ReNAMBLAcans

The exploding scandal around disgraced Rep. Mark Foley, the Florida Republican who trolled for underage male pages while he chaired the caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, now threatens to envelop the House leadership.

It seems that Speaker Hastert's office was notified of Foley's improprieties nearly one year ago -- by Majority Leader John Boehner -- but took no action.

Let's summarize that: the GOP House leaders knew there was sexual predator in their midst, but did nothing to stop him.

Have we had enough of this corruption?

What are we going to do about it?

Apologies to Tony Orlando and Dawn

"Stick a Yellow Ribbon on Your SUV", by the Asylum Street Spankers (I found it at Truth Serum):

No one was tortured. A few Republicans were, however, terrorized

The Houston Progressive Blog-O-Sphere got offline and came together at the Onion Creek last night to host out-of-towner Vince Liebowitz, in town for his abuelita's 87th birthday and the Johnson-Rayburn dinner (Russ Feingold is keynoting tonight). Charles organized and Lyn, muse, Hal, Ryan G. of BOR, and the Diddies attended, and we ate, drank, and made merry. Well, as merry as potential enemy combatants can make.

For the record, few rumors were mongered even as the Friedman campaign conducted some sort of half-hearted rally/signup out on the patio. I saw one young man, cell phone glued to his head (dude, get a Bluetooth) sitting with one of those art-deco yard signs (only 15 bucks!). Left alone to carry on his phone conversations for the most part.

Hal's got a pretty funny post with pictures of the Fort Bend parade in Rosenberg. They showed their asses to the local Republicans. Seriously. Go look. Muse likewise has been all over Shelley Magoola Something-or-Other's hapless campaign, as well as state rep John Dufus' ethical lapses. Ryan recently exposed Martha Wrong's signage malfunction.

Why are all the Republicans cutting and running from debates with their challengers? Even the SCLM-alleged "safe" incumbents are dodging. What do they have to fear but fear itself?

The really surprising thing to me is that if you only looked at Texas conservative blogs, you wouldn't even know there was an election in thirty days.

If you're in the Metroplex today, this is the place to be.

Olbermann, the Post, anthrax, and what constitutes 'funny'

Keith Olbermann, the MSNBC "Countdown" host who's been sending shockwaves through the Bushies and their toadies with his "Special Commentaries" lately, received a letter with white powder in it this week.

Here's the New York Post's reporting of it.

Here's Olbermann's response to the New York Post (transcript, and video available with additional click).

The New York Post had a different reaction when they themselves were the recipient of an anthrax hoax.

So what's so funny about getting a letter like this? KO doesn't think it's funny, but the NYP now apparently does.

Is it funny when the joke's on someone else, after it's been on you? Is it funny when the joke is only on those with whom you disagree, politically?

Is sending white powder in the mail funnier than, say, cracking wise at the airport about the "gun" in your father-in-law's luggage?

Is it funnier than putting a dead deer's head in somebody's mailbox as a college prank?

Does my definition of humor need revising?

I want the G.I. Jew with the Kung Fu grip

And if I can't have that, then buy me a "Torture Me Elmo".

(Thanks to ITPT commenter Bob Maluga for the inspiring words.)

Byron Nelson, 1912 - 2006

"I don't know very much," Nelson said in a 1997 interview with The Associated Press. "I know a little bit about golf. I know how to make a stew. And I know how to be a decent man."

Fastow and Ebbers go to jail

A sense of closure today, and it's not necessarily the sound of clanging jail cell doors that produces it.

Jeff Andy Fastow, the former Enron CFO got six years (instead of ten) for cooperating with the prosecutors and was placed immediately into custody; Bernie Ebbers, the one-time basketball coach and WorldCom executive reported to the medium-security facility in Oakdale, LA -- we just drove past there over the weekend -- to serve a twenty-five year term, likely the rest of his life.

These were two of the highest-profile white collar criminals of the Nineties. Few rose as high and fell so far as Fastow and Ebbers. They were hailed as wizards for their business acumen, but it was eventually revealed that they were just plain old charlatans.

Next month Jeff Skilling, Fastow's capo, will be sentenced to prison, and probably for a very long time also. And with that, a most sordid chapter in the history of American corporate malfeasance will draw to a close.

Who will be this decade's Fastow, Skilling, or Ebbers? We might not yet know their names, but unfortunately some of them are probably doing business in Texas. The biggest crooks always seem to.

Could one of them be Bob Perry, of "Swift Boat" fame, who has funneled hundreds of thousands to Republicans throughout the state? Or perhaps James "Voucher" Leininger, who has done the same in order to advance his single issue, dismantling public education in Texas? Both men have made fortunes in business and poured those fortunes into the bank accounts of Republican politicians and conservative causes. Is it possible we could see their corrupt dealings land them in jail if we succeed in voting their GOP lackeys out of office in November?

The chickens always come home in the evening to roost, and dusk is coming a little sooner now that it's fall. Maybe we can hasten it along some if we do what we need to for the next 45 or so days.