Sid Blumenthal: The Sexual Predator and the Sock Puppet: Why Hastert ....

[Wetzelbill]

The Sexual Predator and the Sock Puppet: Why Hastert Did Nothing
by Sidney Blumenthal

Why shouldn't the cover-up of a sexual predator roaming among the congressional pages have worked? For Dennis Hastert, Mark Foley's cruising was a trivial, forgettable non-issue to be assigned to a non-member, the Clerk of the House, Jeff Trandahl, to insure that the Speaker would never hear of such a matter again.

Trandahl, since last September appointed executive director of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, a sinecure at an organization established and controlled by the Congress, has himself virtually disappeared, refusing all comment.


As I explain in "How Bush Rules: Chronicles of a Radical Regime," the political style of the House Republican leaders disdains accountability and ingrains impunity: "Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, DeLay's sock puppet, opened the 109th Congress by declaring that legislation had to meet the approval of 'the majority of the majority' -- DeLay's rule for right-wing control. On about 80 percent of the bills before the House, amendments are prohibited as a result of what are called 'closed rules.' By manipulation of so-called suspension bills -- for example, those that name federal buildings and praise civic groups -- the business of the House has become a playpen of trivialities. Instead of substantive debate, two-thirds of all the time on the House floor is devoted to these meaningless measures. By this means, the leadership concentrates power and frustrates the House from acting as deliberative body. The schedule of the House has been reduced to something like that of a small state legislature of the 19th century, with many of its lollygagging members turning up for work on Tuesday and leaving on Thursday."


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sidney-blumenthal/the-sexual-predator-and-t_b_31011.html

[Benhurst]

1. Recommended #1

[democrank]

2. The do-nothing crew.

No oversight, no accountability, nothing. Just a bloated, submissive gang of appeasers.

[Tace]

3. This From The End Of The Piece:

"Now, the Republican leaders' blame casting resembles the last scene of 'The Treasure of the Sierra Madre,' in which the varmints battle each other as their gold dust blows away."

[malaise]

4. Must Read

This bunch will go down as the most corrupt leaders in history.

[Peace Patriot]

5. Diebold/ES&S' other purpose: to (s)elect Bush 'pod people' Congress.

A lot has been said about the fake election for President in 2004.

Not enough about the fake elections for Congress in 2004, and in 2002.

Bushite corporations "counting" all the votes with "trade secret," proprietary programming code, on extremely insecure, insider hackable voting machines. I mean, really...

Diebold: CEO a Bush/Cheney campaign chair and major fundraiser.
ES&S: spinoff of Diebold, funded by rightwing 'christian' nut billionaire who also gave a million bucks to a group that touts the death penalty for homosexuals.

That's who "counted" 80% of the votes in '04 (and many in '02).

What do you expect as a result, except the "banality of evil" (as Hannah Arendt put it)? Stupid, greedy, know-nothing, white trash; pious, 'christian' corporate pigs; 'family values' pedophiles; gooey robots right out of their "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" wet green pods, with viscous alien filaments still dripping from their hair. All of them red-eyed from their sessions with "the emails" and the torture photos. You can smell the slug slime on the floor of the House. We don't need an election so much as we need a 'flame-thrower.'

Don't touch their electronic voting machines this fall. You might get a horrible disease. Bust the machines--vote by Absentee Ballot!

[glitch]

6. Thanks for this. Sidney Blumenthal is one of my must read columnists nt