It seems the words “sex scandal” and “Republican” go hand in hand these days. So is it any suprise that The American Red Cross has forced it’s president and chief executive, Mark W. Everson, to resign yesterday because he had an inappropriate relationship with a female subordinate? Mr. Everson’s forced resignation was yet another blow to the Red Cross, the flailing agency has faced a rapid turnover in leadership and has struggled to restore its reputation which was tremendously damaged by it’s lackluster response to Hurricane Katrina. The agency’s fifth chief in six years, Everson was at the helm of the federally chartered organization for a mere six months before the news broke about the former Bush administration leaders involvment in yet another Republican sex scandal.

In an unusually candid news release, the Red Cross said its board “concluded that the situation reflected poor judgment on Mr. Everson’s part and diminished his ability to lead the organization in the future.”

The Red Cross had high hopes for Everson, who had served in the Bush administration since 2001, most recently as commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service and before that as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget. He was considered a seasoned leader, skilled at navigating the politics of Washington and capable of managing the Red Cross’s more than 700 chapters.

Mark Everson’s comments on the sex scandal that forced him to resign:

I am resigning my position for personal and family reasons and deeply regret it is impossible for me to continue in a job so recently undertaken. I leave with extraordinary admiration for the American Red Cross, the service its men and women provide our nation, and for the humanitarian work of the Red Cross/Red Crescent movement across the world.

If this man was legitimately concerned about “his family”, he might have thought twice about keeping his mahoood in his pants instead of dragging his family name through the mud because he can’t control his sexual impulses. After all, the Republican Party stands for “family values” however, it’s clear that when they mean “family values”, the mean for everybody else and not for themselves.

  Senator Trent Lott, the Republican Minority Whip and former Senate Majority Leader, who had been re-elected to a fourth term in 2006, yesterday announced his plans to resign before the end of the year. While many media accounts attribute Trent Lott’s retirement to his assessment of the obvious, that the GOP faces long odds next year, some stories suggest his motivation was mainly financial, others say there might be other deeper, darker issues surrounding the Conservative representative Lott who once expressed support for former Sen. Strom Thurmond’s failed presidential campaign, which was firmly grounded in racial segregation. Lott’s sudden announcement on Monday of his pending resignation ignited heavy speculation that Lott decided to step down in order to avoid a scandalous exposé about his personal life, courtesy of Hustler Magazine publisher Larry Flynt.

A short ambiguous statement was posted on LarryFlynt.com :

HUSTLER Magazine has received numerous inquiries regarding the involvement of Larry Flynt and HUSTLER in the resignation of Trent Lott. Senator Lott has been the target of an ongoing HUSTLER investigation for some time now, due to confidential information that we have received.

While the speculation started almost immediately in the blogoshpere, that Flynt had Lott’s number in some DC male escort service imbroglio rumoured at Big Head DC, the real truth behind the lie is that there has been a change in the ethics rules for outgoing members of Congress. Currently, those leaving office have to survive one entire year on their pensions, which is 80% of $175,000, plus cost of living expenses. As of the new year 2008, the ethics rule will require outgoing members of Congress to restrain from accepting lobbying positions for two full years. If Trent Lott resigns before the end of 2007, he will be bound to the old one year rule before he can go on to a lucrative career at a Washington lobbying firm for millions of dollars per year in compensation.

Lott is expected to be wooed by several major Washington lobbying and investment houses. Among those expected to be interested is the legal-lobbying power house Patton Boggs however, inside sources have also said that at least two unidentified investment houses with operations in Washington are interested in courting Lott’s politial ifluence and Congressional connections.

The change in the ethics rule also explains why Illinois Republican and former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert has announced his resignation before the end of 2007 as well.

In a war over gas prices, the seemingly petty back-and-forth bickering between two rival gas station owners in Detroit, Michigan ended in tragedy as one of the men shot and killed the other over the lowering of prices by 3 cents.

A fatal bullet to BP station owner Jawad Bazzi’s head was the end result of Bazzi walking across the street with a couple of employees to confront the Marathon owner, Hussah Masboath, and his posse regarding Masboath dropping his price from $2.93 from $2.96 per gallon.

The two groups of Middle Eastern men argued in Arabic, then began throwing punches. One of Bazzi’s employees hit a Marathon employee with a baseball bat, severely injuring him. That’s when the Marathon owner grabbed his handgun and fired three or four times hitting Jawad Bazzi, 45, of Dearborn Heights was shot in the head.

Sgt. Eren Stephens Bell, a spokeswoman for the Detroit police told reporters that the shooter and Marathon owner, Hussah Masboath was taken into police custody. Additionally Bell said that charges had not yet been filed against the alleged gunman.

Following the “Gas War” shooting, Masboath’s Marathon station was closed by law enforcement but the dead man Bazzi’s family and employees took advantage of losing their competition and hiked prices 13 cents per gallon to $3.09.