U.S. Rep. Barney Frank said today he felt "vindicated" that a House panel's report, which charged California Democratic Rep. Comrade Maxine Waters with violating ethics rules, did not implicate him. Too bad for Maxine, though. Oh, well, off to P'town...
The panel said Waters may have violated House rules by seeking a meeting between Treasury Department officials and representatives of a bank - Boston-based OneUnited - where she had a piece of the cheese and her husband was suckling. Frank said he turned over all his records and was interviewed by the ethics panel, but since he wasn't charged "obviously dey got nuttin' on me." Well, nothing they could prove...
Or nothing they were willing to prove. Congressman Frank wields a lot of power, and clearly isn't going to be rejected by his voters for being caught with a live boy...and a dead girl is unlikely, thank goodness.
Identified in the ethics panel report as "Representative A," Frank, who had previously admitted meeting with Waters in published reports, told investigators Waters spoke to him about her husband's involement with OneUnited and her possible conflict of interest. Frank told Waters to "'keep your head down, Maxine'," according to the report, adding that he "would take care of the grease." Yeah, that sounds legit...
Frank said today he worked to make sure that OneUnited would be eligible for the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program because he is an inveterate back-scratcher and OneUnited is the only such bank in Massachusetts.
#3
not "...Fire Island? Senior Discount denied? Do you know who I am?"
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/03/2010 20:12 Comments ||
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#4
Barney seems to have a thing for corrupt black female pols...
U.S. Rep. Barney Frank said yesterday he has “no regrets” about his role in helping a troubled Boston bank qualify for a $12 million federal bailout now at the center of ethics charges against California Rep. Maxine Waters.
In fact, Frank - chairman of the powerful House Financial Services Committee - says he never helped OneUnited at the behest of Waters, whose husband had served on the bankÂ’s board.
Instead, the Bay State congressman said he worked to promote the bailout at the request of scandal-plagued then-state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson.“I was already working on behalf of OneUnited, I was called by Senator Wilkerson and others, I don’t remember who. I was out in California doing a hearing and got a call from Wilkerson,” he told the Herald yesterday.
At the time Frank said he acted on WilkersonÂ’s behalf, the senator was one month away from federal bribery charges to which she recently pleaded guilty. She had previously pleaded guilty to failure to pay federal income taxes and been cited for unreported campaign donations and expenditures. In 2001, she was fined as a sitting senator by the State Ethics Commission for failing to report consulting fees from OneUnitedÂ’s predecessor, the Boston Bank of Commerce, for which she had lobbied.
...and the kicker.
OneUnited received $12 million from the massive federal TARP program. So far, OneUnited hasnÂ’t proven too good an investment - the bank has missed five dividend payments to the Treasury Department.
If you think it was a time for Democrats running for office to rally around the chief executive- -you probably haven't been following the campaigns this summer.
Former Governor Roy Barnes was not be available to meet Mr. Obama. The Democratic gubernatorial candidate was in south Georgia- - far from Atlanta.
In Houston County, Mr. Barnes had breakfast with peach and pecan farmers
In Monroe County standing before the Sheriffs of middle Georgia, the former governor said, "I'd rather be with these folks, if you want to know the truth, I'm not running for governor of Washington D.C. I'm running for governor of Georgia."
Candidate Barnes also visited Thomasville and Bainbridge before ending his day in Donalsonville. Mr. Barnes also told reporters President Obama was okay with his abscence from Atlanta. The President called after the July 20th vote.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
"I'd rather be with these folks, if you want to know the truth,
Or.... if you want to know the truth, visit these people, not Obama.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Well at least he's honest about what he (and, sadly too many others) believe...
They truly think they can do whatever they want under the insanely broad interpretation of the commerce clause. They really do think they are our lords.
#6
The Federal Government Can Do Most Anything In This Country -
Except -
Balance its own budget
Stop printing money and bonds without backing
Control its own border
Say no to special interest groups
Stop selling the seat of representatives to the highest bidder
Reestablish integrity and trust in elected offices
#7
All it takes to put a stop to the corruption in Washington is to hang either a "Representative" or a "Senator" (NOT the baseball kind). Unfortunately, in today's society, there's absolutely no consequences for ignoring or trampling the Constitution into the pig swill running deep in Washington's streets. The current "ethics" investigations prove that beyond doubt. Hang a couple of them and see how fast the rest either retire or start "acting honest". Jefferson said it best: a little rebellion now and then is necessary to keep the politicians in this nation honest. We haven't had a really decent spot of rebellion since the early 1920's.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/03/2010 15:08 Comments ||
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An extraordinary piece of arrogance that slipped out.
Democratic Rep. Barney Frank is coming to California to raise cash for Democratic Sen. Barbara (Call me Senator!) Boxer's re-election bid.
The Massachusetts representative, who chairs the powerful House Financial Services Committee, shared the news in a Q-and-A in the New York Times Magazine:
Any plans for a summer vacation?
Well, we do have a campaign, and everyone should be campaigning. My partner, Jim, and I are going to California this month. I'm going to do a fund-raiser for Senator Boxer, speak to the Orange County Democrats and also just hang out.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Probably why he wanted to save that buck on the ferry ride over to Fire Island.
The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday blew off requests to overturn its finding that greenhouse gases endanger human health. And they still don't like Climate-Gate either, because it weakened their position.
