Beware the Pontificating Republican "Family Values" Wolves !

Country singer Sara Evans cites porn, adultery, abuse in divorce

03:09 PM CDT on Monday, October 16, 2006
By JOHN GEROME / Associated Press Writer

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Country singer Sara Evans alleges in divorce papers that her husband committed adultery, was verbally and emotionally abusive, drank excessively and frequently watched pornography in their home.
Evans, 35, filed for divorce Thursday from Craig Schelske and announced through a spokesman that she was quitting ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” to “to give her family full attention at this difficult time.”
The couple married in 1993 and have three children ages 7, 3 and 2.
Schelske, 43, who is currently unemployed, ran for Congress as a Republican from Oregon’s 5th District in 2002. He is a native of Salem, Ore.
He could not immediately be reached for comment.
In the filing in state court in Franklin, a Nashville suburb where the couple has a home, Evans alleges that Schelske watched pornography on the couples’ computers and has at least 100 nude photographs of himself in a state of arousal.
She also alleges that several photographs show Schelske having sex with other women, and that Schelske maintains “Craigs Lists” on his computers, some of which involve requests for three-party sex and anal sex.
According to the court documents, the oldest of the couple’s children confronted Schelske when he was watching pornographic material on the television in their home.
Evans further alleges that Schelske frequently threatened her and “told her that she is crazy,” threatened to take the children to Oregon and “continually interferes with (Evans’) possession of and parenting time” with their children.
Evans requests child custody, possession of Franklin home and child support.
Evans was among 11 celebrities who paired with professional dancers to compete on the third season of the popular ABC reality series.
“Ms. Evans hopes that her fans and TV viewers who’ve supported her in recent weeks and throughout her music career will respect and understand her need for privacy in the face of these recent events,” Allen Brown, her representative at Sony BMG Music Entertainment, said in a statement Thursday.
The Missouri native was recently nominated for female vocalist of the year honors by the Country Music Association. She made her recording debut in 1997 and her 2000 album “Born to Fly” went double-platinum. Her hits include “Perfect,” “Suds in the Bucket,” and “Real Fine Place to Start.”
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On the Net:
http://abc.go.com/primetime/dancing
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GUEST BIO
Sara Evans and Craig Schelske: Faith and Country Music

The 700 Club
June 18, 2004

CBN.com – Love at First Sight
Sara grew up on a Missouri farm and was singing in the family band at age 5. She believed singing was her life's work. A child of divorce, she and brother Matt moved to Nashville when she was 20. She met Craig when both were working as room service waiters at the Nashville Holiday Inn. Sara knew Craig was the guy for her.

Craig was raised on a 5th-generation farm in Stayton, OR, which unfortunate financial pressures forced them to lose. Craig says this was a tough time for his family who were hard-working Americans. To reverse their misfortunes, Craig's father, brother, and he went to Alaska to fish. Within 14 months they were doing $1.2 million in the food processing business in Alaska. His father had enough money to put a down payment on a house, and they could move back home.

In 1989 Craig and his brothers formed a country music band hoping to emulate the success of the hit group Alabama. They left for Nashville in 1991 where Craig met Sara. "Sara and I have a lot in common," he says. "Like me, she is the third oldest from a family of seven children, and our grandparents, coincidentally, share the same first names."

In the summer of 1991, Sara returned to Oregon with Craig where they formed a band from 1992-95. They married while living there.

After singing in local places, the Schelskes felt it was time to go back to Nashville, especially when Willie Nelson heard Sara sing and encouraged her to go to Nashville and pursue a career. To build a music career, Nashville was the place to be. They moved there in the fall of 1995.

New Careers

Country Music Hall of Fame songwriter Harlan Howard (who wrote Patsy Cline's "I Fall to Pieces") and his wife, Melanie, were quick to see Sara's potential. After she recorded one of Harlan's classic songs, "I've got a Tiger by the Tail," he urged RCA to listen to her. Sadly, Harlan died in March 2002 just as Sara was becoming the big star he believed she would be. That tugged at Sara's heart. "He really was the reason I got my record deal," she says. "I really don't know that I would be here if it weren't for him and Melanie."

