newly_elected_thugs djknslksdfnlknl MILFORD, N.H.—A newly elected Republican lawmaker from Amherst, N.H., faces drunk driving charges. Milford police told the New Hampshire Union Leader (a New Hampshire newspaper) they stopped Stephen Stepanek shortly before midnight on Nov. 6. He was charged with DWI second offense and failing to turn on his lights. The 59-year-old Stepanek was just elected to his fourth term in the House after a two-year hiatus. In 2008, he ran unsuccessfully for Executive Council. Stepanek could not be reached for comment. ALLEN WEST - "THE THUG" In an election season that appears more like a three ring circus than an exercise in democracy, Republican tea party candidate Allen West of Florida has flown under the radar of most, overshadowed by his flashier teabagging compatriots, like Christine O'Donnell, Sharron Angle and Marco Rubio. Even his nuttier statements (like having a higher security clearance than the President of the United States) seem more sadly self-deluded than loony. But Allen West may be one of the more dangerous candidates out there: NBC News’ Lisa Myers reports that Allen West (FL-22) has ties to an infamous motorcycle gang, the Outlaws. [..] The Justice Department has said that the Outlaws produce and distribute methamphetamine, and engage in other criminal activities including arson, homicide, and prostitution. [Justice Department, National Gang Threat Assessment 2009, Published January 2009, accessed 9/13/10] This past Monday, Republican Leader John Boehner was raising money for Allen West in Florida. This past Tuesday, NRCC Executive Director Guy Harrison touted West’s candidacy. Republican leaders, including Eric Cantor and Sarah Palin, support Allen West. Motorcycle gangs? Drug production and distribution? Arson? Homicide? Oy. Strictly anecdotal, but friends I have in Florida's 22nd District have told me that West's signs are all over the country and Democratic rival Ron Klein's are few and far between. Of course the NRCC is putting their money and backing behind the campaign. Will they continue to support West with these kind of ties? You can call the NRCC and request that, in the futer, they not give donations to war criminals with ties to biker gangs at (202) 479-7000. - from www.crooksandliars.com Allen West's controversial new chief of staff quits amid media 'lynching' By Alex Leary, Times Staff Writer In Print: Friday, November 12, 2010 Conservative radio talk show host Joyce Kaufman and U.S. Rep.-elect Allen West at a tea party rally in September 2009. [Special to the Times] WASHINGTON — Allen West promised to shake up Washington, but it's hard to imagine anyone causing an uproar so quickly. West, a Republican who just defeated two-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Ron Klein of South Florida, this week hired a fire-breathing conservative radio host as his chief of staff. In accepting the job, Joyce Kaufman likened House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to "garbage." On Thursday, a day after 300 Broward County schools were locked down when a threat was linked to her show, Kaufman quit West's office. "I will not be used in an electronic lynching by proxy,'' she said on 850 WFTL, haranguing the "liberal media" for creating a uproar over her hiring. "They're trying to bring down congressman-elect Allen West. … They are vile, they could care less that an election was won fair and square." Known for a hard line on illegal immigration and closely aligned with the tea party, Kaufman, 56, promotes herself as the "most heavily armed" radio host in South Florida. This week a video began circulating on the Internet — and shown on MSNBC — in which Kaufman seems to advocate tough action against the government. "I am convinced the most important thing the Founding Fathers did to ensure me my First Amendment rights was they gave me a Second Amendment," she said at a rally in July. "And if ballots don't work, bullets will." The clip disappeared from YouTube on Thursday. Kaufman, who had planned to continue her show while working for West in Washington, said her words have been twisted by the news media. She defended herself similarly after suggesting illegal immigrants should be hanged. "How can I be a racist if I campaigned for a black candidate?" she asked on her show, provocatively using the word "lynching." She said that she had received a threat and that authorities were investigating. On Wednesday, authorities locked down all schools in Broward after an e-mail was sent to Kaufman at WFTL, claiming "something big was going to happen," possibly at a post office or a school. It's not clear whether anything Kaufman said prompted the threat, which never was realized. "Sometimes I have a big