Public Servants, We the People and All That Jazz

As the mid term election season draws ever closer, it's important to remember who we elect to represent us. The Ruling Class has clearly forgotten for whom they work...

First up, that rascally Charlie Rangel:



Next, we have an agitated and arrogant Al Franken. Imagine telling your boss to shut up?



How about Congressman Bob "Who Are You" Etheridge?



Or Pete Stark, who thinks his constituents are beneath him?



Oh yeah, the common thread in all of this? All of these guys are Democrats.
Remember in November.

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Sure Signs of Desperation: Dems Begin Chewing Off Limbs

It's been public knowledge for about a year that Charles Rangel had multiple and serious ethics issues, yet the Democrats in control - most notably Speaker Nancy Pelosi - chose to ignore those allegations. Rangel stepped aside as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, but he continues to serve as a member nonetheless.

Suddenly it has been announced by the House ethics committee that a Congressional investigative committee has decided to charge Rangel with multiple, albeit unspecified, violations. This, on the heels of the shelving of the infamous and unpopular "Cap & Trade" bill, can only mean that Democrats have witnessed their own political mortality and are running scared. Very scared.

So scared, it seems, that the temporary storage of a prized piece of legislation is not enough to placate the rank and file membership. It has left them feeling trapped, and they have taken on the traits of the trapped animal; they are gnawing off expendable appendages in order to survive. The problem is, they are also becoming as dangerous as a wounded animal.

Having already hinted at the possibility of enacting nothing-to-lose laws in a potential lame-duck session, Congress - in the likely event of having the largest class of former members in history - could dust off the Cap & Trade bill just in time for Christmas and ruin the holidays for us all. Don't think they could be so vindictive? Think again, you haven't been paying much attention.

The shelving of that bill is nothing more than a thinly veiled effort to not only curry favor with the majority of the electorate, but a lame attempt to sour the people on the Republicans by blaming them for global warming and the obstruction of the alleged cure. Despite their defiant actions and smug righteousness, the Democrats are well aware of their minority status outside the Chambers.

One must wonder who else is expendable as November rapidly approaches from the horizon, but also how vigorously Congress will pursue these charges. Odds are that this wham-bam Congress will suddenly slow to a deliberative crawl in the Rangel matter claiming that the seriousness of the situation requires care and diligence. Would that they had been so slow on the trigger of Health Care, an infliction on the nation with far greater magnitude than the loss of one corrupt career politician.

The show should be amusing to watch anyway, particular for the kid in us all that enjoyed frying ants with a magnifying glass so many years ago.

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Democrats And Rangel Face Tough Opponent

The American people have long yearned for fresh faces in politics and that, ostensibly, has been interpreted to mean veritable rookies, new blood that would bring a whole new perspective to the halls of congress. It is a good concept, but anyone who has followed politics with even a modicum of interest would be quick to realize that such a person would be intimidated in short order. He would be brow-beaten and devoured by the professional denizens of those halls and therefore, corrupted before he even realized it had happened.

Enter "Judge Carter", Rep. John Carter of Texas, who was elected to congress in 2002. Carter served over twenty years on the bench as a Texas district court judge, which is never to be confused with anything resembling a California district court. Carter is about as conservative as they come.

Not only is he a proud conservative, he is completely immune from the "gaga" effect of being new to congress, which means that he is unafraid to confront anyone, including the Speaker, relying instead on pure righteousness as his guide. Couple that with an acute acumen for arguing, and he has all the ingredients required to severely confound the likes of Nancy Pelosi, especially in a contest fought before the scrutiny of the public.

Charlie Rangel, the Democratic chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, has been under fire since July over shady dealings that indicate a betrayal of trust of his position. According to the Washington Post:

He came under fire this week after The New York Times reported that Rangel worked to protect a tax shelter for Nabors Industries, an oil company whose chief executive was pledging $1 million to a school bearing the congressman's name.

The executive, Eugene M. Isenberg, also personally pledged $200,000 to the City College of New York, where the public policy school is named for Rangel. Last year, the company won congressional approval to preserve its tax shelter in the Caribbean, saving Nabors tens of millions of dollars annually and depriving the federal treasury of $1.1 billion in revenues over a decade, according to a Congressional analysis by the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation.

Anyone who remembers the Tom Delay railroad job must be scratching their heads about now. Not only is Rangel himself striking a defiant pose, but his comrades in congress are circling the wagons and doing what they can to bury this problem quickly while attempting to save face for the party. Judge Carter is having none of it. He is leading the charge on behalf of the republicans regarding Rangel's ethics problems and challenging Speaker Pelosi in a most direct manner regarding the same.

Connie Hair of Human Events has an excellent article on this subject in which she points out how Carter is demanding answers from the democrats, and how Pelosi is attempting to sweep the matter under the rug before the new congress in January. Carter is brilliant in his cross examination technique:

Speaker Pelosi last week issued a news release stating she had "assurances" that the Rangel investigation would conclude in early January, in spite of growing evidence of wrongdoing by Rangel.

In his letter to Pelosi, Carter said, “I was chagrined to learn that you issued a press release last week announcing that you ‘have been assured’ that the Ethics Committee’s investigation of Rep. Charles Rangel will be concluded by January 3, 2009. As a former member of the Ethics Committee, you are no doubt acutely aware that House rules expressly prohibit Members and staff of the Ethics Committee from discussing any aspect of an ongoing ethics investigation with individuals outside the committee.”

Pelosi explained publicly that those assurances came from her own staff and not from the ethics committee. Again, Carter's counter-punch was deadly. He said, "Indeed, no responsible news organization would have printed your announcement had they understood it reflected nothing more than speculation - or perhaps wishful thinking - by your own staff. Otherwise, the only other plausible purpose for your press release would be to put public pressure on the Ethics Committee to wrap up its work regarding Rep. Rangel before the House approves new committee chairmen for the 111th Congress during the first week of January.”

It seems that we have finally found the potent combination of rookie-with-experience in John Carter, a man who is new to the machinations of the federal government, but certainly not new to the planet, and most assuredly capable of tackling that which most citizens wish tackled; the ethics of DC.

God speed, Judge Carter.

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