So called "Serious" People in the Beltway have given this country George Bush, Dick Cheney, the invasion of Iraq, ongoing support for the four-year occupation with no end in sight, a public that overwhelmingly believed that Saddam planned the 9/11 attacks, a complete assault on our Constitution with barely a peep of protest, a chronically lawbreaking government with no consequences, virtually absolute government secrecy, the collapse of America's moral standing around the world, and a new war with Iran that is just a small provocation away. Beltway Seriousness, know thee by the fruits you bear.

Three people were arrested in the Senate visitor’s gallery Thursday for disrupting the chamber’s morning prayer, led for the first time by a Hindu clergyman.

As Rajan Zed, director of interfaith relations at a Hindu temple in Nevada, began to lead the brief prayer, two women and one man shouted, “This is an abomination,” according to the Associated Press.

Capitol Police Sergeant Kimberly Schneider tells CNN that the three were arrested in the Senate visitors’ gallery for “disruption of Congress.”

While their religion is not clear, one of the protesters told the Associated Press they were “Christians and patriots.”

On their Web site this week, the American Family Association criticized allowing a Hindu clergyman to deliver the prayer and urged supporters to call senators to ask the event be canceled.

But Tim Wildmon, the president of the American Family Association, told CNN he did not know the names of the people arrested, and said, “We didn’t organize or encourage anything like that.”

“We would not ever encourage shouting in the gallery like that, we asked people to contact their senators to show their disapproval,” he added.

Shortly after the incident, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on the floor, “If people have any misunderstanding about Indians and Hindus, all they have to do is think of Gandhi… who gave his life for peace.”

It was the first time the daily prayer that opens Senate proceedings was said by a Hindu chaplain.

Capitol police said two women and one man were arrested and charged with causing a disruption in the public gallery of the Senate. The three started shouting when guest Chaplain Rajan Zed, a Hindu from Nevada, began his prayer.

Religious figures from various faiths have said the prayer, which is normally recited by a Christian chaplain.

Barry Lynn, executive director of religious watchdog group Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said the protest showed the intolerance of the "religious right."

"I don't think the Senate should open with prayers, but if it's going to happen, the invocations ought to reflect the diversity of the American people," Lynn said in a statement.

Another Republican can’t keep his zipper zipped -
Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t much care what Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) does in his personal life. What he does in his bedroom is his business. But these aren’t quite normal circumstances.... The reason this is noteworthy has very little to do with a powerful politician carrying on extra-marital affairs, and everything to do with Vitter holding himself out as a virtuous family man, entitled to lecture those he deems immoral about “family values.” Stupidity is one thing; hypocrisy is another.

People like Libby, Bush, Cheney and most other right-wingers don't go to prison and they don't go to the battlefield to shed blood. They are not answerable to anyone for anything, even treason. They are above the law. Did you hear that Paris? Eat your heart out. Join the GOP and you will get a "get out of jail free pass"

If only Karla Faye Tucker had been a right-winger maybe "w" would have commuted her sentence. At least she was contrite and regretful for her crimes.

The political elite have a way of taking care of themselves. Just ask convicted felon, Libby Lewis. Cronyism anyone? Just one of over a thousand pardons and commutations "w" has given to his pals. Bush didn't even follow his own sentencing and pardoning guidelines for Libby. The full pardon will come in the not so distant future. If you are one of the right-wing choosen few there is nothing anyone can do to you just like all the Iran-Contra felons that were pardoned by Bush I for the crimes they committed with Reagan. Typical right-winger hypocrisy.

What a short memory most right-wingers have. In the last six years they have dutifully protected their political sugar daddy, “George w” against all manner of criticism and accountability but now that his policies are coming home to roost they want to disclaim him. Any objective person could see years ago that he was the antithesis of a small government conservative. He has created a government bureaucracy and budget that would even cause Ted Kennedy to blush. He and Cheney ignore the foundations of the U.S. Constitution and are practicing unitary rule with no limits or oversight by any other supposedly equal branch of government. They have started an unprovoked and illegal war, ignored habeous corpus, stripped any independence from all government agencies, generated endless spending and debt, created huge government entitlement programs and thumbed their noses at anyone who dares to challenge them. Can you imagine if Clinton had tried to do any of these things while he was in office? But of course Clinton answered to a Republican Congress and there were checks and balances. Not until this year has Bush had any part of government not under his direct control. He rubber stamped every busted budget that his Republican Congress gave him and yet complains that spending is out of control. He created a new co-president position and Cheney is accountable to no one. He is more liberal in his actions than anyone since FDR. As any liberal dictator would do he vowed to see all his immigration critics at the signing of his new amnesty for alien’s bill but that hasn’t turned out so well for him. As he did with his prescription and energy bills he tried bribing as many republican congressmen as he could to get the bill pasted but his paranoid xenophobic ditto head supporters nixed the deal. Immigration is a hypocritical issue. People want cheap fruit, vegetables, lawn care, housekeeping and all other manner of grunt work but they don’t want to acknowledge those who do it. If U.S. citizens and employers were imprisoned for hiring illegal’s there would be no problem but we want it both ways and that is where reality meets “w” in the crosshairs. He can approve Paris Hilton and tomato-pickers being imprisoned but Libby and Bin Laden are still free. Where is the outrage?