Character, Integrity, Tolerance, and the Rule of Conscience

First they came for the honest cabinet officials,
and I did not speak out, because I was not a cabinet official.

Then they came for the ethical Republican Congressmen,
and I did not speak out, because I was not a Congressman.

Then they came for the children's TV show producers, and I did not speak out, because I was not a cartoon rabbit.

Then they came for me...
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In America's ideal of freedom, the public interest depends on private character, on integrity and tolerance toward others and the rule of conscience in our own lives. -- George W. Bush, Second Inaugural Address

Shortly before President Bush spoke those words, Tom DeLay moved to eliminate even the minute remaining possibility that the House Ethics Committee might make a peep about his increasingly corrupt behavior.

House Republican leaders tightened their control over the ethics committee yesterday by ousting its independent-minded chairman, appointing a replacement who is close to them and adding two new members who donated to the legal defense fund of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.).

Republican officials have spent months taking steps to ensure DeLay's political survival in case he is indicted by a Texas grand jury investigating political fundraising, and House leadership aides said they needed to have the ethics committee controlled by lawmakers they can trust.

Today we learn that the Department of Education "disinvited" a PBS program producer to speak at a children's television conference, after complaining about an episode of "Postcards from Buster."

"Postcards from Buster" is about a cartoon rabbit who travels to different places, meets real people there, and learns little bits about the various things people do in different places. In Park City, Utah, Buster visited the Utah Olympic Park, met a ski jumper, and learned about ice skating. Sadly for producer Carol Greenwald, when Buster went to Vermont, he met a young girl and went to learn about making maple syrup. In the process, the girl introduced Buster to "my mom and Gillian," and the family sat down to dinner.

The new Secretary of Education, incensed by the passing background depiction of a relationship that is legally formalized in the State of Vermont, has asked PBS to return money used to produce the episode.

In other news, Rumsfeld says he offered to resign, but George said no.