More on the Homeland Security child molester

Homeland Security Deputy Press Secretary, and accused pedophile, Brian Doyle on wanding women's breasts at airport security:

As for touching a woman's breast, If the hand wand signals an alarm over the breast area, the screener must resolve the alarm.

All in the line of duty, eh Brian? Read More......

Homeland Security Deputy Press Secretary arrested for soliciting 14 year old girl for sex

Jesus Christ. Do these people vet ANYBODY? And lest anyone suggest that Brian Doyle is simply some two-bit low-level functionary at Homeland Security, just Google him - his name is all over EVERYTHING Homeland Security does because HE'S THEIR SPOKESMAN.

On many occasions, Doyle instructed the victim, whom he believed to be a 14-year-old girl, to perform a sexual act while thinking of him, and described explicit and perverse sexual acts he wished to have with her, in addition to sending her numerous obscene .mpg files (digital movies). He also had sexually explicit telephone conversations with a detective posing as a child on his office line and cell phone. He attempted to seduce the girl during their online chats, encouraging her to purchase a web cam so that she could send graphic images of herself to him, and promised her that he would likewise send nude photos of himself. Many of the conversations he initiated with the victim are too extraordinary and graphic for public release.....

During future online chats, Doyle gave the undercover detective posing as a 14-year-old girl his office phone number and his government-issued cell phone number, so that they could have telephone conversations, in addition to their online chatting. Doyle used the Internet to send hard-core pornographic movie clips to the girl and used the AOL Instant Messenger chat service to have explicit sexual conversations with her.

Major hat tip to ThinkProgress for catching this. Read More......

Gays in the US court system

Gay.com and PlanetOut published a five-day series of articles about problems facing gays and lesbians in the US court system.

Arrested Justice: When LGBT People Land in Jail

One: A frightening odyssey
Two: Rape and HIV are all too common
Three: Transgender inmates -"You are your ! birth certificate"
Four: The myth of "protective custody"
Five: What if you get arrested.

First article
Second article
Third article
Fourth article
Fifth article Read More......

Delay update

AP

Within hours of DeLay's announcement, several Republicans contacted party officials about getting on the Nov. 7 ballot. Among the potential candidates: Harris County Judge Robert Eckels, who worked with Houston's mayor to help the city absorb Hurricane Katrina refugees, and the county's tax collector-assessor, Paul Bettencourt.

A committee of select precinct chairmen from the four counties that comprise DeLay's 22nd Congressional District will select a nominee to replace him.

The Democratic candidate is former Rep. Nick Lampson, who lost his seat when DeLay redesigned the districts in 2004.

Read More......

Rush Limbaugh calls alleged Duke rape victim a "ho"

And this guy is one of the Republican politicians' favorite people. If you like what you're hearing from the Republicans, and think this kind of talk and attitude is good for the direction of America, then please do vote Republican in the fall. Read More......

Prissy John McCain loses his cool with union leaders

McCain is going to have to face much larger threats than a few people booing at him if he ever becomes president. Let's hope he's more level-headed should that fateful day ever arrive. Read More......

Open thread

I have nothing witty. Read More......

The "war on Christians" folks are DEFENDING DELAY!

Oh man, these people just keep on giving and giving. We're to believe that they represent mainstream Christians, and even better, a return to 'values' - that's what their conference last week in DC was all about - and they're issuing press releases defending Tom Delay.

It's funny, it's pathetic, it's hypocritical, and decidedly un-Christian.

Then again, I've just defined the religious right.

So much for the holier-than-thou attitude. I guess these folks must have read a different Bible than I did. And Feder must be reading a very funny Torah if it endorses conspiracies.

The religious right is as out of touch with mainstream Christianity as the Republican party is with mainstream America. Both claim to stand for something they wouldn't even recognize. Read More......

DailyKos vs. the White House; and AMERICAblog vs. the Washington Times

Fun with numbers. Web site rankings from Alexa.com, one of the Web's top ranking sites.

The daily reach of DailyKos (red) vs. the WhiteHouse (blue)



Daily reach of AMERICAblog (blue) vs. the Washington Times (red)



Click graphs above to see a bigger picture.

