Individual Liberty — Individual Responsibility 

Who "deserves" to have control of congress?

The People do. Unfortunately it doesn't work that way.

Paul Jacobs' "Common Sense" for today hits it on the head for the most part. He discusses briefly the Mark Foley scandal and reactions to it.

Lets face it. What Mark Foley did was wrong, but it didn't amount to having actual sexual relations with a minor. Rather it was "cyber-sex" or a lot of dirty talk in emails and instant messaging chats. For that, he resigned and he's out of office. He probably didn't commit any crime though, since the age of consent in Washington D.C. is 16, and the page in question was at least that old, so the worst he's likely to face is the loss of his political career.

Mr. Jacobs goes on to note that GOP Partisans turn around and bring up the actual sexual relations Gerry Studds had with a 17 year old male page. For that, Gerry Studds was censured by Congress. Despite the censure, Studds was re-elected and served for another decade. But Jacobs says "But what's the point? That Democrats were as bad or worse than Republicans? Some solace."

Indeed, some solace. The Republicans still have a problem.

But I think Mr. Jacobs misses the point of the GOP criticisms. If you're a Democrat and you're caught in a sexual scandal it can be a career enhancement. Look at Gerry Studds and William Clinton. Even the mass media will gloss over it and find some way to praise your wonderful career of "public service." On the other hand, if you're a Republican and you're caught in a sexual scandal, not only will it cost you personally, but the Democrats and the mass media will go out of their way to try to hound you and your leadership out of office.

What Jacobs gets right though is that we can't trust our elected officials to do the right thing, either with the page program, or with our government. Term limits would be a good thing.

But it's no excuse to give up and turn the House and Senate over to the Democrats. Sure there are some bad apples in the Republican party, but the culture of corruption hits both sides of the aisle. Look at Harry Ried's bogus land deals and his "amended" ethics report, or William Jefferson's refrigerator full of bribe money.

The Republicans may not deserve to hold onto power, but the Democrats certainly don't deserve to gain it. Yes, some of the Republicans are hypocrites, but the Democratic party should learn that they can't afford to take the splinter out of the Republican's eye without first removing the 2x4 from their own.

Say WA? (TF)

Leaning Straight Up says Say Buh Bye to Say WA. I have to agree. This was a really LAME tourism slogan. If King 5 was still airing new episodes of Almost Live, you can bet that this slogan would have made "The LAME List".

Karl goes on to say

The readers of the various blogs that covered this fiasco came out in droves to suggest other alternatives that were relevant and friendly and effective.

Maybe someone at state level should pay attention to them.

Too bad nobody at the state level ever seems to really pay attention to what the people really want. If they did, maybe we wouldn't be paying for two new sports stadiums or worrying about whether we're going to have to deal with another fiasco like "the big dig" in Seattle.