The reality of Republican and Christian "moral values"

By Lee Russ

Wednesday, July 05, 2006 at 04:52 PM

I get outraged at least once a week by some conservative and/or religious and/or Republican distortion about that side's "moral values," and the presumed lack thereof by the "other side."

And since this seems diametrically opposed to what I've witnessed in my own life...

I spent my high school years in a "children's home" where I was under the control (at the mercy) of the state and whomever the institution chose to hire to work with the kids.  The amount of sexual screwing around, from the administrators to the lowly counselors stuck with minding the kids on a daily basis was mind boggling, despite all the moralizing and "life lessons" they tried to plant in our heads.

That same experience has generally been repeated in every other context I've been part of, and my wife can say the same.  Conservative folks consumed with morals and restraint have a nasty tendency to have neither morals nor restraint in their own lives.  Not all of them, of course, but a large enough percentage for the hypocrisy to be extremely aggravating.

So, here's a mini-summary of some publicly reported instances of the moralizers being caught with their morals down.

1. Divorce as a family value
According to a somewhat outdated post on about.com, this is a list of some prominent past & present Republicans/conservatives whose own family values include divorce, many more than once (further details at the preceding link):

• Former President Ronald Reagan

• Ex-presidential candidate and Senator Bob Dole

• Newt Gingrich

• Dick Armey

• Phil Gramm

• Mich. Gov. John Engler

• Calif. Gov. Pete Wilson

• Columnist George Will

• Sen. Lauch Faircloth

• Rush Limbaugh

• Rep. Bob Barr

• Sen. Alfonse D'Amato

• Sen. John Warner

• Va. Gov. George Allen

• Henry Kissinger

• Idaho Rep. Helen Chenoweth

• Sen. John McCain

• Ohio Rep. John Kasich

• NY Rep. Susan Molinari

See, they're so in favor of marriage that they're willing to undergo the stress of divorce, sometimes again and again, simply to experience that "new  marriage smell" one more time.

2. Conservative Public Figures and Pedophilia

Compiled from lists on The Archair Subversive and Wash Park Prophet, here's a lengthy list of Conervative/Republican figures who have been accused-arrested-convicted of sexual acts with minors:

Steve Aiken, Repub. campaign worker & police officer; convicted of having sex with two underage girls.

Edison Misla Aldarondo, Repub. legislator; convicted of raping his daughter.

Randal David Ankeney, Repub. activist; pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault on a child.

Parker J. Bena, Repub. activist; pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography.

Merrill Robert Barter, Repub. County Commissioner; pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual contact and assault on a teenage boy.

Robert Bauman, Repub. congressman and anti-gay activist; charged with having sex with a 16-year-old boy.

Louis Beres, Chairman of the Christian Coalition of Oregon; accused of molesting 3 of his family members when they were pre-teens.

Howard L. Brooks, Repub. legislative aide; charged with molesting a 12-year old boy and possession of child pornography.

Andrew Buhr, Repub. politician;  charged with two counts of first degree sodomy with a 13-year old boy.

John Allen Burt, Repub. anti-abortion activist; found guilty of molesting a 15-year old girl.

John Butler, Repub. activist; charged with criminal sexual assault on a teenage girl.

Keola Childs, Repub. County Councilman; pleaded guilty to molesting a male child.

Kevin Coan, Repub. election board official; convicted of soliciting sex over the internet from a 14-year old girl.

John Collins, Repub. former city councilman; pleaded guilty to sexually molesting 13 and 14 year old girls.

Dan Crane, Repub. Congressman; sex with a female minor working as a congressional page.

John R. Curtain, Repub. Committeeman; charged with molesting teenage boy and unlawful sexual contact with minor.

Richard A. Dasen Sr. (supporter of conservative Christian groups); guilty of raping a 15-year old girl and acknowledged paying more than $1 million to have sex with a large number of young women.

Richard A. Delgaudio, Repub. fundraiser; guilty of child porn charges and paying two teenage girls to pose for sexual photos.

Peter Dibble, Repub. legislator;  pleaded no contest to inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old girl.

Nicholas Elizondo, Repub. director of Young Republican Federation; convicted of molesting his 6-year old daughter.

Larry Dale Floyd, Repub. County Constable; arrested on suspicion of soliciting sex with an 8-year old girl.

Jack W. Gardner, Repub. Councilman;convicted of molesting 13-year old girl.

Richard Gardner, former Repub. candidate admitted molesting his two daughters.

Philip Giordano, Repub. Mayor; convicted of sexually abusing 8- and 10-year old girls.

Matthew Glavin, President & CEO of Southeastern Legal Foundation, involved in Clinton impeachment; arrested multiple times for public indecency.

Marty Glickman, Repub. activist;arrested on four counts of unlawful sexual activity with an underage girl.

John Gosek, Repub. Mayor; arrested for soliciting sex from two 15-year old girls.

Mark A. Grethen, Repub. activist; convicted on six counts of sex crimes involving children.

Jon Grunseth, one-time Repub. candidate for Governor of Minnesota; withdrew after allegations that he went swimming in the nude with several  underage girls, including his daughter.

Russell Harding, Repub. president of NY City Housing Development; guilty of possessing child pornography.

Mark Harris, Repub. city councilman; convicted of repeatedly having sex with an 11-year-old girl.

John Hathaway, Repub. Senate candidate; withdrew after being accused of having sex with his 12-year old baby sitter.

