Washington Post's Eugene Robinson imitates Custer, claims 'Charlie Rangel is no crook'

One need only read the latest op-ed by the sixties retread named Eugene Robinson to comprehend the depths to which the Washington Post has descended. I did not make up the title of his most recent piece. Perhaps the Post, in its efforts to cut costs, outsourced title editing to The Onion.

Charlie Rangel is no crook

Charlie Rangel is no crook. He’s right to insist on the opportunity to clear his name, because the charges against him range from the technical all the way to the trivial...

...Rangel apparently was careless in filling out his required financial disclosure forms; he should have known better than to take that important exercise so lightly. And he’s accused of using a rent-controlled Harlem apartment as a campaign office -- which, I suppose, makes him the first New Yorker to look for loopholes in the city’s Byzantine rent-control laws. But where’s the old-fashioned venality? Where’s the out-and-out graft? Where’s even the hint of avarice?

...What’s missing is any allegation that Rangel bent or broke a single House rule -- or even a New York city ordinance -- for his own gain... ...Rangel was trying to satisfy his ego, not line his pockets. The real crime would be if such a long, distinguished, important public career ended in disgrace.

Eugene Robinson is a very, very disturbed individual. Rangel's dozen-plus charges would have landed any normal citizen in prison for a decade-long stint. The list of House ethics violations include, but are not limited to:

• Rewrote tax law to benefit a company that donated money to his namesake center;
• Used four rent-controlled apartments (violating NYC's rent-control laws) including using one as an office, not a residence (also violating NYC's laws), which also raises the question of an improper in-kind campaign contribution
• Improperly reported his ownership interest in a Dominican Republic condominium and failed to pay income taxes on $75,000 in rental income
• 'Intentionally failed to report' hundreds of thousands -- or millions -- of dollars in mysteriously acquired assets -- including an IRA, mutual fund accounts and equities

The full story will probably never come to light, thanks to the Journolistic practices of DNC PR hacks like Robinson.

Gee, look what I found: a Eugene Robinson op-ed from 2005!

Immoral Majority

...It may be too much to hope that the former House majority leader [Tom Delay] -- and how good it feels to write "former" -- will actually be convicted and do jail time. The indictment for criminal conspiracy returned by a Texas grand jury on Wednesday is for alleged campaign finance violations that are the rough equivalent of money laundering, which is not the easiest crime to prove in court.

But DeLay's problems are bigger than Texas. His golf-buddy relationship with Jack Abramoff, a fat-cat lobbyist under federal indictment, will face months of scrutiny. DeLay's resignation from the House leadership is supposed to be temporary, but Republicans ignored his wishes and picked a strong successor who could serve out the rest of this Congress if necessary. Clearly they believe their former leader will be distracted for some time.

Which makes me feel like it's morning again in America.

It's little wonder that the Washington Post is hemorrhaging readers faster than a door-to-door encyclopedia salesman.

It's the intellectual dishonesty, stupid.

Couldn't Happen to a Nicer Turncoat: Charlie Crist Accused of Fraud, Money Laundering

RedState points us to a TampaBay.com article on the disgusting (okay, "allegedly" disgusting) machinations of RINO-turned-indie Charlie Crist. The charges relate to former GOP Chair Jim Greer's apparent misuse of party funds.

Greer, a former Crist campaign executive, set up a shell company called "Victory Strategies LLC" to which he diverted as much as $125,000 in GOP funds.

Gov. Charlie Crist personally signed off on his former Republican party chairman's confidential fundraising role with the state party – according to Jim Greer's attorney, whose allegation contradicts the governor's statement that he "didn't know anything'' about the deal now part of a criminal investigation.

...Greer's attorney, Damon Chase, said Saturday that the deal giving them a 10 percent cut of party donations was legal. What's more, Chase said Crist's former right-hand man, now U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, first proposed the idea that they earn a fundraising commission to save the party money and replace the $30,000-a-month contract with fundraiser Meredith O'Rourke...

"Jim thought a change would be a good idea and I said, 'Whatever you think needs to be done, and if you need to bring in Delmar, that's fine,' " Crist said...

"The governor knew about Victory Strategies from the very beginning,'' Chase said. "They all worked on it together. . . . They saw it as a way to save money.''

Greer was a little-known councilman in Oviedo who had worked on Crist's 2006 campaign for governor when he was tapped to lead the Republican Party of Florida. Allegations that he used party money to live a life of luxury forced him to step down in January.

I have exactly the same level of confidence that Crist's ethics are above reproach that I have his tan is legit.

