when republicans go bad

When Republicans Go Bad

Republicans spent 55 million of your tax dollars in order to discover if Monica swallowed and impeach a president because of sex.

Republicans spent a little over 3 million of your tax dollars on the 9/11 cOMMISSION and 3000 people murdered in New York.

While the United States was UNDER AIRCRAFT ATTACK a NOT-CONCERNED President Bush continued reading a children's book for eighteen (18) minutes. How many extra United States lives were lost during this 'reading time', WHO ORDERED THE AIR FORCE TO STAND DOWN, and WHY ?

Seymour Hersh's ACLU Keynote Speech [transcribed on "Past Peak - Cause for Alarm"]

>>>>>>> Ed. Note, 201712.21: above link (http :// www.pastpeak.com / archives / 2004 / 07/ post_1 . htm) was removed due to multiple browser warnings.

(fwiw) If one is not aware == abandoned sites having internet traffic get bought up, and one should always be cautious. Try searching archive.org for the original and be safe. <<<<<<<

Seymour Hersh says the US government has videotapes of boys being sodomized at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

"The worst is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking," the reporter told an ACLU convention last week. Hersh says there was "a massive amount of criminal wrongdoing that was covered up at the highest command out there, and higher."

(Streaming Audio of his speech from this streaming site. Hersh starts at about 1:07:50.)

He called the prison scene "a series of massive crimes, criminal activity by the president and the vice president, by this administration anyway…war crimes."

The outrages have cost us the support of moderate Arabs, says Hersh. "They see us as a sexually perverse society."

Hersh describes a Pentagon in crisis. The defense department budget is “in incredible chaos,” he says, with large sums of cash missing, including something like $1 billion that was supposed to be in Iraq.

"The disaffection inside the Pentagon is extremely acute," Hersh says. He tells the story of an officer telling Rumsfeld how bad things are, and Rummy turning to a ranking general yes-man who reassured him that things are just fine. Says Hersh, "The Secretary of Defense is simply incapable of hearing what he doesn't want to hear."

The Iraqi insurgency, he says,was operating in 1-to-3 man cells a year ago, now in 10-15 man cells, and despite the harsh questioning, "we still know nothing about them...we have no tactical information.”

He says the foreign element among insurgents is overstated, and that bogeyman Zarqawi is "a composite figure" hyped by our government.

The war, he says, has escalated to "full scale, increasingly intense military activity."

Hersh described the folks in charge of US policy as "neo conservative cultists" who have taken the government over, and show "how fragile our democracy is."

He ripped the supine US press, pledged to bring home all the facts he could, said he was not sure he could deliver all the damning info he suspects about Bush administration responsibility for Abu Ghraib.

REPUBLICAN Family Values

Myth: Republicans value sexual morality

Fact: There is an entire newsgroup just for right-wing Christian pedophiles.

Police say a Pierce County foster dad charged with molesting and photographing young boys in his care posted messages in an Internet newsgroup catering to Christian pedophiles...describing himself as a "boy lover that has devoted my life to boys and introducing the love of Christ to them" [And then this typical hypocrite says:] "homosexual desire is unnatural".

Outrageous: A republican politician's smear campaign against the child his son viciously raped

Fact: 27 MORE examples of big-shot republican perverts, from mainstream newspapers:

Serial killer/rapist Ted Bundy campaigned for the Republican Party

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

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.

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

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

Republican fundraiser Richard A. Delgaudio was found guilty of child porn charges.

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 minor working as a congressional page.

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

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 activist Marty Glickman (a.k.a. "Republican Marty"), was taken into custody by Florida police on four counts of unlawful sexual activity with a juvenile and one count of delivering the drug LSD.

Republican legislative aide Howard L. Brooks, an advisor to a California assemblyman, 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 was arrested after allegedly offering $20 to a 14-year-old boy for permission to perform oral sex on him.

Republican talk show host Jon Matthews of Houston was indicted for indecency with a child, including exposing his genitals to a girl under the age of 17.

