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Mark Foley

It’s not about the sex, and especially it’s not about the gay sex

One final point: It’s not about the sex, and especially it’s not about gay sex, sayeth many a commentator. Riiiiiight. Maybe it’s not supposed to be about those things, but the right, at least, is treating it like it is. Hence the dangerously false bullshit about gay men being more prone to pedophilia than straight men. Hence the hypocritical moralizing and also the intensity of the entire scandal. And it surely is doubtful whether the word “disgusting” would surface so often in discussions over hetero cyber-sex between a 16 year-old girl and a middle-aged congressman.

The fact is that this is a sex scandal involving a rightwing political movement which has gone out of its way to claim a God-given moral superiority when it comes to matters of the flesh (and everything else). Their sexual hypocrisy is fully exposed here - covering up for a pedophile while posing with children to pretend they care about their welfare.

The fact is that this is a uniquely gay sex scandal involving a rightwing political movement which has gone far out of its way to express revulsion for same-sex relationships in the most explicit terms possible, often by lengthy descriptions of sexual acts whose obscene content gets past the FCC only through the substituion of a pseudo-medical vocabulary for the banned vernacular terms.

By going so far as to equate same-sex intimacy with bestiality thereby making it impossible for them to perceive homosexuality as anything but an unacceptable perversion, the delusional rightwing failed, and still fail, to understand that homosexual attraction and sexual behavior is simply normal human behavior. They apparently never realized that they were inviting a sex scandal like the Foley mess which includes homosexual acts that would make it all but impossible for homophobic christianist leaders to stand aside and defer strategically to the corporatists and imperialists.

Like Digby, I feel that as sickening as it is to learn all the ways that Republicans covered up for Foley, and as reprehensible as all sexual exploitation of minors by adults is by Foley or anyone else, the truly outrageous national scandals perpetrated by the modern American rightwing are the rape of the US Constitution; the disgraceful neglect of the citizenry epitomized by 9/11 and Katrina; and perhaps most dramatically tragic, the unspeakable stupidity and madness of the war in Iraq and the utter failure of the Afghanistan war.

Tristero, Hullabaloo

 

No Child’s Behind Left

Yep, it’s just too good a title to pass up. We’ll be hearing and reading it a lot in the upcoming days and weeks and months — and a lot of people who use it will do so with a self-congratulatory smirk, like they were the very first to think it up. Sorry; not even close. The folks at Progressive Gold titled a post “No Child’s Behind Left” on August 25th, 2006. It’s particularly link-rich, so be sure to go there and click those links.  But for now, here is that post in its entirety:

Friday, August 25, 2006

No Child’s Behind Left.

The question “What’s the matter with Kansas?” is often asked by US liberals. Perhaps what they should ask is ‘what’s the matter with the religious right?’ Because it’s not confined to Kansas…

Pastor, his family accused of molesting children
Wife accused of assisting in religious ritual, prosecutor says

WASHBURN, Mo. - The minister of a rural Ozarks church, his wife and her two brothers have been accused of molesting young girls from their congregation for years, sometimes as part of a religious ritual, officials said.

The county prosecutor says the Rev. Raymond Lambert, 51, of Grand Valley Independent Baptist Church, repeatedly had sex with two underage girls with the help of his 49-year-old wife, Patty, according to court records.

For 10 years, the pastor told the girls, “We are preparing your body for service to God,” the prosecutor said.

Read whole story…

Time and time again there are media reports of church officials and fundamentalist Christians being involved in organised abuse. Many of the perpetrators and alleged perpetrators have ties to or are actual Republican party operatives and politicians.

Even where no known abuse is known of there are still those in the Republican party who have serious issues with sex and violence.

If you think I exaggerate let’s revisit the list of Republican child sex offenders I posted a few months ago:

Republican County Constable Larry Dale Floyd was arrested on suspicion of soliciting sex with an 8-year old girl. Floyd has repeatedly won elections for Denton County, Texas, constable.

Republican judge Mark Pazuhanich pleaded no contest to fondling a 10-year old girl and was sentenced to 10 years probation. Republican Party leader Bobby Stumbo was arrested for having sex with a 5-year old boy.

Republican teacher and former city councilman John Collins pleaded guilty to sexually molesting 13 and 14 year old girls.

Republican campaign worker Mark Seidensticker is a convicted child molester.

Republican Mayor Philip Giordano is serving a 37-year sentence in federal prison for sexually abusing 8- and 10-year old girls.

Republican Mayor John Gosek was arrested on charges of soliciting sex from two 15-year old girls.

Republican County Commissioner David Swartz pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 11 and was sentenced to 8 years in prison.

Republican legislator Edison Misla Aldarondo was sentenced to 10 years in prison for raping his daughter between the ages of 9 and 17.

Republican Committeeman John R. Curtain was charged with molesting a teenage boy and unlawful sexual contact with a minor.

Republican anti-abortion activist Howard Scott Heldreth is a convicted child rapist in Florida.

Republican zoning supervisor, Boy Scout leader and Lutheran church president Dennis L. Rader pleaded guilty to performing a sexual act on an 11-year old girl he murdered.

Republican anti-abortion activist Nicholas Morency pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer and offering a bounty to anybody who murders an abortion doctor.

Republican campaign consultant Tom Shortridge was sentenced to three years probation for taking nude photographs of a 15-year old girl.

