Posting Towards Gomorrah

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Spanky
Can someone remind me again what the homosexual agenda is?

Sure thing.

[Spanky]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Sure thing.

It seems that these guys are having a lot more fun than I am.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Spanky
It seems that these guys are having a lot more fun than I am.

If you feel that way, maybe you're on the wrong team.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

• Three more former congressional pages have come forward to reveal what they call "sexual approaches" over the Internet from former Congressman Mark Foley.
  
  The pages served in the classes of 1998, 2000 and 2002. They independently approached ABC News after the Foley resignation through the Brian Ross & the Investigative Team's tip line on ABCNews.com. None wanted their names used because of the sensitive nature of the communications.
  
  "I was seventeen years old and just returned to [my home state] when Foley began to e-mail me, asking if I had ever seen my page roommates naked and how big their penises were," said the page in the 2002 class.
  
  The former page also said Foley told him that if he happened to be in Washington, D.C., he could stay at Foley's home if he "would engage in oral sex" with Foley.

list

[Spanky]

"We should not subject young men and women to this kind of activity, this kind of vulnerability." So said Illinois Congressman Ray LaHood, who is recommending that the congressional page program be suspended at least temporarily.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, you cannot trust members of the United States Congress with your teenage children. And you cannot trust them with your money either.


These titillations, er, scandals have developed a predictable choreography. High-ranking official, Hollywood star, business executive, you fill in the blank, is caught in flagrante, and what does he or she do? He attempts to frame himself as the victim -- of abuse, of alcoholism, of drugs, and often of all three. A fly on the wall of these treatment centers would doubtless discover that some of their celebrity clients are not alcoholics at all, but simply charlatans anointing themselves with alcoholism to wring sympathy from an infinitely forgiving public. There was a time, children, when public figures did not write tell-all "confessions" about their sexual lives. They were uptight and unliberated. James McGreevey is the model now. Former governor of New Jersey, former husband, former father (?), he includes lurid passages in his new book about discovering his homosexuality with an aide while his wife was at the hospital giving birth.

Former Rep. Mark Foley has set some kind of land-speed record in framing himself as a victim. His seat in the House was barely cold before he let it be known that a) he was checking himself into rehab for alcoholism, and b) he was himself molested as a youth by a "clergyman." A two-fer! Book this man on "Oprah" now.

Perhaps with Foley, America will finally reach the point of gagging on victimhood. Obviously Foley was the perpetrator, not the victim. He was a powerful man preying upon kids away from home for the first time, abusing his prestige and power, betraying the public trust, and in a particularly sour twist, sponsoring legislation to shield kids from Internet predators. And now he asks us to spare some sympathy for him?

It's probably true that the Republican leadership should have done more with the early warnings they received. Memo to file: Any number of e-mails above one from a grown man to a teenage boy or girl is too many. Full stop.

But for the Democrats to be clutching the draperies in horror is a little hard to credit. This is not the first time members of Congress have hit on pages. In 1983 there was a bipartisan page scandal. The Republican, Dan Crane, had been involved with a teenage girl page. He tearfully apologized but was defeated in the next election in a heavily Republican district. Gerry Studds, a Democrat, was involved with a teenage male page. But Studds was re-elected six more times by his Massachusetts constituents. Both Studds and Crane admitted to having sexual affairs with the 17-year-olds. And while the House censured both men, neither resigned. Foley has so far not been charged with actually touching anyone.

It goes without saying that if the Republican leadership had moved against Foley based solely on his "overly friendly" e-mails, they would have been accused of homophobia, of drawing prejudicial inferences based on the fact that he was gay. It is also the case that a number of leading Republicans and conservatives have called upon Speaker Denny Hastert to resign. How many Democrats called for Bill Clinton to resign? Ted Kennedy? William Jefferson (of the cash in the freezer fame)?

But the Democrats, who overlook so much by so many, and who instructed us sternly that Bill Clinton's affair was a trivial matter despite the fact that it fit the classic sexual harassment scenario the Democrats themselves enshrined in law, are fortunate that Foley's target was under 18. If he were older, they would be debarred from expressing any disapproval at all. In fact, if shame were able to silence anyone anymore, Washington would be a tomb.

[Spanky]

[Spanky]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
If you feel that way, maybe you're on the wrong team.

Contrary to what the Christian Conservatives say, you can't choose which team you play on.

Originally posted by Gattigap
The FRC reads this board?


Cool.

You think they read the FB? Now that Spanky posts there it might come in for some unwanted attention. I'm thinking especially about people who have disclosed creepy things like going out of their way to take a dump in the local middle school bathroom -- maybe they should go back and edit?

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Spanky
Contrary to what the Christian Conservatives say, you can't choose which team you play on.

So why fight it?

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by sgtclub

• According to two people close to former congressional page Jordan Edmund, the now famous lurid AOL Instant Message exchanges that led to the resignation of Mark Foley were part of an online prank that by mistake got into the hands of enemy political operatives, the DRUDGE REPORT can reveal.
  
  According to one Oklahoma source who knows the former page very well, Edmund, a conservative Republican, goaded Foley to type embarrassing comments that were then shared with a small group of young Hill politicos. The prank went awry when the saved IM sessions got into the hands of political operatives favorable to Democrats. This source, an ally of Edmund, also adamantly proclaims that the former page is not a homosexual. The prank scenario was confirmed by a second associate of Edmund.
  
  The news come on the heels that former FBI Chief Louis Freeh has been named to investigate the mess.
  

Turns out it was a, um, joke:

• Ex-Page's Lawyer: Drudge's "Prank" Story "A Piece of Fiction"
  By Justin Rood - October 6, 2006, 12:52 AM
  
  Earlier today, the Drudge Report published a story claiming that one batch of lewd IM transcripts published by ABC News were the result of a "prank" by a former House page. The former page, Drudge said, "goaded Foley to type embarrassing comments," which he shared with friends.
  
  The story did not quote the young man, or say whether any attempt had been made to contact him or his lawyer.
  
  Now, the lawyer for the former page in question, 21-year-old Jordan Edmund, says the Drudge Report article is false. Calling the story "a piece of fiction," Stephen Jones told the Daily Oklahoman that "there is not any aspect of this matter that is a practical joke nor should anyone treat it that way."

I hope that Jones fellow doesn't mean "fiction" in a pejorative way. There's a lot of good fiction out there.

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Fringey says yes.

Isn't Club talking to me? Or Fringey?

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by Spanky
The Family Research Council today accused me of supporting the homosexual agenda, and stated that it is because of people like me that people like Mark Foley "worm" their way into the Republican party.

:shock:

Can someone remind me again what the homosexual agenda is? Since I am promoting it, it would be nice to know what it is.

:shrug:

For one thing, you're paying attention to the Family Research Council. Stop that at once and your problem will be solved.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally posted by taxwonk
For one thing, you're paying attention to the Family Research Council. Stop that at once and your problem will be solved.

He's an R - the FRC is part of the family.

This is why Hastert is toast. If he has his party's backing, he can withstand whatever we Dems throw at him unless it takes a turn toward the criminal (see DeLay). But once the religious right starts throwing things, his political life expectancy starts declining precipitiously.

[sgtclub]

Originally posted by taxwonk
Isn't Club talking to me? Or Fringey?

Huh?

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by sgtclub
Huh?

Ty answered a question for you. I wasn't being serious.