Foley in Perspective

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Foley in Perspective

By Ben Stein

Published 10/6/2006 12:09:09 AM

Let's all agree that Rep. Mark Foley did some very bad things by sending sexually suggestive and explicit e-mails to young male pages. Let's all agree that the House GOP leadership should have kept a much closer eye on Rep. Foley, an apparent pedophile or something that looks a lot like a pedophile to me.

May I make a few additional observations?

Hasn't anyone noticed a certain pervasive sexualizing of children in America today and for the past decades? Children in sexual situations in movies, on TV, in music, in advertisements, especially for clothing? Hasn't anyone noticed that sexualizing young girls (and to a lesser extent boys) is largely what modern Hollywood is about? Is it maybe time to ask if this is a good thing? Is it good to teach young people that they are primarily valued for their sexual allure and performance and availability? Maybe some good can come of the Foley scandal if we start to ask ourselves if we really want to teach our young people -- or permit them to teach themselves -- that their sex attributes are the bottom line of what counts about them? If you spend much time watching certain TV channels that appeal to young people, you get to suspect that this a pedophile nation and whether this is inevitable or whether it needs to be examined and challenged.

Second, and incomparably more important, yes, it's interesting and instructive and merits attention that Mark Foley did what he did and that the GOP leadership did not do much about it. I hope my readers and fellow humans will not hate me too much if I say that in a world where 3,000 women and children are raped and/or murdered every day in Congo, a member of the United Nations, in which a genuine genocide is going on in Sudan, a member of the United Nations, in which more than fifty men and women per day are being tortured with electric drills and murdered in Iraq, in which two of the world's most dangerous and insane men, Kim Jong Il and Mohammed Ahmadinejad, are developing nuclear weapons, the e-mail of one deranged middle class white man does not really count to me as much as it might to some other people.

In Ferris Bueller's Day Off, when Ferris's best friend tells him that his Dad's favorite thing on earth is his Ferrari, Ferris says, "A man with priorities so far out of whack does not deserve such a fine car."

We do not devote more than a few instants each month to the rape and murder in Congo. We barely notice the rape and genocide in Darfur. No one on earth except George W. Bush and John Bolton and Condoleezza Rice is trying to stop two maniacs from acquiring nuclear weapons even though one of them has promised to wipe out Israel if he gets them. But we can devote 24 hours a day, day after day, to the e-mails of one nutty Member of Congress to a teenage boy.

A country with its priorities so out of whack does not deserve to be the world's shining city on a hill. Let's take a moment, pray for guidance, turn Mr. Foley over to the proper mental health authorities, and try to, as the moral exemplar of the world, use every bit of strength we have to stop the slaughter of the innocents now and in the future. Mark Foley is important, but to me, he's no more important than those teenage girls in Congo who get raped, have their arms chopped off, and then are murdered...and there are a lot of them. Let's get our priorities straight. And don't bother writing and telling me you hate me for caring more about murder than about e-mails, even extremely bad e-mails. You're not going to change me. Our challenge as a moral people is about genocide far more than about sick individuals, even sick ones who carry the initials M.C. after their names. When I reflect that we live under the providence of a just God, I wonder how we will ever explain how much time we have wasted.

****

Five nights ago was Yom Kippur, the highest of Jewish High Holidays. As I contemplate the now extinguished candles memorializing my beloved mother and father and asking for God's forgiveness of my endless sins, I want to say something.

I realize that my ability to pray to the Lord God, Jehovah, Lord of the High Places, giver of the most precious gift of all, peace, is entirely dependent on the courage and sacrifice of the men and women of the armed forces of the United States of America. I would have no life at all, would not even be alive, would not be able to say a prayer, to hold my wife's hand, to hug my beloved dogs, to walk in the sunshine, to swim under the night sky, to talk to my friends, to eat a piece of fried chicken, to listen to Bob Dylan, to sleep in clean sheets, were it not for the men and women who sleep in muddy holes, walk down the most dangerous streets on earth under 130 degree heat in full body armor, spend months without their families, come back in pieces or not at all, for people they never met.

Everything, every blessed part of my American life, my glorious life as an American comes down to this: far better men and women than I am offer up their lives to keep me and 300 million like me, alive, well, and free.