Howard Scott Heldreth, Repub. anti-abortion activist; convicted of child rape.

Mike Hintz, Repub. pastor praised by George W. Bush during 2004 campaign; admitted to a sexual affair with a female juvenile.

Paul Ingram, Repub. Party leader; pleaded guilty to six counts of raping his daughters.

Lawrence E. King, Jr., Repub. advertising consultant from Omaha; accused of organizing child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.

Earl "Butch" Kimmerling, Repub. anti-gay activist;  convicted of molesting an 8-year old girl whose adoption by gay couple he tried to stop.

Ronald C. Kline, Repub. Judge; placed under house arrest for child molestation and possession of child pornography.

Donald "Buz" Lukens, Repub. Congressman; guilty of having sex with a female minor.

Jon Matthews, Repub. talk show host; pleaded guilty to exposing his genitals to an 11 year old girl.

Nicholas Morency. Repub. anti-abortion activist; pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography.

Jeffrey Patti, Repub. Committee Chairman; arrested for distributing video clip of a 5-year-old girl being raped.

Mark Pazuhanich, Repub. judge;  pleaded no contest to fondling a 10-year old girl.

Dennis L. Rader ("BTK Killer"), Repub. zoning supervisor, Boy Scout leader and Lutheran church president; guilty to performing a sexual act on 11-year old girl he murdered.

Beverly Russell, Repub. activist and Christian Coalition leader; admitted to incestuous relationship with his step daughter.

Tom Randall, Repub. petition drive manager; pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 14.

Larry Jack Schwarz, Repub. parole board officer and former Colorado state representative; fired when child pornography found in his possession.

Mark Seidensticker, Repub. campaign worker; convicted of child molestation.

Tom Shortridge, Repub. campaign consultant; convicted of taking nude photographs of a 15-year old girl.

Fred C. Smeltzer, Jr., Repub. City Councilman; pleaded no contest to raping 15 year-old girl.

Craig J. Spence, Repub. lobbyist; accused of organizing child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.

David Swartz, Repub. County Commissioner; pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 11.

Armando Tebano, Repub. County Chairman;  arrested for sexually molesting a 14-year-old girl.

Robin Vanderwall, Repub. strategist; convicted on five counts of soliciting sex from boys and girls over the internet.

Keith Westmoreland, Repub. legislator; arrested on seven counts of exposing himself to children.

Stephen White, Repub. preacher; convicted of offering $20 to a 14-year-old boy for permission to perform oral sex on him.

And, of course, this doesn't include Spokane's Republican Mayor Jim West who frequented a gay Web site, had "relations with adult men,"  communicated with allegedly minor boys over his City computer.

3. The Extent of the Priest Problem
A Report on the Crisis in the Catholic Church in the United States, by the National Review Board for the Protection of Children and Young People, established by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (Feb 27, 2004) states:

According to church records...there were credible allegations that several thousand priests, comprising four percent of priests in ministry over the last half century committed acts of sexual abuse of minors.

4. Boy Scouts, Etc.
A study reported at volume 17 of the Journal of the Family Research Institute, (No. 8, Dec 2002) undertook a search of the 50 largest newspapers in the world for the past 13 years for the terms "child molestation" combined with a host of companion concepts, including Big Brother, Boy Scouts,  father, stepfather, adoptive father, mother, step-mother, adoptive mother, teacher, policeman, foster parent, custodian, and janitor.

The search covered 1989 through 2002 and produced  the following:

* 99 parents or stepparents sexually abused 144 of their children (25 [28%] of the 90 fathers and one of the 6 mothers whose sexual proclivities could be determined engaged in homosexuality; these 25 fathers sexually abused at least 30 sons and 13 daughters);

• 8 Big Brothers molested 12 boys;
  
• 25 Scout leaders molested 67 boys;
  
• 7 janitors/custodians molested 24 girls;
  
• 58 policemen/jailers molested 216 children (137 boys, 41 girls, and 30 of unreported sex);
  
• 233 teachers molested 791 pupils (those 90 male teachers who engaged in homosexuality [more than one-third of the perpetrators] molested 392 boy and 25 girl victims);
  
• 13 psychologists/psychiatrists/counselors molested 45 children (8 of the 10 therapists whose sexual proclivities could be determined, including one female counselor, engaged in homosexuality; they molested 35 boys and a girl);
  
• 22 foster parents molested 32 foster-children (3 women sexually abused 3 girls and 12 men violated 13 boys);
  
• 13 politicians molested 21 children (the 4 known to have engaged in homosexuality molested 9 boys),
  
• 9 bus drivers molested 29 children (the 5 known to have engaged in homosexuality molested 20 boys).

Since the Boy Scouts serve about 26 times the number of boys as Big Brothers, the ratio of child molestation news reports -- and not the absolute number -- should be used when judging which organization's policy is "better" at keeping homosexual predators at bay. [Big Brothers allows homosexuals to participate, informs the family of the boy who would be mentored, and allows that family to reject a homosexual mentor; the Boy Scouts simply prohibited homosexuals from acting as leaders]  As the results show 67 boys molested in the Scout programs, compared to 12 in Big Brothers, there is no support for the view that banning gay men from the Scouts accomplishes much of anything except alleviating (unwarrantedly) the fears of the program and parents.

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So the next time the folks on the right start to worry about us "Godless liberals," I hope they cast a worried eye or two to their left and right, to get a real good look at who's standing next to them at the barricades.  A real good look.