Former GOP congressman charged with aiding Al-Qaeda backer

This ought to be a huge story, but I'm having a hard time finding any coverage of it at all.

Mark Siljander was a right-wing Republican congressman from Michigan for years. After his congressional gig, ol' Rappin' Ronnie Raygun appointed Siljander as an alternate representative to the UN General Assembly. After moving to Virginia, he ran for Congress there and lost. Siljander is also known for his numerous failed business ventures.

Siljander was known for his Pat Robertson-like religious extremism and boasting that his reelection to Congress would "break the back of Satan." Siljander once complained bitterly about the Qur'an being read at a prayer breakfast. He's still considered a luminary in right-wing circles, but now he talks about "common ground between faiths."

I guess what he means is that the most right-wing elements of each religion pretty much grow together by having the same enemies and engaging in the same extreme actions to advance their causes. I've felt for years that America's Religious Right and the Taliban are basically alike, even though they're identified with different religions. This is exactly why conservatives in Washington supported groups that grew into the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

But now it's all crashing down for Siljander. Today he was indicted on charges that he's part of a terrorist fundraising ring that allegedly sent over $130,000 to an Al-Qaeda and Taliban backer who has menaced American military personnel. The 42 federal counts against Siljander include money laundering, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice for allegedly lying about lobbying lawmakers on behalf of a "charity" that funded terrorists. The indictment also says the organization paid Siljander $50,000 for the lobbying and that this money was stolen from the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Right-wing blogger Debbie Schlussel used to be a staffer and speechwriter for Mark Siljander. Schlussel is known for ripping up newspapers and scanning them in to illustrate her own absurd diatribes and for blaming 'Sesame Street' for violence in Bangladesh. Now she reports being utterly shocked - shocked, I say - that her former boss would be involved in something like laundering money to a terrorist. Schlussel accompanied this expression of alarm with a scan of her old staffer badge, which shows a much younger Schlussel with a hairdo that looks like that of Patty Smyth in her "The Warrior" video. (As another example of rules not applying to conservatives, Schlussel apparently still has her ID even though it clearly states, "This card must be surrendered immediately upon termination of employment.")

Oh, I believe Schlussel is surprised by the news about Siljander. But she shouldn't be, because I've known for years that conservative congresscritters like Siljander support terrorists abroad (and at home). The GOP leadership in Washington helped put the Taliban in power, for crying out loud!

Remember all this when you're deciding who to vote for. If you're seriously considering voting Republican, ask yourself if you really want America to lose a city to terrorism. The threat from the GOP is real. That the Mark Siljander scandal isn't front-page news is simply astounding.

(Source: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hw36mXsH7fbogLzqW06NU31aQAmgD8U75UU83;
http://www.kansascity.com/115/story/447332.html)