Rangel Mess Shows Congress Is Protected Class
Dec 3, 2010 Political
Before I start, let me say that I admire Charlie Rangel’s military service to this country. On 30 November, 1950 he and his unit were attacked by the Chinese while he was serving in the Korean War. Rangel was wounded but managed, as a Private, to take control of about 30 soldiers and get them to safety in freezing temperatures. His actions saved them from capture and likely saved their lives. He received several medals for his heroism and for that, this nation should be grateful.
But that does not negate the fact that over the years that Rangel has served in Congress he has done things that would get the average citizen thrown in jail.
Yesterday, Rangel was censured by the Congress, a punishment just below expulsion. Rangel was found guilty of nearly a dozen ethics violations including not paying taxes for a rental property. This is particularly bad because Rangel was in charge of the group responsible for our tax laws. It is not likely that Rangel will be prosecuted for failure to pay his taxes. He has already paid what was reported that he owed and the matter will be considered settled. If he were the average guy on the street, he would be in jail.
Even the not so average guys go to jail. Wesley Snipes, the actor, was sentenced to three years in jail for failure to pay his taxes. Snipes was led to believe that there was no compelling law that required him to pay the taxes so he didn’t. The fact that he paid $5 million dollars (of the $15 million he owed) did not sway a judge and he will serve three years.
What is the difference between what Snipes did and what Rangel did? Rangel knew the tax laws and did not pay his taxes. He claimed that it was a mistake and poor bookkeeping. Snipes was told by his tax advisers that he did not have to pay the taxes and he didn’t.
Both men were guilty of not paying their taxes but one of them had to face Congress and have his censure read aloud while the other will spend three years behind bars.
To top it off, Snipes has not been accused of any other wrongdoing.
Snipes was made an example. His jail time is a direct message to those who think there is no law compelling them to pay taxes. This is an intimidation tactic to get people who think the same thing to stop and think before they decide not to pay taxes.
There are obviously two sets of rules. One set for the members of Congress (and other top government officials) and one set for the rest of us. How many people in the Obama Administration alone were outed as tax evaders only to pay what they owed and move into high paying positions?
Rangel made a big show of his censure proceedings and asked others to vote for a lesser punishment. People have talked about the embarrassment of standing in the well of the House floor while the censure is read by the Speaker.
I bet if one were to ask Wesley Snipes which punishment he preferred he would gladly stand in the well of the House and have a censure read.
And you can bet Rangel prefers this to three years in jail.
You can bet they would both prefer the Tim Geithner resolution where they could apologize for the oversight, pay the back taxes (no interest or penalties) and then move on with their lives.
At 80 years of age it is time for Rangel to consider retiring and enjoying the rest of his life.
And it is time for Congress to have real oversight where members are held as accountable as the poorest person in the country.
Cave Canem!
Never surrender, never submit.
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Tags: charlie rangel, elites, jail, special treatment, taxes, wesley snipes
Right to Travel?
Nov 19, 2010 Political
So, a simple question — do we, as American citizens, have a right to travel in an airplane? According to the TSA, no. According to Joe Biden, Vice President of the United States, no. According to the head of Homeland Stupidity Security, no. According to US law, yes!
A citizen of the United States has a public right of transit through the navigable airspace.
— US Code Title 49, Subtitle VII, Part A, subpart i, Chapter 401, Section 40103.
Huh. Oh, I guess laws only apply when and where the law enforcement people want them to. And only to people who are not part of the government elite.
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Even As He Is Dying, Teddy Is Lying
Jul 26, 2009 Political
Teddy Kennedy, the famous drowner of women and the Binge Drinker of Hyannisport, still wants to see health care reform before he dies from brain cancer. He no longer comes to the Capitol building in Washington, but instead works from home, after many surgeries that the regular people could not afford now, much less then when we must, under the new proposed plans, ration our care.
“I have enjoyed the best medical care money (and a good insurance policy) can buy. . . . Every American should be able to get the same treatment that U.S. senators are entitled to,” Kennedy wrote in an unusually personal essay published in this week’s Newsweek, adding near the end of the article: “We’re almost there.”
He cited his sophisticated course of treatment — risky surgery at Duke University Medical Center to remove part of the tumor, proton-beam radiation at Massachusetts General Hospital and multiple rounds of chemotherapy — as a privilege of the rich.
“My wife, Vicki, and I have worried about many things, but not whether we could afford my care and treatment.”
latimes.com
Don’t you just love the candor with which he just pours out the fact that you or I could not afford the treatment he got? “A privilege of the rich.” Yes, Teddy, I guess it is- how nice of you to point it out. It’s too late to challenge Teddy to use the same insurance that he wants to force others to have, but it truly should be written into the plan that our politicians should be subject to the same treatment options and restrictions that everyone else has to abide by. Perhaps then they would not scrimp, or ration care, or score people according to their “worth” to society.
The tragedies Kennedy experienced in his life — his brothers’ deaths, his son Ted Jr.’s partial leg amputation from bone cancer, his daughter Kara’s lung cancer — shaped a commitment to universal healthcare that spans nearly half a century. His wealth and influence enabled him to retain a brain specialist in an attempt to save his brother, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and find cutting-edge cancer care for his children, options he frequently has said every family deserves.
latimes.com
Yes, being rich doesn’t suck, as they say- if you have the money, you can hire who you wish, but in this “ObamaCare” bill, you wouldn’t get the same chances, or treatments Teddy has been able to obtain, due to his wealth. Instead, we would get waiting times a la Canada, incompetent doctors, (because of the Affirmative Action portions of this bill, which would require the hiring of “diverse” doctors, no matter their incompetence), and a “value” assessed on just what our “cost” to society might be.
What chafes me about Teddy, is the near reverence he has managed to evoke in the halls of Washington, simply because he, 1)- escaped being indicted for manslaughter, 2)- has a truly legendary liver, having consumed at least a distillery in his lifetime, and 3)- hasn’t (as far as we know) contracted a terminal STD (although I understand that syphilis affects the brain). Surely there should be something more to his legacy than the gist of a drinking song, and Teddy hopes that this shoddy healthcare bill is it.
Sorry- but the bill is as flawed as Teddy is- if he hadn’t been so blinded by his political partnerships with the unions, gay community, and every other liberal cause he could grope, perhaps he might have had a real- world reaction to health care reform, but, like every other liberal, he owed these special interest groups, and had to pay them back.
Ted Kennedy’s record on healthcare reform is hardly flawless. Critics believe his refusal to compromise with Presidents Nixon and Carter caused him to miss promising windows of opportunity. During the Reagan years, he bowed to labor unions and declined to back a plan for catastrophic health insurance, a move he later regretted.
latimes.com
Yep, now this healthcare thing has morphed into a blatant power grab by the liberal elites who will opt, because of their money, to seek better care for themselves because they can.
Just like in George Orwell’s book, Animal Farm, some animals are more equal than others.
And the Rich are the most equal of all.
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Tags: drunken driving, elites, euthanasia, kennedy, liberal