Rep. Mark Foley, R-Florida - resigns

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Live365
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Post by Live365 » 09-29-2006 09:04 PM

joequinn wrote: No peace, no justice.


No justice, no peace.



And I'm not trying to be funny.
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Post by Joolz » 09-30-2006 05:44 AM

Here's more... interestingly, earlier today, this article contained a paragraph that has now been deleted. That paragraph attested that Rep. Alexander had known about this "10 to 11 months ago," and that he had informed Hastert and other House Republicans (can you spell c-o-v-e-r-u-p?). But that information is now "mysteriously" missing from the article in its current version (below).

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... e=politics

Foley Resigns From Congress Over E-Mails
By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer
Saturday, September 30, 2006


(09-30) 01:35 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --

In a scandal guaranteed to anger parents, a prominent House Republican has resigned after the revelation that he exchanged raunchy electronic messages with a teenage boy, a former congressional page.

Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., who is single, apologized Friday for letting down his family and constituents. Once his resignation letter was read to the House late Friday afternoon, Republicans spent the night trying to explain — six weeks before congressional elections — how this could have happened on their watch.

Near midnight, they engineered a vote to let the House ethics committee decide whether an investigation is needed.

Among the Republican explanations during the night:

_The congressional sponsor of the page, Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-La., said he was asked by the youth's parents not to pursue the matter, so he dropped it.

_Alexander said that before deciding to end his involvement, he passed on what he knew to the chairman of the House Republican campaign organization, Rep. Thomas Reynolds, R-N.Y. Reynolds' spokesman, Carl Forti, said the campaign chairman also took no action in deference to the parents' wishes.

_Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., chairman of the Page Board that oversees the congressional work-study program for high schoolers, said he did investigate but Foley falsely assured him he was only mentoring the boy. Pages are high school students who attend classes under congressional supervision and work as messengers.

_The spokesman for Speaker Dennis Hastert, Ron Bonjean, said the top House Republican had not known about the allegations. Shimkus said he learned about them in late 2005.

Just as Shimkus' explanation was released, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California proposed to the House that its ethics committee investigate and make a preliminary report in 10 days. She demanded to know who knew of the messages, whether Foley had other contacts with pages and when the Republican leadership was notified of Foley's conduct.

Instead, majority Republicans engineered a vote to allow the ethics panel to decide whether there should even be an investigation.

Foley's departure sent Republicans scrambling for a replacement candidate.

Foley, 52, had been a shoo-in for a new term until the e-mail correspondence surfaced in recent days. The page was 16 at the time of the correspondence.

Foley's resignation further complicates the political landscape for Republicans, who are fighting to retain control of Congress. Democrats need to win a net of 15 Republican seats to regain the power they lost in 1994.

Florida Republicans planned to meet as soon as Monday to name a replacement in Foley's district, which President Bush won with 55 percent in 2004 and is now in play for November. Though Florida ballots have already been printed with Foley's name and cannot be changed, any votes for Foley will count toward the party's choice.

Hastert said Friday he had asked Shimkus to investigate the page system. "We want to make sure that all our pages are safe and the page system is safe," Hastert said.

ABC News reported Friday that Foley also engaged in a series of sexually explicit instant messages with current and former pages, all male. In one message, ABC said, Foley wrote to one page, "Do I make you a little horny?"

In another message, Foley wrote, "You in your boxers, too? ... Well, strip down and get relaxed."

Foley, as chairman of the Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus, had introduced legislation in July to protect children from exploitation by adults over the Internet. He also sponsored other legislation designed to protect minors from abuse and neglect.

"We track library books better than we do sexual predators," Foley has said.

Foley, who represented an area around Palm Beach County, e-mailed the page in August 2005. Foley asked him how he was doing after Hurricane Katrina and what he wanted for his birthday. The congressman also asked the boy to send a photo of himself, according to excerpts of the e-mails that were originally released by ABC News.

The e-mails were posted Friday on the Web site of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington after ABC News reported their existence.

Naomi Seligman, a spokeswoman for CREW, said the group also sent a letter to the FBI after it received the e-mails. CREW did not post their copies of the e-mail until ABC News reported them, instead waiting for the investigation.

"The House of Representatives has an obligation to protect the teenagers who come to Congress to learn about the legislative process," the group wrote.

According to the CREW posting, the boy e-mailed a colleague in Alexander's office about Foley's e-mails, saying, "This freaked me out." On the request for a photo, the boy repeated the word "sick" 13 times.

He said Foley asked for his e-mail when the boy gave him a thank-you card. The boy also said Foley wrote that he had e-mailed another page.

"he's such a nice guy," Foley wrote about the other boy. "acts much older than his age...and hes in really great shape...i am just finished riding my bike on a 25 mile journey now heading to the gym...whats school like for you this year?"

