The metric system is the kind of thing that you can expect from the 60-vote filibuster-proof majority Democrats now have in the United States Senate.

After the Watergate scandal in 1974, Democrats trounced Republicans in the mid-term elections, getting 61 seats in the Senate and 291 in the House.

In the Senate, they adjusted the rules to make it harder for Republicans to filibuster (reducing the magic number from 67 to 60 to invoke cloture, which ends debate). In the House, they passed all kinds of reforms to take power away from senior members and give it to junior members. And Congress mandated that the American people embrace the metric system.

The only thing worse would be gay men fencing with meter length measuring sticks on Broadway while singing about grams and liters. But I do understand the Republican fear of the metric system. It would bring them into the 18th century, and that was certainly a scary place to be. Why, there was a revolution back then, with real live tea parties that didn’t involve Republicans sucking on balls! The fine, fine thing about Feehery’s column is that he agrees that the Republicans suck, and that they are ultimately responsible for the Democrats getting 60 Senate seats:

This is a good time for such self-reflection. Republicans lost three top-notch senators in the last election — Norm Coleman, Gordon Smith and John Sununu — who lost not because they were bad senators, or because they had scandals, or because they had lost touch with constituents. All three lost because they were Republicans.

In other words, the brand killed them. And if you look at the latest polls, the GOP brand hasn’t gotten any better in the last six months. In fact, according to Gallup, even 38 percent of Republicans have a negative view of the Republican Party.

OK, Feehery is a bit loony to think Coleman was a top-notch Senator. But he is right that the Republican brand is suffering, and further that there seems no recovery in sight. Not with “just say no” ruling the Republicans on the national level and scandals plaguing them out beyond the bletway. Feehery cites 38% of Republicans who are dissatisfied with their own party. That just isn’t a small number.

Meanwhile, Happy Independence Day to Al Franken and to all of us who are tired of Republicans and their fears. This weekend my family will be down the shore. Young Jack will take part in a small ceremony of conversion to the Jewish faith. Alas, we will not be using a traditional mikvah for his immersion, but the Atlantic ocean. Well, as you can see, the boy likes the beach enough, so he should like the ocean as well. We’ll see.

Hmm, we could start a War on Independence Day, couldn’t we? I mean, it is the wrong time of year for a War on Christmas, but the Republicans always want a war on something. Maybe just a Duel on Independence Day would do, sparklers at ten paces and all that. Hmm, I’ll have to check into it.

“Americans in general have a short memory,” Wurzelbacher said. “After Sept. 11 happened, we were patriots for six months, and then half of them fell off. Now there’s a very real threat to our country. I don’t believe any one nation can take us out, but I definitely think we can take ourselves out.”

Asked if he has plans to run for public office, he replied, “I hope not. You know, I talked to God about that and he was like, ‘No.’”

He continued, “I believe he’s gotten me on this grassroots movement. If I can encourage leaders to step up, that’s what I would like to do. That’s a heavy role. That’s something I don’t know if I am prepared to do yet.”

But Wurzelbacher said he will keep that door open if God ever calls him to be that leader.

“I just know whenever I fall off his path, things get really hard,” he said. “So I just stick with what God tells me to do.”

OK, there’s more important stuff here than God being a teabagger. Joe Wurzelbacher says God has not given him the go-ahead to run for office. Oh, sure, Joe Wurzelbacher says he’s open to the notion of running for office if God whispers in his ear, but it seems clear we’re not going to see that happen in the near future. And that’s a shame. Every minute Joe Wurzelbacher is the face of conservatives is a bright day for liberals and Democrats. As such, God telling Joe not to run for office just might be a sign that God hates liberals and Democrats.

I apologiaze to anyone who now has an image of Joe the Plumber int he act of teabagging running around their brain. That image might be just as ugly as one of the man talking, and for that I apologize as well.

Conservatives in Wausau on Thursday decried President Barack Obama’s economic policies at a gathering hosted by the conservative free-market group Americans for Prosperity.

The event, called “Pints and Politics,” brought to town Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, known during the 2008 presidential campaign as “Joe the Plumber.”

. . .

Wurzelbacher has a reputation for being a blunt, politically incorrect speaker. Referring to Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., more than once, Wurzelbacher asked, “Why hasn’t he been strung up?”

And he glosses over facts. Referring to the Constitution as “almost like the Bible,” Wurzelbacher said of the Founding Fathers: “They knew socialism doesn’t work. They knew communism doesn’t work.” The Constitution predates the origins of socialism by nearly 100 years.