mouth," Kaufman said on her Thursday show. "Sometimes I say things that I wish I had either said differently or not said at all. I think that's part of my charm. It also gets people in a lot of trouble." West also favored antigovernment rhetoric on the campaign trail and enjoys passionate tea party support. His victory over Klein was part of a Republican wave in Florida, where four incumbent Democrats lost their seats in Congress. He called Kaufman on the air Thursday and said he'd continue to rely on her for advice. "They didn't get a win," he said of critics, "and I'll see you on the high ground." He promised to bring the "left-wing vile, vicious, despicable machine" to its knees. West, 49, is a former Army lieutenant colonel who resigned the military amid controversy after firing his gun near a detainee's head in Iraq in 2003, an attempt to extract information about a possible ambush. He acknowledged wrongdoing but said he would do it again to protect his men. Thousands of people across the United States rallied behind him at the time, setting off a debate about war conduct that continues today. West said the experience was a spark for his decision to run for office. West's boisterous introduction to Washington recalls another tough-talking Florida lawmaker: Rep. Alan Grayson, a liberal Democrat from Orlando who repeatedly annoyed and provoked Republicans over the past two years and became a favorite of cable news shows. But Grayson will not be returning for a second term. He was defeated Nov. 2. - Information from the Associated Press was used in this report. Alex Leary can be reached at leary@sptimes.com. Follow him on Twitter@learyspt. CHRISTINE O'DONNEL - "THE BARBIE" "I dabbled into witchcraft. I never joined a coven." / "One of my first dates with a witch was on a satanic altar." - Politically Incorrect, 1999 "sorry Christine, you're an idiot - and paganism is NOT satanism!" -site owner With Christine O'Donnell, is "lookism" such a crime? Let's end the double standard that lets girls say anything they like about boys, who are forbidden to talk back By Gene Lyons “Satyr is a sort of Glass, wherein Beholders do generally discover everybody’s Face except their Own; which is the chief reason … that so very few are offended with it.” Jonathan Swift, 1704 Let me get this straight. A candidate for the U.S. Senate airs a TV commercial denying she’s a witch, and I’m the bad guy because I’d hinted that her candidacy’s more about being cute than qualified? Actually, it’s worse than that. According to one Kirsten Powers, FOX News political analyst and columnist for the Daily Beast website, finding Christine O’Donnell easy to look at but hard to take seriously makes me a “pig.” Now your basic swine is nobody’s favorite among barnyard animals. Even so, there’s a reason Orwell made them the ruling caste in “Animal Farm.” Pigs are clever, determined and ruthless about getting their way. But then the novel’s a satire, a genre to which the literal-minded are constitutionally immune. The British expression “daft cow” comes to mind. But I’d never apply so demeaning a term to a thinker of Powers’ depth, if only out of respect for my own small herd of Fleckvieh Simmentals, calm, sweet-natured beasts I’m inordinately fond of. The culture of fake outrage, however, definitely warrants attention. Particularly during an election season, when candidates and their seconds grapple with the mock ferocity of professional wrestlers, each seeking an opportunity to accuse his or her opponent of bigotry: racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, contempt for Italian-Americans, Mexican-Americans, Christians, rednecks, whatever. Anything to stimulate tribal loyalties. Some of it you couldn’t make up: a GOP congressional candidate in Ohio dresses in Nazi regalia to celebrate the military prowess of the Waffen SS—a “purely historical” hobby, he claims. An Italian-American gubernatorial candidate threatens to “take out” an annoying New York Post reporter, and then charges that his opponent’s own Italian heritage isn’t authentic enough. The highly-qualified O’Donnell spends her first weeks as a Senate nominee hiding from the press while issuing statements explaining that although she never actually attended three prestigious universities listed in her campaign bio, she’d taken extension courses in the vicinity, and may have been confused. Couldn’t get the details through her pretty little head, it seems. I’m confident O’Donnell has a future with FOX News. Such absurdities, however, are almost as rare as they are diverting. It’s mainly make-believe outrage people pretend to feel: simulating anger to gain rhetorical advantage. “Sexism,” in this regard, can be very like “racism.” Bad