Piety Pimps

GOP = GROSS OLD PERVERTS

mikekohr — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 20:44:38 -0500

In the last 23 months 10 Republican perverts have been exposed: Richard Curtis ®WA, Larry Craig ®ID, Bob Allen ®FL, Mark Foley ®FL, Michael A. Flory ®MI, Glen Murphy ®IN, John D.R. Atchison ®FL, Dennis Gallagher ®NY, Randall Tobias ® DC, David Vitter ® LA.

This rogues gallery accounts for at least 7 cases of infidelity, 6 cases of homosexual sex, 5 cases of prostitution/solicitation, 3 cases of rape/sexual assault, 2 cases of pedophilia, and 10 cases of hypocrisy.

The Republican party is the party of "Family Values," if your idea of a family is the Manson Family.

mike kohr

Republican Congressman Blames His Gay Sex on His Fear of Black Men

davidswanson — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 19:39:42 -0400

According to news reports, Florida Representative Bob Allen (Republican) was arrested last July 11 for soliciting sex from an undercover black male cop. The reason he gave was his fear of black men...

Now many will quickly ask what rational person would believe such a cockamamy story ?

But hold on, now.. READ THE REST

Guest Commentary: Not Your Father's Party

Chip — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 15:51:52 -0400

Do you think you couldn't possibly have anything in common with a Republican, a former Reagan White House counsel? Then read on:

When I began asking questions about what I saw going on at Colorado Springs in 2004 I never expected that the inquiry would lead me to the horrifying conclusion that our country had been taken over by people who have used our own freedoms to enslave us. But that is what happened. When I began I, like most people, was focused on the personal. I believed that what was happening at the United States Air Force Academy, the harassment of cadets and staff with unwanted evangelism, was limited in scope. As the months passed, however, I found myself forced to constantly reassess my basic assumptions. The logic of events was stark and undeniable. Promises of an open inquiry were ignored; decent and courageous people like former Air Force Chaplin MeLinda Morton were intentionally muzzled to ensure the truth would not be heard and the wrongs righted.

As a Republican and an Academy graduate I find myself in head on conflict with my own oath to protect the Constitution. As a Jew I confronted a situation through ears that still hear the cries of my people walking silently into the brick buildings that would reduce them to ash. I cannot stand still and let that happen to my country.

You know about the law suit we filed; that suit took on the issue directly, based on the 1st Amendment Right of members of the military to choose their own spiritual paths, unhampered by those placed in positions of authority and on the basis of the Establishment Clause and Clause Three of Article Six, which prohibit the existence of a national religion. That is what has happened. America now has a national religion whose tenets extend to a foreign policy that sees war in the Middle East as the fulfillment of its core mission. The power block responsible for the take over are now, effectively, in charge of the mightiest weapon the world has ever known, the United States Military.

My law suit was one element in the larger battle to take back America . That might seem excessive or alarmist; I only wish that was the case.

I undertook this campaign to oppose those who were violating the principle of separation of Church and State head on and to make the public aware. I now understand that to undo the damage done Americans must come together to organize the dispersed elements opposing these forces that have gone so far in converting America into a theocracy that substitutes one parochial world view of the Bible as law, displacing the democratic foundation of our nationhood.

Every American should be awake to the real and present threat that the take over of America's military poses to our national security and to each of us personally. America is poised today on the brink of a disaster of global proportions. This situation has been moving towards its own logical conclusion while nearly all of us overlooked the clear and present danger signs posed by the coalition of unlikely forces who have come together in a voracious grab for power. Even those of us who have understood some parts of the larger problem have failed to see the connections. That is the past. Today we need to take action.

Those who have carried out this stealth operation, an imperious fascistic contagion growing for the last 30 years, have an agenda. That agenda demanded their patience. They have been. We must not be patient as we fight back. We must act now.

In late 2005 I founded the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. As I studied what was happening I began to hear from our own noble and honorable sailors, soldiers, marines and airmen from all religious traditions at military bases in the US and all over the world. They all told the same horrifying story; my concerns grew.

Here is what we face.

First, the corporate interests: These for profit businesses have worked to ensure their streams of income, focusing on augmenting their own profits and avoiding liability for the damage they well understood they inflicted on America and to people around the world. To accomplish those ends they developed a collation of think tanks and not-for-profits that justified their actions, using ideas cauterized to make their actions seem plausible.

They knew they needed to change the institutions and expectations of Americans to ensure they would keep control. To that end they employed political operatives to build up the facade of respectability those ideas needed. Think of the Heritage Foundation and the words of such as Ann Coulter, John Fund, and Robert Novak. That facade is what we today know as the NeoConservatives or “NeoCons.” You can think of it as the public relations firm presently employed by those rapacious corporations which work through our government.

The third element, funded in large part by the corporate interests but acting from their own agenda, are those who are now coming out of the shadows. As their power grows their need to remain unseen diminishes. Paul Krugman and others identify these as the Theocons. It was the action of the Theocratic agenda that awakened me to what is happening. These elements are the broad strokes that bring into the light the behind the scenes action that is destroying our nation and the hope for peace and prosperity that has always been so present for Americans.

It is not simple until you understand who and why it has happened. The corporations wanted power and money; the NeoCons were willing to make it happen for power and money. The Theocons, a tool made up of elements from a formerly marginalized and unrespected segment of the Christian community, were able to realize their dreams of power and money by becoming the tool that made the whole possible.

Today the man with his finger on the button, those who will receive the order to strike; many of those who will then be expected to put their lives on the line to carry out American policy; have been molded by the influences of these elements. A power conversion has taken place that has nothing to do with freedom or religion. Many thinkers and writers saw the potential for such a threat over the last several generations. But it is our generation and those who follow who now have no choice but to take action.

Corporate interests and the patient and long range plan of Christian Reconstructionists have made this possible with the cooperation and coordination provided by the NeoCons If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I would think it was bad science fiction. But when I wake up the nightmare continues. The threats to my family, the rising tide of violence aimed at me and those I love, and those whose courage has drawn them to stand with me affirm the truth of what we confront.

It began in the early 70s with the thought by a small group of Republicans that control of the GOP could be guaranteed by taking advantage of the newly disenfranchised Southern Democrats through elements in the Evangelical churches there. You will recognize the names of those whose plans have been drawn so large today. Karl Rove, Ralph Reed, Pat Robertson, Jerry Fallwell, James Dobson, D. James Kennedy, John Hagee and Jack Abramoff were among them.

Largely credulous and uneducated the evangelical elements that became their raw material contained strains of thinking from individuals like R. J Rushrooney and Gary North. Margaret Mead once said that only a small determined group ever changes things. Ms. Mead was thinking of positive change; she could not have imagined the vision and motives that moved a small group of Baptists to take over the Southern Baptist Convention by stealth to achieve first a power base and to move on from there to apply the same methods to civil government and our military. But that is what happened.

Today the platform of the Republican Party in Texas reflects their goals. These are consistent and explicit, including the substitution of the Bible for the rule of law in America. In their world capital punishment for sodomy, adultery, for unruly children, and the end of free speech are desirable goals mandated by God. Lying to achieve the ends they believe are appointed by an unimaginable vision of God are entirely acceptable.

Paul Krugman said in his article, For God's Sake, “In 1981, Gary North, a leader of the Christian Reconstructionist movement - the openly theocratic wing of the Christian right - suggested that the movement could achieve power by stealth. "Christians must begin to organize politically within the present party structure," he wrote, "and they must begin to infiltrate the existing institutional order."

