Congressional Hubris

There is no honor among thieves.
Rangel lied and stole until Hell wouldn't haven't anymore. It was so bad that Pelosi's ethics committee couldn't even ignore it. The Democrats' solution? Stand up on the House floor and tell him he broke the rules and then give him a standing ovation. Gee, that would be very helpful if Rangel breaking the rules were not already common knowledge.
But I guess every member of congress is hoping they'll also get a pass and a standing O when they get caught.

‘THIS IS WHY THE AMERICAN PEOPLE HAVE THROWN YOU OUT’

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h/t: Breitbart TV

KRAUTHAMMER: RANGEL ‘OFFICIALLY PATHETIC’

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Maxine Waters Encourages Murdoch to Make Sure that Fox Coverage Is Properly Biased

Hot Air's Allahpundit says about this: ". . . she’s not really asking here for more balanced coverage. What she wants is slanted coverage, but slanted to her side. That’s a useful clarifying moment for the endless griping about Fox News: Turns out, when they call it “right-wing propaganda,” it’s not the “propaganda” part of that formulation that’s bugging them.  . . . here she is making no bones about asking a media mogul to enforce a little top-down ideological bias on an outlet many Americans look to for news."

h/t: Hot Air.com 

Comment Of the Day

I went to the Nashville Tea Party Convention and the one thing that stuck with me, almost more than anything else from all the speeches, was an anecdotal story told by Judson Philips.

I am paraphrasing but he recounted how a few years ago he had met a young man running for the House of Representatives. Judson liked what this man said and what he stood for, cleaning up corruption, conservative values blah, blah, blah, and Judson backed and campaigned for this bright young man.

His candidate won. Judson called him two weeks after he left for Washington and the new Representative told him something like, you just don’t understand, I’m a “rock star” here.

His warning to us, his question, how long does it take DC to corrupt our bright young politicians?…

It can take as little as two weeks.

We are awakened but now we must also be vigilant.

Oh yeah, I was a moderate, swing voter and have seen the light. Layers upon layers of bureaucracy, needless, confining and restrictive laws and trillions of wasted tax dollars.

Fallon on September 25, 2010 at 10:50 AM


from Hot Air.com

Kanjorski and an Earmark Scandal

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h/t: Hot Air.com

Shocking Video Unearthed Democrats in their own words Covering up the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Scam

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Politico's Chief Political Correspondent on Bennett and Reid Elections

Basically Mike Allen argues that if your senator is good at getting pork, you're crazy to not re-elect him. But my first thought is that one of the main things that has caused our national problems, i.e., pork, is probably not one of the things that will fix much of anything.

h/t: NewsBusters

Questions Inspired by the New Law in Arizona

This quote is from Fox News via Hot Air: "As San Francisco and other “sanctuary cities” declare war on Arizona over its new law cracking down on illegal immigrants, most state and local governments that provide a safe haven to undocumented workers refused to publicly roll out a welcome mat for the estimated 440,000 illegals in the Grand Canyon state.
"Several mid-size cities and states with policies that seek to protect undocumented workers either declined to comment to FoxNews.com on whether it would accept Arizona’s illegal immigrants or said the possibility had not been considered…"
Which makes one wonder why, if all the illegals are such a blessing, why those who used to be their supporters now want to pass on the great boon of receiving even more blessings. They don't just want to take a pass. They do not want to even discuss the issue.
Of course, we need to investigate how many Arizona state legislators have taken the National Socialist oath of loyalty. And we certainly need to find out which of them spent time in the Hitler Youth. But lets begin our journey in reality. Let's just ask why so many Democrats and RINOs would not take serious their oath to faithfully execute the laws. Since, let's face it, Arizona would not have passed that law if the federal government had been enforcing the laws that were needed to keep citizens safe from a tsunami of lawbreaking.

Asking Questions, Expressing An Opinion on How My Congressman Votes and Disagreeing With the Washington Elite Has Become Hating the Government????