faith claims of bigotry can be used to shut down legitimate debate. For a faker like Powers, the rules are these: Girls can say anything they like about boys, who are forbidden to talk back. I’m not supposed to notice that politicians like O’Donnell and Sarah Palin are heavy on lip gloss and light on substance. Never mind that they, like all politicians in the television age, devote vast amounts of time and money to crafting an image. They hire consultants to dress them and style their hair. My response? Grow up. You’re not in college anymore. When the crime of "lookism" came up at the liberal arts college where I once taught, I sometimes pointed out that the oldest book in the Western literary canon, Homer’s "Iliad," was about babes (Helen, aka "the face that launched a thousand ships") and jocks (Achilles, captain of the Argive football team). Athletes and cheerleaders have always gotten too much attention. Women like Christine O'Donnell have been "cuting" their way through life since the Bronze Age. Also handsome men, of course. Have you seen Cosmo’s naked photo layout of Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.)? What’s more, people have always judged men and women by different standards. It’s not possible to alter human nature by outlawing jokes. Powers even defends Ann Coulter against sexist gibes. Here’s Coulter on Democratic women: “My pretty-girl allies stick out like a sore thumb amongst the corn-fed, no make-up, natural fiber, no-bra needing, sandal-wearing, hirsute, somewhat fragrant hippie-chick pie wagons they call 'women' at the Democratic National Convention." Would it be ungallant to observe that Coulter’s not half the cupcake she appears to think? Here’s a Daily Beast commentor on guys like me: “We all know about Birkenstock-wearing, latte-sipping, nerdy liberal pseudo ‘males’, and why they hate women ... Real men, strong, rugged, confident alpha males always respect women; especially super-women like Sarah Palin.” His pseudonym? “Chiefbigknife.” Methinks it’s possible the Chief doth protest too much. This cartoon-think’s been going on since the sixties. What it’s gotten us is basically George W. Bush, the make-believe Texas cowboy never seen on a horse; and Sarah Palin, the self-styled “Mama Grizzly” who, Alaska neighbors tell Vanity Fair, is no more a big game hunter than I’m a brain surgeon. But if Powers says I can’t play Barbies anymore, I can console myself with my genuine, 14-inch George W. Bush action figure, flight-suit model. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette columnist Gene Lyons is a National Magazine Award winner and co-author of "The Hunting of the President" (St. Martin's Press, 2000). You can e-mail Lyons at eugenelyons2@yahoo.com. More Gene Lyons leadership plans environmental assault The House leadership in the newly elected 112th Congress has some big changes planned on the environmental policy front, from rollbacks of protective regulations to an assault on climate science. Following last week's mid-term election that gave Republicans control of the House, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) (photo at right), the likely new majority leader, released a document outlining his party's plans that calls for committees to review "existing and proposed government rules, regulations, and statutes" for possible repeal. As OMB Watch points out, Cantor's document takes a uniformly negative view of regulation, "commenting on its cost to businesses without mentioning its benefits to society as a whole." For example, the document states that the annual cost of federal regulations was $1.75 trillion in 2008, but it does not consider the cost savings regulations bring as a result of a cleaner environment and improved public health. Though Cantor's document does not mention environmental regulations specifically, he has been almost uniformly hostile to legislative efforts to protect the environment. The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) gave him scores of 0 percent in the first session of the 111th Congress, 6 percent in the 110th, 7 percent in the 109th, and 0 percent in both the 108th and 107th. At the same time, the top contributor to Cantor's campaign over the course of his congressional career has been Dominion Resources, a major polluter. Cantor's anti-regulation initiative will have major implications, since with a Republican majority in the House and a smaller Democratic majority in the Senate it's likely that President Obama will increasingly try to use the regulatory process to advance his administration's policy goals. Climate deniers take control of Energy Committee One area of environmental policy where big changes are coming is on the climate front. Fifty