"Eventually, forgiveness cannot be accessed simply because you want to forgive. The essence of forgiveness is transcendent -- it lies in a domain of consciousness where the wound doesn't exist and the wrong never occurred. Whenever we forgive our children and other loved ones, we do so by transcending the normal responses of blame and judgment. To find a larger sense of forgiveness, you have to undertake a journey that leads to this transcendent place inside yourself. Sadly, few people begin the journey with enough knowledge and guidance to arrive at the goal. As Edwards will discover, it's an unforgiving world. But one must be deeply grateful that transcendent forgiveness is real. After all, the day may come when we need it ourselves for our own transgressions." ~Deepak Chopra

This is a beautiful closure. When I cannot seem to forgive, I pray and ask for help to forgive, even tho the actual work is done within me, as I just heard "LOVE" :-) So I pray and pray for my oppressors, as well as my perceived enemies. Who knows, as I could be praying for myself :-) which is really the truth at the highest level, like Deepak says.

Thank you Deepak!

Love, Char

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjHJ_snG3RI&feature=related

New websites looking good deepak

Aloha Deepak and Everyone

There are two calls for love and one is from fear. It is a self-correcting universe. We are in nirvana.. though sometimes it feels like nursery school. Free will is only a gift when you return it. love patty

Excellent Dr. Chopra!

peace

One of my favorite examples of forgiveness is in a scene from Mind the Gap.

A man comes to NY from Arizona to visit his son and heal a wound with his ex-wife resulting from his indiscretion.

He pleads for her forgiveness. She's shaking she's so angry. He again asks her to forgive him. At some point she has to yield to love. Not for him. But for herself.

Having said all that, I believe the damage Edwards did far was worse than Clinton did if only because it happened directly in the long shadow of Clinton's sin, revealing in Edwards a sort of hollow moral amnesia and a strange lack of corrective judgment.

Gore lost (and the environment lost) because Clinton lacked self-discipline. Plain and simple.

Obama, "a[nother] junior senator suddenly thrust into the spotlight" will likewise probably lose now under the identical circumstances.

And in the face of what we're all confronted with as a species on a planet that is now straining under a consumptive load, I'm going to have to figure out if I'm capable of forgiveness now.

Because these clowns are killing us.

(Maybe these guys are secretly fantasizing that theirs will be the last human orgasm ever. Maybe we're really that ill.)

"You who want peace can find it only by complete forgivenesss" ~ A Course In Miracles Quote

Aloha Deepak and Everyone

With John Edwards indiscretion.. why are we not talking about the difference between Love/service vs. passion/unrequited love.

In working in Health Care I witnessed a man in his sixties who had taken viagra and because he was physically in good condition he lived. He was completely immobile, no longer could he speak or communicate at all. The wife was told that most of the men died and because women are embarrassed they don't come forward. And on Coast to Coast a doctor acknowledged if someone came to him with an erection after four hours, he didn't know what he would do.. tell him a story?

When Clinton had oral sex with the intern, no one mentioned that females are at risk of aids from oral sex. With the aids crisis I amazed this was never brought out.

With the Tao every crisis has an opportunity.. why doesn't the newspapers pick up these platforms to help educate the community? And Deepak why don't you take these infidelities to a deeper level? Just like the insane story of Jesus being born to a virgin. I read that at the time of Jesus birth, any woman bearing a child was considered a virgin. After the birth she was then married. Sounds logical. Marriage is a man made law to protect the children.

love patty

oops that is men who take viagra, one of the side effects is a stroke. And it happens. love patty

Forgiving the children/wife is the highest and nearest to your ultimate goal - of freedom, moksha.

Dear Sir,

You are truly a compassionate individual. I've read your books and seen your videos. They were astonishingly relevant.

I attended Rishi Valley School. Krishnamurti's philosophy has profoundly altered my perception and the manner in which I confront challenges in life. A positive attitude in life really helps.

I'm in India these days. Interning with a magazine(www.tehelka.com). Every week we run a section where eminent authors speak about their reading interest. Its just a few questions. For our next issue I really wanted your opinion on books. They told me not to fly high!! I did see your schedule and it looks like you are going to be terribly busy. But even if you email me your answers I would be honored. Speechless in fact.

I've borrowed heavily from your philosophy and this piece is very insightful. Forgiveness is not contrived. It comes from our heart. You put it so succinctly and so well. Have a great day sir.

Yours Thankfully,
Ishaan Saxena

"The devout, like the rest of us, are capable of holding two contradictory ideas at the same time."

Brava! Brava!!

"The essence of forgiveness is transcendent -- it lies in a domain of consciousness where the wound doesn't exist and the wrong never occurred."
~~Deepak

"Forgiving the children/wife is the highest and nearest to your ultimate goal - of freedom, moksha."
~~Harb

Amen to these.

To children/wife, I would add husband, parents, siblings, lovers and any you give your heart to, oneself being very near the top of the list.