The EPA's decision to reject those petitions was hardly a surprise - the agency was, in effect, being asked to check its own work. But the EPA used the occasion to attack the arguments of its critics, many of them reliant on the "Climate-gate" episode, in which hackers released embarassing emails sent by climate scientists. Because the British media showed no inclination to investigate the issue, since the 'science' was certain.
The EPA's response cited several self-conducted investigations that have cleared researchers involved in the scandal of charges of misconduct. It conceded that errors had been found in a landmark United Nations report on climate change. But it said that none of these raised doubts about the overall direction of climate science, and the certainty that climate change was happening and would get worse. Just yesterday, I saw National Geographic had an article saying global warming was a certainty, based on present temperature measurements, nevermind that messy history stuff.
The finding had been challenged by the states of Virginia and Texas, as well as the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Ohio Coal Association, and evil coal giant Peabody Energy.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/03/2010 06:27 ||
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Congress can amend the statutes regulating what the EPA can and can't do at any time they wish. These protests should be directed to Congress & expressed at the ballot box.
#2
I've had a subscription to National Geographic for 35 years, and I'm actually considering canceling it because of the way they are ignoring the discrediting of global warming.
It used to be an occasional article which could be over looked but they are becoming increasingly shrill just like the rest of the loonies.
#3
I read an article on Israel in NG a few years ago. It was so slanted that I would have cancelled the subscription based on that alone -- but the subscription was paid by my doctor's office, so their balance sheet remained safe. They did a big write-up on Afghanistan more recently, complete with the poster-sized maps they do so well. Again, party line, despite the gorgeous photos. I wouldn't have known, had I not been a loyal Rantburger.
#4
Family had a long, continuous tradition of taking National Geographic, from early 50's (grandparents), through 70's (parents), until a few years ago, when I dropped it for being too much politics and not enough science. Great maps and pretty pictures just weren't enough.
#5
when I dropped it for being too much politics and not enough science
Same problem with Scientific American, which now has as many non-science articles as science ones.
Can anyone recommend an excellent, reasonably highbrow science publication for laymen that is NOT infected with heavy political bias? Open to anything in English or French at this point. Russian too, if such a journal exists.
#7
I gave up on SA, too, but still get Discover. Not quite as high-brow...
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/03/2010 12:44 Comments ||
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Tree huggers now run the EPA with the support of tax and spend politicians who see a different kind of green potential, your money going to them. The conspirators have got it all worked out.
#9
Lex, the best thing I can do is recommend "Watts up with That?", an online "magazine" that deals primarily with climate, but digresses into other science quite frequently. There are NO print magazines that are even halfway as honest as WUWT. They've been voted "the best science news site on the Web" for the second year in a row. Lots of top-named "skeptics" contribute articles there, and the readership is about as diverse as Rantburg.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/03/2010 15:48 Comments ||
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Watts Up is also on a slant but with the opposite slope of SA. Watts Up still views the news primarily from a scientific view, not ideological as does SA, but it still has a slant. New Scientist is in the middle.
#14
The left is always ready to quote Eisenhower on the 'military industrial complex' but has also buried what immediately followed that quote -
Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.
The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present and is gravely to be regarded.
Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientifictechnological elite.
#15
The NG article on Israel several years back was the final straw for me. Cancelled and never looked back.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
08/03/2010 18:16 Comments ||
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#16
Thanks, Mods, for corrrecting the yellow highlight on the first paragraph. I was momentarily confused between re-writing and commenting. After it went up, I decided it shoulda been yellow.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/03/2010 18:25 Comments ||
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#17
The EPA has come a long way since Nixon set them up to protect bald eagles. Hopefully the new Republican House will defund them in January. Obama will veto any attempt to eliminate the agency, but he can't force Congress to appropriate money to pay for it.
#18
Then watch the usual suspect use the aristocracy judiciary to dictate to Congress to appropriate the money. At that point the Constitution is all but a relic in word.
Chris My Thigh is Tingling! Matthews, during his syndicated The Chris Matthews Show over the weekend, warned viewers that a big win for Republicans in the upcoming midterms could lead to a bunch of "oddballs" coming to Washington. Matthews, citing a New York magazine article by Jennifer Senior, alerted his audience that if the Tea Party is successful in November it could be reminiscent of the Republican class of 1994 when a bunch of "nutty standouts" arrived. Matthews then went on to list two groups of Republicans who were elected in 1994 and placed them in two groups: "the black helicopter crowd of paranoids" and "hypocrites who stood on the party's family values platform and then managed to slip off."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2010 00:00 ||
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#6
Hell, at this point I would take people that sit around flicking boogers at a wall instead of passing laws at this point. Would be cheaper to pay them $500,000/year and fill congress with do nothings than what we have now.
#9
Democrats still crow about their fiscal discipline of that time frame, fiscal discipline forced upon them by those oddballs. We need more of that. A lot more.
#10
Matthews then went on to list two groups of Republicans who were elected in 1994 and placed them in two groups: "the black helicopter crowd of paranoids" and "hypocrites who stood on the party's family values platform and then managed to slip off."
We still have two groups in Washington: The group that doesn't know cowpucky from shoepolish and the group that wants to turn America into a socialist/marxist hell. Wait a minute; maybe that's only one group.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The President flew into town Monday morning.
Democratic Rep. Barney Frank is coming to California to raise cash for Democratic Sen. 