Drudge linked a piece from the Washington Examiner by Chris Stirewalt titled 'Hating the Government Finally Goes Mainstream.' Here is a long quote that has some insight into the past two years:
"It turns out that watching Goldman Sachs, the United Auto Workers, public employee unions and a raft of other vampires drain the treasury at America's weakest moment in a generation will make a person pretty hacked off.
"After Barack Obama's election, Democrats assumed that the American people were battered, bruised and ready for a morphine drip of European-style socialism. Republicans, shocked by their stunning reversals, figured the Democrats were right and started looking for technocrats of their own.
"And in a political system fueled by special-interest money, it was hard for the leaders of major parties to imagine anything other than an activist government. After all, if you pay for someone to get elected, you don't expect him to just sit there.
Just 18 months ago the leaders of both parties were quite sure that Obama would be the popular, transformative president he aspires to be. The Republicans who emerged from the wreckage of November were certain to look a lot more like Charlie Crist and Mitt Romney than Marco Rubio and Ron Paul.
"But Crist's embrace of Obamanomics seems to have utterly destroyed his chances at a Senate seat that was once his for the taking. Romney, considered a near lock for the 2012 Republican nomination, has seen his candidacy badly damaged by a populist revolt against the passage of a national health care plan that looks like the one he designed for Massachusetts.
"Obama, who said that passage of his health plan proved that Washington could still do big things, finds himself deeply at odds with an electorate that is not confident of government's ability to do anything at all.
"His election has turned out to be not the result of a national lurch toward government intervention but his own skill at disguising his policies, the failures of the Republican Party and the bursting of the lending bubble."

The piece makes a lot of sense but the headline seems a little out of place. It makes a gratuitous leap that equates having a different point of view from those presently in Congress the same as hating the government. This is just sloppy thinking and a sneaky below the belt punch. Just because I don't think that government operates best by bribery, secrecy and legislative trickery does not mean I hate government. I do not like the crimes and manipulations of the gang of clowns that are presently in office. I think government should never be trusted. It is just a collection of flawed men and women who need to be watched. And if you cannot see the wisdom of that I do not think that I am the problem.

Andrew Breitbart Has Offered $10.000 to Anyone Who Can Prove Congressman Lewis Was the Victim of A Hate Crime

Two weeks have passed and the money remains unclaimed. What does that tell you?

Franken on Obamacare: "Shut-up and Listen" Also Jason Mattera Confronts a Factually Ignorant Alan Grayson Plus Gibbs

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If the Left Had A Principled Objection Against Violence in Politics We Would Have Heard from Then about It During All the Townhall Meetings

Also if the MSM had principled objections to violence in politics they would have reported on some of the things that went on during last summer's townhall meetings. But this is not a case of principled men speaking out. Here is a column by Mary Katherine Hamm about some of what was going on last summer that was ignored by the suddenly outraged acting politicians and pseudo-reporters.

‘IF YOU DON’T TIE OUR HANDS, WE WILL KEEP STEALING’

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Hume: Befuddled Washington Press Corps Sign that Pelosi Health Care Moves Unprecedented

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h/t: NewsBusters

The Statue of Liberty v. Colossus of Rhodes Beck's Keynote at CPAC

The info about the very deep depression of 1920 that has been largely ignored by progressive historians is worth hearing. Apparently the 'Great' depression of the 30s receives the title 'great' mainly because it was created, deepened, sustained, managed and used as a PR tool by progressive historians.


h/t: HotAir.com

Republicans in Congress Are ALSO Unable to Say 'No' to Pork

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h/t: HotAir,com

GOPAC CHAIR: IF HEALTH BILL IS SO GOOD, WHY ALL THE EXEMPTIONS?

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h/t: Breitbart TV
Congress and the president, who are the strongest supporters of this bill in its present form, have made sure that they and their families will not be governed by it. They might have an easier time convincing me that their legislation is beneficial if they had not exempted themselves from it. And as time goes by more and more of their special friends are gaining prior relief from this law. Will we end up with an underclass of enemies of the central government who will share the sacrifice of paying for the Cadillac lifestyle of the ruling class? Will serfdom for many become necessary to maintain an acceptable standard of living for a privileged few? The Democrats have already turned many of the neighborhoods of their dependable constituencies (e. g., blacks, Hispanics) into zones of devastation, poverty and chronic violence. Does this fate await everyone who is not a government employee, SEIU member or rank and file auto union plutocrat?

