I know other people have written on the Interior Department scandal, but so far I have yet to see anyone, anywhere, use the one word which is correct. Gregory W. Smith didn't just engage in "sex" with a subordinate, he's accused of behavior by one that is rape.

There's got to be a metaphor in here someplace, really, for the the Republican way of life, rape everything. The people, the environment, the constitution, the treasury. Every thing. Let me pull out the relevant paragraphs from the here, in the government report on all of this.

The Office of Inspector General (DIG) initiated this investigation in late 2006 based on the allegations of a Confidential Source (CS) regarding misconduct by Gregory W. Smith, Program Director, Royalty in Kind Program (RIK), Minerals Revenue Management(MRM), Minerals Management Service (MMS), Lakewood, CO. The CS·alleged that Smith had engaged in outside employment that conflicted with his RIK position, that he accepted gifts from the oil and gas industry, and that he engaged in sex and drug use with subordinates.

Well that's an understatement, as the following shows:

We interviewed yet another RIK employee who stated that in approximately 2005, Smith "insisted" that she ride in his car from one business establishment to another, and she agreed.

This employee stated that Smith took "the long way" between the two businesses, and during the drive, he asked to go to her nearby home, but she refused. "He wanted to have sex; I said no," she recalled Smith then asked if she would have oral sex with him, but she told him she did not want to. She said Smith then "basically forced [her] head into his lap," and she performed oral sex on him while he drove the car slowly. She said she resisted Smith when he pulled her head into his lap, but Smith did not relent and continued to pull her head down. She said Smith was "real persistent" but not violent, and she did not feel as though she had been sexually assaulted by Smith. She stated that it was difficult for her to have sex with Smith because he supervised her and RIK, but she "felt like [she] could get fired," so she did what Smith wanted. She said she was "scared" that if she did not do what Smith wanted her to do, it could possibly affect her employment. She said this was the 'only time she had ever had sex with Smith.

The correct word for this is "rape." And it was clearly pre-meditated.

Why isn't anyone reporting what this is?

Oh yes there is this tidbit:

During his November 2007 interview, Smith stated that his September 2005 statement to the DIG that he had only a professional business relationship with an RIK employee was "not true." He also stated that he attempted to "downplay" other aspects of his relationship with this employee during this same DIG interview because he was "scared" by the questioning and he did not want to "self incriminate" and "ruin" his career. Smith stated that he felt that the DIG had no authority or reason to investigate his alleged sexual relationship with this employee or his alleged drug use, which Smith said occurred during his own time, away from MMS. "Whether that translates to not telling the truth to the DIG, I don't know," Smith said. Smith also denied ever telling anyone to lie to DIG agents about his relationship with her or to lie about any other matter. Instead, Smith stated that he only told people that "no one has a right to know what I do on my personal time."

So, to the Bush Department of Interior, raping your subordinates is a personal matter, which should be beyond the reach of questioning. Glad we had that cleared up.

Gregory W. Smith, Republican appointee to the Drill Baby Drill program, is accused of rape by one of his former subordinates.

But if this were an isolated incident, it might be easy to write it off as one more bad Republican in a corrupt administration. However, I think we should connect to the larger ideology of rape that can be seen from Broken Laws, Broken Lives report on torture in Iraq. This is part of what Anthony Lewis calls "Official American Sadism."

He was then placed in isolation in a urine-soaked room for two months. When Kamal was allowed to wear clothes, they were sometimes soaked in water to keep him cold. On approximately ten occasions he was suspended in a stress position, causing numbness that lasted for a month. He was made to believe that his family members were also in prison and that they were being raped and tortured. He recounted, “[T]hey were telling me, making me hear voices of children and women, and told me they were my children and [wife].” He was eventually transferred to a tent area of Abu Ghraib, where he remained
for seven months until his release in June 2004. returned to Abu Ghraib inNovember 2004 and released two days later.

Amir continues to experience physical symptoms consistent with the abuse he reported. Physical examnation revealed features consistent with his account, including tenderness of one of his testicles and rectal tearing. Psychologically, he continues to suffer from debilitating symptoms of severe PTSD, disturbed sleep, moodiness, anxiety, sexual dysfunction, hostility and outbursts of anger, and very frequent suicidal thoughts.
He has changed from a stable provider for his family to...

And also:

Many of the physical assaults reported would likely have resulted inbruises and soft tissue injuries that would not leave lasting physical marks. However, the bone scan findings of six individuals, and scars and healed lesions observed on physical examination of all detainees corroboratedtheir specific allegations of physical assault.

In Pinochet's Chile, women and men were tortured by electrical shock to the genitals.

Scarring on Yasser’s thumbs was highly consistent with the scarring caused by electric shock. Further, reports of rape and sexual assault were corroborated in two cases by medical examination. operation in the Iraqi detention facilities, especially in Abu Ghraib, where the detainees were forced to be naked for long periods of time. Kamal stated that his genitals were touched multiple times during interrogations in Abu Ghraib. Further, he reported that when the American soldiers “got me naked, they used to bring all female soldiers to look at me and say, ‘Hello, Imam’.” Witnessing Torture and Cruel Treatment

Glad we learned something from that experience.

Another example:

Laith described being threatened with sodomy on several occasions but said he was not sodomized. He recalled a soldier that “had a stick in his hand [that he] was trying [hard] to insert in my [anus]...but I was saying that I will kill myself if you do these things” and screaming loudly “like crazy people,” which in his view may have prevented him from being raped. He added that the soldiers took many photographs of him in humiliating positions.

Anyway, if you need to know why I started writing a A novel that centers on this. Now you know...

(Oh yes, I put this on the Orange Empire... Seems that the word "rape" is out of bounds...)