I can forgive a stranger much easier than one who has my heart.

Good morning, Deepak,
To get to the root of dysfunction and disharmony one must go deep to the core. External male and female relationship is the result of inner relationship.

I had a talk with my granddaughter this weekend about "boys". No, not the birds and bees talk but one that speaks of inner male and female. How thoughts/logic embrace feelings/emotion and that this relationship must be known before one has a boyfriend. It won't be the last time she hears this from me. As she ages it will take on new meaning. Later in the day she was telling me how she had asked a boy at school to be her boyfriend and that his parents didn't want him to have a girlfriend. I reminded her about the talk we had...and she said "that was before the talk." I will be checking in with her.

Men and women don't own each other. "Til death do us part" mentality does not take into account spiritual evolution. If two people don't evolve as individuals and as a couple it seems natural that one would seek another partner that provides this sustenance. Sadly, most people are not aware of spiritual evolution within themselves and with another person.

I saw a couple on Oprah the other day who had an "open" marriage. She had a boyfriend and her husband was fine with it. And she was okay with him having a relationship outside the marriage. They were totally honest with each other. How refreshing! The couple was mature and genuine. The woman said it wasn't sex that met her needs in the "boyfriend" relationship but it was his love. It reminded me how she was nourished from another angle of color and sound. This is a generous and mature love that seems to be working for them. This couple doesn't need to "forgive" one another because they are honest and clear within themselves and with one another.

Hearts are broken when relationships survive on the surface of ego mentality. It's the type of "news" the gets press. (What lens is that?) Relationships thrive when souls radiate from the core. What does that look like? I doubt there are external rules. I am certain there is a sense of harmony and well being for all involved. An "eco" kind of love. What is the root meaning of "eco?"

Trish~

"The essence of forgiveness is transcendent -- it lies in a domain of consciousness where the wound doesn't exist and the wrong never occurred."

I second this opinion.

dear Deepak,
To forgive and be forgiven
is very much in the realm
of being human.
It is a gift and blessing,
which can help bring understanding and healing
to all our relationships,
even to our Mother Earth.
Love,
~ Kate

Some thoughts from the Infinite Player Line of Thought

Forgiveness is a selfish act because we first do it to benefit our self, anger and hate will rot the gut and the mind and impede your success and harmony. That forgiveness also tends to benefit the violator is a side benefit. If we forgive and extend love to the violator then we heal two.

When we forgive it stops a demon in it’s tracks that may have been passed down through the centuries from host to host, having no existence of it’s own, multiplying itself. Many demons are created during war. Casting a demon into the pit for eternity with forgiveness is quite an accomplishment.

It makes it easier to forgive when we understand we were all born innocent into a world of fiction. Conditioned with erroneous beliefs and living in a system plagued by ignorance that rewards those that embrace the fictions, where love is conditional upon your behavior and your ability to conform. So we see a being molded by it’s environment and the systems of society and trapped in the illusions of the world.

It makes it easier to forgive when we realize that it was not so much an attack on you as it was an attack on an illusion in their mind. Every transgression and violation is the result of an illusion, an injustice born as a result of a fiction.

So if you want to target something, don’t target the being behind the violation target the fictions and ignorance of the world, bring the truth to light that will dissolve them, be the love that heals the wounds inflicted by the ego which can be a horrible beast when cut off from love and spirit the only things that can tame it.

And someday in the future the roles might be reversed and if you forgive now so might you might be forgiven in the future.

Embrace and transform your enemy, seek to eliminate the fear in their mind and yours.

And like Char said, one is really forgiving their own self, a knowing which comes from self realization where as Deepak mentioned “the wound doesn't exist and the wrong never occurred.”

There are some deeper truths we could venture into, perhaps later at the perfect time in our evoutionary path.

I really liked your post, Richard Thomas. A lot.

As I read the first part, an image from The Matrix kept popping into my mind. Do you remember the part when ordinary people would suddenly morph into Agent Smith?

Maybe Agent Smith is the egoic response, manifesting the same in all of us who are unconscious; however, resisting the temptation to conform to its occupying shape "stops a demon in it’s tracks that may have been passed down through the centuries from host to host, having no existence of it’s own, multiplying itself," to quote you.

I have a bit of Agent Smith in myself. Always at the worst possible time.

Maybe the thought I keep having that political characters can solve our global problems is as much a myth as the matrix was. Maybe I go to sleep everytime I get pulled into the red versus blue drama.

Perhaps the BIG message is that only we can do it.
Perhaps handing my power over to these bit players on the political stage is the core of my problem.

I'm open to changing, being change.

Nonetheless, I do struggle with disappointment at times when someone says what they're about and then does something completely contradictory to it.

Unfortunately, sexual misbehaviour has become an accepted lifestyle within the Democratic party it would appear. Recently, on a talkshow Pat Buchanan pointed out that an affair is not likely to be a problem for a candidate since probably all the former democratic presidents have had some experience in the sin known as adultery. It has not prevented them from doing awesome performances in their duties as president, but when finally revealed, it has affected the public's acceptance of them.

