why isn't HE in politics........

well i think i know why. he appears to know what is going on. he appears to be HONORABLE. he appears to want things to change for the BETTER.

A Special Comment About LyingThe difference between terrorists and critics


by Keith Olbermann

While the leadership in Congress has self-destructed over the revelations of an unmatched, and unrelieved, march through a cesspool ...
While the leadership inside the White House has self-destructed over the revelations of a book with a glowing red cover ...
The president of the United States — unbowed, undeterred and unconnected to reality — has continued his extraordinary trek through our country rooting out the enemies of freedom: the Democrats.
Yesterday at a fundraiser for an Arizona congressman, Mr. Bush claimed, quote, “177 of the opposition party said, ‘You know, we don’t think we ought to be listening to the conversations of terrorists.’”
The hell they did.
One hundred seventy-seven Democrats opposed the president’s seizure of another part of the Constitution.
Not even the White House press office could actually name a single Democrat who had ever said the government shouldn’t be listening to the conversations of terrorists.
President Bush hears what he wants.
Tuesday, at another fundraiser in California, he had said, “Democrats take a law enforcement approach to terrorism. That means America will wait until we’re attacked again before we respond.”
Mr. Bush fabricated that, too.
And evidently he has begun to fancy himself as a mind reader.
“If you listen closely to some of the leaders of the Democratic Party,” the president said at another fundraiser Monday in Nevada, “it sounds like they think the best way to protect the American people is — wait until we’re attacked again.”
The president doesn’t just hear what he wants.
He hears things that only he can hear.
It defies belief that this president and his administration could continue to find new unexplored political gutters into which they could wallow.
Yet they do.
It is startling enough that such things could be said out loud by any president of this nation. ............

how come everything bad that happens

from 9/11 to the war in iraq is the fault of either bill clinton or the democrats in general? seems like the republicans, instead of owning up to their faults (yes, we ALL have them), just swift boat every one else on EVERY issue. i DO NOT like defensiveness. makes me automatically think someone IS guilty of something. i am woman enough to admit my mistakes, own up to them and then correct them. i don't blame anyone else for THINGS I DID. i am almost speechless (of course me being totally speechless will NEVER happen) at how these people (by these people i mean the republicans) are trying now to blame democrats for this whole pile of steamin' shite

GOP prods Democrats over Foley scandal

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Faced with fending off the backlash from the Mark Foley scandal, House Republicans took the offensive Friday, asking Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats to testify about whether they engaged in partisan trickery by releasing Foley's messages weeks before the midterm elections.
Top GOP leaders -- including House Speaker Dennis Hastert, of Illinois, and Majority Leader John Boehner, of Ohio -- have accused the Democrats of knowing about Foley's correspondences with teen pages, and waiting to release them until it was politically advantageous.
Foley, a Republican who represented a Florida district for six terms, resigned abruptly September 29 as allegations surfaced that he exchanged inappropriate e-mails and lurid text messages with underage pages. (Watch how the Foley scandal could 'chill' the GOP base -- 2:16)
Democratic candidates are using the scandal as fodder in their campaign ads. Candidate Baron Hill, of Indiana, criticized Rep. Mike Sodrel, R-Indiana, for refusing to return contributions "from the House leadership who knew about but did nothing to stop sexual predator Congressman Foley." (Full story)
Foley's attorney said this week that his client acknowledges inappropriate exchanges with teen pages, but he "never, ever had an inappropriate sexual contact with a minor in his life."
Candidate Patty Wetterling, of Minnesota, who is in a tight race against Republican Michelle Bachmann, also focused on an alleged cover-up, according to a radio address she released to Reuters...........

this is a story from anderson cooper's 360 blog

i read it yesterday but i decided not to post it. after thinking about it, i changed my mind. mr cooper has been in the 'democratic' republic of the congo and the sudan along with dr sanjay gupta and jeff koinange.

in the comments section of another posting both pissed off patricia at morning martini and i thought we may NOT be able to do anything about these sorts of occurances. of course i know she will never stop trying nor will i

