Congressman who live in glass houses...

[bgeorgia]

Believe it or not!!
THE BEST CONGRESS MONEY CAN BUY ...

Based on records prior to the summer break:
29 members of Congress have been accused of spouse abuse,
7 have been arrested for fraud,
19 have been accused of writing bad checks,
117 have bankrupted at least two businesses,
3 have been arrested for assault,
71 have credit reports so bad they can't qualify for a credit card,
14 have been arrested on drug-related charges,
8 have been arrested for shoplifting,
21 are current defendants in lawsuits,
And in 1998 alone, 84 were stopped for drunk driving, but released after
they claimed Congressional immunity.
Politicians and diapers have one thing in common. They should both be
changed regularly and for the same reason.

these people are deciding on the kyl bill?

brian

[The Guesser]

Not to mention that they all "BET' on the home team with a slimey politician from the other team's state or city when the Super Bowl, World Series, etc., comes along. Yet they want to make it illegal for me to do so. What HYPOCRICY!!!

[Hartley]

So what else is new?

[Shawn]

C'mon, Brian...

Spousal battery is pretty small potatoes compared to using the Internet to bet $10 on a baseball game.

Perpetrating fraud is nothing compared to calling up a businessman in Antigua and entering into a wagering proposition on which everyone involved agrees.

And who really cares if you're sabotaging the war on drugs by buying crack so long as you're not laying a few dollars on this weekend's football games?

Ordinarily, Brian, you're a pretty level-headed guy, but stop comparing the harmless forbidden apples (spousal abuse, fraud, illegal drugs) to deadly Agent Orange (wagering a few dollars).

Have a nice day.

Shawn

[bgeorgia]

[Cons]

Brian, can you tell me the sources for this. I want to make use of the info but need to back myself up with the source of this info.

On a side note, how come some of these guys got arrested if they had congressional immunity? I admit it must look funny to see a congressman get arrested while trying to shoplift...

Nice one!

[hiptwo]

guess you learn something new every day! CONGRESSIONAL IMMUNITY. can they use this for every crime you listed? if so i wish i was a congressmen about twenty years ago. would have saved me time and money.

[bgeorgia]

cons,

it was taken from "the new haven advocate"
a connecticut liberal newspaper that is distributed freely and quite popular.

bg

[Hartley]

"Congressional Immunity" huh?

Reminds me of that scene in Lethal Weapon 2 (or maybe it was 3) where the South African diplomat is running a drug ring and after killing everybody in sight tries to claim diplomatic immunity to which Danny Glover nods his head and says
"just been revoked," before shooting him.

It's unfortunate that these loopholes exist for criminals in society.

[Cons]

A lot of people I know have diplomatic passports. It's a great thing to have, and it's part of the reward that comes with the job I guess. Yeah, it gets abused at times but it does prevent these people from getting hassled by local cops and $hit like that. They are usually normal people, unlike the criminals which seem to inhabit congress and pretent to be doing the nation a favor.

[LysanderSpooner]

Shawn's post (above), is a perfect example of why U.S. Congressman (who are all controlled by Church Ladies and Soccor Moms) will FOREVER and FOR ALL TIME hassle, harrass, rob, imprison, and (in certain cases, ultimately) murder $10 baseball bettors and the bookies that serve them.

In his post, Shawn compares spousal abuse and fraud (real crimes) to $10 baseball betting which he apparantly conisiders to be a non-crime. And in which category does Shawn put "illegal drugs"? In the real crime category of course.

And the Church Ladies put pornography in with the real crimes.
And the Soccor Moms put gun owners, cigarette smokers, and helmet-less skateboarders in with the real criminals.

Unfortunately, it seems as though the gamblers, druggies, porn-ies, gunners, smokers, and skateboarders will never stop siccing the cops on each other.

***

Shawn, I suggest that you visit http://www.gwbush.com and then do the same thing that the good governor has done. On gwbush.com (a semi?-parody site), the governor suddenly has an epiphany and realizes that:

1. selling drugs is not a real crime
2. because of his stepped up prosecution of the drug war as the Governor of Texas, GW--himself--is one of the most guilty drug war criminals of all.

Hence, he locks himself up in a prison cell, from which he continues to run his presidential campaign!

Christian Coalitioner Ralph Reed comes to visit GW in his jail cell and asks GW,
"George, what are you doing IN there?" To which GW replies, "Ralph, what are you doing OUT there?"

[Shawn]

WTF???

[Skybook]

Shawn
Hysterical
Steve

[Clay Season]

To Shawn and Skybook. I think the message that LysanderSpooner was trying to get across is that you were putting drug users in the same category as those who practice fraud and those who abuse their spouses. Yes fradulent behavior is wrong and "harmful" to others and should be illegal. The same is true for those who abuse their spouses. But it's wrong to put drug users in the same category. Hurting others is, of course wrong and should be outlawed. However, as long as you are not hurting others, you should be free to live as you please. Even if it means you use your money to use drugs or the "unthinkable" and use your money to place a bet. Do you want to live in a free country where it is forbidden to hurt others or do you want to live in a country where what you do with your own life must be approved by the state.

[Count Zero]

I agree with LysanderSpooner and Clay Season. We all think we know what's best for everybody else; precious few of us seem to think about other folks' right to engage in their own victimless activities. People who are into drugs or guns or even porno suffer greater social stigmatization and, in most cases, greater legal sanctions than sports bettors. We need to promote the freedom to pursue happiness, not just the freedom to bet offshore.