Oh those elected officials, getting themselves into trouble wherever they go

First up, Republican South Carolina Governor and non Appalachian trail hiker, Mark Sanford, who it appears won't be impeached, but Mrs. Sanford isn't sticking around for his probable censure having an affair and not letting telling he was sneaking down to Argentina for several days to visit his mistress.

Meanwhile Democratic Senator Max Baucus is getting more funny looks as it comes out that he gave a very nice pay raise to his girlfriend, who just happened to be working for him at the time, never mind the overseas trips there were paid for with tax dollars. It had previously come out that the married, though separated Baucus had a romantic with a female staffer, but these are new details.

Keep in mind that Baucus is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which is heavily involved in crafting the Senate health care reform bill. So far, the affair hasn't effected Baucus' standing as leader on that issue, but it goes much deeper, expect it to become a political issue.

Roll Call is reporting that Senator Max Baucus (D-Mon.), who as Senate Finance Committee Chairman plays a major role health care reform, has “confirmed late Friday night that the Montana Democrat was carrying on an affair with his state office director, Melodee Hanes, when he nominated her to be U.S. attorney in Montana.”    Continues...

The trial of Shelia Dixon, the mayor of Baltimore, beings today. At issue is whether gift cards designated for the poor and needy were instead used by Dixon and others for their personal use.

The State Ethics Commission of South Carolina would like to release a report to the state's House members about SC Governor Mark Sanford and his philandering antics. Once they've reviewed the report the House members will decide whether impeachment procedures should begin against Sanford for the lies and attempted coverup of his affair with an Argentinan woman.

Unsurprisingly, Sanford's lawyers were in court on Monday, arguing that the report should not be released until he's had the choice to tell his side of the story, whatever that means. The lawyers also argued that a letter Sanford signed waiving confidentiality in the case just applies to revealing that the matter was before the Ethics Commission and what it was. The judge in the hearing noted that Sanford seems to be using delaying tactics, but issued no ruling on Monday and there's no specific date when she will rule. The actual report isn't finished and isn't expected to be until early in November, hence part of the reasoning why Sanford is just trying to delay.

That's not Sanford's only problem though. A GOP congressman is set "to get the ball rolling" on impeachment in a resolution introduced next week in a special legislative session (which was called for non-Sanford matters). By introducing it before the regular legislative session officially begins in January, the resolution will get to the floor of the state chamber quicker, allowing a vote on the resolution to go forward.

Yes, ok, Nevada Senator John Ensign had an affair with a top aide's wife. When the aide, Douglas Hampton, found out, on top of attempting to pay him off, Ensign tried to helped Hampton get a job with a firm that did political consulting, assisted with getting several donors to be Hampton's clients. Hampton then got Ensign to intervene on said client's behalf with federal agencies. The only problem is that there's a ban on senior aides lobbying the Senate with a year after leaving and by ban, I mean law.

The New York Times has all the juicy details, including examples such as this:

After requests from Mr. Hampton, Mr. Ensign called the secretary of transportation last year to plead the case for a Nevada airline, Allegiant Air, which was under investigation for allegedly overcharging for tickets. In April, he arranged for Mr. Hampton and his clients to meet the new transportation secretary in a successful effort to resolve a dispute with a foreign competitor.

Via Congressional Quarterly:

House leaders plan to offer a resolution next week admonishing Wilson, R-S.C., unless he apologizes on the House floor for shouting “You lie!” during President Obama’s speech to Congress.

“He has until next week sometime to apologize and if he doesn’t do it, they’ll go ahead and do a resolution,” Brendan Daly, spokesman for Speaker Nancy Pelosi , said Friday.

What do you do if you're California Assemblyman Mike Duvall and having an affair or two? Brag about it in front of microphones you don't realize are live:



He's since resigned, but don't worry, he can probably get a new gig as a radio, just like Mark "I Love Underage Congressional Pages" Foley recently did.

Van Jones, the White House Special Advisor for Green Jobs, resigned Saturday night over his "controversial" background. What did he do? In college he was a communist and marxist, though later embracing capitalism. "He signed a 2004 petition alongside other activists calling for an investigation...into whether any administration officials had foreknowledge of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and if they had then let them occur. " He also called Republicans "assholes" and then President George Bush a "crackhead".