White House Probe of White House Bribe Allegations Clears White House: 'No Crimes that Merit Media Attention Were Committed by White House'

Courtesy of The Los Angeles Times, the dialogue between Joe Sestak and David Gregory on Sunday's Meet the Depressed is fascinating indeed.

MR. GREGORY: What, what job were you offered to stay out of a primary race by the administration?

REP. SESTAK: It's interesting. I was asked a question about something that....

MR. GREGORY: All right, but you've campaigned on transparency. It's part of the politics. You talked about standing up to the White House when they'd fielded a candidate--made a deal with Arlen Specter. So isn't it in the--in the spirit of transparency, were you offered a job by the administration? And what was it? ...

REP. SESTAK: I felt I needed to answer that question honestly because I was personally accountable for my role in the matter.

MR. GREGORY: What's the answer? What's the job you were offered?

REP. SESTAK: And--but anybody else has to decide for themselves what to say upon their role, and that's their responsibility.

MR. GREGORY: Yes or no, straightforward question. Were you, were you offered a job, and what was the job?

REP. SESTAK: I was offered a job, and I answered that...

MR. GREGORY: You said no, you wouldn't take the job. Was it the secretary of the Navy?

REP. SESTAK: Right. And I also said, "Look, I'm getting into this...

MR. GREGORY: Was it the secretary of the Navy job?

REP. SESTAK: Anything that go--goes beyond that is others--for others to talk about.

Robert Gibbs offered his usual stalwart defense on the Sunday talk circuit, which consisted of equal parts deflection and incoherence.

Today, however, even the official public relations newsletter of the DNC -- The Washington Compost -- raised the white flag.

"NOTHING inappropriate happened," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs says about the job offer that Rep. Joe Sestak, now the Democratic nominee for a Pennsylvania Senate seat, claims the White House dangled to induce him to back away from challenging incumbent Arlen Specter. "It has been looked into," adds White House senior adviser David Axelrod, and "nothing inappropriate happened."

...It would be awfully ham-handed if, as Mr. Sestak claims, an administration official presented the situation as an explicit quid pro quo: Don't challenge Mr. Specter and the Navy (or another job) is yours. Would it be illegal? Mr. Specter said so, but ethics laws do not seem designed for this circumstance. Ordinarily, bribery takes place in the opposite direction...

Still, the White House position that everyone should just trust it and go away is unacceptable from any administration; it is especially hypocritical coming from this one. "I'm not going to get further into what the conversations were," Mr. Gibbs said Sunday. "People that have looked into them assure me that they weren't inappropriate in any way." This response would hardly have satisfied those who were upset during the previous administration about the firing of U.S. attorneys. If there was nothing improper, why not all that sunlight Mr. Obama promised?

The most. Transparent. Administration. Evah! And to think that the geniuses at Slate Magazine were wondering if the Obama administration would be too transparent!

When the history books are written, I can assure you that this incident will be among the least of our concerns.

And I have only one more question:

WWKKD*?


* What would Kwame Kilpatrick do?

Obama's Posse o' Change

Well, this seems an inauspicious start. No, not the oath of office (that appeared to be a gaffe by the Chief Justice). It's the crew that President Obama assembled to serve as his Cabinet.

A Secretary of State whose personal coffers are overflowing with foreign money. If you look up "conflict of interest", you'll see a picture of Hillary being sworn in as Secretary of State. The Clinton Foundation has raised more than half a billion dollars including more than $40 million from foreign sources including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Taiwan. Put simply, "The Clinton Foundation exists as a temptation for any foreign entity or government that believes it could curry favor." To make matters worse, Hillary has refused to temporarily halt foreign contributions during her service or even to disclose donations in a timely fashion. Change!

A Treasury Secretary who cheats on his taxes doesn't know the tax code worth a damn. And who had a pathetic performance at the New York Fed, not to mention his de-orchestration related to the TARP debacle. And the double standard is appalling: as Tom Blumer points out, "Zoe Baird (Clinton, 1993), Kimba Wood (Clinton, 1993), and Linda Chavez (Bush, 2001) all had relatively minor or potential issues with self-employment taxes on household help... Geithner’s unpaid amounts were exponentially larger. Is there a whiff of male chauvinism in the air?"

A sleazebag Attorney General who appears to be the worst breed of political hack. In 1995 U.S. Attorney Eric Holder declined to prosecute a top aide of President Clinton. Shortly thereafter, he was named Deputy Attorney General. In that role, Holder sanctioned two of the most outrageous pardons in Presidential history. When Holder blessed the pardon of fugitive Marc Rich, at least one congressional report alleged that Holder was seeking an endorsement by Rich’s attorney for the role of “attorney general in a potential (Al) Gore administration.” And Holder's blessing of Clinton's pardon of the FALN terrorists has been criticized by scores of law enforcement officials. The COO of the LEAA stated that Holder's "involvement with FALN terrorists is not so much political as a significant sign of disregard for law enforcement." Gee, that's precisely what we need in an AG!

