Senator Mark Foley, while leading a government group responsible for protecting children, was also engaged in assaulting the rights of the same children he was allegedly protecting.

Hypocrite. In a big way.

"At Sacred Heart, I was taught how to be a better citizen because of their focus on discipline and moral values."
- Mark Foley

I guess we all know what those values are now.

"I have said repeatedly that in this country we track library books better than we do sex offenders."
- Mark Foley

Lucky for him, I guess.

"Pointing fingers, trying to catch each other in scandal does not bring honor to this House."
- Mark Foley

Probably trying to make sure no fingers were being pointed at him.

What I find amusing is that in Washington DC it's legal to have sex with a 16 yr old, but it's illegal to talk about sex with under 18's. So you can screw a 16 yr old, you just can't talk about it - that'll get you thrown in jail. (You can read about it here.)

It was learnt that leading members of the Republican party knew about Foley's habits for some years now, but he was protected by those same members who promote good, wholesome family values and morals.

With the Republicans playing the blame game, avoiding responsibility and pointing fingers at someone else, it was obvious they were in trouble.

So Fox News, the bastion of Republican propoganda, was brought in on the act, and suddenly Mark Foley was a Democrat, not a Republican. (Click here for more on that.)

Of course! The truth finally comes out. It's all actuallly the fault of those steenkin' Democrats, posing one of their own as a Republican, bringing shame to the Grand Old Party (GOP).

And then, naturally, there's the continuing saga of how President Bush is above the law.

President Bush this week asserted that he has the executive authority to disobey a new law in which Congress has set minimum qualifications for future heads of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Who needs lawmakers and Congress any more, when Bush can declare which laws he wants to obey (only those that suit him) and which laws he wants to overrule.

What is the point of having laws if Bush declares that he has authority to disregard them?

The only valid reason for this is that Bush has declared himself dictator. The legal restrictions of a democratic society obviously don't apply to him any more.

Does anyone notice? Do they care? Apparently not.

As Alan Shore said in one of his episodes (probably a few of them actually):

When the weapons of mass destruction thing turned out to be not true, I expected the American people to rise up. Ha! They didn't.

Then, when the Abu Ghraib torture thing surfaced and it was revealed that our government participated in rendition, a practice where we kidnap people and turn them over to regimes who specialize in torture, I was sure then the American people would be heard from. We stood mute.

Then came the news that we jailed thousands of so-called terrorists suspects, locked them up without the right to a trial or even the right to confront their accusers. Certainly, we would never stand for that. We did.

And now, it's been discovered the executive branch has been conducting massive, illegal, domestic surveillance on its own citizens. You and me. And I at least consoled myself that finally, finally the American people will have had enough. Evidentially, we haven't.

In fact, if the people of this country have spoken, the message is we're okay with it all. Torture, warrantless search and seizure, illegal wiretappings, prison without a fair trial - or any trial, war on false pretenses. We, as a citizenry, are apparently not offended.

You resign yourselves to a fate of your own making. And we, the rest of the world, can only watch on in sadness.