Shays, Kolbe, Foley: More Weird Republican Sex

BranfordBoy at My Left Nutmeg asks about Shays sanity:

"Looks like Chris Shays really, really, really wants to lose. How else can you explain this insanity from the Wednesday debate?"

Shays: Then the next question is, well what has the US done? Well it has been accused of doing torture. That's what it's been accused of. Now I've seen what happened in Abu Ghraib, and Abu Ghraib was not torture, it was outrageous, outrageous involvement of National Guard troops from Maryland who were involved in a sex ring and they took pictures of soldiers who were naked. And they did other things that were just outrageous. But it wasn't torture.

It's difficult though how the dialogue in the rest of the world about that when you have news media all around the world saying we're torturing people. The bottom line for me is this. We follow the Geneva Convention period. That's what we do.

Matthew Gertz has the video

I think the insanity results because all republicans ever think about is sex.


BUT why do republicans have such freakin' weird ideas of what sex is supposed to be?

Republican Mark Foley is one example, and Republican Kolbe may very well be another example:

From NBC news:

Federal prosecutors in Arizona have opened a preliminary investigation of a camping trip Congressman Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., took 10 years ago that included two teenage congressional pages, a Justice Department spokesman told NBC News. NBC News first reported on the camping and rafting trip on Tuesday.

Kolbe's office denies anything "improper" happened.

More NBC:

NBC News interviewed several people who were on the trip, and their accounts vary. One participant, who requested anonymity, said he was uncomfortable with the attention Kolbe paid to one of the former pages. He was "creeped out by it," he said, adding that there was a lot of "fawning, petting and touching" on the teenager's arms, shoulders and back by Kolbe.

--- Joe in DC at AMERICAblog

Is the GOP setting their standard for all of our childrens futures?

If they are, then our kids are truely all fucked if the GOP remains in power.

GOP - Jack Abramoff Influence-Peddling Scandal

The investigation into the GOP - Jack Abramoff influence-peddling scandal starts to show some results:

Standing before Judge Ellen S. Huvelle, Ney pleaded guilty to conspiracy and making false statements. He acknowledged taking money, gifts and favors in return for official actions on behalf of Abramoff and his clients.

The 52-year-old lawmaker faces a maximum of 10 years in prison. Huvelle said prosecutors had agreed to recommend a term of 27 months, and said federal guidelines suggest a fine of between $5,000 and $60,000.

Despite his guilty pleas, Ney did not resign his seat in Congress. His lawyer, Mark Touhey, told the judge he would do so before sentencing on Jan. 19. Under the Constitution, he'll be gone before then. His term expires when the new Congress is sworn in at noon on Jan. 3.

The GOP had this to say AFTER Ney plead guilty:

House Republican leaders vowed Friday to expel convicted Rep. Bob Ney "as our first order of business" after the elections unless he resigns.

Given the fact that House Republican leaders like Hastert, Reynolds, Boehner, and others are all too busy trying to cover-up their culpability in the Foley scandal you can understand why they won't have time to boot Ney just yet.

I find it intereting that they wait until after their members are found guilty in a court of law to boot members of the corrupt GOP that should have already been under investigation by republican Doc Hasting's committee at the very least for ethical violations, if not for criminal violations.

Of course I always forget the fact that republicans don't investigate other republicans. They just cover-up for eachother and hope the MSM, and the rest of America, don't ask the questions that need to be asked and dig a little into the real facts.

The real facts: Every stinking GOP candidate, in the White House, the Senate, and especially the House, are responsible for allowing, sometimes encouraging, and often participating in actions that show that they believe GOP members are above the law.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely...

Echoes of Conspiracy Theories

Echoes of the conspiracy theory concerning the
Reagan-Bush era Congress Callboy Scandal:

Trandahl's name comes up in three accounts of confrontations between lawmakers and Foley over his reported approaches to underage pages dating back to at least 2001. It's not surprising, since as Clerk Trandahl, a Republican appointee, was a member of the Page Board and exercised day-to-day oversight of the page program.

Now, he's lawyered up with Cono Namorato, until recently the former head of the IRS office of professional responsibility and before that counsel to former Clinton Administration HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros, who resigned and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of lying to the FBI about hush money payments to his mistress.

