I agree with nearly everything you wrote, but was dismayed and confused at one particular comment:

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"Pedophiliac desires may be biologically based and hardwired by nature into a segment of our population, but we have a responsibility to resist those impulses. All should, and many do. Those who can't or won't have to be controlled."

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I, too, agree that such desire may be inborn (just as I firmly believe most gay humans don't choose this trait), but you DO realize, don't you, that the most rabidly anti-gay people would simply substitute the word "homosexual" for "pedophiliac" in your statement, also maintaining that YOU can, should and MUST be "controlled"?

Of course, there is a significant number of people who believe gays are made, not born, so if it's a choice, you can choose to NOT be gay. While getting those people to understand that homosexual behavior isn't chosen might in a sense be a victory -- after all, who would choose to be despised? -- your own comments give them a back-door way to continue demanding that YOU CHANGE or YOU WILL BE CONTROLLED ALSO.

Don't misunderstand -- no matter whether such pedophiliac behavior is inborn or not, I absolutely agree with you that it cannot be tolerated. It is sad to see intelligent people like Foley destroy their lives and the lives of those around them -- truly tragic in a classical Greek sense of honorable people ultimately failing due to their personal flaws.

After all, who can truly disagree with the things Foley apparently said publicly about child abuse and exploitation? He may even believe all that, which makes it so utterly tragic.

The evolving story about Foley has revealed truly disturbing evidence that GOP leadership in the House did indeed know of accusations against the Congressman, but either covered up or ignored them.

According to the Wash. Post story, my own U.S. Rep., the esteemed John Boehner, at first said he knew of the accusations and had passed them on to Speaker Hastert, then backpedaled and claimed he couldn't recall if he'd told Hastert.

As lies go, this is particularly tranparent. I can't imagine one person in a thousand, told of such horrible misconduct by a colleague and bearing responsibility to pass the allegations to the next level, could be "confused" about what he had, or had not, done.

It just isn't the sort of thing about which one would "forget" what he'd known or done. Simply doesn't wash.

At risk of falling into the logical trap I've personally criticized in others (specifically, taking the lack of evidence to prove a conclusion), I'll wager there is more hidden on Capitol Hill than we yet know about this particular scandal, and the GOP is desperate to hide it until after the November elections.

I am not about to claim that universal "perversion" exists among Republicans as some have already, but I AM perfectly willing to assert that the party in power is prepared to accept almost any behavior from people willing to support their continuation in power.

After all, if Foley had been re-elected, but had been forced to resign AFTER the election, I presume Florida law would have given the state GOP or Gov. Bush the right to appoint a replacement for at least a short period. In any event, the worst result of this affair (to them) would be the election next month of a Democrat to Foley's seat for a full two years!

...but this is way too good to pass up!

As I write this (around 6:45 PM Sat., Sept. 30), intrepid conservative Internet muckraker Matt Drudge's Drudgereport has THIS as the headline story:

"China's Sick Animal Olympics"

The Foley story was relegated to a much smaller picture and trio of links below that bombshell.

Gosh, Matt, let's be sure to keep things in PERSPECTIVE, huh? No doubt we'll be discussing China's Sick Animal Olympics around the old watercooler at work on Monday!

It shouldn't go without notice that Joe DID quickly apologize to Tim Grieve for his harsh initial criticism of the early questions raised about Rep. Foley.

...except to note that he was "man enough" to say, before being prompted by other posts, to admit he'd been wrong on the Foley matter. It wasn't entirely unreasonable to have said "Let's withhold judgment on Foley until more evidence comes out", was it?

It WAS over the top to have accused Tim Grieve of representing "all that is wrong with political discussion," or however it was put -- and certainly Joe can defend himself on this point.

I merely was pointing out that Joe ate his crow before anyone served it to him -- for whatever that's worth!

As for the apparent complicity of Republican leadership in covering up these reports, protecting Foley and evidently allowing this abuse of minors to continue, I absolutely agree that we should wheel out the guillotines and proclaim "OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!"

My U.S. Rep. is John Boehner, and if he ends up being guilty of any part of this coverup, HE SHOULD RESIGN IN DISGRACE. His transparent lie concerning whether or not he'd informed Speaker Hastert -- first he said he did, then backpedaled and said he couldn't remember -- is to me pretty damning!

The recurring thought in my mind, whenever such issues arise concerning Republicans, is to ponder how loud THEIR screams would be if any Democrat had done one-tenth of what Foley and the GOP leadership have probably done. FauxNewsChannel, Rush Limbaugh, Matt Drudge and all the rest would be ranting about it non-stop, 24 hours a day as the November elections near.

Such hypocrisy has rarely been seen in recorded history.