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Underfunded School Lacks Resources To Calculate Student-To-Teacher Ratio
October 2, 2006 | Issue 42•40
PHILADELPHIA—Budget cuts and unfulfilled requests for federal funding have left Philadelphia's East Central High School without the vital resources needed to determine how many students per teacher the school currently supports. "Our staff of 54 teachers is aware that 1,578 students are in attendance," principal Ian Victor said Monday. "We always hear that suburban schools have a 16-to-1 ratio—we just want to know how we stack up." East Central's original budget request of $120,000 was intended to purchase new equipment, replace outdated textbooks, and to figure out exactly how long it would take a school bus traveling at 35 mph to arrive at the school from Milburne, if it left at 7:35 a.m.
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/53555
iHub flame reaches new standard:
...you have no claim to my weakness or strength may I be rubber and you glue, whatever you say stick it back to you...
Foley may not be a pedophile...
=================================================
Disgraced congressman not a pedophile: lawyer
Tue Oct 3, 2006 7:32 PM ET
MIAMI (Reuters) - Former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, at the center of a scandal involving explicit messages he sent to young aides in Congress, is an alcoholic gay man who was molested by a clergyman when he was a teenager, but has never had sexual contact with a minor, his lawyer said on Tuesday.
"Any suggestion that Mark Foley is a pedophile is false, categorically false," Foley's attorney, David Roth, told a televised news conference in Florida. "Mark Foley denies ever, ever having any sexual contact with a minor."
Foley accepted full responsibility for sending lewd instant messages to teenage pages in Congress and in no way blames his conduct on the trauma he suffered as a sexually abused teenager, Roth continued.
Congressional pages are teenagers assigned to answer phones, deliver documents and run errands for members of Congress.
"Between the ages of 13 and 15 years he was molested by a clergyman," Roth said of Foley. He did not identify the clergyman or his denomination. Nor did he say whether the cleric was associated with the Catholic schools Foley attended as a teenager.
Foley, who resigned on Friday after the messages were made public, is at an undisclosed alcohol rehabilitation center and authorized the disclosure as part of his treatment, which will last at least 30 days, Roth said.
He said Foley was a secret drinker who believed himself to be an alcoholic and that "He is a gay man."
Roth claimed Foley was under the influence of alcohol when he sent the lewd messages, but added: "He continues to offer no excuse whatsoever for his conduct."
The FBI, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and House ethics investigators are all looking into Foley's electronic communications with Congressional pages.
Roth said all Foley's computer records would be saved for investigators. "Nothing will be altered, nothing will be touched, nothing will be changed," he said.
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2006-10-03T233145Z_01_N....
How many times were you booted? I recollect a bunch of aliases.
That you, Mr. Johnson? iHub let you back?
Churak has been around and has received posts of a similar nature during his time here. But imagine if he was a first time poster, or just joined IHUB and never been spoken to with that kind of sarcasm before? Imagine if he/she was a foreigner where cultural pride is taken seriously.
As a first time poster Churak made it to The Jailhouse and became an iHub legend. BTW, Nova Scotians don't have cultural pride which is taken seriously because they all smell like fish.
"Personal attack" is a defined term in the User Agreement -- sarcasm per se is not a personal attack.
...a personal attack...is defined as:
Posting harassing or otherwise objectionable content on another poster;
Calling another poster names or being vulgar;
Not staying on topic with the current investment discussion, but instead focusing on an individual poster
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/complex_terms.asp
From the NOLIB board...
Would welcome feedback.
Sounds good. I'm itching to try some.
Tanks. Kinda thot thas ow ets spalled.
Re Moderators...
They routinely squash disention by deleting posts containing discenting viewpoints.
New admin Matt edict...
the Moderator must maange the board ...
I am loosing all my money ...
Removing the rubber band from a tight wad?
Well come too are paneful bored sideeki!
Foley on South Park?
Of course the Democrats are resposible, who else could be?
i know your swamped with rouge posters..
Flustered Bush Misses Air Force One Flight
October 3, 2006 | Issue 42•40
CAMP SPRINGS, MD—Despite sprinting through the Andrews Air Force Base south terminal, President Bush narrowly missed his Air Force One flight to Boise earlier today after arriving just moments after the plane's doors had closed.
The 12-person crew was not able to accommodate the president due to strict federal guidelines requiring all passengers to arrive at their departure gate 15 minutes prior to takeoff—guidelines flight officials say are especially important considering heightened security around the president. When Bush inquired into the possibility of being placed on standby for Air Force Two, the exasperated commander in chief was informed that the flight was full and Vice President Dick Cheney was unwilling to give up his seat.
The president was left "high and dry" at Andrews AFB today.
"I understand it's frustrating to miss a flight," said Air Force One Chief Boarding Coordinator Derek Morganson, who attended a special meeting with the president to discuss the government-funded airline's exchange policy. "But Mr. Bush has to understand that we are entrusted by the White House with a very important job, and we can't make exceptions for one person just because it suits his schedule. No airline would operate like that."
Morganson was able to offer the president a standby seat on an affiliate airline's 3 p.m. flight to Reno, though Bush said he failed to see "how that helps [him] in the slightest."
After concluding a "pointless talk" with desk personnel at Gate 14, Bush took questions in the air-base food court, where he denounced the airline's actions.
"This is so typical," said Bush while eating a $9 chicken-Caesar-salad wrap. "Of course, they had all the time in the world to check my bags and they told me I'd be all set, but all of a sudden, I'm not allowed on the plane. Now my biggest suitcase is halfway to who-knows-where and I'm stuck in this stupid airport. Don't these people ever communicate with each other?" said Bush, who refused an offer to put him up at a nearby Radisson Hotel for the evening.
"Plus, I just remembered that my charger is in that suitcase, and I'm down to one bar on my cell phone," Bush continued. "How the hell am I supposed to call Laura?"
