As Good As Gone

Yet another congressional Republican has expressed his belief that Tom DeLay should step down from his position as majority leader until he can answer the ethics charges against him. Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.), one of Congress' most conservative members, has joined Rep. Chris Shays and Sen. Rick Santorum in urging DeLay to resign from his leadership position and answer questions about his allegedly criminal relationship with lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

In the meantime, DeLay continues claiming he wants to give "everything I have" to the ethics committee, but, rather than addressing questions regarding these issues, insists the allegations are all part of a plot concocted by the Democratic party.

The Peach has this message for Tom: The heat is on!!

Gay People Wrecked My Marriage

Local news in Nashville, Tenn., reporting that State Senator Jeff Miller, a key sponsor of the state's anti-same-sex-marriage constitutional amendment, is being divorced by his wife of 15 years for alleged adultery. Mr. Miller's marriage amendment, which was approved by Tennessee's state senate, defined marriage as "the historical institutional and legal contract solemnizing the relationship of one man and one woman." It also forbade state recognition of same-sex marriages.

Perhaps understandably, in light of recent events, Mr. Miller blocked attempts to include a constitutional ban on adultery in the amendment.

The Peach's theory: Some gay couples in the area were emanating that bad gay mojo that, right-wing research has suggested, can cause heterosexual marriages to inexplicably shipwreck.

Baron's Brain: Bushy Math

This photo was taken when Bush, in an eager attempt to prove his self-professed proficiency in mathematics, responded to a reporter's challenge that he tell us how many toes Barney has.

Afterwards, feeling confident that he yet again put the news in its place, he went on to explain his plans for Social Security, all the while using the nursery rhyme "one-two, buckle my shoe" to keep his numbers straight and help maintain his focus.

"Republicans Eat Their Own"

That's how Sen. Trent Lott responded when questioned about the cold shoulder given by a number of fellow Republicans after Tom DeLay's most recent attempt to gather party support in his attempt to ward off investigations into ethics questions. Lott went on to say that "The power of prayer is the only thing that will sustain you," obviously reflecting a lack of desire to join DeLay's looney diatribes, which now place the blame for his troubles on billionaire George Soros and the grass-roots group MoveOn.org.

DeLay's appeal to Senate Republicans included a request for members to tell reporters that "this is all a plot and the Democrats are out to get me." This appears to be a refusal to do what Sen. Rick Santorum suggested just days earlier, "to come forward and lay out what he did and why he did it." It seems that DeLay would rather dodge, lie and deflect than tell the truth, unwittingly proving that he is guilty of the charges laid against him.

With all of that said, The Peach would like to add one other thing. The Peach is mildly offended that DeLay didn't mention The Peach as one of his enemies. The Peach's fuzz gets all blushy red when it gets mentioned by others and The Peach just loves attention, even if it came from a lizard like DeLay. Besides, MoveOn.org stated that DeLay gives them more credit than they deserve. So, c'mon Tom. Let's share the love.

Et Tu, Brute?

It seems what Republican supporters say of Tom DeLay and what they actually believe are two distinctly different things. In an article by the Christian Science Monitor, a senior GOP lawmaker's response to accusations of a Democratic "hit machine" has left The Peach wondering if something wonderfully Shakespearean is about to take place. The lawmaker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was quoted as saying, "Democrats should save their money. Why murder someone who is committing suicide?"

Whether this signals the collapse of Republican leadership and the beginning of knives in the back is yet to be seen. On the other hand, The Peach feels that a truly poetic finale to the fall of DeLay would be for Sen. Bill Frist to stand up and yell out "Liberty! Freedom! Tyranny is dead!"

Got To Pick A Pocket Or Two

A Reuters report is stating that Haliburton, VP Dick's old sandbox, has overcharged at least $212 million to get fuel to Iraqi civilians under a no-bid deal with the U.S. military. The audit, released by the Defense Contract Audit Agency, claimed that in at least one case the overcharges exceeded 47 percent of the total value of one work order. This report comes one month after the Defense Department began investigating an additional $108 million in costs and after an ex-employee of Kellog, Brown & Root, a Haliburton subsidiary, was indicted for defrauding the U.S. government by inflating the cost of fuel tankers for military operations.

More than $1.7 billion of Iraqi money has been paid to Haliburton to bring fuel to Iraq. This is on top of the over $7 billion paid by the U.S. military (aka American taxpayers) for the "oil sector" work that they are supposedly performing. The Peach supports Rep. Henry Waxman's (D-CA 30th) repeated requests for hearings on Haliburton's work in Iraq. It's time to put a stop to these burglars.

New Dodge City

Culture of life, our fuzzy ass, is all the Peach can manage to say at the moment. The Australian is reporting that in Florida, Governor Jeb Bush will be signing into law a bill that permits citizens to "meet force with force" when encountering conflicts in public places without fear of prosecution. Notes the article, "the bill wipes from law what had been commonly described as a person's 'duty to retreat' from a confrontation.

Dubbed the "Kill Bill," the new legislation is heavily backed by those champions of vigilantism, the NRA, which refers to it coyly as a "personal protection" law.

At the potential spectacle of Floridians blithely (and lawfully) gunning one another down in bars, on streets and on the road, Governor Bush's spokesman said (apparently with a straight face), "Our crime rate's dropping, and it's because of measures that allow people to protect themselves."

So let's see if the Peach understands. It will now be legal in Florida to settle an argument by shooting your opponent, and as long as you didn't start the argument, you haven't committed any crime. So ergo, the crime rate -- for that particular crime anyway -- will go down. Because, see, it's not a crime anymore. We get it. We think.

Your Tax Dollars At Work

YNGFBT, but those hermetically-sealed revival meetings that Bush has been holding for believers only around the nation, to fake the appearance of support for his social security privatization scheme are paid for by your tax dollars. It seems to the Peach that public meetings, held by our government and paid for by us, ought to be open to all comers, whether they have been prescreened for agreement with the presidents policies or not.

It is disgusting enough that throughout his campaigns and in most public appearances for Bush, we see protesters limited to oxymoronic "free speech zones." But here, we are talking about an effort to make a major change in the social security safety net that millions of Americans depend on, and we cannot sit still to let that change take place without genuine public debate -- debate that takes place in front of, or better still, WITH, the president.

It is not only that the president is thus able (to some extent) to create the illusion of an America that stands solidly behind his idiotic policies. It is the grotesque injustice that is being perpetrated on you, and on all of us, the fact that our Constitutional rights are being violated here. We pay for these events, this is our government (God help us) and we all have a right to have access to it. The United States of America is a free speech zone.