Senator Larry Craig

I first became aware of this story via MSNBC news the countdown program "will you be talking about this story tomorrow" thing.

The background is briefly that Senator Larry Craig R-Idaho was arrested for lewd behavior in a Minneapolis airport bathroom and didn't tell the republican senatorial folks in D.C. about it. He pled guilty to a lesser charge.

Apparently he "tapped" the foot of a plainclothes cop in the next stall or "has a wide stance" [MSNBC] and wound up touching said foot of set cop. It is alleged that he also stuck his hand three times into the adjoining stall in some fashion or other, changed stalls, and used his briefcase to block anyone from peering under his stall.

***

I am a bisexual woman so if any of you wish to accuse me of homophobia or xenophobia, go right ahead. I don't care. I am stating the following based on what I know: Some gay men are whores for sex with strangers and for a time public restroom stops on the Northway [I-87] in New York State were closed. These were the restrooms where no other services with a human being attached-- i.e. information desks-- existed.
So yeah, men looking for a quickie do patrol public restrooms along with some other places.

***

My opinion is that I really do not care if Senator Larry Craig is gay [he denies being gay] or bisexual or was overcome by temporal epilepsy seizures or whatever. I don't care if he did it or not. While perhaps he should have alerted his bosses to possible political backlash [in the manner that the senator from Louisiana did when he ran into trouble due to visiting prostitutes], the fact that Senator Larry Craig was in a restroom in an airport doing whatever he was doing or not doing is really none of my business. Oh, if he did, I think it is rather tacky of him and in poor taste using poor judgment; but I care more about leadership qualities and stuff like that when it comes to politicians.

Clitton was stupid for thinking that he could get away with the Lewinsky thing in the white house-- he might have done better with a presidential prostitute who was both blind and deaf-- but I digress. The point is, people have sex. Whether we think they should or whatever, people have been having sex for a long time now and they probably will continue to do so, even at times when most of the rest of us would exercise some prudence.

People do plead guilty to lesser charges in order to avoid the courtroom and I cannot fault Larry Craig for that. He pled guilty to "disorderly conduct." Larry Craig will now be facing a possible Senate investigation as well as a court fine and a year's worth of unsupervised probation. [Ten days in jail were suspended.] Whether or not he is guilty of violating a Senate Code of Conduct is not for me to decide.
The voters of Idaho will also decide whether to give his seat [a seat which has long been held by republicans] to a Republican or a Democrat at some future date. As I do not live in Idaho, I won't be voting for or against him in Idaho.

So in short, let the man alone.

Jeepers.

radical sapphoq

sources: MSNBC countdown, teevee

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/29/us/29sting.html

http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070829/
FRONTPAGE/708290352

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/
2007/08/28/AR2007082801664.html

http://www.boiseweekly.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A300760

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2007/08/28/publiceye/entry3213948.shtml

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/senate-gop-leaders-seek-craig/
story.aspx?guid=%7B69F6333D-50B5-4EA4-BC00-10FF2145E90F%7D

http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/BenShapiro/2007/08/29/
is_larry_craig_the_face_of_the_us_senate

http://www.kansascity.com/news/nation/story/251659.html

http://www.kpvi.com/Global/story.asp?S=699618

The arrest report: http://www.kpvi.com/Global/story.asp?S=6994041

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6967559.stm

http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20070829/cm_thenation/45227750

On You Tube, the vid I saw on MSNBC: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8C3tR9Yl4g

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-craig_boxaug29,1,1950352.story

Story has made Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Craig

Craig's website: http://craig.senate.gov/releases/pr082707a.cfm

http://rawstory.com//news/2007/GOP_Senator_Larry_Craig_arrested_in_0827.html

Craig's Mitt Romney You Tube video as of this typing is up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2b1N74bQUE

http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=6455

http://www.startribune.com/587/story/1386023.html

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0828071craig1.html

Michael Woodbury

In today's Portland Herald was an article detailing the guilty plea of Michael Woodbury to the senseless murder of
three guys. Woodbury had entered a store in Conway thinking about stealing a car. Instead, he shot the store owner
[Woodbury was wanted in five states and did not wish the store owner to be able to identify him] and then shot down
the two guys blocking his exit from the store. He ran off in the woods, was found walking along some railroad
tracks, and confessed everything to the cops. Against the advice of his attorney, Woodbury did the only decent thing
and pled guilty. He declined to raise the "I am severely mentally ill" defense. Instead he chose to acknowledge
his responsibility and stated that he was not fit to be allowed in society. He was sentenced to life without any
possibility of parole.

Woodbury had begged not to turned loose out of prison on May 4th after his last sentence was done. He had written
a letter to prison officials asking to be sent to the state hospital. So consequently when he got out, he went on
a five state crime spree and ended it in the sixth state by shooting down three men.

So goes it. Seems to me that if a guy is saying, "Hey, I feel like killing people" someone should pay attention to
that and care enough to make arrangements to send him onward to the state hospital.

Or perhaps Michael Woodbury could have found a way to turn himself in [breaking a window in a local emergency room
while screaming, "I am the lamb of god" comes to mind] and garner enough attention to make it stick. It seems these
days that only the NAMI mommies are successful at getting anyone committed for psych treatment.

I'm sorry that he got out of prison to commit more crimes and then to off three people. I rejoice that Michael
Woodbury chose to stop the perpetration of attorney-sponsered fraud and allow himself to be put away for life.

There may not be any winners in this whole state of affairs, but at least there won't be any more losers.

radical sapphoq