I’m guessing Joe had a pint too many, and while it is mildly disturbing that Joe doesn’t know his history, that isn’t surprising. He was likely raised on a freeper diet or something. But suggesting that Chris Dodd be strung up? That’s too much. Still, not unexpected. Joe’s role appears to be to rile up the great core of the GOP, the ones who threatened all sorts of things during the election. Maybe DHS should have an alert that anyone who nods when listening to Joe the Plumber should be watched.

This is one of them.

Providing all of my research were the “family values” Republicans.

This week, second term Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina disappeared for six days, leaving the state without a chief executive who could make decisions in an emergency. His Republican lieutenant governor didn’t know where he was, and had not been given any authority to make decisions in his absence. The state police said they had not been informed. His wife told the Associated Press she didn’t know where he was, wasn’t worried about him, and thought he was “writing something and wanted some space to get away from the kids” over the Father’s Day weekend. His senior aides said he was walking along the Appalachian Trail to “clear his head.”

But it wasn’t his head that he was clearing. When he returned, after first lying to a reporter for the Columbia State who caught up with him on his return to the Atlanta airport, he finally admitted he went to Argentina to meet with a long-time lover. His wife, who was not by his side when he held an early afternoon press conference, later said she and the governor had separated two weeks earlier. The State later produced e-mail love letters it had been keeping since December.

The rising young star of the Republican party who was seen as a presidential contender in 2012, the man who was head of the Republican Governors Association until the day after he acknowledged his extramarital affair, the man who had wanted to deprive his state of $700 million in federal stimulus funds as a political message to President Obama, the man who had established himself as a beacon for the sanctity of marriage and the values of the oh-so-pure Religious right, was not only an adulterer, but for at least the second time had left his state at risk since there were no contingency plans of how to reach him in an emergency.

Alas, Gov. Sanford isn’t the only “family values” philanderer. Slightly more than a week earlier, Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) admitted he had a nine month extramarital affair with one of his campaign staff. Ensign, who was contemplating a run for president in 2012, had been chair of the Republican Policy Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Like Gov. Sanford, Sen. Ensign only admitted to the affair after information had been leaked to the media.

This is the same John Ensign who, as a congressman, had curled his lips in revulsion at Bill Clinton’s affair, and demanded he either resign or be impeached. “He has no credibility,” Ensign told the Las Vegas Review–Journal in 1998. Six years later, now a senator, Ensign supported a federal ban on same sex marriages by declaring, “Marriage is the cornerstone on which our society was founded . . . . [M]arriage, and the sanctity of that institution, predates the American Constitution and the founding of our nation.” Ironically, Ensign is active in Promise Keepers, an evangelical group.

Also vigorously calling for President Clinton’s impeachment, while having had their own extramarital affairs and covering them up or lying about them, were:

● Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.), chair of the House judiciary committee and the “house manager” for the impeachment, who lied about his own four-year affair with a married woman and then when a newspaper published details in 1998 called the affair in the 40s nothing more than a “youthful indiscretion.” He retired in 2007 after 17 terms in the House.

●Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.), who was the first legislator in Congress to call for Clinton’s resignation and then became one of the leaders of the impeachment movement. Barr’s background, however, wasn’t family values pure. He never denied committing adultery with his second wife, and later, while married to his third wife, was photographed at what passed as a charity event licking whipped cream off the breasts of two women. Barr left office in 2003, after four terms.

● Rep. Helen Chenoweth (R-Idaho), who was one of the first to call for Clinton’s resignation, told the Spokane Spokesman-Review that God had pardoned her sins for her six-year extra-marital affair. Chenoweth left office in January 2001 after keeping her promise not to serve more than three terms.

● Fourteen term Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind), chair of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, who not only had a long-time affair with a state employee but had fathered a son from that affair. His website once screamed, “Above all, Dan Burton believes the people have a right to principled leadership and that character does matter.”

● Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho), who told Tim Russert on NBC-TV’s “Meet the Press” in 1999 that “The American people already know that Bill Clinton is a bad boy—a naughty boy. I’m going to speak out for the citizens of my state, who in the majority think that Bill Clinton is probably even a nasty, bad, naughty boy.” However, Craig himself was a “bad boy.” In September 2007 he pleaded guilty, and then tried to withdraw his conviction on charges that he solicited a man in the Minneapolis–St. Paul airport. Several gay men later told the Idaho Statesman that Craig, who was married since 1983, had previously tried to solicit them or had sexual relations with them. Craig resigned in September 2007, and then reversed himself, staying in office through 2008. He did not run for re-election.

● Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), House speaker from 1995 to 1999, who may have had an affair while his first wife was in the hospital recovering from cancer. Gingrich later cheated on his second wife with the woman who became his third wife during the time he was pushing for Clinton’s resignation.