Krugman does not cite the documentation of this, though it exists in a letter written by Dr. Steven Hortzel dated March 13, 1990. The letter exhorts the recipients on how to take over their local Republican precinct. The back of the letter lays out the Platform which includes ending minority status for homosexuals, an end to the right to abortion, the sovereignty of the family instead of having that status rest with individuals, as intended by the rights theory on which America is founded. And most frightening, in their view the Church will control what is and is not a crime. The same letter sports the direction to, “Vote twice on election day.” So much for respect for our law and the institutions of America.

Today the Platform of the Republican Party of Texas reflects that agenda. The goal of the Texas Republican Party is to "dispel the myth of the separation of church and state."

Organizing and planning far in advance with funding provided by corporations through those we now know as NeoCons, they laid out the stealth plan that has been followed until the present day. You can hear this admitted in clips of a tape assembled recently by Dr. Bruce Prescott. The voices of J. R, Rushrooney, now deceased, and Gary North, his son-in-law, say it all.

No rogue elements were responsible for what took place at the Air Force Academy. Funding provided by those major corporations who put us in Iraq to augment their profits and ensure control of oil funded the NeoCons who wrote the orders taking us to the Middle East against all truth; through the same funding source grew the 'religious' institutions that have taken control of our military. To them the separation of Church and State, the first amendment of the Bill of Rights, is a myth like Bigfoot and Paul Bunyan to be dispelled, by their own words.

We can expect violence. The head cleric of St. David's Episcopal Church of Topeka, Kansas came out to support me; five hours later his church was burned to the ground. A synagogue where I spoke was desecrated. My home has been targeted by feces and beer bottles; our tires slashed; dead animals have twice been placed on our front porch. The death threats come in ceaselessly. It is not convenient and safe to confront and defy those in power; I know that but I refuse to back down. They may try to harm me but I will not go quietly; I will be a Jew from the Warsaw Ghetto, not Berlin. I will be an American from Lexington and Concord, not an American from Halliburton and Blackwater.

With all the bad news it is heartening to note that some people are standing up and fighting back. Every day we are joined by more Americans who hear, understand, and come prepared to take action.

Dr. Bruce Prescott moved to Norman, Oklahoma three years ago and started an organization called, “Main Stream Baptists,” that is challenging the primacy of Christian Reconstructionists in the Baptist faith in the same town that supplied those who carried out the take over of the Southern Baptist Convention. When Bush hosts 'religious leaders,' it is those people who receive the invitations.

Next January between 20,000 and 30,000 Baptists from all races will gather. They will be representing hundreds of thousands of Baptists who affirm the original belief that brought Baptists to America, the freedom to worship as they pleased. Together they will forge a New Baptist Covenant making them the largest Baptist group in the United States. The group includes former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton; the announcement took place in Atlanta, Georgia in January of 2007.

Others, secular and religious, for instance the Methodists who stood up to oppose the Bush Library at SMU stand with us.

I cannot emphasize strongly enough that this is not a partisan battle. I am a Republican who had the honor of serving as Assistant General Counsel in the Reagan White House and as General Counsel to two time presidential candidate H. Ross Perot. I am a Jew proud to stand with Christians, Muslims, agnostics and atheists, and others who, like those I just mentioned, are committed to the vision of an America for which generations have laid down their lives. Stand with me on this and you stand with men and women who dreamed a freedom that the real Jesus would have recognized. At the end of the day, it's simply all about just one thing; our beautiful United States Constitution. Each of us free; each of us equal, living lives where we confront not the dead words of the past but the living truth that is tomorrow.

That is America and it is worth dying for. As a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, the father of two graduates as well as one current Academy cadet, the brother-in-law of yet another graduate, and the son of a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy I believe in the vision that is America with every fiber of my being.

###

Mikey Weinstein is an attorney and businessman who served 10 years active duty as an Air Force Judge Advocate (JAG) at military installations from California to Washington, D.C. The former federal prosecutor spent three years in the Reagan White House and served as the Air Force's first Chief of Telecommunications and Information Systems Procurement Law.

Mikey's family has deep and distinguished military-academy roots spanning nearly 60 years: His father is a Naval Academy graduate; and Mikey, his brother-in-law, eldest son and daughter-in-law are all graduates of the Air Force Academy (from where his youngest son is scheduled to graduate in 2007). Mikey and his wife of almost three decades, Bonnie, reside in Albuquerque, N.M.

Mikey Weinstein, former Reagan White House counsel, president and founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and author of the new book, With God On Our Side: One Man’s War Against an Evangelical Coup in America’s Military discusses his background and attempt to prevent the American Taliban from taking over the Armed Services and the firing of his friend David Iglasius, one of the fired U.S. attorneys.

Hear Charles Goyette interview Mikey Weinstein. (34:22)

A Gay Porn Star is Honored at CPAC

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 19:00:18 -0500

http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20070307/cm_thenation/45172362

A Gay Porn Star is Honored at CPAC

Wed Mar 7, 5:28 AM ET

The Nation -- A former gay porn star and male escort was awarded the Jeanne
Kirkpatrick Freedom award at last weekend's CPAC. He is Cpl. Matt Sanchez, a
Marine, campus culture warrior and Fox News favorite who David Horowitz
introduced me to at CPAC.

Tom Bacchus has a full run-down of the Sanchez saga, along with photos which
you should absolutely NOT view if you are in the presence of minors or in a
crowded workplace. On my blog, I describe my meeting with Sanchez, discuss
his psychological similarities to Ann Coulter, and explain how personally
conflicted figures like him are drawn to the right.

http://tombacchus.blogspot.com/2007/03/dirty-sanchez.html

What to make of Matt Sanchez, the 36 year old Marine who's begun to make the
rightwing gab show circuit by complaining that (what a shocker) fellow
students at Columbia University don't like having a military presence at
their school, a Manhattan university.

The Resource List of GOP Family Values Hypocrites (With Links)

larbabe — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 13:05:37 -0400

Feel free to pass this list (including links) along to your self-righteous GOP friends and neighbors.

For the sake of brevity, I won’t get into the well-documented history of GOP graft and corruption. Instead, I’ll concentrate on sexual morality, since this is the subject in which rightwing Republicans sanctimoniously declare their superiority to Democrats. Do they really hold the moral high ground over the Dems? As you will discover, there is overwhelming evidence which proves quite the opposite. If this were a contest, these sexually repressed neo-cons would be the hands-down winners when measuring them by their own standards.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that since most family values Republicans are so deep in denial, they are extremely venomous, and thus dangerous. Especially egregious are those on the religious right, who feel free to impose their values and brand of religion on the rest of us. Yet, they make up a sizable percentage of those who have committed adultery, homosexuality, pedophilia…and yes, even bestiality.

I have omitted individuals whose hypocrisy is based merely upon unsubstantiated allegations, and have attempted to provide as many non-partisan original links (except where an article is re-printed) as I could find. If you have additions, corrections, or better links, please feel free to respond and I will try to update the list on a regular basis.

Now, here is The Resource List of GOP Family Values Hypocrites

EDISON MISLA ALDORANDO, Speaker of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives, reached a deal with prosecutors to reduce a rape charge to attempted rape of his 17 year-old step daughter and her friend. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison for the lesser crime and two counts of giving alcohol to minors.

RANDAL DAVID ANKENEY, a Republican activist and regional representative for Colorado Governor’s Office of Economic Development, was considered a fixture in El Paso County Republican politics. He was charged with sexual assault on a child with force, sexual assault on a child, sexual exploitation of a child, marijuana possession, and possession of drug paraphernalia, but copped a plea to a lesser crime of attempted sexual assault. The girl was 13 years old at the time. In addition, he was charged in the sexual assault of a 17 year-old campaign worker. Oh yeah, his dogs were named Nixon and Reagan.

