Mark Souder is resigning because he had a mistress. From his resignation letter:
IT IS WITH GREAT REGRET I ANNOUNCE THAT I AM RESIGNING FROM THE US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AS WELL AS RESIGNING AS THE REPUBLICAN NOMINEE FOR CONGRESS IN THIS FALL'S ELECTION.I BELIEVE IT IS THE BEST DECISION FOR MY FAMILY, THE PEOPLE OF NORTHEAST INDIANA, AND OUR COUNTRY.
Do you think he knows that this counts as shouting? But resignations probably should be shouted out to the unfeeling universe and the uncaring gods.
TO SERVE HAS BEEN A BLESSING AND A RESPONSIBILITY GIVEN FROM GOD.I WISH I COULD HAVE BEEN A BETTER EXAMPLE. I SINNED AGAINST GOD, MY WIFE AND MY FAMILY BY HAVING A MUTUAL RELATIONSHIP WITH A PART-TIME MEMBER OF MY STAFF.IN THE POISONOUS ENVIRONMENT OF WASHINGTON DC, ANY PERSONAL FAILING IS SEIZED UPON, OFTEN TWISTED, FOR POLITICAL GAIN.
...
THE IDEAS WE ADVOCATE ARE STILL JUST AND RIGHT.AMERICA WILL SURVIVE AND THRIVE WHEN ANCHORED IN THOSE VALUES.HUMAN BEINGS, LIKE ME, WILL FAIL, BUT OUR CAUSE IS GREATER THAN INDIVIDUALS.IT IS BASED UPON ETERNAL TRUTHS.BY STEPPING ASIDE, MY MISTAKE CANNOT BE USED AS A POLITICAL FOOTBALL IN A PARTISAN ATTEMPT TO UNDERMINE THE CAUSE FOR WHICH I HAVE LABORED ALL MY ADULT LIFE.
That last quoted paragraph is great stuff. It reminds us of the great chasm between ideas and actions in the right-wing world. You can advocate eternal abstinence for most everyone and yet not have it yourself. When you trip, the ideas remain good but you have to be tarred and feathered.
So much I could write about this resignation letter and its cause! How the conservative view of infidelity is like a distorted and speckled mirror of the average feminist view and yet completely its opposite! How it's not the act of infidelity that should be of interest for political critics but how the participants are treated, how disposable they become, whether their pain is properly considered and so on. And how astonishing it really is that a politician will resign over an infidelity but not over getting thousands of people unnecessarily killed, say.
But instead of all those wonderful topics I'm going to write about my boring life. I don't have extramarital lovers! I don't get my marching letters from a god. I'm truly boring and uninteresting.
Well, Echidne herself of course has several trophy husbands. She keeps them on the mantelpiece when it's not their turn (we believe in equal love among this polyandrous relationship) and each of them gets exactly the same amount of polishing and dusting. There is a waiting list, by the way, and you need to have all your vaccinations up-to-date.
But even she didn't get the order to write this blog from some higher-up god. She made it up herself and the snakes didn't mind as they mostly don't read much.
How does one compete with humans who believe themselves to be doing god's work?