Big Dogs House

Rebuke Joe Wilson, Leave Rangel Alone

Feb 25, 2010 Political

The Democrats voted to rebuke Joe Wilson after he shouted “you lie” during Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress. The Democrats did not like what Wilson did and they will not stand for that kind of behavior. People who do wrong must be punished.

Charlie Rangel was found to have violated ethics rules when he accepted travel from a corporation that routinely lobbies Congress. The ethics panel found that the financing of the trip was improper for all members of the Congressional Black Caucus who went on it but Rangel was the only one found in violation because the others did not know the corporation paid for the trip.

So what did the Ethics Panel do about this infraction (one of many involving Rangel)? The Panel decided not to issue formal charges:

The committee decided against issuing formal charges against Rangel that could lead to punishment such as a censure.

The Panel decided against formal charges that could lead to punishment. Charlie Rangel deserves to be punished.

How is it that Wilson gets rebuked for shouting “you lie” but Rangel escapes charges?

This kind of puts Nancy “most ethical Congress” Pelosi in a bad position. What will she do with Rangel during this election year? He is sure to be a lightning rod during the upcoming campaign season.

If we are lucky this jive talking Don will not be in office next year.

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Tags: charlie rangel, ethics, guilty, joe wilson, rules

C-SPAN Asks Congress To Make Good On Obama’s Promise

Jan 6, 2010 Political

During the campaign, candidate Obama promised that the health care debate would be out in the open and would be debated on C-SPAN but that has not happened. The health care debate has been carried out in closed door meetings where shady deals were cut to gain support. The so called transparency of Obama is out the window and regardless of how many morons claim he has not lied or broken a promise, the truth is that he has. He said the debate would be on C-SPAN and it has not been.

C-SPAN CEO Brian Lamb wrote to the leaders in Congress and asked them to open the last part of the debate to the public by fulfilling Obama’s promise, that is to put it on C-SPAN. Since the Democrats are already negotiating the bill behind closed doors and skirting the reconciliation process it is very unlikely that the debate will get any air time. I will make te prediction now that they will say no and it will not be debated in the open.

Nancy Pelosi just slapped the American people in the face by claiming that there has never been a more open process. I guess if weekend and middle of the night votes after closed door secret meetings define openness then she is correct. However, since the definition of open has a different meaning, Pelosi is lying.

It was Nancy Pelosi who told us that; “The Democrats intend to lead the most honest, most open and most ethical congress in history.” Well, they might have intended to but they certainly have not. Charlie Rangel, Timothy Geithner, and Chris Dodd lead the cast of many in the Democrat party who have had ethics problems. The corrupt manner in which votes were bought in the Senate in no way reflects openness and the closed door secret meetings defy the claim of “most open.”

Democrats are in trouble and some have read the writing on the wall and have decided not to seek reelection. Many others will become victims of their actions, a fate Obama and “safe” Democrats seem to be OK with.

The Democrats intended to be the most open and ethical and Obama promised to air the health care debate on C-SPAN. None of this has happened because they will say anything to get elected and to fool the public. They did what they had to do to get in office and now they are doing what they want, the public be damned.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for any of this to be on C-SPAN. You will die from lack of oxygen long before you get to exact your revenge in November.

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Tags: c-span, ethics, health care, lies, Obama, openness

Is Inouye Unethical?

Jul 2, 2009 Political

Democratic Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii owns shares of Central Pacific bank worth between $350,000 and $700,000 which is about two thirds of his reported assets. The bank was in trouble and had applied for government assistance. The bank was not a likely candidate for assistance.

Inouye had an aide make a phone call to inquire about the bank’s application and bam, it is now set to receive $135 million dollars.

It is not uncommon for politicians to try to help the banks in their states. Even though there are rules they routinely break them or make exceptions in order to assist banks from their states. Hell, it isn’t their money.

It is also true that even if Inouye asked for the application to be approved that he did not break ethics laws the Senate establishes for itself. Of course, the rules they have are designed to allow them to be unethical.

