That's the question Rep. John Carter (R-Texas) is asking as he threatens next month to lead a second attempt to strip the Harlem Democrat of his powerful post as Ways and Means Committee chairman.
"Every tax attorney in the country will tell you that if a normal taxpayer committed the violations of Chairman Rangel, they would be assessed serious penalties and interest, if not charged with criminal tax evasion," Carter said.
"This is about defending the rule of law itself."
Carter led the charge but failed to oust Rangel in October.
The House Ethics Committee began its probe of Rangel's alleged ethics breaches in September 2008 after The Post reported he had not disclosed income from a Dominican Republic beachfront villa he owns.
At the time, Rangel said he would eventually disclose his tax returns, but has not yet done so.
Rangel's office did not return calls seeking comment.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/21/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
For 2010 election, this is a situation where the tea party types need to really energize the disinterested proles, and set aside petty differences to unseat a monstrosity. Unite all the disaffected behind one candidate - in this particular case, almost any breathing human being would be preferable - and get this bit of housecleaning accomplished. If any opposition candidate gets anything close to a clear plurality, the other opposition should concede and encourage their voters to back the most potent opposition candidate.
Get this ass-clown tossed out on his rump. Then - use the 2012 election to go back to infighting.
I know this is wishful thinking - but somebody local needs to get energized.
Rather than have the entrenched political elite trying to unseat Rangel from a committee chair, the broader electorate should be sending this guy on a permanent vacation.
#2
Rangel represents his districts and constituency much the same way Pelosi represents hers. Why would they want to kill the goose that lays the stolen golden eggs. 7.62mm
Iron-clad rule at Rantburg: we do not threaten Americans. Period. I'm sure you won't make that error again, Angoth Platypus4042. A pity, because the rest of your comment was quite good.
"In the long run we can't continue to spend as if deficits don't have consequences, as if waste doesn't matter, as if the hard earned tax dollars of the American people can be treated like monopoly money, that's what we've seen time and time again, Washington has become more concerned about the next election than the next generation." Frankly, I'm speechless.
Your U.S. House & Senate have voted themselves $4,700 and $5,300 raises.
1. They voted to not give you a S.S. cost of living raise in 2010 and 2011.
2. Your Medicare premiums will go up $285.60 for the 2-years and you will not get the 3% COLA or $660/yr. Your total 2-yr loss and costis $1,600 or $3,200for husband and wife. Plain enough???
3. Every member of Congress will get an added $10,000 which is putting them very close to $ 200,000 per year. Sounds like an elite class to us.
4. Do you feel SCREWED? They vote themselves a raise and better benefits. They only care about WE THE PEOPLE on election day, right? You never did anything about it in the past. The time for action is near!!!!
5. Do you really think that Nancy, Harry, Chris, Charlie, Barnie, et al, care about you? SEND THE MESSAGE-- You're FIRED.
*** THIS IS NOT ABOUT POLITICAL PARTIES! IN 2010 YOU WILL HAVE A CHANCE TO GET RID OF THE ENTIRE SITTING CONGRESS, Up to 1/3 OF THE SENATE, AND 100% OF THE HOUSE.
The election in 2010 will be a sea-change to the mindset of any member of Congress who may survive.
MAKE SURE YOURE STILL MAD IN NOVEMBER 2010 AND REMIND THE REPLACEMENTS NOT TO SCREW UP LIKE THE GUYS THEY ARE REPLACING.
#5
MAKE SURE YOU'RE STILL MAD IN NOVEMBER 2010 AND REMIND THE REPLACEMENTS NOT TO SCREW UP LIKE THE GUYS THEY ARE REPLACING.
No problemo Besoeker!
These guys have screwed up the economy. Despite the numbers these guys put out; I don't have any confidence in the market. My retirement took a huge hit. Retired elders lost trillions in retirement they had worked for all their lives. They have tried to destroy capitalism. The President has bowed to every tin-horned dictator he meets. He has not apologized to the American people once. The country has vast belts of empty factories and stores. Unemployment is probably much greater than reported because you cannot trust Washington politicos to tell anything close to the truth. It's not in them.
#7
I suppose that means that the president will therefore be vetoing the profligate, wasteful, and corrupt 'health reform' bills when they reach his desk.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
12/21/2009 19:10 Comments ||
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#8
Mitch H---That is a presumptuous assumption on your part. Heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/21/2009 20:27 Comments ||
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#9
I thought they took Ghettopoly off the market DMFD. At least they can find a use for all the unsold games...