The Republicans likewise have had their share of experience in that same problem, but notably in Watergate it was noted that the only commandment that Nixon had not broken was the sixth.

Whether a spouse should forgive a husband publicly as many have had the humiliation of having to do is debatable. For the public good, she looks like a martyr to an uncaring and indifferent husband. Especially in the case of Elizabeth Edwards. She stood by her man, bathing in the sympathy of public opinion for her being a victim of not only cancer, but her husband's infidelity.

Should she forgive him? Especially as she contemplates death and the future of her children. Probably for her own peace of mind and conscience, she must do for herself the act of understanding why a spouse who is so subjected to so many temptations could not withstand this one.

I honestly doubt that this is not his only transgression and affair, but the timeliness of it is what is disturbing to me. He had been the nominee of the party when he was selected as John Kerry's running mate, and had the hopes of becoming the nominee of the party for the candidacy of the president. Why would he succumb to such an obvious threat to his future unless he subconsciously realized that it might affect his popularity and thus electability? It is mindboggling to understand why it is that he acted so thoughtlessly and dangerously, and little matters what his wife or electorate might think about it.

Despite all the protestations, most Americans want their candidates to lead decent lives, to obey the laws, to set examples of goodness, and so this rash of adulterous characters on the stage of life in America is especially disconcerting to me. Our children need better role models than the constant parade of Oh My God, I have sinned. Forgive me. and cries of extreme denial of the good time they had had in so doing. This has become a national disgrace!

Good men deserve to be the leaders of this nation and should attempt to climb their way into power too.

#20 Arizona

BULL Crap

"sexual misbehaviour has become an accepted lifestyle within the Democratic party"

Sexual behavior or misbehavior is not Democratic party behavior at all. It's individual behavior.

Excuse me Arizonasunset,

"probably all the former democratic presidents have had some experience in the sin known as adultery"

but do you know something about about Jimmy Carter that the rest of us don't? Unless you do, then let's reconsider that sentence.

"Whether a spouse should forgive a husband publicly as many have had the humiliation of having to do is debatable...

Should she forgive him? ..."

Arizonasunset,

It's nobody's business but Elizabeth's whether she forgives him or not.

That's a decision between Elizabeth and John. I think however, that the problem people are having about this whole John Affair, is that he lied, probably father a child, doing so while running for president, and have probably used campaign funds to pay his mistress.

Having an affair and lying about it isn't really that bad an issue for most people as they will say it's between him and his family.

Doing so, thinking he won't get caught, and running for president is a problem (creditability and all) AND worst of all, using people's hard earn donations for his presidency to fund this escapade....well, big problem, I think.

Arizonasunset,

Bush Sr. had his Jennifer in the State Dept. and several other women in adultery. Open secret.

Who knows what Jeff Gannon's relationship inside the White House was.

Oh, and don't you know about George W. Bush's infidelities.......the female athlete many years ago.......maybe even his friend .......who he sent to be Ambassador to Poland......

And Cheney's mistress.....who got to be Ambassador to Switzerland........

You haven't done your homework!!

Democrats are better Christians...they don't throw the first stones.

Jesus hated hypocrisy more than he hated any other trait or action.

PS: Don't even bring up the subject of McCain having affair with young Cindy when he was still married to his crippled ex-wife. Or Newt Grinch sending divorce papers when his wife was on the hospital bed.

Arizona sinsex,

She already said she forgave him.

Hence, it's over and none of your business.

This is the worst sort of parsing you can do.

IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS.

Shut the f*** up about it already.

Arizona,

Yes..... Nixon's sins were far less problematic. After all, he only escalated the Vietnam war and spied on political enemies, among other things. Bill Clinton gets a blowjob in the oval office (I somehow doubt he was the first) and suddenly Democrats are the party of adultery. Right.

Sexual misbehavior is accepted within the Democratic Party? You must be kidding? We've crucified our own rising stars (McGreevey, Spitzer, Edwards and yes, Clinton) over their adulterous antics (I suppose McGreevey should get a pass, since having sex with another man may not constitute adultery in NJ).

What did Kolbe get for revealing he was gay after voting in support of DOMA? Reelected. Senator Craig still serves. Senator Vitter? Not a peep. Noted adulterer John McCain is the Republican nominee.

We're the party that accepts sexual misbehavior? Try selling that line to Gary Hart.

Arizona's post is silly and ignores the more serious issue.

Throwing stones is throwing stones

We all do it

Arizona,

"Whether a spouse should forgive a husband publicly as many have had the humiliation of having to do is debatable...

Should she forgive him? ..."

It doesn't make a squat bit of difference if we think she SHOULD forgive him or not, or if we think WE would forgive him or not (if we were in that situation).