We Jews are not supposed to pray on our knees, but I am on my knees every morning and every night with thanks to the Lord God, Jehovah, Lord of Hosts, who has given my country, the world and me the real stars of modern life: the American military man, woman and their endlessly courageous families: God's gifts.

http://www.americanprowler.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=10458

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[Bottomfeeder 244]

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Obviously you didn't read Mr. Stein's article. If your little lame ass cartoon had even remotely responded to the article I wouldn't have called you a dumbass. But since it didn't and then you posted the second which was even further from the article, I repeat.

[Bottomfeeder 244]

Obviously you didn't read Mr. Stein's article. If your little lame ass cartoon had even remotely responded to the article I wouldn't have called you a dumbass. But since it didn't and then you posted the second which was even further from the article, I repeat.

I read the article I just thought the here repubs here deserved to know that alcohol is no excuse for child molestation. I want to know why this guy isn't behind bars yet. This has gone on for years and he need to be locked up like all of the other predators.

[MDM4AU 336]

Obviously you didn't read Mr. Stein's article. If your little lame ass cartoon had even remotely responded to the article I wouldn't have called you a dumbass. But since it didn't and then you posted the second which was even further from the article, I repeat.

I read the article I just thought the here repubs here decerved to know that alcohol is no excuse for child molestation. I want to know why this guy isn't behind bars yet. This has gone on for years and he need to be locked up like all of the other predators.

I am not defending Foley by any means just asking an honest question. Do we have proof of any molestation? I had not heard that part.

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I read the article I just thought the here repubs here decerved to know that alcohol is no excuse for child molestation. I want to know why this guy isn't behind bars yet. This has gone on for years and he need to be locked up like all of the other predators.

The facts will come out eventually, but as of yet, what has he done that's illegal ? I'm sure being gay isn't a crime in your world, is it? Unless it's proven he's molested anyone, so far all we have is explicit sexual messages.

[MDM4AU 336]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationw...nationworld-hed

The law and how it applies to case

By Matt Apuzzo

Associated Press

October 6, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Federal and state investigations into former Rep. Mark Foley's sexually explicit conversations with young House pages have raised questions about what laws may have been broken.

Q: With all those Internet conversations and e-mails, doesn't the FBI already have enough evidence to arrest Foley? Isn't it a crime to use the Internet for sexually explicit conversations with children?

A: It's not a federal crime. Congress tried to outlaw precisely this sort of behavior with the Communication Decency Act of 1996. A year later, the Supreme Court declared the law unconstitutional, saying it violated the 1st Amendment right to free speech. The court in 2003 said a 1998 law to restrict the commercial distribution of material harmful to minors could not be enforced.

Q: Then why do people get arrested after having sexual conversations with FBI agents posing as kids?

A: Those stings are set up to catch sexual predators who use the Internet and e-mail to stalk children, then set up meetings with their intended victims. The FBI does not typically arrest a sexual predator until he tries to meet the child.

Q: Doesn't federal law prohibit the use of the Internet to entice minors to engage in sex?

A: Yes. If Foley encouraged a page to meet him for sex, and the boy was not old enough to consent, then Foley could face charges. Even if the meeting didn't occur, this law could be used by prosecutors if there was evidence that Foley attempted to set it up. The instant message transcripts that have been made public include limited discussions about possible meetings.

Q: Isn't there a law against using the Internet to send obscene materials to minors?

A: Yes, but veteran investigators say it's unclear whether an electronic conversation--as opposed to a pornographic picture--would qualify. Also, the law applies only to children under 16.

Q: What about state laws?

A: A few states have passed laws criminalizing sexual conversations with minors, but courts have generally overturned them. Florida, where Foley lives, does not have such a law. If Foley had sexual contact with a minor--a suggestion his lawyer has denied--it would be a crime if the child is under the age of consent. In Florida, the age of consent is 18. In Louisiana, where one of the pages lived, it's 17. Again, those laws only kick in if there was physical contact. An instance of physical contact could also trigger the federal enticing law.

Q: So what is there to investigate?

A: The Justice Department has ordered the House to preserve Foley's official computer files and FBI agents have begun interviewing participants in the House page program. If those interviews turn up evidence about a sexual encounter or if Foley's computers contain child pornography or other evidence, that could lead to criminal charges. Foley's lawyer, David Roth, says there has been no sexual contact with minors and Foley is not a pedophile.

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Obviously you didn't read Mr. Stein's article. If your little lame ass cartoon had even remotely responded to the article I wouldn't have called you a dumbass. But since it didn't and then you posted the second which was even further from the article, I repeat.

