Elizabeth- Richard Armitage is the slimeball Iran-Contra felon he always has been…and he did leak to Novak but they were all in it. And it wasn’t “foolish” it was treason as Armitage says, it was treason on the parts of those who set this politcal hit on Wilson in motion. She was in charge of WMD. Here’s Armitage the Watergate Iran-Contra criminal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwJCUZHZjV8 Here’s Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson talking about the hit job on them. The title of her book “Fair Game” came from Rove saying she, a covert CIA operative, was Fair Game. It was CONSPIRACY. Libby was convicted for lying about a CONSPIRACY. HER SHE IS SAYING WHAT HER JOB WAS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpImIG-PtF0 AS SHE SAYS SHE WAS BETRAYED BY THE ADMINISTRATION WHILE SHE WAS WORKING ON KEY ELEMENTS OF NATIONAL SECURITY AND ON 60 MINUTES—-THE ADMINISTRATION BLOWING THE COVER OF A SPY: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXbyG7SR-jM HERE SHE IS ON HARDBALL TALKING ABOUT THE LEADUP TO WAR CLAIMS…INCLUDING COLIN POWELL’S UN SPEECH AND BUSH’S STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HetijpLyL5g&feature=related HERE’S MCCELLAN SAYING BUSH WAS INVOLVED IN THE PLAME LEAK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubNHKwccCDE&feature=related VALERIE PLAME WAS THE CHIEF OF WMD OPERATIONS; HERE SHE IS ON OLBERMANN BEING VERY CLEAR ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFKPV07o5S0&feature=related WHAT THEY DID IS TREASON. AND NOW SHE SAYS THEY’RE CHERRY PICKING INTELLIGENCE AGAINST IRAN IN THE VERY SAME MANNER. She’s moved to Sante Fe and says the public needs to be involved in their government: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fC9Btc8SbCY&feature=related

Elizabeth—Exactly, I am equal opportunity in the outrage dept and agree with Senator Chuck hagel (R) that the American public is furious and they are going to self-correct the government. I want everyone who voted for the war OUT, unless they unequivocably state their opposition and follow it up with SERIOUS action to hold the administration accountable which means to act in accord with their CONSTITUTIONAL duty and impeach. I supported Bill Clinton during the impeachment because having a fling with a chubby of age intern, while tacky and sophomoric, doesn’t rise to $82M investigation and impeachment while mass murdering 1M innocent civilians etc goes unpunished. I am no longer a Clinton/Pelosi etc supporter because of their voting for this illegal war. I hope they are voted out and certaintly activists have it in mind. So they’d better get it together and ACT if they hope to keep themselves in office. Otherwise I predict a well needed rout.

Here’s Obama speeching in 2002 in several venues saying, he isn’t necessarily opposed to war in some situations—he opposes a DUMB WAR. HE COULDN”T HAVE BEEN ANY CLEARER—ANY MORE PUBLIC—AND HE WAS RIGHT ON THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE OF OUR TIME. SENATOR CHUCK HAGEL (R) said the IRAQ DEBACLE IS ONE OF THE 5 GREATEST BLUNDERS IN HISTORY—- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtDJqa16-G8&feature=related So has the Pentagon Institute in its report. All things we all predicted in 2002/3. HERE IS THE GREAT (AND ONLY ONE LEFT) REPUBLICAN SENATOR CHUCK HAGEL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZCeUhLkGto&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDUfmG8St2s Can’t wait to read his book…and wish Obama would pick him, or Wesley Clark as VP. Here’s Chuck Hagel again being smart and putting together thoughts and words that the entire Bush cabal can’t: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIVqyrPrikw&feature=related Here’s Chuck Hagel going after Condi Rice about what the Bush owe our troops and their families…and that what the Bush Admin is doing is morally and tactically WRONG. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wlMxxyKztw&feature=related Rice is the only Sec of State with her name on a Chevron oil tanker and she was on the board. No conflict of interests there. She should stick with the piano playing instead of screwing up the world. As former asst Sec of Treasury Paul Craig Roberts (R) said, having sat in many cabinet meetings, she’s as dumb as they get.

