ABC News: Pages ‘Sending All Sorts of Messages About Possible Other Members’

IWishIWasASailor

Taft wrote:

This is really going to piss off the hard right:

Breaking News-Former Rep. Mark Foley was molested as a teenager between the ages of 13 and 15 by a clergyman, his lawyer says.

Actually it will fulfill the circle. Democrats blame Foley, then they blame religion. It works perfectly to where no one person has responsibility.

enharmonic

Hey...winning the war on terror takes a lot out of a crooked polititian. Sometimes, a little hot page ass is necessary...you know...to continue winning the war on terror.

Don't forget the lessons of 9/11. We need to protect our children from these evildoers so our Republican leadership can sexually assault them.

Milhouse VanHouten

IWishIWasASailor wrote:

Actually it will fulfill the circle. Democrats blame Foley, then they blame religion. It works perfectly to where no one person has responsibility.

It takes an amazing leap of logic to start talking about Foley's actions and somehow progress to taking a shot at Democrats.

DPrival78

Taft wrote:

This is really going to piss off the hard right:

Breaking News-Former Rep. Mark Foley was molested as a teenager between the ages of 13 and 15 by a clergyman, his lawyer says.

maybe the prison psychiatrist can help him out with that

jeffbr

Milhouse VanHouten wrote:

It takes an amazing leap of logic to start talking about Foley's actions and somehow progress to taking a shot at Democrats.

Eh, this is a creative group. Any thread in this forum can turn into a bush bash, and anti-iraq thread or a 9/11 thread.

But I agree with you. Let's not take the focus off of that pedophile Foley and the rest of his enablers.

69charger

One word:

[size=+3]Chappaquiddick[/size]

darkcrow

hey.. just wondering for some clarification.... what is the legal consensual age for homosexuals in the us?

in the uk i think the govt changed it a few years ago from 18 down to 16 bringing it in line with hetrosexual relationships.

inmytree

69charger wrote:

One word:

[size=+3]Chappaquiddick[/size]

so, foley gets a free pass? I guess, in your view, pedophilia is ok...that's sad and sick....

BrinkofForever

69charger wrote:

One word:

[size=+3]Chappaquiddick[/size]

What the hell does that have to do with the price of tea in China?

69charger

The liberals are pounding this into the ground like thier shit don't stink. Last time I checked you liberals were big on the actions of the few do not represent the majority.

BrinkofForever

So Rush Limbaugh was actually insinuating on his show yesterday that this whole Foleygate thing may have been a long thought out plot by the Democrats... who BRAINWASHED these pages to SEDUCE Foley. Is this guy out of his flipping mind????

RainDog

69charger wrote:

One word:

[size=+3]Chappaquiddick[/size]

This just in. 69charger vicariously approves of man on boy sex between congressmen and underage pages provided they have an R next to their name.

Or is it that you're equating a drunken car accident (involuntary) to a 50-odd year old man tasked with keeping sexual predators from propositioning underage boys and girls on the internet who then - sexually propositions underage boys on the internet (voluntary)?

I say, someone sounds pissed; and not completely above using the Chewbacca defense.

BrinkofForever

69charger wrote:

The liberals are pounding this into the ground like thier shit don't stink. Last time I checked you liberals were big on the actions of the few do not represent the majority.

Really? Wow...when did a Democrat controlled Congress attempt to cover up FELONIOUS activity within it's members to protect it's political power? Have there been Dems that have screwed up? Sure... but the fact that Dennis Hastert and John Boehner tried to sweep all this under the rug speaks VOLUMES about the ethical values our Republican controlled House holds.

jlew24asu

DPrival78 wrote:

looks like there's a chance we may be hearing more about congressman and pages.

such wonderful people we have running our country. liars, murderers, torturers, pedophiles.. what a fine upstanding bunch.

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/10/02/pages-ross/

this sounds bad. what scares me is the Dateline show with Chris Hanson. you can go to ANY community in this country and trick men into coming over to have sex with a minor. boy or girl doesnt matter.

is this a bigger problem then people realize? how can this happen? and be so widespread?

Jeanwah

69charger wrote:

The liberals are pounding this into the ground like thier shit don't stink. Last time I checked you liberals were big on the actions of the few do not represent the majority.

I have a real problem with your signature. What an ignorant and horrible thing to say about those w/ mental impairments and disabilities. You deserve a real kick in the ass for saying such a mean-spirited thing as that. Those w/ disabilities have a come a long way toward acceptance and inclusion and we have someone like you kicking them in the gut. You're disgusting.

I have a daughter with Down syndrome. You're the kind of crap I have to deal with, when she might get picked on for being different.

inmytree

69charger wrote:

The liberals are pounding this into the ground like thier shit don't stink. Last time I checked you liberals were big on the actions of the few do not represent the majority.

um...what's your point...? do you support pedophilia...?

blackredyellow

jlew24asu wrote:

this sounds bad. what scares me is the Dateline show with Chris Hanson. you can go to ANY community in this country and trick men into coming over to have sex with a minor. boy or girl doesnt matter.

is this a bigger problem then people realize? how can this happen? and be so widespread?