She has already made the decision and it's HER decision to make, not ours.

There is no use discussing it. There's no value in dissecting it or speculating about it.

It is what it is and it is none of our business.

None. Of. Anyone's. Business.

Wouldn't be their role to decide if it was you.

Isn't your role to even speculate on how anyone else should feel or think in their marriage.

Sheesh.

rolls, rolls
please pass the rolls?

It none of our business.

If it is our business, its my business to know what you are doing in bed...

no thanks.

What really disturbs me is that when Edwards was presenting a Progressive/Populist message in the primaries, no media would give him the time of day. Now, they can't get enough of him.

I had a co-worker ask me about his affair yesterday, and the first thing she asked about it was, "When did he run for President anyway"?

Disgraceful.

John (#22) is being very polite to you Arizona.

I, on the other hand, think you're full of sh*t.

That's the most polite thing I can think of to say about your comment.

"please pass the rolls?" -- MiHi

How about a Poll?

"Unfortunately, sexual misbehaviour has become an accepted lifestyle within the Democratic party it would appear." -- Arizona Sh*thead

a. Fail?
b. Epic fail?

#32 b. Epic fail

Another Fine Story of Republican "Family Values"

In 1979, John McCain was in Hawaii, attending a military reception. While there, he met a young, blonde former cheerleader from Phoenix named Cindy Hensley.

McCain was immediately dazzled and spent the event chatting her up.

"She was lovely, intelligent and charming, 17 years my junior but poised and confident," McCain wrote in his 2002 book, Worth the Fighting For. "I monopolized her attention the entire time, taking care to prevent anyone else from intruding on our conversation. When it came time to leave the party, I persuaded her to join me for drinks at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. By the evening's end, I was in love."

McCain recalls that both he and Cindy initially lied to each other about their ages. McCain made himself a little younger, and Cindy made herself a little older. They found out their real ages when the local paper published them. McCain was 43, Cindy 25.

After a whirlwind courtship, John asked Cindy to marry him. But there were some "details" to clear out of the way. McCain needed a divorce from Carol, his wife of 14 years."

McCain's first wife Carol not only waited 5 1/2 years for her husband to return from Vietnam, but she also suffered a terrible auto accident during that period, which broke both her legs and one arm and ruptured her spleen. She nearly lost her left leg, and surgeries left her four inches shorter than she was before the accident.

After McCain's dramatic homecoming from Vietnam, the couple grew apart. Their marriage began disintegrating while McCain was stationed in Jacksonville. McCain has admitted to having extramarital affairs.

In February 1980, less than a year after he met Cindy, McCain petitioned a Florida court to dissolve his marriage to Carol, calling the union "irretrievably broken.

In April 1980, the judge entered a default judgment and declared the marriage dissolved. A month later, McCain married Cindy in Phoenix.

As heiress to her father's stake in Hensley & Co. of Phoenix, Cindy McCain is an executive whose worth may exceed $100 million. Her beer earnings have afforded the GOP presidential nominee a wealthy lifestyle with a private jet and vacation homes at his disposal.

In 1994, Cindy McCain granted interviews to a TV station & 3 newspapers in Arizona, in which she talked about her addiction to Percocet and Vicodin. She claimed that her addiction came about after painful back and knee problems and was exacerbated by the stress of the Keating Five banking scandal that involved John McCain.

To make matters worse, Cindy McCain admitted, she had stolen the drugs from the American Voluntary Medical Team, her own charity, and had been investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

And that, Ladies & Gentlemen, is just the stuff we KNOW about.

Here are links to articles where you can find more information about the facts mentioned:

John McCain's broken marriage and fractured Reagan friendship

www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-divorce11-2008jul11,0,6546861.story

The wife that John McCain callously left behind.

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1024927/The-wife-John-McCain-callously-left-behind.html

How Cindy McCain was outed for drug addiction

www.salon.com/news/feature/1999/10/18/drugs

Wife's Fortune, Connections Boost John McCain

www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/03/politics/main3991700.shtml

John McCain "Arizona: The Early Years"

www.azcentral.com/news/specials/mccain/articles/0301mccainbio-chapter5.html

Hey Irvine, is there a "monumental epic fail" option?

Just to round it out.

At least dems have sex with willing ADULTS. If you're so interested in the "children," maybe you should make sure they are safe from the pathetic epidemic of winger pedophilia. Now there's some right-to-life values you can hang your hat on, my oh-so-concerned Arizona.

This ott barrage of resentment towards arizonasunset leads me to wonder about the common root connection. I'm allowed to wonder, am I?
Mewonder that thou doest protest too much.

Chris, you need to add that McCain applied for a marriage license to marry Cindy BEFORE his divorce was final. The Reagans disowned him and took his ex wife, and children, in and gave her a job with his presidential campaign and later in his white house when McCain left because he left her with no job prospects. At that point, only due to the Reagans, John and Cindy got up off of some funds and paid her to not only keep her mouth shut but to appease the Reagans. These are bored rich folks who only want more and more and more. The poor moronic Republicans who support him? Deserve what they get.

