http://www.sodomylaws.org/usa/dc/dcdocuments04.htm

The above material (while specifically in the title referring to sodomy) does indicate that the age of consent in Washington D.C. is in fact 16 years of age. It has been that way for 92 years according to this correspondence. And 16 seems to be age of consent in many other states as well.

You can read it and make your own conclusions. I will not make any conjectures as to the impact on the Foley scenario for fear of being bashed by both sides (so I'm standing neutral at this time) and most likely will be criticized for that.

With the FBI looking into this, there might be a violation of US statutes, referring back to the links I posted earlier. Fed's see a minor as under 18. But honest to tell you, I'm way over my head with discussing law. And it's gonna be a while before I get another stay in the Holiday Inn Express. ;)

just saw this on cnn.com: "Kirk Fordham, chief of staff to Rep. Tom Reynolds, resigns amid fallout from Rep. Mark Foley's sex messages to a teenage page, CNN confirms."

Ok, so to turn the discussion onto a slightly different tangent:

What if this all backfires in the Democrats' face? Stay with me here.

1). The timing of this release was obviously orchestrated for maximum political damage prior to the November elections. I guess you could say that it was just sheer luck that this bombshell drops 4 weeks before the election, but that's a pretty good stretch.
2). ABC news apparently got the IMs from a source. Who was the source? It sounds like the FBI already had the e-mails to the boy asking for the picture, but the IMs (which were the REALLY bad ones) were new. Someone gave them to ABC. I believe (in the other locked thread, THANKS Hunter914 and Joe) that someone posted a link to a blog that mentions these IMs several months ago and suggests that they will be released in October.

Ok, so let's say that a DNC supporter (Soros??), DNC staffer, Congressional staffer, whoever had this stuff and sat on it for several months. Then the Democrats release it for political purposes prior to an election.

Allowing teenagers to continue to be molested by this guy is grounds for dismissal, period. That includes Republicans who knew about it AND it includes Democrats who sat on it until October.

1) Totally agree, and it's slimey if someone sat on this while kids were at risk.

2) dunno

Your final sentence is spot on.

I'm sorry, but what you are looking at is talking about MONEY. This isn't PORN or PROSTITUTION, which is what they are talking about. And they have to be interstate or international. If it all happens in 1 jourisdiction, it's a "local" matter.

Has there been any proof that anything physical happened?

Now Jim, you might be onto something with a sexual predator law, but with the age of consent being 16, it wouldn't apply. And those are state criminal codes.

ALL THIS ASIDE...

Foley is scum and should not be in congress. To pull ANYONE ELSE into this, is politics.

I saw the Fordham resignation as well, the article says he resigned because he served as Foley's chief of staff during the years this was occuring and was currently serving as chief of staff for Reynolds. No apparent link to Reynolds being involved, I'm sure he was asked to resign.

Why would this backfire? It's the Reps who are calling this a partisan witch hunt, specifically because it's targeting Hastert. But hey, he was told, he was warned. His under deputies told him. His staff told him.

Not to mention, the fallout continues: fresh CNN news alert:

Kirk Fordham, chief of staff to Rep. Tom Reynolds, resigns amid fallout from Rep. Mark Foley's sex messages to a teenage page, CNN confirms.

The Republicans aren't making it any easier on themselves by jumping ship.

LOL red-beard! Law is obviously NOT my speciality, but I CAN work on MFI. :D

You beat me to Fordham announcement. Fact is, the "perceived" attachment to Foley is possibly what caused his resignation.

Honestly, Hastert may be one thing, but as to Foley's behavior, that hits home on so many fronts that it simply can't be just a partisan effort on the part of the Democrats.

Simple. The investigation shows that the DNC or some Democrat operative sat on this info and allowed the abuse to continue while they waited for the election to get closer. Then they spring it in October for maximum damage.

Which is worse? Rodeo's assertion that there was a big Republican coverup to maintain power that allowed Foley to continue to molest kids or Democrats allowing him to continue to molest kids because they wanted to save this nuke for October?

I'd say they are equally reprehensible and if true will seriously damage the Democrats.

There is no defending Foley, and his stupid "I was molestered" and/or "I'm a drunken slut" are the dumnest excuses to throw out at this time. That was my point of this dumb thread. Why would he suddenly throw out the V card.

Perhaps a Hail Mary pass hoping for his own miracle.

At this point the man (and I use that term loosely) is either A) listening to some hairbrained spin doctor B) on drugs for deep depression and speaking through the drug induced haze or C) letting his legal counsel speak for him, who by chance did spend last night at Washington DC Holiday Inn).

He certainly is no Bill C.

The victim claim is BS. Not only is it BS, but having your lawyer announce it while you hide in rehab is a complete puss out. The guy will never be able to show his face in public again.

Amazing to me that these kind of people get anywhere in life.

The Democrats did it.

Conspiracy theory at its best.

(You really think the Dems are that clever?)

That's why god invented talk radio...

I'm not saying the Democrats "did it", I'm not saying this is some sort of made up frame job.

What I AM saying is that someone had these IMs. These IMs were apparently from several years ago. Within hours of the news, a blog was found that mentions the IMs several months ago and hints that they will be released in October. Apparently the blog where this info was is one that receives funds from George Soros, a bigtime Democrat supporter.

What I am saying is that if a DNC member, official, representative, whatever heard about these IMs and then said "hold on to this until October, then call ABC news" the ***** will hit the fan for them as well.

It really isn't far fetched...

you're so wrong. It was the liberal media combined with a commie supreme court. All this liberal tolerance of gay porn drove the poor guy to it. He was set up by the libs. Clearly he, the Republican party, and all god-fearing, right-thinking americans are the victims here...

And Jerry Springer.