Down goes Delay

So uber-powerful House of Representatives leader Tom Delay has been indicted by a grand jury on charges of criminal conspiracy. Delay epitomizes the slimy depths that the Republican Party has sunk to in its 11 year control of the House and it's about time that someone - thank you Texas prosecutor Ronnie Earl - had the guts to stand up to this sleaze bag. He, of course, proclaims his innocence; labelling Earl "an unabashed partisan zealot" engaging in "personal revenge," though Earl has, in his 29 years as prosecutor, gone after far more Democrats (12) than Republicans (4).
Delay was the prime motivator of the Clinton impeachment process, the unconstitutional intervention of the Federal government in the Terri Schiavo affair, the unprededented three hour long vote call (that usually lasts 15 minutes) needed to pass the unaffordable and subsidies-for-big-pharmaceutical-companies ridden Medicaid Senior Drug Benefit and the pre-last election gerrymandering of the Texas House districts that not surprisingly gave the Republicans 6 more seats in that election (among other things). His initial impetus for getting into politics, having used to run an extermination business in Houston, was a fervent desire for government de-regulation; specifically aimed at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for having (horror of horrors!), in the seventies, banned Mirex: a probable carcinogen that becomes increasingly concentrated as it moves up the food chain, is highly toxic to marine crustaceans and was then being discovered in the breast milk of mother's in the Southeastern states where it was used to fight fire ants. Yes, this is the man who has been in effective control of the House since Newt Gingrich's resignation as Speaker in 1998, which explains a great deal what's gone wrong with the legislative branch of the U.S. government of late.
For a great discussion of Delay's career, check out NPR's discussion with Texas journalist Lou Dubose at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4052979