● Rep. Bob Livingston (R-La.), who was Gingrich’s designated successor until he admitted his own infidelities and eventually resigned from the House.

● Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), who was elected to Livingston’s House seat and served three terms before being identified in a prostitution scandal in Louisiana. In 2004, he was elected to the Senate, three years before Hustler magazine linked him as a client of a prostitution service in Washington, D.C.

● Rep. Don Sherwood (R-Pa), who had a five year affair with a woman 35 years his junior. She later charged that Sherwood had assaulted her several times. He eventually settled for what AP reported was about $500,000. Among those who supported Sherwood during his primary re-election were Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), one of the leaders of the conservative coalition who in November 2005 said that “Compassionate Conservatism relies on healthy families,” and President George W. Bush who went to northeastern Pennsylvania to help raise funds for Sherwood. However, in the general election of November 2006, Sherwood was defeated for a fifth term.

Add to the list of morally bankrupt Republicans:

● Five term Sen. Bob Packwood (R-Ore.) who resigned in September 1995, three years before the Clinton impeachment, after the bipartisan Ethics Committee unanimously recommended his expulsion following charges of sexual abuse and assault by 10 women, most of them either former staffers or lobbyists.

● Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.), a six-term congressman, and co-chair of the Missing and Exploited Children’s Caucus, who had sent sexually explicit e-mails and text messages to a 16 year-old male Congressional page. Foley resigned in September 2006, two months before the general election, long after the Republican leadership had failed to discipline him, and only after a blog (stopsexpredators.blogspot.com) and ABC-TV news exposed his hoped-for affairs may have included other staff dating back at least a decade.

● Rep. Robert E. Bauman (R-Md.), publicly homophobic founder of Young Americans for Freedom and the American Conservative Union, who admitted he had solicited sex with a 16 year old male. Bauman lost the general election in 1980 and later declared himself to be gay.

● Rep. Donald Lukens (R-Ohio), who was convicted in 1989 of a misdemeanor for having sex with a 16-year-old girl. The “affair” may have begun three years earlier. Lukens finally resigned in October 1990, after having lost the Republican primary several months earlier.

Republican leaders aren’t the only ones who commit adultery, nor are conservatives or members of the Religious Right, including preachers, solely the ones to have violated the seventh and tenth Commandments. But, it is the “family values” Republican leaders, who have led the party of right wing moral indignation; it is the Religious Right that has overtaken the party and wears the now-tarnished shield of righteousness to protect itself against anyone who doesn’t share their own views of the world, including moderate and liberal Republicans, and anyone belonging to another political party.

The hypocrisy and moral turpitude of the leaders is just one reason why only 21 percent of Americans identify themselves as Republicans.

[Walter M. Brasch is a university professor of journalism, social issues columnist, and the author of 17 books. His current book is Sinking the Ship of State: The Presidency of George W. Bush, available from amazon.com, bn.com, and other stores. You may contact him through his website, www.walterbrasch.com]

30:1 Sarah Palin. She’s too much in the spotlight to pull it off, and she’s already got plenty of family cvalues problems. Still, I expect she’ll be travelling without family over the next couple of years, and there will be opportunities. But would she admit to it and tell the truth? Not a chance.

20:1 Mike Huckabee. Mike is more likely to be caught in bed than any of the others. He works at Fox, for crying out loud. Because Huckabee is an ordained minister, though, he’ll keep his pants on. He knows his base and knows he has no chance if even the slightest hint of impropriety is suspected.

2:1 Newt Gingrich. Everyone’s favorite. Reporters will be waiting to see if his wife is sniffling, then following Newt to see if they can catch this hound in the act. If his wife goes int he hospital, watch out!

80:1 Charlie Crist. He’s been lying about sex for so long he’s got it figured out. There’s not a chance Charlie Crist will get caught, and certainly no chance he will admit to boning some blonde surfer boy. Still, Crist obviously gave Sanford advise about tanning, so maybe he’ll be tainted with the association.

35:1 Mitt Romney. The man was raised Mormon, and while that does not give him any inside track to morality, I’m betting here that the special underwear instilled some kind of discipline in the Mittster.

2:1 Rudy Guilliani. How long has Rudy been married this time? I’d say he’s due. But should he even be on this list? No, he has no shot in 2012 unless all the others take a tumble in the hay together. That would take gay marriage passing in every state in the union and all their marriages failing at once.