Bush told reporters his heart sank when he saw the departure–arrival monitor and realized that he had missed the last boarding call: "For Christ's sake," the president said. "This is a nightmare."
"I remember when Air Force One used to care about customer service. Now it's all about their bottom line." --President George W. Bush
Although he did not offer a specific cause for his delayed arrival at the airport, the president mentioned rush hour and "losing the goddamn keys again" as factors. Bush admitted he may have misjudged the amount of time needed to pass through security, especially with thousands of military personnel heading out on international flights. But he maintained he had arrived at the gate while the plane was still on the tarmac, and said it would have taken the crew "all of two seconds" to let him board the Boeing 747-200B aircraft.
Bush, who describes himself as a "perpetual traveler" who had exclusively used Air Force One for both work and his frequent vacations, said he will begin looking into other carriers.
"They just lost their best customer," said Bush after purchasing a Robin Cook novel and settling in at Runway Café. "I remember when Air Force One used to care about customer service. Now it's all about their bottom line."
Air Force One representatives expressed regret for any inconvenience experienced by President Bush and assured him that the many useful comment cards he filled out will be seriously considered, even though "Air Force One Presidential Air Transport wasn't the one who missed his flight."
Bush, who is scheduled to attend tomorrow's Governor's Association Luncheon in Boise, said the airline's treatment of him was "inexcusable and ridiculous."
A ticket agent did eventually arrange an itinerary to get the president to Boise, first putting him on a shuttle flight aboard Marine One to Pittsburgh, where he will transfer to the cargo hold of a C-130 air transport delivering three Apache helicopters to Edwards Air Force Base in California, before riding with a military-supply-truck convoy to an undisclosed location in the Nevada desert, where he will then accompany test pilots from Fallon Naval Air Station to the Idaho border and pick up a rental car paid for by Air Force One.
"Not only did I miss my flight, but now I'm going to miss my connecting motorcade to the Idaho Capitol building," said Bush. "Yeah, I'll make the meeting, but I'll never get there in time for my keynote address or the seafood brunch."
© Copyright 2006, Onion, Inc. All rights reserved
Overjoyed Saints Fans Tear Roof Off Reopened Superdome
September 28, 2006 | Issue 42•39
NEW ORLEANS—Over 70,000 elated New Orleans Saints fans celebrated the first professional football game to take place in the newly renovated Superdome since Hurricane Katrina Monday night by joyously rushing from their seats onto the field, ripping down the goal posts, destroying the playing surface, and trampling three people to death after the Saints' 23-3 win over the Atlanta Falcons.
"This city is back!" said Marcus Hammond, one of 5,000 Saints fans who rushed from the French Quarter to seek refuge in the Superdome's reopening. Early reports indicate that as news of the victory spread, the excited citizens steadily breached the dome's walls throughout the night, creating a chaotic and devastating environment of celebration.
"This was something all of us needed," said resident Sean Montrell, who joined several thousand fans in overturning trashcans and setting them on fire inside the dome. "Now, maybe Americans will finally pay attention to what is going on here in New Orleans."
"Go Saints!" Montrell added before beating and urinating on the man standing next to him.
Long after the game ended, the jubilant, hungry fans showed no signs of stopping the festivities, finding themselves stealing food and alcohol from stadium venders who were bludgeoned with any metal object that could be extracted from the dome's infrastructure. In addition, fans were too busy rioting to notice that the loss of electricity and the absence of air-conditioning had created oppressive conditions with temperatures easily exceeding 100 degrees.
"When it got dark, that was the most fun," said sweaty, blood-drenched Beatrice Sheehy, who last saw her two children being escorted away by an unknown man she described as "some guy." "I really think the Saints could go all the way this year."
"Go, Reggie Bush!" she added, moments before purchasing heroin from an unidentified man and then shooting it up on the 50-yard line.
Although all participants described the mood as one of joy and relief, conditions in the dome continued to deteriorate as the plumbing broke down and the newly refurbished bathrooms began to completely overflow with fecal matter. The deluge of waste eventually flooded the hallways, leaving a slick film of excrement surrounding the dome. Ecstatic fans later said it did not seem worth trying to go inside one of the bathrooms after the game, opting instead to find a dark corner in which they could void their bowels.
"Looks like a victory party to me!" said longtime Saints fan Julius Childress, who claimed he scaled the rafters to lead a "Go Saints!" cheer, and then passed the long night watching people having sex, both consensual and not, in the third-floor skyboxes. "When I got to the highest part of the dome, that's when I saw a group of happy drunk people chopping and tearing at two new holes in the dome's roof. One guy in an Aaron Brooks jersey screamed 'Go Saints,' just before falling his death."
Added Childress: "The Saints have definitely given this city its soul back."
Mayor Ray Nagin took the opportunity to congratulate the Saints football team, the citizens of New Orleans, and the many officials who oversaw the $185 million effort to restore the Superdome in time for last Monday's game.
"This is a symbol of our cultural pride and heritage," said Nagin, speaking from the newly dilapidated Superdome with throngs of dirty, hungry, disease-ridden Saints fans, some holding babies, standing in line for Red Cross aid packages behind him. "With the Saints back here where they belong, things are finally starting to return to normal in New Orleans."
© Copyright 2006, Onion, Inc. All rights reserved.
You should hear yourself,oui vey.
French accent?
Why not stick with the topic at hand? #msg-13690144
Is there a current sex scandal with a Democrat? If you're digging in the past, Republican or Democrat, it's a non-issue for me today.
This doesn't look like Democrats...
================================
Calls made for Hastert's resignation
WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- A growing chorus of U.S. conservatives is calling for Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert to resign for his alleged inaction over a House page sex scandal.
The fall-out is over former Rep Mark Foley, R-Fla, who resigned Friday after it was disclosed he had been exchanging sexually charged messages with underage House pages.
