And this, like all other atrocities committed in America's name over the last 1/2 decade will be attributed to "a few bad apples". The problem with this rationalization is that it is seldom true. Normal people put into abnormal situations do abnormal things. (That was the main point of "lord of the flies"; not just that there are sadists among us but that most of us are capable of horrible, inhuman acts when things line up wrong). The solution is not to find the "ring leaders" to scapegoat but, instead, try not to put people in such situations in the first place. Historically, a long battle against an ambiguous foe, brings out the worst in the finest armies and police forces. It's happened. It's happening now. It will happen again. Time to declare victory in Iraq and the war on Terror (whatever that is) and go home before our national standing gets dragged further in the mud by young soldiers and old politicians.

How to pronounce it? Just like it's spelled, silly.

ger=gair

recht-hard in English, say wreck and that's close enough

tig-again not good in english but say teak

keit=kite

freude-Like Sigmund with a duh on the end.

There! Ganz einfach!

Simple "shocked", if true, would be enough. People who have never served in the military might not know that "shellshocked" was a world war one term for what would later be called battle fatigue, a condition that occurs in sustained combat and is most likely to occur when a soldier feels powerless and is overwhelmed by his extreme and relentless circumstances.

Now if this rages on in the Republican trenches for another 4 weeks, the term "shellshocked" may actually apply. We can but hope.

I stutter when I try to say it and I even use to speak German. Still, I like it. Pleasure with justice...only a terrorist could be against that.

Or a republican maybe

Interesting over the next few days will be to see who will lay down and "take one for the team" and who will work overtime to throw somebody else under the bus in their place.

Throughout the various posts on this subject, I keep seeing the term "hypocracy". The correct spelling is "hypocrisy". Hypocracy would suggest institutionalized hypocrisy...oh, I forgot...never mind.

Yes, erosion of civil liberties in the name of security is more important than a sex scandal.

Yes, the possibility we are having rigged elections in the US is more important than a sex scandal.

Yes, the bungling of the Iraq war is subjecting the US to a hideous loss of blood, treasure, and world esteem is more important than a sex scandal.

Yes, the torture and indefinite of imprisonment of "war on terror" detainees is an abomination to American ideals and is more important than a sex scandal.

All these are true; but, for reasons which escape me completely, America just doesn't get what has happened to us in the last 5 years. So for that reason I'm grateful that something finally is waking them up and helping them realize something is wrong with their government.

I don't have a problem with "no problem". At least there is an acknowledgement of your existence which is nice all by itself. I find my self answering "of course" instead of "you're welcome". I don't know why I do that but I'm sure Mr. Keillor would make a frowny face at me.

On the other hand, the way things are going, even though I am a mere 50 I may find yet myself one of those grumpy old men whose anger at the people in charge keeps me alive at 80. And that thought, that things may not change and IS a problem, depresses me.

If he was molested by a priest, shame on the priest. If he wasn't, shame on Foley for even trotting this out. The only reason they've shifted to publicizing this variation of "Foley as a victim" is because they saw the alcohol thing wasn't getting traction and the "predatory pages" meme was actually blowing back on them.

The republicans, especially the administration, have had a lot of success the last few years squeezing their eyes real tight, plugging their ears and saying something over and over again until everyone actually believe it's true.

I, too, am disappointed that all the focus is now on this nimrod instead of: (fill in the blank: torture legislation, NIE report, gutting of constitution, etc.) Foley's actions reflect great discredit upon himself and republican congressmen covering up to avoid political fallout reflect great discredit on their party. The legislation passed last week, on the other hand, lowers the entire country's standing in the world another notch.

That being said, "naughty emails" is something that penetrates the conciousness of every conservative parent out there. The hypocrisy of this particular situation is easy to state and easy to understand. Even the "sheeple" seem not to be blindly following the conservative spin this time. Most parents do not believe a 16 year old is nearly an adult and knows what their doing. While happy to blame Clinton 100% for 911, they have trouble absolving Foley for doing it this year because of the democratic culture of corruption 5 years ago. And even if democrats cynically held this information for an October surprise, Foley was not neither entrapped nor set up. In a country where there are still millions of people that believe that Hussein had a major role in 911, the Iraq war is going well, and only terrorists need fear the loss of their civil liberties, I'll take what I can get.

We don't really know what Rush was up to except of course the Family Values Man wasn't there with a legal, opposite sex spouse. The reason for the snarky innuendo is that it's becoming a safe bet (recalling Bill Bennett for a moment) that whatever is the most hypocritical thing a republican could have done, is probably what they did.