Firstly, the fact that what happened is basically a form of passive child molestation harkens me back to my own molestation. Anyone who has ever been a victim of molestation can surely understand it touches some really sensitive nerves.
Yes, as many have pointed out, there was no physical contact; at least no evidence of such has surfaced. However, this doesn't excuse Foley of his actions. Neither does his sudden rush to a rehab or his admission of "abuse" by a "clergyman" after the fact.
Secondly, the fact that Mark Foley is a member of the Republican Party, a party known for their predisposition to gay bash, the fact that it was hushed up instead of handled properly absolutely infuriates.
While it's no secret the Republicans in congress are hypocrites, for them to silently acquiesce to passive pedophilia disgusts me to no end.
On one hand, Senate Republicans bring up a constitutional ban on gay marriage like clockwork to mobilize the Religious Reich. They do this even though they know there is no chance of it passing. On the other hand, the House Republicans cover up clearly illegal acts for a member of their "good old boys" network. How much hypocrisy can one party contain?
As a gay man, I have felt the sting of persecution and prosecution for simply being "different". I put "different" in quotes because like all the other divide and conquer tactics employed by so many today (not just Republicans) my actual differences are minor. While my sexuality does predispose me to certain thought processes and points of view, it doesn't affect my ability to know right from wrong, or do a job for which I am qualified.
I have heard it said that if everyone who had ever had a homosexual experience or harbors homosexual tendencies were suddenly to change color for one day, say to purple, institutionalized and church sponsored gay bashing would cease almost immediately. If one is to take the Kinsey scale as true (and there is no reason not to do so), only one in six people would retain their natural skin color. That would mean there would be a lot of Purple Monkeys walking around.
Because homosexual tendencies are not visible on the surface, unless one screams as loud or louder than Liberace, there is no true means of knowing who is or isn't gay. Homosexuality resides in the brain, not anywhere visible on the body. It is for this reason alone that homophobia remains the one form of bigotry that continues to be openly embraced by American society.
I saw an experiment where a group of men was separated into two different groups according to their responses to a questionnaire that measured homophobic tendencies. Once they answered the questions, they were attached to machines that measured sexual response by means of a strain gauge attached to their penis. They were shown homoerotic images, and their erectile response was measured. In every case, the men who showed homophobic tendencies also showed erectile response to the images shown, in some cases experiencing complete erection. Those men who showed no homophobic tendencies showed no erectile response to the images.
While I forget the actual show, this experiment was done as a part of a documentary concerning itself with societal gay bashing and bias against transgendered peoples. It was a rather small study (less than one hundred men as I recall), but the results speak for themselves. I think it would be very interesting indeed if this study were done on a larger scale and under more controlled scientific conditions. How many Purple Monkeys would show up? If Kinsey is right, at least five out of six. If other studies are correct, nine out of ten.
While society may be slowly evolving to a state where homophobia is less prevalent, we still have a long way to go. The only way to speed up the process is for everyone who is gay to come out of the closet. That involves great personal risk, and many are unwilling to take that risk for fear of reprisal. I guess I am in a unique position because I have felt reprisal for my sexuality for so long, it doesn't bother me anymore.
It also takes a bravery of another kind. It requires that we who are gay no longer support institutions or organizations that gay bash in any fashion. That is the reason I do not support the Republican Party, even though, truth be told, I am more conservative than I am liberal. I will not be a part of the Log Cabin wing of the Republican Party. To me, they are part of the problem, not the solution.
It also follows that I have no interest in being Christian. While Jesus Christ never openly offered an opinion one way or another on the issue of homosexuality; something that obviously existed during his time on this planet, those who claim to be doing His work seem to think they know better. I cannot and will not put myself in a state of silent duplicity by being a part of any system of faith that tells me I am wrong and condemned for something over which I have no control.
Further, it is my opinion that those who do exist in a state of silent duplicity cause more harm to themselves and others of their kind than they do good.
Now, with all that said, I need to say the issue that bothers me most about what has now been dubbed "Foleygate" is not whether Foley is gay (as if there is any question at this point). It is the fact that he engaged in passive pedophilia while making a show of being a moral spearhead on the issue. That is the worst kind of hypocrisy.
On one hand, he is the guy who is the champion of legislation to protect children from exploitation via the internet. On the other, his one-handed typing is doing exactly that which his legislation is supposed to stop. If this isn't a clear case of complete hypocrisy, then I ask what is it? If it isn't a case of the fox guarding the rooster-house, then what is it?