percent of the newly elected House Republicans deny the existence of man-made climate change, while 86 percent are opposed to any climate legislation that increases government revenue, such as cap-and-trade bills or a carbon tax. Four lawmakers are currently vying to head the key House Energy and Commerce Committee that's currently led by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), and all four -- Fred Upton (R-Mich.), John Shimkus (R-Ill.), Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) and Joe Barton (R-Texas) (photo above) -- question the science of man-made global warming. Upton is the front runner for the post as the most senior member eligible to take over the committee. Though he voted for a cap and trade system back in 1990 to limit sulfur dioxide pollution from power plants, he now opposes cap and trade as a way to control greenhouse gas emissions. He has also questioned the science of man-made global warming and called for investigations of climate scientists. The top contributor to Upton has been CMS Energy, which generates about 80 percent of its power from fossil fuels. Shimkus not only denies the reality of man-made global warming but has taken the extreme anti-science positionpromoted the discredited myth of global cooling. The electric utility industry has been the second-highest industry contributor to Shimkus and the fourth-biggest contributor to Stearns. Barton is a former oil-company consultant who famously apologized to BP for White House efforts to create an escrow fund for Gulf Coast damages and claims global warming is a purely natural phenomenon. Barton is seeking an exception from Republican rules limiting how long someone can hold a committee leadership position. The oil and gas industry has been Barton's top contributor, followed by electric utilities. All four lawmakers pursuing the Energy Committee's chairmanship have gotten low scores from LCV. In the 111th's first session, Upton got a 36 percent, Shimkus 7 percent, and Stearns and Barton both got a 0. Climate science investigations planned The future remaiins uncertain for the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, created by current House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). While there has been some speculation the committee might be disbanded, climate science denier Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) has said he might keep it alive in order to investigate the Environmental Protection Agency. Another investigation around climate science is planned by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who is set to head the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Issa has said he would use the post to launch a probe of the so-called "Climategate" matter, which involved stolen e-mails from the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia in England. While climate skeptics claimed the e-mails showed scientists manipulating data, multiple investigations in both the U.K. and U.S. have since cleared researchers of any wrongdoing. While the House readies its assault on climate science, actual climate scientists are taking action to address misinformation. The American Geophysical Union, the leading organization of climate scientists, is planning to launch a web service offering journalists accurate information about climate change. It's also working on an climate science iPhone app. An another effort, climate scientists are assembling a "rapid response unit" to provide the public with accurate information on climate change. That effort is being led by John Abraham of St. Thomas University in Minnesota, Scott Mandia of Suffolk County Community College in New York, and Ray Weymann, staff member emeritus at the California-based Carnegie Observatories. View image But will those efforts be able to counteract the weight of the congressional bully pulpit -- and the massive amounts of money flooding the political system from polluters? HERE'S A LIST OF REPUBLICAN POLITICIANS/SEX OFFENDERS FROM 2006 Edison Misla Aldarondo, Republican legislator, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for molestation of his daughter and her friend for eight-year period starting when they were 9. Randal David Ankeney, Republican activist, arrested on suspicion of sexual assault on a child with force. He faces 6 charges related to getting a 13-year-old girl stoned on pot and then having sex with her. Source Also accused of sexually assaulting another girl. Merrill Robert Barter, Republican County Commissioner, pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual contact and assault on a teenage boy. Robert Bauman, Republican congressman and anti-gay activist, was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old boy he picked up at a gay bar. Parker J. Bena, Republican activist and Bush Elector, pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography (including children as young as 3 years old) on his home computer and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and fined $18,000. Louis Beres, chairman of the Christian Coalition of Oregon. 