JIM BAKKER, PTL Club televangelist, committed adultery with Jessica Hahn and then used charitable donations to pay her hush money. His finely-tuned Ponzi scheme bilked his followers out of millions of dollars. He was indicted on 23 federal charges of fraud, tax evasion, and racketeering. But Bakker did repent and was forgiven by the Lord. However, God does not forgive Democrats for similar offenses.

PAUL ROBERT BALACH was Labor Secretary Elizabeth Dole’s political personnel liaison to the White House. He was also an aide to Rep. Robert Bauman (listed above – Birds of a feather DO flock together). Balach was part of a major White House scandal during the 1980’s. Children from orphanages in Nebraska were transported around the United States by top Republican officials in order to engage in child sex orgies with America's ruling elite. Balach paid for homosexual prostitute services which were charged to his credit card. See Charles K. Dutcher, Lawrence E. King, Jr. & Craig J. Spence.

REP. BOB BARR (GA) sponsored the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act, believes in the sanctity of marriage, and is an opponent of abortion. Yet. Rep. Barr was married three times. Furthermore, he paid for his second wife's abortion and failed to pay child support to the children of his first two wives. While married to his third and present wife, Barr was photographed at a charity event licking whipped cream from the chests of two buxom women .

MERRILL ROBERT BARTER, Lincoln County Commissioner, pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual contact and assault on a teenage boy. His den of iniquity was a motel near the Civic Center during the Republican State Convention which he attended. He was handed a suspended sentence of two years in prison, with two years probation.

REP. ROBERT BAUMAN, chairman of the American Conservative Union in 1979, was an anti-gay activist who was described as the quintessential conservative, family-values congressman. He was also a married, closet Republican and leading a double life. He was charged with solicitation and having sex with a 16-year-old boy he met at a gay bar.

PARKER J. BENA, a Republican activist, pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on his home computer(including children as young as 3 years of age) and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and fined $18,000.

LOUIS BERES was Chairman of the Christian coalition of Oregon. According to its web site, the group describes itself as Oregon's leading grassroots organization defending our Godly heritage, and is affiliated with the national organization founded by Pat Robertson. Beres was accused by three of his female family members of molesting them when they were pre-teens. Some heritage!

JOHN BOLTON, Bush's back-door appointee ambassador to United Nations, has set about trying to single-handedly dismantle the U.N. There are corroborated allegations that Mr. Bolton’s first wife, Christina Bolton, was forced to engage in group sex have not been refuted by the State Department.

HOWARD L. BROOKS, legislative aide and former director of the Antelope Valley YMCA, was charged with molesting a 12-year old boy and possession of child pornography.

ANDREW BUHR, the Republican party nominee for the Missouri House in 2000 and the former Republican committeeman for Hadley Township, was one of three men charged with two counts of first degree sodomy with a 13-year old boy. After his arrest, GOP Central Committee Chairman John Winston called Buhr “a nice guy, and a smart person who was very active in the party.”

TED BUNDY campaigned for the Republican Party, and was considered by many as a rising star in the GOP. He was also a serial rapist who murdered 16 women.

JOHN ALLEN BURT, an anti-abortion extremist, was charged with sexual misconduct involving a 15-year old girl. He was caught by police 150 miles from the scene of the crime , obviously trying to make his escape. The girl, one of two who have brought about allegations against Burt, was living at Our Father’s House, Burt’s home for unwed mothers. The home was accredited and inspected by the Florida Association of Christian Childcare Agencies. Burt has a long history in connection with violence against abortion clinics.

REP. DAN BURTON (IN), Chairman of the House International Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, a staunch Conservative and Born-again Christian, was quoted as saying that character does matter. He once deemed President Clinton a scumbag for his sexual encounters while in office. Yet, Burton admitted committing adultery and fathering an illegitimate child. In addition, it has been reported that Burton abused his power by using strong-arm and unethical campaign finance practices and by preying on female lobbyists, staffers and constituents. Furthermore, it is alleged that he groped a lobbyist from Planned Parenthood in the mid-1990s when she visited his Washington office. There are also accusations that Burton maintained sexual relationships with women on his congressional and campaign payrolls.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH was accused in a criminal complaint and lawsuit of raping Margie Schoedinger, who later mysteriously committed suicide. Tammy Phillips, a former stripper, claimed she had an affair with Bush that had ended in 1999.

JOHN BUTLER, Cass County, IL, GOP chairman, was charged with criminal sexual assault on a teenage girl. Butler had previously received pardons from Gov. George Ryan for burglary convictions.

REP. KEN CALVERT (CA), champion of the Christian Coalition, was quoted as saying "We can't forgive what occurred between the President and Lewinsky." Yet in 1993, this champion of family values was caught by police in a compromising position with prostitute in a parked car. He then attempted to flee the scene. Not surprisingly, Calvert was accused by his ex-wife of being a deadbeat dad.

REP. HELEN CHENOWETH (ID) admitted to a six-year adulterous affair with a married associate. In 1995, Chenoweth had denied the affair when asked about it by The Spokane Spokesman-Review, but she claimed a pardon from a higher authority: "I've asked for God's forgiveness, and I've received it," she revealed. Like Bush, she also speaks to God. In other words, God is far more forgiving of Republican moral offenses than Democrats.

KEOLA CHILDSInteresting last name for a pedophile, Hawaii County Councilman pleaded guilty to first degree sexual assault of a male child.

ROY COHN, continually condemned gays and gay rights, but was a closet gay who died of AIDS. He played a prominent role in the trial of eleven leaders of the American Communist Party and in the prosecution of Julius Rosenberg and in 1951. It’s obvious that Americans were given a Cohn job by this man.

CAREY LEE CRAMER, a political consultant, and the man behind the ad accusing the Clinton-Gore Administration of giving away nuclear technology, was convicted on two counts of indecency with a child by contact and one count of indecency with a child by exposure. He faces up to 149 years in prison.

REP. DAN CRANE had sex with a female minor working as a congressional page. Rep. Henry Hyde pleaded mercy for his friend before members of the House. "I suggest to the members that compassion and justice are not antithetical; they are complementary.” They must have been moved by Hyde’s compassionate oratory, because they voted to censure Crane rather than expel him. One would never know this was the same Henry Hyde who screamed for blood at the Clinton impeachment hearings, and later admitted this was payback for Nixon.

KEVIN COAN, Republican election board official, was sentenced to two years probation for soliciting sex over the Internet (A favorite tool of neo-con pedophiles) from a 14-year old girl. The "girl" was actually a male Alton police officer who had set up a chat-room sting.

PAUL CROUCH, Televangelist and former President of Trinity Broadcasting Network, had an extramarital gay affair with a former employee at a network-owned cabin at Lake Arrowhead in 1996. TBN paid $425,000 in hush money to Enoch Lonnie Ford in an attempt squelch the story. However, the LA Times got wind of it and the story got out. Beware LA Times! According to Crouch, God, we proclaim death to anything or anyone that will lift a hand against this network and this ministry that belongs to you, God. However, God does provide for hypocrite neo-cons. It is said that Crouch and his wife own thirty homes across America, as well as a Gulfstream private jet.