#10
PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > YOUTUBE > {Glenn Beck Show on FOXNEWS Channel] UNITED STATES DEBT OBLIGATIONS NOW EXCEEDS WORLD GDP. MONETARY COLLAPSE LOOMING [World GDP = US$78.4Trilyuhn for 2008].
Lest we fergit, CHIN BLOGS > US "TRUE/REAL DEBT" MANY TIMES EXCEEDS ITS "OFFICIAL" DEBT???
* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > CHINA WARNS OBAMA/US ON DEFICIT SPENDING.
#6
I believe the best preparation is water cooled machine guns on the border. Wouldn't want Global Warming to overheat the barrels.
Posted by: ed ||
12/21/2009 16:38 Comments ||
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#7
World must prepare for mass climate migration? So the friggin sky is falling; so what? Ya Da Ya Da Ya Da. So far the biggest migration problem is illegal latinos coming from the warmer climates of Mexico to the colder climates of the U.S. I guess this means Obama and minions will define this migration as a problem. The next reform will be immigration reform. Dear God please spare us what this might be.
Nelson did it all for Nebraska, right? Seems like the governor doesn't see it that way:
Gov. Dave Heineman today made the following comment regarding Sen. Ben Nelsons statements on the so-called Reid-Nelson amendment. Sen. Nelson is reported as saying, Well, you know, look, I didn't ask for a special favor here. I didn't ask for a carve out. What I said is the Governor of Nebraska has contacted me, he said publicly he's having trouble with the budget and this will add to the budget woes. And I said, look, we have to have this fixed.
Gov. Heinemans statement follows:
Nebraskans did not ask for a special deal, only a fair deal. Under no circumstances did I have anything to do with Senator Nelsons compromise. I, along with Governors all across America, have expressed concern about the unfunded Medicaid mandate. I have said all along that this bill is bad news for Nebraska and bad news for America. Additionally, I criticized Senator Reid when he got a special deal for Nevada that didnt apply uniformly to all states. Senator Nelson negotiated this special deal, rather than a fair deal for both Nebraska and America. The responsibility for this special deal lies solely on the shoulders of Senator Ben Nelson.
#2
Sen Dorgan (D-ND) had a 75% fav rating back in 2006 and is in deep, deep trouble in 2010.
Nelson had about 70% back then but I can hardly wait to see the latest poll. Once the sunlight shines on the actual Senate votes the state voters are less easily glad-handed.
Posted by: lord garth ||
12/21/2009 19:37 Comments ||
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Sen. Ben Nelson, (D-Neb.) the crucial 60th vote in the health care reform debate, said Sunday that having so much leverage hasn't been a situation he created and that the intensity of negotiations has been as "harsh..and unforgiving as I've ever seen it in my nine years."
Nelson has been at the center of the abortion language and struck a deal that will prevent federal funds from subsidizing plans that cover abortions. The compromise has angered people on both sides of the abortion debate.
"We tried to pass the Stupak language earlier in the Congress last week....It didn't get enough votes, the choice was do nothing or try to do something. What we were trying to do was find a way to solve the issue," Nelson said on CNN's "State of the Union." "If you think it's fun having both sides on an issue mad at you when you're trying to do something in a good faith, just think if i'd gone home and gotten bit by the family dog...Who enjoys that?"
Nelson said that without the compromise, reconciliation probably would have been more likely.
"I put together what I thought was appropriate and I'm sorry that both sides didn't enjoy it," he said. "That's the way it works. I'm an independent type of person."
Commenting on the fact that most of the major changes don't take effect until 2014, Nelson said, "It's unfortunate that there is that lag...the majority of this doesn't take affect until sometime in the future."
"The criticism is there, it's valid....but you have to move into this incrementally," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/21/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
"If you think it's fun having both sides on an issue mad at you when you're trying to do something in a good faith, just think if i'd gone home and gotten bit by the family dog...Who enjoys that?"
That's right Ben, it's all about your... feel good factor and has little to do with the unborn or the will of the American people. That you for this revealing peek into your thought process and inner man.