15:1 Bobby Jindall. Bobby is young and presumably has his hormones working. Still, this guy doesn’t seem the horndog one little bit. He also is no communicator, but if the Republicans keep shooting themselves in the feet, serially, then he’s got a chance in 2012.

3:2 Tim Pawlenty. I’m going to use Pawlenty and Gingrich as one entry and figure one of them gets caught and goes on TV dripping crocadile tears about how horribly he’d harmed his family. Pawlenty has been under fire for not naming Al Franken the winner, and he’s primed for a big emotional failure.

50:1 Jeb Bush. Not a chance he is cheating. Wouldn’t it be a hoot if he got the Republican nomination because everyone else was caught screwing someone they shouldn’t?

The conventional wisdom is that Jon and Kate Gosselin, the parents of oodles of kids who have kept America in AWWW for years, have seperated because Jon was hanging out in bars and straying with waitresses. Or maybe Kate was doing the nasty with the bodyguard. Whateva! Jon had come upon the middle aged crazy thing early, or the stresses of multiple rugrats was getting to him, or somesuch nonsense. Or maybe Kate just wanted a little extra, if you know what I mean. But I’m here to break the big news, that the whole divorce thing is all because of teh gay. And I’m sure the Southern Baptist Convention could have prevented all this.

There’s the big question. Does the church the Gosselin’s attend, play a role in this? I’m not saying that Glad Tidings Assemby of God Chruch in West Lawn, PA is accepting of gay parisioners, but I’m not seeing that they’ve gone far enough to condemn teh gay in order to save Jon and Kate’s marriage. Oh the Horror! All those kids having to negotiate shared custody the rest of their lives! Glad Tidings Senior Pastor Bryan D. Koch better watch out for his own marriage, though. Just as “Jon” is teh gay spelling of “John,” a fine biblical name, so is “Bryan” a gay bastardization of the name of that important biblical figure “Brian.” There’s some fooling around going on here, and even the spellings of names can lead to teh gay and the end of marriages in divorces.

The Souther Baptist Convention has it right, though. It isn’t enough for a church to refuse to welcome members who are gay, nor is it enough for them to refuse to publish pictures of gay couples for their directory. Heck, refusing to publish pictures of heterosexual couples will get a congregation kicked out of the Souther Baptist Convention. That’s what happened to Broadway Baptist Church in the steamy, gay-ridden hotbed of Fort Worth, TX. The fine upstanding folks at Hepzibah Baptist over in Wendell, NC dropped the dime on Broadway, and they refused to bend over to pick it up, instead insisting that Broadway be kicked out of the SBC! Oh, sure, there is whining out there that this is all about some whiney internet rumor and innuendo, but we all know what the real cause here is, just as we know it in the case of the Gosselin divorce, that teh gay is insidious and will get even a fine church like Broadway Baptist.

I can’t close this little rambling assault on teh gay and marriage and couples who pop them out like a Pez container without mentioning that Monica Yant Kinney is also to blame. In her most recent column Ms. Kinney slyly makes fun of the theory that gay marriage will lead to people marrying their lawn mowers. That kind of attitude is what leads to events like the Gosselin divorce, which likely will be seen soon as a Broadway musical (not affiliated with Browday Baptist Church). And I am still not buying tickets.

President Obama has spoken of empathy as his key standard for choosing judicial nominees. What do you think of that approach?

I don’t know exactly what empathy means. I suppose at a minimum it means you want a judge who will depart from the meaning of the constitution when a sympathetic case arises. It does seem to raise a warning that we’re talking about a judge who does not follow the law.

Pretty basic english language skill, to tell the difference between “sympathy” and “empathy,” but there’s some real trouble with getting the english language right over on the conservative side of the political spectrum, so maybe Bork has just been infected by Pat Buchanan and his extremist Republican compadres. It appears that for Bork “empathy” means an opportunity to take political potshots at someone with whom he disagrees. And since that’s the standard Republican definition nowadays, I’d say the Senate was right back in the day to Bork this guy. But it gets better. Here’s Robert Bork on his favorite Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas:

How have you been struck by Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito since they were appointed?

My general impression of them is quite good. The justice up there who I most admire is Clarence Thomas. I notice that when he and Scalia differ—it’s not that often, but when they do—I tend to agree with Thomas.

There’s a damned good reason that Bork was borked. He’s clearly certifiable to think Clarence Thomas is the prize on the SCOTUS. I’m not sure you could find one other person out there who would agree with that assessment who is not the member of some whackjob conservative group. I suppose with that answer one has to wonder at the journalistic acumen Newsweek uses to decide to interview Bork. What, and give this kind of whackjobbery legitimacy? Maybe that’s what’s wrong with journalism today, that they think they must get an opposing view, and from as famous a name as possible, regardless of how extremist or insufferable the famous name is.