Republican anti-gay activist Earl "Butch" Kimmerling confessed to molesting an 8-year old girl after he attempted to stop a gay couple from adopting her.

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

Republican St. Louis Election Board official Kevin Coan was arrested and charged with trying to buy sex from a 14-year-old girl whom he met on the Internet.

Republican politician Andrew Buhr, former committeeman for Hadley Township Missouri, was charged with two counts of first degree sodomy with a 13-year old boy.

Republican politician Keith Westmoreland, a Tennessee state representative, was arrested on seven felony counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition to minors under 16 (i.e. exposing himself to children).

Republican anti-abortion activist John Allen Burt was charged with sexual misconduct involving a 15 year old girl.

Republican legislator, Richard Gardner, a Nevada state representative, admitted to molesting his two daughters.

Republican activist Parker J. Bena pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on his home computer and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and fined $18,000.

Republican parole board officer and former Colorado state representative, Larry Jack Schwarz, was fired after child pornography was found in his possession.

Republican strategist and Citadel Military College graduate Robin Vanderwall was convicted in Virginia on five counts of soliciting sex from boys and girls over the internet.

Mark Souder: GOP Indiana Rep resigns over affair, upsets election

Rep. Mark Souder is a 14-year, eight-term House of Representatives veteran who campaigned on a "family values" ethic, campaigned against the Obama Health Care Reform Plan, and said he was interested in preserving the idea of traditional marriage, has resigned after revealing that he'd cheated on his wife with a female staff aide.

While liberal blogs like The Huffington Post point to Mark Souder's commitment to the idea of one man and one woman, technically, Mark Souder didn't say he was opposed to having a mistress in a marriage for himself, just Democrats.

Souder attacked then-President Bill Clinton and called for his resignation after the Monika Lewinsky Affair, but not Clinton's impeachment.

Mark Souder's resignation opens a once closed door of opportunity for Democrats Indiana's 3rd Congressional District. The district was considered safe under Mark Soude's watch, even though some observers had predicted a close November race.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/abraham/detail??blogid=95&entry_id=63815

Exposed: Christian leader caught with male escort
says he needed help with his luggage

By John Byrne
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010 -- 2:10 pm

Update: Escort tells paper Rekers is homosexual

The newspaper that busted a Christian leader with a male escort ran a follow-up story Thursday afternoon:

"The male escort hired by anti-gay activist George Alan Rekers has told Miami New Times the Baptist minister is a homosexual who paid him to provide body rubs once a day in the nude, during their ten-day vacation in Europe.

Rekers allegedly named his favorite maneuver the "long stroke" -- a complicated caress "across his penis, thigh... and his anus over the butt cheeks," as the escort puts it. "Rekers liked to be rubbed down there," he says.

Lucien decided to speak out after a heart-to-heart with a friend, Michael, who alerted him to the grim realities of his client's anti-gay activities. Lucien, who had originally declined to speak about the trip, now says he can do little good by protecting his erstwhile, fundamentalist client.

In the past 24 hours, Rekers, a board member at the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) and cofounder of the Family Research Council, has claimed he took Lucien to Europe to inspire him to accept Jesus into his heart and renounce his homosexuality.

Lucien now offers Rekers a counterproposal: "In all honesty, he should disassociate himself from these [anti-gay] groups."

The New Times "spent more than three hours with Lucien in the wee hours of Thursday morning and promises future updates throughout the afternoon to a story which "has grabbed worldwide headlines and been the subject of monologues by Steven Colbert and Jay Leno."

Also: Watch Stephen Colbert mock anti-gay callboy hirer: 'He needed someone to hoist his sack'

A Christian leader and prominent neuro-psychiatrist who co-founded the Family Research Council with evangelist James Dobson took a ten-day European vacation with a callboy he met through RentBoy.com and was caught in an airport with the escort by a Miami newspaper.

The escort said he had met George Rekers, professor of Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Science at the University of South Carolina, on RentBoy.com. Rekers, when confronted, didn't deny that he'd met the callboy online, but said he had hired him to help him carry his baggage and didn't learn he was generally hired for "private company" until mid-way through his European vacation.