Monday Hastert, R-Ill., denied anyone in the Republican Party had seen the most lurid messages until the story broke last Friday but said he had been aware of other messages months ago.
Richard Viguerie, chairman of conservativehq.com, called for the "immediate resignation of any House GOP leaders who had knowledge of former Congressman Mark Foley's improper contact with underage pages -- but who took no action."
Tuesday, The Washington Times published an editorial titled "Resign, Mr. Speaker," claiming Hastert had crossed the line.
"Either he was grossly negligent for not taking the red flags fully into account and ordering a swift investigation ... or he deliberately looked the other way in hopes that a brewing scandal would simply blow away," the editorial said.
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20061003-092755-4587r
I really wanted a Maria Cullanders Coconut Cream Pie!!!
...untastable protection-children for many years.
You think he may have been reading the news about Foley when he made the post?
IHUB 90120
Hey, I am dissapionted.
Geez, didn't expect to be posting here too. You and I agree that whoever knew about this should have done something about it at the time, but the press didn't know about it any earlier than Republican leadership. We can address that with links over at GOV.
That said, it would appear that this is going to get very ugly for Republican leadership.
==============================
GOP Staff Warned Pages About Foley in 2001
By MADDY SAUER and ANNA SCHECTER
Oct. 1, 2006 — - A Republican staff member warned Congressional pages five years ago to watch out for Congressman Mark Foley, according to a former page.
Matthew Loraditch, a page in the 2001-2002 class, told ABC News he and other pages were warned about Foley by a supervisor.
Loraditch, the president of the Page Alumni Association, said the pages were told "don't get too wrapped up in him being too nice to you and all that kind of stuff."
Staff members at the House clerk's office did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Some of the sexually explicit instant messages that led to Foley's abrupt resignation Friday were sent to pages in Loraditch's class.
Pages report to either Republican or Democratic supervisors, depending on the political party of the member of Congress who nominated them for the page program.
Several pages for members of Congress tell ABC News they received no such warnings about Foley, R-Fla.
Loraditch says the some of pages who "interacted" with Foley were hesitant to report his behavior because "members of Congress, they've got the power." Many of the pages were hoping for careers in politics and feared Foley might seek retribution.
Loraditch runs the alumni association for the US House Page Program and he is deeply concerned about the future effects this scandal could have on a program that he sees as a valuable educational experience for teens.
Copyright © 2006 ABC News Internet Ventures
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/print?id=2514259
Planets have scientists buzzing
By Jonathan Amos
Science reporter, BBC News
A new wide-field survey of the sky has made its first major discovery - two planets orbiting far-distant stars.
The SuperWasp project uses camera lenses and super-sensitive detectors to monitor stars for tiny dips in light that might betray a passing planet.
The UK-led project identified a number of "suspects" and then handed the data to a French observatory for checking.
It used an instrument to analyse the light from the stars in detail and confirm the presence of the planets.
"To get these two we had to survey about 1.1 million stars and then go though several stages of filtering. It's a bit like panning for gold," Professor Andrew Collier Cameron from the University of St Andrews told BBC News.
The two extrasolar (outside our Solar System) planets, now known as Wasp-1b and Wasp-2b, are in the constellations of Andromeda and Delphinus.
Very hot
One is about 1,000 light-years from Earth; the other is about half that distance.
They are what astronomers term "hot Jupiters" - very large planets like the gas giants in our own Solar System but orbiting much closer in to their parent stars.
Whilst our Jupiter is almost 700 million km from the Sun and takes some 12 years to complete an orbit, these planets are just a few million km from their stars and take only a couple of days to complete an orbit.
This makes them extremely hot. Indeed, scientists think that of the 200 or so extrasolar planets detected to date, these may be among the hottest of the lot. Wasp-1b's temperature is estimated to be over 1,800C (3,300F).
SuperWasp (Wide Angle Search for Planets) is a new programme that puts eight lenses and top-quality CCD cameras on a robotic mount.
There are two set-ups: one is at La Palma observatory in the Canary Islands; the other is at the Sutherland Observatory in South Africa. Together they sweep the entire sky.
French detail
Night after night, the SuperWasp robots watch millions of stars for small deviations in brightness that might be the result of an orbiting planet passing across the stellar disc.
In normal circumstances, with just one narrow-field telescope, the chances of seeing such transits would be very small; but the odds rise dramatically for SuperWasp because its automated systems can filter a huge sample of stars.
SUPERWASP ROBOTIC TELECOPES
Comprises 8 scientific cameras; lenses just 11cm in diameter
Field of view 2,000x greater than conventional telescope
State-of-the-art detectors feed automated data analysis
System can monitor entire sky several times per night
Detects hundreds of thousands of stars in a single snap-shot
One night's observing run generates up to 60GB of data
SuperWasp based in Canary Islands and South Africa
Confirmation of the new finds came earlier this month when the team joined forces with the Swiss and French users of Sophie, a powerful new spectrograph sited at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence.
Sophie can detect if there is a slight change in a star's velocity - the result of an (unseen) extrasolar planet's gravity tugging the star in different directions as it makes an orbit.
In other words, the star appears to wobble under the influence of its smaller companion.
"The partnership between the two instruments is particularly powerful - SuperWasp finds candidate planets and determines their radii, and Sophie confirms their nature and weighs them," said Dr Don Pollacco, of Queen's University Belfast and the SuperWasp Project Scientist.
Ferocious weather
SuperWasp's goal is to find the planets that more specialist telescopic systems can then investigate more closely.
Once a target has been confirmed, astronomers can book time on the likes of the Hubble and Spitzer space observatories to examine the object at infrared wavelengths.
"This tells us quite a lot about the weather on them," said Professor Andrew Collier Cameron, who explained that these planets lived a ferocious existence.
