Remembering

The Best Cartoons This Week (3-13-2010)

Draining Swamps Pelosi Style (plus: a Jay Leno oldie)

Media Covering for Democrats? or, "The Most Ethical Congress Eva!"

There are some happenings in Washington, is it a coincidence that CBS is now criticizing the stimulus? Maybe they are trying to divert attention from the "most ethical Congress ever."

All Three Morning Shows Skip Report of Ethics Investigation Into Powerful Dems

All three network morning shows on Friday skipped a Washington Post report revealing that powerful congressional Democrats such as John Murtha, James Moran and others on a defense panel are the subject of an ethics investigation for a relationship with a lobbying firm. The Democrats, and some Republicans are under intense scrutiny for steering over $200 million in earmarks to clients of a company called PMA.

However, ABC’s Good Morning America, NBC’s Today show and CBS’s Early Show somehow managed to ignore this potentially damaging problem for the Democratic majority. Instead, NBC’s hosts found time to dress up as Star Wars characters. (Ann Curry appeared as Darth Vader. See video and blog here.) Early Show host Harry Smith went drag and impersonated Julia Child for a cooking segment. Even though it’s October, GMA promoted a new version of A Christmas Carol.

House Ethics leak shows dozens of lawmakers under scrutiny

A badly-secured file from the House Ethics Committee shows dozens of lawmakers under scrutiny for potential corruption charges — and one in particular who may face a less-friendly inquiry from the Justice Department. Federal investigators asked the committee to suspend a years-long probe into the activities of Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV), indicating that criminal charges may result. The Washington Post reports the memo in two stories today:

House ethics investigators have been scrutinizing the activities of more than 30 lawmakers and several aides in inquiries about issues including defense lobbying and corporate influence peddling, according to a confidential House ethics committee report prepared in July.

The report appears to have been inadvertently placed on a publicly accessible computer network, and it was provided to The Washington Post by a source not connected to the congressional investigations. The committee said Thursday night that the document was released by a low-level staffer.

The ethics committee is one of the most secretive panels in Congress, and its members and staff members sign oaths not to disclose any activities related to its past or present investigations. Watchdog groups have accused the committee of not actively pursuing inquiries; the newly disclosed document indicates the panel is conducting far more investigations than it had revealed.

Here is the CBS critique... again, good timing or planned diversion?

Taxes for Dummies

Oops! Charlie Forgot This $1m House - Realty Bites Tax-Them-Not-Me Rangel

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Charles Rangel failed to report as much as $1.3 million in outside income -- including up to $1 million for a Harlem building sale -- on financial-disclosure forms he filed between 2002 and 2006, according to newly amended records.

The documents also show the embattled chairman of the Ways and Means Committee -- who is being probed by the House Ethics Committee -- failed to reveal a staggering $3 million in various business transactions over the same period.....

The Absent-Minded Chairman - Charlie Rangel wins the personal lottery.

Earlier this month the Chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee "amended" his 2007 financial disclosure form—to the tune of more than a half-million dollars in previously unreported assets and income. That number may be as high as $780,000, because Congress's ethics rules only require the Members to report their finances within broad ranges. This voyage of personal financial discovery brings Mr. Rangel's net worth for 2007 to somewhere between $1.028 million and $2.495 million, while his previous statement came in at $516,015 and $1.316 million.

When you're a powerful Congressman and working diligently to increase tax rates to pay for President Obama's health-care plan, we suppose it's easy to lose track of one of your checking accounts. That would be the one at the federal credit union with a balance somewhere between $250,001 and maybe as high as $500,000. And when you're crunched for time and pulling together bills to pass in a rush, we guess, too, that you might overlook several other investment accounts, even if some of them are sizable, such as the ones Mr. Rangel missed at JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch, Oppenheimer and BlackRock....

Among other issues, Mr. Rangel is currently under investigation regarding his use of four rent-stabilized apartments at New York City's tony Lenox Terrace and soliciting donations with his official letterhead for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at City College of New York, which was itself built with a $1.9 million earmark. Yet another part of the probe is his failure to report $75,000 in income from a rental villa at the beachfront Punta Cana Yacht Club, in the Dominican Republic.

