? Looks like the distinguished gentleman from IL, and the chairman of the Page board, also aided in the coverup.

Kids: Stay away from this man

Congressman Mark Foley (R-FL) resigned today. ABC News confronted him with some AOL instant messenger messages with suggestive content. Mr. Foley was, as it is entirely fit in this bizarro world, the chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children.

Hours earlier, ABC News had read excerpts of instant messages provided by former male pages who said the congressman, under the AOL Instant Messenger screen name Maf54, made repeated references to sexual organs and acts.

In unrelated news, God was heard mumbling something about Priests and Republicans giving him a bad name.

488 Billion defense bill passed

$70B for Iraq and Afganistan, will reach $110B.

The bill, now on its way to the White House for President Bush's signature, totals $448 billion. It was passed by a 100-0 vote after minimal debate.

Approval by a comfortable margin came despite intense partisan divisions over the course of the Iraq war, which is costing about $8 billion a month. Another infusion of money will be needed next spring.

The House-Senate compromise bill provides $378 billion for core Pentagon programs, about a 5 percent increase, though slightly less than President Bush asked for. The $70 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan is a down payment on war costs the White House has estimated will hit $110 billion for the budget year beginning Oct. 1

Borat invites W to his movie screening

Borat, played by one of my favorite British comics, tried to invite W to his movie screening. Some other invited guests were O.J. Simpson, "Mel Gibsons" and other "American dignitaries."

Borat would be perfect for giving our dear leader a lesson in international relations and culture

Reuters reported that

Secret Service agents turned away British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, in character as the boorish, anti-Semitic journalist, when he tried to invite "Premier George Walter Bush" to a screening of his upcoming movie, "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan."

Shortly after Nazarbayev dedicated a statue in front of the Kazakh embassy, Borat denounced an official Kazakh publicity campaign running in U.S. magazines as "disgusting fabrications" orchestrated by neighboring Uzbekistan.

"If there is one more item of Uzbek propaganda claiming that we do not drink fermented horse urine, give death penalty for baking bagels, or export over 300 tonnes of human pubis per year, then we will be left with no alternative but to commence bombardment of their cities with our catapults," Borat said.

But she is a concert Pianist. Lets elect her in 2008--can't do worse than W

From Bob Woodward's new book, state of Denial, via NY Times:

On July 10, 2001, the book says, Mr. Tenet and his counterterrorism chief, J. Cofer Black, met with Ms. Rice at the White House to impress upon her the seriousness of the intelligence the agency was collecting about an impending attack. But both men came away from the meeting feeling that Ms. Rice had not taken the warnings seriously.

I remember reading "All the President's Men" a long time ago and being absolutely amazed that reporters could hold a president accountable. Of course, that was 30 years ago. Nice to see Mr. Woodward is growing back his pair.

Iraq war: $2,000,000,000 (yes, BILLION) A WEEK

Kerry said the war will cost more than $200 billion, and he was laughed at by W and his pet media. Now we already spent $300 billion, just approved another $70 billion, and its climbing. But don't worry, our friends at Haliburton are getting rich. And now we are spending $2 billion each week

A new congressional analysis shows the Iraq war is now costing taxpayers almost $2 billion a week -- nearly twice as much as in the first year of the conflict three years ago and 20 percent more than last year -- as the Pentagon spends more on establishing regional bases to support the extended deployment and scrambles to fix or replace equipment damaged in combat.

Can I get a cut? Oh--I am not a republican.

Senator Allen: Confederate flag, noose, and now the N word

Lets elect him president in 2008

I heard to my left, the ‘n’ word, and I heard it again, and I looked around and heard it again,” she said. “And there was this fellow sitting on the ground. He was putting on red rugby shoes, it is seared in my brain, believe me. And he was kind of showing off I guess, but he was telling a story about something or other and in the story was a lot of ‘n’ words. So, I got out of the bleacher and I went over and I said young man, I am the coach's wife and if you don't mind, would you please not use that word. And he in essence told me to buzz off.

May be he will pick David Duke for his VP ticket

Green Card? We can take it away and stick you in a jail cell. Dont need no stinkin' proof

What happened to "Presumed innocent until proven GUILTY"?

A last-minute change to a bill currently before Congress on the rights of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay could have sweeping implications inside the United States: It would strip green-card holders and other legal residents of the right to challenge their detention in court if they are accused of being "enemy combatants."