This is not a fairy tale

There are some things you see, some things you hear that simply are unspeakable. In a hospital in the eastern Congo city of Goma, we met a little girl. She never said a word to us, she could barely look us in the eyes. When she did, her eyes told the story."She never says anything to men," one of the hospital counselors explained, and then she told us why.The little girl was raped. Gang-raped. It was allegedly done by soldiers engaged in a complicated regional war that has claimed millions of lives. The war officially ended in 2003, but outbreaks of violence and rape continue. The girl is now five years old. She was raped when she was three.I wish I could tell you this was an extraordinary event. I wish I could tell you she was the only child attacked. The hospital was full of rape victims, and the doctor had seen other small children victimized.Because the rapes are so violent, women often develop fistulas -- ruptures in their vaginas or rectums that make it impossible to control bodily functions. A charity called Heal Africa was running this hospital, and the doctor said he was able to fix about 70-80 percent of the fistula cases, but of course some wounds never heal.Heal Africa has opened up a residence for women with fistulas that can't be surgically fixed, at least not here in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The women can't go home. Often they've been rejected by their husbands because they were raped. The stigma here is strong...............

there is a link in this story

to a 48 minute video of the stoning of a SIXTEEN year old iranian girl. convicted of crimes against chastity. i did not watch the video. i could not watch the video. i cannot fathom a culture or is the word actually religion that would allow or encourage this to happen. is it wrong for me to say such things? i sure as shite don't care if it's wrong or not. what i care about is the WRONGNESS of allowing something like this to happen or of allowing a woman to be tortured or put to death FOR BEING RAPED.

Stand Against Women Stoned to Death You Apathetic Monsters

Filed under: Islam, Law — Ali Eteraz @ 1:40 pm
This is a call for action to do our small part in coming to the assistance of the women in Iran who have been sentenced to death by stoning.
1. Read the background and an explanation of the punishment for stoning to death in Islamic Law.
2. Realize that crimes against chastity in Iran are a pervasive problem by going to the website of one of the leading Iranian-American activists. There you may watch a detailed 48 minute documentary about a woman executed for a crime against chastity.
3. Spread word about this rally in Rome protesting the decisions by the Iranian government.......................

we know about the retired generals

speaking out AGAINST the unjust war based upon lies. now, it seems the active generals are GOING ON RECORD speaking against the unjust war based upon lies

when is the ENTIRE country going to wake up? i simply CANNOT understand how even ONE person thinks us being in iraq is sound, moral, safe, a benefit to freedom, a deterent to terrorists, a reply to 9/11, etc etc etc


U.S. European Commander Confirms Quotes in Book

By Thomas E. Ricks Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, October 5, 2006; A18
One of the highest-ranking generals in the U.S. military yesterday stood by views attributed to him in a controversial new book about the Bush administration's handling of the war in Iraq but said it was important to understand the context in which those views were expressed.
Marine Gen. James L. Jones, the U.S. commander for Europe, is quoted in "State of Denial," by The Washington Post's Bob Woodward, as believing that the war in Iraq is a "debacle" and that "The Joint Chiefs have been systematically emasculated by Rumsfeld." As Marine commandant, the post he held before moving to Europe, Jones was a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The book also quotes Jones as delivering a warning about working with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to Marine Gen. Peter Pace, who was about to become chairman of the Joint Chiefs. "You should not be the parrot on the secretary's shoulder," Jones reportedly told Pace.
Jones's confirmation of Woodward's account is especially noteworthy because in the book, Pace denies that Jones made such remarks to him. Also, Jones's comments suggest that active-duty generals are beginning to criticize the defense secretary and the Iraq war with the harshness that several retired generals have used recently...........

The Last Knit

if you're like me, you'll 'get' this

what a closed minded evil spirited hateful fearful IGNORANT soul-less

steamin' piece of shite this woman 'APPEARS' to be

i sure am glad the board of ed attorney, ms sweeney has a sound mind. SHE sounds like SHE has a soul

(as an aside i'll bet if you asked 50 people what a witch was, you'd get 50 different answers.)

