Thursday, October 05, 2006

Criticize Cheney, Go to Jail

Steven Howards happened to pass by Vice-President Cheney one day, and mentioned as he passed that he disagreed with Cheney's policies. The exact words he used are not known, but are said to be close to “I think your policies in Iraq are reprehensible.” When Mr. Howards came back, he was arrested, handcuffed, and tossed into jail for "assaulting" the vice-president.

Yes, folks, you did wake up in Russia. Land of the free? That was just a dream you had. Home of the brave? Ruled by chickenshits is more like it.

Kill the Messenger

Dennis Hastert (Asshole, Illinois) has looked at these facts:

Mark Foley, Republican congressman from Florida, has resigned from Congress.

ABC revealed the fact that Foley had been having "sexually explicit" IM chats with congressional pages, ages 16 and 17, for some time.

This fact was revealed to ABC by a Republican aide. Once ABC aired the story, former (and perhaps even current) pages contacted ABC with their own lurid tales.

Other Republican congressmen revealed that it had been known since as early as 1995 that Foley had "a page problem." The pages had been warned about Foley since 1995.

Nobody did anything about it until ABC aired its report, even though several other news outlets had the same information.

The country found out about all this when ABC aired its story. Some of the people who found out about this were Democrats.

These are the facts that Hastert looked at. Foley's conclusion? It's the Democrats' fault! Well, the Democrats and the Pages! It's our fault because we found out about all of this

Interestingly, this is the same tack the Bush administration took everytime something unpleasant was revealed. Abu Ghraib? It wasn't bad that we were abusing prisoners; it was bad that someone told us. Secret prisons in Eastern Europe, places where we "rendered" prisoners to be tortured? Yup; it was bad that we found out. Kill the messenger. What you don't know won't hurt you, unless you happen to be one of those innocent people (estimates are that 80% of the prisoners in Guantanamo did nothing wrong) rounded up and tortured.

Yes, indeedy. GOP. Gathering of Pedophiles. Gargantuan Old Perverts. Grumpy Old Perverts. Got nO Principles. You take your pick.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

GOP Stonewalls... What Else Is New?

So far, it's been a slow news day with respect to the Foley scandal. At this point, major members of the GOP (Gathering of Pedophiles) have resorted to either blaming some other Republican or, shock of all shocks, blaming the pages for Congressman Foley's perverted advances.

At any rate, now you know better than to leave your children alone with either a Catholic clergyman or a Republican. Or Matt Drudge, for that matter.

Monday, October 02, 2006

Fire Them All

Here's an item from today's news that bears repeating:

The Republican Congress spent 100 hours investigating the possible use, by the Clinton administration, of the White House Christmas card list as a source of names of possible donors.

The White House Christmas card list.

100 hours.

Now, bear in mind that in the Bush White House, the White House Christmas card list and the donor list are one and the same.

The Republican Congress spent 12 hours investigating the allegations of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib during the Bush administration.

Let's recap, shall we? Christmas card list, Clinton administration, 100 hours of Congressional investigation. Abu Ghraib, torture, murder (or, at the least, "accidental" death), 12 hours of Congressional investigation.

Number of hours spent investigating the Iraq war? We're still waiting.

Number of hours spent invesigating the incredible scandal surrounding contractors in Iraq? We're still waiting.

Folks, those people in Congress work for you! You're supposed to keep an eye on them. You're supposed to see to it that they do their jobs, and if they don't, you're supposed to fire them.

Let me repeat this: Those people in Congress, who work for you and who probably have benefits that you can only dream of -- the best health insurance, an incredible pension plan, free postage, transportation to and from work, a cushy office, an underground train system to whisk them to and fro in the Capitol building -- these people are your subordinates. You are their boss. They're supposed to do your bidding.

Hey, just for fun, call up your local representative and request a meeting. For those of you who are not lobbyists or CEOs, let me know if you happen to get a meeting.

Did I mention that these people are your employees? That you can fire them?

Once again, let's look at the numbers:

100 hours investigating whether Clinton officials looked at a list of names to see if maybe some of those people wanted to become donors.

12 hours investigating atrocities committed in your name and mine, sanctioned by the highest officials in the Bush administration, atrocities that have put our men and women serving in the armed forces at further risk.

Seriously. You should take a little time to think about the job your fine Republican Congress is doing.