"All the theoretical models tell us that these planets should have dense cloud decks made essentially of 'rock snowflakes'; the sorts of chemicals which condense to form clouds at these high temperatures are things that we normally think of on Earth as minerals - olivine, forsterite, all the magnesium silicates."
Professor Collier Cameron said astronomers wanted to try to find out how such weather systems transported intense heat around a planet.
The new worlds come from SuperWasp's inaugural five-month observing run in 2004. Over the next three years, the project hopes to identify all the transiting events in the vision range of the robots.
Later this year, French scientists will launch the Corot mission.
This space telescope will also look for transiting events, but it will see deeper into the sky than SuperWasp and detect lower-mass planets, ones that are perhaps just a little bigger than Earth.
Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/5378562.stm
Published: 2006/09/26 10:19:51 GMT
Nice find, but that won't help GPS guided missles and bombs. <ng>
Dunno. Stumped on that.
Not rocket surgery Fringe.
Rocket surgery fringes require a specially trained mohel.
Re: "... especially when you can just make things up"
We leave that to lefties, they seem to enjoy it so.
Guess someone's changed the original iBox set-up. Trish had it as a place for "making things up."
Care to explain? <g>
Edit: "C" grub
That fact can't be argued since several democrat members and the press also knew of it in 2005.
Links, please.
have a good sunday bm ...
Solar flares will disrupt GPS in 2011
14:29 29 September 2006
NewScientist.com news service
Jeff Hecht
Navigation, power and communications systems that rely on GPS satellite navigation will be disrupted by violent solar activity in 2011, research shows.
A study reveals Global Positioning System receivers to be unexpectedly vulnerable to bursts of radio noise produced by solar flares, created by explosions in the Sun's atmosphere.
When solar activity peaks in 2011 and 2012, it could cause widespread disruption to aircraft navigation and emergency location systems that rely heavily on satellite navigation data.
Particularly intense solar activity occurs roughly every 11 years due to cyclic changes to the Sun's magnetic field – a peak period known as the solar maximum.
Solar flares send charged particles crashing into the outer fringes of the Earth's atmosphere at high velocity, generating auroras and geomagnetic storms.
Radio noise
Charged particles from solar flares also produce intense bursts of radio noise, which peak in the 1.2 and 1.6 gigahertz bands used by GPS. Normally, radio noise in these bands is very low, so receivers can easily pick up weak signals from orbiting satellites.
In 2005, however, Cornell University graduate student Alessandro Cerruti discovered a puzzling failure in GPS reception while operating a receiver at Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.
Along with Paul Kintner, from the university's electrical engineering department, Cerruti traced the problem to a radio burst induced by a solar flare. They found that GPS receivers operated by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Brazilian Air Force experienced similar disruption during this burst of solar activity.
The researchers say the problem has escaped detection before because GPS systems have spread in popularity during a time of relatively low solar activity.
Drowned out
Discovering the disruption was surprising. "[Other] people will be surprised at the next solar maximum," Kintner says. Both the number and intensity of radio flares will increase and could drown out GPS signals during this period, he says.
This may be a problem for aircraft navigation. The FAA uses GPS receivers for air traffic control, which Kintner says "will certainly fail" during these intense solar flare radio bursts, which could cause signals to drop by up to 90%, for hours at a time. Although planes can fly without GPS, outages force the FAA to increase the distance between aircraft and slow take-offs and landings, delaying flights.
GPS is also used for emergency rescues and also to synchronise power grids and cellphone networks. One solution, says Kintner, would be to increase the strength of GPS signals. But this would mean redesigning GPS satellite hardware and software
Cerruti presented details of the problem at a meeting of the Institute of Navigation on 28 September. Details will be published in a forthcoming issue of the journal Space Weather.
Related Articles
Satellites could navigate by X-ray stars
http://www.newscientisttechnology.com/article/dn9870
04 September 2006
Pentagon's satellite-saving plan could backfire
http://www.newscientisttechnology.com/article/dn9751
15 August 2006
Code cracked on Galileo satellite system
http://www.newscientisttechnology.com/article/mg19125603.000
15 July 2006
Weblinks
Paul Kintner, Cornell University
http://people.ece.cornell.edu/paul/
Institute of Navigation
http://www.ion.org/
Space Weather
http://www.agu.org/journals/spaceweather/
Surprise!!??
=======================
Posted on Sat, Sep. 30, 2006
Republican leaders distance themselves from Foley scandal
By Christi Parsons
Chicago Tribune
(MCT)
WASHINGTON - Republican leaders in Congress, including Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois, scrambled Saturday to distance themselves from a Florida congressman's sex scandal as they disavowed responsibility for investigating the matter when it came to light months ago.
Aides to the speaker say he was not aware until last week of inappropriate behavior by Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., who resigned on Friday after portions of racy e-mail exchanges between him and current and former underage congressional pages became public. But the aides conceded that they could not be conclusive on the timing.
In the chaotic hours after news of the scandal broke, GOP leaders offered confusing versions of events about how much they knew, and when. One top House Republican said he relayed to Hastert his sketchy understanding of the situation months ago, and another said he "cannot say with certainty" whether he passed along the information or not.
Meanwhile, an aide to Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill. - chairman of the board that oversees the page program - said Shimkus confronted Foley last year after learning of one e-mail message he sent to a former page. Shimkus declined to investigate when Foley assured him there was nothing to it, the aide said, and Shimkus declined comment Saturday, relying instead on his spokesman.
While House Republicans attempted to avoid blame, Democrats raised questions about why there wasn't an official investigation after the first internal reports of impropriety.
"A 16-year-old kid was entrusted by his parents to the U.S. House of Representatives, and Congress has a responsibility," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "The most important questions are, `What did the Republican leadership know, when did they know it and, if they knew something, why didn't they do anything to protect the child?'"