Georgia mom seeks ban on Harry Potter
Mother of four claims the teen wizard is ‘evil,’ promotes witchcraft

ATLANTA - A suburban county that sparked a public outcry when its libraries temporarily eliminated funding for Spanish-language fiction is now being asked to ban Harry Potter books from its schools.
Laura Mallory, a mother of four, told a hearing officer for the Gwinnett County Board of Education on Tuesday that the popular fiction series is an "evil" attempt to indoctrinate children in the Wicca religion.
Board of Education attorney Victoria Sweeny said that if schools were to remove all books containing reference to witches, they would have to ban "Macbeth" and "Cinderella."
"There's a mountain of evidence for keeping Harry Potter," she said, adding that the books don't support any particular religion but present instead universal themes of friendship and overcoming adversity.

if this is true

i mean if mr howards' version is true, this country really IS turning into cuba or north korea. it's scary

if in fact mr howards was arrested simply for telling texas cheney-saw massacre what he has done so far is reprehensible, then we are in far more trouble than we know (and i think we already know we're in hip-deep)

Cheney Critic Sues Secret Service Over Arrest

Man Told VP Policies In Iraq Were Reprehensible
POSTED: 1:40 pm EDT October 4, 2006
UPDATED: 2:02 pm EDT October 4, 2006
A man in Denver, Colo., is suing the Secret Service in an incident that happened last summer in Beaver Creek, Colo., involving Vice President Dick Cheney.
Striven Howards filed a lawsuit against the Secret Service accusing an agent of arresting him on bogus charges of assaulting Cheney.
Howards said he was in Beaver Creek in June when he spotted Cheney shaking hands and taking pictures with people. Howards said when he got close to Cheney, he told him that he thought the administrations policies in Iraq were "reprehensible" and then he left.
Howards said a few minutes later he walked back to the area with his son and a Secret Service agent questioned him and arrested him. Howards said the agent told him he would be charged with assaulting the vice president.
Howards said he was taken to a jail and only cited on a harassment charge, which was dropped a month later............

i don't give a flying yoo hoo if it helps republicans

it will help ME ME ME

OUT with the BAD
IN with the GOOD

bye bye and don't let the door slam you in the ass

Hastert: I'll resign if it helps the Republicans

Filed by RAW STORY

Embattled House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) has told conservative activist Paul Weyrich that he would resign if it would help the Republicans, Congressional Quarterly is reporting.

"He said if he thought that resigning would be helpful to the Republicans maintaining the majority, he would do it," Weyrich said in an interview. "But he did not think it would helpful for Republicans."
CQ staffers report that Weyrich held, in his words, "an emotional telephone conversation" with the Speaker, who is facing accusations that he was aware of disgraced Rep. Mark Foley's (R-FL) behavior issues long before his office has stated he was.........

from the mouth of one of THE most vile

steamin' piles of shite in the ENTIRE cosmos....

ARCHIVES
Limbaugh: Pages Were Probably Paid or Threatened by Dems to ‘Titillate’ Foley
Posted by Jon Ponder Oct. 3, 2006, 10:28 am

Comedian Rush Limbaugh weighs in (that’s a bad word) on the Foley sex scandal:
LIMBAUGH: I’m just thinking out loud here. What if somebody got to the page and said, you know, we want you to set Foley up. We need to do a little titillating thing here. Keep it and save it and so forth. How would you get a kid to do that? Yeah, who knows? You threaten him or pay him. There’s any number of ways given the kind of people that we’re dealing with and talking about here...............



i wasn't going to write any more about foley. i honestly was going to try NOT to. using alcohol (there is NO amount of stoli that would make me send suggestive e-mails or texts to a SIXTEEN YEAR OLD) and now prior 'abuse at the hands of a clergy member'. HOW EFFING DARE HE. he stepped in it, be a man and DON'T BLAME OTHER PEOPLE OR SUBSTANCES. i don't give two yoo hoos if someone is gay. i DO give two yoo hoos about an adult sending suggestive messages to underaged individuals. those are TWO separate things in my book.

Foley Was Sexually Abused as a Youth, His Lawyer Says

organize and be OUTRAGED - let them hear your voice

let them feel what is in your heart. we should NOT have to give up our rights. we should NOT have to send our sons and daughters and husbands and wives and friends and neighbors into a foreign land to fight so the good ol' white boy network can have more money lining their pockets.

we should be MAD AS HELL AND NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANY MORE

