• ACORN has been blamed for a lot of the country’s woes lately. Well, it just so turns out that Senator John McCain attended an ACORN rally back in 2006.
• The stock market rallied over 900 points yesterday (largest one day jump) behind the news of the European Union and Britain buying up bank shares and securing intra-bank loans. The United States, never wanting to restrain raw capitalism, has been resistant to make such a move. By the way, no matter how much the stock market smiles upon the latest moves, we still have to fix the underlying problem. We need jobs. We also need the housing market to stabilize. None of the moves that I’ve seen so far have addressed either of these two issues.
• Congratulations to Paul Krugman. He has won the economic Nobel Prize. I have read his recent book, Conscience of a Liberal and it is outstanding. Krugman explains in easy-to-understand terms why the 1950s and 1960s were so successful in the United States. He also explains why we’re having the problems we are having today. Mr. Krugman explained patterns of worldwide trade during the late 1970s and 1980s. Again, congratulations to Mr. Krugman.
• Congressman Tim Mahoney (Democrat in Florida) has agreed to pay off his former mistress whom he fired from his staff. In case you’re not familiar with this story, Congressman Mahoney replaced Congressman Mark Foley when he resigned from Congress after it was discovered that he had solicited several of the young pages. I have no problem if you have a mistress. That is between you and your wife and, of course, your mistress. If you’re going to indulge in this type of activity it’s probably best for you not to be in Congress. House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi has called for an immediate investigation.
• Is it finally time for more regulation on Wall Street?
• One of the biggest problem I had with the $700 billion bailout is that there were no clear signs that anyone knew what to do with this money. Well, $250 billion appears to be earmarked to buy a significant portion of nine troubled US banks. European countries agreed to buy up their banks with the condition that CEOs had to step down. I see no such condition in this American proposal. Mirroring the European agreement, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has been given the task of guaranteeing interbank loans. I wonder how our money gets protected in these loan guarantees?
• Late Friday night, we found out that Governor Sarah Palin was guilty of using undue influence to try to fire Mark Wooten. To prove that she is as modest and as humble as the Bush administration, Governor Palin declared that she was exonerated. Nothing could be further from the truth. Maybe we, as Americans, should take some time out and introduce Governor Palin to the truth.
• Finally, the New York “football” Giants lost to the Cleveland Browns on Monday Night Football. This season is becoming more and more confusing. The New York Giants looked invincible through their first four games. They were playing excellent football on both offense and defense. The Cleveland Browns has looked relatively awful all year. They really haven’t been able to do anything right. They slapped the Giants around like they were the defending Super Bowl champs. As Chris Berman says, “That’s why they play the game.”

Just in case you are wondering Senator Larry Craig is going to appeal his most recent court decision. He also feels that Mitt Romney has treated him unfairly.

Give me a break. The Senator has become Britney Spears. He does something stupid. The press covers it and he whines.

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From CNN.com:

Sen. Larry Craig says he will file an appeal Monday over a judge’s refusal to allow him to withdraw his guilty plea stemming from his arrest in an airport bathroom sex sting.

In an interview Sunday with KTVB-TV, Craig repeated he will not resign his post in the Senate and said he will continue to work his legal options.

“It is my right to do what I’m doing,” said Craig, an Idaho Republican. “I’ve already provided for Idaho certainty that Idaho needed — I’m not running for re-election. I’m no longer in the way. I am pursuing my constitutional rights.” (more…)

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From WaPo:

Sen. Larry E. Craig (R-Idaho) vowed to serve out the remainder of his term yesterday despite losing his bid to withdraw his guilty plea for disorderly conduct in an airport men’s restroom.

Craig, who said earlier that he would resign if unable to withdraw his plea, said he is considering appealing yesterday’s decision by a Minnesota judge. The judge ruled that some of the senator’s legal arguments were “illogical.” (more…)

So, now the judge in Minnesota says no way Jose to Larry Craig’s petition to have a re-trial. TPM has a great paragraph that sums up this whole case -

So Craig’s fellow Republicans basically do everything short of physically forcing him to resign. He “resigns”. Only it’s not a resignation. Rather, it’s a rather ingenious ploy to let the temperature ease off on the story, a post-dated resignation. Then it’s not a resignation. He’s going to fight the guilty plea — something of a novelty in the annals of jurisprudence. He’ll stay in office if he can get his plea withdrawn. And now he can’t get his guilty plea withdrawn so, well, too bad. He’s staying anyway.