"I had surgery," Rekers told Miami's New Times, "and I can't lift luggage. That's why I hired him." (The paper noted that it didn't stop him from pushing a "tottering" pile of luggage through Miami International Airport.)

The callboy, identified by a pseudonym, told the New Times' Penn Bullock and Brandon Thorp that Rekers claim that he didn't know his "line of work" seemed spurious.

"He should've been able to tell you that," he said. "But that's up to him."

According to Penn and Thorp, the slender, 20-year-old escort's profile advertises his "smooth, sweet, tight ass" and "perfectly built 8 inch cock." RentBoy.com's profiles are not indexed by Google.

“It is clear that Rekers has baggage and certainly needs help,” said Wayne Besen, a prominent opponent of the "ex-gay" movement and director of the nonprofit Truth Wins Out. Referring to South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, a conservative who claimed he was hiking when he'd actually been meeting with a mistress, he added: “At least he did not say he was walking the Appalachian Trail.”

"This is a bombshell that completely discredits the ex-gay industry and proves that the movement is a fraud,” Besen added.

The paper printed emails exchanged between the professor and the escort prior to their trip. Rekers co-founded the conservative and anti-gay Family Research Council with Rev. James Dobson in 1983.

"I'd like to propose another trip to Rome, Italy, for a week or more," Rekers purportedly wrote in an Mar. 21 email obtained by New Times. "This is so exciting to have a nice Travel Assistant and traveling companion! Wow! I'm so glad I met you."

"I called and talked to the reservation guy in London and reserved a room with two twin beds," Rekers allegedly remarked in a later email.

Rekers is a prominent advocate against gays in Florida, where he resides. He testified against Florida allowing gay couples to adopt, asserting that children of gay couples "living with a practicing homosexual in the adoptive home,” are especially “vulnerable to psychological damage and an increasing inability to adapt."

A commenter on a California Catholic daily, which reported the findings of Rekers' investigations into gay adoption, remarked, "The active principle in these children's stress is the fact that their welfare comes in dead last in the homosexual lifestyle - it is oriented toward grooming them for traumatic early sexualization and exploitation by adults."

The escort told New Times that Rekers is "primarily a family man," despite their European jaunt.

"You don't understand how much this guy honestly cares about taking care of kids," he was quoted as saying.

Reker is the author of "Growing Up Straight: What Families should Know about Homosexuality."

Source:
http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0504/christian-leader-caught-rent-boy-needed-luggage/

Arrest clouds Idaho senator's future

By MATTHEW DALY

WASHINGTON - Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, who has voted against gay marriage and opposes extending special protections to gay and lesbian crime victims, finds his political future in doubt after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges stemming from complaints of lewd conduct in a men's room.

The conservative three-term senator, who has represented Idaho in Congress for more than a quarter-century, is up for re-election next year. He hasn't said if he will run for a fourth term in 2008 and was expected to announce his plans this fall.

A spokesman, Sidney Smith, was uncertain late Monday if Craig's guilty plea in connection with an incident at the Minneapolis airport would affect his re-election plans.

"It's too early to talk about anything about that," Smith said.

A political science professor in Idaho said Craig's political future was in jeopardy. And a spokesman for the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, Hannah August, said Craig's guilty plea "has given Americans another reason not to vote Republican" next year.

The married Craig, 62, has faced rumors about his sexuality since the 1980s, but allegations that he has engaged in gay sex have never been substantiated. Craig has denied the assertions, which he calls ridiculous.

The arrest changes that dynamic, said Jasper LiCalzi, a political science professor at Albertson College of Idaho in Caldwell, Idaho. He cited the House page scandal that drove Florida Rep. Mark Foley from office.

"There's a chance that he'll resign over this," LiCalzi said. "With the pressure on the Republican Party, he could be pressured to resign. If they think this is going to be something that's the same as Mark Foley — the sort of 'drip, drip, drip, there's more information that's going to come out' — they may try to push him out."

