This was a jarringly ironic story week in the news business.

Two stories really stood out. One story was tragic and shocking. The other was salacious and tawdry. But both were dripping in irony.

First there was the Amish school shooting.

A crazed Charles Carl Roberts IV barricaded himself in a one-room Amish school. After letting all the boys and grown-ups go free, he lined 10 young girls up along the blackboard. Police theorize his original intent may have been to sexually assault the girls. But when police arrived, he started shooting. Five of the girls died, five remain hospitalized. The killer shot himself.

This type of bizarre, inexplicable violence is probably atop the list of reasons the Amish choose to separate themselves from popular culture.

They seek a simpler lifestyle, removed from the trappings of our society.

No Columbines for them.

This event certainly will solidify their belief that they are on the right path when it comes to eschewing our way of life.

The irony is that their desire for a simple lifestyle set them up as an easy target for Roberts. He knew he could walk right into the school armed with a shotgun and handgun.

He knew he would find no school resource officer, no security, no resistance.

Kevin Williams works for Oasis News Feature, the company that syndicates the popular Amish Cook column we run on Wednesday's.

He offered these insights:

"... In some ways, this will - at least for awhile - cause the Amish to band together and maybe turn inward even more. Quite a sad day for them, but they are stoic and view even a tragedy like this as God's will and they will go on with unshaken faith."

A grandfather of one of the victims was instructing his children and grandchildren to forgive as they embalmed the body of one of the girls, preparing it for burial.

They can forgive something like this, and lots of us can't forgive the clerk at CVS for giving us the wrong change.

God bless them.

Next, we have the Congressman and his e-mail. (This is the tawdry story.)

Seems the Honorable (what a hoot) U.S. Rep. Mark Foley was e-mailing quite naughty things to his teen-age pages.

This was pretty graphic stuff that I won't get into in this column. To give you an idea of just how graphic, just consider that abcnews.go.com, which published the e-mail on its Web site, put "READER DISCRETION STRONGLY ADVISED" in big letters at the top of the page. Then, before the text of the e-mails, there was this: The following is an instant message exchange a former page says he had with Rep. Foley in 2003. Warning: sexually explicit language, reader discretion is advised.

The fact that these e-mails were between a 52-year-old Congressman and an underage Congressional page is really creepy, sick and disgusting.

But the irony?

Foley was writing his lurid little e-mail messages at the same time he was passing himself off as a champion of young people and the very pages he was victimizing.

Here's a quote from a tearful - that's right, tearful - speech Foley made in 2002 to thank the 2002 page class.

"Cherish your youth, cherish this experience, but above all cherish your families. Let them know how much you appreciate them giving you this chance. And let them know how much you appreciate their love to make you the people you are."

Yeah, the good Congressman made that speech on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Some of the very same pages in the room that day would later become the recipients of Foley's sick little sexual e-mails.

And that's not even the most shocking irony of the story.

Foley may face charges under the very same child sex law he championed in Congress.

What a nut case this guy is. He had to know better.

He was the point man who helped push passage of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 through Congress, for crying out loud.

Here's a great quote from Foley: "The Adam Walsh Act is the most comprehensive piece of child protection legislation this Congress has ever considered. The bill creates, among other things, new State and Federal regulations, community notification requirements, as well as new Federal criminal penalties for sex offenders."

According to a story in the Miami Herald, Florida law prohibits anyone from "encouraging, offering or soliciting sexual conduct" over the Internet with anyone under 18.

Child predators face a minimum of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Now, I read the e-mails. And if, in fact, Foley sent them, there is no question they "encourage, offer or solicit sexual conduct."

So now, as the FBI investigates whether Foley's sex talk over the Internet was criminal, they'll be armed with tougher Internet crime laws that Foley himself helped pass.

Honestly, the next time I look up hypocrite in the dictionary, I expect to see Mark Foley's picture next to the definition.

Now Foley says he's a homosexual and seeking treatment for alcoholism. That's an insult to gay drunks everywhere.

And as for the GOP leadership? House Speaker Dennis Hastert says they didn't know about the e-mails until a week ago.

But then there's Kirk Fordham, who resigned Wednesday as chief of staff to Rep. Thomas Reynolds, R-N.Y.

He released this bombshell statement Thursday:

I've learned within the last few hours that unnamed sources have purported that I intervened on behalf of U.S. Rep. Foley to prevent a page board investigation. This is categorically false. At no point ever did I ask anyone to block any inquiries into Foley's actions or behavior. These sources know this allegation is false.

Having stepped down as Mr. Reynolds' chief of staff, I have no reason to state anything other than the facts. I have no congressman and no office to protect. I intend to fully cooperate with any and every investigation of Mr. Foley's conduct. At the same time, I will fully disclose to the FBI and the House ethics committee any and all meetings and phone calls I had with senior staffers in the House leadership about any of Foley's inappropriate activities.

The fact is, even prior to the existence of the Foley e-mail exchanges I had more than one conversation with senior staff at the highest level of the House of Representatives asking them to intervene when I was informed of Mr. Foley's inappropriate behavior. One of these staffers is still employed by a senior House Republican leader. Rather than trying to shift the blame on me, those who are employed by these House leaders should acknowledge what they know about their action or inaction in response to the information they knew about Mr. Foley prior to 2005.

I wonder who's telling the truth? It's obvious somebody isn't.

Everybody is innocent until proven guilty, but if it turns out the GOP leadership knew about this Foley stuff and failed to act, I say throw them all under the bus with Foley.

Or, better yet, put them all in the bus and drive it off a cliff. [[In-content Ad]]