Renata- Exactly. Some people don’t know what courage is and what it isn’t. Standing up against that onslaught in 2003 took tremendous guts.

I forgot to say thanks for the list Maurine. Actually it has been tatooed in my brain since 2003. I know who the Profiles in Courage are—and also who is not.

Yes and good old Teddy Kennedy said it was the proudest vote he ever cast. Among all his fighting for increased minimum wage, education, improved health care, for veterans etc. Anyone who listened to Robert Byrd’s excellent floor speech before the vote and voted for the war, is someone I hope will be voted out of office UNLESS they have UNEQIVOCABLLY recanted the vote AND support impeachment. If they don’t then they still don’t have a moral center and are STILL failing in their CONSTITUTIONAL duty. So screw em. Hopefully Nancy Pelosi et al will go down in defeat. The great Paul Wellstone was the outspoken leader in the Senate against the war…before his plane crash.

Actually Beth, it isn’t simplistic. all you have to do is look at the facts and the results and if a person can support this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0TnqUlB4Gg&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjXPOxnu2N8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1U7qgudyww&feature=related I repeat….the people on those videos laughing supporters of Bush Inc, and those in their crazy cabal, are as ignorant, classless, and tasteless as it gets. There are 6.6 B people on the planet and they are among the most contemptible. I hope they enjoy their hot perch in hell for supporting organized murder of over a million innocent people for oil. The GOP wrote the game rules when the Tom Delay/The Heritage Foundation wrote and distributed it around the US to GOP activist which included: “We are not going to debate liberals but use Leninist tactics to wipe them off the face of this Earth.” I like Arianna and her new book “Right is Wrong”as she says..the Right has allowed the lunatic fringe to hijack their party and the nation and our Constitution etc. I think she is great. She and Obama are the future. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAgReDssHFY I have nothing but total contempt for the GOP except the few smart ones like Senator Chuck Hagel.

Renata- You are exactly right. Arianna Huffington got $7M of Venture Capital upfront to launch Huffington Post it’s the #1 poltical/cultural blog on the Web for a reason…and still isn’t making a profit but it will. Arianna didn’t chip in $200K each to finance a blog for $1M and she didn’t get huge by going after conservatives because they ARE NOT the market on the internet. I predict Arianna will eventually run for office…and that is one of the intents of the blog…and I will definitely be a supporter. She is one super-smart lady…and was my neighbor….super impressive in person.

Elizabeth—Here’s a brief tape of Powell’s chief aide saying what was going on at the time of the decision making behind the scenes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYBA9JD5oW4&NR=1 During the 2003 lead up to the phony war activists across the US were linked together in house parties/auditoriums/churches etc by conference calls via cheap Radio Shack speakers after watching Robert Greenwald’s 2003 documentary ‘Truth About Iraq” where he interviewed all the experts: Here it is: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7371253996117324045&q=uncovered… We all knew what was going on. And now McCellan has confirmed what all the experts said on Greenwald’s 2003 film. But much more if people were paying attention. 80M marched around the world as on Feb 15, 2003 organized by United for Peace and Justice marched to try to stop it. And here we are right where we all said we’d be when we were being call traitors trying to prevent this needless calamity. With incredibly myopic people still defending it. 19 mostly Saudi hijackers and the oil administration goes after their old asset and business pal, Saddam’s $14 trillion dollars worth of oil, and Bush is regularly seen holding hands and kissing the Saudi king in public and is so closed to Bandar Bin Ladin that he is called Bander Bush. It’s incredible. Halliburton, which Cheney as its former CEO and largest stockholder, benefit by being handed billions in no bid contracts, more their HQ to the Middle East….and the sheepeoples still believe. It’s incredible how dumb. I’m sorry that Colin Powell wasn’t the person I thought he was. Senator Byrd made one of the most important floor speeches in Congressional history before the vote. A handful vote no. Senator Kennedy did and said it was his proudest vote. Now Powell is hinting that he is for Obama….hope he does support him to undo some of the damage he did to his reputation by going along with the Bush cabal.