Sara was the most nominated artist at the 2001 CMA Awards and took home her first award when Born to Fly won Video of the Year. She toured with superstars Alan Jackson, George Strait and Kenny Chesney. In addition she participated in the landmark "Girls Night Out" tour of 2001 with Reba McEntire and Martina McBride.

During the meteoric rise in Sara's career, the Schelske's family grew - son Avery was born in 1999, and daughter Olivia was born in January 2003.

Also during this time, Craig launched a political career in Oregon. They moved back to Oregon, and Craig made an unsuccessful bid for Congress in 2002. To those who wonder why Craig returned to run for office, he says that though he was gone a few years, all of his ancestors are buried there. Being on the road touring with Sara gave him a chance to see the faces of America. Seeing the young people made him realize that we're not descending as a nation, that we have an incredible future. It inspired his sense of patriotism and made him realize he had a role to play. Sara says Craig is like William Wallace ("Braveheart") to her, and she fully supports him. In November 2003 he and Sara were invited to attend, and Sara was asked to perform for honored guests at Vice President Dick Cheney and Lynne Cheney's residence in D.C.

Many Blessings

Craig says that he and Sara both believe that they are the recipients of other people's blessings. "We feel that someone prayed for us," he says. Sara's great grandmother Morrison and his great grandmother Tucker prayed generationally. They believe these blessings brought Sara to the national stage. Craig has known the Lord since he was 8. When he met Sara, he was going through a challenging time in his life, knowing he was not where he should be spiritually. He told the Lord that he couldn't handle this; two weeks later he met Sara. They spent time in the Scriptures together, and Sara rededicated her life to Christ at age 20.

Craig has a heart to share about American Destiny, an organization founded by Kendall Hewitt, that is committed to restoring the heart and soul of America. Craig identifies with this message and says he likes to quote from the founding documents. "It's overwhelming when you get into the speeches," he says. Many of us Americans are cynical, having forgotten our legacy of Christian faith, and have lost hope in our future. The freedom we know is an inheritance passed down from our forefathers. The Founding Fathers openly acknowledged this gift as being from our Creator. When the truth is forgotten over generations, hope is lost as men look to other men for solutions to the overwhelming issues of our day. American Destiny is committed to reminding our generation of our past, to teaching history in such a way as to impart destiny. It is designed to make the past live again in our hearts, and give us hope and vision for the future. It is also committed to change. "Our dream and our prayer is to see America shake off her lesser self and to become the nation of God's intent and our Founders' hopes," they say.

source: http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:u24GaVL7zWsJ:www.cbn.com/700club/guests/bios/Sara_Evans_061804.aspx+Sara+Evans+and+Craig+Schelske:+Faith+and+Country+Music&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1&client=safari
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Bill Berkowitz
September 15, 2006
DeLayed and confused
Under cloud of illegality "The Hammer" attempts to rehabilitate his image