I read the article I just thought the here repubs here decerved to know that alcohol is no excuse for child molestation. I want to know why this guy isn't behind bars yet. This has gone on for years and he need to be locked up like all of the other predators.

No one on this board has defended him once. Not once. Nor have I heard any local or national Republicans defend him. But I will say this, when the truth comes out. That is the whole truth and nothing but the whole truth, no Republican spin and no sanctimonious, hypocritical, election year spin from the dims, you may well be surprised.

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Surprised? No.

Republican hypocrisy surprises no one except the hardcore.

Congressman Fudge-packer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwt1tI6lKPk

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Obviously you didn't read Mr. Stein's article. If your little lame ass cartoon had even remotely responded to the article I wouldn't have called you a dumbass. But since it didn't and then you posted the second which was even further from the article, I repeat.

I read the article I just thought the here repubs here decerved to know that alcohol is no excuse for child molestation. I want to know why this guy isn't behind bars yet. This has gone on for years and he need to be locked up like all of the other predators.

No one on this board has defended him once. Not once. Nor have I heard any local or national Republicans defend him. But I will say this, when the truth comes out. That is the whole truth and nothing but the whole truth, no Republican spin and no sanctimonious, hypocritical, election year spin from the dims, you may well be surprised.

Sounds like you've got the inside track on this sort of thing.

[Tiger Al 0]

Foley probably went into alcohol rehab at the behest of republican leadership because they knew that the press would've been all over him and he would've told them who knew what and when. He'll be in 'rehab' through Nov. 7, waiting for the storm to blow over.

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Foley probably went into alcohol rehab at the behest of republican leadership because they knew that the press would've been all over him and he would've told them who knew what and when. He'll be in 'rehab' through Nov. 7, waiting for the storm to blow over.

No he probably went into alcohol rehab because he saw how well it worked just this year for the dem congressman, I believe his name was Kennedy, wasn't it?

[Tiger Al 0]

Foley probably went into alcohol rehab at the behest of republican leadership because they knew that the press would've been all over him and he would've told them who knew what and when. He'll be in 'rehab' through Nov. 7, waiting for the storm to blow over.

No he probably went into alcohol rehab because he saw how well it worked just this year for the dem congressman, I believe his name was Kennedy, wasn't it?

Yeah, if I was Hastert I would've driven him to the clinic myself. God knows what he'll say when he finally does have to talk.

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Foley probably went into alcohol rehab at the behest of republican leadership because they knew that the press would've been all over him and he would've told them who knew what and when. He'll be in 'rehab' through Nov. 7, waiting for the storm to blow over.

No he probably went into alcohol rehab because he saw how well it worked just this year for the dem congressman, I believe his name was Kennedy, wasn't it?

Yeah, if I was Hastert I would've driven him to the clinic myself. God knows what he'll say when he finally does have to talk.

Didn't you hear? His lawyer made a statement last week that he had been molested by a Catholic priest when he was a kid.

[Tiger Al 0]

Foley probably went into alcohol rehab at the behest of republican leadership because they knew that the press would've been all over him and he would've told them who knew what and when. He'll be in 'rehab' through Nov. 7, waiting for the storm to blow over.

No he probably went into alcohol rehab because he saw how well it worked just this year for the dem congressman, I believe his name was Kennedy, wasn't it?

Yeah, if I was Hastert I would've driven him to the clinic myself. God knows what he'll say when he finally does have to talk.

Didn't you hear? His lawyer made a statement last week that he had been molested by a Catholic priest when he was a kid.

Is that who the republican 'leadership' will be blaming next?

[Tigermike 3,053]

Foley probably went into alcohol rehab at the behest of republican leadership because they knew that the press would've been all over him and he would've told them who knew what and when. He'll be in 'rehab' through Nov. 7, waiting for the storm to blow over.

No he probably went into alcohol rehab because he saw how well it worked just this year for the dem congressman, I believe his name was Kennedy, wasn't it?

Yeah, if I was Hastert I would've driven him to the clinic myself. God knows what he'll say when he finally does have to talk.

Didn't you hear? His lawyer made a statement last week that he had been molested by a Catholic priest when he was a kid.

Is that who the republican 'leadership' will be blaming next?

I wouldn't know, what did Screamin Howie tell you in your marching orders today?