It is kind of remarkable that it is the Republicans that look impotent for once.

BTW, he shouldn’t get a retrial. If his judgment is so BAD that he pleads guilty to something that he is not guilty of then he needs to be removed from the Senate for being too stupid to govern. On the other hand, if he was soliciting sex like I think he was, he needs to be removed from office for being a 2-faced liar. There’s his choice. I look forward to him choosing.

You know every now and then you find a story that gets under your skin.  It makes you mad.  You want to do something but there is nothing more to do than post.  The whole Mark Foley story is one of those kind of stories.  Now, it looks as if charges will not be filed.

——

From RS:

“Barring any extraordinary circumstances, it is very unlikely for charges to be filed in a case once the statute of limitations has run its course,” Aya Gruber, a former federal public defender and professor of law at Florida International University, told ABC News.

“Federal officials turned the case over to Florida after concluding that Foley did not engage in any actual sexual contact until the former pages had turned 18, and had therefore not violated federal law. Washington, D.C. law defines the age of consent as 16,” ABC added.  (more…)

Yep, I went there. This whole thing is so ridiculous, you have to go there. For the women out there that haven’t been in a men’s restroom, there is a protocol. It is just like getting in a elevator where no one talks, in the mens room there is very little chitchat. There is very little eye contact. You go. You do your business. You leave. Done. There is no foot touching. That just doesn’t happen. Never. There is no time when your stance is wide enough so that your foot goes under the stall divider. NOT. NEVER.

BTW, have you ever heard of someone pleading guilty then trying to take back him/her guilty plea? I’m not talking about 16 year old kid but instead, a 62 year old veteran of national politics.

I, personally, think that he should stay so that everyone can see the hypocrisy of the Republican “Family Values” party.

(video later.)

The Carpetbagger Report has been all over Larry Craig – here, here and here.

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From MSNBC.com:

Sen. Larry Craig is reconsidering his decision to resign after his arrest in a Minnesota airport sex sting and may still fight for his Senate seat, his spokesman said Tuesday evening.

“It’s not such a foregone conclusion anymore, that the only thing he could do was resign,” Sidney Smith, Craig’s spokesman in Idaho’s capital, told The Associated Press.

“We’re still preparing as if Sen. Craig will resign Sept. 30, but the outcome of the legal case in Minnesota and the ethics investigation will have an impact on whether we’re able to stay in the fight — and stay in the Senate,” Smith said. (more…)

BTW, I know that Senator Craig has resigned. I thought about posting something on him separately but he speech was trite. His idea to “fight on” was silly. He plead guilty. Now, after the outcry, he was wronged? I’m afraid that the poor cop that arrested him is going to be stream rolled by a still powerful, self loathing, Republican with an axe to grind.

This is nuts (here is the transcript of the arrest interview). Larry Craig pleaded guilty. He plead guilty to a crime in which he was accused of lewd behavior. Now, there isn’t a heterosexual man in America who would admit to being Gay if he wasn’t. It just doesn’t happen. It is like a White guy walking around saying that he is Black. That doesn’t happen. (Except in that stupid Hollywood Movie Soul Man)

What’s up with him getting arrested and not telling his wife? If Craig truly thought that he was wronged wouldn’t his wife be the first person that we would tell? The only way that I don’t tell my wife is if I’m trying to hide something from her. Something like being accused of propositioning a police officer in a public bathroom when you have been plagued by rumors of homosexual activity for over 25 years!!

———

From MSNBC.com:

… “You are sitting here lying to a police officer,” Karsnia (the arresting police officer) responded. “People vote for you. Unbelievable.”

…Craig pleaded guilty on Aug. 1 to a charge of disorderly conduct, but the case didn’t come to public light until Tuesday. Craig held a news conference then and said that despite his guilty plea, he had done nothing wrong and had hired an attorney.

He has received little public support from Republicans, however. Several GOP lawmakers have suggested he resign, some citing the fact that he pleaded guilty in the case.

——

From WaPo:

… In a highly unusual move, the entire Senate Republican leadership team issued a statement minutes before Craig’s press conference complaining that none of them were told of Craig’s legal troubles until yesterday. Craig issued a statement Monday confirming his arrest and guilty plea, which were first reported in the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call. The GOP senators asked the Ethics Committee to investigate the matter, vowing to consider other punitive sanctions.

