‘Shenanigan’ is probably not the best word to use here, especially considering we’re talking about minors. But props to Sen. Cantwell for taking the appropriate action in this case. Wish we could say the same thing for the republican side of the aisle.

Senate aide arrested in sex sting

WASHINGTON - A former aide to Sen. Maria Cantwell is in federal custody after being arrested on a charge of attempting to sexually exploit a minor.

James Michael McHaney was fired Friday from his job as a scheduler for Cantwell, D-Wash., hours after he was arrested by FBI agents. The FBI said in a charging document that McHaney allegedly tried to set up a meeting with an undercover witness posing online as a teenage boy.
[...]

“Late Friday afternoon the FBI informed our office that a Senate employee was arrested. The employee was immediately fired. Our office has and will continue to fully cooperate with the ongoing federal criminal investigation. Senator Cantwell has zero tolerance for crimes against children,” Meehan said.

It’s been reported that Dick Cheney’s head exploded last night……..and the pacemaker blew right out of his chest.

A new assessment by American intelligence agencies released Monday concludes that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and that the program remains frozen, contradicting a judgment two years ago that Tehran was working relentlessly toward building a nuclear bomb.

Senator Harry Reid said the assessment was “directly challenging some of this administration’s alarming rhetoric” on Iran.

The conclusions of the new assessment are likely to reshape the final year of the Bush administration, which has made halting Iran’s nuclear program a cornerstone of its foreign policy.

The assessment, a National Intelligence Estimate that represents the consensus view of all 16 American spy agencies, states that Tehran is likely to keep its options open with respect to building a weapon, but that intelligence agencies “do not know whether it currently intends to develop nuclear weapons.”

More at the New York Times

About time there was some oversight to these groups! Their list of ministries under review isn’t large enough though. I would add Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network and Christian Coalition, Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority, Oral Robert’s ORU, and James Dobson’s Focus on the Family.

Regardless of what direction this investigation takes, I’m doubt anything will come of it. But I’m sure we’ll hear calls for respect of separation of church and state.

Questions surround TV preacher inquiry

Evangelist Benny Hinn, raises his hands in prayer

Among the many conservative Christians who feel misunderstood by the general public, the six televangelists under investigation by a Senate committee are an embarrassment.
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“We’re not representing any of the parties involved, but when I see a senator charging into organizations, wielding this kind of budget ax and laying bare religious figures and expenditures, huge constitutional questions are being raised,” said Gary McCaleb, senior counsel at the Alliance Defense Fund, a religious liberty legal group founded by James Dobson of Focus on the Family and other influential evangelicals.
[...]

ll the ministries preach a form of Word of Faith theology, known as prosperity gospel, which effectively teaches that God wants believers to be rich. The ministries have said separately that they are committed to following the tax laws, but it is not known whether they will all comply with Grassley’s request by the deadline.
[...]

But Grassley irked some religious leaders when he quipped about the lifestyles of the preachers under investigation, saying Jesus road into Jerusalem on a donkey, not a Rolls Royce.

Asshole of the day award goes to Major Stefan Wolfe…….fucking heartless prick!

From Military.com:

At Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 1st Lt. Elizabeth Whiteside listened last week as an Army prosecutor outlined the criminal case against her. The charges: attempting suicide and endangering the life of another soldier while serving in Iraq.

Her hands trembled as Maj. Stefan Wolfe, the prosecutor, argued that Whiteside, now a psychiatric outpatient at Walter Reed, should be court-martialed. After seven years of exemplary service, the 25- year-old Army reservist faces the possibility of life in prison if she is tried and convicted.

Military psychiatrists at Walter Reed who examined Whiteside after she recovered from a self-inflicted gun wound in the stomach diagnosed her with a severe mental disorder, possibly triggered by the stresses of a war zone. But Whiteside’s superiors considered her mental illness “an excuse” for criminal conduct, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.

At the hearing, Wolfe, who already had warned Whiteside’s lawyer of the risk of using a “psychobabble” defense, pressed a senior psychiatrist at Walter Reed to justify his diagnosis.

(more…)