Mr. Rangel blamed that last one on the language barrier because he doesn't speak Spanish. We can only imagine what language he speaks with his accountants and tax attorneys.

Michelle Malkin on Pelosi's Abuse of Military Air Travel

Michael Medved Discusses Obama's Cabinet Appointees... Or Lack Thereof

(CRIME TAXES TAX TOM DASHCLE BILL CLINTON GEORGE W. BUSH DEPARTMENT HEALTH HUMAN SERVICES HHS CONGRESS OBAMA TIM GEITHNER NANCY KILLEFER)

Even Liberals Get It!

(Click to see "Bizzaro World" photo)

Jesse Jackson Jr. may be in a bit of hot water, as a Libertarian Republican points out:

It appears another shoe is dropping in the ongoing Illinois scandal.

Despite his staunch denials in his press conference yesterday, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. is now implicated strongly in having traded fundraising promises for the Senate seat.

From the AP:

CHICAGO – Businessmen with ties to both Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson discussed raising $1 million for Blagojevich to help persuade him to appoint Jackson to President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat, according to a published report.


Citing unnamed sources, the Chicago Tribune reports in a story for Friday's editions that businessman Raghuveer Nayak and Blagojevich aide Rajinder Bedi told attendees at an Oct. 31 meeting that they needed to raise the money for the governor to ensure Jackson's appointment.


"Raghu said he needed to raise a million for Rod to make sure Jesse got the seat," an unidentified source who attended the meeting told the Tribune. Blagojevich also attended the meeting, which was sponsored by Nayak, an Oak Brook businessman.

Could Rahm Emanuel be next? And after Emanuel??

It is so bad that many on the Left even are facing the possibility of close contact to Obama and the scandal ridden Chicago area. It has driven Rachel Maddow of MSNBC fame to comment that Obama may still be implicated in this as well as Liberal talk show host Ed Schultz to comment (from NewsBusters):

Schultz hammered away at this on Wednesday's show, focusing on what could be Obama's Achilles' heel in the affair, senior adviser David Axelrod's statement on Nov. 23 that Obama and Blagojevich had spoken about the vacancy (after the scandal broke, Axelrod claimed he "misspoke").

After playing a clip of Axelrod's statement on Nov. 23, Schultz had this to say (audio) --

Well, OK, how can any fair-minded American say, well, that's OK, we're done with that angle of the story. Wait a minute. This is a clear, admitted discrepancy and it makes people wonder what the hell's going on here.

Schultz continued in the same vein in taking calls from listeners, including this response from a caller who praised him for his skepticism (audio) --

Well, look, I think you have to be living underneath a rock not to admit that there are some discrepancies here. There isn't anybody closer to Barack Obama than Axelrod. Axelrod says one thing and then he puts out a statement after the fact saying something else. How can any fair-minded American say, Hey! That's just a mistake. OK, if you want to accept that, that's fine, but I think in fairness we need to point that out. The second thing is, we need to point out, that whether you love Barack Obama or not or whatever, he gave us some Bush-speak yesterday, OK? He has not called for the resignation of the governor but other people have. People are looking to Barack Obama right now, looking for some leadership on this. And to say that he's had no contact? Now, I'm going to take this even a step further, Al (caller). Let me paint this picture. You have two people from the same party, one's a governor, one just got elected to the presidency of the United States. There is a vacancy. How rare would it be for those two not to have any conversation, any contact whatsoever about who's going to go into that vacant Senate seat? I'm just asking the question. How rare is that?

Axelrod's claim that he "misspoke" didn't cut it, Schultz said (audio) --

Axelrod needs to do more than just put out a statement. I want to see him. I want to hear him. I want to make sure that he made a mistake. Because this soundbite is rather convincing to me in its face value (Axelrod statement played again, followed by Schultz announcing news that Obama is calling on Blagojevich to resign and saying, "Good call, Barack").

Schultz's skepticism was mirrored later on Wednesday when he spoke with ABC News White House correspondent Jake Tapper, to the point that Schultz's earlier comments could easily have been mistaken as queries from a seasoned and professional journalist.

