Hey, Shays! Young people face predation all the time. Would you sweep it under the rug?

Apparently you and your fellow Republicans would!

Just like the Catholic church you would condone repeated sexual predation, harassment at the least, and even online sex with underage (J. E. 17 in CA where age of consent is 18) males who are in a subordinate position.

As a survivor of attempted sexual predation at the age of 17, I can tell you it isn't a small thing.

Afterwards, I was afraid to meet people and had a delayed adult development. I married late and have been afraid to be with males alone. Horribly afraid. Yeah, in fact I don't do interviews, and, therefore, work at a low level job that keeps me outdoors, away from enclosed areas where I could be trapped. My family suffers from my inability to try for better jobs.

And I was lucky in that I wasn't raped, just harassed. Made to feel guilty because I wouldn't give in to an older guy's advances. My SO is patient and kind and helped me recover somewhat, but I'm not the person I was at 16 (who loved to meet people and go places) even so many years later.

But at least I didn't kill myself as some victims have done.

And your House leaders told everyone to keep the news of what Foley was doing away from them, and indeed the complaints were funneled back to Foley's office. Just don't tell anyone like the Speaker or other House leader because if they are told then they'd have to do something that might cost them one seat in Congress.

So page after page was the recipient of Foley's perversions. (I am straight, but I'm not saying that gayness or gay advances are perverted, just the way Foley did them, like he was assuming that the other wanted this contact and sexual "teaching". I've read the IMs sent to J.E. in CA. which are posted in entirety at Slate.com)

J. E. knew the score. Any GOP Representative is above you when you are trying to make in the Republican party, so you play along like you're interested in his aging body and ridiculous antics.

Other pages couldn't even handle the first contacts in which Foley pretended to just be interested in them as people (instead of the sexual targets he really wanted). That is why the pages with the more damning emails came out with them to stop Foley from doing this again.

And why did pages have to do this? Because the Republican House leadership made sure they didn't hear a whisper of Foley's predation so they didn't have to do anything and couldn't be pinned down to knowing anything.

Dennis Hastert should join the Catholic church. He'd make a fine Bishop to cover over the sins of some pedophile priest.

What Edward Kennedy did was to come to his extremity and fail big time one night. Driving a young woman home very late one night he went off a bridge. Kennedy did not go hide his head at that time, but made repeated attempts at diving down to save her.

Remember this was at a time before even wealthy people had cellular phones, and it was in the country away from houses and public phones that were the only life lines in such situations in those days. When the already tired young Congressional reached the absolute end of his strength he made a mistake from extreme exhaustion and most likely Miss Kopechne was already dead. But still he did, when too exhausted to think, make a terrible mistake.

But that was on one night, when he was too sick to think anymore. The next day he contacted authorities and subjected himself to hate and character assasination from the right wing politicos ever since.

Hastert and the other Republican House leaders and who knows how many other Republicans made a conscious decision for over ten years to subject young men to the disgusting advances of Mark Foley. And yes, sexual predation has killed in the past and will kill again in the future.

Some young men have taken their lives because of the actions of priests or other predators. Others have been killed by their attackers. No, Foley didn't kill anyone, but by saying this is no big deal Shays and other House GOP members are giving the green light to sexual predators. And who knows where that will end? Just like their public display of hatred for gays ended one night on a cold and lonely road for Matthew Shepard.

To keep your power, you will give a green light to predators everywhere?

As Riverbend said about US troops after the Abu Ghraib scandal emerged. "Just Go".

I hope the rump group of Republicans that is left in the House of Representatives when the rest of you are voted out, can learn how to honestly and sincerely present logical arguments and practical solutions that are good for the entire country. Instead what we see your party doing now is degrading the political discussion to play to hate groups, trying to favor (or at least fool) a bare majority of special interest groups, and hiding major ethics problems.