#2
You know, Ben, when the winds are swirling and shifting from one direction to another it helps to have a little bit of courage, integrity and faith in your own convictions. That way you know what to do in spite of all the people screaming at you to do otherwise. But I can see how it might be tough if you're nothing but a spineless little weasel.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) concedes that Republican senators won't be able to stop Democratic health care reform legislation from passing the Senate before Christmas. We guessed that.
"We will fight until the last vote," McCain told "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace. "We owe that to our constituents, because we must do everything -- we must look back and say we did everything to prevent this terrible mistake from taking place."
Democrats recently reached a deal with hold out members of their own caucus to cobble together the 60 votes necessary to pass the bill - and McCain, in response to a Wallace question, said there's "probably not" anything the GOP can do to block the bill. "But what we can do is continue winning the battle of American public opinion."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/21/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
So from where is the Senate Democrats getting the 60 votes ?
Did Ted Kennedy "phone" his vote in from the great beyond ?
Posted by: Ulenter Oppressor of the Faith9084 ||
12/21/2009 2:43 Comments ||
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#2
The People decided on this course of action, they need to learn to live with the current and future funemployment rate.
#3
Spot on Snowy Mtn. Evidently the American people wanted a Chicago machine style gov't at the national level. It's not like the Chicago and Cook County Democratic pay-for-play system has been a well kept secret for the past 100 years or so. One should be careful what one asks for.
#5
Betcha that what this Congress can pass the next Congress can't quite unpass. We're going to be stuck with this mess for years and years, and once it's started it's going to grow, until it eats all the money we can lay hands on, including all we can borrow.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/21/2009 11:11 Comments ||
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#6
We're going to be stuck with this mess for years and years We're already in a big financial mess that will last for years and years. Passing Obamacare will be like the Titanic hitting a 2nd iceberg.
#7
The congress is too divided. The parasites have almost taken over the host. I see no easy way out of this. We will be bankrupt and collapse economically, going Zimbob, if you will, before this gets sorted out, if it ever does. We are committing national suicide.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/21/2009 11:34 Comments ||
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#8
The parasites have almost taken over the host.
This must surely be a leading entry for Congressional snark of the month. Still wiping coffee from my keyboard.
#10
Time for a third party based on fiscal soundness. Unfortunately none of the current batch are serious enough to step up and a shake and bake instant party is unlikely to grab hold.
Perhaps if enough people are disgusted we might see some migration of pols into the third party giving it strength and credibility but that's unlikely. The current batch are pretty elitist in that regards.
Perhaps the threat of such a move coming out of the Tea Parties will get the Republicans to reform.
#11
I think the charitable thing to assume about McCain is that he spent so many years adhering to Senate rules by calling Democrat senators "gentlemen" that he finally came to believe that they are gentlemen. In fact they are a pack of rats. McCain has made a career of dealing with these people, compromising with them to "get things done". Then in the 2008 election they put on brass knuckles and beat the crap out of him. He should have known better than to let it happen. He should have hammered away at Obama's associations with people like Bill Ayers and Rev. Wright. He should have screamed bloody murder about Acorn, Bawney Fwank, Chris Dodd and CRA. He should loudly and proudly voted against TARP and all the other bailouts and stimuli. He should have opposed amnesty instead of championing it. What a fool. Either that or he's just as crooked as they are.
#15
The Republicans forfeited their right to stop health care because they became corrupt and unresponsive to the voters. They gave up their conservative roots and any notion of fiscal responsibility. The donks will get thrown out for the same reasons. So where do we go from there?
(ANSA) - Rome, December 18 - The United Nations climate change summit in Copenhagen is a ''mountain giving birth to a mouse,'' a Catholic Church emissary to the UN said Friday.
Predicting meagre results from the summit as it wound down on Friday, Msgr. Celestino Migliore said deadlock at the conference illustrated that ''massive international meetings have outworn their usefulness as a format for addressing the world's problems''.
The Vatican nuncio to the UN, Migliore said the summit was hamstrung from the outset by disagreement over ''what is causing climate change and how to stop it''.
''Without consensus for the diagnosis, it's going to be hard to agree on a cure,'' he said.
#5
China and India seemed to see the whole thing for what it was--so much B.S. and posturing by morons. I for one am very glad the results of the conference were meager. "Climate Change" is a case of misplaced priorities. There are more significant problems--like just about any problem one can imagine. The whole thing was a shell game.
