Note the headline while not mentioning the "all members will testify under oath" aspect, where goat-face Pelosi and others will object to having to be questioned under oath as to what they knew and when they knew it.....typical AP crap.
Christian evangelist K.A. Paul, founder of the Global Peace Initiative, told The Associated Press he met alone with Hastert for about 30 minutes and prayed with him at the speaker's home in Plano, which is about 45 miles west of Chicago.
Sit down and shut up Denny. This story would be dying today if you had not fanned the flames.
Just HIS staff? He has the authority to fire anyone who works for the House, including other members' staff.
Hastert has to go as speaker...
Just what "crime" has been purported to have been comitted by anyone to justify wasting taxpayer monies to investigate?.............
Why do people have to get burned before they are willing to accept the true reality of the gay underground? They cannot be trusted, the suffer from a mental disorder and they protect their own!
The idea they are "just like everyone else, and its just a lifestyle choice" is absolute hogwash!
Why? By saying something like this, it almost leads one to believe someone knew something earlier than this and held it.
...you can always tell it's election time....people lose their SPINES!!!!!!!
Doogle
yawn...
Yeah, I know, don't bother you with the facts. YOU are a supra genius who has all the answers. So how many elections have YOU won Mr Genius?
Are the hearings going to be televised? Hope they don't preempt my stories.
Enough already with this Foley crap. The only ones interested are the drive-by media. It's time for the PUBS to go on offense ie, national security, gas prices, judges, partial birth abortion, taxes,winning the war on terror, etc. This election is far from over.
Ooops, I forgot -- that only applies to bill clinton.
ABC's Foley scoop shows Web tips change media game
14:44 ET, Tue 10 Oct 2006
By Michele Gershberg
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Anonymous tips sent over the Web helped ABC break the story of disgraced former Rep. Mark Foley's graphic messages to teenage aides, proving a new model for news gathering as TV outlets embrace the Internet.
ABCNews.com was the first major news outlet to report the story that Foley, a Republican, sent inappropriate e-mails to a Congressional page. But the news ballooned into a larger scandal when other pages who knew of more sexually explicit messages sent tips to the station's Web site; Foley promptly resigned when confronted with the material.
"There is a place for true citizen journalists to write in with tips we should pursue anonymously," ABC News President David Westin told Reuters. "There are more stories out there that can be covered and perhaps deserve to be covered than any organization has the resources to cover."
Media experts said the practice of collecting anonymous tips online defines a new era for reaping information, not unlike the way media used eyewitness photos snapped at the scene of the London bus and train bombings in July 2005.
"This marks one of those watershed periods where you can use the Internet to cast an enormous net for people who may have information," said Robert Thompson, professor of media at Syracuse University.
The immediate risk of such news gathering is being able to authenticate sources and material initially gained online. For that, there is no substitute for traditional journalistic practice to avert a hoax.
"The pre-Internet ethics of how you check out that information has got to prevail," Thompson said.
Broadcasters like ABC, NBC and CBS are investing heavily in online operations as U.S. audiences turn to the Internet for updates through the day, putting those traditional networks in closer competition with free sites for cable channels, newspapers, radio stations and emerging media such as blogs.
As the Web levels that playing field, an old-fashioned scoop on a news story can provide a competitive edge, even if the methods for obtaining one are made possible by so-called new media. ABC rivals like CBS Corp. and cable channel CNN also solicit anonymous e-mail tips from Web readers.
ALL THE NEWS FIT FOR THE WEB
ABC News reported 8 million Web site page views after the Foley scandal broke over one week ago, more than double its daily average a year earlier.
The story also helped its nightly World News broadcast eke out a rare first-place tie last week with NBC's Nightly News in the battle for viewers aged 25 to 54. ABC scored its highest ratings for that audience in more than six months, according to Nielsen Media Research.
Brian Ross, the lead ABC investigative reporter on the Foley story, said his team first got word of the sexually explicit messages not from the young men involved, but from fellow Congressional pages who knew of the instant message exchanges and contacted the ABC Web site.
Ross contacted Foley's office for comment after authenticating the messages. Within an hour, the reporter was notified that Foley would resign. ABC published the announcement and messages together on the Internet.
In the recent past, such sources could well have been turned away at a news organization's switchboard, Ross said.
"People may have known things but they wouldn't have known how to communicate it and pick up the phone," he said. "The sting of it was Mark Foley. If he had challenged the (messages') authenticity we probably would never have run them."
ABC News online was already leading rival broadcast television stations on the Internet with about 8 million visitors per month, according to August data provided by Internet tracking firm comScore Networks.
CBS's Internet site was reported by comScore to have 7.5 million visitors that month, though both stations' Web sites trail those operated by dedicated Web operator Yahoo Inc. , with nearly 34 million visitors, cable channels MSNBC and CNN, and that of the New York Times .
Television networks are beefing up their Web sites by adding footage that won't fit into the typical half-hour broadcast. Popular TV anchors also help distinguish channels from rivals on the World Wide Web crowd.
ABC produces a daily Webcast of top news stories with its television anchor Charles Gibson while CBS streams its nightly program with counterpart Katie Couric on the Web. NBC's lead, Brian Williams, writes a daily blog.
The networks can also use the Web to tackle material that may not be appropriate for a family-friendly TV audience.
"It's useful to have the Internet because there are things you can't put on the air or don't want to put on the air and yet if people are curious enough to know, they can go find out more," said ABC's Gibson.
In the Foley case, ABC posted lewd excerpts of his instant message exchanges with former pages online, though network executives say they excised the most graphic examples.