Already Craig has stepped down from a prominent role with Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. He had been one of Romney's top Senate supporters, serving as a Senate liaison for the campaign since February.

" He did not want to be a distraction and we accept his decision," said Matt Rhoades, a Romney campaign spokesman.

According to a Hennepin County, Minn., court docket, Craig pleaded guilty to a disorderly conduct charge on Aug. 8, with the court dismissing a charge of gross misdemeanor interference to privacy.

The court docket said Craig paid $575 in fines and fees and was put on unsupervised probation for a year. A sentence of 10 days in the county workhouse was stayed.

Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper, which first reported the case, said on its Web site Monday that Craig was arrested June 11 by a plainclothes officer investigating complaints of lewd conduct in a men's restroom at the airport.

Minneapolis airport police declined to provide a copy of the arrest report after business hours Monday.

Roll Call, citing the report, said Sgt. Dave Karsnia made the arrest after an encounter in which he was seated in a stall next to a stall occupied by Craig. Karsnia described Craig tapping his foot, which Karsnia said he "recognized as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct."

Roll Call quoted the Aug. 8 police report as saying that Craig had handed the arresting officer a business card that identified him as a member of the Senate.

"What do you think about that?" Craig is alleged to have said, according to the report.

Craig said in a statement issued by his office Monday that he was not involved in any inappropriate conduct.

"At the time of this incident, I complained to the police that they were misconstruing my actions," he said. "I should have had the advice of counsel in resolving this matter. In hindsight, I should not have pled guilty. I was trying to handle this matter myself quickly and expeditiously."
Craig joins other GOP senators facing ethical and legal troubles.

Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, is under scrutiny for his relationship with a contractor who helped oversee a renovation project that more than doubled the size of the senator's home.

Sen. David Vitter, R-La., acknowledged that his phone number appeared in records of a Washington-area business that prosecutors have said was a front for prostitution.

Craig, a rancher and a member of the National Rifle Association, lives in Eagle, Idaho, near the capital of Boise. He was a member of the House for 10 years before winning election to the Senate in 1990. He was re-elected in 1996 and 2002.

Last fall, Craig called allegations from a gay-rights activist that he's had homosexual relationships "completely ridiculous."

Mike Rogers, who bills himself as a gay activist blogger, published the allegations on his Web site, http://www.blogactive.com, in October 2006.

Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, an advocacy group, on Monday called Craig a hypocrite.

"What's up with elected officials like Senator Craig? They stand for so-called family values and fight basic protections for gay people while furtively seeking other men for sex," Foreman said.

----

Associated Press writers Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis and John Miller in Boise contributed to this story.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070828/ap_on_go_co/craig_arrest

Senator's Number on Escort Service List

by DOUGLASS K. DANIEL | July 9, 2007 11:59 PM EST

WASHINGTON — Sen. David Vitter, R-La., apologized Monday night for "a very serious sin in my past" after his telephone number appeared among those associated with an escort service operated by the so-called "D.C. Madam."

Vitter's spokesman, Joel Digrado, confirmed the statement in an e-mail sent to The Associated Press.

"This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible," Vitter said in the statement. "Several years ago, I asked for and received forgiveness from God and my wife in confession and marriage counseling. Out of respect for my family, I will keep my discussion of the matter there _ with God and them. But I certainly offer my deep and sincere apologies to all I have disappointed and let down in any way."

The statement containing Vitter's apology said his telephone number was on old phone records of Pamela Martin and Associates before he ran for the Senate.

Deborah Jeane Palfrey was accused in federal court of racketeering by running a prostitution ring that netted more than $2 million over 13 years, beginning in 1993. She contends, however, that her escort service, Pamela Martin and Associates, was a legitimate business.

Vitter, 46, a Republican in his first Senate term, was elected to the Senate in 2004. He represented Louisiana's 1st Congressional District in the House from 1999 to 2004.