His spokesman Joel Sawyer released a statement saying the governor was taking a break after losing the fight.

“Gov. Sanford is taking some time away from the office this week to recharge after the stimulus battle and the legislative session and to work on a couple of projects that have fallen by the wayside,” Sawyer said.

Sawyer wouldn’t say where the Sanford was, but said in another release the governor let his staff know where he was going before he left last week and said he would check in.

A post-session wind-down isn’t uncommon and he goes “out of pocket for a few days at a time to clear his head,” Sawyer said. “Obviously, that’s going to be somewhat out of the question this time given the attention this particular absence has gotten.”

Sawyer didn’t immediately respond to further questions. Law enforcement officials who handle his security also declined to comment.

Sanford typically is open about his whereabouts, and his office makes no secret of time spent on vacation or out of state.

But politicians, including the lieutenant governor, said they did not know Sanford was taking time away from his office.

So Mark Sanford didn’t get his way on refusing the Obama stimulus money, and now he’s gone off to pout? That seems to be the explanation, though a big family man like Mark Sanford would be unlikely to miss Father’s Day. Perhaps this is a mystery designed to get the media all heated up about the guy and give him an air of mystery? Stay tuned.

Then, after treating this popular revolution as an inconvenience to the real business of Obama-Khamenei negotiations, the president speaks favorably of “some initial reaction from the supreme leader that indicates he understands the Iranian people have deep concerns about the election.”

Where to begin? “Supreme leader”? Note the abject solicitousness with which the American president confers this honorific on a clerical dictator who, even as his minions attack demonstrators, offers to examine some returns in some electoral districts - a farcical fix that will do nothing to alter the fraudulence of the election.

Krauthammer’s assumption is that Barack Obama honors the leaders behind the scenes in Iran, when there’s simply no indication of that at all. The use of the phrase “Supreme Leader,” a phrase used by everyone when discussing the clerics who actually run Iran, is an excuse for Krauthammer to attack, attack, attack, and attack is exactly what Krauthammer wants as policy, though this time, instead of supporting a military attack, as he did in Iraq, Krauthammer wants some sort of rhetorical attack. What a freaking putz.

Charles Krauthammer advocated the invasion of Iraq on various occasions for various reasons. He was vocal about the connections of Iraq to 9/11, and was proven wrong, he was vocal about the notion that Iraq had WMD, and was proven wrong, and he was vocal that conquering Iraq would be the first step in a Democratizing Domino Theory that would result in free and fair elections throughout the Middle East. Yeah, Krauthammer was wrong there, as well. It is this last theory that he’s pushing as part of his whine to get Barack Obama to step up the rhetoric about Iran.

Yeah, Charles Krauthammer is pounding out the drumbeats of war yet again, and along the way he’s writing irresponsible drivel filled with straw men and whacked out rhetorical accusations. But he does the Philadelphia Inquirer proud representing the conservative cause — that’s what they want, a cadre of conservatives, no matter what dishonest whackjobbery they throw out there, to balance the nonexistent liberal voices on the paper. If the Washington Post and the Philadelphia Inquirer want a enocon whackjob frothing at the mouth on their opinion pages, they’ve got one in Charles Krauthammer, a Republican Pundit Gone Wild.

There is a tremendous amount (sic) of details and critical facts associated with this story and their relationship that will not be addressed in this letter but are very important and need to be further explored if you choose to meet with me. The purpose of this letter is to establish the framework for discussion and provide enough information to warrant a meeting with you and Fox News. This is the only letter of its kind and no other news stations have been contacted with this information. I have great respect and affection for Fox News and many of your collages (sic). I’m sending this to you because you have a legal back ground (sic) and this story has several legal elements.

The unethical behavior and immoral choice of Senator Ensign has been confronted by me and others on a number of occasions over this past year. In fact one of the confrontations took place in February 2008 at his home in Washington DC (sic) with a group of his peers. One of the attendee’s (sic) was Senator Tom Coburn from Oklahoma as well as several other men who are close to the Senator. Senator Ensign’s conduct and relentless pursuit of my wife led to our dismissal in April of 2008. I would like to say he stopped his heinous conduct and pursuit upon our leaving, but that was not the case and his actions did not subside until August of 2008.

The actions of Senator Ensign have ruined our lives and careers and left my family in shambles. We have lost significant income, suffered indescribable pain and emotional suffering. We find ourselves today with an overwhelming loss of relationships, career opportunities and hope for recovery. Our pursuit of justice continues to place me and my family in harm’s way as we fear for our well being (sic).

