In George Orwell's Original Animal Farm Constitution:
Law #7 States:
All Animals Are Created Equal but, the hastily cloven hoof scrawled Law #8 States:
Except for Pigs
It appears the pigs are into more than spoiled spinach these days... Their waste has also pervaded our ground water - basic need for survival... OR, How Foley and his Five+ should and can be prosecuted for Federal Crimes.
UPDATE WaPo: Kolbe (R-AZ) knew of sexually explicit mails since 2000.
UPDATE LATimes: Signifigant setup defense for Federal "Failure to Report Child Abuse" charges...
Hastert has said that he was not informed of it until recently, when sexually explicit instant messages were made public in the media. His senior aides said they learned last fall about the e-mails to the Louisiana boy and deputized a Republican lawmaker to confront Foley and secure a commitment to cut off contact.
Other sources, including Foley's former top aide, have said that Hastert's staff knew of Foley's conduct more than two years ago.
Foley and Foley 5 everywhere and not a crime to prosecute? I believe the
LA Times and Chicago Tribune said it was "tricky?!" Perhaps they are correct in a "political" or MSM spin context, but certainly not in a Federal jurisdiction Felony Sexual Abuse of a Minor (etc. etc.) criminal vein.
"Probes" by Federal law enforcement is a ridiculous premise and silly pun meme for the FBI or DOJ to stipulate, and misleading in the extreme by the MSM. So, I beg to differ on this topic of "tricky" to prosecute:
The hodgepodge of state and federal laws on sex crimes is likely to pose a challenge for the Justice Department and for state and local authorities looking into Foley's conduct.
Many experts believe it will be hard to construct a criminal case against Foley, especially if he never acted on the messages. Federal law makes it a crime to use the Internet to entice or solicit sex from minors, but charges cannot be brought unless the actions would constitute crimes in the states where they occurred.
Wrong and anyway they are - they did. Legislators who knew about Foley may be desperate to obfuscate, slough off felonies, proliferate allegations, confuse the public and set up a strategy for BOTH political and criminal defense. That doesn't mean we buy it, or that penalties in the voting booth, pocketbook, or prison can change it.
My "hodgpodge" Federal Law rebuttal points are below en masse... Scroll away while snorting and chortling to "Many Experts" - who are they speed dialing exactly? Habeas suspension legal crackpot and global unitary executive flavored Kool Aid peddler
John Yoo?
"Tricky" indeed - LA Times citing State law to dissuade readership from what is actually a Federal jurisdiction. Even under that hit piece's narrow subterfuge of the facts, legal consent age in Florida and Louisiana is 18. In Florida, the laws are some of the strictest in our country and include electronic communication. We know Foley engaged in correspondance from Pensacola. Even if you prefer to adhere to the defense of Foley and His 5 Politicians' "it's consensual -- they are adults" argument that does not preclude Coercion, Sexual Abuse and Harrassment of adults under the law as officers in the US government and we their custodial charges.
I'm sure you're painfully aware that Foley and his 5 are issuing their statements publically and politically without benefit of sworn testimony instead of where it belongs (in a criminal prosecution). It is earth shattering in global warming proportions because it's proof positive of that Orwellian nightmare on the wall of US justice that seems to currently read:
EXCEPT FOR PIGS. No, Foley's resignation does not discharge the breaking of law regarding financial compensation during the time he was a member of Congress to Reynolds. Hastert, Boehner, Alexander, Reynolds and Shimkus engaged in criminal acts of Failure to Report Child Abuse, Coercion, and Aiding and Abetting/Accessory for starters to Foley's Federal Felony acts.
Foley should be prosecuted under
Title 18 of US Code strengthened and broadened with his own championed and much stricter Adam Walsh Laws under Federal jurisdiction. As goes Foley - so goes the Foley 5 under the same Title 18 and Adam Walsh Laws for Aiding and Abetting/Accessory, Refusal to Report Crime, Coercion, Complicity (possibly elevating to Conspiracy) to name a few.
Certainly all are innocent until proven guilty; but, current FBI/DOJ "probes" and Ethics Committee avenues of approach defy credibility
without securing chain of custody evidence STILL as of today. It seems very late in the game to expect pristine records at this point! Like UBL, they have escaped us... Oh my, Hastert and FBI each issued "a letter" requesting preservation of the evidence you say? The Ethics Committee "approved" 50 subpeonas that weren't delivered still as of today you report? Oh yeah, I'm sure America's "Security Moms" feel "safer" that the hen house security is reliant on the same foxes who stole the sanctity of their chicks for up to 11 and not limited to 2 or 3 years? Now the foxes want to chastise themselves? Orwellian indeed for even more acts than these and other Federal criminal behavior, but those are subjects for multitudes of more important other diaries...