Also the Texas billionaire Ross Perot help Carol and her children.

Ask Ross what he thinks of McCain:

"But Ross Perot, who paid her medical bills all those years ago, now believes that both Carol McCain and the American people have been taken in by a man who is unusually slick and cruel – even by the standards of modern politics.

‘McCain is the classic opportunist. He’s always reaching for attention and glory,’ he said.

‘After he came home, Carol walked with a limp. So he threw her over for a poster girl with big money from Arizona. And the rest is history.’"

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1024927/The-wife-John-McCain-callously-left-behind.html

So, let's see if I get this right. Carol and John McCain were friends of Ronald and Nancy Reagan. The adultery (with others besides Cindy) and cold way that John McCain pushed aside the wife that faced her own battles of over 20 surgeries and re-learning to walk for the young rich Cindy, caused a fracture between McCain and the Reagans.

If Ronald Reagan, who knew him well, and lost respect for him found him to be morally lacking--how CAN the current republican party endorse him? The morality party has gone bankrupt!

Cindy's battle with drug addiction is not the problem I have--She stole drugs from her own charity and she never served a day in prison. Husband and Daddy saw to that. Who is the elitist? Only the really rich get this special justice reserved for only them--the rest of us would still be in jail.

P.S. McCain also broke up another mans marriage. Carol his beautiful first wife was married to another Navy man when McCain breaking all military regulations against fraternization began an adulterous affair with her too.

Arizonasunset, please be informed:

"At least dems have sex with willing ADULTS. If you're so interested in the "children," maybe you should make sure they are safe from the pathetic epidemic of winger pedophilia. Now there's some right-to-life values you can hang your hat on, my oh-so-concerned Arizona." Scott Tiger #32

Spot on!

129 Republicans Behaving Badly -- courtesy of Dave from Queens, a Citizen journalist, blogger, writer, attorney, teacher:

Okay, if Republicans are going to attack Democrats over sex, then the gloves come off. There are 130 notorious Republicans on this list.

More than 100 of these Republicans have been involved in scandals involving children while the rest are involved in some sex scandal that was either quite deviant, scummy, or hypocritical. A list of Democrats of a similar nature would not even take up all your toes and fingers.

In alphabetical order, they are

1. Republican mayor Thomas Adams of Illinois charged with 11 counts of disseminating child pornography and two counts of possession of child pornography.

2. Republican campaign manager and self proclaimed reverend Steve Aiken convicted of having sex with two underage girls.

3. Republican legislator Edison Misla Aldarondo was sentenced to 10 years in prison for raping his daughter between the ages of 9 and 17.

4. Republican state representative Bob Allen arrested and charged with soliciting oral sex from a male undercover cop.

5. Republican activist and rising Colorado Republican star Randal David Ankeney, who named his dogs Nixon aned Reagan, pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault on a child. In 2006 he was rearrested for 5 counts of sexual assault on a child, 3 counts of sexual enticement of a child, and one count of sexual exploitation of a child.

6. Republican prosecutor John David Roy Atchison arrested on charges of flying across the country to try and have sex with a five year old girl.

7. Republican chairman E Ozwald Balfour arrested on four counts of forcible sex abuse.

8. Republican County Commissioner Merrill Robert Barter pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual contact and assault on a teenage boy.

9. Republican congressman and anti-gay activist Robert Bauman was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old boy he picked up at a gay bar.

10. Republican activist Parker J. Bena pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on his home computer and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and fined $18,000.

11. Clifton Bennett, 18, son of Arizona republican state senator Ken Bennett plead guilty to assaulting 3 boys, aged 11-15 with broomsticks up their rectal areas.

12. Republican preacher Hewart Lee Bennett arrested for soliciting sex from 16 year old boys while claiming that he did so to gain their trust and then teach them the love of Jesus.

13. Republican Christian Coalition chair in Oregon Louis Beres confessed to molesting a 13 year old girl.

14. Republican commission candidate Wilton Frederick Bland sentenced to 80 years in prison for various sex crimes including 45 counts of first degree rape of an 11 year old.

15. Republican representative Brian Blundell convicted of sexual assault against an undercover male police officer.

16. Republican legislative aide Howard L. Brooks was charged with molesting a 12-year old boy and possession of child pornography.

17. Republican councilman John Bryan resigned from office and committed suicide several hours later, just a few minutes before police arrived at his home to question him about his alleged rape of his two adoptive daughters, ages 12 and 15.

18. Republican politician Andrew Buhr was charged with two counts of first degree sodomy with a 13-year old boy.

19. Republican golden boy and GOP staff member Theodore Bundy executed for murdering over two dozen women.

20. Republican anti-abortion activist John Allen Burt was charged with sexual misconduct involving a 15-year old girl.

21. Republican activist John Butler was charged with criminal sexual assault on a teenage girl.

22. Republican judge and Nixon Supreme Court nominee Harrold Carswell charged with making a pass at an undercover male cop in a public bathroom.