Articles discussing the case can be found at Politico and at the Las Vegas Sun, among other places. For the record, Fox News is denying it ever received Douglas Hampton’s letter. Hey, nobody imagines they would do investigations into a case of adultry on the part of a Republican. Denial works well for them, I’d say.

I’m thinking we have some lying liars involved here, and that John Ensign is one of them. Will this story explode?

● Norman E. Nickle, 54, who lived in Pottsville, the county seat, was convicted of killing two teenagers, and sentenced in April to two life terms, without possibility of parole. Nickle’s only defense was that he was high on drugs and alcohol at the time of the murders.

● Jarrid Finneran, of Shenandoah, was sentenced to 2-1/2 to five years in prison after a jury convicted him in December 2007 of pushing his girlfriend in front of a car. Finneran said that the incident was the result of an accident, was not deliberate, and that he and the victim continued their relationship after the incident. The jury, however, convicted him of aggravated assault, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, and disorderly conduct.

● Kyle J. Bluge, 23, of Frackville, admitted he shook a baby in April 2008 to try to stop the boy from crying. A pediatrician testified that the physical abuse resulted in significant brain injuries. Bluge, who will be sentenced Aug. 5, could face 10 to 20 years in prison for aggravated assault.

● Mark P. Wilner, 40, of Mahanoy City, in June was found guilty of simple assault after a bar fight that led to injuries to the victim who, according to court testimony, had begun the fight by punching a woman. Wilner could be sentenced, June 29, to one to two years in state prison.

● However, the life of Luis Eduardo Ramirez-Zavalo, 25, a Mexican who lived and worked in Shenandoah before dying, in June 2008 after a beating by a gang of about a half-dozen drunken Shenandoah High School football players, is worth no more than 23 months in a county jail.

Judge William E. Baldwin sentenced Brandon J. Piekarsky, 17, to six to 23 months, and Derrick M. Donchak, 19, to six to 20 months, June 17, after an all-White jury convicted them only of simple assault, a second degree misdemeanor. Baldwin also sentenced Donchak to one year probation for three counts of corruption of minors, a first degree misdemeanor that carries a maximum sentence of two to five years in state prison; Donchak was also sentenced to three months in prison on each of three counts of furnishing alcohol to minors; the sentences would be served concurrently. His total sentence is seven to 23 months in county jail.

The jury about six weeks earlier refused to convict Piekarsky of criminal homicide, although witnesses said that it was Piekarsky who kicked Ramirez in the head after he had already been on the ground; Ramirez died two days later from the beatings, with medical evidence suggesting the kick was the fatal blow. The jury also found both Piekarsky and Donchak not guilty of aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person, criminal solicitation/hindering apprehension or prosecution, and ethnic intimidation, although witnesses said they distinctly heard racial slurs and obscene language during the beating.

In sentencing the two teenagers, Judge Baldwin, confined by the jury’s verdict, said neither defendant showed remorse—Donchak had even worn a “Border Patrol” T-shirt to a party four months after the beating. Contrary to defense claims, the judge ruled that the beating was not “a street fight gone bad [but] a group of young athletes ganging up on one person.” Because of the jury’s verdicts, the death of Ramirez could not be considered in sentencing. Baldwin said that if the attack “wasn’t motivated by ethnic intimidation, it was plain meanness. You don’t kick a man when he’s down.” Even with the relatively light sentences, both defense attorneys said they were contemplating appeals.

Two of the gang were not charged, and two are likely to spend more time in confinement than Piekarsky and Donchak, who are believed to be the more aggressive of the gang. Brian Scully, 18, CITYYwas previously ordered to spend 90 days in a treatment facility before sentencing, expected at the end of Summer. He could spend as much as three years in juvenile detention. Colin J. Walsh, 18, Shenandoah Heights, whose state charges were withdrawn after he pleaded guilty to a civil rights violation in federal court, cooperated with state and federal authorities and testified against Piekarsky and Donchak, was sentenced in federal court to up to nine years, but could be released in four years because of his cooperation.

The beating and subsequent trial divided the region, and brought national news media to the coal mine region of northeast Pennsylvania. Thousands rallied against what they believed were lax immigration enforcement, and argued that Ramirez would still be alive if he had not been an illegal immigrant. Others argued that the area’s bigotry and racism was the cause for the tension before the beating and continues to divide the people. The Pottsville Republican-Herald, the county’s only daily newspaper, reports that more than 4,400 comments were submitted to its website the first three days of the five-day trial, but that many were not posted because of vulgarity. The newspaper also reports that during the trial the website recorded 72,000 unique users just for the trial coverage.