But the fact that he has money invested in the bank gives the appearance that he used his political position and influence in order to personally benefit from an action that would not be available to the average citizen. Even if he only inquired, the fact that he personally benefits from the action is suspect.

It gives the appearance of impropriety and appearance is often the truth.

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Tags: bank, ethics, inouye

Nancy Pelosi Rams Through Legislation

Jul 1, 2009 Political

When the Democrats took control in 2006 Nancy Pelosi said they would be the most honest, open, and ethical Congress in history. The ethical part of that was shot from the start with sweetheart loans and tax evasion and a myriad of other ethical lapses. The American Spectator has a piece up entitled; ACES Up Her Sleeve.

In that article the authors, Jeremy Lott and William Yeatman, discuss that if there were any doubts about Pelosi breaking all those promises they were cleared up after her actions last week with regard to the Cap and Trade bill. Or as they put it; “Our refusal to accept her rhetoric was roundly vindicated last week.”

The Speaker chose to stifle the usual observances of deliberative democracy because open, honest debate would have attracted unwelcome scrutiny to her massive new energy tax.

Pelosi’s legislation, the American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) Act, would raise the price of hydrocarbon energy sources like coal and oil thought to cause global warming, but which power 85 percent — 85 percent! — of the economic production in America.

A large energy tax during a deep recession is a political cyanide pill that 44 of Pelosi’s Democratic colleagues refused to swallow. That almost doomed the bill and in fact would have killed it outright Friday night if eight Republicans hadn’t voted with the majority of Democrats. (The final vote was 219 to 212.)

Likely there would have been many more Democratic “no” votes if Madame-Speaker and Energy & Commerce chairman Henry Waxman didn’t find creative ways to shorten or skip every step of that “How a Bill Becomes a Law” song.

The Democrats have been ramming things through at breakneck speed and they have been skirting the rules and procedures because if the legislation is given any time for public consumption then it will meet with the scorn of the people. The Democrats’ plan is to ram it through before we know what is in it and then have us accept the consequences because there is not much we can do.

This bill was nearly 1300 pages and NO ONE read it just like NO ONE read the stimulus. We keep seeing where things are popping up because of the stimulus and we keep finding waste as well as unintended consequences that cannot easily be overcome. For instance, the stimulus gave people a little more in paychecks. It was enough to disqualify some people for food stamps and other assistance because it pushed them over the income limit. If someone had taken the time to read it then maybe that could have been fixed by adding a line stating that the money was not to count toward welfare eligibility.

This is the kind of stuff that happens when they do not read the bills. They did not read the Cap and Trade bill and this one will be an economy and business killer. If this ever passes (and it has a better chance with Franken headed to DC, unless Kennedy’s term expires) then many businesses will move out of the country, our energy costs will skyrocket (Obama said they necessarily would), and many people will have to decide between eating and keeping warm.

It is an Obamanation and Nancy Pelosi ignored the rules in order to get what she and Obama wanted and of course, so they could take off for their WEEK long 4^th of July holiday.

Obama said we needed to do these things this year (Cap and Trade, Health Care reform) and he says it is because it is urgent blah, blah. Nothing is ever so urgent that it cannot be read before it is voted on. Obama wants this rammed through and done because next year is an election year and he does not want bills that are unpopular among people in his own party hanging out there like an Al Gore chad. He does not want people to be reminded of the terrible things he is doing while he tries to keep all the seats he has. If they pass it soon they can enact it next year and the results will not be felt until after the election.

The transparent, open, honest, and ethical Democrats have been anything but and this is from Obama down. None of them have kept promises regarding posting bills for public review and none of them are following the procedures in order to do things.

They are doing what they want and they do not care about us, their concern is getting their agenda passed.

Perhaps the Hondurans have the right idea…

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Tags: criminal, ethics, ineptitude, Obama, Pelosi

On Ethics

Jun 25, 2009 Political

Yesterday, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford called a news conference to explain his absence from his office for the past week.