Here's what Tapper had to say (audio) --

What's frustrating is, you know, if you read the criminal complaint against Gov. Blagojevich, there's nothing in here implying that President-elect Obama did anything wrong. In fact, you know, his team comes across as ones who are, as a team that is refusing to pay to play, refusing to give Gov. Blagojevich anything in exchange for naming their preferred candidate to the US Senate. But I don't really quite understand yet why it's taking so long to get answers to what seem to be fairly legitimate and logical questions about why so many members of the Obama inner circle are mentioned in this complaint ...

It would be unusual if nobody on the Obama team talked to anybody on the governor's team at all. Obviously there was a Senate seat to fill and Obama and Blagojevich have known each other for a few years, have some alliances, have some common friends, perhaps most especially Rahm Emanuel, so it would be normal for them to talk. So what did they talk about, was there anything, you know, why was Blagojevich so assured that nobody on the Obama team would give him anything in exchange for naming Valerie Jarrett to the Senate seat? These aren't accusatory questions, these are questions to fill in some of the blanks.

At any rate, some in the media do not think this is a big story, and need tape to keep there eyes open!

There is one thing missing from this all though... and that is... the queen of anti-corruption... she’s been silent!

Friends of Obama -- Just a Few...

...if you want to know about more, buy the book The Case Against Barack Obama. It is a great read!

Sen. John Glenn - Part of the Keating Five, and a Democrat. He is doing surrogate work for Obama? Like McCain, Glenn was also found not guilty of violating any Senate rules.” Attorney John Dowd, who represented McCain during the Senate Ethics investigation, said Senate Democrats conducted a "classic political smear job" on McCain in the Keating Five scandal.

"When it was discovered Keating was pushing too hard, he [McCain] threw Keating out of his office and ended all relations with him," Dowd said. Jack Abramoff: While he was convicted of a crime that at the time McCain didn’t know he was committing, Ayers however was “a leader of the Weather Underground, a terrorist group responsible for countless bombings against targets including the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon and numerous police stations, courthouses and banks. In recent years, Mr. Ayers has stated, ‘I don’t regret setting bombs … I feel we didn’t do enough.’

“The question now is, will Barack Obama immediately call on the University of Illinois to release all of the records they are currently withholding to shed further light on Senator Obama’s relationship with this unrepentant terrorist?”

Tony Rezko - He has been called an influence peddler while others call Abramoff a convicted felon? Rezko was found guilty on 16 of 24 counts. I think that is 13 felonies. At any rate, he is making a purported deal with the Chicago Tribune to give up info on Obama:

Antoin “Tony” Rezko, a convicted influence peddler who was once one of Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s most trusted confidants, has met with federal prosecutors and is considering cooperating in the corruption probe of the governor’s administration, sources told the Tribune.

Rezko’s possible change of heart—after years of steadfast refusal—has sent ripples through a tight circle of prominent defense attorneys who represent dozens of potential witnesses and targets in the wide-ranging probe.

His cooperation would give prosecutors investigating the governor and his wife access to someone they have described as an ultimate political insider at the center of a pervasive pay-to-play scheme.

James Johnson - CEO Fannie Mae and long-time Democrat that Obama used as an advisor that vetted running mates, and in fact led it. Johnson was forced to step-down because of some fishy dealings... but he left with multiple millions. Had dealings with Countrywide, biggest offender in sub-prime lending market. Shady dealings with multiple loans from Countrywide (7-million dollars).

Franklin Raines - CEO Fannie Mae also an advisor on housing for Obama. He likewise has some shady dealings with Countrywide worth a few million dollars

Jamie Gurlich - Vice Chair of Fannie Mae was Jamie Gurlich when Raines was CEO. She is known as the author of the “Wall of Separation” which stopped the CIA and FBI from sharing information with each other that most likely would have abated 9/11. She made 26-million while at Fannie Mae... another high ranking Democrat.

Barney Frank - chairman of the House Financial Services panel had oversight for this very issue the past two years. He had a homosexual affair with Herb Moses, an executive at Fannie Mae while on the House Banking Committee.

ACORN - played a key role in pressuring banks to offer loans to those who were unlikely to be able to pay them back. ACORN has taken credit for pressuring banks to accept undocumented income as a basis for offering loans, for offering loans without using credit scores, and for making 100% financed loans available to low-income people. He was its lawyer in several pivotal ACORN cases. Obama funded a number of its activities, as well. When he sat on the board of the prestigious Woods Fund for Chicago alongside former Weather Underground terrorist William Ayers, he oversaw and approved many grants for ACORN.

