Oh, Happy Day!

House Republicans face an uncertain future
Suspension could hamper GOP agenda

There is a God, and it appears he's not a Republican after all.

Rep. Tom DeLay, House Majority Leader, was indicted yesterday for felony criminal conspiracy, and House Republicans are at odds to find a leader to replace him while he defends himself against allegations of violating state election laws to bring about a Republican majority in the Texas Legislature.

The Republicans' first choice as temporary Majority Leader, Rep David Dreier, has been criticized as "too moderate", citing his voting record on stem cell research and gay marriage in California. They settled on Missouri Rep. Roy Blunt, who, contrary to his name, offered no clear path to the party's future.

"What we do here is more important than who we are," Missouri Rep. Roy Blunt said Wednesday after the rank and file named him as DeLay's replacement, at least for the time being. "We have an agenda to move forward here."

Democrats, 11 long years in the minority, said the GOP offered nothing of the sort.

DeLay's indictment marks "the latest example that Republicans in Congress are plagued by a culture of corruption at the expense of the American people," said Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leader.

A plague of corruption by Repubilcans, you say? Could it have something to do with GOP Senate leader Bill Frist using insider information to bail out of investments before their stock value droppped?

Or perhaps Karl Rove's implication in revealing CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity, potentially leading to charges of treason?

Or maybe the Bush administration's connections to Jack Abramoff, who sold out two native american tribes to further his own personal fortune, not to mention his implicity in pending fraud cases?

But no, this is all about partisan politics. Pelosi, along with her band of cut-throats are attempting to draw attention away from the catastrophes of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which deserve our true attention, to gut the Republican leadership.

If anything this issue, which was going on long before the federal government's pathetic role in the Katrina aftermath, is important in that it shows how our federal government sees us, the people, in its overall view of the nation.

We're expendable.

As long as their pork still gets supported, the common man (or woman) can be sacrificed as long as it's for the "public good".

Let's get the focus back on holding our leaders accountable for their actions.

Tom DeLay skirted the rules so that he could put his people in power in Texas. Abramoff used his connections with DeLay and the White House to influence his clients. And Rove exposed a CIA agent in order to retaliate against someone who claimed that the Bush administration was intentionally using faulty data to justify a war in Iraq that could not be won.

Regardless of what else is going on in the country, these people should be held accountable for their actions. And that's exactly what is happening in Texas, of all places.

"Our job is to prosecute abuses of power and to bring those abuses to the public," Earle responded in Texas. Rebutting charges of partisanship, he said he has investigated four times as many Democrats as Republicans.

DeLay, 58, was indicted on a single felony count of conspiring with two political associates — Ellis and John Colyandro — to violate state election law by using corporate donations illegally. Texas law prohibits use of corporate contributions to advocate the election or defeat of candidates.

DeLay is the highest-ranking member of Congress ever to be indicted.

Houston, my home town, was instrumental in the relief effort in the aftermath of Katrina. It also happens to be the region where Tom DeLay won his most recent election to retain his Majority Leader status. Now he's lost that status, and has serious competition for his seat in Congress in the next election.

It's time for the people of District 22 to seriously contemplate what they want from their leader, and whether that leader is really looking out for their interests, or the interests of the big businesses in their area.

That may be a little much to ask of most voters, so let me pose them this simple question.

Do you want a crook posing as a religious man representing you?

He claims to have God's guidance, yet makes decidedly uninspired decisions.

He proclaims understanding of all people, yet asks young evacuees if they're having fun living in the Astrodome.

This is not a man in touch with reality.

He should be removed from office and held accountable for his actions.

The fact that he's been indicted restores my faith in humanity.

There's hope for us yet.