In early-May, when former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) announced that he would be resigning from Congress the following month, he delivered a letter to Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert advising him that he was moving on in order "to pursue new opportunities to engage in the important cultural and political battles of our day from an arena outside of the U.S. House of Representatives."
DeLay who had resigned his post as Majority Leader in September 2005 after a Texas grand jury indicted him on charges of campaign-finance violations tied to Texans for a Republican Majority, appears now to be reduced to sending silly e-mail to rally his troops on behalf of a conservative contestant on an ABC television reality show.
DeLay sent out a mass mailing asking viewers of "Dancing With the Stars" to vote for a former "Republican Babe of the Week"
According to the Washington Post, "The Hammer," who had close ties to the disgraced and indicted Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, is no longer: designing some redistricting scam to guarantee GOP control of Texas' congressional delegation for ages to come; doling out hundreds of thousands in PAC money to Republican Party candidates; teaming up with Abramoff; or hustling votes in Congress for George W. Bush. Instead, he "is using his post-congressional clout to influence another election -- the viewer voting on ABC's ‘Dancing With the Stars 3,'" which features 11 celebrities and 11 actual dancers, and which had its season premiere earlier this week.
DeLay recently "sent out a mass mailing asking his friends to vote for Sara Evans [one of the program's celebrity contestants] because she "represents good American values."
At the same time, DeLay urged his supporters not to vote for television talk show host Jerry Springer, another celebrity participant.
"I am writing to you today in an effort to help a good friend of mine, country music singer and GOP supporter Sara Evans," who sang at the 2004 Republican convention " and "has been a strong supporter of the Republican Party and represents good American values in the media," DeLay tells supporters. "Let's show Sara that same support by watching and voting for her each week to help her win this competition. One of her opponents on the show is ultra liberal talk show host Jerry Springer. We need to send a message to Hollywood and the media that smut has no place on television by supporting good people like Sara Evans." (For the complete email see here.)
Think Progress, a project of the American Progress Action Fund, reported that "Evans also sang at the 2004 Presidential Dinner, where Bush said that he "love[d] the voice of Sara Evans.'" Think Progress also noted that Evans appears in a photo spread as "Republican BABE of the Week" -- one week after Kathryn Harris graced the page – as well as in a picture with her husband, Craig Schelske, and President Bush.
DeLay's support for Evans may in part be due to the fact that her husband, identified by Alternet's Evan Derkacz as an "ultra-rightwing theocracy-supporting...failed Republican candidate and cute-as-a-button executive director of Americandestiny.com," is also a GOP activist. According to his website bio, Schelske "has vast experience in media, politics, publicity & entertainment [and] has a Masters Degree in Public Policy from [Pat Robertson's] Regent University & a B.S. Degree in International Business & Marketing from Oregon State University."
Schelske is currently the President of Gingerdog, Inc., "specializing in guiding the entrepreneurial aims for Sara Evans' entertainment career" and is the Chairman of the Alexandria, Virginia-based CRAIG PAC, which his website describes as "a national political action committee dedicated to electing Republicans at the federal and state level." The PAC aims to "assist candidates and Republican organizations in raising money and preparing for the 2006 elections."
According to Derkacz, American Destiny, also based in Alexandria, "is an organization that promotes a revisionist history of America's founding as a theocracy and dedicates itself to busting the ‘myth' of separation of church and state." American Destiny frequently "use[s] the discredited scholarship of ... David Barton," the founder of WallBuilders.
American Destiny (AD), a 501 (c) (3) non-profit group, was founded by Kendall Hewitt, who, according to the bio posted at the AD website, worked in "news and entertainment for an ABC affiliate news station, Country Music Television, and Gaylord Entertainment." He "presently serves as a Regional Manager for Compassion International, a child development organization dedicated to releasing children from poverty in Africa, Asia, Central and South America."
On the front page of its website, AD points out that it has received a $125,000 matching grant, but it doesn't disclose where the money has come from.
DeLay's entrance into the battle over who will reign as the program's top celebrity dancer caught another celebrity participant by surprise. "I thought that it was a joke at first," MSNBC's Tucker Carlson told ABC News' Jake Tapper and Artis Waters. And then he remembered, he said, "Oh, yeah, Tom DeLay lives in any irony-free world."
Carlson, not about to be one-upped by the political intervention of DeLay, solicited and received the endorsement of the Rev. Al Sharpton. According to reality blurred/the reality tv news digest, run by Andy Dehnart, Carlson "told the New York Daily News' Lloyd Grove that he asked Sharpton for the endorsement, because ‘Nobody turns out the vote like the Reverend Al.'
Sharpton issued an obviously tongue-in-cheek statement "praising" Carlson and "encouraging his supporters to vote for him:"
