The Poor Man explains...

This time, we're speaking of the House Ethics Committee, which has just "admonished" Tom DeLay for the third time. What gets you "admonished" by the House Ethics Committee? Bribery, using the FAA to spy on your political opponents, and soliciting bribes. What sort of things get completely ignored by the House Ethics Committee? Well:

Internal Enron memos show that DeLay pressed executives for $100,000, illegally slated for redistricting Texas. Ethics Committee's Response? Silence.
A 32-count indictment is handed down against cronies of DeLay PACs. Ethics Committee's Response? Silence.

Former DeLay employee uses access to the Majority Leader to bilk Indian tribes out of millions of dollars. Ethics Committee's Response? Silence.

Rep. Chris Bell files an ethics complaint complete with mountains of evidence charging DeLay with bribery, extortion and abuse of power. Ethics Committee's Response? Indefinite delay.

So this "Ethics Committee" is an organization that, if you engage in bribery, gross misuse of federal agencies for political gain, and soliciting bribes, will say that that is a bad thing to do, you naughty Congressman. Or, optionally, they won't do anything. So it's kinda like a panel that enforces Congressional ethics, but not really. Wouldn't it be a bit more honest to rename it the "House Ethix Committee"? That way, it wouldn’t be such a sick fucking joke how corrupt and useless it was.

If you would like to request that the Ethics Committee adopt the "Ethix" nomenclature (or, if you'd like them to get off of their dead asses and appoint a outside counsel to get to the bottom of Tom DeLay's criminality), go here.

[UPDATE: Fresh from a defeat in their efforts to discredit John Kerry's war record and to get Mr. Cheney to actually admit something to the public, the right-wing group Judicial Watch is now turning their guns on a VERY deserving target...

Tom DeLay.

Judicial Watch, the conservative public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today called on Rep. Tom DeLay to step down as House Majority Leader in the wake of the bipartisan House Ethics Committee's recent findings that he acted improperly in attempting to win a vote from Rep. Nick Smith in exchange for endorsing Smith's son in a congressional primary. It is the second time that DeLay has been chastised by the ethics panel