23. Republican Randall Casseday, human resource chair of the Washington Times, convicted for soliciting sex from a 13 year old.

24. Republican County Councilman Keola Childs pleaded guilty to molesting a male child.

25. Republican election board official Kevin Coan was sentenced to two years probation for soliciting sex over the internet from a 14-year old girl.

26. Republican councilman John Collins pleads guilty to sexually molesting a 13 + 14 year old girls.

27. Republican staffer and long term director of financial operations for Seattle Republicans Larry Corrigan plead guilty for attempted rape of a 13 year old girl.

28. Republican talk show host Scott Eller Cortelyou plead guilty on charges of using the Internet to try and lure a child into a sexual relationship with him.

29. Republican Senator Larry Craig arrested for toe tapping and soliciting sex from an undercover male police officer in a Minnesota airport restroom.

30. Republican advertising consultant Carey Lee Cramer, who appeared in an ad blasting Al gore, convicted of molesting 9 yr old girl stepdaughter

31. Republican Congressman Dan Crane had sex with a female minor working as a congressional page.

32. Republican Committeeman John Curtin convicted with molesting a teenage boy.

33. Republican benefactor of conservative Christian groups, Richard A.Dasen Sr., was charged with rape for allegedly paying a 15-year old girl for sex. Dasen, 62, who is married with grown children and several grandchildren, has allegedly told police that over the past decade he paid more than $1 million to have sex with a large number of young women.

34. Republican fundraiser Richard A. Delgaudio was found guilty of child porn charges and paying two teenage girls to pose for sexual photos

35. Republican legislator Peter Dibble pleaded no contest to having an inappropriate relationship with a 13-yr-old girl.

36. Republican constable Joshua Dickens sentenced to five years in prison for torture related activities against a young woman.

37. Republican activist and Focus on the Family Founder Pat Dobson advocates that fathers should show their penises to their sons while in the shower with them.

38. Republican spokesman Brian Doyle arrested for trying to seduce a 14 year old girl over the Internet. He was later sentenced to 5 years in prison.

39. Republican director of the "Young Republican Federation" Nicholas Elizondo molested his 6-year old daughter and was sentenced to six years in prison.

40. Republican campaign official and former Romney staffer Matthew Joseph Elliott convicted of sexual exploitation of a child.

41. Republican party chair Donald Fleischman was charged with two counts of child enticement and one count of exposing himself to a child.

42. Republican constable Larry Dale Floyd of Denton convicted on suspicion of soliciting sex from an 8 yr old girl.

43. Republican congressman Mark Foley resigned from Congress after sending sexually explicit emails to former male pages under the age of 18.

44. Republican Michael Flory, former head of the Michigan Young American Foundation, plead guilty to raping a 21 year old man.

45. Republican councilman Dennis Gallagher plead guilty to sexually abusing a 52 year old woman.

46. Republican Councilman and former Marine Jack W. Gardner was convicted of molesting a 13-year old girl.

47. Republican candidate Richard Gardner admitted to molesting his two daughters.

48. Conservative pastor John Geoghan was convicted for molesting a ten year old boy. It is believed that Geoghan molested over 100 children.

49. Republican Newt Gingrich served his wife with divorce papers while she lied in a hospital bed undergoing cancer treatment. Gingrich called for impeaching a president for adultery while having an adulterous affair with a staffer.

50. Republican Mayor Philip Giordano of Waterbury Connecticut is serving a 37-year sentence in federal prison for sexually abusing 8- and 10-year old girls

51. Republican activist Matthew Glavin was caught masturbating in public and fondling an undercover park ranger.

52. Republican activist Marty Glickman (a.k.a. "Republican Marty"), convicted in Florida on four counts of unlawful sexual activity with an underage girl and one count of delivering the drug LSD.

53. Republican Mayor John Gosek sentenced to jail for soliciting sex from two 15 year old girls.

54. Republican activist Mark A. Grethen convicted on six counts of sex crimes involving children.

55. Republican businessman Jon Grunseth withdrew his candidacy for Minnesota governor after allegations surfaced that he went swimming in the nude with four underage girls, including his daughter.

56. Republican high level Bushevik appointee Dr. David Hager sodomized his wife while she slept. She divorced him for it.

57. Republican mega-preacher Ted Haggard disgraced after confessing that he has lived a dark life. Haggard preached hatred toward gays while secretly sleeping with boys while on meth.

58. Republican sheriff Don Haidl used his office to try to smear the victim that was gang raped. The main perpetrator was Haidl’s son, who poisoned the victim. Sheriff Haidl claims that the girl deserved it because she was a "slut."