RICHARD A. DASEN SR., Republican benefactor of conservative Christian groups, was charged with rape of a 15-year old girl and two felony counts of promoting prostitution, after being caught in a cheap motel, clad in his underwear, with a nearly-naked young lady who was behind in her payments to his finance company. Dasen, 62, is married with grown children and several grandchildren. According to court documents, he admitted to police that he paid more than $1 million to have sex with a large number of young women, many of whom were in legal trouble, addicted to drugs and in debt to him. City Attorney Charles Harball claimed that Dasen pretty much single-handedly funded the methamphetamine trade here in Kalispell for a number of years. He explained that women used the money Dasen paid them to pay for their habits. Harball went on to say that after Dasen’s arrest, money to methamphetamine users pretty much dried up. He added that there has been a flood of petty crime from addicts seeking cash for their habit. One might surmise that when it comes to women druggies, Dasen is a compassionate conservative.

RICHARD A. DELGAUDIO, a major GOP fundraiser who collected money for Ronald Reagan and Jessie Helms, was found guilty of producing child pornography, after paying two teenage girls to pose for sexual photos in a Baltimore Hotel.

PETER DIBBLE, legislator from New London, CT, pleaded no contest to having an inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old girl over a three year period. Obviously Dibble liked to dabble with young girls.

BRIAN J. DOYLE, Deputy Press Secretary of Homeland Security, propositioned what he thought was a 14 year-old girl over the Internet. He sent her pornographic movie clips and had sexually explicit conversations with her. As it turns out, the girl was really an undercover police detective, and Doyle was caught with his virtual pants down. He revealed his name, his position at Homeland Security Department, and offering his office and government issued cell phone numbers. Mr. Doyle’s misdeeds provide a textbook example of The Peter Principle in action. Surprisingly, he wasn’t promoted to a higher level of incompetence in the Bush Administration. Doyley, you’re doing a heck-of-a job.

CHARLES K. DUTCHER, associate director of presidential personnel in the Reagan Administration, was part of a major White House scandal during the 1980’s. Children from orphanages in Nebraska were transported around the United States by top Republican officials in order to engage in child sex orgies with America's ruling elite. Dutcher paid for homosexual prostitute services which were charged to his credit card. See Paul Robert Balach, Lawrence E. King Jr. & Craig J. Spence.

NICHOLAS ELIZONDO, director of the (get this) Young Republican Federation, molested his 6-year old daughter and was sentenced to six years in prison.

LARRY DALE FLOYD, Republican Constable in Denton County, TX, was arrested July 2005 for allegedly crossing state lines to have sex with an 8-year old child. He was charged with 7 related offenses.

JOHN FUND of the Wall Street Journal, was a prominent anti-abortion columnist and GOP fund raiser. He lost his position after it was revealed that he impregnated the daughter of an old girlfriend and then encouraged her to abort his child. It’s obvious that Fund’s biggest Fundraiser was pedophilia.

JEFF GANNON, real name James Guckert, was partisan blogger and regular contributor to GOPUSA.com, with no journalism credentials. Using an alias, he got invited to Bush's Press conferences. Although he has made anti-gay statements, he is a pimp and a gay prostitute. Guckert once advertised himself on the Internet as a "top" who is "8 inches, cut." Astonishingly, Guckert had access to Bush that many legitimate journalists were unable to obtain. Hmmm!

RICHARD GARDNER, a Republican candidate for Nevada Assembly District 34, admitted to molesting his two daughters.

JACK W. GARDNER, is presently a Millersville Boro (PA) councilman, despite having previously been convicted of molesting a 13 year-old girl. The deed took place at the Old Mill Inn in Lancaster County.

NEWT GINGRICH, former House Speaker, who has hinted he might be a presidential candidate in 2008, was married three times. Gingrich campaign worker Anne Manning admitted that she gave Newt oral sex while he was still married to his first wife. Proving he is a Compassionate Conservative, Newt informed his 1st wife he was filing for divorce while she was in the hospital recovering from cancer treatments. Gingrich was also reprimanded and fined $300,000 by the House Ethics Committee. It seems he had used tax-exempt foundation money to promote Republican goals. He was also found to have lied to the committee during the investigation.

PHILIP GIORDANO , former Mayor of Waterbury, CT, is serving a 37-year sentence in federal prison for sexually abusing 8- and 10-year old girls. This case is the worst I have ever seen," said U.S. District Judge Alan Nevas in passing sentence. "Your conduct is the worst I have ever seen. I've seen drug dealers, murderers. What you did is indescribable."

RUDY GIULIANI, former NYC mayor, is considered a GOP front-runner for 2008 presidential candidacy. He not only committed adultry, but moved his mistress into the State Capital while still married. In February 2005, Giuliani pocketed $80,000 for speaking at a charity benefit for tsunami aid which raised only $60,000 for the victims themselves.

MATTHEW GLAVIN, former president and CEO of the Southeastern Legal Foundation, played a major role in the Clinton Impeachment, pointing the finger at President Clinton on morality issues, and was largely responsible for efforts to get Clinton disbarred in Arkansas. Married with children, Glavin was active many anti-gay causes. However, like other GOP anti-gay self-haters, such visciousness is the result of being burried deep in the closet. Glavin has had multiple arrests for public indecency. One such arrest in October 2000 was in a Chattahoochee River park in Atlanta, a popular spot for same-sex cruising, where Glavin was caught masturbating in a parking lot. The arresting officer claims that he was fondled lewdly by Glavin. Glavin plead guilty and was sentenced to one year probation.

MARTY GLICKMAN, a.k.a. “REPUBLICAN MARTY”, was taken into custody by Florida police on four counts of unlawful sexual activity with an underage girl and one count of delivering the drug LSD.

JOHN GOSEK While serving as Mayor of Oswego, NY, was arrested outside a motel near Syracuse, after offering a $250 payment to a woman in exchange for sex with two teenage girls. Unfortunately for Gosek, this was a sting operation and he got busted. Gosek is facing federal criminal charges of using a facility in interstate commerce (a telephone) to knowingly attempt to persuade, induce, entice, and coerce an individual under the age of 18 years to engage in sexual activity, more commonly referred to as the Mann Act.

MARK A. GRETHEN was to be honored in Washington D.C. as Republican of the Year, an honor bestowed upon him by Representative Tom Davis of Virginia. The problem was that Grethen couldn’t make it to the awards ceremony since he was convicted of six counts of sex crimes involving children . He will be in the Deep Meadow Correctional Facility until September 25, 2024.

DR. W. DAVID HAGER, OBGYN, was an avowed anti-abortionist, yet Bush appointed him to the FDA committee on reproductive drugs. He was a member of Focus on the Family's Physician Resource Council and involved in a movement to ban the morning-after-pill. It was revealed that Dr. Hager had an adulterous affair, before divorcing his wife. It was also reported that he sexually abused her, including sodomization while she was asleep. The perfect Bush appointee!

MARK HARRIS, a West Bend, WI Alderman, was described as a ”good military man" and "churchgoer". He was sentenced to 12 years in prison for repeated sexual assault of a young girl. The molestation began when she was 11 years old, and continued over a two year period.

JOHN HATHAWAY, Maine Senate candidate, was accused of having sex with his 12-year old baby sitter and withdrew his candidacy after the allegations were reported in the media.

HOWARD SCOTT HELDRETH, an anti-abortion activist, gained fame when he was arrested for attempting to cross police lines to take water to Terri Shiavo. According to the right-to-lifers, he is a real hero for the un-born. However, Heldreth doesn’t fare so well for the living; He is a convicted child rapist in Florida.