Lavern—As I read your post, OK, I’m with you…but am wondering how was anyone fooled from the start and surprised by the book. BCCI scandal and S&L scandals under Bush #1—including bailing out Neil Bush’s Silverado scam. Iran-Contra? Reagan-Bush’s excelllent summer vacations of unseating democratic leaders and replacing them with puppet dictators. Oh, and that little fact that Prescott Bush—the grandfather—help finance Hitler’s rise even getting his bank seized by the government under the trading with the enemy act. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/sep/25/usa.secondworldwar All of what Bush #2 has done is just the paradigm of the family business. War profiteering. Ever read “War is a Racket”? it’s online and written by one of the most decorated military men in history. http://lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm Ever read ‘Disaster Capitalism”? Ever read “A New Pearl Harbor”? How about “the prosecution of George Bush for Murder”? Vincent Bugliosi. http://www.prosecutionofbush.com/ Or how about “American Dynasty” written by GOP insider/Nixon staffer Kevin Phillips who thought he was going to write a flattering bio about the Bush family until he started researching. “The Bush dynasty’s dark magic. “One-time Republican hero Kevin Phillips dares to speak up against the Walker-Bush oligarchy that rules the American state through oil, big money and the power of the Christian right.” http://dir.salon.com/story/books/feature/2004/01/27/phillips/index.html Kevine Phillips: “All the money in 2000 basically bought the election — this is not a family [Bushes] with a strong commitment to American democracy. Its sense of how to win elections comes out of a CIA manual, not out of the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution.” Kevin Phillips also authored “The Emerging Republican Majority” while in the Nixon admin. He’s appalled at what the Republican Party has become under GWB…..corrupt, entitled. He says—-and this certainly applies to Monica Crowley: “Few have looked at the facts of the family’s rise, but just as important, commentators have neglected the thread — not the mere occasion — of special interests, biases, scandals (especially those related to arms dealing), and blatant business cronyism…..The evidence that accumulates over four generations [of the Bush family dynasty] is really quite damning.” “Three generations of immersion in the culture of secrecy…deceit and disinformation have become Bush political hallmarks,” Phillips stated in a Buzzflash interview whose editor wrote, “Entitlement, elitism, privilege, secrecy, mediocrity, corruption, financial cronyism, bailouts of family failures by the taxpayers — these are some of the true characteristics of the Bush Dynasty, according to Phillips. What angers Phillips the most is the threat the Bushes pose to American democracy. They DO NOT believe in our basic government elected by the people, for the people. They ARE George Orwell’s “1984” realized. Do you understand that they operate by a Doctrine of Chaos and Distraction [ie a shell game] and are wiping out this country by design while the natives kick back in their Barcaloungers sucking back brewskies and watching “Survivor” while we’re becoming a nation of them. People get the government they deserve. Unfortunately the num-nuts are legion and have pulled this country down to their level in the last agonizing looooooong 7 years. From where they delivered us—-back to where we were in 2000….is an incredibly steep climb. And the fools are fine with electing McSame….because…gee it’s all worked so darned well. And if they prevail, the rest of us will get to voyage along for the final sinking of the US aboard their ship of fools.

Bonie- “States’ Rights” has taken a beating here at wowowow by some of the liberal participants but here is a powerful example of a couple of States leading the way” As a liberal, am not sure what this means. You can’t mean you think liberals aren’t for state’s rights? As when our GOP Gov has to sue the Federal Government because Bush has outsourced the EPA to his Fox guarding the Chicken house friends who nix our environmental standards. Also, the Mayor of SF Gavin Newsom got this round of gay marriage rights going again and was assailed by most of the country including the evil Bush Cabal that don’t mind killing a millions innocent Iraqis…but lord forbid gay people should marry. I’m not gay but I do have many gay friends and that is so assinine that they are thwarted in their inherent rights by folks who already have their places reserved in Dante’s 9th ring in Hell. It is criminal that CA has to sue the Fed Government now controlled by oil men so we can have the standards we choose and our GOP Gov approves. In my dreams CA …Northern Ca anyway would decouple from rest of US except MA and NYC…..we are the states that support all the red states who vote in these regressives in.