59. Republican Sean Handy Hannity, who despite claiming never to have committed adultery, admitted to having adultery on his radio show, is rumored to have had many adulterous homosexual affairs in Alabama, Georgia, Nevada, New York, and New Jersey.

60. Republican President of NYC Housing Development Russell Harding pleads guilty to possession of child pornography on his computer.

61. Republican city councilman Mark Harris, who is described as a "good military man" and "church goer," was convicted of repeatedly having sex with an 11-year-old girl and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

62. Republican speaker of the House Dennis Hastert concealed evidence of Congressman Mark Foley’s pedophilia and child abuse.

63. Republican Senate candidate John Hathaway was accused of having sex with his 12-year old baby sitter and withdrew his candidacy after the allegations were reported in the media.

64. Republican anti-abortion activist Howard Scott Heldreth is a convicted child rapist in Florida. He, Randall Terry, and Sean Hannity were outspoken critics of Michael Schiavo.

65. Republican pastor Mike Hintz, whom George W. Bush commended during the 2004 presidential campaign, surrendered to police after admitting to a sexual affair with a female juvenile. Hintz later plead guilty.

66. Republican supervisor Robert Holland plead guilty to sexually assaulting a 92 year old woman.

67. Republican activist Neal Horsley admits to having had sex with a mule. Horsley also wants all homosexuals arrested.

68. Republican Party leader Paul Ingram pleaded guilty to six counts of raping his daughters and served 14 years in federal prison.

69. Republican mayor Allen D Kauffman arrested in a sting after trying to entice a 13 year old girl to have sex with him.

70. Republican anti-gay activist Earl "Butch" Kimmerling was sentenced to 40 years in prison for molesting an 8-year old girl after he attempted to stop a gay couple from adopting her.

71. Republican activist Lawrence E. King, Jr. organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.

72. Republican lawmaker Ted Klaudt indicted on 8 rape charges and subsequently convicted on four of them. Victims included his own foster children.

73. Republican judge Ronald Kline was placed under house arrest for child molestation and plead guilty to charges of possession of child pornography.

74. Conservative cardinal Bernard Law of Boston covered up thousands of instances of sexual molestation by fellow conservative members of the clergy.

75. Conservative Marc Lepine, in 1989 walked into a school in Montreal with a gun, said "I hate fucking feminists" and then shot and killed 14 women.

76. Republican talk show host Rush Oxycontin Limbaugh, who has been divorced 3 times but supports the "Defense of Marriage Act," was caught trying to smuggle bottles of Viagra out of the Dominican Republican, a known hotbed for sex with underage boys and girls.

77. Republican Bob Livingston resigns as Speaker of House after being caught in an adulterous affair. Just a few weeks earlier, Livingston thought adultery was grounds to impeach a President.

78. Republican Congressman Donald "Buz" Lukens was found guilty of having sex with a female minor and sentenced to one month in jail

79. Republican talk show host Jon Matthews pleaded guilty to exposing his genitals to an 11 year old girl

80. Republican congressman Joseph McDade charged with exposing his genitalia to two women on a public beach.

81. Republican delegate Robert McKee resigns after police seize two computers and videotapes from his home pertaining to child pornography.

82. Republican Douglas County election official Pat McPherson arrested for fondling a 17 yr old girl.

83. Republican commissioner Patrick Lee McGuire arrested and accused of molesting two teenage girls.

84. Republican councilman Joseph Monteleone Jr. convicted of fondling teenaged girls.

85. Republican anti-abortion activist Nicholas Morency pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer and offering a bounty to anybody who murders an abortion doctor.

86. Republican chairman of the Young Republicans Glenn Murphy Jr. resigns after raping a man in his sleep.

87. Republican staff worker Jeffrey Ray Nielson of Dana Rohrenbacher’s staff arrested for sexual molestation of a 14 year old boy.

88. Republican blowhard TV personality Bill O’Reilly paid several million dollars to settle a sexual harassment suit with Andrea Mackris. O’Reilly frequently condemns the hip hop culture and hip hop artist but his wife Maureen McPhilmy slept with Flavor Flav, one of the biggest names in the hip hop industry.

89. Republican Christian Coalition leader Leonard Ray Owens indicted on charges of an "exorcism" he performed. Owens told his victim that she had to come to his house because a sex spirit and lesbian demon was inside of her and it needed to be exorcised by his penis. (I can’t make this up.)

90. Republican state rep Brent Parker arrested for soliciting sex from undercover officer posing as male prostitute.

91. Republican Committee Chairman Jeffrey Patti was arrested for distributing a video clip of a 5-year-old girl being raped.

92. Republican judge Mark Pazuhanich pleaded no contest to fondling a 10-year old girl and was sentenced to 10 years probation.

93. Republican consultant and former priest Alan Placa, a close aid of Rudy Giuliani and a former mentor of Sean Hannity, indicted for molesting children and suspended by his diocese.