REP. JOHN HINSON (Miss), married and ultra-conservative, admitted to being accused of committing an obscene act at a gay establishment. Furthermore, he acknowledged that he survived a fire in a gay D.C. movie theater, but still denied being homosexual. Hinson won re-election, but three months later was arrested on charges of attempted oral sodomy.

MIKE HINTZ, First Assembly of God youth pastor, was commended by Bush during the 2004 presidential campaign. The pastor was a real champion for decency. He signed an ad that called for criminally prosecuting businesses that sell porn. Among his other achievements, Hintz urged teens to avoid pursuing romantic relationships in favor of getting closer to God. Perhaps Hintz was really prompting teens to get closer to him. Hintz surrendered to police after admitting to a sexual affair with a female juvenile whom (you guessed it) he’d been counseling for emotional problems.

NEAL HORSLEY (pay attention to the last name) is best known among the pro-lifer’s for his Nuremberg Files. It lists abortion doctors marked for death. He has called for the arrest of all homosexuals. Horsley admitted on Fox News Radio's The Alan Colmes Show, that he's had sex with mules. This brings a whole new meaning to the phrase Piece of Ass. Horsley also put graphic photographs on his web site of naked men committing homosexual acts and a nude woman engaging in bestiality amid shots of grotesquely maimed fetuses. Horsely openly calls for the establishment of a new government, one that can obey God's plan for government. And what is Horsley’s Faustian vision of this plan?
God only knows!

TIM HUTCHINSON, former US Senator (AR) and former Baptist preacher, divorced his wife of 29 years to marry a congressional aide he was having an affair with.

PAUL INGRAM a former top civil sheriff's deputy and head of the Thurston County (WA) Republican Party, pleaded guilty to six counts of raping his daughters. However, so-called victims of "recovered memory" came to Ingram’s rescue, creating a defense fund and trying to generate support for his cause. They suggested that the girls’ memories of abuse were manufactured (by Democrats?). Wonderful family values; these wicked children invented the abuse. However, Supreme Court and U.S. District Court upheld the validity of Ingram's plea. Ingram was sentenced to 20 years, but served 14 years in State prison.

EARL “BUTCH” KIMMERLING was a moral majority advocate. He gained statewide attention in Indiana by fighting a gay couple’s attempts to adopt an 8-year-old girl, who at the time was under Earl’s foster care. The Kimmerlings and their pastor, Brad Brizendine of Center of Faith Church, launched a campaign opposing homosexual adoption. Republican representatives also took up the issue by proposing a bill to ban gay adoptions in Indiana. More than likely, the real reason Kimmerling waged his custodial campaign was that he wanted the girl all to himself. He was charged with molesting her and was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

LAWRENCE E. KING JR., a Republican activist, embezzled funds from the credit union which he managed. The money was said to have been funneled to help organize child sex parties at the White House during the 1980’s See Paul Robert Balach, Charles K. Dutcher & Craig J. Spence.

I. LEWIS “SCOOTER” LIBBY is the former Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to V.P. Dick Cheney. He was forced to resign after being given a 5 felony-count indictment by a grand jury in connection with the “outing” of Valerie Plame. Scooter is also a founding member of Project for the New American Century, a neo-conservative think tank which created the policy document Rebuilding America's Defences , a draconian manifesto for world domination (to which the Bush Administration has adhered). If you find this unsettling, there’s an even more sinister side to Libby. In 1996 he wrote The Apprentice, a novel containing explicit and bizaree sexual content, including beastiality and pedophillia.

REP. DONALD “BUZ” LUKENS (OH) paid a female minor for sex over a four year period, beginning when she was 13 years old. He was secretly videotaped by an Ohio TV station, offering the girl’s unemployed mother a government job in exchange for her silence. Lukens was found guilty of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and sentenced to one month in jail. However, after serving his sentence, Lukens still refused to resign. He was later accused of fondling a Capitol elevator operator, before finally submitting his resignation.

JON MATTHEWS, a neo-conservative talk show host, was sentenced to seven years' probation for exposing his genitals to an 11-year-old girl. On his show he often voiced the view that those who crossed the law deserved little mercy and harsh punishment. Well, he seems to have received an abundance of mercy and zero harsh punishmentfrom the Liberal court...but he probably didn’t complain.

JEFF MILLER, Senate Republican Caucus Chairman in Tennessee and the sponsor of Tennessee’s Marriage Protection act, was sued for divorce because of an alleged affair he was having with an office aid. The Marriage Protection Act proclaimed that marriage should be defined as between a one man and one woman. It also banned gay marriage in the state constitution. However, Miller opposed an amendment that would have included an adultery clause. Now why would he do that?

NICHOLAS MORENCY, an anti-abortion activist, pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer. He was also found guilty of offering a reward to anybody who murders an abortion doctor.

BRENT PARKER, a Utah state representetive, was arrested for soliciting sex from an undercover officer posing as a male prostitute.

JEFFREY PATTI, Republican Committee Chairman, was arrested for distributing a video clip of a 5-year-old girl being raped.

JOHN PAULK, Christian Fundementalist and professed ex-gay, lied about prowling for gay sex while running a fundamentalist group to cure gays. Denial is not a river in Egypt.

JUDGE MARK PAZUHANICH molested a ten year-old girl during a Hilary Duff concert. He pleaded no contest to charges of corrupting a minor, endangering the welfare of a child, two counts of indecent assault, and an additional charge of public drunkenness. Pazuhanich was sentenced to 10 years probation.

GEORGE ROCHE III, while serving as president of Conservative Hillsdale College, carried on a torrid 19 year affair with his daughter-in-law, Lissa Roche, who was managing editor of the Hillsdale College Press. The sordid entanglement (which is still denied by many conservatives) apparently led to Roche’s divorce from his wife of 44 years. It also must have contributed to Lissa’s tragic suicide, just hours after she publicly revealed the details of the affair. Hillsdale College, emphasizes the importance of the common moral truths that bind all Americans, while recognizing the importance of religion for the maintenance of a free society.

BEVERLY RUSSELL, Republican activist and Christian Coalition leader, admitted to an incestuous relationship with his stepdaughter, Susan Smith, whose name was later prominent in the newspaper headlines for having drowning her two children.

JACK RYAN, was the 2004 Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate (IL). However, he had the misfortune of running against popular Democrat Barack Obama. It was alleged by his wife, actress Jeri Ryan, that he pressured her to have sex with other men. According to Jeri, he tricked her into visiting sex clubs, where he asked her to have sex with him while others watched. Ryan called this a smear campaign, even though he consistently trailed Obama in the polls throughout the race.

JOE SCARBOROUGH, Conservative talk show host and pundit, is a former Congressman who was once considered a “rising star” in the GOP. Suddenly, with no forewarning, he prematurely and unexpectedly resigned his congressional seat to spend more time with his sons. This occurred amidst allegations of an affair, after the congressman had divorced his wife. A short time later, Constituent Services Coordinator Lori Klausutis, was found dead in Scarborough’s office of an apparent head injury. Within three hours of the body's discovery, both Rep. Scarborough and his spokesman appeared on two local TV stations, inventing a nonexistent history of chronic medical conditions. Medical Examiner Dr. Michael Berkland ruled the case an accident, after giving conflicting information about Ms. Klausutis’ injuries. Berkland admitted he lied because "The last thing we wanted was 40 questions about a head injury." The good doctor previously had his license revoked in Missouri for falsifying information in an autopsy report and was suspended in Florida for six years.