The case left a lot of questions, in addition to what many saw as “jury nullification” of a murder. The Shenandoah police upon arriving at the scene checked Latino witnesses for weapons rather than pursue the White attackers, and then didn’t file charges for two weeks. Based upon previous testimony, Judge Baldwin noted, “the boys were ushered around and given counsel about getting their stories straight because it didn’t look good for Mr. Ramirez.” Testimony had also revealed that one of the officers was not only in a personal relationship with Piekarsky’s mother, but that he was living with both of them. “There is a federal investigation ongoing,” the Schuylkill County district attorney told the Republican-Herald. Further, the prosecution, which said it was pleased with the sentence, refused to say why it didn’t put on the stand a retired Philadelphia police officer who witnessed the beating and had called 911.

Most residents, those who believe that even a simple assault charge was too much for what they still maintain is a “street brawl,” and those who believe that the random gang got away with murder, seem to just want the spotlight to shine on other towns, other issues. But, that isn’t likely for at least a few more months.

Piekarsky and Donchak could still face significant prison time. Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, the Anti-Defamation League, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and other organizations have asked the Department of Justice to pursue hate crime charges against Piekarsky and Donchak. Under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations during the 1960s, the Department of Justice was vigorous in bringing to trial and conviction, especially in Southern jurisdictions, persons who either were not charged or had received light sentences for attacks upon civil rights workers, Blacks, and their businesses and churches.

Shenandoah is a community of about 5,600, located in the anthracite coal region, about100 miles northwest of Philadelphia. The 2000 census revealed that 97.4 percent of the population is White, with about 20 percent of the population living below the poverty line. During the early and mid-19th century, the population was primarily English, Welsh, Irish and German immigrants, all of whom faced discrimination from large numbers of second- and third-generation Americans who objected to the influx of immigrants. Conflicts between the lower-class miners and the supervisors and management of coal companies led to the rise of the Molly Maguires, whose original purpose was to promote unionized labor and serve as a protection for the immigrants. Cultural and ethnic conflict led to violence against the Mollies and the Mollies, in turn, becoming violent, especially as other immigrants from southern and eastern Europe moved into the area, sometimes taking jobs the northern Europeans thought belonged to them. By 1920, the population peaked about 25,000, falling after World War II when it no longer became profitable for the robber barons to continue to strip the land of anthracite coal.

It is many of the descendants of immigrants who now support stronger immigration enforcement, and whose children and grandchildren carry the prejudices that have formed the patina of the place once known as the “city of churches”; it is the descendants of immigrants who have shown the prejudice against a rising Hispanic population and whose attitudes may have fueled the violence that led to the death of a Mexican immigrant who just wanted to work and help raise his three children.

[Assisting on this story were Rosemary R. Brasch, Brandi Mankiewicz, the office of the clerk of courts of Schuylkill County, several Schuylkill County residents, and the Pottsville Republican-Herald. Dr. Brasch is author of 17 books, a syndicated columnist, and professor of journalism at Bloomsburg University and recipient of the Martin Luther King Jr. Distinguished Humanitarian Service Award. You may contact him through his website, www.walterbrasch.com]

So, is that the way to save newspapers, though, to serve up commentary with far more attitude than is done now? Pretending to be neutral about the news just encourages papers like the Philadelphia Inquirer to bend over backwards to recruit voices on the conservative side, and with John Yoo they have failed. Still, they could choose snarky conservatives, as the resultant commentaries don’t include the dishonesty, straw men and obsessiveness of a Rick Santorum. Today Santorum is on his Islamofascist horse, getting in digs at Obama along the way. “Balance” will not save print journalism, but lively and honest commentary like that of Ronnie Polanczky just might.

These days, 19-year-old Levi is a free agent, no longer engaged to Bristol and thus, no longer under the jurisdiction of the Palin clan’s image police. He’s still, nonetheless, crafting an image for himself, with the help of Tank Jones, his manager from Anchorage who has been coaching him on media appearances and schooling him in entertainment-industry etiquette for the past five months. Though Levi mostly spends his days living in Wasilla, Alaska, going on frequent hunting trips—if it were up to him, that’s what he would spend the rest of his days doing, except that now he’s got a baby to support—the idea is to pursue some type of career in Hollywood, whether it be acting or appearing on a reality show. Tank has been fielding pitches, including one for a reality show about hunting.

My goodness but the life of the Palin clan gets more bizarre by the minute. Gawker and People are also on the story. And Daily Beast has PICTURES! Man, that Tank knows his Bling!