A proposed Commerce Secretary forced to withdraw because of an ongoing federal "pay-to-play" investigation. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson withrew from consideration for the Cabinet post when the investigation was disclosed. The probe centers on whether a campaign donor, CDR Financial Products, received millions in state contracts in exchange for the contributions. The word is that federal investigators "are zeroing in on two of his close advisers."

For the love of... Is it really that tough to find qualified Democrats who don't live full-time under an ethical cloud?

It gets worse. Consider those Democrats who currently occupy positions of significant power in Washington. On the other hand, maybe Obama was trying to level the ethical playing field between branches of government.

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), head of the Senate Banking Committee, played a major role in the mortgage meltdown that precipitated our current financial crisis. Not only did he take more money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac than any other politician, but NBC News reports that Dodd received a sweetheart mortgage deal from Countrywide Financial. To this day, Dodd refuses to release the HUD statement for the mortgage, despite promising to do so months ago.

A Democratic Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Charlie Rangel (D-NY), who is currently the subject of four separate ethics investigations. Rangel is alleged to have: violated rent-control laws; preserved a tax break for an oil company in exchange for a $1 million contribution; failed to pay taxes on $75,000 in unreported income; and solicited donations on his office letterhead.

House Banking Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) also played a significant role in the mortgage meltdown. Not only did he take numerous contributions from those affiliated with the GSEs (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac), but he repeatedly fought oversight and audit controls that could have saved the country from their catastrophic meltdown. Best quote? "I think it is clear that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are sufficiently secure so they are in no great danger... I don't think we face a crisis; I don't think that we have an impending disaster. ...Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac do very good work, and they are not endangering the fiscal health of this country.." That was Frank defending the GSEs' loose accounting standards in 2004 and he continued to do so through the summer of 2008.

Disgraced ex-Congressman William "Freezer-burn" Jefferson (D-LA) was found with $90,000 in marked bills stuck in his freezer at home. Federal agents told a judge the money was part of a $100,000 payoff delivered to Jefferson by an informant in a bribery probe. That probe has already led to guilty pleas by a Kentucky businessman and a former Jefferson aide. The Justice Department is investigating Jefferson's relationship to various international telecommunications agreements.

Allan "Jed Clampett" Mollohan (D-WV), who is a former chair of the House Ethics Committee under federal investigation after the National Legal and Policy Center filed a complaint with the department regarding a bizarre increase in Mollohan's net worth. For 2005, Mollohan and his wife reported assets worth $6.8 million to $25.7 million, up from $116,000 to $315,000 in 1999. His financial disclosure restatements came only after the group's complaint.

John "Porky" Murtha (D-PA), the famed chair of the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee; a charity founded by a longtime Murtha aide has become a "funnel for money" to his campaigns from defense contractors and lobbyists who directly benefit from his decisions. A Taxpayers for Common Sense spokesman noted, "It's a real tangled web between the congressman, the nonprofit, the defense contractors and the lobbyists." Oh, as an added bonus, Porky's one of the infamous unindicted co-conspirators caught during the Abscam round-up.

Harry "Land Deal" Reid (D-NV), the Senate Democratic Leader who collected a $1.1 million windfall profit on a Las Vegas land sale even though he hadn't owned the property for at least three years. Reid also did not disclose to Congress an earlier sale in which he transferred his land to a company created by a friend and took a financial stake in that company. The AP learned of the land deal from a former Reid aide concerned that the deal had been "hidden from Congress."

And, lest we forget, let's not omit Caroline Kennedy, who dropped out of contention for the New York Senate seat amidst reports of tax and nanny problems.

This is a world-class collection of losers, punks and crooks.

Culture of corruption? This isn't just a culture, it's an influenza-like epidemic.

But that's today's Democratic Party. They are among the sleaziest group assembled in Washington since the Teapot Dome.

Linked by: Vocal Minority and Curmudgeonisms. Thanks!

Video Professor's 'free offer' may be too good to be true

Intrigued by the incessant cable ads hawking "free" Video Professor instructional CDs?

You may be interested in reviewing the VidProf's complaint database at Ripoff Report.

The litany of 180+ complaints -- as of this writing -- is truly something to behold.

The oh-so-high ethical standards of the Clintons

The National Center for Policy Analysis takes a closer look at the Clinton tax returns.