DR. LAURA SCHLESSINGER , the right wing radio host family values queen, hasn’t spoken to her mother in 15 years and is estranged from her sister. She espouses moral decency, even though she once posed for nude photos which are available online. She openly opposes adultry, and claims: "Holy sex is between husband and wife. . . .Unholy sex is everything else", yet admits to having had sex before she was married, committing adultry while she was married, and moved in with a married man.

LARRY JACK SCHWARZ, parole board chairman and former Colorado state representative, was fired after child pornography was found in his possession. The pictures and material all involved family members. Schwarz is a father of five and has 16 grandchildren. During his first term, he listed "crime prevention and punishment" among his key issues.

GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (CA) admittedly participated in group sex and boasted of his penis size in an article in Oui Magazine. He allegedly had sex with a 16 year old girl when he was 28.
Sixteen women have come forward to say he sexually mistreated and humiliated them.

REP. JOHN SCHMITZ (CA), a former John Bircher, was considered one of the most ultra rightwing members of Congress. Schmitz once referred to Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan as Liberals and idolized Senator Joseph McCarthy. He was known for his outrageous attacks against gays, feminists and Jews. Well, wouldn’t you know it, he was forced out of office in 1982 for having an adulterous affair and fathering two children out of wedlock with one of his students. Like father, like daughter; Schmitz gained further notoriety as the father of pedophile Mary Kay LeTourneau, who was convicted of having an adulterous affair with one of her students, a boy of Samoan extraction. Schmitz, of course, tried to get his daughter off the hook by attempting to find a loophole in United States treaties with Samoa.

REP. DON SHERWOOD(PA) eventually admitted to an adultureous affair with a woman 30 years younger than him, after she accused him of physical abuse. Regardless, Sherwood was actively supported by family values neo-conservatives, such as Senator Rick Santorum.

TOM SHORTRIDGE, campaign consultant and former head of the South Bay Republican Club (Redondo Beach CA), was sentenced to three years probation for taking nude photographs of two teenage girls, 15 and 16 years of age, and both employees of his. His attorney claimed that Shortridge was approached by the girls, wanting their nude pictures taken. Yeah, right! Take a look at the photo of this behemoth and you decide! According to prosecutors, the reduced sentence for this horny toad was more than fair; it could have been a lot stiffer.

FRED C. SMELTZER, JR., City Councilman (Lancaster, PA), pleaded no contest to raping a 15 year-old girl at a Delaware campground, and served 6 months in prison. In a court affidavit, an acquaintance of Smeltzer’s claimed that he had raped his daughter at this campground. Due to laws which shield children’s identities in matters such as these, it was not revealed (but evident) that she was the actual victim of this crime. Smeltzer is now a registered sex offender.

CRAIG J. SPENCE, Republican lobbyist, was part of a major White House scandal during the 1980’s. Children from orphanages in Nebraska were transported around the United States by top Republican officials in order to engage in child sex orgies with America's ruling elite. Spence took friends and male prostitutes on late-night sexcursions to the White House. Spence also faced cocaine and gun possession charges. Unfortunately, this Republican really fell on his sword. He was found dead in a Boston hotel room. See, Paul Robert Balach, Charles K. Dutcher & Lawrence E. King, Jr..

JIMMY SWAGGART, is the televangelist who once said: “You boys and girls that have Beatle records at home, this is the most rotten, dirty, damnable, filthy, putrid filth that this nation or the world has ever known.” Wouldn’t you know it, Swaggart was caught in a seedy motel with a prostitute, being dirty, damnable and filthy. Ah, but God favors Republicans. Swaggart repented and was saved. President Bill Clinton also repented, but evidently he can never be forgiven and will rot in hell for his sins.

DAVID SWARTZ, Commissioner (Richmond County, OH), pleaded guilty to molesting two girls, which began at ages 6-7. Swartz admitted in court to having sex with the first girl. It was learned that the molestation took place for a decade. The 2nd occurred over a period of 5 years. He was sentenced to 8 years in prison.

RANDALL TERRY, Right to Life activist and founder of Operation Rescue, gained much of his notoriety in the Terri Schiavo protests. He was once imprisoned for sending former President Bill Clinton an aborted fetus. There is strong evidence Operation Rescue may have been responsible for the violence against abortion clinics. One of Terry’s fervent followers was charged with 2nd Degree murder of a doctor who performed abortions. As with most hypocrites, Terry’s personal life is filled with contradictions. He has campaigned against infidelity, yet he was censured by his church, for a "pattern of repeated and sinful relationships and conversations with both single and married women.” He has spoken out against unwed mothers, yet his daughter had 2 children outside wedlock. He has denounced homosexuals, yet his son is gay. True to his convictions, however, he has all but disowned both children. On his website, Terry appealed to his flock for donations to support Operation Rescue’s pro-life activities, but failed to disclose that the money would be used to purchase a new $432,000 house. At the same time a family court ruled that Terry, "was not paying a fair share of child support" regarding the children of his first wife.

REP. BILL THOMAS (CA) (See page 13 of this link), former chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee and cosponsor of the industry-sponsored Medicare reform legislation, had an adulterous affair with Deborah Steelman, a health care lobbyist. who bestowed humongous gifts to Thomas’ war chest. You see Ms. Steelman had the most to gain from this union. Her Washington firm received $2.4 million in lobbying fees from health interests, including $900,000 from pharmaceutical manufacturers.

SEN. STROM THURMOND, the rightwing family values standard-bearer whose racist history is well-documented, had sex with a 15-year old black girl which produced a child.

ROBIN VANDERWALL was a GOP strategist, Citadel Military College graduate, and 3rd year law student at Pat Robertson’s Regent University. He was also director of Faith & Family Alliance. Vanderwall helped funnel money from Jack Abromoff to Ralph Reed. In 2002, he was convicted in Virginia on five counts of soliciting sex with (what he thought were) children over the Internet. Like Brian J. Doyle, Vanderwall had played into a police sting operation. The Internet seems to be a favorite tool of GOP pedophiles.

JIM WEST, Mayor (Spokane, WA), supported a bill which, if it hadn’t failed, would have barred gays and lesbians from working in schools, day-care centers and some state agencies. He also voted to bar the state from distributing pamphlets telling people how to protect themselves from AIDS. To prove his worthiness with other family values Republicans, he proposed legislation that would criminalize “any touching of the sexual or other intimate parts of a person” among unmarried teenagers. As it turns out, the reason West was so viscious was that he was deep in the closet: West had a sexual affair with an 18 year old boy, and he propositioned what he thought was a high school senior over the Internet, offering an internship at City Hall for services rendered. The boy, we learn, was actually a computer consultant, hired by a newspaper to verify the mayor’s identity and presence on Gay.com. In other words, Jim was caught with his virtual pants down.

REP. KEITH WESTMORLAND (FL) was charged with seven felony counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition to girls under the age of 16. Shortly thereafter, he committed suicide. Ironically, Rep. Westmoreland had a bachelor's degree in criminal justice.

STEPHEN WHITE, better known to Penn students as Brother Stephen, was vocal in his condemnation of gays and sexual promiscuity in his campus preaching. He was also known for his abrasive methods and harassment of students as they passed him on campus. You can add Brother Stephen to the list of vicious GOP closet queens. He was sentenced to jail after soliciting a 14-year-old boy, offering $20 to perform oral sex on him.

According to Republicans, the Democrats sinful decline stems from Bill Clinton’s lapse in judgment with Monica Lewinsky and the DNC’s continued support of gay rights. Using scare tactics the RNC spread about rumors that the Democrats would ban the Bible and that men will marry men if John Kerry were to be elected president in 2004. It worked. The Republicans were able to paint themselves as the God-ordained alternative to the satanic Democrats.