Lincoln Weeps


by Bill Moyers

Back in 1954, when I was a summer employee on Capitol Hill, I made my first visit to the Lincoln Memorial. I have returned many times since, most recently while I was in Washington filming for a documentary about how Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff, Ralph Reed and Grover Norquist, among others, turned the conservative revolution into a racket—the biggest political scandal since Watergate.
If democracy can be said to have temples, the Lincoln Memorial is our most sacred. You stand there silently contemplating the words that gave voice to Lincoln's fierce determination to save the union—his resolve that "government of, by, and for the people shall not perish from the earth." On this latest visit, I was overcome by a sense of melancholy. Lincoln looks out now on a city where those words are daily mocked. This is no longer his city. And those people from all walks of life making their way up the steps to pay their respect to the martyred president—it's not their city, either. Or their government. This is an occupied city, a company town, and government is a subservient subsidiary of richly endowed patrons.
Once upon a time the House of Representatives was known as "the people's house." No more. It belongs to K Street now. That's the address of the lobbyists who swarm all over Capitol Hill. There are 65 lobbyists for every member of Congress. They spend $200 million per month wining, dining and seducing federal officials. Per month! ..........

i fight like a girl

sticker sisters

tell me now - how the hell much more do you need

to convince you this king and his entire court are full of lying money grubbing evil war mongering __________________(fill in the blank with your OWN word(s).

i am not that naive to think an attack could NOT have occurred on a democratic watch. it COULD have. what i am more than angry about is the whittling away of our very constitution and our basic human rights and dignities, the covert detentions of people NOT charged with any crimes, the torturing, the LYING, the DEATHS of more than 2,000 of OUR women and men (not including those wounded AND those of OTHER nationalities), the good - ol' boy network lining their pockets with piles of steamin' cash while the rest of us line ours with piles of steamin' shite. WAKE THE HELL UP

C.I.A. Chief Warned Rice on Al Qaeda

October 3, 2006
C.I.A. Chief Warned Rice on Al Qaeda
By PHILIP SHENON and MARK MAZZETTI
JIDDA, Saudi Arabia, Oct. 2 — A review of White House records has determined that George J. Tenet, then the director of central intelligence, did brief Condoleezza Rice and other top officials on July 10, 2001, about the looming threat from Al Qaeda, a State Department spokesman said Monday.
The account by the spokesman, Sean McCormack, came hours after Ms. Rice, the secretary of state, told reporters aboard her airplane that she did not recall the specific meeting on July 10, noting that she had met repeatedly with Mr. Tenet that summer about terrorist threats. Ms. Rice, the national security adviser at the time, said it was “incomprehensible” to suggest she had ignored dire terrorist threats two months before the Sept. 11 attacks.
Mr. McCormack also said records showed that the Sept. 11 commission had been informed about the meeting, a fact that former intelligence officials and members of the commission confirmed on Monday.
When details of the meeting emerged last week in a new book by Bob Woodward of The Washington Post, Bush administration officials questioned Mr. Woodward’s reporting.
Now, after several days, both current and former Bush administration officials have confirmed parts of Mr. Woodward’s account.
Officials now agree that on July 10, 2001, Mr. Tenet and his counterterrorism deputy, J. Cofer Black, were so alarmed about intelligence pointing to an impending attack by Al Qaeda that they demanded an emergency meeting at the White House with Ms. Rice and her National Security Council staff.,,,,,,,,,,


(picture: Eric Draper/White House, via Associated Press
President Bush, Condoleezza Rice and George J. Tenet met after the Sept. 11 attacks. An earlier meeting by Ms. Rice and Mr. Tenet, who have long had a contentious relationship, is now the subject of dispute)

notice how he says he didn't SEE the emails

but he never says he didn't KNOW ABOUT them. speaking of vile....
will THIS finally wake up the masses to the lies?

Conservatives also seek Hastert's resignation

Brian Beutler Published: Monday October 2, 2006
Despite denying today that he had any knowledge of the instant message conversations that resulted in Mark Foley’s resignation from Congress, House Speaker Dennis Hastert is being called on to resign by liberals and conservatives alike.
At a press conference today, Hastert read a prepared statement in which he denied having any knowledge about the online conversations from 2003. "No one in the Republican Leadership, nor Congressman Shimkus, saw those messages until last Friday when ABC News released them to the public."
He added that he found the messages "vile and repulsive."
But those statements were not enough to silence an increasingly vocal chorus of critics on all sides of the political spectrum calling for investigations into the House leadership and even for the Speaker's resignation.
Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi harshly criticized Hastert for failing to answer questions, adding, "Republican Leaders admitted to knowing about Mr. Foley's abhorrent behavior for six months to a year and failed to protect the children in their trust. Republican leaders must be investigated by the Ethics Committee and immediately questioned under oath.".........


and this -
Putting Party Before Predators: Why Didn't GOP Leaders Stop Foley?