Now that the enviro nuts have finished handing out their "Fossil of the Day" and "Colossal Fossil" awards, unfairly smearing Canada at the just-completed Copenhagen climate summit, let's return the favour with some well-deserved honours of our own.
Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, we present the Copenhagen Flatulence Awards, honouring those who raised the art of generating hot air and gassy emissions to new intensity levels during the UN-sponsored festival of indignation.
The "I'm Not Really A Climatologist, I Just Play One on TV" Flatulence Award:
To Al Gore, who, having made a career out of mocking opponents for "getting the science wrong" on global warming, gets the science wrong on the melting of the polar ice cap, according to the scientist he says he got the science from.
The "That Old Man River, He Just Keeps Rolling Along" Flatulence Award:
To David Suzuki, for suggesting during a CBC interview -- twice -- that anyone worried about lost jobs if Canada's oil sands are shut down, would also have endorsed slavery in the American south.
The "I'm The King Of The World, Baby, King Of The World!!!" Flatulence Award:
To David Miller, who accepted two Canada-mocking fossil awards in Copenhagen and pronounced himself embarrassed on behalf of all Canadians, apparently unaware that a lame-duck Toronto mayor who would have been slaughtered in the next municipal election -- had he had the stones to run -- is about as fossilized as you can get.
The "Yes, I'll Have My Gateaux and Eat It Too" Flatulence Award:
To Quebec Premier Jean Charest, for going medieval on Alberta's oil sands, apparently unaware that oil money from Alberta helps to pay for Quebec's cradle-to-grave social programs.
The "Pay No Attention To That Man Behind the Curtain" Flatulence Award:
To Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, for having his environmental thingy in Copenhagen lambaste Stephen Harper for not doing enough to lower greenhouse gas emissions, days after Ontario's environment commissioner lambasted McGuinty for not doing enough to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
The "Somebody Has to Change Their Irresponsible, Carbon-Spewing Lifestyle To Save The Planet, But It Ain't Gonna Be Me" Flatulence Award:
To the Copenhagen delegates who booked 140 private jets and 1,200 limousines -- five of them hybrids -- to fly into and tool around the UN conference.
The "Okay, Now It's Just Getting !@$#%$ Stupid" Flatulence Award:
To UN Copenhagen delegates who applauded Third World thug Robert Mugabe and Venezuela's loopy Hugo Chavez, for demanding more money from the West for fighting global warming, as if it won't go down exactly the same sinkhole our foreign aid does now.
The "We'll Tell You What's News, You Miserable Little Peons" Flatulence Award:
To all those Canadian media outlets, and you know who you are, who kept insisting climategate wasn't a real story, without ever explaining what climategate was.
And in conclusion, some positive examples of those who took the high-flying, hypocritical gas bags in Copenhagen down a notch:
The "Is That An Iceberg In Your Pocket Or Are You Happy To See Me?" Award:
To Danish sex trade workers, who, angered by a warning from Copenhagen's mayor to conference delegates not to make use of their services, offered free sex to anyone who could produce their conference identity card, plus a copy of the mayor's warning that was sent to local hotels.
The "My Government Went to COP 15 And All I Got Was This Lousy Economy" Award:
To the Washington-based National Center For Public Policy Research, which handed out free T-shirts in Copenhagen featuring the above motto -- along with a photo of a soup line during the Great Depression.
And finally, overheard at newsbusters.org: "Climate scientists today said 2000 to 2009 is the warmest decade on record ... And they have the manipulated data to prove it!"
Posted by: Fred ||
12/21/2009 00:00 ||
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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.
That's the question Rep. John Carter (R-Texas) is asking as he threatens next month to lead a second attempt to strip the Harlem Democrat of his powerful post as Ways and Means Committee chairman. 
"In the long run we can't continue to spend as if deficits don't have consequences, as if waste doesn't matter, as if the hard earned tax dollars of the American people can be treated like monopoly money, that's what we've seen time and time again, Washington has become more concerned about the next election than the next generation."
Sen. Ben Nelson, (D-Neb.) the crucial 60th vote in the health care reform debate, said Sunday that having so much leverage hasn't been a situation he created and that the intensity of negotiations has been as "harsh..and unforgiving as I've ever seen it in my nine years." 
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) concedes that Republican senators won't be able to stop Democratic health care reform legislation from passing the Senate before Christmas. 