It really must be... I've seen a couple of those shows, and it seems like they are set up in random communities, and they get dozens of guys to do this type of thing after only a few hours. There are a lot of sick fucks out there... more than I have realized. You can look at some of those websites that map out where sex offenders live, and taking into consideration the number of unreported crimes, it really shows you that wherever you go, you come in contact with these types of people.

ledvedderman

Brink wrote:

So Rush Limbaugh was actually insinuating on his show yesterday that this whole Foleygate thing may have been a long thought out plot by the Democrats... who BRAINWASHED these pages to SEDUCE Foley. Is this guy out of his flipping mind????

To answer your question. Yes. Rush is out of his mind, that man has no idea even what he says. He contradicts himself so much it isn't even funny. What would he say if this were a congressman having a drug problem with prescription drugs...

floyd1975

darkcrow wrote:

hey.. just wondering for some clarification.... what is the legal consensual age for homosexuals in the us?

in the uk i think the govt changed it a few years ago from 18 down to 16 bringing it in line with hetrosexual relationships.

It's different state by state. I'm not sure if DC has a separate age for homosexual relationships but the age of consent is 16. I actually think it's still deviant but, legally, it may not be wrong.

blackredyellow

This could help answer some of the legal questions....


FBI case against Foley explores legal 'gray area'
Making a federal case out of sexually charged e-mail could prove difficult
The Associated Press

Updated: 8:29 a.m. ET Oct 4, 2006

WASHINGTON - Former Rep. Mark Foley’s online conversations with teenage male pages have all the trappings of a political scandal, but making a federal case out of the sexually charged exchanges could prove difficult, veteran investigators say.

Foley, a six-term Republican from Florida, resigned abruptly as his e-mails and instant message transcripts surfaced. The chats discussed sexual acts and possible meetings with pages, according to ABC News, which first reported them last week.

With the FBI investigating Foley’s behavior, his defense attorney, David Roth, said that the congressman never had sex or attempted sexual contact with a minor. Foley, who is being treated for alcohol abuse, was drinking when he had the explicit conversations, Roth said.

“Any suggestion that Mark Foley is a pedophile is false,” Roth said Tuesday at a news conference in West Palm Beach, Fla.

If Foley never had sex with a congressional page, then his case is in uncertain legal territory, said Ken Lanning, a retired FBI agent who served as one of the agency’s leading experts on child exploitation.

“There are going to be some issues here in the gray area,” Lanning said. “You may find this behavior repulsive, offensive or immoral. Whether it’s a violation of law will be based on a precise reading of the law.”

Congressional leaders, who called for an FBI investigation as Foley resigned, turned to finger-pointing over who knew what about Foley’s behavior, when they knew it and whether anything was done to protect the teens.

One federal law enforcement official said the FBI reviewed some Foley-related e-mail in July but concluded that no federal law had been violated. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the case is active, said agents are reviewing new evidence, including the instant message transcripts, to see if a law was broken.

FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said the agency is continuing its assessment.

In Florida, Roth said no law enforcement officials had contacted him. Foley has not been subpoenaed but voluntarily agreed not to delete any e-mails or instant messages from his computers, the lawyer said.

Internet sex predator prosecution not so simple
Some Democrats have claimed Foley might have violated the federal law used to prosecute Internet sex predators, but experts said it’s not that simple.

On the surface, the chat transcripts released by ABC News look much like any of the explicit conversations the FBI has used as evidence in its many Internet sex stings. In those cases, however, the sexually charged talk led to an arrest when adults arrived for real sexual encounters.

Graphic talk alone is rarely enough, said Joseph Dooley, a former agent who helped set up New England’s first FBI unit targeting Internet predators. Many adults engage in explicit chats with undercover agents but never show up for the scheduled meetings, he said.

“We never charged anyone unless they actually traveled to have sex,” Dooley said.

Investigators could consider federal obscenity laws, experts said, but the law prohibiting disseminating obscene material to children applies only to those under 16.

Benjamin Vernia, a former federal prosecutor specializing in such cases, compared Foley’s online conversations with pages to “grooming,” a law enforcement term for the way sexual predators bring along their underage victims. Grooming is a red flag for authorities, Vernia said, but it’s rarely enough to bring charges.

The question for federal investigators is whether Foley’s online chats ever led to real encounters. One chat transcript suggests Foley and a page had met in San Diego, but the chat doesn’t indicate what took place.

Even if a sexual encounter occurred, however, that won’t necessarily be enough to lead to charges. It depends on how old the pages were at the time and what the age of consent was in that state.

If a state law was broken and authorities can show Foley used the Internet to facilitate it, that could trigger federal jurisdiction, experts said.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15126151/


One question that I do have, are there criminal charges for sexual harrassment? From what I remember, I've only seen civil cases about it, but like was said before, if the pages are above the legal age of consent, there really isn't anything criminal that this creep did, besides sexual harrassment.