“This is a serious matter,” Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Minority Whip Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and three other elected GOP leaders said in their joint statement. “Due to the reported and disputed circumstances, and the legal resolution of this serious case, we will recommend that Senator Craig’s incident be reported to the Senate Ethics Committee for its review. In the meantime, leadership is examining other aspects of the case to determine if additional action is required.” (more…)

I find it interesting how the Republicans jumped on the resign bandwagon. Remember they really never came out and denounced Rep. Foley. They helped Denis Hastert badly fumble what should have been a cut and dry case of immoral behavior.

Check out Senator Craig’s statement (see vid below). He plead guilty with out telling anyone. Either he is dumber than dirt or he is lying. Then way he should never be elected to any post high than dog catcher.

Again, Glenn Greenwald has a great take on this. He points out the right wing hypocrisy.

——-

From MSNBC.com:

Under fire from leaders of his own party, Idaho Sen. Larry Craig on Tuesday said the only thing he had done wrong was to plead guilty after a complaint of lewd conduct in a men’s room. He declared, “I am not gay. I never have been gay.”

“I did nothing wrong at the Minneapolis airport,” he said at a news conference with his wife, Suzanne, at his side.

Craig also lashed out at the Idaho Statesman newspaper, which reported Monday that, according to an anonymous source, Craig had a homosexual encounter in a Washington train station. Craig accused the paper of waging a witch hunt against him. (more…)

So, Bob Allen of Fla propositions a cop in a bathroom just a couple of months ago. His explanation for what happened as racist at best. Now, we have Idaho Republican Senator Larry Craig. He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct. It appears that there was some lewd conduct in a men’s restroom. Of course, Craig is trying to spin this.

Update: It appears that Craig was a big supporter of Mitt Romney. They even had a commercial together. Now, that commercial has been pulled by Romney campaign. I can’t find a copy of it on the web anywhere.

Update II: Well, well, well. It appears that Larry Craig has a little history of homosexual behavior. At least he was accused of the behavior. Check out this video from 1982! Wait for the last 60 seconds of the video. (BTW, look at Lisa Myers!!! OMG!!!) Oh, if you look and look, you can find just about anything on the web. LiveLeak had a copy of this Craig’s pitch for Romney.

——

From MSNBC.com:

Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho pleaded guilty this month to misdemeanor disorderly conduct after being arrested at the Minneapolis airport.

A Hennepin County court docket showed Craig pleading guilty to the disorderly conduct charge Aug. 8, with the court dismissing a charge of gross misdemeanor interference to privacy.

The court docket said the Republican senator was fined $1,000, plus $575 in fees. He was put on unsupervised probation for a year. A sentence of 10 days in the county workhouse was stayed. (more…)

The House Ethics Committee released its report today, and spent 91 pages (and who knows how many dollars and hours) parsing towards its conclusion that nobody broke any rules and that nobody should be punished, sanctioned, or even publicly singled out for reprimand.

They did confirm that then-House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and RCCC Chairman Tom Reynolds (R-NY) were each aware of the problem long before it came to the surface and that then-Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL) was also aware, if not to the same degree.

But they didn’t break any rules.

Because apparently, we need there to be a rule, one that says that if one of your colleagues is a sexual predator, making inappropriate advances upon minors, then you need to take action to stop him from doing that.

They confirm that John Shimkus (R-IL), the chair of the House Page Committee, was aware of the problem and that he didn’t tell Dale Kildee (D-MI), the only Democrat on the three-person board about the instant messaging because “Dale’s a nice guy, but he’s a Democrat, and I was afraid it would be blown out of proportion.” And to ensure that it was swept under the carpet instead, he didn’t even tell his fellow Republican on the board, Shelly Moore Capito, of West Virginia.

But he didn’t break any rules.

Because apparently we need there to be another rule, one that says that if there is a problem with a program that you are responsible for overseeing, then you have to discuss it with the other people who are also responsible for overseeing that program. And for good measure, maybe a rule that says that you should actually do something about it.

They wring their hands about the fact that they have no jurisdiction over Mark Foley, because he is no longer a member of the House. But they have no problems, apparently, with the fact that he will continue to receive his pension. Because currently, you get to keep your pension unless you are convicted of crimes related to treason or espionage. Mightn’t this have been a good opportunity to throw in with the people who are advocating for the revocation of pensions of any Congress members who are convicted of felonies either during or after Congressional service?

Hey, that would be a good rule.