New York Senator Hillary Clinton and her husband spend a lot of time on the Presidential trail deploring the "wealthy" and "well-connected." As their newly released tax records for 2000 to 2007 show, they know of whom they speak, says the Wall Street Journal...

* The former, and perhaps future, first couple earned $109 million over the past eight years, putting them among the top .01 percent of taxpayers.
* The bulk of the Clintons' income came from speech-making ($51.9 million) and book-writing ($29.6 million).

It is understandable why the couple took so long to release their returns, and is still reluctant to release other information, says the Journal. Their political status has given them access to wealthy folks who've helped make them rich [, e.g.,]

* Bill Clinton raked in as much as $15 million working as an adviser and rainmaker for billionaire financier Ron Burkle's Yucaipa firm.
* The former President also took in $3.3 million in consulting fees from InfoUSA CEO Vinod Gupta, who has also helped fund Hillary Clinton's White House bid.

Meanwhile, the Clintons also made liberal use of the charitable deduction:

* They claimed $10.2 million in charitable giving over the eight years.
* Intriguingly, nearly all the donations went to the Clinton Family Foundation, which has disbursed only half the money.
* The Clintons can thus use the foundation for, strategic giving, such as the $100,000 it donated last year to a local South Carolina library -- the day after Hillary Clinton debated in that key primary state.

There are other examples of such politically targeted philanthropy and it's worth noting that most of the foundation's disbursements came only after Hillary announced her Presidential run, says the Journal.

Honestly. This is about as surprising as a Britney flashing "accident".

Hat tip: Arkancide

The uber high-class ethics of Barack Obama

 
Dan Riehl has blockbuster news:

...Mrs. Obama’s compensation at the University of Chicago Hospital, where she is a vice president for community affairs, jumped from $121,910 in 2004, just before her husband was elected to the Senate, to $316,962 in 2005, just after he took office.

[An Obama earmark set aside] $1 Million For Construction Of A New Hospital Pavilion At The University Of Chicago. In 2006, Obama requested that the University of Chicago receive $1 million to support its Construction of New Hospital Pavilion.

Talk about a quid pro quo.

Hat tips: Jack M. and Larwyn

Sermon on Iwo Jima

 
If this message from the Sergeant doesn't send chills down your spine and bring a tear to your eye, well, you may not be human.

An interesting fact that many of you may be unaware of is the historic events that surrounded a Jewish chaplain on [Iwo Jima, where of 70,000 American Marines, 1,500 were Jewish].

Rabbi Roland B. Gittelsohn, assigned to the Fifth Marine Division, was the first Jewish chaplain the Marine Corps ever appointed. Rabbi Gittelsohn was in the thick of the fray, ministering to Marines of all faiths in the combat zone. His tireless efforts to comfort the wounded and encourage the fearful won him three service ribbons. When the fighting was over, Rabbi Gittelsohn was asked to deliver the memorial sermon at a combined religious service dedicating the Marine Cemetery.

Unfortunately, racial and religious prejudice led to problems with the ceremony. What happened next immortalized Rabbi Gittelsohn and his sermon forever.

It was Division Chaplain Warren Cuthriell, a Protestant minister, who originally asked Rabbi Gittelsohn to deliver the memorial sermon. Cuthriel wanted all the fallen Marines (black and white, Protestant, Catholic and Jewish) honored in a single, nondenominational ceremony. However, according to Rabbi Gittelsohn's autobiography, the majority of Christian chaplains objected to having a rabbi preach over predominantly Christian graves...

To his credit, Cuthriell refused to alter his plans. Gittelsohn, on the other hand, wanted to save his friend Cuthriell further embarrassment and so decided it was best not to deliver his sermon. Instead, three separate religious services were held. At the Jewish service, to a congregation of 70 or so who attended, Rabbi Gittelsohn delivered the powerful eulogy he originally wrote for the combined service:

Here lie men who loved America because their ancestors generations ago helped in her founding. And other men who loved her with equal passion because they themselves or their own fathers escaped from oppression to her blessed shores. Here lie officers and men, Negroes and Whites, rich men and poor, together. Here are Protestants, Catholics, and Jews together. Here no man prefers another because of his faith or despises him because of his color. Here there are no quotas of how many from each group are admitted or allowed.

Among these men there is no discrimination. No prejudices. No hatred. Theirs is the highest and purest democracy! Whosoever of us lifts his hand in hate against a brother, or who thinks himself superior to those who happen to be in the minority, makes of this ceremony and the bloody sacrifice it commemorates, an empty, hollow mockery. To this then, as our solemn sacred duty, do we the living now dedicate ourselves: To the right of Protestants, Catholics, and Jews, of White men and Negroes alike, to enjoy the democracy for which all of them have here paid the price.