OK, isn’t “Ricky Hollywood” really a porn star name? I mean, seriously, is he planning on a D-list career or is Levi hoping for some male prostitute action?

The American public trusts pharmaceuitical companies and insurance companies to handle healthcare reform more than they trust Republicans. To some degree this is just not news. Who could trust the Republicans on anything? Just yesterday Republican Senator John Ensign resigned from his leadership in the Senate in the wake of his admission of adultry, a case that is looking more and more like it includes a little quid pro quo. Michelle Bachman, meanwhile, has openly declared she will break the law when it comes time to fill out the census. No, it is hard to trust Republicans, but to trust them less than one would trust Big Pharma? That’s stunning, and reflective of just about how much I trust Republicans to fix healthcare in this country.

But the Republicans do have a plan to fix healthcare! They’re riding to the rescue! Well, they can’t tell us what it will cost or whether it will cover anyone, or even how to pay for it. . . There’s the big reason they can’t be trusted. Republicans are simply incompetent, thinking rhetoric is more important than actual plans made from hard data.

Sen. John Ensign (Nev.), considered a rising star in the Republican Party, yesterday acknowledged an extramarital affair with a former campaign staffer who is married to one of the lawmaker’s former legislative aides.

Ensign, a member of the Senate Republican leadership, disclosed the affair at a hastily arranged news briefing in Las Vegas, his home town. He flew home yesterday morning after informing GOP leaders on Capitol Hill of his impending announcement, missing a vote on tourism legislation considered important to Nevada’s casino industry.

The news was the latest setback for a party that suffered losses of at least 13 Senate seats in the past two elections and saw Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.) defect to the Democrats in April. Any further instability in their ranks is unwelcome news for Republicans, who viewed Ensign as a telegenic communicator who could deliver the conservative message on political talk shows in a congenial matter.

Politico identifies the woman with whom Senator Ensign had the affair, suggesting the announcement by Ensign about the affair was triggered by a demand for money by the husband of the woman:

But current and former aides to the Nevada Republican say the woman was 46-year-old Cynthia Hampton, a campaign staffer whose husband was a top aide in Ensign’s Senate office.

“It was known in [Ensign’s] inner circle that they were involved,” a former aide told POLITICO.

Hampton served as the treasurer for Ensign’s reelection campaign and for his leadership fund, Battle Born PAC. According to people familiar with the matter, Ensign’s affair with Hampton took place between December 2007 and August 2008. FEC records show that she ended her affiliation with the two committees in early 2008.

Hampton is married to Douglas Hampton, who, according to Senate records, served as Ensign’s administrative assistant in his personal office from November 2006 to May 2008 — around the same time Cynthia Hampton left Ensign’s committees.

A call to the Hamptons’ Las Vegas home Tuesday night was not returned; in a statement, Ensign’s wife said the situation has “been difficult on both families.”

Douglas Hampton was paid about $101,000 in 2008 and $144,000 in 2007 as Ensign’s administrative assistant. But a financial disclosure form he filed in 2007 and 2008 – required for senior congressional staffers - showed only checking and savings account worth a maximum $30,000 combined.

A review of public records shows that the Hamptons in 2006 took out a $1.2 million mortgage on their Las Vegas home, at an interest rate of 8 percent.

Political insiders in Nevada and in the Senate said that Ensign decided to acknowledge the affair publicly after the husband of the woman he had been seeing asked him for a substantial sum of money.

Yes, this is sordid, but to the Republicans credit this is not a boy he had an affair with, nor was it an assignation in a public restroom.

I’m guessing Ensign will move out of the Republican leadership and scrap his prospective campaign for President. He also will not be representing conservative Republican values on TV anytime soon. His campaigning for the sanctity of marriage on the Senate floor is now suspect, to say the least, as is Ensign’s opposition to ethics investigations of former Republican Senator Larry Craig. Perhaps Mr. Ensign should have attended to the sanctity of his own marriage rather than worrying that gay marriage might destroy it. And perhaps there was a reason he didn’t want Larry Craig’s case investiagted. One thing for sure, we’ll not find such speculation in the national media, as they will treat this as a solemn mea culpa and move on.

Senator Ensign is a member of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, a sect founded by Aimee Semple McPherson back in the 20’s. Miss McPherson was famous for affairs, even one reputedly with Milton Berle, who had a fairly famous attribute. Her life is supposedly the inspiration for the book and film Elmer Gantry. Maybe Ensign will not be shunned within his faith community for a simple affair. Who knows? It is too early to tell whether Republicans will blame Ensign’s failure on Elmer Gantry or gay marriage.