Why refrain from jokes? Just refrain from a Spitzer or you’ll be on Wolf Blitzer ;) “Spitzer’s going be out of office, he’s going to be looking for a job, and I’m thinking, ‘Whoa, isn’t that what got him in trouble in the first place?’” —David Letterman “It’s sad, Spitzer said there’s so much left undone — Amber, Ashley, Rhonda.” —David Letterman “What the Spitzers are saying now is they need some time alone. Eliot and his wife need some time alone now. And I thought this was very nice, Senator Larry Craig from Idaho, when he heard this, he offered his vacation restroom on the lake.” —David Letterman “Don’t kid yourself, ladies and gentlemen, this is serious. We’re having a lot fun here now, but it’s really serious. Eliot Spitzer could go to jail, he could go to prison, think about that. The former governor of New York could go to prison. And, well, that’ll be sex he won’t have to pay for.” —David Letterman

I agree. It is an obscene waste of energy debating something that has and will always be. And it is ALWAYS drummed up by right wing nuts to fractionalize, enflame and legislate other people’s “morality” (and all the gay people I’ve know have inifintely more humanity and morality than those who would deny them their basic human rights) and when the GOP aren’t the masters of their own ‘morality.” The following is the short list of GOP sex crimes/scandals. Besides, Senator David (please change my diapers, mummy) Vittner. Larry (just practicing the old soft shoe in airport toilets) Craig. Mark (what are you wearing sweaty intern-guy?) Foley. And Bush’s weekly advisor, Mega-Church Rev Ted Haggard who quit in disgrace after discovery of his penchant for cocaine and sex with male prostitutes. “Rev. Ted Haggard confessed in a letter read Sunday at New Life Church to “sexual immorality,” calling himself “a deceiver and a liar” who has long struggled against dark forces. More of the same hypocrisy from these ‘family values’ hypocrites: *Edison Misla Aldarondo, Republican legislator, 13 years in prison for molestation of his daughter and her friend for eight-year period starting when they were 9. *Randal David Ankeney, Republican activist, arrested on suspicion of sexual assault on a child with force, and resigned his State of Colorado job on 31 July 2002. He faces 6 charges related to getting a 13-year-old girl stoned on pot and then having sex with her. *Jim Bakker, televangelist. Committed adultery with Jessica Hahn, used charitable donations to pay her hush money. Indicted on 23 federal charges of fraud, tax evasion, and racketeering [8]. *Merrill Robert Barter, Republican County Commissioner, pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual contact and assault on a teenage boy. *Robert Bauman, Republican congressman and anti-gay activist, was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old boy he picked up at a gay bar. *Parker J. Bena, Republican activist and Bush Elector, pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography (including children as young as 3 years old) on his home computer and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and fined $18,000. *Louis Beres, chairman of the Christian Coalition of Oregon. 3 of his family members accuse him of molesting them when they were pre-teens. *Howard L. Brooks, Republican legislative aide to California assemblyman, molesting a 12-year old boy and possession of child pornography. *John Bolton Bush’s appointee ambassador to United Nations, corroborated allegations that Mr. Bolton’s first wife, Christina Bolton, was forced to engage in group sex. *Mike Bowers Former State Attorney General, prosecuted the famous Bowers vs. Hardwick case, based on Georgia anti-sodomy laws. Admitted to a 10-year adulterous affair. [15] *Andrew Buhr, Republican politician, former committeeman for Hadley Township Missouri, charged with two counts of first degree sodomy with a 13-year old boy. *Ted Bundy campaigned for the Republican Party. Infamous serial rapist who murdered 16 women. *Jim Bunn Congressman of Oregon: With his success due in great part to support from the Christian Coalition, won his congressional seat, then left his wife (and mother of his five children), married a staffer, and put his new wife on the state payroll with a salary of $97,500. *John Allen Burt, Republican anti-abortion activist, convicted of sexually molesting a 15 year old girl at the home for troubled girls that he ran. *Dan Burton, Republican Congressman who, while married, fathered a child by another woman. *George W. Bush, Republican president, accused in a criminal complaint and lawsuit of raping Margie Schoedinger, who later committed suicide. Accused by Tammy Phillips, a former stripper saying she had an affair with Bush that had ended in 1999. *John Butler, Republican activist, was charged with criminal sexual assault on a teenage girl. *Ken Calvert, Congressman (R-Ca), champion of the Christian Coalition and its “family values.” Sued as an alimony deadbeat by his ex-wife. Said “We can’t forgive what occurred between the President and Lewinsky.” In 1993 he was caught by police receiving oral sex from a prostitute and attempted to flee the scene. *Helen Chenoweth, Congresswoman (R-Id.). Admitted to a six-year adulterous affair with a married associate. *Keola Childs, Republican County Councilman, pleaded guilty to sexual assault in the first degree for molesting a male child. *Kevin Coan, Republican St. Louis Election Board official, arrested and charged with trying to buy sex from a 14-year-old girl whom he met on the Internet. *Dan Crane, Republican Congressman, married, father of six. Received a 100% “Morality Rating” from Christian Voice. Had sex with a minor working as a congressional page. On July 20, the House voted for censure Crane, the first time that censure had been imposed for sexual misconduct. *Paul Crouch Televangelist, Former President of Trinity Broadcasting Network. Paid $425,000 in hush money in an attempt to cover up a gay affair. *Richard A. Dasen Sr., Republican benefactor of conservative Christian groups, convicted of sexual abuse of children, promotion of prostitution and several counts of solicitation, enough to add up to a sentence of 126 years in prison. *Richard A. Delgaudio, Republican fundraiser and Bush pioneer, was found guilty of child porn charges. *Peter Dibble, Republican legislator pleaded no contest to having an inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old girl. *Nicholas Elizondo, Director of the 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, Texas Precinct Two. Aged 62 when arrested for allegedly crossing state lines to have sex with an 8-year old child and was charged with 7 related offenses *John Fund, of the Wall Street Journal, 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. *Jeff Gannon Partisan blogger with no journalism credentials and a fake name who got invited to Bush’s Press conferences. Is also a pimp and a gay prostitute, on WH logs of entering WH more than 200 times but never signing out. *Jack W. Gardner, Republican Councilman, had been convicted of molesting a 13-year old girl. when the Republican Party, knowing of these crimes, put him on the ballot. *Richard Gardner, a Nevada State Representative (R), admitted to molesting his two daughters. *Newt Gingrich, married three times. Gingrich campaign worker Anne Manning admitted that she gave Newt oral sex while he was still married to his first wife. Informed one wife he was filing for divorce while she was in the hospital recovering from cancer treatments. *Philip Giordano, Republican mayor sentenced to 37 years for forcing two 8 and 10 year old girls to perform oral sex on him in his City Hall office. *Rudy “family values” Giuliani, adulterous affairs, married 3 times, moved girlfriend into home shared with his wife and family. *Matthew Glavin, president and CEO of the Southeastern Legal Foundation, big player in the Clinton Impeachment, and many anti-gay jihads, has been arrested multiple times for public indeceny, one time fondling the crotch of the officer who was arresting him. *Mark A. Grethen, Republican activist, convicted on six counts of sex crimes involving children. *Jon Grunseth, Republican businessman and candidate for Minnesota governor, withdrew his candidacy after allegations surfaced that he went swimming in the nude with four underage girls, including his daughter, and tried to grope one. *Dr. W. David Hager Bush appointee, member of Focus on the Family’s Physician Resource Council, player in movement to ban the morning-after-pill. Had an adulterous affair, before divorcing his wife he sexually abused her, including sodomizing her in her sleep. *Mark Harris, Republican city councilman who is described as a “church goer,” was convicted of repeatedly having sex with an 11-year-old girl and sentenced to 12 years in prison. *John Hathaway, Republican 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, anti-abortion activist who gained fame during the Shiavo media-circus, was convicted of two charges of raping a child in 2002. *Mike Hintz, a First Assembly of God youth pastor, introduced by Bush on the campaign trail, and promoted his policies, supports Bush’s ‘family values.’ Two months later, this married father of four turned himself into police, charged with the sexual exploitation of a child. *Neal Horsley has called for the arrest of all homosexuals. Admitted on the Fox News Radio’s The Alan Colmes Show, that he’s had sex with mules. *Tim Hutchinson, divorced his wife of 29 years to marry a congressional aide he was having an affair with. *Henry Hyde, Judge who oversaw Clinton’s impeachment proceedings, prominent opponent of reproductive rights, who had an extramarital affair with a woman who was married and had three children, during the course of which she and her husband were divorced. *Don Haidl, Assistant Sheriff of Orange Country, in violation of California’s rape shield law, led a smear campaign against the child his son poisoned and then violently gang-raped on videotape, adding up to 24 felony counts. He said that his son “acted accordingly” because the child was a “slut”. *Paul Ingram, Republican Party leader of Thurston County, Washington, pleaded guilty to six counts of raping his daughters and served 14 years in federal prison *Earl Kimmerling, sentenced to 40 years in prison after he confessed to molesting an 8-year old girl after he attempted to stop a gay couple from adopting her. *Lewis Libby, former Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to Vice President Dick Cheney. In 1996 published a novel containing bizaree sexual content, including bestiality and pedophillia. *Rush Limbaugh, triple-divorcee 30-pill a day drug addict. *Bob Livingston, former Congressman resigned from the House in the wake of revelations about his past adultery while zealously pursuing Clinton impeachment. *Donald Lukens, Republican Congressman, was found guilty of having sex with a minor - a girl he was accused of sleeping with since she was 13. *Pat McPherson, Douglas County Election Commissioner. Arrested for fondling a 17-year-old girl. *Jon Matthews, Republican talk show host in Houston, was indicted for indecency with a child, including exposing his genitals to a girl under the age of 17. *Jeff Miller, (R-Cleveland), Senate Republican Caucus Chairman in Tennessee and the sponsor of Tennessee’s Marriage Protection act, getting divorced because of an affair he was having with an office aid. Miller described the Tennessee Marriage Protection Act as a means of preserving the sanctity of marriage. He opposed an amendment, however, which stated that “Adultery is deemed to be a threat to the institution of marriage and contrary to public policy in Tennessee.” *Nicholas Morency, Republican anti-abortion activist, pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer and offering a bounty to anybody who murders an abortion doctor *Sue Myrick, Congresswoman (R-NC), describes herself as a “devout Christian.” Committed adultery with a married man. *Bill O’Reilly Right-wing conservative talk show host on Fox News, sued for sexual harassment by his producer. *Bob Packwood, Senator (R-Ore.), resigned in 1995 under a threat of public senate hearings related to 10 female ex-staffers accusing him of sexual harassment. *Jeffrey Patti, Republican Committee Chairman, was arrested for distributing what experts call “some of the most offensive material in the child pornography world” - a video clip of a 5-year-old girl being raped. *John Paulk, lied about prowling for gay sex while running a fundamentalist group to cure gays. Brent Parker Utah State Representetive. Arrested for soliciting sex from an undercover officer posing as a male prostitute. *John E. Peterson, Congressman (R-Pa), accused of sexual harassment and creation of a hostile work environment by six women. Peterson has refused to admit a crime, saying only “I may have been an excessive hugger.” *Harvey Pitt, SEC Chief under George W. Bush until he was forced to resign in 2002. Worked for New Frontier Media, a firm which distributed teen sex videos. *Mark Pazuhanich, Republican judge, pleaded no contest to fondling a 10-year old girl and was sentenced to 10 years probation. *George Roche III, carried on a 19 year affair with his son’s wife, while serving as president of Hillsdale College, which “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, County Chairman of the Christian Coalition, sexually molested his step-daughter, Susan Smith, who later drowned her two children. *Jack Ryan, 2004 Republican nominee for US Senate from Illinois, pressured his wive, actress Jeri Ryan, to have sex with other men. Tricked her into visiting sex clubs, where he asked her to have sex with him while others watched. *Joe Scarborough, former Republican Congressman, currently a conservative talk show host. Resigned his congressional seat abruptly to spend more time with his family, amidst allegations of an affair. His intern, Lori Klausutis, was soon after found dead in his office. The medical examiner, who had his license revoked in Missouri for falsifying information in an autopsy report, and suspended in Florida for six years, ruled the case an accident, after giving conflicting information about her injuries. He said he lied about them because “The last thing we wanted was 40 questions about a head injury.” *Ed Schrock, two-term republican congressman, with a 92% approval rating from the Christian Coalition. Cosponsor of the Federal Marriage Amendment, consistently opposed gay rights. Married, with wife and kids. Withdrew his candidacy for a third term after tapes of him soliciting