this is the kind of thing...

...that makes my head want to explode.

The whole Foley story.

In a nutshell: dude heads up commission on missing and EXPLOITED children. Dude turns out to send hot e-mails to his young male pages. Dude is going to have to resign. Republican party investigating to see what they can do about the guy.*

Um...I'm not that internet savvy but *I* know that if I'm doin' anything funky, and someone wants to find me out, they'll find me out. I'm even a bit leery of this blog despite the fact that I anonymize everyone and haven't said anything too immediately non-denyable or damning about anyone I know.

But, it's like congress - they don't get the IntarWeb. Wasn't there the Alaskan senator, who infamously said the Internet was a "series of pipes" (so - if my email is slow that means I need to get out the Liquid Plumber?) and "someone sent me an internet" (The whole thing, man? Wow. That musta been one big honking file attachment.)

Oh, I realize it's a generational thing. There's stuff my dad doesn't know about the internet (but he apparently knows more than some of the Congresspeople). But still. If you're in a position of power, you should know how these things run.

And of course, there's the little fact that Foley apparently wants to diddle teenaged boys, which is disgusting in and of itself. (Dude. If you want to be gay, be gay. Most people can deal with that now. But don't try to be gay with men below the age of consent. That's not gay, that's pedophilia, and it's creepy.)

(The fact that he's now claiming alcoholism changes nothing, IMHO. You don't get off that easy).

What chaps my hide so much about this is that I'm bracing myself - just bracing myself - for the first "this is so typical of Republicans" comment from my leftist acquaintances. No. It is not "typical." It is one guy who's a flaming hypocrite who screwed up big time. It is no more typical of Republicans than Clinton's diddling an intern is typical of Democrats.

And that is precisely what I hate about political discourse these days. Yes. There are people in each party who are stupid, puerile, scheming, depraved...whatever adjective you want to use. But just because there is one person - or a few people - like that, it does not make them all like that.

If you extend the thought: is this not unlike what bigoted people used to say about Blacks? Or Japanese? Or gay people? I realize that being Republican is a "choice," but that doesn't make it okay to immediately assume we're all corrupt, or sneaky, or evil genii, or idiots, or evil genii who are also idiots, or whatever.

I don't know. all of this stuff makes my head hurt. I mean - I have NO power whatsoever, I'm a professor at a teeny tiny college in the middle of flyover country, and I KNOW it's a bad idea to send e-mails from work (or, for that matter, on my personal account) that:

a. proposition (regardless of WHO. I wouldn't even use an e-mail from work to ask out a guy that was my age, single, clearly interested in me, and without any attachments to complicate things).

b. chew out

c. cuss

d. propose ethically and/or morally questionable behavior

I don't even like it when we get mass e-mailed by someone hitting us up for gift contributions for baby or wedding showers. that feels inappropriate to me and I wouldn't do it. (Especially not to people outside my department, people who've never met me. Then it's just a big "gimme!")

I don't know why we seem to have people who find it difficult to behave in a morally consistent manner in government, but we do. And I don't care WHAT party they're from - they can be a Neo-Whig or a Bull Mooser for all I care - it just makes me frustrated and angry and sad. I mean - you're a congressperson. You're supposed to be held to a higher standard of behavior than Joe Six-Pack or Jane Highheel in your district. Maybe I'm hopelessly old-fashioned, but two things I believe in:

1. If you are in the public eye, you should behave yourself. You should strive to bring honor to whatever office you hold. And you should strive to NOT embarrass your family. If you have a problem - like alcoholism - be forthright about it. Admit it as early as you realize it. And then take whatever consequences you face without whining, or justifying, or "but everybody does it..."

2. In return: we the people should treat our elected beings with respect. We should treat our governmental process with respect. I worry when I see folks like Jon Stewart mugging and joking and seeming to belittle democracy. Oh, I know: democracy, like the flag, is better and bigger than those who would spit on her. But I worry if it doesn't cause dangerous thoughts in some parts of the populace - the idea that maybe the ideals of this nation are laughable and thus not really worth protecting - and it becomes even harder for those who DO value them and who WOULD protect them (especially the military men and women). Can you imagine fighting for something that you believe in, and then coming home and finding that your friends didn't believe in it, and in fact, thought you were a chump for going to the trouble? That's a vague undercurrent I get in this country some days - that the people who put in the effort, who care, who don't just let everything get lost in the vague gray miasma of "whatever!" are seen as chumps or nerds or worse by the populace.

and, by extension: everything gets lost in the vague gray miasma of "whatever" - and there's no religion, no family, no friendships...nothing that makes life worthwhile any more, because it's all "too much work" or it's "all hypocrisy anyhow."

I'd like to see a return to more decorum. When I was a kid, my dad would have tarred my hide (and worse: he would have explained to me precisely why what I did was so wrong) if I had shown disrespect to the flag or to a veteran (or, heck, to anyone who was my 'elder'). There were certain things that were more or less sacred: the flag, those who fought in wars, voting and other civic duties, places of worship, the legal process, courthouses...nowdays, churches are prime sites for vandalism and theft, people won't stand in line to vote, the legal process is too often subverted...

and while I don't want to lay this all at the feet of Foley (and people like him), I will say it makes it harder to respect your elected representatives when they so blatantly SAY one thing and DO another.

(*Standard disclaimer: yes, I know the story is spun. Everywhere - everywhere it's spun one way or another. Trying to get news these days is like the parable of the blind men and the elephant - one network grabs onto one part and says, "It's a rope!" and another grabs onto another and says, "It's a tree!" and no one really actually has the truth, and the closest you can get is to look at the reportage of each of the blind men and try to build a picture up in your head).