And retired Representative Jim Kolbe (R-AZ), who also seems to have known about this long before the public? Well maybe his statement to a former page of his who had also received “special attention” from Foley sums up the whole attitude of this investigation best. When the scandal was unfolding, Kolbe’s former page contacted him to ask him what he should do about the fact that he, too, had received an inappropriate IM from Foley back in 2001. Kolbe told him that, “it is best that you don’t even bring this up with anybody….(T)here is no good that can come from it if you actually talk about this. The man has resigned anyway.”

Bleh.

And then to foist upon us the following “justification” for the whole lack of investigation thing: “Some may have been concerned that raising the issue too aggressively might have risked exposing Rep. Foley’s homosexuality, which could have affected him both personally and politically.” Yup, the number one possible factor listed by the Investigation Subcommittee was that the GOP was too gay-friendly. Never mind the fact that nobody being investigated had actually had the balls to try to use that excuse for themselves. Never mind the fact that this had nothing to do with homosexuality and everything to do with pedophilia. Could we dismiss a lack of investigation into a hypothetical murder committed by a Congressman by saying that we would be afraid that exposing him as, well, a murderer, might affect him “both personally and politically”?

Excuse me while I puke.

Here are the phone numbers of the two Representatives responsible for this steaming load: Congressman Howard Berman (D-CA) (202) 225-4695, and Congressman Doc Hastings (R-WA) (202) 225-5816.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) will not seek reelection to the Republican leadership when his members return as a minority party after taking heavy losses in Tuesday’s elections, a Republican official tells TIME. Hastert, 64, a low-key former high school wrestling coach, was beloved by members as a “good cop,” compared to the enforcer style of the longtime number two leader, former Rep. Tom Delay (R-Tex.). But Hastert was badly damaged by questions about how much he had known about former Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) and his contact with pages, and members felt Hastert also handled the aftermath of the revelations clumsily.  more

—————

So, is this the dismantling of Delay’s machine?  The machine that delivered vote after vote for Bush?

Another former altar boy says he was sexually abused in the 1970s by the same retired Catholic priest who acknowledged fondling former Rep. Mark Foley when Foley was a teenager, the man’s attorney said Wednesday.

The new allegations against the Rev. Anthony Mercieca were made by a man who lived in North Miami and was an altar boy at St. James Catholic Church, where Mercieca worked, attorney Jeffrey Herman said.

Herman said he planned to file a lawsuit Wednesday against the Archdiocese of Miami. His client, now 40 and identified in the lawsuit only as John Doe No. 26, says Mercieca abused him when he was about 12 years old.

“He had been thinking about it before Foley came forward, and then when Foley came out and the church encouraged other victims to come forward, he decided to come forward,” Herman said.

The man said “all of my nightmares came back” when Mercieca’s picture appeared on the news last week amid Foley’s claims that the priest had molested him. Foley had resigned amid accusations that he sent sexually explicit messages to teenage boys who had worked on Capitol Hill. more

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I thought as soon as Foley pointed the finger at someone in the clergy, more accusers would come out of the woodwork.  I’m not saying that someone is lying.  Instead I’m saying as soon as one person gets the courage to jump in the water others will follow.  It is rare for someone who molests children to only molest one.  Sad case. 

On the other hand, why hasn’t any one in the Republican leadership resigned over this?  Are they the moral party?  Isn’t that what the Contract with America was for?  Some where in the contract it said – “This year’s election offers the chance, after four decades of one-party control, to bring to the House a new majority that will transform the way Congress works. That historic change would be the end of government that is too big, too intrusive, and too easy with the public’s money. It can be the beginning of a Congress that respects the values and shares the faith of the American family.“  I’m sure having your 15, 16 or 17 year old son or daughter hit on by a Congressman is not a family value.

A Republican Congressman’s office is being sued for sexual harassment, according to Roll Call.

“Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.), already enmeshed in the ex-Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) page scandal, now faces a new controversy as a former staffer has sued his office for sexual harassment,” John Bresnahan reports.

Excerpts from Roll Call article:

Elizabeth Scott, Alexander’s former scheduler, claims that Royal Alexander, the Congressman’s chief of staff, “engaged in a course of misconduct” that included “inappropriate sex-based comments, ogling and touching” and “sexual advances,” according to Michael Hoare, Scott’s attorney. Scott told the Congressman of his aide’s alleged improper behavior but the Louisiana Republican took no action to correct the situation, Hoare said. more

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I’m sure that this is going to be blamed on the Dems also.