“Mr. Good Will” and “Mr. Doodad Pro” - And that 11,500 donations to his campaign – totaling almost $34 million – may have come from overseas? Or that two Palestinians living in a Hamas-controlled refugee camp spent $31,300 in Obama’s online store?

Jeremiah Wright - More than a race batter, he was on Obama’s campaign staff. He went with Louis Farrakhan and met Momar Khadafy. He taught a Marxist form of theology that also incorporated the same ideology first found in Nicaragua with a dash of anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism for good measure. They warped the Bible to say that the true Jewish people were the blacks and that even God was black and that all white people were not true Christians. Could you imagine if Bush went to a church for twenty years and was married by and had all his kids baptized by a guy who invited David Duke into his fold and said all white people were the only true Christians and that Jews were devils? How disingenuous Kimba to merely say he is merely a “race-baiter.”

People's Weekly World - the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the USA – has rhapsodized about Obama’s presidential campaign, calling it a "transformative candidacy that would advance progressive politics for the long term"? Obama concedes that he attended “socialist conferences” and encountered Marxist literature.

Louise Farrakhan - introduced to him at his church and went to the “Million Man March” with Wright and also met Farrakhan there. Obama’s church gave a lifetime achievement award to this man as well as front-page spreads on their magazine. Farrakhan believes a UFO picked him up and took him to a man-made planet where God (Wallace D. Fard) spoke to him and said that Elijah Muhammad was a little messiah. Elijah and Farrakhan teach that a mad scientist made the white man 6,000 years ago. Again, black people are the only true Jews and the Jews in Israel and the whites must be destroyed.

Ayers - (Terorrist) Ayers was credibly accused, in classified testimony before a Senate subcommittee in 1974, of involvement in the murder of a police officer in San Francisco, as well as an attempted (and unsuccessful) anti-personnel bombing in Detroit. Obama was Vetted by Ayers and the two served on a 6-person board together where both tried to radicalize students by passing “education reform.”

John L. McKnight - renowned disciple of the late socialist agitator Saul "The Red" Alinksy wrote a letter of recommendation for Obama when he applied to Harvard Law School. He read communist Richard Wright’s writings. W.E.B. DuBois, who eulogized Joseph Stalin, was also modeled. Read Malcolm X approvingly as well.

- who calls himself a “progressive socialist,” has said that “Marxist thought is “an indispensible tradition for freedom fighters. West is on Obama’s “black advisory board.”

Saul Alinsky - Saul Alinsky, who died in 1972, at the age of 63, was a Chicago Marxist. Among his many books was one titled "Rules for Radicals," in which he explained to his acolytes, "The most effective means are whatever will achieve the desired results." It took Alinsky 11 words to paraphrase Karl Marx's far more succinct "The ends justify the means."

Alinsky, by the way, dedicated that particular book to Lucifer, whom he coyly referred to as "the first radical."

The reason I'm bringing up Alinsky 26 years after he wound up in a place where he could personally autograph his book for Beelzebub is because his disciples are still very much with us. For instance, he just happened to be the subject of Hillary Rodham's senior honors thesis at Wellesley College. It was such a glowing homage that, in 1968, a most appreciative Alinsky offered her a job in Chicago, but Ms. Rodham, as we all know, had bigger fish to fry. However, when she became America's first lady, the White House asked Wellesley to restrict access to the paper, and Wellesley wisely obliged, just as Princeton did when the Obama’s requested that Michelle's racist creed be removed from circulation.

Many people, once they grow up, would be embarrassed if people knew what they were drinking or smoking during their college days, but leftists don't even want us to know what they were thinking.

But it wasn't just young Ms. Rodham who had a connection to the late, unlamented Saul Alinsky. Thirteen years after the Chicago radical died, a group of his most devoted disciples hired 24-year-old Barack Obama to be a community organizer in South Chicago.

Top Three - top three people getting money from Fannie and Freddie were Chris Dodd, Obama, and John Kerry. Obama was new however and was on his way to setting records.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~