Gee, Doug, I had no idea anyone thought this thread was a centerpiece! Thanks so much for the honor--perhaps your conscience is more awake than I suspected, I apologize!

Mollie Ivins, who is syndcated among other places to the Scarament Bee writes in an article called"So Much for Moral Values", about the brave Republicans in our Congress:

AUSTIN, Texas -- My, my, gonna be a long four years.
House Republicans have rewritten the ethics rules so Tom DeLay won't have to
resign if indicted after all. Let's hear it for moral values. DeLay is one
of the leading forces in making "Republican ethics" into an oxymoron.


The rule was passed in 1993, when Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, chairman of the
powerful Ways and Means Committee, was being investigated for ethics
violations. And who helped lead the floor fight to force him to resign his
powerful position? Why, Tom DeLay, of course. (Actually, it's sort of a
funny story. The D's already had a caucus rule that you had to resign from
any leadership position if indicted. The R's changed their rules to match
the D's, except they deliberately did not make their rule retroactive, so
the highly indicted Rep. Joseph McDade, senior Republican on the House
Appropriations Committee, could, unlike Rostenkowski, retain his seat.)
DeLay has already been admonished by the House ethics committee three times
on separate violations of ethics rules. Please note, that is the
Republican-dominated ethics committee. The hilarious rationale offered by
the R's for the new rule to exempt DeLay is that no one can accuse them of
taking the moral low road here because, "That line of reasoning accepts that
exercise of the prosecutor in Texas is legitimate."

Uh, that would Ronnie Earle of Austin, who is a known Democrat. One the
other hand, Earle is quite noted for having indicted more Democratic
officeholders than Republicans, so it's a little hard to argue that this is
a partisan political probe. Or it would be, if facts made any difference
these days to talk-show screamers.

Showing his usual keen sense of ethics, DeLay has already started a legal
defense fund and raised $310,000 since last summer. According to the Austin
American-Statesman, half the money has come from Republican House members,
who are all dependent on the Republican Steering Committee for their
committee assignments and chairmanships.


A