If the drunken pro-Iraq war ravings of Christoper Hitchens irk you, I have a suggestion on how to get some payback on the only  known surviving Trotskyite basher of Mother Teresa.

Tonight six members of the Democratic House leadership (Reps Hoyer, Emanuel, Van Hollen, Davis, Mollohan, and Rahall) are hosting a fundraiser (event info) for the candidate they have personally recruited to flip WV-02 from Red to Blue: WV State Senator John Unger (ungerforconress.org)

Why will this drive a pill up Hitch's wazoo? Not only is John Unger an anti-war progressive with a real shot at winning this historically Democratic district; as a college student Unger spent a year working for Mother Teresa.

I kid you not! Check out the picture at start of main body of text.

Annoy Hitch! Donate here (actblue link) then read on for more info on Unger's great takeover opportunity.

Mark Foley is going to get away with IT--the seduction, solicitation, luring, enticing or attempting to seduce a child--a third degree felony in his home state of Florida.

Although everyone in this country--and in the world--witnessed Foley's predilection with male pages, Scripps Howard News Service is reporting that sources close to the investigation indicated that the disgraced congressman "...is unlikely to face criminal charges for sending sexually explicit e-mails to teenage boys."

Below are my refutations of some of Republican talking points I have encountered with respect to Royal Alexander, Republican candidate for state Attorney General of Louisiana.  Elections for state office in Louisiana will be held this October and November.  Royal Alexander was once Chief of Staff of Rodney Alexander, the turncoat Democrat who is now the Republican representative of LA-05, or northeastern Louisiana, in the US House.  As a result of an egregious gerrymander, my home is now in Rodney Alexander's district.

At least for now, I’m signing off as a diarist and commenter. All will be told at length below. Stand by for venting.

Like many people around these parts, I'm a huge mac fan.  And lately I've noticed more and more that whenever possible, the company takes very public, although slightly subverssive, swipes at the mindless Republicans who are f'ing up the country and the planet.

Case in point: the new ad for the iPhone.

 Dear Kossacks:

I would appreciate your help in correcting a mistake I made in a diary I wrote yesterday.

 My comments about Orrin Hatch's record as a U.S. Senator were accurate, but I misspoke when making the point of discussing the page scandal. I accidentally used his name, instead of his former Republican colleague in the House, Mark Foley.

 I have attached the part of the diary in question for you to review.  Please accept my sincere apology.  The following passage was accurate, except for the name of the person involved.

The House has approved reforms for the oversight of the Congressional Page program but they fail to address the actual problem: the Ethics of the Congressmen and staffers involved.

Glenn Greenwald comes to this conclusion.
The evidence:

• "Communications Director for the House Democratic Caucus (Matt Miller)" was sent copies of the Foley e-mails, and, not trusting the Republicans, he sent copies to newspapers and "Bill Burton, the Communications Director of the DCCC" in 2005.
• According to Firedog Lake Emmanuel aggressively pushed for a "to recruit a former Republican to run  as a "Democrat" for Foley's very red district seat".  Unless he knew that this would blow up, why bother.
• When Questioned about this by Stephanopolis, he denied "ever having read the emails", not knowledge.
• CNN is reporting that an aid of his has said that we was informed of this.

Should the blogs do to him what was done to Trent Lott?

Rahm Emmanuel knew Foley was preying on pages in 2005

The head of the House Democrats' campaign committee, Rep. Rahm Emanuel, had heard of former Rep. Mark Foley's inappropriate e-mails to a former male page a year before they became public, a campaign committee aide told CNN.

I guess now we know why the Ethics Committee's report was a whitewash.

I've been tracking this story this evening (I first learned of it last night, but got busy during the day today), and through email, I've discussed the story's implications with a number of other Democratic supporters.

One of the first things I learned comes from Down With Tyranny.  Follow me over the flip - this conversation is important.

As expected, the House Ethics Committee presented a laundry list of would haves, could haves and should haves to the American public regarding Republican lawmakers failure to protect young male pages from former Congressman Mark Foley.

How can a diary based on completely erroneous information and abject falsehoods get 200+ recommends and a place on the rec list on a site where people ought to be somewhat knowledgeable?? Do I have your attention? My rant, over the fold.

I was appalled when I read the first MSM stories about the report on the GOP's Mark Foley scandal released by the "House ethics committee," a phrase that has now been firmly cemented as an oxymoron for all eternity.  I was appalled not just at the committee's slap on the wrist for the actions of many House leaders and staff members, going back several years, to cover up and/or ignore Mark Foley's sexually predatory behavior toward underage pages.  But I was also appalled at the initial MSM stories that tried to portray the report as somehow being tough, when in fact it has no teeth at all.  Thankfully, the New York Times editorial page has cut through the BS and blasted the report in no uncertain terms, calling it a "91-page exercise in cowardice."

I'm going to respect Kos' rules and not call anyone out by name, but you know who you are...  

You told me I was ridiculous when I said They are not your friends.

When I called them Scummy Motherfuckers, y'all got snarky and suggested that I do more harm than good.

Well, today we see that those of you that refuse to demand accountability from Democrats will get what you deserve - fucked over.

(smoking gun on the flip)

The Ethic Committees REPORT on 'FoleyGate' is full of interesting tidbits. For example The Info That Rep. Kolbe knew about graphic IM's in 2001, and also told a page involved to 'not talk to anybody' about the IM's.

But it gets better. Well I dont know if a story about predatory behavior can be defined as 'better' but, it definately gets more interesting.

Smoking gun.  A page forwarded an explicit Foley IM to Republican Representative Kolbe in 2001.

They knew.  They knew all along.  

It's a disgrace that this evidence was buried until after the election.

See the report here:

http://www.house.gov/...

And go to page 27.

Bastards.  Pages continued to be exploited by Foley for 5 more years.

The investigation into Foleygate is apparently over and apparently a report is ready. It was clearly withheld from the public so as not to hurt the GOP's chances in the elections. Although I don't approve of this, it was politics as usual and I can deal with it in light of the election results. The election is now over. This report and any evidence gathered should be made available to the public.

Does this sound like Standard Republican Operation Procedure?

She just makes assertions with no evidence, and tells it as loudly as she can. This much is true. If you tell a lie enough times, tell it loudly and with confidence, people will start to believe it. So Shelley puts out misrepresentations for all of us to witness, and then she comes on and tells us, "I am Shelley Moore Capito, and I approve of this ad." An incumbent should be above that.

It's nice that The Charleston Gazette called her out for that. But that's just the beginning of her problems with the truth.

A glorious day for David Roth (CA-45th) and our happy throng of Americans to march in the Desert Pride Parade in Palm Springs.  Look who the gay community in Palm Springs is for:

GOTV precinct captains have our orders, the final call lists are getting together, and David, as usual, was talking with the voters all day.  The local paper, The Desert Sun, recapped the candidates in today's edition.  My home delivered print edition showed both candidates on the front page, with equal space devoted to their respective articles.  Look how the web version formats it.  The panic among the shills and GOP machine is palpable.  GO ROTH!