PS Note that the AMERICAblog chart most likely is not counting our AMERICAblog.com or our AMERICAblog.org traffic, it's only counting the blogspot.com address, so our traffic is actually higher. Read More......

Ken Blackwell owned stock in Diebold -- "accidentally"

Wow. The GOPers really have no ethics. And the biggest GOP cesspool outside of DC is in Ohio.

Ken Blackwell, the Ohio Secretary of State who is also a GOP candidate for Governor -- the guy who chose the voting machines for his state -- and chose Diebold -- announced that he actually owned stock in Diebold:

Secretary of State Ken Blackwell made an embarrassing announcement Monday: He accidentally bought stock in Diebold Inc., a voting machine maker that benefited from decisions made by his office.

In a required filing with the Ohio Ethics Commission, the GOP gubernatorial hopeful said his hefty portfolio included 178 shares of Diebold stock, which sold for a loss.

"While I was unaware of this stock in my portfolio, its mere presence may be viewed as a conflict," Blackwell wrote in a letter that accompanies his annual financial disclosure statement.

Yes, it is viewed as a conflict. What a coincidental "accident." Not that conflicts-of-interest have ever been a concern for the GOP. They're in power. Like the GOP in DC, the GOP in Ohio has absolute power -- they control the executive branch, the Senate and the House. And absolute power really does corrupt absolutely.

Blackwell is running for Governor as the ultra-right wing, theocratic candidate. But that crowd is only concerned about the morals of others, not their own. Read More......

House Republicans think Delay's corruption is no big deal

It's pretty bad when the House Republican leader still calls Tom Delay a man of "integrity."

If John Boehner wants to call Delay his friend, that's fine. But after Delay announces that he will resign in shame after being indicted on conspiracy charges, and with all the ethics problems the Republicans are now facing, you don't talk about Delay's "integrity."

“He has served our nation with integrity and honor, and I’m honored to call him my colleague and friend,” Boehner said.

The Republicans just don't get it. Read More......

House Democrats to introduce legislation protecting taxpayers' privacy

As you may know, the Bush administration is trying to push through new regulations that will make it easier for your accountant to sell your tax records to other people for profit. Sick, no?

Well, the House Dems are offering legislation to stop this practice before Bush lets it happen. Here's some background from House Dems:

The IRS has proposed new regulations (under IRC 7212) which would prohibit tax return preparers from sending tax information overseas unless the taxpayer gave consent. The new regulations also would expand the ability of tax return preparers to solicit the sale of products and services to their taxpayer-clients using their confidential tax return information, again with taxpayer consent.

Current regulations, adopted 35 years ago, limit solicitations only to products offered by the tax preparer company and its affiliates and require some level of taxpayer consent. The proposed regulations would allow tax return preparers to market the sale of any product or service and require clear taxpayer consent after written warning that the tax information may not longer be protected.

Members have expressed a fundamental concern about tax return preparers using confidential taxpayer information for purposes other that preparing and filing tax returns (e.g., marketing the sale of car insurance, high-interest rate loans, stocks and bond purchases, real estate, any product you can imagine).

The proposed bill would (1) ban the overseas transfer of tax return information by a tax return preparer and (2) prohibit tax return preparers from using taxpayer information to market the sale of any \product or service.

Taxpayer consents allowing return preparers to use or disclose their tax information would no longer be valid.

Currently your tax preparer can't sell your records. Under the new Bush regulations, they can sell them if they get your consent. But here's the rub, will the consent be buried in 6 pages of documents you have to sign in order to hire your tax preparer? Will tax preparers require "consent" for anyone who tries to file their taxes at the last minute - sort of as an added penalty for filing late, a penalty that you'll have no choice but to accept because you're late on your taxes, what else are you going to do? Will tax preparers offer discounts to people willing to give up their consent, people who don't fully appreciate what they're giving up?

There are lots of ways that this new "consent" can be abused. Bush should stop trying to find new creative ways to give corporations more giveaways. Read More......

Man-whores for Lieberman

James Guckert (aka Jeff Gannon), ex-$200-an-hour-GOP-gay-prostitute, thinks Joe Lieberman is swell.