He then proceeded to explain that he had had an affair with an Argentinian woman that he had know for eight years. This affair began casually, and later escalated, which brings me to a question; Why can’t people keep it to themselves? What mental defect causes them to think they are above it all? Where are the ethics every one of them so loudly proclaim?

The man was married, with four children, and he was stupid enough to think that there would be no consequences for his actions? Perhaps he thought for a moment that he was a Democrat- that might explain his mistaken temporary insanity regarding consequences- they never seem to have to answer for any criminal behavior- their side just shrugs and goes on with their lives, while Republicans fall by the wayside, doomed by their own admissions and moral lapses.

Why can we not actually have people in office who say what they mean, and do what they say. Why can we not have people in government who are actually good examples, instead of ” unindicted co- conspirator”, or “disgraced former_______” (fill in the blank).

This is not a new problem, nor is it limited to one party or the other. The entire House of Representatives once bounced more than 8,331 checks at their own bank- heck they forced it to close, and then when they had pledged to fix the problem, they promptly kited an additional 4,325 checks. And yet, none of these people had to pay an overdraft charge, as you or I would have.

Thomas Jefferson said, “The principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.” And that is just what the politicians are doing, on a scale larger than ever before, racking up a staggering $11,000,000,000,000 in national debt, with each family’s share coming in at $116,000.
Just say no- our interest payment to service this debt will be about $26,000,000,000- that is 26 billion, per month.  You might be forgiven for thinking that the head of the Treasury Department could do the math, and tell the rest of the politicians, ” Hey- perhaps we should quit while we’re behind, instead of really behind,” but noooooo. Turns out, he is math- challenged.

He’s supposedly the right man for this job, and yet he can’t figure out his tax bill, even though his employer, the International Monetary Fund, had done the math for him, and even cut him a check for the right amount, and made him sign an affidavit saying that the check was to be used for his payroll tax. How stupid is he?

Oh, and let’s not forget Charlie Rangel, the Congressman from New York who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, the committee that actually writes the tax code. Apparently he’s not smart enough to read the code he writes, and failed to pay taxes ($75,000) in rental income from his villa retreat at the Punta Cana Yacht Club in the Dominican Republic. His excuse was that he didn’t know the tax applied to rental properties in the Dominican Republic. Ignorance of the law is no excuse.

At least that is what the IRS tells us ordinary people- if it was we who had “forgotten” our tax obligations, we would be subject to the full might of the IRS in its quest to get “their” money from you.

The fact that there are serial lawbreakers in government today is a sorry state of affairs- why we tolerate them is beyond me. I personally do not care what party they claim to be from, as far as I am concerned, they belong to one class only- criminals. Where are the ethics they profess to have? Why do we tolerate these people working for us? Would you employ a known thief to clean your house? A car thief to detail your car? Why give known thieves the keys to our treasury?

James Madison is rolling over in his grave. “[Congress]… can make no law which will not have its full operation on themselves and their friends, as well as on the great mass of society. This has always been deemed one of the strongest bonds by which human policy can connect the rulers and the people together. It creates between them that communion of interests and sympathy of sentiments, of which few governments have furnished examples; but without which every government degenerates into tyranny… If this spirit shall ever be so far debased as to tolerate a law not obligatory on the legislature, as well as on the people, the people will be prepared to tolerate anything but liberty.”

Ethics, like the Constitution, are not fluid things, but are supposedly the bedrock of our behavior, and should be doubly so for the politicians- after all, they are supposed to be representing We the People, a large group that needs good representation, not just someone who shows up for the perks. If we tolerate these crooks in our midst, we get the government we deserve.

Samuel Adams said that those who prefer the “tranquility of servitude” had best be prepared to “crouch down and lick the hands which feed you.”

He also said, in closing, “May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!”

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Tags: deficit spending, ethics, liars, politicians