"We are living in trying and uncertain times. That's why now, more than ever, we need a strong leader who will stand up for what we believe. Better yet, we need a leader who will dance for what we believe. Tucker Carlson is just such a dancer. Watch Tucker do the cha-cha and then call in your vote to make sure he advances to the next week's show. You can call as often as you like. Remember: Voting in celebrity dance contests is not just your right in this country, it's a privilege...If you sit back idly and fail to perform your civic duty, lesser dancers could win this competition. America simply cannot afford that."
Sharpton also pointed out that he wanted "to balance the influence of DeLay and at the same time get a right-winger off talk television and help Tucker find another career. I think it would be a great contribution to society to have him as a cheeseball disco dancer than a talk-show host propagating right-wing politics."
No news yet from the Jerry Springer camp as to whether he expects any last minute surprise endorsements.
Meanwhile, back in Texas
Back in his former home state DeLay recently emceed Vision America's Heroes of the Faith Gala; a gathering of high-powered conservative religious and political leaders, according to People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch.
An email sent out by Vision America's Rick Scarborough, pointed out that more than 500 Pastors, elected officials and supporters gathered at the Westin Galleria Hotel Grand Ballroom in Houston on Thursday, August 31 "to celebrate Vision America's accomplishments of the past year and to hear about the challenges of the next 12 months." According to Scarborough, "This year's Gala marked our seventh meeting in the past eight years, and it was by far the most impacting. Attendees included the Lt. Governor of Texas and the Mayor of Houston as well as dozens of Judges and State Senators and Representatives. Congressman Tom DeLay emceed the event and received numerous affirmations from the supportive crowd that evening."
In a pre-event communiqué, Scarborough pointed out that Vision America's "War on Christians Conference" in Washington, DC "was a phenomenal success gaining the attention of the national press and further establishing Vision America as a ministry that is significantly contributing to the national cultural debate."
In Texas, Republican Governor Rick Perry has ordered a special election for Tuesday, November 7, to temporarily replace DeLay. The winner of the special election will fill his seat until DeLay's term expires in January and then it will be filled by the winner of the general election.
According to the Associated Press, the GOP's Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, a Houston City Councilwoman will run as a write-in candidate because the courts refused to remove DeLay from the ballot.
The September 6 edition of Slate's "Today's Papers" ran this interesting item regarding a Wall Street Journal story involving DeLay's wife:
The WSJ notes that the Justice Department is investigating whether former House Majority Tom DeLay's wife actually did any work to receive her $3,200 monthly salary from a lobbying firm [Alexander Strategy Group]. FBI agents have been interviewing former and current employees at the firm to find out if Christine DeLay ever actually came to work and what exactly her role was in the company. The Journal says this latest round of questioning shows the investigation is continuing and that the Justice Department may be trying to force DeLay to plead guilty by investigating his wife.
According to the Wall Street Journal, "Alexander Strategy was run by a pair of Mr. DeLay's former aides: Tony Rudy, who pleaded guilty to bribery charges in March; and Edwin Buckham, who remains under investigation. The firm also shared clients with Jack Abramoff."
In last month's interviews, investigators also asked about $144,000 that Mrs. DeLay received from one of Mr. DeLay's fund-raising committees, the Americans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee, which was housed at the lobbying firm's offices. Investigators also inquired about fees paid to Mr. DeLay's daughter, Dani DeLay Ferro, a longtime political consultant to her father.
Finally, in an early-September statement that should thrill bibliophiles across America, and clear up all the various mysteries surrounding the man and his family, DeLay announced that he would be writing a book about his life and career in politics. "This is a book that's going to be the history of my career, how it furthered the conservative cause, with my spiritual walk and what I think the conservative cause ought to do next," DeLay, a born-again Christian, told the Associated Press.
According to DeLay, the book will explain how "everything I've done in my career furthered the conservative cause" and changed the political landscape and culture of Washington. Scheduled to be published by Penguin next spring, and written with the help of Stephen Mansfield, author of "The Faith of George W. Bush," the book has a working title of "No Retreat, No Surrender: The American Passion of Tom DeLay." According to AP, DeLay "declined to reveal how much he'll be paid. ‘Not as much as I wanted,' he quipped.
Will DeLay's book reveal the unexpurgated truth about his dealings with Abramoff? Will it get into the whys and wherefores of the activities of Tony Rudy, the former deputy chief of staff for DeLay, who pleaded guilty this year to "a scheme and artifice to defraud and deprive" the public of "the honest services" of House staffers? Will DeLay come clean about the shenanigans of former DeLay Press Secretary and Abramoff lobbying partner Michael Scanlon, who last November pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe a congressman and other public officials?
Or would a more apt title for the book be, "Slipping and Sliding: The Hammer Dances Around the Truth."
source: http://www.mediatransparency.com/story.php?storyID=149
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