One of the funniest things I have ever seen

As the Republicans gnash their teeth and feign shock over the Jefferson scandal, I thought it would be in their best interest if they were reminded of Tom Delay.

On September 8, 2005, a federal grand jury indicted TRMPAC, which allegedly accepted an illegal political contribution of $100,000 from the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care and the Texas Association of Business, on four charges, including unlawful political advertising, unlawful contributions to a political committee and unlawful expenditures such as those to a graphics company and political candidates.

On September 28, 2005, a Travis County grand jury operating under Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle indicted DeLay for conspiring to violate Texas state election law stemming from issues dealing with his involvement in TRMPAC. Texas law prohibits corporate contributions in state legislative races. The indictment charged that TRMPAC accepted corporate contributions, laundered the money through the Republican National Committee, and directed it to favored Republican candidates in Texas.

On September 30, 2005, in response to a motion to dismiss his initial indictment, Earle sought a second indictment of DeLay from a second grand jury. That jury refused to indict. On October 3, 2005, Earle sought and received a new indictment of DeLay from a third grand jury in Austin on charges of conspiracy and money laundering. The next day, in a written statement, Earle publicly admitted that he had presented the case to three grand juries, and that one of the three had refused to indict DeLay. Earle said that he had presented the new money-laundering charge to another grand jury because the previous grand jury had expired. DeLay's lawyers said that Earle should not have waited to make the statement until after 5 P.M. that day. DeLay's attorneys later filed a motion in court to have the latest indictment thrown out, charging that Earle had coerced the grand jury and that he had illegally discussed grand jury information and had encouraged others to do the same.

Also on October 3, DeLay's lawyers filed a motion to throw out the charge of conspiracy to violate election law as fraudulent, claiming it was a violation of the U.S. Constitution's ban on ex-post facto applications of law. DeLay's lawyers claim that, in 2002, the crime of conspiracy did not apply to Texas election law. However, George Dix, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin, said that charges of criminal conspiracy could legally be applied to any felony (including violation of election law) committed prior to the 2003 law. He characterized the 2003 change cited by DeLay's lawyers as a clarification of existing law, saying, "It isn't unheard of–the Legislature passing a law to make clear what the law is."

Because the Texas Penal Code defines laundered money only as money gained as the "proceeds of criminal activity", DeLay's lawyers maintain that misuse of corporate donations, even if it occurred, could not constitute money laundering.

On October 19, 2005, a Texas court issued a warrant for DeLay's arrest. DeLay surrendered at the Harris County, Texas jail the next day, was booked, was photographed, was fingerprinted, and posted a $10,000 bond. He appeared in court on October 21, 2005.

On November 3, 2005 Pat Priest, a "semi-retired" judge, was chosen to preside over the case. On November 22, 2005 DeLay filed a motion to dismiss the charges against him. On December 5, 2005 Judge Priest dismissed one count, conspiracy to violate election law, but let stand two counts alleging money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. On April 19, 2006, the Texas Third Court of Appeals upheld the decision. On May 19 prosecutors filed an appeal to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's highest criminal court, to reinstate the conspiracy indictment.

Apparently, Tom Delay set up his own blog a while ago, and it lasted for a little over an hour before he shut it down because he didn't like the comments posted. Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww...

Welcome to my blog

Welcome to TomDeLay.com and thank you for visiting my new blog. Over the course of my political life I have learned many things, one of which is that not all good ideas come from Washington, D.C.. In fact I think that most of the best ideas come from concerned citizens from all over The United States.

Unfortunately, many D.C. insiders are simply incapable of looking outside the capital beltway for fresh opinions and new approaches that might otherwise help our nation.

I have created this blog in order to provide Americans with a new meeting place where such opinions and viewpoints might be better shared, discussed and debated; a place where conservative and traditionalist Americans might speak truth to power and to one another.

In all honesty, I did not fully realize the impact or potential of the blogosphere until very recently, when Red State gave me the opportunity to post some of my observations in the wake of the recent midterm elections. The response I received was overwhelming, and I would like to again thank the fine people at that site.

This experience brought me to the immediate realization that I needed to become involved in the blogosphere. TomDelay.com is the culmination of my new found understanding.

I am both extremely excited and energized by this opportunity to meet with you here, in the online marketplace of ideas. I look forward to working in collaboration not competition with all those who already use blogs as a way to fight against and present an alternative to institutionalized liberal media bias.

I hope that you will return often. Thanks again.

You simply MUST do yourselves a favor and take a look at all of the comments posted, which is why the blog was immediately shut down. Again, a note to Republicans; we're just better at this than you are. Sorry. But hey-you're better at stealing elections, so in actuality, you win.