I knew this was going to be a hot tamale, but boy howdy, it's starting to look like the orangutans in the Republican party were playing hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil as early as 1997.
Oh yes, that's what I read. Here, let me post the bit of news in question. It's really small, but it packs a wallop.
A former congressional page said Thursday he received sexually suggestive messages from then-Rep. Mark Foley in 1997. Tyson Vivyan's account appears to show the earliest exchange of suggestive messages reported so far between Foley and teens who had served in the Capitol page program. Previous accounts placed the earliest contacts in 2003. SOURCE: http://news.yahoo.com/fc/US/US_Congress/
So now we have verification that Foley has been up to his "tricks" for at least nine years. While I have heard rumblings that he began his nasty-grams to pages shortly after arriving in congress in 1995, there is no solid verification of this, YET!!!
However, since it's now clear that he was doing his thing in 1997, I can see no reason for his misdeeds going unnoticed for any other reason than a full scale conspiracy to keep a lid on his actions.
If this is true, and given the level of hypocrisy of the Republican Party, there is no reason on earth to doubt the truth of it, the Republican leadership of the House had to have known. There is no way they couldn't have known.
So now we have a case of a long-term sex scandal festering in the House of Representatives for at least nine years, and possibly eleven. Doesn't that give one and all a different perspective on why the Republicans came down so hard on President Clinton for staining Monica's dress? Further, doesn't that show the depth of hypocrisy in the Republican Party? Gay bashers that allowed the sexual harrassment of underaged male pages by a male congressman, that's going to be pretty hard to live down, doncha know!
I can't wait for the investigation to begin! I get the feeling this is going to resonate in the halls of Congress for years to come. At the very least, we are now at a point in this story where plausible deniability has flown out the window, along with the American delusion of truth in congress.
So let Flush Lintball, Bill OhReally, and the rest of the Neo-con mouthpieces continue their spin. They will only make total fools of themselves, and expose themselves for what they are, a bunch of sycophantic toadies who would rather spin a complete tapestry of lies than face the truth. Once the investigation begins, not one word those liars speak will resonate as anything but deceit.
Thanks again, Mark Foley. Your lustful ways and one-handed typing exercises have, at long last, cast a bright and sharply focused light on the cesspool that is congress. I just can't wait to see all the nastiness that floats to the surface. Oh, and to Dennis Hastert, maybe it's time for you to consider a new career path. Might I suggest doing spots for Jenny Craig! Charade you are!
Blessed be!
Pappy
by
Pappy (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 863 comments)
on Thursday, October 5, 2006 at 11:44:18 AM
Does the GOP now stand for Gay Old Party? The party that protects preditory pedophiles?
What would Karl Rove do if he this issue on his side?
He would take the issue and run with it.
Perhaps we should hand out flyers with the above message to
at Right Wing churches.
I sent the following letter to several Right Wing organizations and churches. Perhaps other could send a similar letter.
To the Editor of The Baptist Press:
For those who are offended by the idea of "Gay Marriage", I
strongly suggest that they not read the recently published
book: "THE ARCHITECT: Karl Rove and The Master Plan For
Absolute Power" by James Moore and Wayne Slater (the same
authors who wrote the best selling book: "BUSH'S BRAIN").
Bush's supporters will not want to read that his closest political advisor and personal friend, Karl Rove, had a very close personal relationship with his openly homosexual Stepfather.
And Bush's supporters will not want to read that Rove is an avowed agnostic and that both Bush and Rove refer to those on the Christian Right as wackos. "Bring out the wackos" is the common term Bush, Rove and Jack Abramoff used to gather votes and support from the Christian Right for their causes.
by
Kirk Muse (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 11 comments)
on Thursday, October 5, 2006 at 12:28:20 PM
Gee, go figure the architect of DUBYA's political wins had a gay stepfather. I bet that had to make turning a personal rights issue such as gay marriage into a moral anathema difficult. It just goes to show how little loyalty he houses in his blackened soul.
Hot Karl is an atheist? Wow, I didn't know that. I bet that made sucking up to the "wackos" even more difficult. However, a man who is as soulless as Hot Karl is probably capable of even more chameleon-like actions than this.
I'd say you not only need to send out letters to the Religious Reich, you need to send them a copy of the book as well. I'm sure most will consider it to be some kind of liberal media-based propaganda, but there will be some who will know they have been used as pawns in the hands of the political elite who currently ravage our system of government.
Blessed be!