All of this angered the Right, especially Glenn Beck, and they've been calling for his resignation and investigations for a few months. With Jones out, despite the protest of liberals and progressives, expect to see other members of the Administration targeted.

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, he of the "hiking the Appalachian trail, er having an affair", is facing a new call to resign. This time it's from Lt. Governor Andre Bauer, who's arguing that Sanford's affair has made it “virtually impossible for our state to solve the critical problems we’re facing without a change in leadership." He's also hinting at impeachment proceedings in 2010. In order to remove the appearance of conflict of interest, Bauer has said he would not run for Sanford's seat, just fill out the remaining months in the term.

At a news conference, Sanford rejected Bauer's request, saying its just a political ploy:

Ignoring Republican fears of national safety, Attorney General Holder has appointed special prosecutor John Durham to do a preliminary investigation of suspected CIA abuse of terrorism suspects.

Durham will be asked to examine a small number of cases, which sources pegged at fewer than a dozen, involving allegations that CIA employees broke anti-torture and other laws in connection with the agency's interrogation program in Iraq, Afghanistan and other possible secret sites. He will ultimately make a recommendation to Holder about whether a full-fledged criminal investigation should be launched.

Senators Jon Kyl(AZ), Jeff Sessions(AL) and Kit Bond(MI), along with six other Republicans have signed a letter addressed to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. The letter advises Holder not to seek an investigation of CIA interrogators who used torture, citing that it would make America unsafe:

The 9/11 Commission emphasized that keeping our country safe from foreign attack requires that the Justice Department work cooperatively with the intelligence community, but the appointment of a special prosecutor would irresponsibly and unnecessarily drive a wedge between the two…

Holder is said to be close to naming a Special Prosecutor to do the investigation, but the focus supposedly will be on those who exceeded the limits of what was then legal, rather than all interrogators involved.

Just another week in August, as town hall meetings continue to get violent, guns put in an appearance (though are not used), along with death threats. Has the White House lost control of debate? Perhaps, but its response is kicking into overdrive with Democrats fighting back, a new website with a reality check and the President himself appearing at town hall in Portsmouth, N.H. today at 1pm EST.

Former Democratic congressman William Jefferson was convicted yesterday on bribery and corruption charges stemming from his involvement with technology companies in Africa. He become famous in 2005 after an FBI raid found $90,000 dollars wrapped in aluminum foil in his freezer. The money was gotten from an FBI informant, and Jefferson was going to use it to bribe a Nigerian official.

Karl Rove says he's innocent of any wrongdoings in the 2006 firings of U.S. attorneys, but emails attained by the Washington Post paint a different picture:

The e-mails and new interviews with key participants reflect contacts among Rove, aides in the Bush political affairs office and White House lawyers about the dismissal of three of the nine U.S. attorneys fired in 2006: New Mexico's David C. Iglesias, the focus of ire from GOP lawmakers; Missouri's Todd Graves, who had clashed with one of Rove's former clients; and Arkansas's Bud Cummins, who was pushed out to make way for a Rove protégé.

The House has passed H.R. 593, "Recognizing and celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the entry of Hawaii into the Union as the 50th State" and also noting that Obama was born there. Will this put an end to the Birther madness, which alleges that Obama isn't a U.S. citizen and therefore an illegitimate President? 'Course not, but the GOP seems to be bailing on the issue.

1. Be black or white.

2. Be on different sides of a tense situation.

3. Allow situation to dominate national news.

4. Encourage President to comment on it. (PS: It helps if he says the wrong thing).

5. It's Budweiser/Blue Moon/Becks or Red Stripe time!

It's not everyday that a state lives up its stereotype, but New Jersey hit a home run on that field yesterday: 3 N.J. Mayors Arrested In Major Corruption Probe.

Remember the claims that Obama wasn't born in the U.S. and therefore ineligible to be President? Seems a solider, U.S. Army Maj. Stefan Frederick Cook, believes that and has filed a federal court order to prevent him from being deployed to Afghanistan.