3 of his family members accuse him of molesting them when they were pre-teens. Editor and Publisher article. In August 06, Beres confessed. Howard L. Brooks, Republican legislative aide and advisor to a California assemblyman, was charged with molesting a 12-year old boy and possession of child pornography. Andrew Buhr, Republican politician, former committeeman for Hadley Township Missouri, was charged with two counts of first degree sodomy with a 13-year old boy. John Allen Burt, Republican anti-abortion activist, convicted of sexually molesting a 15 year old girl at the home for troubled girls that he ran John Butler, Republican activist, was charged with criminal sexual assault on a teenage girl. Keola Childs, Republican County Councilman, pleaded guilty to sexual assault in the first degree for molesting a male child.Honolulu Star-Bulletin Article Kevin Coan, Republican St. Louis Election Board official, arrested and charged with trying to buy sex from a 14-year-old girl whom he met on the Internet. Source: Newmax Carey Lee Cramer Political consultant and anti-Kerry ad producer, tried for molesting two young girls, one of whom lived with him, and was 8 yrs old; the other starred in an anti-Kerry commercial. Diary Diary. The Monitor. Dan Crane, Republican Congressman, married, father of six. Received a 100% "Morality Rating" from Christian Voice. Had sex with a minor working as a congressional page. Salon.com article On July 20, the House voted for censure Crane, the first time that censure had been imposed for sexual misconduct.[6] Richard A. Dasen Sr., Republican benefactor of conservative Christian groups, convicted of sexual abuse of children, promotion of prostitution and several counts of solicitation, enough to add up to a sentence of 126 years in prison. Investigators estimated that he spent up to $5,000,000 on prostitutes. Richard A. Delgaudio, Republican fundraiser and Bush pioneer, was found guilty of child porn charges. WBAL Channel article Peter Dibble, Republican legislator pleaded no contest to having an inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old girl. News Channel 8 Article Nicholas Elizondo, Director of the Young Republican Federation molested his 6-year old daughter and was sentenced to six years in prison. Halfway down this Bakersfield Californian article Larry Dale Floyd, Republican Constable in Denton County, Texas Precinct Two. Arrested for allegedly crossing state lines to have sex with an 8-year old child and was charged with 7 related offenses. Age 62 at time of arrest. Dallas News Article | Atrios Article Jack W. Gardner, Republican Councilman, had been convicted of molesting a 13-year old girl. when the Republican Party, knowing of these crimes, put him on the ballot. Article with documents Richard Gardner, a Nevada State Representative (R), admitted to molesting his two daughters. Review Journal Article Philip Giordano, Republican mayor sentenced to 37 years for forcing two 8 and 10 year old girls to perform oral sex on him in his City Hall office. NBC Article | Newsday Article Marty Glickman, Republican activist, was taken into custody by Florida police on four counts of unlawful sexual activity with a juvenile and one count of delivering the drug LSD. Mark A. Grethen, Republican activist, convicted on six counts of sex crimes involving children. Orlando Weekly article Jon Grunseth, Republican businessman and candidate for Minnesota governor, withdrew his candidacy after allegations surfaced that he went swimming in the nude with four underage girls, including his daughter, and tried to grope one. "I've made some mistakes" he said. USA Today article Mark Harris, Republican city councilman who is described as a "church goer," was convicted of repeatedly having sex with an 11-year-old girl and sentenced to 12 years in prison. John Hathaway, Republican Senate candidate, was accused of having sex with his 12-year old baby sitter and withdrew his candidacy after the allegations were reported in the media. Source: Casco Bay weekly Howard Scott Heldreth, anti-abortion activist who gained fame during the Shiavo media-circus, was convicted of two charges of raping a child in 2002. page at Florida Department of Law Enforcement's Sexual Offender/Predator Unit Mike Hintz, a First Assembly of God youth pastor, introduced by Bush on the campaign trail, and promoted his