Vitter and his wife, Wendy, live in Metairie, La., with their four children.
Palfrey's attorney, Montgomery Blair Sibley, told the AP, "I'm stunned that someone would be apologizing for this." He said Palfrey had posted the phone numbers of her escort service's clients online Monday, but he did not know whether Vitter's number was among them. Vitter's statement was sent to the AP's New Orleans bureau Monday evening.

Palfrey's Web site contains 20 compressed files of phone records, dating from August 1994 to August 2006. No names are listed, only phone numbers. Palfrey wrote on the Web site that she believed a disk containing the records had been pirated, and wrote that she was posting the records "to thwart any possible distorted version and to ensure the integrity of the information."

Silas Lee, a political analyst and pollster in New Orleans, spoke Monday about the possible political impact on Vitter.

"In the short term, I think the issue will dominate the discourse for a few days and weeks, and though he's up for re-election in 2010, it should dissipate by then," Lee told WWL-TV in New Orleans.

"But for some of his very conservative constituents, it might not be as easy. In their mind and eyes, they may not be able to forgive. The majority may overlook it in time depending on his job performance and how sincere voters believe he wants them to forgive him."

Earlier this year Palfrey, 51, of Vallejo, Calif., asked the Supreme Court to delay the criminal case against her _ a request the court denied in May. Her attorney had argued that it was unfair to proceed against Palfrey because her assets remain seized in a civil forfeiture case, meaning she lacks the money to hire an attorney of her choice.

Randall Tobias, a senior official in the State Department, resigned in April after ABC News confronted him about his use of the escort service. He admitted that he had hired women to come to his Washington condo and give him massages but denied that he had sex with the escorts.

Palfrey threatened for months to release her client list, which led prosecutors to accuse her of trying to intimidate potential witnesses.

Contending that her escort service was legal, Palfrey revealed details of its operation on ABC's news magazine "20/20" on May 4. At the time, ABC said it could not link any information provided by Palfrey to members of Congress or White House officials but did find links to prominent business executives, NASA officials and at least five military officers.

Prosecutors contend that Palfrey knew the 130 women she employed over 13 years were engaged in prostitution. She claims that she operated a "legal, high-end erotic fantasy service" and that the women signed contracts in which they promised not to have sex with clients. The service charged a flat rate of $275 for 90 minutes, she said.

Palfrey pleaded guilty to pimping charges in 1991 and was sentenced to 18 months in a California prison.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070709/vitter-dc-madam/

Republican State Rep. Allen explains sex case:
Fear made me play along

State Rep. Bob Allen, R-Merritt Island, leaves the Brevard County Jail on July 11. An undercover officer accused him of offering sex.

Laurin Sellers | Sentinel Staff Writer
August 3, 2007

TITUSVILLE - State Rep. Bob Allen told police he was just playing along when a undercover officer suggested in a public restroom that the legislator give him oral sex and $20 because he was intimidated, according to a taped statement and other documents released Thursday.

Allen has already denied any wrongdoing, but the recordings and documents offered new details about what he and police say happened on July 11 inside the men's room at Veterans Memorial Park.

"I certainly wasn't there to have sex with anybody and certainly wasn't there to exchange money for it," said Allen, R-Merritt Island, who was arrested on charges of soliciting prostitution.

"This was a pretty stocky black guy, and there was nothing but other black guys around in the park," Allen, who is white, told police in a taped statement after his arrest. Allen said he feared he "was about to be a statistic" and would have said anything just to get away.

Allen, who couldn't be reached for comment Thursday, has repeatedly declared his innocence, his intention to fight the charges and his desire to stay in office.

Three undercover officers said they were staking out a nearby condo hoping to catch a burglar when Allen entered a park bathroom at about 3:30 p.m.

The officers, who didn't recognize the seven-year legislator, said they thought he was behaving suspiciously and thought that he was looking for a sexual partner, according to the reports released by the Brevard-Seminole State Attorney's Office.

In a written statement released Thursday, Titusville Officer Danny Kavanaugh recalled entering the restroom twice and said he was drying his hands in a stall when Allen peered over the stall door.