What makes the GOP’s boasts of moral supremacy even more appalling are imbecilic claims such as those of Reverend Jerry Falwell, when he alleges that Republicans are the faith and values party. Furthermore, he urges Christians to vote Republican in 2008. The reverend’s proclamation would be laughable if it were not so loathsome. I question whether Reverend Falwell ever read biblical passages in Matthew and 1 Corinthians where Jesus made no secret of his distaste for hypocrites, especially when Jesus said Let he who is without sin cast the first stone (Luke 4:1-13).

Fortunately, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll conducted from May 4 to May 8, of 1241 adults, people are no longer accepting the GOP as the moral standard bearer.

Fifty percent said Democrats came closer than Republicans to sharing their moral values, compared with 37 percent who said Republicans shared their values..

While Democrats have not been without their sex scandals, I believe I have provided solid proof that the Dem’s indiscretions pale in comparison to those of the GOP Family Values Hypocrites.

Ralph Reed Pimped Child Sex Slavery

Bob Fertik — Mon, 29 May 2006 10:25:43 -0400

There is a special place in Hell for Ralph Reed, who is still running for Lt. Gov. of Georgia, as part of his plan to win national office in the near future. Reed's Democratic opponent, Greg Hecht, has never pimped child sex slavery. Support Hecht here. From the Pentagon Post:

In August 1999, political organizer Ralph Reed's firm sent out a mailer to Alabama conservative Christians asking them to call then-Rep. Bob Riley (R-Ala.) and tell him to vote against legislation that would have made the U.S. commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands subject to federal wage and worker safety laws.

Now those seven-year-old words are coming back to haunt Reed, the former executive director of the Christian Coalition and a candidate for the Republican nomination to be Georgia's lieutenant governor.

"The radical left, the Big Labor Union Bosses, and Bill Clinton want to pass a law preventing Chinese from coming to work on the Marianas Islands," the mailer from Reed's firm said. The Chinese workers, it added, "are exposed to the teachings of Jesus Christ" while on the islands, and many "are converted to the Christian faith and return to China with Bibles in hand."

A year earlier, the Department of the Interior -- which oversees federal policy toward the U.S. territory -- presented a very different picture of life for Chinese workers on the islands. An Interior report found that Chinese women were subject to forced abortions and that women and children were subject to forced prostitution in the local sex-tourism industry.

It also alleged that the garment industry and other businesses set up facilities on the Northern Marianas to produce products labeled "Made in the USA," while importing workers from China and other Asian countries and paying them less than U.S. minimum wage under conditions not subject to federal safety standards.

Lisa Baron, a spokeswoman for Reed's campaign, said Millennium Marketing "was hired as a direct-mail subcontractor to assist in encouraging grass-roots citizens to promote the propagation of the gospel."

"As a defender of the unborn, Ralph was unaware of any allegations regarding inhumane or illegal treatment of workers, and he would strongly object to such practices, if true," she added.

Reed's close friend and political ally, disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, represented the commonwealth as a partner of Greenberg Traurig. The islands' government paid Abramoff $4.04 million from 1998 to 2002. Greenberg Traurig hired Millennium Marketing to print the mailing.

Reed is running for the GOP nomination against state Sen. Casey Cagle. The old mailing was brought to a reporter's attention by former employees of Reed, who said the support on behalf of Northern Marinas leaves their former boss exposed as a hypocrite.

The Mariana mailing adds another hurdle to Reed's campaign, which already has been plagued by the disclosures that Abramoff paid Reed more than $4 million to conduct grass-roots lobbying on behalf of Indian casinos seeking to prevent potential competitors from getting approval to open new facilities.

Update 1: Cheryl S adds some extremely important - and unreported - info below about Reed's opposition to the UN Convention for the Rights of the Child.

Update 2: Christy Hardin Smith has more.

Racism and Religion

Fri, 19 May 2006 09:30:44 -0400

Nick Anderson. Washington Post Writers Group.

Yesterday I posted this at MakeThemAccountable.com:

All the major religions agree.
Quote of the Day

“Tsze-Kung asked, saying, ‘Is there one word which may serve as a rule of practice for all one's life?’ The Master said, ‘Is not Reciprocity such a word? What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.’” – Confucius

“Neither fire nor wind, birth nor death can erase our good deeds.” – Buddha

“Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” – Matthew 19:19

“What is hateful unto thee, do not do unto others.” – Hillel the Elder (Shabbos 31a)

“Allah loves those who do good (to others).” – Koran 3.148

[If anyone can find a similar quote from Lao Tse or any other Taoist, please send it to me at >caro@makethemaccountable.com. Thanks!—Caro]

Message from Harry A

I don't know of any quotes from Lao Tse or the Taoist tradition, but
this morning was taken aback when I read in the Hebrews Scriptures
(aka The Old Testament), the Book of Leviticus 19:33-34:

"When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress
the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the
citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were
aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God..."

Now I know that a lot of conservatives and Republicans are quick to
insist on the "Word of God" etc., including Bush; what part of this
quote do they not understand?!! Seems pretty clear to me.

My response

Hospitality was very important to the Middle Eastern cultures. It's enshrined in Islam as well as Judaism. Some say that the sin committed by the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah wasn't that men were having sex with men (that was pretty common), but that the townspeople weren't hospitable to the visitors that Abraham took in and fed and protected.

From Wikipedia:

The biblical text itself seems to suggest that the sin is based in part on inhospitality to some (if not a major) extent (although traditionally, the reason for the punishment has always been immorality):

Ezekiel 16:49-50: Now this was the sin of Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.

This idea is paralleled in the Gospels when Jesus compares an inhospitable reception to Sodom:

Matthew 10:14-15: If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

This view of the biblical story reflects that of other ancient civilizations, such as Greece and Rome, where hospitality was a main feature in deciding the quality of a person. Also in these civilizations, men were held in a much higher regard than women (in Greece women being seen as little more than property, therefore, to demand not only a guest but a male guest to be violated against his will would be seen as more of a crime than to allow women to be used to save the guest.

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

It's Time to Expose the Piety Pimps - and the Republicans who Fund Them

Bob Fertik — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 12:38:15 -0500

As the massive GOP corruption scandal unfolds, we are discovering that every contract awarded by Republicans involves cronyism and kickbacks - whether in Iraq (Halliburton et al), Katrina (Halliburton et al), Duke Cunningham, etc.

One especially infuriating dimension of GOP contracting corruption involves contracts awarded to religious right groups, whose only claim to existence is that they serve God with greater devotion than mainstream or liberal religious groups.

But now it is clear that the religious right serves mammon, and it uses public piety simply as a scam to steal from taxpayers like you and me. These corrupt thieves deserve a name, so I will adapt a favorite enemy of the Gingrich Revolution, the poverty pimps, and christen them as the piety pimps.

Here is just the latest example, courtesy of Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Daily News:

Exclusive: Santorum funneled earmarks, charity money to Philly faith-based group accused of political activity
A faith-based Philadelphia group at the center of a flap over whether tax-exempt religious groups are aiding the re-election campaign of U.S. Sen Rick Santorum has won more than $250,000 in federal grant money pushed for by Santorum over the last three years.

The group, the Urban Family Council — founded by well-known local conservative religious activist William Devlin — also has reaped a $10,000 grant from a controversial charity founded by Santorum, the Operation Good Neighbor Foundation.

I've seen dozens of reports like this recently. It's time for taxpayers to rise up in revolt against the piety pimps - and the Republican politicians who fund them.

