Pony up

A couple of Republicans made the news today, oh boy. But these were not ones screeching about terrorism and how anyone who criticised them were Hitler-lovers. We'll no doubt be hearing much more of that with the elections looming but these were not the fun GOP stories of the day.

The fun began with Bill Frist (R-Tn), who apparently lied on his Tennessee state medical license renewal when he claimed he had fulfilled that state's 40 hr. medical education requirement. Perhaps Frist thought that secret basement cat-torturing exercises would qualify him for license renewal, but it would seem the doctor was wrong to assume this. A Frist spokesman -- just how many spokespeople one senator needs is still unclear -- assured us that Frist was "working to clear up the problem." I guess this is the sort of thing that happens when your accountant fills out papers that the doctor ought to be signing.

Oh, but the fun would not end there.

After being ousted from his position at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for political favouritism, among other transgressions of public office, Kenneth Tomlinson skulked back to his station overseeing the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe, chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, where he would continue the good fight by ensuring conservative values would be spread to the world without interference from meddling inspectors general. However, he has not been outside sight of the State Department, which has recently found that he has been using his taxpayer-funded office to conduct his own horse racing ring. Hilariously, one of Tomlinson's ponies was named Karzai, a name that certainly wouldn't lend much comfort to prospective betters; that horse has got to be lame.

I know, it's hard to believe that an upstanding Republican would abuse his government office and Tomlinson has said he has done nothing wrong and that the investigation was "inspired by partisan divisions." These are exactly the same things he said just before he was booted out of the CPB.