Republican racist pedophile and United States Senator Strom Thurmond had sex with a 15-year old black girl which produced a child.

Republican pastor Mike Hintz, whom George W. Bush commended during the 2004 presidential campaign, surrendered to police after admitting to a sexual affair with a female juvenile.

Republican legislator Peter Dibble pleaded no contest to having an inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old girl.

Republican advertising consultant Carey Lee Cramer was charged with molesting his 9-year old step-daughter after including her in an anti-Gore television commercial.

Republican activist Lawrence E. King, Jr. organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.

Republican lobbyist Craig J. Spence organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.

It just goes on and on, doesn’t it? But wait, there’s more…

Republican Congressman Donald “Buz” Lukens was found guilty of having sex with a female minor and sentenced to one month in jail.

Republican fundraiser Richard A. Delgaudio was found guilty of child porn charges and paying two teenage girls to pose for sexual photos.

Republican activist Mark A. Grethen convicted on six counts of sex crimes involving children.

Republican activist Randal David Ankeney pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault on a child.

Republican Congressman Dan Crane had sex with a female minor working as a congressional page.

Republican activist and Christian Coalition leader Beverly Russell admitted to an incestuous relationship with his step daughter.

Republican Judge Ronald C. Kline was placed under house arrest for child molestation and possession of child pornography.

Republican congressman and anti-gay activist Robert Bauman was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old boy he picked up at a gay bar.

Republican Committee Chairman Jeffrey Patti was arrested for distributing a video clip of a 5-year-old girl being raped.

Republican activist 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.

Republican legislative aide Howard L. Brooks was charged with molesting a 12-year old boy and possession of child pornography.

Republican Senate candidate John Hathaway was accused of having sex with his 12-year old baby sitter and withdrew his candidacy after the allegations were reported in the media.

Republican preacher Stephen White, who demanded a return to traditional values, was sentenced to jail after offering $20 to a 14-year-old boy for permission to perform oral sex on him.

Republican talk show host Jon Matthews pleaded guilty to exposing his genitals to an 11 year old girl.

Republican anti-gay activist Earl “Butch” Kimmerling was sentenced to 40 years in prison for molesting an 8-year old girl after he attempted to stop a gay couple from adopting her.

Republican Party leader Paul Ingram pleaded guilty to six counts of raping his daughters and served 14 years in federal prison.

Republican election board official Kevin Coan was sentenced to two years probation for soliciting sex over the internet from a 14-year old girl.

Republican politician Andrew Buhr was charged with two counts of first degree sodomy with a 13-year old boy.

Republican benefactor of conservative Christian groups, Richard A. Dasen Sr., was found guilty of raping a 15-year old girl. Dasen, 62, who is married with grown children and several grandchildren, has allegedly told police that over the past decade he paid more than $1 million to have sex with a large number of young women.

Read original post.

Ah fuck it, it’s too sickening to continue this rollcall of perverts. I think the pattern is sufficiently established. You can read the full list of sicko wingnut offences here.

What’s scary is that these are just the reported ones. How many women and children are suffering in silence? I’ve no doubt there’s been more since that was published and the list could be amended daily.

But here’s one Republican sicko that absolutely, definitely shouldn’t be left out:

Republican Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld authorized the rape of children in Iraqi prisons in order to humiliate their parents into providing information about the anti-American insurgency.

…and he did so on US citizens’ tax dollars.

Hmmmm. I wonder if the accused Misssouri pastor has any faith-based federal grants at that ‘church’ of his? How many other of these globs of human slime have committed offences on the taxpayer’s dime? (The question may be moot according to Republican Rep. ‘Bazoongas Katy’ Harris, who says there is no separation between church and state.)

So what conclusisons can we draw from this list? Is there something in the Republican version of christianity that breeds child molestors and sex offenders, or do the said offenders gravitate to the Republican party because it’s the party in power and power’s what they’re all about? If it were the Democratic party in control, would they join that instead? I wonder.

Which came first, the chickenhawk or the egg?

UPDATE: A child molestor can get elected, no problem. But be elected as an out lesbian and your own party can reverse the will of the electorate and nullify the result on atechnicality. Factor that one in when considering which party the misogynists and sex-obsessed gravitatate towards. Neither party’s hands are clean.

Progressive Gold, “No Child’s Behind Left”

Paging Dr. Dobson

 

 

Yes, let’s do that.

Right on cue (”Right on cue”– get it? hee hee) the D-man himself is coming to town today. He’ll be the headliner at the Stand For the Family rally at the Excel Center.

 

It will be interesting, by the way, to see how Dr. Dobson, who declared of Bill Clinton that “no man has ever done more to debase the presidency,” responds to the Foley scandal. Does the failure of Republican leaders to do anything about a sexual predator in their midst outrage him as much as a Democratic president’s consensual affair?

Paul Krugman, NY Times Select

(via We Move To Canada)

 UPDATE:   As the Wege has pointed out, this isn’t the first time I’ve used this graphic. In 2005 I posted an earlier version when we learned about GOP man-date Jeff Gannon /James Guckert.  Now we have Mark Foley.  Considering the likely numbers of similarly repressed sick puppies still cavorting undiscovered within the sheltering arms of the GOP, does anyone doubt I’ll someday be using this graphic  yet again?