for gay sex were circulated. *Dr. Laura Schlessinger, right wing conservative radio host. Promotes family values, estranged from her mother, opposes birth control, has had her tubes tied, espouses saving oneself for marriage, admits to having had sex before she was married, opposes adultery, has committed adultery while she was married, and has slept with a married man, opposes divorce, is divorced and remarried, posed for nude photos which are available online. *Arnold Schwarzenegger, Republican governor, had sex with a 16 year old when he was 28. *John Scmitz, right-wing republican congressman, who had had his committee chairship taken away from him in the California State Senate after issuing a press release attacking Jews, feminists and gays. Forced out of office in 1982 for having an adulterous affair and fathering two children out of wedlock with one of his students. He was caught because his baby was admitted to hospital for having hair tied so tightly around his penis that it was almost severed. His daughter, Mary Kay LeTourneau, was convicted of having an adulterous affair with one of her students, and giving birth to two of his children. *Larry Jack Schwarz, Republican parole board officer and former Colorado state representative, fired after child pornography was found in his possession. With his political career over, he went to work in the hard-core pornography industry for Platinum X Pictures, owned by his daughter, porn starlet Jewel De’Nyle *Jim Stelling, Seminole County Republican Party chairman who believes in “family values”, as he told a judge. Filed a defamation lawsuit against Nancy Goettman, a former county GOP executive committee member, for falsely claiming he had been married six times. Stelling has been married 5 times. *Don Sherwood, Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Eventually admitted to an affar with a woman 30 years younger than him, after she accused him of physical abuse and attempting to choke her. *Tom Shortridge. Republican campaign consultant, was sentenced to three years probation for taking nude photographs of a 15-year old girl. *Fred C. Smeltzer, Jr., Republican City Councilman, pleaded no contest to raping a 15 year-old girl and served 6-months in prison. *Craig J. Spence, Republican lobbyist, organized orgies with child prostitutes in the White House during the 1980s. *Jimmy Swaggart, televangelist, said during a sermon “I’m trying to find the correct name for it … this utter absolute, asinine, idiotic stupidity of men marrying men. … I’ve never seen a man in my life I wanted to marry. And I’m gonna be blunt and plain; if one ever looks at me like that, I’m gonna kill him and tell God he died.” Had an affair with a prostitute. *David Swartz, Republican County Commissioner, pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 11 and was sentenced to 8 years in prison. *Randall Terry, Right to Life activist, founder of Operation Rescue, involved in the Terri Schiavo protests. Once imprisoned for sending former President Bill Clinton an aborted fetus. His son Jamiel is gay; his daughter Tila had sex outside of marriage, became pregnant, had a miscarriage - she is no longer welcome in his home; his daughter Ebony had 2 children outside of wedlock and became Muslim. He has campaigned against infidelity and birth control, gays and unwed mothers. Terry himself was censured by his church after committing adultery. *Bill Thomas Republican congressman, had an affair with Deborah Steelman, a health care lobbyist who steered huge campaign gifts to Thomas’ war chest. *Strom Thurmond, republican senator and racist, raped and impregnanted a 15-year old African American maid. *Robin Vanderwall, Republican strategist and Citadel Military College graduate, director of Faith & Family Alliance, (a Christian Coalition spin off), former student of Pat Robertson’s Regent Universtity, member of Ralph Reed’s inner circle who funneled money to from lobbiest Jack Abramoff to Reed convicted in Virginia for soliticing sex from a 13-year-old-boy and on four other counts of soliciting sex from boys and girls over the internet. *Jim Wesr, Spokane Mayor. Had a sexual affair with an 18 year old. Supported a bill, which failed, would have barred gays and lesbians from working in schools, day-care centers and some state agencies. Voted to bar the state from distributing pamphlets telling people how to protect themselves from AIDS. Proposed that “any touching of the sexual or other intimate parts of a person” among teens be criminalized. boy. *Keith Westmoreland, a Tennessee state representative (R), was arrested on seven felony counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition to minors under 16— exposing himself to children Stephen White, Republican preacher. Was arrested after allegedly offering $20 to a 14-year-old boy for permission to perform oral sex on him.