After peering over the stall a second time, Allen pushed open the door and joined Kavanaugh inside, the officer wrote. Allen muttered " 'hi,' " and then said, " 'this is kind of a public place, isn't it,' " the report said.

The officer said he asked Allen about going somewhere else and that the legislator suggested going "across the bridge, it's quieter over there."

"Well look, man, I'm trying to make some money; you think you can hook me up with 20 bucks?" Kavanaugh asked Allen.

The officer said Allen responded, "Sure, I can do that, but this place is too public."

Then Kavanaugh said he told Allen, "I wanna know what I gotta do for 20 bucks before we leave.' " He said Allen replied: "I don't know what you're into."

According to Kavanaugh's statement, the officer said, "do you want just [oral sex]?" and Allen replied, "I was thinking you would want one."

The officer said he then asked Allen, "but you'll still give me the 20 bucks for that . . . and that the legislator said, "yeah, I wouldn't argue with that."

As Allen turned and motioned for the officer to follow him to his car, Kavanaugh identified himself as a police officer by raising his shirt and exposing his badge.

When Allen was being placed in a marked patrol car, he asked whether "it would help" if he was a state legislator, according to a police report. The officer replied, "No."

Laurin Sellers can be reached at lsellers@orlandosentinel.com or 321-795-3251.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-allentape0307aug03,0,1892734.story?coll=orl_tab01_layout

Teen sex scandal ignored by
Alberto Gonzales and Johnny Sutton for 2 years
Probe widened, involving hundreds of complaints of sexual abuse in system

By Jerome R. Corsi

The Texas juvenile justice sexual abuse scandal – in which Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton are accused of failing to take action – is a broader scandal that was covered up for two years, involving hundreds of serious complaints and investigations against dozens of staff members, according to officials.

The Texas Youth Commission scandal went unnoticed, says Texas Ranger Brian Burzynski, despite his numerous attempts, beginning in early 2005, to get local, state and federal prosecutors to investigate allegations teachers, administrators and guards had sex with minor male inmates.

Burzynski exposed the situation March 8 in testimony to the Texas legislature's Joint Committee on Operation and Management of the TYC. He stated he began his investigation Feb. 23, 2005, after a phone call from a teacher at the West Texas state school in Pyote, Texas, alleging another teacher at the school was involved in sexual misconduct with boy inmates.

In his testimony, Burzynski detailed being rebuffed by federal, state and local prosecutors for two years.

Burzynski presented a timeline asserting his investigation was, in turn, stonewalled by Ward County District Attorney Randall Reynolds, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

All refused to prosecute, he claimed, despite being presented evidence of sexual abuse at the Pyote school.

Sutton also is under fire for decisions to prosecute two Border Patrol agents and Deputy Sheriff Gil Hernandez after the alleged intervention of the Mexican government. Gonzales faces heavy congressional pressure in the controversy over the recent forced resignations of eight U.S. attorneys.

Burzynski testified that the first serious discussion of prosecution in the case occurred Feb. 13 in a meeting with Reynolds in the Ward County District Attorney's Office, only after the story of his investigation finally broke in Texas newspapers.

Emerging evidence suggests the scandal was systematic and statewide, perpetrated by a criminal conspiracy of staff employees.

Texas authorities are investigating allegations that pedophiles on the TYC staff conspired to recruit and hire other pedophiles to engage in criminal acts of forced sex with the minor inmates.

Among the charges in a Texas Ranger report was that administrators would rouse boys from their sleep for the purpose of conducting all-night sex parties.

On March 2, Gov. Rick Perry appointed Jay Kimbrough, his former staff chief and homeland security director, to serve as "special master" to head the TYC investigation. On March 17, the entire TYC governing board resigned.

Ted Royer, spokesman for Perry, told WND Kimbrough's investigation has found "hundreds of new complaints about abuse and neglect and abuse at facilities across the state."

