Free Republic

The House ethics panel has not released its findings into the behavior of Mark Foley, the Florida Republican who left Congress in disgrace, despite looming adjournment and an October promise that the probe would conclude in "weeks, not months." Speculation was raised that a report on the Foley scandal would be issued this afternoon, but staffers for the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct did not respond to rumors sweeping through Capitol Hill. Mr. Foley resigned Sept. 29 when it was revealed that he sent sexually explicit messages to teenage boys who had served as congressional pages. That day, House...

Shreveport Police have arrested a man and charged him with an unusual form of animal cruelty. 56-year old David Powell was taken into custody Friday afternoon at his apartment in downtown Shreveport. Animal control officer Rick Quillen says witnesses say they saw Powell being "unusually affectionate" with a neighbor's dog and saw pictures on Powell's computer of him having sex with the animal. Powell was taken to Caddo Correctional Center and booked on one charge of simple animal cruelty. A misdemeanor. Officers also seized Powell's computer during the arrest. It's now being examined by a expert at the Caddo D.A.'s...

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A man wanted since 2001 for sex offenses in Iowa was arrested in Utah after a suspicious landlord doubted his Social Security number and called the FBI, authorities said Wednesday. Kirk Swearingen, 45, likely won't be returning to the Midwest. He was indicted on charges of receiving and possessing child pornography after agents examined compact discs in his computer case. "He's here now, and we have federal charges. We would certainly like to keep him," said Melodie Rydalch, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Salt Lake City. The mandatory minimum sentence for receiving...

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- Police in New Smyrna Beach are searching for a burglar in the buff. A naked man is once again breaking into homes and tickling women's feet. It has happened several times in the last five years. The latest incident was Saturday morning in New Smyrna Beach. The victim told deputies she had fallen asleep at her home, on Katy Drive. When she woke up, the naked man was crouched behind the couch, tickling her foot. The police report said when she screamed, the man dashed across the room with his hands over his private area,...

CLEVELAND -- It was probably not a defense the court had heard before. A suburban Cleveland man accused of sexually assaulting nine disabled boys told a judge Wednesday that his apartment was a religious sanctuary where smoking marijuana and having sex with children are sacred rituals protected by civil rights laws. The admitted pedophile offered a surprising defense Wednesday to 74 charges of rape, drugs and pandering obscenity to minors. Appearing in an Ohio court for a pretrial hearing, Phillip Distasio, 34, of Rocky River, Ohio, said he was a pedophile. He told the judge, "I'm a pedophile. I've been...

Lifelong Catholic lends support to group that promotes gay, lesbian issues Former Gov. James E. McGreevey, who struggled to square his Catholic faith with his political positions even before he declared himself a "gay American" last year, has been regularly attending services in the Episcopal church. A former altar boy educated in Catholic schools, McGreevey, 48, said at a Hackensack fundraiser last night that for the past several months, he's been splitting time between the Church of the Holy Comforter in Rahway and St. Batholemew's Church in Manhattan. McGreevey, a Rahway resident, would not say whether his attendance at the...