Thursday, November 16, 2006

Mark Foley's fantasy comes true: he's being probed


Florida has opened a full criminal investigation into sexually explicit Internet messages from disgraced former Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, whose resignation amid scandal helped Democrats win control of Congress, officials said on Thursday.

"We are now doing an active criminal investigation," said Heather Smith, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

"[W]e've established there is factual and credible information or evidence that a criminal violation may have been committed."

Foley, a six-term Florida congressman, resigned his seat in late September after public disclosure he sent sexually explicit electronic messages to teenage boys who had worked as congressional interns.

Congress and the FBI launched investigations in addition to the Florida probe

source


Tags: Republican Republicans | scandal | right-wing | Politics | investigation | crime | FOLEY | Florida

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Haggard's story continues to devolve


Ted Haggard, the beleaguered pastor of one of the nation's most influential evangelical churches, was fired Saturday after admitting "sexually immoral conduct."

Haggard's New Life Church issued a statement saying he had been removed. But the church's oversight board, which was investigating accusations Haggard had sex with a gay prostitute and used methamphetamine, offered no details of its findings.

source


So, if I remember correctly, the daily revisions go something like this.

* Day 1: Haggard says the story is untrue and he's never met the accuser.

* Day 2: Haggard says there were "indiscretions", admitting that he met the accuser after being scheduled for a massage, and bought meth from him -- but threw it away and didn't use it. But he says there was nothing sexual at all, and that he's faithful to his wife.

* Day 3: Haggard admits there was "sexual misconduct" with the accuser, but doesn't state whether he was the pitcher or the catcher, nor whether he spat or swallowed.

If this continues, we can predict:

* Day 4: Haggard admits that he shoots heroin daily, and sells crack to schoolboys

* Day 5: Haggard admits that he rapes babies and strangles kittens — or, perhaps, that he rapes kittens and strangles babies.

* Day 6: Haggard admits that he sold chemical weapons to Saddam Hussein

* Day 7: Haggard admits that he gave nuclear secrets to North Korea in exchange for sexual favors from Kim Jong-Il.

Seriously though... It's interesting that apparently Haggard confessed these vague "sexual indiscretions" privately back on Thursday (Nov. 2), but continued to insist in public that he's innocent and faithful to his wife even after that.

That demonstrates that he continues even now to lie. Everybody who ever followed him and held him as an example should be really pissed off.

And, incidentally, don't I remember a phrase that applies nicely here? Something like, "It's not the sex — it's the cover up and the lies"?

Tags: methaphetamine | New Life Church | sex | Religion | PASTOR | METH | HYPOCRISY | gay | evangelism | ted | Haggard | COLORADO SPRINGS | Colorado

Thursday, October 26, 2006

CIA tried to silence European complaints about torture

From the "proud-to-be-an-American" files:

The CIA tried to persuade Germany to silence EU protests about the human rights record of one of America's key allies in its clandestine torture flights programme, the Guardian can reveal.

According to a secret intelligence report, the CIA offered to let Germany have access to one of its citizens, an al-Qaida suspect being held in a Moroccan cell. But the US secret agents demanded that in return, Berlin should cooperate and "avert pressure from EU" over human rights abuses in the north African country. The report describes Morocco as a "valuable partner in the fight against terrorism".

source


Tags: war | torture | terrorism | terror | Rights | HUMAN | al-Qaida | Al-Qaeda | Abuses | Abuse | Morocco | Germany | EU | CIA

Bush Offers Sobering Assessment on Iraq


WASHINGTON, Oct. 25 — President Bush offered a sobering assessment of the war in Iraq today, acknowledging his concerns about the campaign but reaffirming his determination that United States forces stay in the country until “the job is done.”

“The events of the past month have been a serious concern to me and a serious concern to the American people,” President Bush said today in a news conference at the White House.

“There is tough fighting ahead,” Mr. Bush said. “The road to victory will not be easy.”

source

Remember when Bush said of the war against terrorism, "I don’t think you can win it"? Hmm.

Anyway, I just have a problem with any news story which combines George Bush with the word "sobering."

Tags: perma-war | war | terrorism | terror | president | Iraq | george | Bush

U.S. Generals calling for a Democratic takeover... at home

From Salon:

Oct. 25, 2006 | WASHINGTON -- Two retired senior Army generals, who served in Iraq and previously voted Republican, are now openly endorsing a Democratic takeover of Congress. The generals, and an active-duty senior military official, told Salon in separate interviews that they believe a Democratic victory will help reverse course from what they consider to be a disastrous Bush administration policy in Iraq. The two retired generals, Maj. Gen. John Batiste and Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, first openly criticized the handling of the war last spring, when they called for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

"The best thing that can happen right now is for one or both of our houses to go Democratic so we can have some oversight," Batiste, who led the Army's 1st Infantry Division in Iraq in 2004 and 2005, told Salon. Batiste describes himself as a "lifelong Republican." But now, he said, "It is time for a change."

source


Regime change begins at home.

Performancing

I haven't posted to this particular blog in ages. But I've just installed Performancing, a blogging tool for Firefox. Let's see if it works.


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