In other e-mails, Foley wrote: "I am back in Florida now...its nice here...been raining today...it sounds like you will have some fun over the next few weeks...how old are you now?" and "how are you weathering the hurricane...are you safe...send me an email pic of you as well."
Last edited by Joolz on 09-30-2006 06:18 AM, edited 1 time in total.
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SETIsLady
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Post by SETIsLady » 09-30-2006 05:48 AM

We gave this sicko the platform to be a predator. I am just sick over this Julie, just sick. :( And those that knew about it and did nothing as just as guilty.

Foley is the founder and co-chair of the Congressional Missing and Exploited Children's caucus.

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Post by SETIsLady » 09-30-2006 05:50 AM

He needs to be arrested !! I am going to be busy today sending emails.

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Post by Joolz » 09-30-2006 05:56 AM

Here's an excerpt from another article at the Washington Post that does indicate there was knowledge about this as far back as "this spring" and attributes the source of that information as none other than Majority Leader Boehner. Apparently Boehner and Hastert didn't have their stories straight before they talked to the media and had to do a little backpedaling.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 01574.html
The resignation rocked the Capitol, and especially Foley's GOP colleagues, as lawmakers were rushing to adjourn for at least six weeks. House Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) told The Washington Post last night that he had learned this spring of inappropriate "contact" between Foley and a 16-year-old page. Boehner said he then told House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.). Boehner later contacted The Post and said he could not remember whether he talked to Hastert.

It was not immediately clear what actions Hastert took. His spokesman had said earlier that the speaker did not know of the sexually charged online exchanges between Foley and the boy.

This stinks in more ways than the obvious. The obvious is bad enough, but the idea that these f**kers would actually cover for this pedophile takes it to levels beyond disgusting.
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Post by Joolz » 09-30-2006 05:59 AM

SETIsLady wrote: He needs to be arrested !! I am going to be busy today sending emails.

I agree, Linda! If it was anyone else--you know, someone not a politician?--they'd be in JAIL, where they oughtta be.
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Post by SETIsLady » 09-30-2006 06:06 AM

I know what you mean Joolz, btw I posted this article NOT because he is a Republican but because this creep was a Congressman for the State I live in. I wanted to clarify that before anyone comes along and tries to distract the topic.

We are not looking out for our children. We have criminals in charge of making laws, supposedly to protect our children. Your right anyone else would be locked up by now. And I am going to go out of my way down here to make some frickin noise about this.

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Post by Joolz » 09-30-2006 06:15 AM

I understand completely where you're coming from. This isn't about party politics; it's about the kids, and protecting them from predators of ANY stripe.
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Post by SETIsLady » 09-30-2006 06:20 AM

Joolz wrote: I understand completely where you're coming from. This isn't about party politics; it's about the kids, and protecting them from predators of ANY stripe.
And that starts with calling him what he is , a pedophile .

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Post by SETIsLady » 09-30-2006 06:33 AM

And heres the proof, I am not going to reprint this sick conversation on the ship. But is it listed below. There is no question in my mind that Foley should be arrested,under the same law he helped pass. :mad:

READER DISCRETION STRONGLY ADVISED: Foley's Exchange With Underage Page

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Post by Ninerism » 09-30-2006 10:33 AM

Barbie wrote: When I worked at USC my supervisor had been a page in Washington, D.C. when he was younger. He said most people wouldn't believe all the Dirty Old Men who shout family values, and then skulk around trying to get the young male pages to do sexual favors for them. He was so appalled, he left and came back to California. It thoroughly disgusted him, and turned him against becoming a politician.


Barbie, similarly with your own story, I once knew someone who was an author and teacher, and he was also a best friend of the famous gossip columnist Rona Barrett (sp?). I think she now owns a large ranch in California.

His family had a number of contacts in the 'social circuits' of Washington DC, where he often travelled for business. He told me that Washington DC was a "cesspool" of that sort of activity, and that pages were regularly "fair game" .....some even committed suicide, after they discovered some things going on, I have read. No investigations about one young page's suicide ever hit the papers nor the Major Media enterprises -- nothing was done! Oh, sure, had it been "investigated", no doubt it would have been simply written off as just another wayward young 'boy' who had gone astray in drug parties.

I think he was about seventeen, which in older days of 1800's, would have defined him as a young adult, meaning that in some nations children of sixteen and seventeen
are considered young adults. Our laws may be set-up wrong in that matter, because to protect young women, it would be considered discriminatory not to
protect young men. The idea seems to be a socially restrictive menu for disaster when it comes to actual sexual behavior of younger people, though the objective may appear sound in order to reduce unwanted pregnancies, unwanted babies and unsupportable babies.

The Major Media is saturated with sexuality, and younger people today are much more aware about matters of sexuality, perhaps more so than those of the 1800's, who were marrying and having children by the age of sixteen.

Life is much stranger than fiction.