Cook’s lawyer, Orly Taitz, who has also challenged the legitimacy of Obama’s presidency in other courts, filed a request last week in federal court seeking a temporary restraining order and status as a conscientious objector for her client.

In the 20-page document — filed July 8 with the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia — the California-based Taitz asks the court to consider granting his client’s request based upon Cook’s belief that Obama is not a natural-born citizen of the United States and is therefore ineligible to serve as commander-in-chief of the U.S. Armed Forces.

Ok, so Nevada Senator John Ensign had an affair with a woman, Cynthia Hampton, who worked for his campaign. The affair lasted from December 2007 to August 2008. Ensign eventually ended the affair, partially on the advice of fellow Senator Tom Coburn, and gave Hampton a large severance. Her husband Doug, who had also worked for Ensign tried to blackmail Ensign, saying the situation had destroyed his family and they needed restitution.

What's next? Evidently Ensign's parents gave $96,000 to the Hamptons in Aril, 2008. Yes, his parents bailed him out. Specifically, they gave $12,000 each to Doug, Cythnia and two of their three children. $12,000 just happens to be the limit of what one person can give to another without declaring it to the IRS.

Congressional Quarterly reports:

CIA Director Leon Panetta told the House Intelligence Committee that the agency had misled and “concealed significant actions from all members of Congress” dating back to 2001 and continuing until late June, according to a letter from seven Democrats on the panel.

What's interesting here is that it backs Nancy Pelosi's content statements about being misled by the CIA, the Panetta admitted this and that members of the Committee actually made the information public.

Australian Prime Minster Kevin Rudd is facing charges from the opposition that he used his position to secure loans for a friend's car company. However an email purporting to show proof has turned out to be fake, but the opposition is still charging favoritism, though it won't call for new elections.

Neveda Senator John Ensign has admitted to an extramarital affair with a former campaign staffer who is married. Why did Ensign decide to come clean? Because someone, either the woman or her husband, started asking for money.

Despite calling for President Clinton and Senator Larry Craig to resign when their private affairs became public, Ensign had shown no sign that he will practice what he preached.

Bad news or good news for Ronald Burris:

In a Nov. 13 conversation recorded by the FBI, Roland Burris told Rod Blagojevich’s brother he feared he’d “catch hell,” with the public if he gave the governor money at the same time he was lobbying for a Senate seat appointment.

Still, Burris ends the call with a promise: “I will personally do something OK? And it will come to you before the 15th of December.”

   Continues...

North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-il, is in deteriorating health and his successor is unknown, though speculation favors his youngest son or brother-in-law. The Obama administration doesn't seem like that much of a change from the previous administration. South Korea, formerly warm and inviting under the now deceased President Roh Moo-hyun, has turned cold and distant. What's a Great Leader to do? Conduct a second, more powerful nuclear test, of course.

Long story short: North Korea has an internal crisis and the outside world, which is has never been very friendly, looks downright hostile these days. As usual, the country feels the best defense is a strong offense.

Note: When scheduling low flying planes over New York City, a person should tell other people.

"...according to three top former national security officials" Rep. Jane Harman (D-California 36th) has been very, very bad. She "was overheard on an NSA wiretap telling a suspected Israeli agent that she would lobby the Justice Department reduce espionage-related charges against two officials of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, the most powerful pro-Israel organization in Washington." Evidently the Justice Department was investigating this, but then Attorney General Alberto Gonzales had the case dropped in order to gain Harman's support for warrant-less wiretapping. Harman is denying everything.

All of this occurred back in 2005-2006. Why is it coming out now? What's the agenda here and who's agenda is it?

Portland, Oregon Mayor Sam Adams has admitted to lying (YouTube)about his relationship with a young intern. Calls for his resignation have begun, as Oregon's Attorney General looks into investigating Adams, who is saying he will stay on, for now. Any attempt to get rid him couldn't begin until July 1st, as Oregon law disallows any recalls until an elected official has been in office for six months.

Williamette Week broke the story Monday and has been covering it since.    Continues...

John Edwards has admitted to having the affair he previously denied.    Continues...