From Guckert's Web site, that I will not link to:

Truth be told, JFK would recognize the Democratic Party because his BROTHER is a member of its radicalized leadership as is the "other JFK", whose cheap imitation of a war hero would be repugnant to the commander of PT-109. He'd more than likely be sickened by its treatment of Sen. Joe Lieberman, one of the few in his party who takes the threat of Islamofacism seriously.

That's a pretty strong position, James. Tell us about your other favorite positions. Read More......

GOP House passes Big Brother education bill to force universities to move to the right ideologically

Yes, because that's what government should be doing, forcing universities to become politically conservative. This is what the Republicans are focusing on when the nation is at war in a quagmire that's heading south, fast. Health care costs are rising, the economy is still sluggish, Bush is planning a 3rd war, this time against Iran, and the congressional Republicans (who control the US House and US Senate) are busy playing Big Brother with America's universities.

If you like these priorities, then please do vote Republican in the fall. Read More......

Yeah, sure, he's quitting for political reasons

The New York Times provided these paragraphs which sum up the current cases involving Tom DeLay. Tom DeLay is the face of the House GOP. And this is his legacy:

With Mr. Rudy's guilty plea last Friday, he became the second former DeLay aide to admit wrongdoing in the corruption investigation centered on Mr. Abramoff, who has also pleaded guilty to conspiring to corrupt public officials, including members of Congress.

Mr. Abramoff, Mr. Rudy and the other aide, Michael Scanlon, who had been Mr. DeLay's press secretary in the House, are all cooperating with the Justice Department, which is investigating whether Mr. DeLay and other members of Congress accepted travel, gifts or money from Mr. Abramoff and his associates in return for legislative favors.

Mr. Rudy's plea agreement, which covers actions he took on Mr. Abramoff's behalf both while on Mr. DeLay's staff and after leaving the House to work as a lobbyist, did not allege any wrongdoing by Mr. DeLay or say that Mr. DeLay knew of any criminal activities by Mr. Rudy.

Mr. DeLay was indicted last September in Texas on unrelated charges involving violations of state election laws including money laundering and conspiring to funnel illegal corporate contributions to Republican statehouse candidates in 2002. The charges were later scaled back by a state judge to the money-laundering counts and remain the subject of an appeal.

In the fall of 2004, Mr. DeLay was admonished by the House ethics committee on three issues involving misuse of his influence, including an offer to support the House candidacy of the son of a former Republican representative from Michigan, Nick Smith, in return for Mr. Smith's vote for a Medicare prescription drug benefit.

Read More......

DeLay speaks at 9:00 9:10 am

UPDATE: Favorite quote "The Abramoff affair has nothing to do with me." In DeLay's mind, DeLay's the most ethical guy in the GOP. Funny thing is that he just may be.

Fox is really milking this.

This could be the one time it might be worth watching Fox News -- the official announcement:

DeLay is scheduled to appear on Fox News Channel Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. ET.

The next time DeLay gets this much press attention, he'll be doing a perp walk.

And the rest of the House GOPers aren't off the hook -- they made DeLay and he made them -- as Josh Marshall reminds us:

So DeLay is out. But it's DeLay's House. DeLay's Republican DC machine. They built and fortified it with the money he brought in. The great majority of them voted for the "DeLay Rule" custom tailored for Majority Leader DeLay to avoid stepping down even after indictment. The current Republican membership of the House ethics committee was hand-picked to provide protection for DeLay and the old membership was purged. He's their guy. Their rule rests on his machine. They can run but they can't hide.

Read More......

EPA regional offices outraged with new pollution plan

I understand that businesses need to survive, but what about the people living near these polluters? Aren't they allowed to survive too? Once upon a time the EPA gave a damn about the environment including the people who live in the US. Now it is just a cynical political tool of the GOP that delivers the wish list to polluters/political contributors. How about caring for the American people? Why does the GOP hate Americans?

The proposed rule, whose wording was disclosed yesterday by the advocacy group Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), would change the emissions standards for oil refineries, hazardous waste incinerators, chemical plants, steel mills and other plants that discharge thousands of pounds of airborne toxins such as arsenic, mercury and lead.