We here solemnly swear this shall not be in vain. Out of this and from the suffering and sorrow of those who mourn this, will come, we promise, the birth of a new freedom for the sons of men everywhere.

Among Gittelsohn's listeners were three Protestant chaplains so incensed by the prejudice voiced by their colleagues that they boycotted their own service to attend Gittelsohn's. One of them borrowed the manuscript and, unknown to Gittelsohn, circulated several thousand copies to his regiment. Some Marines enclosed the copies in letters to their families.

An avalanche of coverage resulted. Time magazine published excerpts, which wire services spread even further. The entire sermon was inserted into the Congressional Record, the Army released the eulogy for short-wave broadcast to American troops throughout the world and radio commentator Robert St. John read it on his program and on many succeeding Memorial Days.

In 1995, in his last major public appearance before his death, Gittelsohn reread a portion of the eulogy at the 50th commemoration ceremony at the Iwo Jima statue in Washington, D.C. In his autobiography, Gittelsohn reflected, "I have often wondered whether anyone would ever have heard of my Iwo Jima sermon had it not been for the bigoted attempt to ban it."

ANOTHER DAY TO SERVE THE CORPS Classification: UNCLASSIFIED Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus, et Fidelis!

The GOP Platform I'd Like to See

 
These are the ten key planks I'd like to see.


*  Stronger national defense   - increase the size, capability and efficiency of our Armed Forces

*  Physical barriers at the border   - stop illegal immigration completely now. Did you hear me? Now!

*  Energy Independence   - open up ANWR and the OCS to exploration; aggressively pursue nuclear energy; and incent private industry to aggressively pursue clean, renewable energy sources.

*  English only   - the sole national language is English; it must be legal for all governmental entities and businesses to require English from its employees

*  Flat tax/Fair tax   - revamp the tax system and eradicate a tax code gone mad

*  Reduce the size of government   - provide "whistleblower-style" awards for reducing the size of government and task the IRS (which will no longer have to worry about enforcing the tax code) with achieving the reduction goals on an annual basis

*  Address health-care deficiencies   - with competitive, free-market solutions, not Government largesse

*  Death to earmarks   - they must go! Or their supporters must go.

*  Zero tolerance for Congressional corruption   - accelerate FBI investigations of Congress and remove all barriers for investigating corruption.

*  Use Quarterly Report Cards and Bully Pulpit   - anyone in the Executive Office ever heard of Powerpoint? Every quarter the President should get on prime-time TV and issue a report card on progress in the nine preceding areas. If Congress is lagging, he should use the bully pulpit to lobby the American people. And, for heaven's sake, use Powerpoint or some other highly graphical medium for getting the point across.

Update: thanks to Reliapundit for pointing out the omission on energy policy.

The Democratic Earmark Reform Charade

 
Mark Tapscott describes the Democrats' latest efforts to protect their precious earmarks.

Some of my Senate sources have gotten a copy of the 107 page "ethics and earmark reform" bill crafted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi... [they] are for the most gutting concrete earmark and ethics reform while preserving just enough of the appearance of reform to be able to claim to have fulfilled their 2006 campaign promises... Put another way - it's all a charade. ...Sen. Tom Coburn's staff has gone through the Reid/Pelosi text and compared it to the previously approved earmark reform bill adopted unanimously by the Senate in January. They put the results of their examination in a handy chart: Provision Senate-passed Bill New Bill Prohibits Senators from trading earmarks for votes Yes No Prohibits Senators and staff from promoting earmarks from which they or their families would receive a direct financial benefit Yes No Allows the Senate parliamentarian, not the Majority Leader, to determine if a bill complies with earmark disclosure rules Yes No Prohibits consideration of bills, joint resolutions, or conference reports if earmarks are not disclosed Yes No Requires earmarks attached to a conference report to be publicly available on the Internet in a searchable format 48 hours before consideration Yes No Requires 67 votes to suspend the earmark disclosure rule Yes No Requires a full day's notice prior to attempting to suspend the earmark disclosure rule Yes No Requires all earmark certifications from Senators to be posted on the Internet within 48 hours Yes No

It's a good thing the Democrats have eradicated the "culture of corruption". Problem is, they've only eradicated the phrase from their lexicon. In the mean time, Alan 'Instant Millionaire' Mollohan, Jack 'The Earmark King' Murtha, and William 'Freezer Burn' Jefferson continue to serve in the oh-so-proud Democratic Congress.

If their culture gets any more corrupt, the Democrats will be wearing sandwich boards with the going prices for votes listed.