94. Republican boy scout leader and zoning supervisor Dennis L Rader pleaded guilty for performing a sexual act on an 11 year old girl he murdered.

95. Republican Rolf Rahmann sentenced to jail for ten years for eight counts of sodomy against an underage boy.

96. Republican mayor Jeffrey Kyle Randall sentenced to only 9 months in jail for molesting two boys aged ten and twelve.

97. Republican petition leader Tom Randall pleads guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 14.

98. Republican congressman Tom Reynolds and his chief of staff tried to get ABC to not report incriminating data of Tom Foley’s child molestation.

99. The Republican conservative diocese of Rockville Center, Long Island paid more than 3.8 million dollars and set aside $10 million dollars more after 66 Catholic priests in the diocese were accused of sexual abuse.

100. Republican activist and Christian Coalition leader Beverly Russell admitted to an incestuous relationship with his step daughter Susan Smith.

101. The conservative Republican diocese of San Francisco reported 50 priests involved in child molestation charges over a five year period.

102. Republican senator Rick Man on Dog Santorum and his wife forced their three children, all under the age of six, to play with a dead fetus in the crib of their home.

103. Republican candidate Brent Schepp was charged with molesting a 14 year old. Schepp committed suicide 3 days later.

104. Republican ex congressman Peter Schmitt of Orange County, California’s Republican daughter Mary Kay Lotorneau convicted of raping a 6th grader and bearing his two children.

105. Republican parole board officer and former Colorado state representative, Larry Jack Schwarz, was fired after child pornography was found in his possession.

106. Republican governor Arnold Schwarzenegger allegedly had sex with a 16 year old girl when he was 28.

107. Republican campaign worker Mark Seidensticker is a convicted child molester and was sentenced again to one year in prison for molesting underage boys.

108. Republican mega-preacher Marshal Seymour arrested on charges of having sex with underage boys. Seymour had been jailed almost a decade earlier for similar charges in a different state.

109. Republican congressman Ed Shrock resigned from Congress after found seeking sex on hotlines for homosexuals.

110. Republican campaign consultant Tom Shortridge was sentenced to three years probation for taking nude photographs of a 15-year old girl.

111. Republican administrator Paul Skiles plead guilty for having sex with a 15 year old and for being part of an internet pedophile sex ring.

112. Republican City Councilman Fred C. Smeltzer, Jr. pleaded no contest to raping a 15 year-old girl and served 6-months in prison.

113. Republican lobbyist Craig J. Spence organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s with then Bush hatchet man George W Bush.

114. Republican National Vanguard leader Kevin Alfred Strom arrested and charged with child pornography.

115. Republican party leader Bobby Stumbo arrested for having sex with a five year old boy.

116. Republican County Commissioner David Swartz pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 11 and was sentenced to 8 years in prison.

117. Republican County Chairman Armando Tebano arrested for sexually molesting a 14 yr old girl. He later plead guilty on a lesser charge.

118. Republican Daniel Dean Thompson arrested on charges of sexual abuse and having sex with a 14 year old.

119. Republican judge Donald Thompson sentenced to four years in prison after repeatedly using a penis pump while presiding over cases.

120. Republican racist pedophile and United States Senator Strom Thurmond raped a 15-year old black girl which produced a child.

121. Republican strategist and Citadel Military College graduate Robin Vanderwall was convicted in Virginia on five counts of soliciting sex from boys and girls over the internet.

122. Republican Senator David Vitter, whose wife claimed she’d Lorena Bobbitt him if he ever cheated on her, was caught having sex with prostitutes while wearing diapers.

123. Republican consultant Lawrence Scott Ward arrested at Dulles airport after authorities found child pornography and videotapes of him having sex with children.

124. Spokane Republican homophobic mayor Jim West recalled after evidence surfaced that he molested little boys.

125. Republican politician Keith Westmoreland was arrested on seven felony counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition to girls under the age of 16 (i.e. exposing himself to children).

126. Republican preacher Stephen White, who demanded a return to traditional values, was sentenced to jail after offering $20 to a 14-year-old boy for permission to perform oral sex on him.

127. Republican activist and James Dobson protege Steve Wilsey convicted of sexual assault after being charged with molesting an 8 year old boy.

128. Republican Pastor Paul Williams takes a leave of absence from his evangelical megachurch as he faces charges of molesting a family member.

129. Republican spokesman Al Zimmerman charged and held without bail on 8 counts of offering two underage boys to phot themselves masturbating.

Oh and this doesn't even include the hundreds of thousands of children who have been sexually abused by right wing priests in dioceses such as Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Nashville, Rockville Center, and all throughout the country. (99 and 101 are exceptions) Nor does it include all the totalitarian governments and causes that Republicans have financially supported since Nixon. (Indonesia, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, South Africa, Nicaragua, El Salvador, etc...)

And honorable mention number 130 - John McCain for dumping his wife while she was sick to be with the mistress he later referred to in public as a trollop and a *unt.