Foley's resignation brings a new volatility to this fall's midterm campaigns, in which Republicans are trying to fight off a Democratic insurgency to reclaim the House majority after 12 years of GOP rule. Democrats need to pick up 15 seats to take control of the chamber, and Foley's heavily Republican district is now a surprise new opportunity for Democrats.
Party officials get to name a replacement candidate for Foley's seat, but the ballots have already been printed with his name on them, and any votes cast for Foley will go to his stand-in.
Sure to get high-volume coverage on cable television, the latest revelations could affect the party's appeal to its socially conservative base. Members of Congress left town last week with little to show on hot-button issues like immigration, and Congress' ratings as an institution have sunk to levels not seen since 1994 when the GOP swamped Democrats to take control of the House.
The Foley story began to unfold on Friday when ABC News reported that the congressman had exchanged explicit electronic messages with current and former male pages. Many of the messages were sexually suggestive, with Foley reportedly asking one former page what he was wearing and then urging him to take off his clothing.
But when the first reports of inappropriate electronic messages began to percolate in Republican leadership offices last year, they centered on a milder e-mail message to an underage former page from Louisiana, Republican congressional aides say. In an e-mail to the 16-year-old, Foley asked him how he was doing in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and asked what he wanted for his birthday.
He also asked the boy to send a photo of himself, according to e-mail excerpts now widely available on the Internet. When Shimkus got news of that, he confronted Foley, according to Shimkus spokesman Steve Tomaszewski.
"Foley said he was trying to be a mentor," said Tomaszewski. "The congressman (Shimkus) said, `For everybody's well-being, you need to stop any contact with this former page.'"
Shimkus did not know about the more explicit messages and didn't take further action, Tomaszewski said.
"Obviously, there was more to this," he said. "Foley basically lied to him."
Hastert's office also declined requests for an interview with the speaker, but in a two-page narrative it offered an account of what happened. According to the narrative, a staff assistant in Hastert's office got a telephone call in the fall of 2005 from the chief of staff for Rep. Rodney Alexander, a Lousiana Republican, saying he had an e-mail exchange between Foley and a former House page that had aroused concern.
Hastert's deputy chief of staff, Mike Stokke, then called a meeting between Alexander's chief of staff and the Clerk of the House.
At that meeting, the clerk asked to see the text of the e-mail, but Alexander's office declined to release it, saying the family wanted to maintain privacy, according to the Hastert staff report.
When the clerk asked if the e-mail exchange was "of a sexual nature," the report goes on, he was assured it was not. Rather, Alexander's office characterized the e-mail exchange as "over-friendly."
Stokke and the other staff members did not discuss the matter with others in the speaker's office, the report says, because they believed they had reported the matter to the "proper authorities." They were also attempting to be mindful of the "parents' wishes to protect their child's privacy."
The Hastert report did not dispute a statement issued Saturday by Rep. Tom Reynolds, R-N.Y., who said Alexander had also told him about e-mails between Foley and the page. Reynolds, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said he then told the speaker of that conversation.
The report said the speaker "does not explicitly recall this conversation," but that "he has no reason to dispute Congressman Reynolds' recollection that he reported to him on the problem and its resolution."
Still, Hastert spokesman Ron Bonjean said the speaker did not know about Foley's electronic mail messages until last week.
Also on Saturday, the office of House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Boehner isn't sure if he talked to anyone in the Republican leadership about his own brief conversation with Alexander. The Washington Post reported on Saturday that Boehner said he told the speaker, but a Boehner spokesman said later that was not correct.
Late in the day, Hastert and Boehner issued a joint statement, along with House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Ohio, condemning Foley's behavior and pledging to "create a safe environment" for House pages in the future. One step will be to set up a toll-free number for pages, family members and staff to report "incidents of concern."
Foley's behavior was "an obscene breach of trust," the statement said. "His immediate resignation must now be followed by the full weight of the criminal justice system."
Officially, the matter is now in the hands of a House ethics panel charged with deciding whether there should be an investigation. But the lurid details are already being heavily parsed on television and the Internet.
In one message reported by ABC, Foley reportedly inquired of one page, "Do I make you a little horny?" In another message, he asked a page if he were wearing boxers and then urged him to "strip down and get relaxed."
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/15649897.htm?template=contentModules/prints...
We agree!!!
ak - the reporter knew of it at least 11 months ago
Shouldn't you be asking when Speaker of the House Hastert and other "responsible" congressmen knew about it, and what they did or did not do to investigate further? They are the responsible parties, not a reporter.
===============================
POSTED: 3:19 a.m. EDT, September 30, 2006
House to probe resigning congressman's notes to teen
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The House voted unanimously to launch an investigation into messages allegedly sent by former Rep. Mark Foley to a male teenage page.
The six-term Florida Republican abruptly ended his congressional career Friday after public disclosure of the notes.
uu]The House vote came after the congressman who oversees the page program revealed he had learned about the exchange late last year and subsequently warned Foley to be "mindful" of his behavior.
Majority Leader John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, learned about the matter during the spring, but "there wasn't a level of alarm because there was no specificity about the contact," an aide to Boehner told CNN.
Boehner blocked a vote on a resolution offered by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi that asked the House Ethics Committee to begin a preliminary investigation into Foley's conduct and the GOP leadership's "response" to it.
The California Democrat's resolution would have called for an investigation of "when the Republican leadership was notified and what corrective action was taken."
Instead, Boehner made a motion that the Foley matter be sent to the House Ethics Committee, which passed 409-0.
Pelosi said her resolution forced the GOP leadership to send the matter to the Ethics Committee for a bipartisan investigation.
In his e-mails, Foley purportedly asked the page to send a picture of himself to the congressman, asked the teen what he wanted for his birthday and made comments about another former page in which Foley allegedly said he acted "much older than his age" and was "in really great shape."