Even though I thoroughly disliked “Iron Lady” (Reagan-Bush-Bush all the same—creating misery for vast swarths of humanity) —-from the US point of view at least, she APPEARS to be the most influential….because she was a tough figure on a large stage…but I can think of softer women who’ve had more of a lasting though subtler effect. One benefit inspired by Old Ironsides actions (wrecking the unions, closing the mines) was a resulting fantastic film “Brassed-Off.” The centerpiece of it is the best rendition I’ve ever heard of Rodgrigo’s Concerieto de Aranjuez—orchestrated with the solo played by the fugelhorn and works so well in this film with the double entendre of Brassed Off (at the government taking away jobs, destroying towns and families and the empowering outlet of this band that achieves something so amazing in the end): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8uoY9e5YVY&feature=related Found it on YouTube but the sound isn’t as good as on great speakers. Rodrigo wrote his famous concierto while exhiled from Spain in Paris as war was imminent but set it in Madrid’s Aranjuez Palace Gardens at the turn of the 18th to 19th century….so it is very moving as in this film conveying that sense of epic transition….and also Rodrigo’s (a fabulous man like his countryman/artist Pablo Casals) longing for his country. Trivia: Miles Davis was obsessed with this piece and did an entire album of it…but it doesn’t touch this film’s—-Davis’ is his own kind of genuis but to me his interpretation was too sketchy and impressionistic. I broke up with a boyfriend was tired of anyway watching this film for the first time. He’s a symphony conductor whose personal library of music is at Yale. We watched the film together on video over take-out pizza in my bed overlooking the SF Bay and when we got to this piece I kept rewinding and watching over and over. Exasperated he said if I did it once more he was leaving. So I took his pillow for my back, took his plate of pizza and said, “have a nice evening” and hit rewind. I just loved this piece.

It is a powerless feeling to watch someone slipping away because their mind has a death-grip on the idea of being spectrally-thin. My best friend has been terrorized by her relative’s condition for 5 years. They are from a very well educated, caring family, with plenty of assets, and famous kin. The girl was a top seeded amateur tennis player in her state and also a champion equestrienne, and accepted to every college she applied to. For the past three years it’s been one long emergency ambulance ride from one part of the state to another to find an open hospital bed in a dedicated treatment program—often they are all full. Or moving her to out-of-state $100,000+ a month residential facilities. Always trying to keep her alive thinking the next expert, drug, treatment modality is going to snap her out of it. She is a walking bag of bones. Her once thick beautiful long hair is falling out, her teeth are ruined, her internal organs are ravaged. Her parents’ marriage is coming undone, her sister is a wonderful ballerina who travels even to China for recitals and is shunted aside in the frantic focus of keeping the older daughter alive. And now that the girl is 18 the parents must plead for her to agree to the intravenous feeding that she doesn’t want, but when underage could not refuse. I’ve watched my friend, a Harvard MBA and wonderful person, on this lunar roller-coaster ride for 5 emotionally devastating years. I’d be heartbroken but not surprised if the call came one day…”She’s gone.” Should the government intervene and stop whatever promotes this life-draining crazy hell. I simply don’t know. The impulse to protect is good. But like drug or alcohol dependancy or a penchant for speeding in cars—the government can’t prevent self-determined behavior—there’s always a way if the will is strong. Having not just observed it, but also having driven my own mother nuts for four decades by not eating. “Please eat something. Did you eat today? Are you eating? What did you eat? Remember to eat. What is your weight?” I know that the girls have to open their own eyes while complex inner drives are working against them: their youthful sense of invincibility, their push-pull drive to separate and also have attention, to make their own decisions and be have control if it is only to be stunningly thin. Sometimes the over-solicitous attention they get is a kind of security blanket too. People are rushing to their aid without them seeming weak, or needing to ask for it. I’ve also observed in this particular girl, a supernatural will to win that is like its own separate force. It is fantastically beneficial and effective when channeled into studies or sports. But now this same force is in control. And has its tenuous lock on being #1 in stick-thin. It’s a scary thing to behold. Maybe preventative PSA’s are a better way to go.