By Emily Geiger

Remember when I said it seemed like there was just something wrong with New York politicians? How it seemed that it was just one big orgy over there in Albany? Well, turns out I was right.

I mentioned Rudy, Eliot, Hill and Bill, and the new Gov. Patterson, but it turns out there is so much more to the story. It seems the statehouse in NY often resembles a frat house. They’ve had numerous sex scandals.

First, the legislators’ methods for choosing interns, up until a few years ago was, well, completely sick and wrong. According to the AP:

Up until just a few years ago, lawmakers would go "window shopping" for interns at the start of every legislative session. In a practice that went on for decades, the interns would be corraled in a Capitol newsstand so that legislators could pick their office help based on their looks, not their resumes.

The hanky-panky even has its own lexicon: There's the " Bear Mountain Compact," which says that what goes on north of the state park just outside New York City stays there. Lobbyists, staffers and reporters who seek to enhance their influence by bedding powerful lawmakers are known as "big game hunters." And the men who sleep with the women lawmakers are "boy toys."

The AP cites even more examples:

In Colorado, state Rep. Michael Garcia resigned this year after a female lobbyist accused him of sexual misconduct at a bar. He said he engaged in "consensual" but "inappropriate" conduct.

Other Albany cases include Michael Boxley, the chief lawyer for the speaker of the Assembly, who was led out of the Capitol in handcuffs in 2003 and later pleaded guilty to sexual misconduct after a legislative aide accused him of rape. In 2004, a 19-year-old intern said state Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV, a member of a legendary Harlem political family, gave her alcohol and took her to his motel room for sex. Powell, 42 at the time, said the sex was consensual; no charges were filed.

And in 1992, New York Chief Judge Sol Wachtler, a potential Republican candidate for governor, was charged with harassing a socialite and GOP fundraiser after she ended their affair. He admitted posing as a private detective to stalk the woman and mailing her menacing letters, including a threat to kidnap her teenage daughter. Wachtler served 13 months in prison.

Stories of mistresses followed Govs. Thomas Dewey, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Grover Cleveland .

In 1961, a photo appeared in the press of Gov. Nelson Rockefeller helping his wife down the roof of the governor's mansion as firefighters battled a fire. Mary Rockefeller was in robe and nightgown while the governor was smiling, dapper in a suit and rakish scarf. He had reportedly been out for a night on the town before he rushed back for a photo.

Some cases quietly lead to resignations and job transfers before they ever reach the Legislative Ethics Committee , which is criticized by good-government groups as too passive.

Even good ol’ Iowa isn’t immune to these shenanigans. I’ve heard stories that inappropriate contact between legislators and HIGH SCHOOL aged pages was quite common years ago. And for a more recent example of inappropriate relationships between legislators and staffers, one doesn’t even have to leave the Iowa blogosphere….

By Emily Geiger So, I just read over on Dave Price’s blog that one of the Representatives assigned to the conference committee to hammer out the smoking ban bill is Cedar Rapids Rep. Tyler Olson - D. Olson has been an outspoken advocate for a strict version of the ban.

The catch? Olson’s wife is overdue with their first child back in Cedar Rapids , and so he very likely will have to leave Des Moines sometime soon if he wants to be there for the big event.

I think this is a very interesting situation. I’ve said before that I think the House Dems are coming off as schizophrenic on this issue .  First, they pass a version of the ban which was rather strict, exempting only casinos. Then, when the Senate passes an even stricter version, the House backtracks and guts the whole thing by exempting restaurants and bars.

I’ve also said before that I think the House Dem leadership wanted to look like they were for the ban, without really actually being for the ban, and I think this committee assignment is a perfect example of that. They put Olson, a strong smoking ban supporter, on the Committee, which makes it look like maybe they support the ban, too. But they do so knowing about the situation with his wife, and so essentially knowing that Olson probably will be a total non-factor on the committee.

Just another example of the Dems efforts to be on both sides of every issue… (insert your own fence post joke here).

By Emily Geiger

There have been a few news stories lately about an incident in Michigan in which pro-life demonstrators examined “garbage” from an abortion clinic’s dumpster and found some interesting things.

The first, as you might have guessed, was “products of conception” (i.e. dead baby parts). This probably isn’t surprising, but the problem is that this is ILLEGAL. By law, these remains are supposed to be cremated, “ground to a pulp,” or buried in a cemetery. No surprise, this abortion clinic took the CHEAP way out and tossed human remains in the trash. I’ve always said that a huge part of the pro-abortion movement in this country is all about money. It’s an industry, so it’s no surprise they would take cost saving measures, even if that means desecrating human remains. Of course, they butcher live babies, so I don’t know why anyone is surprised that they disrespect the dead bodies afterwards.

The other thing these demonstrators found was intact, un-shredded medical records of patient who had had abortions, along with “identifying information” that would easily allow the reader to determine who had just volunteered to have their baby killed. As you may have guessed, this is also ILLEGAL. Apparently, the clinic was too cheap to even buy a shredder.

What is it going to take for people to realize that abortion is not the removal of excess tissue, but rather the torture, mutilation, and slaughter of innocent children? And when are people going to realize that “pro-choice” advocates are not out to help women? Their goal is to turn a profit, nothing more.

By Emily Geiger

So, it appears that even blind guys have wandering eyes . I mean, seriously, are there any politicians in New York who can keep it in their pants or have a normal relationship? Rudy, Eliot, Hillary (and of course, Bill). And now you’ve got newly-sworn-in New York Gov. David Patterson who has admitted to numerous affairs during a “rocky” time in his marriage.

Then you’ve got McGreevey just over the border in New Jersey … now there’s a class act. Ok , I don’t care if he’s right or she’s right , but come on, man, haven’t you embarrassed her enough??? You just proved that you don’t really care about your kid or your wife, and you never did. Mr. McGreevey, do us all a favor and go crawl back under the rock from whence you came.

By Emily Geiger

Just when you thought that that the Iowa Legislature couldn’t get any more stupid, State Sen. Tom Reilly comes along and wants to legalize hybrid cats . That’s right, Reilly wants to allow people to breed regular cats and small wild cats. (This seems like an even bigger waste of time when you consider that it was just last year that these hybrids were made illegal.)

DON’T YOU PEOPLE WATCH ANIMAL PLANET? See, there’s this little show called Animal Cops where animal rescue people have to catch (and often euthanize) the product of some red-neck’s evil animal breeding genius. The result of this breeding genius? The meanest, craziest, wildest animals I have ever seen. I remember some video that showed cats running laps around a room chasing each other… the catch? They were running sideways on the walls. Any person that came near them was attacked.

It’s no surprise that the local Animal Rescue League is against this legislation allowing these animals. They are the people who are going to have deal with the grown-up wild animals when they are no longer kittens and have become uncontrollable.

Here’s the interesting thing. The only pro-hybrid cat info I could find on the internet seemed to come from breeders. These breeders charge $2,000 to $10,000 PER CAT, so it’s no wonder they want this legalized. If you know how fast cats can breed, we’re talking serious money.

Once again, Dem-sponsored legislation comes down to money. So, now the question is, who is the hybrid cat breeder in Reilly’s district pushing for this legislation?

But perhaps the better question is, don’t we have enough cats waiting in shelters for homes? If you want a cat, just go visit the lovely town of Randolph . They have cats coming out their ears. Do we really need to be breeding and selling dangerous cats to our neighbors?  Here is a YouTube video of these cats.