ABC is owned by Walt Disney Co., NBC is controlled by General Electric Co. and CNN is part of Time Warner Inc. . (Additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles)
http://elections.us.reuters.com/top/news/usnN09263970.html?src=101006_1522_TOPSTORY_gop_drops_in_polls
AMAZING
THE AP GLOSSES OVER the fact that testimony will be under oath for EVERYONE from both parties!
Pelosi if called will either plead the fifth or spill the beans.
The AP has really jumpted the shark for the last 30 days.
Its like watching Hitler in the bunker!
"Meanwhile, Rep. Jim Kolbe said Tuesday he passed along a complaint about inappropriate e-mails from Foley to Foley's office and the clerk of the House but took no further action when learning of the incident.
A former page sponsored by Kolbe contacted the Arizona Republican's office in 2000 or 2001, well before House leaders say they first learned of inappropriate messages sent by Foley."
Former Foley Aide to Testify Thursday
Former Foley aide who says he warned about Foley 3 years ago set to testify Thursday
(AP) Mark Foley's former chief of staff, who says he warned the House speaker's staff three years ago of inappropriate Foley conduct toward male pages, is to testify Thursday before the House ethics committee.
Kirk Fordham will insist that he warned Speaker Dennis Hastert's chief of staff about the conduct in 2003 or possibly the previous year, Fordham lawyer Timothy Heaphy said.
Earlier Tuesday, Rep. Jim Kolbe of Arizona said a former page he had sponsored contacted his office in 2000 or 2001 to complain of e-mails from Foley, the Florida Republican who has resigned. Kolbe said he "passed along" the complaint to Foley and to then-House Clerk Jeff Trandahl.
Trandahl's lawyer, Cono Namorato, said Trandahl "will cooperate fully with the FBI and the House ethics committee investigations."
Trandahl has refused to discuss actions he took when he learned about Foley's approaches and, until now, had declined even to disclose the name of his attorney.
Fordham is a key figure, not only because he's a former top aide to Foley, but because his public statements have been at odds with those of Hastert chief of staff Scott Palmer. Palmer denied Fordham's assertions that he warned Palmer about Foley at least three years ago.
"He'll reaffirm things he said. He sticks by that," Heaphy said.
Meanwhile, Hastert said Tuesday he'll dismiss anyone on his staff found to have covered up concerns about Foley's approaches to former pages.
Hastert said he met with his staff members last week and he believes they acted appropriately in handling information on Foley's conduct. But he also issued a stern warning: "If they did cover something up, then they should not continue to have their jobs."
The FBI is conducting a criminal investigation, and the House ethics committee is investigating any potential violations of standards of conduct.
Kolbe said in a statement, "Some time after leaving the page program, an individual I had appointed as a page contacted my office to say he had received e-mails from Rep. Foley that made him uncomfortable," Kolbe said in a statement. "I was not shown the content of the messages and was not told they were sexually explicit. It was my recommendation that this complaint be passed along to Rep. Foley's office and the clerk who supervised the page program. This was done promptly."
Asked about Kolbe's statement, Hastert told reporters in Aurora, Ill.: "I don't know anything more about it. If there's something that was of a nature that should have been reported or brought forward, then he should have done that."
Hastert said he thought his staff handled the situation fairly well, but "in 20/20 hindsight, probably you could do everything a little bit better."
"But if there is a problem, if there was a cover-up, then we should find that out through the investigation process. They'll be under oath and we'll find out. If they did cover something up, then they should not continue to have their jobs. But I didn't think anybody at any time in my office did anything wrong."
Hastert confirmed reports from last week that he initially had suggested having former FBI Director Louis Freeh head a Capitol Hill inquiry on the page program but that House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi objected.
In Oklahoma City on Tuesday, a former congressional page who may have received suggestive electronic messages from Foley was interviewed by the FBI.
Ex-congressional page Jordan Edmund and his attorney, Stephen Jones, emerged from the 2 1/2-hour meeting at the U.S. Attorney's office about 12:30 p.m. local time.
"Jordan answered all of their questions," Jones said. "I'm not able to discuss the interview except to say that it occurred."
Jones said his client was not issued a subpoena and was not asked to return. Jones also plans to talk to House officials investigating the case.
Edmund's connection to Foley became public after ABC News inadvertently published the computer screen name of an ex-congressional page who allegedly received online instant messages from the ex-congressman.
The FBI interview was among a host of developments in the unfolding scandal surrounding the 52-year-old Foley's relationship with teenagers, called pages, appointed to run errands for lawmakers while Congress is in session.
Meanwhile, lawmakers are responding to the ethics committee's request that they survey aides and former House pages to find out if any of them had knowledge of inappropriate Foley conduct toward pages.
The developments cloud Republican prospects for retaining the congressional majority.
A CBS News-New York Times poll released Monday found that four in five said GOP leaders were more concerned with politics than with the well-being of the congressional pages. Nearly half of those polled, 46 percent, said Hastert should step down over his handling of the Foley matter, while 26 percent said Hastert should remain in his post.
Foley has acknowledged through his attorney that he is gay but has denied having any sexual contact with minors.
Edmund, a Californian, has been living in Oklahoma City and working as a deputy campaign manager for the gubernatorial campaign of Rep. Ernest Istook, R-Okla., who is challenging incumbent Democrat Brad Henry. Edmund was a U.S. House page in 2001 and 2002.
___
Associated Press Writer Andrew Taylor contributed to this story.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/10/ap/politics/mainD8KLVSIO0.shtml
Denny is another fellow who would have benefitted greatly from four years in the Marine Corps. The first the he should do is fire the homosexual clerk in charge of the dormitory where the young men stay. He should be replaced with a retired sergeant major, preferably with experience as a DI at Fort Benning or Parris Island.