By Cenk Uygur, HuffingtonPost.com Posted on October 1, 2006, Printed on October 2, 2006http://www.alternet.org/story/42410/
Watch a video of Rep. Foley giving an interview on child predators, in which he states "If I were one of these sickos, I’d be nervous with America’s Most Wanted on my trail."
Is there anything these Republicans won't cover up? Duke Cunningham took millions of dollars in bribes. The people who were buying him off bought him a yacht called the Duke-Stir. He had a bribe menu on Congressional letter head. How many ethics investigations? Zero. Zilch. Nada.
Bob Ney took gifts and favors from Jack Abramoff.
He has confessed and is about to go to prison. How many ethics investigations? Zero. None. Not one.
Then there is Hastert's shady land deal. Bill Frist's insider trading. Tom DeLay's money laundering. The list goes on and on. Every one of them had their ass covered by the rest of their Republican colleagues, crooks, whatever you want to call them.
When Joel Hefley, a conservative Republican from Colorado, had the temerity to actually do an ethics investigation of Tom DeLay -- he was removed. Can't have it. You can't have any ethics investigations in a place with no ethics. The house will fall in.
Well, now it has. Because they've gone too far. This time they covered for a sexual predator. Mark Foley, Republican of Florida, was caught sending very explicit sexual messages to 16 and 17 year old boys who worked as pages for Congress.
Actually, he was caught by a fellow Republican, Rodney Alexander, because one of the pages worked for Rep. Alexander and turned Foley in. So, what did the Republicans do about it? Absolutely nothing. Zero. Zilch. Nada.
They covered it up. Because it's what they do.
The Republican Protection Racket stepped in and made the story go away. There was no public apology to the boys that were sexually harassed. No criminal investigation. No ethics investigation. Not a word.
The Republican leadership knew for most of the year. In all that time, while other kids could have been exposed, while they knew of several instances of sexual advances toward underage boys -- they did nothing!
Now, they feign outrage. Why weren't they outraged when they first found out about it? They're not outraged because young boys were jeopardized. They're outraged now because they're jeopardized..........


and of course, don't you just want to BITCH-SLAP this arsewipe? (and perhaps someone ought to tell arsewipe snow, clinton got in trouble for NAUGHTY antics WITH AN ADULT WOMAN)

Tony Snow Labels Foley's Sex Messages to Teens 'Simply Naughty E-mails'

........Snow stated, "Look, I hate to tell you, but it's not always pretty up there on Capitol Hill and there have been other scandals as you know that have been more than simply naughty e-mails." He added that a full probe was needed to be "fair to all parties" who are being accused of not taking earlier action against Foley. Snow said to O'Brien, "What you are trying to do is pick fights here.".................

we can actually give every person in king george's court

a smoking gun, LITERALLY and STILL they'd lie and hem and haw their way out of the deep deep deep shite. it is beyond me why some still back them. is a party name more important than no only the truth but OUR SAFETY? we have far too many ostrichs burying their heads in the sand. we have THOUSANDS of our men and women dying over a war based on LIES AND GREED AND SHEER STUBBORNNESS. OPEN YOUR EYES AND SPEAK UP AND SPEAK OUT

9/11 Panel Members Weren’t Told of Meeting

By PHILIP SHENON
WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 — Members of the Sept. 11 commission said today that they were alarmed that they were told nothing about a White House meeting in July 2001 at which George J. Tenet, then the director of central intelligence, is reported to have warned Condoleezza Rice, then the national security adviser, about an imminent Al Qaeda attack and failed to persuade her to take action.
Details of the previously undisclosed meeting on July 10, 2001, two months before the Sept. 11 terror attacks, were first reported last week in a new book by the journalist Bob Woodward.
The final report from the Sept. 11 commission made no mention of the meeting nor did it suggest there had been such an encounter between Mr. Tenet and Ms. Rice, now secretary of state.
Since release of the book, “State of Denial,” the White House and Ms. Rice have disputed major elements of Mr. Woodward’s account, with Ms. Rice insisting through spokesmen that there had been no such exchange in a private meeting with Mr. Tenet and that he had expressed none of the frustration attributed to him in Mr. Woodward’s book.
“It really didn’t match Secretary Rice’s recollection of the meeting at all,” said Dan Bartlett, counselor to President Bush, in an interview on the CBS News program “Face the Nation.”
“It kind of left us scratching our heads because we don’t believe that’s an accurate account,” he said.
Although passages of the book suggest that Mr. Tenet was a major source for Mr. Woodward, the former intelligence director has refused to comment on the book. .......

global warming? WHAT global warming

we read articles like this day in and day out yet we STILL DO NOTHING (or very little).