The teen who said he received the e-mails forwarded them on another party, who had a House e-mail address, and commented that he found the request for his picture "sick." The former page said Foley had asked for his e-mail address after he gave the congressman a thank-you card.
GOP sources told CNN that Foley's resignation was prompted in part by concerns that other potentially politically damaging e-mails or information might surface, including exchanges with other pages that were more graphic.
ABC News Friday evening reported details of three exchanges of instant messages sent between teenage male pages and someone using the screen name Maf54, which ABC identified as Foley. The congressman's initials are MAF, and he was born in 1954.
In one of those exchanges, Maf54 advises the teen to "strip down." In another, when the teen says he's wearing a T-shirt and shorts, Maf54 replies, "Love to slip them off of you." And in a third, Maf54 asks, "Do I make you a little horny?"
Foley led exploited children's caucus
In a three-sentence letter of resignation, Foley did not mention the messages. But the six-term lawmaker said he was "deeply sorry" and apologized "for letting down my family and the people of Florida I have had the privilege to represent."
"I thank the people of Florida's 16th Congressional District for giving me the opportunity to serve them for the last 12 years," Foley said. "It has been an honor."
A spokesman for Foley told CNN that the congressman had exchanged e-mails with the former page but denied he had done anything inappropriate.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert said the Florida lawmaker had "done the right thing" by resigning. Hastert also said he had asked Rep. John Shimkus, a fellow Illinois Republican who oversees the House page program, to investigate.
House Majority Whip Roy Blunt told CNN that "it sounds like to me ... that Mark made the right decision to leave the Congress."
"I hope that he can solve this problem for himself," the Missouri Republican said.
Foley served as one of Blunt's deputy whips and was also co-chairman of the Congressional Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus.
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said he was "surprised" by Foley's resignation. "I'm really disappointed if these allegations are true," he said.
Some GOP leaders knew of contact
Shimkus issued a statement saying he had learned about the e-mails in late 2005, after they were forwarded to the Clerk of the House by Rep. Rodney Alexander, a Louisiana Republican, in whose office the page had worked.
Shimkus said when he questioned Foley about the e-mails, the congressman assured him that he was "simply acting as a mentor" to the former page and that "nothing inappropriate had occurred."
He said Foley explained that he was trying to find out if the teen was OK after a hurricane last year and "wanted a photo to see that the former page was all right."
Foley was advised to have no further contact with the former page and "to be especially mindful of his conduct" with pages in the future, Shimkus said.
"It has become clear to me today, based on information I only have now learned, that Congressman Foley was not honest about his conduct," Shimkus said.
An aide to Rep. Tom Reynolds, a New York Republican who heads the National Republican Campaign Committee, said Reynolds also knew a year ago about the matter. The committee coordinates the election effort for House Republicans.
Boehner's spokesman, Kevin Madden, said Boehner recalls a conversation with Alexander "making him aware earlier this spring that there had been contact by Rep. Foley and a page. It was Congressman Alexander's opinion that the contact was not of a professional nature."
The page program, which brings young people from around the country to work on Capitol Hill, came under intense scrutiny in 1983, after two lawmakers -- Rep. Gerry Studds, a Massachusetts Democrat, and Rep. Dan Crane, an Illinois Republican -- were censured following their admission they had consensual sexual relationships with 17-year-old pages.
Neither lawmaker resigned, but Crane was defeated for re-election in 1984. Studds survived the scandal and continued to serve in the House until retiring in 1996.
GOP scrambles to find replacement
Just six weeks before the midterm election, with control of the House in play, Foley's departure has left Republicans scrambling to find a replacement candidate in Florida's 16th District.
Foley, 53, who is single, had been favored to win re-election in the Republican-leaning district. Under Florida law, his name will remain on the ballot, but Republicans will have seven days to select a new candidate who will receive any votes cast for Foley.
GOP party leaders from the eight counties in the district will meet to decide on a new nominee, according to Palm Beach County Republican Chairman Sid Dinerstein. One name being mentioned for the post Friday by a number of party leaders was state Rep. Joe Negron from Stuart.
The campaign of Tim Mahoney, the Democratic candidate in the district, denied having any role in disclosure of Foley's e-mails. Mahoney made a brief statement to reporters Friday afternoon but did not answer any questions.
"The challenges facing Congressmen Foley make this a difficult time for the people of 16th District. The families of all those involved are in our thoughts and in our prayers," Mahoney said.
CNN's Dana Bash and Kimberly Segal contributed to this report.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/09/30/foley.quits
ABC News Blog Foley "story" has embedded links to more e-mails.
Viewer discretion advised.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/09/exclusive_the_s.html
http://abcnews.go.com/images/WNT/02-02-03b.pdf
http://abcnews.go.com/images/WNT/foley_excerpts4.pdf
Foley One Sick Pup
September 29, 2006
http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/blogs/?p=330#more-330
Turns out former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley was sitting around in his underwear sending e-mails to teen boys about masturbation, or “spanking it” as the Republican Congressman calls it. Brian Ross at ABC News got hold of the messages and when Foley found out, he quit almost on the spot.
The truly sad thing about this is that Foley has only confirmed the worst Christian Right stereotypes about gay men, stereotypes that of course are largely untrue. But then again he’s never represented or embodied the larger gay population. He’s a gay man in the closet at the age of 52 — and a Republican, no less. We should have all expected this kind of thing.
Interesting information in those e-mails, though. Foley, for those inquiring minds that want to know, likes to masturbate with lotion and a towel and considers 7 1/2 inches a great penis size.
We learn this while he’s chatting with a teenager who’s mother is yelling at him about his homework.
Yep, Foley is a goddamn predator.
Unbelievable. The following exchange is one Foley had with a kid in 2003, not long before I wrote the outing story. Foley is Maf54 (MAF being his initials).