How To Get A Senator Seated When 'Transparency' and Bribery Rule the Nation's Capitol

I just read some good news at HotAir.com. They quote Charlie Rangel as saying that the health care faux reform bill cannot be passed before February. Good news if true. Unfortunately one would not usually go to Rangel for the truth. If you want to be robbed, lied to or cheated, Rangel is your man. But it does make sense that the DemCare bill is a no go. There have been many reports of past supporters in the House splintering over abortion funding and the President’s insistence that some private insurance plans be taxed. And I think few are happy that Florida and North Dakota are getting very special treatment just because their senators are not as stupid as mine.
But my real focus here is something that was brought up in the HA comments thread about what Rangel had said. Someone styling herself ‘katy’ wrote:
“If not there’s always this idea I grabbed from Hillbuzz..
We are telling you now — any Republicans listening — that you need to have a plan in place starting January 20th when Scott Brown pulls off the upset and wins this seat in Massachusetts. You cannot come up with a plan on January 20th. It needs to be ready now, so that on January 20th you hit the ground running. Anyone with in driving distance to Washington needs to go the Capitol and form a mob on the steps demanding the Senate seats Brown immediately on January 20th if Democrats try these tall tactics. It needs to be the most massive march on Washington ever seen — so large it will terrify everyone on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.
katy on January 13, 2010 at 11:38 AM”
I went to Hillbuzz to get a url for the quote. With a non-exhaustive search I did not find it. But no matter. The important thing is that what katy said is true and needs circulating. I have a sense that Hillbuzz has some Democrats that are disgruntled with the whole DC Dem machine. Some of them seem to have given some thought to the situation Scott Brown may end up in if the Mass Dems and Harry Reid try to block him from being seated and voting. Below are three paragraphs of quotes from Hillbuzz that have some good ideas about how to deal with the establishment tricks.
“* We really wish Burris had the guts to do this next part, because it would have made the history books — it’s such a good visual. If Harry Reid claims he won’t acknowledge a Senator such as Brown, then Brown needs to rent a U-Haul truck and office furniture and head to the US Capitol. The day after he’s elected, he needs to come to the Capitol with FOX News crews in tow and demand to be allowed into his new office. If Reid refuses, then Brown needs to setup an office for himself on the steps of the United States Capitol. An area rug draped on one of the ornate landings, a wooden desk, book shelves, chairs for him to receive his constituents, potted plants, a copy of the United States Constitution on an easel, a bowl of red, white, and blue M&Ms, etc. Brown needs to then sit at his desk, with nameplate sparkling in the sun reading SENATOR SCOTT BROWN, MASSACHUSETTS on it, taking photographs with all the tourists who come by. We think there’d be lines for hours and hours to see him.

“* Embarrass Reid and the Democrats in the Senate. Humiliate them. We can’t tell you how much we wanted Burris to do the above: an elderly black man shivering in the cold, sitting at a desk out in the open, outside the Capitol, barred from having an actual office. Great Merciful Zeus, the image of that would have been indelible. This won’t have the same resonance with Brown, but it will be effective. Reid will try to bar him from the building, but Brown needs to start acting like a Senator from DAY ONE after the election — should he win and Coakley and her supporters in Massachusetts try to illegally impede him from coming to Washington to do his job.”
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“* Republicans at large, and Scott Brown specifically, need to understand they are in the fight of their lives. We’ve made the analogy before and will do it again: a Brown victory in Massachusetts is the equivalent of the fledgling Rebellion taking down the Death Star in Star Wars. Imperial hubris manufactured a battle station the size of a small moon, with the most destructive weapons systems ever designed – so massive was this magic 8-ball of evil that the Emperor himself believed it indestructable, unstoppable. A lot of things supposedly indestructable go up in flames, or sink to the bottom of the ocean with Leonardo DiCaprio on board. The Healthcare Rationing Bill will be one of them if Brown is elected January 19th. Democrats know this. We can’t tell you how many times Rahm Emanuel’s watched Titanic with hunky Secret Service guys in the White House, but we bet it’s a lot. Like over 50. That’s called “cuddle-time”. Scott Brown is the iceberg Democrats fear. He’s the spark to the flame on their giant gas bag hovering over New Jersey (that for once is not Oprah). Hottie McAwesome, as we love to call him (because he is, indeed, the scientific combination of hot + awesome), is the handsome rebel pilot zeroing in on the Death Star with a weapons-grade can of whupass in tow.”

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**************** UPDATE ********************

NewsBusters says that the TV networks have given no coverage at all to this election.
"It's a little bizarre that the broadcast networks would cover Ted Kennedy's death and funeral as an enormous story, but ignore the campaign to replace him."
Is the fix in? Or do they just not know what to do so have chosen to wait until they get directions? Are they having so much fun being in the tank that they will never leave?

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**************** Correction ********************
I said South Dakota above when the state in question was actually Nebraska. Sorry.

Jack Cafferty: "How Much Do Members of Congress Feel the Pain of the American People in This Recession?"

We'll ask them the next time they slow down from giving themselves raises, perks, bribes and stop covering each other's ass for ethical lapses.


h/t: HotAir.com