policies. Says he supports Bush's values. Two months later, this married father of four turned himself into police, charged with the sexual exploitation of a child. ArticleCommentary Paul Ingram, Republican Party leader of Thurston County, Washington, pleaded guilty to six counts of raping his daughters and served 14 years in federal prison. Source: The Olympian Earl Kimmerling, sentenced to 40 years in prison after he confessed to molesting an 8-year old girl after he attempted to stop a gay couple from adopting her. Source Donald Lukens, Republican Congressman, was found guilty of having sex with a minor - a girl he was accused of sleeping with since she was 13. Time Article Pat McPherson, Douglas County Election Commissioner. Arrested for fondling a 17-year-old girl. Article Jon Matthews, Republican talk show host in Houston, was indicted for indecency with a child, including exposing his genitals to a girl under the age of 17. Source: ABC News Nicholas Morency, Republican anti-abortion activist, pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer and offering a bounty to anybody who murders an abortion doctor The Dallas Morning News article. Jeffrey Patti, Republican Committee Chairman, was arrested for distributing what experts call "some of the most offensive material in the child pornography world" - a video clip of a 5-year-old girl being raped. Daily Record News Article Harvey Pitt, SEC Chief under George W. Bush until he was forced to resign in 2002. Worked for New Frontier Media, a firm which distributed teen sex videos. Mark Pazuhanich, Republican judge, pleaded no contest to fondling a 10-year old girl and was sentenced to 10 years probation. Pocono Record article Beverly Russell, County Chairman of the Christian Coalition, sexually molested his step-daughter, Susan Smith, who later drowned her two children. Herald-Journal Article |Commentary on Newsweek Article Arnold Schwarzenegger, Republican governor, had sex with a 16 year old when he was 28. John Scmitz, right-wing republican congressman, who had had his committee chairship taken away from him in the California State Senate after issuing a press release attacking Jews, feminists and gays. Forced out of office in 1982 for having an adulterous affair and fathering two children out of wedlock with one of his students. He was caught because his baby was admitted to hospital for having hair tied so tightly around his penis that it was almost severed. His daughter, Mary Kay LeTourneau, was convicted of having an adulterous affair with one of her students, and giving birth to two of his children. Wikipedia article Larry Jack Schwarz, Republican parole board officer and former Colorado state representative, fired after child pornography was found in his possession. Rocky Mountain News article With his political career over, he went to work in the hard-core pornography industry for Platinum X Pictures, owned by his daughter, porn starlet Jewel De'Nyle (Stephany Schwarz). Wikipedia article Tom Shortridge. Republican campaign consultant, was sentenced to three years probation for taking nude photographs of a 15-year old girl. LA Times article Fred C. Smeltzer, Jr., Republican City Councilman, pleaded no contest to raping a 15 year-old girl and served 6-months in prison. Sex Offender Registry page | Article Craig J. Spence, Republican lobbyist, organized orgies with child prostitutes in the White House during the 1980s. Full page including Washington Times article Discovery Channel documentary David Swartz, Republican County Commissioner, pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 11 and was sentenced to 8 years in prison. Rocky Mountain News Article Strom Thurmond, republican senator and racist, raped and impregnanted a 15-year old African American maid. (BBC Article) Robin Vanderwall, Republican strategist and Citadel Military College graduate, director of Faith & Family Alliance, (a Christian Coalition spin off), former student of Pat Robertson's Regent Universtity, member of Ralph Reed's inner circle who funneled money to from lobbiest Jack Abromoff to Reed [11], convicted in Virginia for soliticing sex from a 13-year-old-boy[12] and on four other counts of soliciting sex from boys and girls over the internet. Virginian-Pilot Article Keith Westmoreland, a Tennessee state representative (R), was arrested on seven felony counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition to minors under 16 (i.e. exposing himself to children). Tennesean Article Stephen White, Republican preacher. Was arrested after allegedly offering $20 to a 14-year-old boy for permission to perform oral sex on him. Daily Pennsylvanian article | Daily yale News Article 110906 what's it to you? who go blather from