Several years ago when one Pirate here had discussed the incredible book, 'THE FRANKLIN COVER-UP, 'Child Abuse, Satanism and Murder In Nebraska', there has never occurred any national
uproar about those alleged incidences of severe child abuse, and alleged murders,
n under the ages of seventeen or sixteen, or twelve, as discussed by what appear to have been 'rings of pedophiles' well-established in Nebraska politics and the Republican Party affiliated with the actions of one well-known individual, and many other names people would recognize.

I am just wondering when the national uproar will occur, or when the Major Media and its controllers, will allow for presenting the facts discussed by former Nebraska State Senator, John W. DeCamp's incredible assertions in his book, 'THE FRANKLIN COVER-UP', that goes far beyond "ordinary" stuff involving Foley at this moment in time.

Mark my words, Foolery's actions are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the hellish politiks of sexual abuse by some monstrous elements within our government, at the highest levels, very protected, on-going protections, and involving virtual manufacture of 'sex slaves', if we are to believe anything reported by other authors concerning the 1950's 'butterfly girls', and other things involving MIND KONTROL, including MK-ULTRA by our very own FBI, not so very long ago. None of that is really ever covered by our Major Media, so-called 'liberal media'. Not even Katie can talk about it!

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Post by Cherry Kelly » 09-30-2006 11:33 AM

Having only read the emails - will check out the 'supposed' IMs as well -- I too find it somewhat upsetting and disgusting. It goes beyond the "mentoring" aspect of guidance and interest in future prospects of a page going into political realms.

While I can understand some things -- hoping all is well after a hurricane - asking about school - the rest goes beyond what would be considered "normal"...and definitely gets into pedophile category.

--
Niner -- I do recall discussions on that book -- long time ago. I also recall mentioning other pages and things that happened to them - from both sides of the political spectrum -- things far beyond the "emails and IMs" -- and nothing ever being done about it.

At least Foley had the decency to resign - can we say the same for other congress critters who are probably just as "guilty" of similar things? Maybe an investigation should be launched against them all and demand resignations of every one that is found with anything related or similar...

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Post by Ninerism » 09-30-2006 12:40 PM

Cherry Kelly wrote: Having only read the emails - will check out the 'supposed' IMs as well -- I too find it somewhat upsetting and disgusting. It goes beyond the "mentoring" aspect of guidance and interest in future prospects of a page going into political realms.

While I can understand some things -- hoping all is well after a hurricane - asking about school - the rest goes beyond what would be considered "normal"...and definitely gets into pedophile category.

--
Niner -- I do recall discussions on that book -- long time ago. I also recall mentioning other pages and things that happened to them - from both sides of the political spectrum -- things far beyond the "emails and IMs" -- and nothing ever being done about it.

At least Foley had the decency to resign - can we say the same for other congress critters who are probably just as "guilty" of similar things? Maybe an investigation should be launched against them all and demand resignations of every one that is found with anything related or similar...


Cherry, are you really that naive about Foley's DECENT resignation?
It's likely only the tip of the iceberg, and they have more stuff on his actual activities, not just in the state of Florida. Anyway, seems to me, that it was not so very decent, his resignation, though I know you meant to imply it as so, assuming others are just as guilty. I think that the PTB wanted to cover-up any more stuff about Foley, and or others. It's a lot of people in Florida who may be offended, too.

SEXUAL OPPRESSIONS:
Watched a film not long ago, and it was about how Cuba seeking to oppress sexual expressions under the crazy Castro regime during the revolution, mostly about homosexuality, actually created an environment that resulted in greater homosexuality being expressed by those in the oppressive military. Very fascinating to see how that works, just like in Germany under Hitler,too. The more that sexual oppressions occur under fascist regimes or others, the more the people are likely to 'act out' and express contrary behaviors, even if some men are not oriented toward homosexual activity. Under Castro, homosexual activity, even in the military, flourished!

The SICK-OF-MIND communist FIDEL CASTRO spread his cancerous attitudes among the people, and they vent it by 'acting out'. It will be good to see him gone! The people of Cuba certainly know about sexual repressions, too. The more CASTRO went after gay men in Cuba, the more that the military men began to find gay men desirable as mere sex objects, and would play both sides. In other words, even the miltary men did not see gays as a danger to society. Castro then worked hard to oust all those non-soldiers from his country, whom he saw as ruining his revolution! So, thousands, including gays and misfits and criminally insane, were placed on boats and shipped to Florida ...I think it was in the 1980's. Castro's SICK-MINDEDNESS only got worse as the years went by, and his "commie revolution" has been nothing short of a disaster for all Cubans. All the money Cuba received from the USSR is now being cut-off, too. The Cuban people are starving for freedom!

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Post by Joolz » 09-30-2006 10:37 PM

Cherry Kelly wrote: At least Foley had the decency to resign -

DECENCY??? Poor word choice, Cherry. Very bad. There is nothing "decent" here at all. Nothing.
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Post by Iris » 09-30-2006 10:46 PM

Thanks, Joolz. That was sticking in my craw, too.
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