Pappy
by
Pappy (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 863 comments)
on Thursday, October 5, 2006 at 4:22:31 PM
Of that, I have no doubt. If there is one thing I have learned from living as an openly gay human for twenty-eight years of life is closet cases know each other implicitly. It's a perversion of the "gaydar" that most out and proud gays have.
I so can't wait for this investigation to start. There are going to be LOTS of skeletons popping out of LOTS of closets. Further, it is a surety that at least the head of Dennis Hastert will roll. I can't wait to hear how deep and wide this morass of conspiracy was dug. It promises to be as entertaining to we of a progressive mindset as the sham of President Clinton's almost impeachment was to the Neo-cons.
Blessed be!
Pappy
by
Pappy (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 863 comments)
on Thursday, October 5, 2006 at 4:27:39 PM
I want to begin by thanking op ed news for promoting my article, Foley, the Purple Monkey and the Log Cabin to main headline status. I didn't even know that such a thing existed here. I am deeply honored by this. I want to thank Rob and everyone else here who work so tirelessly to keep this site going strong. You can rest assured that I will continue to write and share myself with everyone here. Thank you, one and all.
I was having a discussion with my roommate earlier this evening, and we were discussing Foleygate. I expressed my view that this scandal was not going away anytime soon. I also added the fact that I can see no way it can be spun to put the Republicans on the not-so-shitty end of the stick.
He reminded me of a few things, and I must say, my confidence in my opinion was shaken, at least momentarily. He reminded me, and rightly so that on the eve of the 2004 election, there was no way on earth either he or I considered DUBYA would win, come close to winning, or even make a decent showing. Boy howdy, weren't we wrong! He also stated that Rick (get them fags out of Texas) Perry is at 43% in the polls, and my man, Kinky Friedman is at 18%. Then he added something he read on the letters to the editor page of the Dallas Morning News. They printed a letter from some bubble-headed bimbette (French for "bimbo") thanking god for George Bush because the price of gas fell.
This gave me pause. It reminded me of the aggregate stupidity of the American Public. Please know, I am not saying this as a slam against America or the public at large. I am just stating a truth. Sometimes the truth wears an ugly face. In this case, it does. I didn't make it so, I am only reporting what I see.
Newspapers and many magazines are written at a fifth-grade level. In my many jaunts around the internet, I have noticed a glaring lack in ability to communicate using the English Language. Whether the problems were related to spelling errors (some incredibly easy words consistently misspelled), grammatical or syntatical errors, punctuation errors, or all of the above, they were there in all their incorrect glory. Obviously literacy is something that is in short supply. With a populace that also thinks evolution is a lie, and "intelligent design" is the truth, there is a serious intellectual vacuum in this country.
So, the question is, can this debacle be spun into gold for the Republicans? While I am not as convinced as I once was of the invulnerability of this scandal to the spin alchemists, I have to say I still don't see how the Republicans can come out of this without egg on their collective faces.
The efforts at damage control have been monumental, but I still think the fact that this scandal is about sex is going to make real damage control impossible. Yes, the fact that it was homosexual in nature plays into the hands of the "moralists". However, the fact that it was known about for nine years at least, and possibly since Foley came to congress, it still looks like the Republicans were playing hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil. While I am sure that's the next thing they are going to try to do is reduce the number of years that this was happening, they simply can't. Pages with stories to tell are coming out of the woodwork, and you can bet they are going to appear before the investigating committee. Boy howdy, won't they have some stories to tell!
I think it is up to us to make sure that the story doesn't get spun! Write letters to the editor, share your outrage here and other progressive sites on the net, debunk the spin wherever you hear it or see it. Don't give a millimeter, my friends. Don't let the congress up from under the microscope that has needed to be focused on their hypocrisy and chicanery.
No matter what you may personally think about this scandal, the plain and simple truth about it is at long last, here is a scandal that we can get to stick like super glue to the Republicans. This scandal could not only shake up the congress over the scandal itself, it could open the floodgates to even more investigations of even more underhandedness wrought by the Republicans.
We cannot afford to allow the momentum on this issue to slow, falter, or in any other way dissipate. The shock and outrage are still fresh, and we need to make sure it remains this fresh at least until November. If it does, we can rest assured there will be a real congressional shake-up. If that happens, we can also rest assured this investigation will only be the beginning of a real housecleaning in congress.
Please, for the love of our country, let's keep the pressure high! If we don't, then we had better be prepared for more of the same in our federal government.
Blessed be!
Pappy
by
Pappy (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 863 comments)
on Friday, October 6, 2006 at 1:09:56 AM