——————
Maf54 (7:37:27 PM): how my favorite young stud doing
Xxxxxxxxx (7:37:46 PM): tired and sore
…
Maf54 (7:39:32 PM): you need a massage
…
Xxxxxxxxx (7:41:57 PM): ugh tomorrow i have the first day of lacrosse practice
Maf54 (7:42:27 PM): love to watch that
Maf54 (7:42:33 PM): those great legs running
Xxxxxxxxx (7:42:38 PM): haha…they arent great
…
Maf54 (7:46:33 PM): did any girl give you a haand job this weekend
Xxxxxxxxx (7:46:38 PM): lol no
Xxxxxxxxx (7:46:40 PM): im single right now
Xxxxxxxxx (7:46:57 PM): my last gf and i broke up a few weeks agi
Maf54 (7:47:11 PM): good so your getting horny
Xxxxxxxxx (7:47:29 PM): lol…a bit
Maf54 (7:48:00 PM): did you spank it this weekend yourself
Xxxxxxxxx (7:48:04 PM): no
Xxxxxxxxx (7:48:16 PM): been too tired and too busy
Maf54 (7:48:33 PM): wow…
Maf54 (7:48:34 PM): i am never to busy haha
Xxxxxxxxx (7:48:51 PM): haha
Maf54 (7:50:02 PM): or tired..helps me sleep
Xxxxxxxxx (7:50:15 PM): thats true
Xxxxxxxxx (7:50:36 PM): havent been having a problem with sleep though.. i just walk in the door and collapse well at least this weekend
Maf54 (7:50:56 PM): i am sure
Xxxxxxxxx (7:50:57 PM): i dont do it very often normally though
Maf54 (7:51:11 PM): why not
Maf54 (7:51:22 PM): at your age seems like it would be daily
Xxxxxxxxx (7:51:57 PM): not me
Xxxxxxxxx (7:52:01 PM): im not a horn dog
Xxxxxxxxx (7:52:07 PM): maybe 2 or 3 times a week
Maf54 (7:52:20 PM): thats a good number
Maf54 (7:52:27 PM): in the shower
Xxxxxxxxx (7:52:36 PM): actually usually i dont do it in the shower
Xxxxxxxxx (7:52:42 PM): just cause i shower in the morning
Xxxxxxxxx (7:52:47 PM): and quickly
Maf54 (7:52:50 PM): in the bed
Xxxxxxxxx (7:52:59 PM): i get up at 530 and am outta the house by 610
Xxxxxxxxx (7:53:03 PM): eh ya
Maf54 (7:53:24 PM): on your back
Xxxxxxxxx (7:53:30 PM): no face down
Maf54 (7:53:32 PM): love details
Xxxxxxxxx (7:53:34 PM): lol
Xxxxxxxxx (7:53:36 PM): i see that
Xxxxxxxxx (7:53:37 PM): lol
Maf54 (7:53:39 PM): really
Maf54 (7:53:54 PM): do you really do it face down
Xxxxxxxxx (7:54:03 PM): ya
Maf54 (7:54:13 PM): kneeling
Xxxxxxxxx (7:54:31 PM): well i dont use my hand…i use the bed itself
Maf54 (7:54:31 PM): where do you unload it
Xxxxxxxxx (7:54:36 PM): towel
Maf54 (7:54:43 PM): really
Maf54 (7:55:02 PM): completely naked?
Xxxxxxxxx (7:55:12 PM): well ya
Maf54 (7:55:21 PM): very nice
Xxxxxxxxx (7:55:24 PM): lol
Maf54 (7:55:51 PM): cute butt bouncing in the air
Xxxxxxxxx (7:56:00 PM): haha
Xxxxxxxxx (7:56:05 PM): well ive never watched myslef
Xxxxxxxxx (7:56:08 PM): but ya i guess
Maf54 (7:56:18 PM): i am sure not
Maf54 (7:56:22 PM): hmmm
Maf54 (7:56:30 PM): great visual
…
Maf54 (7:57:05 PM): i always use lotion and the hand
Maf54 (7:57:10 PM): but who knows
Xxxxxxxxx (7:57:24 PM): i dont use lotion…takes too much time to clean up
Xxxxxxxxx (7:57:37 PM): with a towel you can just wipe off….and go
Maf54 (7:57:38 PM): lol
Maf54 (7:57:45 PM): where do you throw the towel
Xxxxxxxxx (7:57:48 PM): but you cant work it too hard….or its not good
Xxxxxxxxx (7:57:51 PM): in the laundry
Maf54 (7:58:16 PM): just kinda slow rubbing
Xxxxxxxxx (7:58:23 PM): ya….