My apologies. I don't pretend to be a genius, very smart, a lawyer or an expert in law; but, I can read and I have a mind with a solid/stable IQ. I suppose I am just an irate rational centrist with access to Google?: My belief in Justice and Rule of Law extends to members of Congress when they criminally err (see TomDeLay).
I guess that makes me conservative in terms of Law and Order, but certainly liberal in my belief of Justice for all people applied equally - you know, THE CONSTITUTION? Am I alone in this, or am I missing something? To scoff, negate or apply our laws arbitrarily for political expedience is more heinous than the alleged actual crimes to me. If you don't agree go ahead and troll me. You must consider this first: If the argument for criminal prosecution has unequal application that means we would have to release every alleged Felon by the same argument. No, thank you, with prejudice!
To illustrate the case for Foley Felony plus 5 Federal prosecution primer I would like to establish some definitions and other relevant law:
My caveat and/or extreme bias is:
Throw the book at them! Uphold the Rule of Law and protect our Nation under a Higher Power (God and/or Goddess and/or Various Deities and/or Spirituality, and/or Ethics and/or Morality) indivisible, with liberty and justice for all..
Status Definitions: Anyone under the Federal Age of Consent (18) is a Minor
(5) Amie zyla expansion of sex offense definition.
(A) Generally.--Except as limited by subparagraph (B) or (C), the term ``sex offense'' means-- (i) a criminal offense that has an element involving a sexual act or sexual contact with another (ii) a criminal offense that is a specified offense against a minor; (iii) a Federal offense...
- (11) Student.--The term `'student' means an individual who enrolls in or attends an educational institution, including (whether public or private) a secondary school, trade or professional school, and institution of higher education.
- (12) Employee.--The term "employee'' includes an individual who is self-employed or works for any other entity, whether compensated or not.
- (13) Resides.--The term "resides'' means, with respect to an individual, the location of the individual's home or other place where the individual habitually lives.
- (14) Minor.--The term 'minor'' means an individual who has not attained the age of 18 years.
Prosecution may also have the wide latitude traditional in reptetive minor and sexual abuse to LOWER the age of consent for elevated Felony class, tougher charges and punitive civil restitution depending on the difference between the ages of the perpetrator/s and victim/s, the frequency, repetition and severity of the acts. In a case of Coercion (more below) the prosecution age of consent for a minor is 18, despite the Washington, DC age of consent at 16.
Penalty: 10 years to life in prison, unless death sentence is warranted.
(C) Offenses involving consensual sexual conduct.--An offense involving consensual sexual conduct is not a sex offense for the purposes of this title if the victim was an adult, unless the adult was under the custodial authority of the offender at the time of the offense, or if the victim was at least 13 years old and the offender was not more than 4 years older than the victim.
Jurisdiction: Washington DC & Federal
(10) Jurisdiction.--The term "jurisdiction'' means any of the following:
- (A) A State.
- (B) The District of Columbia.
Retroactive Application and Statute of Limitation Expanded:
Sec. 3299. Child abduction and sex offenses
Notwithstanding any other law, an indictment may be found or an information instituted at any time without limitation for any offense under section 1201 involving a minor victim, and for any felony under chapter 109A, 110 (except for section 2257 and 2257A), or 117, or section 1591.
Email and IMs are Applicable:
(7) Expansion of definition of ``specified offense against a minor'' to include all offenses by child predators.--The term "specified offense against a minor'' means an offense against a minor that involves any of the following:
- (C) Solicitation to engage in sexual conduct.
- (D) Use in a sexual performance.
- (H) Criminal sexual conduct involving a minor, or the use of the Internet to facilitate or attempt such conduct.
- (I) Any conduct that by its nature is a sex offense against a minor.
And
Title VII: Internet Safety Act
This title creates new penalties for child-exploitation enterprises--defined as a violation of at least one in a list of enumerated sex crimes against children as part of a series of felony violations constituting three or more separate incidents and more than one victim, and committed in concert with three or more other persons--providing a mandatory-minimum of 20 years imprisonment for that offense.
Felony Sexual Abuse of a Minor:
Too gross to type - but several GRAPHIC acts here apply to Foley.
Whoever, in the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States or in a Federal prison, knowingly--(1) causes another person to engage in a sexual act by threatening or placing that other person in fear (other than by threatening or placing that other person in fear that any person will be subjected to death, serious bodily injury, or kidnapping); or (2) engages in a sexual act with another person if that other person is-- (A) incapable of appraising the nature of the conduct; or (B) physically incapable of declining participation in, or communicating unwillingness to engage in, that sexual act;
Aiding and Abetting/Accessory:
2476 18 U.S.C. § 2 Aiding and Abetting
While aiding and abetting might commonly be thought of as an offense in itself, it is not an independent crime under 18 U.S.C. § 2. That statute provides no penalty, and only abolishes the distinction between common law notions of "principal" and "accessory." United States v. Kegler, 724 F.2d 190, 200 (D.C. Cir. 1983). Under it, the acts of the perpetrator become the acts of the aider and abettor and the latter can be charged with having done the acts himself. Id. at 200-01. An individual may be indicted as a principal for commission of a substantive crime and convicted by proof showing him to be an aider and abettor. Id. The indictment need not specifically charge a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2. Id. An aiding and abetting instruction may be given in a case where the indictment does not allege violation of the aiding and abetting statute. Id. An aider and abettor of a crime may be tried and convicted even though the principal is not tried, convicted or identified. Id.
TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 1 > § 3. Accessory after the fact
Whoever, knowing that an offense against the United States has been committed, receives, relieves, comforts or assists the offender in order to hinder or prevent his apprehension, trial or punishment, is an accessory after the fact.
Failure to Report Child Abuse:
Section 2258
A person who, while engaged in a professional capacity or activity described in subsection (b) of section 226 of the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990 on Federal land or in a federally operated (or contracted) facility, learns of facts that give reason to suspect that a child has suffered an incident of child abuse, as defined in subsection (c) of that section, and fails to make timely report as required by subsection (a) of that section, shall be guilty of a Class B misdemeanor.
Coercion in Sexual Abuse or Harassment of a Minor:
In every state and federal jurisdiction of the United States, the law states that a minor below the age of consent in that state or jurisdiction (Federally 18) cannot consent to sexual activity of any sort involving a partner (with certain exceptions). Such sexual activity is legally considered child abuse.
However, state laws treat an adult who performs sexual activity with a minor under the age of consent differently from two minors under the age of consent who perform sexual activity with each other. Sexual activities between an adult and an adolescent minor under the age of consent are generally covered under statutory rape laws. Illegal sexual activities involving an adult and a minor are generally categorized as a sex offense. Depending on the penal code of the jurisdiction in which the crime occurs, the specific charges against the adult may include, for example, rape/sexual assault, sexual abuse of a child, or lewd acts.
Complicity (vague - only defined here):
The state of being an accomplice; partnership or involvement in wrongdoing.
Conspiracy (an escalation):
§ 371. Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud United States
If two or more persons conspire either to commit any offense against the United States, or to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof in any manner or for any purpose, and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
If, however, the offense, the commission of which is the object of the conspiracy, is a misdemeanor only, the punishment for such conspiracy shall not exceed the maximum punishment provided for such misdemeanor.
AND by not reporting to Authorities...
§ 372. Conspiracy to impede or injure officer
If two or more persons in any State, Territory, Possession, or District conspire to prevent, by force, intimidation, or threat, any person from accepting or holding any office, trust, or place of confidence under the United States, or from discharging any duties thereof, or to induce by like means any officer of the United States to leave the place, where his duties as an officer are required to be performed, or to injure him in his person or property on account of his lawful discharge of the duties of his office, or while engaged in the lawful discharge thereof, or to injure his property so as to molest, interrupt, hinder, or impede him in the discharge of his official duties, each of such persons shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six years, or both
Compensation to Members of Congress: Reynolds recieved compensation after Foley knowledge by his own admission.
In relation to any proceeding, application, request for a ruling or other determination, contract, claim, controversy, charge, accusation, arrest, or other particular matter in which the United States is a party or has a direct and substantial interest, before any department, agency, court, court-martial, officer, or any civil, military, or naval commission; or (2) knowingly gives, promises, or offers any compensation for any such representational services rendered or to be rendered at a time when the person to whom the compensation is given, promised, or offered, is or was such a Member, Member Elect, Delegate, Delegate Elect, Commissioner, Commissioner Elect, Federal judge, officer, or employee; shall be subject to the penalties set forth in section 216 of this title.
Calling all Prosecutors: If I am wrong I would really like to know... I'm currently open to any credible, sourced and reasoned argument as to why and how Title 18 and Adam Walsh Laws do not apply to Foley, Hastert, Boehner, Alexander, Shimkus, and Reynolds immediately and retroactively. Comments on why I'm a nutcase of macadamia proportions are certainly welcome too.
This is my moment of silence
in memory of Adam Walsh and to his family without whose dedicated work, pain and sacrifice minors would not be afforded these protections. My deep support goes to all the other families who have survived or still struggle to overcome similar acts of assault and exploitation of our most precious resouce - Our kids. Through their profound family and individual losses we are all afforded an opportunity for positive growth and a better safer future. Bless them.
(silence)
Usually I would find late night jokes and various media pillories funny, but I can't laugh at this one no matter how creative, talented and adored the messenger. It's tough on me not to find humor in it. The ironies on this topic just make me fume. I probably have more steps to get through before I can stop being so serious.
It is very serious, isn't it?
Oink. Oink. Hastert, is that you? Are you receiving me?
More synopsis here
Next Diary: Condi Rice Commits Felony Perjury