Morally Bankrupt Politicians Have Reached An All New Low

On election day we fill out our sample ballot and we have carefully examined each candidate with the hope that they will fulfill at least one campaign promise. That is as much as we can ask from our "leaders". The campaign slogans like , "A chicken in every pot." hit home to the Americans in Herbert Hoover's time. George Bush Senior's, "Read my lips; No new taxes!" slogan sounded like a great idea until he raised several taxes in 1990 which lead to his defeat by Bill Clinton. With today's politicians what can we expect? The classic politicians in the past shook hands and kissed babies but in our topsy-turvy Bizzaro world they will shake the babies and kiss the people's hands. We have been downright savaged by our statesmen and instead of looking out for us they are looking after their own interests.

Exhibit A: George W. Bush

I could write a war and peace novel on how he has dismantled our sovereign nation. The Bill of Rights has been shredded through his use of free-speech zones in order to quarantine dissent. His abuse of the Patriot Act I&II which has torn out whole sections of the Constitution. King George believes that he is so far above the law that he can choose what parts of legislation he will follow through his infamous signing statements.

Exhibit B: Charlie Rangel
Mr Rangel has continued to push for his Universal National Service Act year after year which is nothing less than conscription. He says that he wrote it for the political elite and their families who have evaded military service but if this bill were ever passed Americans from 18 to 42 will be slaves to Homeland Security. Does this bill benefit the American people? If he wants mandatory military service then he needs to move his family to Israel and see how he likes it.

109TH CONGRESS
H. R. 4752
2D SESSION

To provide for the common defense by requiring all persons in the United States, including women, between the ages of 18 and 42 to perform a period of military service or a period of civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes.This Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. National service obligation.
Sec. 3. Two-year period of national service.
Sec. 4. Implementation by the President.
Sec. 5. Induction.
Sec. 6. Deferments and postponements.
Sec. 7. Induction exemptions.
Sec. 8. Conscientious objection.
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to require a person to
be subject to combatant training and service in the uniformed services, if that person, by reason of sincerely held moral, ethical, or religious beliefs, is conscientiously opposed to participation in war in any form.
(b) ALTERNATIVE NONCOMBATANT/CIVILIAN OR SERVICE.
A person who claims exemption from combatant training and service under subsection (a) and whose claim is sustained by the local board shall--
(1) be assigned to noncombatant service (as defined by the President), if the person is inducted into the uniformed services; or
(2) be ordered by the local board, if found to be conscientiously opposed to participation in such noncombatant service, to perform national civilian

Sec. 9. Discharge following national service.
Sec. 10. Registration of females under the Military Selective Service Act.
Sec. 11. Relation of Act to registration and induction authority of military selective service Act.

Exhibit C: James Sensenbrenner
Mr. Sensenbrenner is well known for his back room antics, as well as barring other politicians from the Patriot Act hearing as well as pushing through his Real ID act without even one hearing. He has also advocated the use of the Patriot Act on non terror related crimes "I've heard criticism that the Patriot Act has been used in general criminal investigations. The answer to that question is, yes, it has been," Sensenbrenner said, "because the criminals were using new technology, but law enforcement wasn't able to because the law had not been updated." Let's talk about that Real ID Act. Through the guise of terrorism many truculent laws have been passed.

The Real ID is national id card tied into a national database using "common machine-readable technology" which will make identity theft even more rampant as it will be harvested by the private sector. The Real ID will do nothing to protect us from terrorists but will make systematic tracking of Americans that much more easier.

Exhibit D: Mark Foley
The Foley Coverup Timeline courtesy of Think Progress

On Friday, Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) resigned from Congress, after ABC News published inappropriate emails and sexually explicit instant messages that Foley sent to underage boys.

Subsequently, it's become clear that Congressional leadership "knew for months about e-mail traffic between Representative Mark Foley and a former teenage page, but kept the matter secret and allowed Mr. Foley to remain head of a Congressional caucus on children's issues." Here is a timeline of the coverup, based on published reports:

2001 - A Republican staff member warns pages "to watch out for Congressman Mark Foley." A former page says that they were told "don't get too wrapped up in him being too nice to you and all that kind of stuff." [ABC, 10/1/06]

2003 - Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) has sexually explicit IM exchanges with an underage boy who worked as a Congressional page. [ABC News, 9/29/06]

SUMMER 2005 - Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) sends inappropriate emails to another former Congressional page. [CREW]

SEPTEMBER 2005 - Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-LA), who sponsored the page, learns "of the e-mails from a reporter." [AP, 9/29/06; CQ, 9/30/06]

FALL 2005 - "Tim Kennedy, a staff assistant in the [Speaker J. Denis Hastert's] Office, received a telephone call from Congressman Rodney Alexander's Chief of Staff who indicated that he had an email exchange between Congressman Foley and a former House page...[Mike] Stokke [Deputy Chief of Staff for Speaker Hastert] called the Clerk and asked him to come to the Speaker's Office so that he could put him together with Congressman Alexander's Chief of Staff." [Hastert Statement, 9/30/06]

LATE 2005 - Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL), Chairman of the House Page Board, "was notified by the then Clerk of the House, who manages the Page Program, that he had been told by a Congressman Rodney Alexander (R-LA) about an email exchange between Congressman Foley and a former House Page." Shimkus interviewed Foley and told him "to cease all contact with this former house page." He did not inform Rep. Dale Kildee (D-MI), the only Democrat on the House page Board. [Roll Call, 9/29/06]

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2006 - Alexander tells NRCC chairman Tom Reynolds about "the existence of e-mails between Mark Foley and a former page of Mr. Alexander's." Reynolds tells Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) about the emails and his conversation with Alexander. [Reynolds Statement, 9/30/06; Roll Call, 9/30/06; Hastert Statement, 9/30/06]  expand post »

These morally bankrupt politicians have done to this country that Al Qaeda could never do. How can a man like George Bush claim to be Christian and support torture? They use to say Americans were feeling the pinch, but it's not a pinch today it's a red-hot poker being jammed in our rectum. The Democrats and Republicans are taking turns at bat. Sorry for the crude language but I don't know how else to say it.