"There is a culture at TYC that has all too often turned a blind eye to sexual abuse and instead of addressing the issue, people have attempted to cover-up the scandal," Royer said.

TYC spokesman Jim Hurley told WND more than 1,200 complaints are now being investigated.

"The staff under investigation includes the whole range of TYC staff, from the top to the bottom," said Hurley, who was asked by Perry's office to take on the spokesman's job as a special assignment.

Three actual arrests have been made, and more are pending, according to Hurley, whose permanent job is communications director for the Texas Department of Insurance.

"There was a failure of leadership in the Texas Youth Commission," Hurley explained. "The board failed and the executive director failed."

The resigned board transferred its power to a new acting executive director, Ed Owens, former deputy director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Hurley said.

Along with the board and the executive director, the TYC also has dismissed its general counsel, the deputy general counsel, the deputy executive director and the inspector general.

Hurley confirmed TYC management and staff personnel were hired despite prior records of felony offenses or previous sexual misconduct.

"Apparently having a prior felony record did not preclude you becoming a TYC employee," Hurley admitted. "A lot of the vetting of prospective employees were simply reviewed at the local unit level."

WND asked Hurley if the evidence suggested a group of criminal pedophiles sexually abusing minor boys were hiring counterparts just like themselves.

"It is conceivable that you could have a situation like that," Hurley responded. "In the past week we have conducted criminal background reports on all TYC employees. We are also looking at the records of every extension of term that has been issued for every inmate to see if the people running TYC were extending sentences of these inmates."

Hurley told WND Kimbrough was determined to expose the full extent of the corruption at TYC.

The TYC has opened up the results of the investigation to the ACLU, NAACP, (League of United Latin American Citizens, Texas District and County Attorneys Association and the Special Prosecution Unit at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

At the conclusion of his testimony to the Texas legislature joint committee, Burzynski spoke personally, saying he wanted to "shed some light on the real reason why I am here."

"When I interviewed the victims in this case, I saw kids with fear in their eyes, kids who knew they were trapped in an institution where the system would not respond to their cries for help," he said.

He emphasized the personal commitment he felt to the victims in the case.

"Perhaps their family failed them, society failed them, TYC definitely failed them," he said. "But I promised each one of those victims that I would try to do everything in my power as a Texas Ranger to insure that justice would be served and that this didn't happen again. The Rangers would not fail them, and I made that perfectly clear to each one of them."

Burzynski said he "can only imagine what the students think about the Ranger who was unable to bring them justice. I feel like I played a very small part in chipping away at an iceberg."

At the conclusion, he received a standing ovation from the joint committee and audience in the room.

The Texas Rangers told WND Burzynski was not available to be interviewed and referred inquiries to the governor's office.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54882

Gonzales a stain on Blue Dress of Justice
Gonzales Aide to Invoke Fifth Amendment

By LAURIE KELLMAN

Monica Goodling, a senior Justice Department official involved in the firings of federal prosecutors, will refuse to answer questions at upcoming Senate hearings, citing Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination, her lawyer said Monday. Continue reading at:

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070326/D8O434EO0.html

Bush got US Attorneys fired, after
Gonzales denied any political involvement under oath

Lied to God
Admits Pleasuring Bush
(13 March 2007 Press Conference)

The White House was deeply involved in the decision late last year to dismiss federal prosecutors, including some who had been criticized by Republican lawmakers, administration officials said Monday.

Last October, President Bush spoke with Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales to pass along concerns by Republicans that some prosecutors were not aggressively addressing voter fraud, the White House said Monday. Senator Pete V. Domenici, Republican of New Mexico, was among the politicians who complained directly to the president, according to an administration official. Continue reading at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/13/washington/13attorneys.html

And, as Josh Marshall notes, Harriet Miers was involved - White House chief counsel at the time - and Alberto Gonzales' chief of staff who just mysteriously resigned yesterday. And let's not forget that Gonzales denied any political involvement whatsoever, under oath.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/012983.php

Source:

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2007/03/breaking-bush-got-us-attorneys-fired.html