Hot "Prehistoric" Conditions May Return by 2100, Study Says

Brian Handwerk for National Geographic News
September 28, 2006
Earth's future could resemble its hottest ancient epoch, a new study says. Picture palm trees swaying in Canada, warm seas lapping at shorelines hundreds of feet higher than they are today—and no natural ice anywhere.
That was the scene some 50 million years ago, scientists say, and rising carbon dioxide levels could make Earth's future look much like this hothouse past.
(Related: "Global Warming Is Rapidly Raising Sea Levels, Studies Warn" [March 23, 2006].)
The study shows that the high carbon dioxide (CO2) levels found during the Eocene epoch match the CO2 levels predicted for the end of this century by many global warming models.
The Eocene occurred between 56 million and 49 million years ago. It featured the highest prolonged global temperatures of the past 65 million years.
"Some frost-sensitive plants, like palm trees, lived to about 60 degrees north [for example, as far as southern Alaska] and south latitude," said geologist Tim Lowenstein of New York's Binghampton University. Lowenstein co-authored the new study, which appears in tomorrow's issue of the journal Science. ........

reminder - please have a mammogram

AND in addition examine your breasts at least once a month. i had my mammo last friday (it had been a while. i just forgot, but that is NO excuse).

and as a coincidence, i just ran across this little article

Women should regularly check their breasts for lumps

dpa German Press Agency Published: Sunday October 1, 2006 Munich, Germany- Women should regularly examine their breasts for lumps in addition to having checkups such as mammography screening by a gynaecologist. Monthly breast self-examinations could detect most malignant tumours early, according to the Munich-based Professional Association of Gynaecologists (BDF). Every woman should check her breasts each month beginning at about age 20. A gynaecologist can explain how to detect changes. The best time for a self-examination was during the first two weeks after the menstrual cycle started, when breast tissue was soft and generally not very sensitive to pressure. Signs of possible breast cancer are new lumps or thickening in a breast or armpit, puckering or dimpling in a breast or nipple, or an increase in the size of one breast. Other signs are changes in a breast's appearance when both arms are raised, a discharge from a nipple, or a sudden reddening of a breast or nipple................

does asking and i mean asking ALONE, no other investigations conducted

asking an alleged perp if he or she committed the alleged crime constitute an entire thorough investigation? i think we know the answer to that. NO for sane and moral people. YES for those in charge of america at the current time. it's a shame and if people don't vote for a change, we are in for MUCH more of the same AND worse

UPDATE: Foley Scandal Spreads, After GOP Leader Calls 'Wash Post' to Change Story

By E&P Staff and The Associated Press Published: September 30, 2006 10:30 AM ET
WASHINGTON Did the Republican leadership in Congress attempting to cover up its lack of oversight and action when tipped off about possible ethical problems related to Rep. Mark Foley, who resigned yesterday?The prominent House Republican quit after the revelation that he exchanged raunchy electronic messages with a teenage boy, a former congressional page.Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., apologized Friday for letting down his family and constituents. Once his resignation letter was read to the House late Friday afternoon, Republicans spent the night trying to explain — six weeks before congressional elections — how this could have happened on their watch.The Washington Post carried this remarkable passage today: "House Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) told The Washington Post last night that he had learned this spring of inappropriate 'contact' between Foley and a 16-year-old page. Boehner said he then told House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.). "Boehner later contacted The Post and said he could not remember whether he talked to Hastert."It was not immediately clear what actions Hastert took. His spokesman had said earlier that the speaker did not know of the sexually charged online exchanges between Foley and the boy."........

.............On Friday, Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., chairman of the Page Board that oversees the congressional work-study program for high schoolers, said he did investigate but Foley falsely assured him he was only mentoring the boy. Pages are high school students who attend classes under congressional supervision and work as messengers.............