Remember the Terri Schiavo case?

Sharon Kay Kennedy — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 20:58:50 -0400

I bet the media who help spread all those lies and blasting her husband won't print or retract an update. All the damage they caused... but if he were wrong; it would be all over the place, he would have even more threats.

Schiavo Autopsy Shows Massive Brain Damage
Jun 15, 08:10 PM EDT
By MITCH STACY - Associated Press Writer

LARGO, Fla. (AP) -- The autopsy of Terri Schiavo backed her husband's contention that she was in a persistent vegetative state, finding she was severely and irreversibly brain-damaged and blind as well. The report, released Wednesday, also found no evidence that she was strangled or otherwise abused before she collapsed.

Yet medical examiners could not say for certain what caused her sudden 1990 collapse, long thought to have been brought on by an eating disorder.

The findings vindicated Michael Schiavo in his long and vitriolic battle with his in-laws, who insisted her condition was not hopeless and suggested that their daughter was the victim of violence by their son-in-law.

In its report, the medical examiner's office cast doubt on both the abuse and eating disorder theory.

The autopsy results on the 41-year-old woman were made public more than two months after Schiavo died of dehydration on March 31 following the removal of her feeding tube 13 days earlier. The death ended an extraordinary right-to-die battle that engulfed the courts, Congress and the White House.

The autopsy showed that Schiavo's brain had shrunk to about half the normal size for a woman her age and that it bore signs of severe damage.

"This damage was irreversible, and no amount of therapy or treatment would have regenerated the massive loss of neurons," said Pinellas-Pasco County Medical Examiner Dr. Jon Thogmartin, who led the autopsy team. He also said she was blind, because the "vision centers of her brain were dead."

George Felos, attorney for Michael Schiavo, said the findings back up their contentions made "for years and years" that Terri Schiavo had no hope of recovery. He said Michael Schiavo plans to release autopsy photographs of her shrunken brain.

"Mr. Schiavo has received so much criticism throughout this case that I'm certain there's a part of him that was pleased to hear these results and the hard science behind them," Felos said.

Nevertheless, attorney David Gibbs III said Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, continue to believe she was not in a vegetative state and questioned the conclusion that she was blind.

The finding that she was blind counters a widely seen videotape released by her parents of Terri Schiavo in her hospice bed. The video showed Schiavo appearing to turn toward her mother's voice and smile. She moaned and laughed. Her head moved up and down and she seemed to follow the progress of a brightly colored Mickey Mouse balloon.

The parents said the video that showed she was aware of her surroundings, but doctors said her reactions were automatic responses and not evidence of consciousness.

In Washington, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the autopsy did nothing to change President Bush's position that Schiavo's feeding tube should not have been disconnected. He had signed a bill, rushed through by Congress in March, in a last-ditch effort to restore her feeding tube.

Thogmartin also said Schiavo would not have been able to eat or drink if given food by mouth as the Schindlers wanted after the tube was removed. In fact, he said, she might easily have choked to death if such feedings had been tried.

"Removal of her feeding tube would have resulted in her death whether she was fed or hydrated by mouth or not," Thogmartin told reporters.

The autopsy included 274 external and internal body images and an exhaustive review of Terri Schiavo's medical records, police reports and social services agency records.

Thogmartin said that the autopsy produced no conclusion on what triggered the temporary heart stoppage that caused her collapse and brain damage. He said there was no evidence of drug use, though he cautioned that Schiavo was not tested in 1990 for every conceivable substance that could have been in her blood.

He said there was no proof she suffered from an eating disorder such as bulimia, which can disrupt the body chemistry with lethal effect. The main piece of evidence cited for an eating disorder - the low levels of potassium in her blood in 1990 - could have been caused by the emergency treatment she received at the time, Thogmartin said.

While she had lost more than 100 pounds since high school, Schiavo never confessed to an eating disorder, she did not take diet pills and no one had witnessed her purging food, the medical examiner said.

He also discounted the possibility that she had overdosed on caffeine from drinking large amounts of tea in an effort to keep her weight down.

The cause of death was ruled dehydration from removal of the feeding tube, but the underlying reason for her brain damage was officially listed as "undetermined."

In addition, the autopsy found no traces of morphine in her system at her death, although she had been given two doses in the days before she died. The Schindlers had contended that morphine might have been used to speed their daughter's death.

The Schindlers fought their son-in-law in court over their daughter's fate for nearly seven years, battling to the end with conservatives at their side. Michael Schiavo said his wife never would have wanted to be kept alive artificially in such a condition.

Courts repeatedly rejected extraordinary attempts at intervention by Florida lawmakers, Gov. Jeb Bush, Congress and the president on behalf of her parents.

Experts said that the autopsy demonstrates how difficult it is for people to recover from severe brain damage.

"People should understand that sometimes, for known or unknown reasons, individuals sustain massive brain injury that for which healing is not possible," said Dr. Karen Weidenheim, the chief of neuropathology at Montefiore Medical Center in New York. "Everything that could have been done was done for this lady for 15 years, and this case is very tragic."

---

Offer attribution (a link) to the news source and please, cut it down to about four paragraphs.

On the Net:

Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner's Office: http://www.co.pinellas.fl.us/forensics/

Dying Pope trumps Shiavo

cloudancer — Fri, 01 Apr 2005 21:55:53 -0500

Living just a few miles from Tampa/St. Pete I have braced myself for a long drawn out series of media extravaganza regarding the Schindler/Shiavo feud staring Randle Terry freshly regurgitated from the slim pits of hell, Jessie Jackson doing his best to get our minds and memories off his beautifully orchestrated Jim Baker impersonation and that lowest of the low Frank Pavone the so called priest of the Schindler family that makes the pedophile priests Richard Lavigne, Paul Shanley and the now dead John Geoghan seem like saints, I am almost relieved to hear that Pope John Paul II is taking the worlds attention away from this repulsive personal tragedy.

Maybe now these so called “good Christians” that have chosen to commandeer the parking lot of a hospice without so much as a second thought for the 65 dying patients within will crawl back into the holes where they belong and take their damaged offspring with them.

We here in the Tampa area had to go through this bullshit three years ago when the ultimate imbecile’s idiot brother tried to get the Florida supreme court to over rule the lower court decision to allow Terry’s husband to finally end her torment by taking her off life support. Now after three grueling years and thousands of tax payer dollars the poor soul is finally at peace and thanks to the Pope, we may finally be out of our misery as well.

Could it be that some Devine intervention has selected this moment for the Pope to pass over to divert the media away from an already brain dead media frenzy? I am not a Catholic and I certainly never want to be referred to as a Christian like the ones we see so much of today, but I want to go on record as being the first to thank the Blessed Pope for saving me from one more day of the Schindler/Shiavo Shitfest.

Don't get me wrong, I have the greatest respect for this Pope even though I do not agree with much of his belief, he has been a great leader for the billion plus Catholic people worldwide and has relentlessly strove to bring the religion into the present while maintaining as much of the tradition and teaching as possible. Nor do I fault Michael Shiavo for trying to do what he felt was right for his wife in the horrible condition in which she was forced to exist. It's not even the Schindler family that has caused most of the melodrama and later the vehemence that we have all had to observe, they were just so desperate to save their child that they accepted the advice of several totally iniquitous individuals with personal agendas and no scruples that used the Schindler’s fear and pain for their own advantage. These are the villains and the media has pandered to them like maggots in a carcass.

Pope John Paul II is a great man whose time is near and inevitable. Since he has to go, who could ask for a better time than this?