Xxxxxxxxx (7:58:32 PM): or youll rub yourslef raw
Maf54 (7:58:37 PM): well I have aa totally stiff wood now
Xxxxxxxxx (7:58:40 PM): cause the towell isnt very soft
Maf54 (7:58:44 PM): i bet..taht would hurt
Xxxxxxxxx (7:58:50 PM): but you cn find something softer than a towell i guess
Maf54 (7:58:59 PM): but it must feel great spirting on the towel
Xxxxxxxxx (7:59:06 PM): ya
Maf54 (7:59:29 PM): wow
Maf54 (7:59:48 PM): is your little guy limp…or growing
Xxxxxxxxx (7:59:54 PM): eh growing
Maf54 (8:00:00 PM): hmm
Maf54 (8:00:12 PM): so you got a stiff one now
Xxxxxxxxx (8:00:19 PM): not that fast
Xxxxxxxxx (8:00:20 PM): hey
Xxxxxxxxx (8:00:32 PM): so you have a fetich
Maf54 (8:00:32 PM): hey what
Xxxxxxxxx (8:00:40 PM): fetish**
Maf54 (8:00:43 PM): like
Maf54 (8:00:53 PM): i like steamroom
Maf54 (8:01:04 PM): whats yours
Xxxxxxxxx (8:01:09 PM): its kinda weird
Xxxxxxxxx (8:01:14 PM): lol
Maf54 (8:01:21 PM): i am hard as a rock..so tell me when your reaches rock
Xxxxxxxxx (8:01:23 PM): i have a cast fetish
Maf54 (8:01:27 PM): well tell me
Maf54 (8:01:32 PM): cast
Xxxxxxxxx (8:01:44 PM): ya like…plaster cast
Maf54 (8:01:49 PM): ok..so what happens
Maf54 (8:01:58 PM): how does that turn you in
Xxxxxxxxx (8:02:02 PM): i dont know
Xxxxxxxxx (8:02:04 PM): it just does
Xxxxxxxxx (8:02:08 PM): ive never had one
Xxxxxxxxx (8:02:16 PM): but people that have them turn me on
Xxxxxxxxx (8:02:27 PM): and if i had one it would probably turn me on
Xxxxxxxxx (8:02:29 PM): beats me
Xxxxxxxxx (8:02:32 PM): its kinda weird
Xxxxxxxxx (8:02:50 PM): but along with that i like the whole catholic girl look….thats our schools uniform
Maf54 (8:03:02 PM): ha thats wild
Xxxxxxxxx (8:03:14 PM): ya but now im hard
Maf54 (8:03:32 PM): me 2
Maf54 (8:03:42 PM): cast got you going
Maf54 (8:03:47 PM): what you wearing
Xxxxxxxxx (8:04:04 PM): normal clothes
Xxxxxxxxx (8:04:09 PM): tshirt and shorts
Maf54 (8:04:17 PM): um so a big buldge
Xxxxxxxxx (8:04:35 PM): ya
Maf54 (8:04:45 PM): um
Maf54 (8:04:58 PM): love to slip them off of you
Xxxxxxxxx (8:05:08 PM): haha
Maf54 (8:05:53 PM): and gram the one eyed snake
Maf54 (8:06:13 PM): grab
Xxxxxxxxx (8:06:53 PM): not tonight…dont get to excited
Maf54 (8:07:12 PM): well your hard
Xxxxxxxxx (8:07:45 PM): that is true
Maf54 (8:08:03 PM): and a little horny
Xxxxxxxxx (8:08:11 PM): and also tru
Maf54 (8:08:31 PM): get a ruler and measure it for me
Xxxxxxxxx (8:08:38 PM): ive already told you that
Maf54 (8:08:47 PM): tell me again
Xxxxxxxxx (8:08:49 PM): 7 and 1/2
Maf54 (8:09:04 PM): ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Maf54 (8:09:08 PM): beautiful
Xxxxxxxxx (8:09:38 PM): lol
Maf54 (8:09:44 PM): thats a great size
Xxxxxxxxx (8:10:00 PM): thank you
Maf54 (8:10:22 PM): still stiff
Xxxxxxxxx (8:10:28 PM): ya
Maf54 (8:10:40 PM): take it out
Xxxxxxxxx (8:10:54 PM): brb…my mom is yelling
Maf54 (8:11:06 PM): ok
Xxxxxxxxx (8:14:02 PM): back
Maf54 (8:14:37 PM): cool hope se didnt see any thing
Xxxxxxxxx (8:14:54 PM): no no
Xxxxxxxxx (8:14:59 PM): she is computer dumb though
Xxxxxxxxx (8:15:01 PM): it makes me so mad
Maf54 (8:15:04 PM): good
Maf54 (8:15:08 PM): haha
Maf54 (8:15:11 PM): why
Xxxxxxxxx (8:15:23 PM): cause she cant do anything
Maf54 (8:15:31 PM): oh well
Xxxxxxxxx (8:15:41 PM): she couldnt figure out how to download a file from an email and open it
Maf54 (8:15:53 PM): haha
Xxxxxxxxx (8:16:14 PM): and she only does it like a million times a day
Xxxxxxxxx (8:16:16 PM): oh well
Xxxxxxxxx (8:16:18 PM): whatever
Xxxxxxxxx (8:16:53 PM): well i better go finish my hw…i just found out from a friend that i have to finish reading and notating a book for AP english Maf54 signed off at 8:17:43 PM.”
——————
How bad is that? Here’s another excerpt:
Maf54 (8:03:47 PM): what you wearing
Xxxxxxxxx (8:04:04 PM): normal clothes
Xxxxxxxxx (8:04:09 PM): tshirt and shorts
Maf54 (8:04:58 PM): love to slip them off of you
Maf54 (7:53:45 PM): in your shorts and polo shirt?
Xxxxxxxxxx (7:54:06 PM): no athletic shorts and t shirt…had soccer practice today
Maf54 (7:54:15 PM): ummm nice
Maf54 (7:54:30 PM): jock strap too
Xxxxxxxxxx (7:54:41 PM): not iin soccer
Xxxxxxxxxx (7:54:42 PM): lol
Maf54 (7:55:09 PM): what do you wear then
Xxxxxxxxxx (7:55:20 PM): just our boxers and shorts
Maf54 (7:55:34 PM): good
Xxxxxxxxxx (7:55:37 PM): lol
Maf54 (7:55:42 PM): shows your package then
Xxxxxxxxxx (8:33:29 PM): ya slow things down a little im still young…like under 18 dont want to do anything illegal…im not 18 till feb 23
Maf54 (8:33:43 PM): i know..
Maf54 (8:33:50 PM): nothing will happen
Maf54 (8:34:04 PM): just dreaming
Maf54 (8:45:32 PM): your horny though
Xxxxxxxxx (8:45:39 PM): well ya a bit
Xxxxxxxxx (8:45:45 PM): but im still a virgin
Maf54 (6:26:40 PM): your in the boxers too
Xxxxxxxxx (6:26:47 PM): nope just got home
Maf54 (6:27:39 PM): well strip down and get relaxed
Nice to see our reps on Capitol Hill at work, huh?