If Republican perjury is now trivial, Frist can rest easy

Because like all his compatriots, Bill "Justice [Billy] Sunday" Frist is a liar too:

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) was given considerable information about his stake in his family's hospital company, according to records that are at odds with his past statements that he did not know what was in his stock holdings.

Managers of the trusts that Frist once described as "totally blind," regularly informed him when they added new shares of HCA Inc. or other assets to his holdings, according to the documents.

Since 2001, the trustees have written to Frist and the Senate 15 times detailing the sale of assets from or the contribution of assets to trusts of Frist and his family. The letters included notice of the addition of HCA shares worth $500,000 to $1 million in 2001 and HCA stock worth $750,000 to $1.5 million in 2002. The trust agreements require the trustees to inform Frist and the Senate whenever assets are added or sold.

The letters seem to undermine one of the major arguments the senator has used throughout his political career to rebut criticism of his ownership in HCA: that the stock was held in blind trusts beyond his control and that he had little idea of the extent of those holdings.

The extent of Frist's knowledge of the inner workings of his trusts and his family's health care company is related to a recently launched federal investigation of possible insider trading involving the liquidation this summer of Frist's HCA stock. Within weeks of Frist's decision to sell his holdings in June, HCA shares fell sharply because of a weak earnings report. Frist has said he possessed only publicly available and not "insider" information about the company when he directed the sale and, therefore, did nothing wrong.

The [re-?] selection of George W. Bush emboldened Republicans to drop their mask of civility; to drop their pretenses that they, not the Democrats are the party of the people. Since last November's election, they've felt confident in blatantly and gleefully flaunting their power, flaunting their ability to take from the poor and working people and shovel more cash into the pockets of those who already have more money than they can spend in a lifetime -- all the while preaching piously about being Christians.

Are we going to hold them accountable next year?