Bomb Throwing Pacifist

An interesting little tidbit from MSN crossed by desk this afternoon, and although I am busy trying to stay on top of things here at the office, some incidents of wingnut imbecility are so scandously outrageous, they get my hackles up quicker than muttering "ya know...I really don't think that John Paul II was all that great" at a Terri Schiavo vigil (granted, there would only be 40 or 50 people there tops, but still...the measure of their anger would give them superhuman strength and would act as a force multiply of at least an order or two). In any case, for your viewing pleasure, I prsent to you another one of my favorite Boehners.

House majority leader's landlord is a lobbyist
Boehner rents from representative of firms that had issues before him

Alex Wong / AP file
Updated: 1:30 p.m. ET Feb. 8, 2006
WASHINGTON - House Majority Leader John Boehner rents a basement apartment from a lobbyist whose clients had an interest in legislation overseen or sponsored by Boehner, according to lobbying records.

Holy twice-baked corruption lasagna, Batman! You mean to tell me that after he narrowly defeated Tom Delay's second in command in the race for the House leadership position, running on a "clean up the G.O.P" platform, that Representative Boehner actually rents an appartmant from a lobbyist whose clients had interests in key bits of GOP legislation? Oh the horror! Oh the humanity! Who could ever have seen it coming? (Well, of course you and I could, but try telling that to the crosseyed genetic rejects in places like Randolph, Utah (pop. 480) ). Well, we know exactly what good ol' Tom Delay would do to an underperformer like that, don't we?

“It is conceivable that John Milne may have lobbied Boehner on a few occasions over the years, but we are not aware of any specific instances of it, and we are certain no lobbying has taken place during the time in which John Boehner has been renting the property,” Seymour said.

"While it is conceivable that Representative Boehner might have accepted bribes in an influence scandal related to the fact that his landlord had clients who had a vested interest in knowing which way he would vote on certain key bits of legislation, we are confident that we can plausibly deny all knowledge of such transactions, if in fact they ever did happen," White house press secretary Scott McClelland said early Thursday morning.

Lobbying records show that he represented Buca di Beppo and Parasole Restaurant Holdings Inc. — both restaurant companies — to lobby on the minimum wage, an issue handled by the Education and the Workforce Committee chaired by Boehner. The restaurant industry has opposed increases in the minimum wage, which has not risen since 1997.

Ok to be honest, I think this is the part that pisses me off the most. Not only is the restauraunt industry one of the lowest-paying industries in the field ($2.13 minimum wage, if I remember correctly from my days slinging pasta), but they are actually fighting any attempts to raise it? I mean, no offense, but if I knew that my bosses were actively lobbying and spending God knows how many hundreds of thousands of dollars to people like Boehner to make sure legislation to increase my wages never made it to a vote, you can bet your ass they'd be finding more than just hairs in their food. But oh well. We all know what good ol' Tom Delay would say to something one of the little people like me might dare articulate...

"Don't be wise, bubble eyes, or I'll knock you down to peanut size, nyuk, nyuk, nyuk."