An internal EPA memo summarizing the position of eight of the agency's 10 regional offices, dated Dec. 13, contended the change could conceivably result in an increase in toxic emissions. Seven of the offices agreed that the proposal would allow polluters to "virtually avoid regulation and greatly complicate any enforcement."

One EPA official familiar with the proposal, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, said the rule went further than many staff members thought was necessary.

"There are ways you could make regulations less burdensome for industry," the agency official said. "This is beyond. . . . It seems to be driven more by political considerations."

Read More......

Skilling and Lay relying on low level help for defense

Lay and Skilling have been launching their defense this week by offering executive assistants and low level employee testimony who are telling the court what great guys they really were and how innocent they are of destroying Enron and the lives of thousands. Sounds like Kenny-boy and Skilling have a rough road ahead if this is the best they can do. Read More......

It's Tuesday, so it must be a strike day in France

Another strike, ugh. Usually the strikes happen in May which is loaded with public holidays (making them longer) or in June, which always seems to be when Air France goes on strike but the political inabilities of the ruling government have managed to spread out the season. Fortunately the strikes are having limited impact on commuters, which makes me wonder why every government here allows itself to be controlled by street protestors instead of actual voters.

The government is folding on the youth employment law and the student protestors sense weakness and disarray in the government. The rudderless ship goes nowhere. Read More......

Open thread

Like there's any other topic on our minds. Read More......

Delay stories from everywhere

• Washington Post
• NYT
• Chicago Trib
  
• Houston Chronicle talks about possible contenders
  

Read More......

My initial take on Delay deciding to quit

I've recorded some of my thoughts.

Ok, I'll write some more since traffic is pretty out of control. People are clearly awake and surfing for info.

A couple thoughts.

1. If Delay told Chris Matthews he pulled out of the race because the polls were bad, well then clearly that isn't the reason.

2. Delay has announced he's resigning in May or June, so that's much more telling than his simply not running again. You don't resign because your re-election numbers are bad. You resign to avoid some major embarrassment to yourself or the party. I think Delay knows that another shoe, a big shoe, is going to drop. Whether he was notified about some upcoming additional indictment, or whether he's finally figured out that he's going to jail, something big happened, otherwise he wouldn't be leaving his seat early.

3. Bad news for the Republicans. Rather than take Delay out of the picture, Delay is now an even bigger story. The ongoing investigation is going to make news until the election. And this puts to rest any of the Republicans' snarking about how the prosecutor was a Democrat. He clearly caught delay doing something wrong.

But back to the Republicans, way for Delay to ruin the one year anniversary of the Terri Schiavo fiasco for the religious right. Though it's ironic that last week was Schiavo week since that's when the Republicans really started melting down. And Delay's downfall shows it ain't gonna get any better any time soon.

4. This will at least get Cynthia McKinney out of the news.

5. This hurts congressional Republicans pretty significantly as they lose one of their toughest members, a conservative family-values (well, not, but he pretended) member.

6. A big loss for the religious right as well. They never wanted to admit that sucking up to someone who's corrupt might not be exactly the Christian thing to do. Then again, who ever called the religious right "Christian." They just lost the Congressman from Schiavo. That's gonna hurt.

7. This only furthers the public's perception of Congress being corrupt, and of the corruption scandals being ALL Republican. And both of those most hurt the party that rules the House and the Senate, the Republicans. Time for the Washington Post ombudsman to write another article blaming Democrats.

I think that's it for now. This is just an initial brainstorming. But I would not worry one bit about Delay quitting too soon (i.e., would have been better to have him bringing the Republican party down up until the election). Every day is a new disaster for the Republican party, and today was a pretty good one. We've been waiting for some good luck for 5 years, enjoy it. There will be many more to come between now and November.

PS And major kudos to the folks at CREW who have been dogging this jerk for years. It is not an understatement to say that they share a big part of the credit for what happened today. If you want to give money to lean, mean organizations that actually kick butt and take no prisoners, give to CREW. Read More......