--- Andrew Zajac at the Chicago Tribune's Swamp Blog

Why would Trandahl need a lawyer that specialized in hush money payments to mistresses? Naaaaah... Who would believe the Foley cover-up would be about prostitutes on Capitol Hill, never mind the possibility of young boys being involved? (I may read conspiracy theories for fun... Doesn't mean I believe them all;)


This whole Foley thing is getting a little too weird with how many GOP politicians and staffers that knew all about it for so long. I keep waiting for another republican to pop up from behind the grassy knoll...

X-posted at The Booman Tribune
and at My Left Nutmeg

Republican Kolbe Joins the Already Disgraced GOP List

Hastert, Boehner, Shimkus, Reynolds, Alexander, and various members of their staff (Trandahl, Fordham) have all been linked into the cover-up of Foley's stalking of young pages in Congress to varying degrees. (From the grossly incompetent, to the criminally negligent.) According to the WaPo this is a 5 year old issue AND...

You can add Kolby to the list:

A Republican congressman knew of disgraced former representative Mark Foley's inappropriate Internet exchanges as far back as 2000 and personally confronted Foley about his communications.

A spokeswoman for Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) confirmed yesterday that a former page showed the congressman Internet messages that had made the youth feel uncomfortable with the direction Foley (R-Fla.) was taking their e-mail relationship. Last week, when the Foley matter erupted, a Kolbe staff member suggested to the former page that he take the matter to the clerk of the House, Karen Haas, said Kolbe's press secretary, Korenna Cline.

The revelation pushes back by at least five years the date when a member of Congress has acknowledged learning of Foley's behavior with former pages. A timeline issued by House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) suggested that the first lawmakers to know, Rep. John M. Shimkus (R-Ill.), the chairman of the House Page Board, and Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.), became aware of "over-friendly" e-mails only last fall. It also expands the universe of players in the drama beyond members, either in leadership or on the page board.

A source with direct knowledge of Kolbe's involvement said the messages shared with Kolbe were sexually explicit, and he read the contents to The Washington Post under the condition that they not be reprinted. But Cline denied the source's characterization, saying only that the messages had made the former page feel uncomfortable. Nevertheless, she said, "corrective action" was taken. Cline said she has not yet determined whether that action went beyond Kolbe's confrontation with Foley.

There is clearly NOTHING INNOCENT about these E-mails...

This pushes it all back another by 5 more years and shows that there have been NUMEROUS OCCASIONS over the years where GOP Congressmen have been asked to address the situation.

Just another in a long line of failures by the GOP...


X-posted at The Booman Tribune and My Left Nutmeg

Waking Up Walmart!

Courtesy of Connecticut Bob

Ned Lamont talks about "Waking Up Walmart!"

Rell and DeFelice-ing of Connecticut

What does Jodi Rell do when the contactor costs the state millions by bungling a MEGA project?

State to check for Route 7 project mistakes

The state is inspecting the Route 7 widening project in New Milford to make certain mistakes a contractor made on an I-84 widening project were not repeated on Route 7.

...snip...

The state Department of Transportation and the state attorney general are investigating projects by L.G. DeFelice, Inc., which failed in 2005. They are also investigating the DeFelice successor company, Hallberg Contracting Corp. of West Haven.

Late Monday, Gov. M. Jodi Rell ordered an independent audit of the I-84 project.

DeFelice officially defaulted on the Route 7 widening project in New Milford in May. It was immediately replaced by Hallberg Contracting Corp., which is run by the former president of DeFelice, Stephen Hallberg.

--- The New Milford Spectrum

Good Lord! She orders an audit?

Which crony will you hand more cash out to in order to have your "independent audit"?

I'll give you an audit for free:

Republican Rell gave the contract to cronies (Business as usual for Republicans) and when they messed up so badly, and went bankrupt, Rell turned around and handed the project to a company headed up by Stephen Hallberg, the former president of the same company that messed up the first time!

Jodi Rell's "DeFelice-ing" of OUR public funds through gross incompetence...

Not just once, BUT TWICE!

First on the I-84 project, and the second time on the Super 7 project.
Nothing like repeating your same mistakes over and over again.

Care to rethink whom you should vote for Governor of Connecticut (or for any level of government these days...) if you are a fiscal conservative?

You sure can't vote for the GOP and expect them to take care of your money.