Sex scandals

First, I don't even know why I'm posting this. If, as Australian Treasury Secretary Peter Costello insists, the Asian banks will soon divest themselves of U.S. dollars, we are all screwed. Why don't we do it in the road? Very soon we will have neither bed nor roof.

But let us make merry while we may...

Republican Jerry Weller, accused of being the third congressman with a page problem (heterosexual, this time), insists that he is innocent. He believes that the rumor began when one of his pages was invited to an inappropriate social function by another congressman. That congressman remains unnamed, but if he's a democrat -- and if Weller speaks the truth -- we probably would know who he is by now.

Right now, I have no choice but to accept Weller's word. Even so, I'm glad the rumor prompted me to look into Weller's background. He's such an unsavory character that even the pro-Republican Chicago Tribune has refused to endorse him.

Meanwhile, Republican Rodney Alexander, who already plays a role in the Foley cover-up, now faces charges of sexual harrassment.

Elizabeth Scott, Alexander's former scheduler, claims that Royal Alexander, the Congressman's chief of staff, "engaged in a course of misconduct" that included "inappropriate sex-based comments, ogling and touching" and "sexual advances," according to Michael Hoare, Scott's attorney. Scott told the Congressman of his aide's alleged improper behavior but the Louisiana Republican took no action to correct the situation, Hoare said....

Scott said she was demoted from her position as scheduler to staff assistant by Royal Alexander in May 2006 when "she complained of possible sex discrimination" by him.

At the risk of losing a few fans, I must confess to being an ogler from way back. But this problem seems to have reached a stage beyond the Groucho-esque leer.

The Bush Marriage is over, according to the tabloid National Examiner.

No need to lecture me on the tabs' credibility. Just last night, I noted a story in the Enquirer which claimed that Osama Bin Laden was determined to kill Bobby Brown out of love for Whitney Houston. Nevertheless, I have always understood the importance of the tabloids: One can judge a culture by its cheap little dreams and nightmares.

As we've noted, all the tabloids are controlled by the same right-wing parent company. The Enquirer, the flagship journal of this operation, has long had ties to American intelligence. Something is up.

GOP fundraiser Craig Schelske, director of the theocratic group American Destiny, is addicted to pornography and watches it with the children -- or so says his lovely wife, Sara Evans.

According to his CraigsList ads, Schelske is particularly interested in having anal sex with strangers and threesomes.

"We as Americans have forgotten our spiritual roots," or so run the opening words of the American Destiny home page. I'm a little suspicious of this organization, which doesn't seem to do much of anything; the only information provided on the site is a misleading account of founding fathers' attitude toward religion. (Our founders, products of the Enlightenment, tended toward Deism -- which is closer to agnosticism than to any form of Christianity.) I'm wondering if American Destiny is a front group...