Rangel Busted?

It was...ummm...Turbo Tax...yeah that's it. It worked for Geitner!

According to the New York Times (don’t blame me if this turns into another Sherrodgate) Charlie Rangel may have some problems to deal with in the very near future. You remember him don’t you? He’s the guy that conveniently get some sweet deals and conveniently forgets to declare income from renting out his vacation villa along with a host of other allegations.

After a nearly two-year investigation, a House investigative panel has found that Representative Charles B. Rangelprobably violated a range of ethics rules, dealing a serious blow to Mr. Rangel, a Harlem Democrat, in the twilight of his political career.

The investigative subcommittee did not disclose any details about the nature of the violations that it found evidence, but one House official who has been briefed on the findings said that they included some of the most serious allegations that had been examined.

“All I know is that it was a majority of them,” the House official said, asking not to be identified as the ruling is supposed to remain confidential for one week.A lawyer involved in Mr. Rangel’s defense, who also asked not to be named, disputed that characterization, adding that the case is not over yet

Amazing they take two  years to do this investigation (hell I almost forgot about it myself), then they give the guy a week before they announce what ethics he’s violated so he gets plenty of time to come up with some good old American BS to try to minimize the impact upon him and his carrier.

To refresh everyone’s mind here’s a synopsis of what those alleged ethics violations entail.

• rented 4 rent-stabilized apartments in Harlem at well below market rate. (The rent reduction qualifies as a “gift” and they’re not supposed to get any “gifts” worth more than $50.
• provided legislative “favors” for an oil company who pledged $1 million towards an academic center that will bear his name (a tax loophole that saved the oil company more than $500 million bucks.
• failed to report taxable rental income on a villa he owns in the Dominican Republic.

According to the NYT

The case could end with a simple admonishment of Mr. Rangel, which is the most common action by the Standards Committee, or a more serious action, including even his expulsion from the House.

I’ll be taken aback if he gets anything more than an admonishment.  This is a Democratic Congress who will probably give him the old CYA treatment. Why? Well, it seems this isn’t the only time old Charlie has been in trouble over ethics violations.

Already this year, Mr. Rangel had been admonished by the Standards Committee on a separate matter involving trips he and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus took to the Caribbean in 2007 and 2008 that were indirectly paid for by corporate sponsors such as Pfizer, Verizon and AT&T, in violation of House rules.

See what I mean? He got off easy on that one, so I don’t expect anything different this time around. We’ll know next week. It will be interesting to see if AG Eric Holder does any investigation of this, too.  I wouldn’t hold my breath.

Makes me wonder what kind of Insane Minds keep voting a guy like this in.

Source: New York Times

Obamacare Morphs into a Tax

Interesting that when Obamacare was being rammed through Congress it was called medical insurance, healthcare, etc. I don’t remember anyone ever using the word tax.

Now that this is being decided in the Supreme Court, it’s suddenly become a “tax” and it’s claimed by the Obama Administration to well within the power of Congress to levy taxes.

Talk about a bunch of two-faced lying bastards! Want some Obama quotes on the subject?  Here you go.

While Congress was working on the health care legislation, Mr. Obama refused to accept the argument that a mandate to buy insurance, enforced by financial penalties, was equivalent to a tax.

“For us to say that you’ve got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase,” the president said last September, in a spirited exchange with George Stephanopoulos on the ABC News program “This Week.”

When Mr. Stephanopoulos said the penalty appeared to fit the dictionary definition of a tax, Mr. Obama replied, “I absolutely reject that notion.”

They don’t only lie, they’re very sneaky, too.  Pretty good for a bunch that couldn’t take time to read the bill.  They sure managed to put some language in the bill to cover their asses from the coming lawsuit.

Congress anticipated a constitutional challenge to the individual mandate. Accordingly, the law includes 10 detailed findings meant to show that the mandate regulates commercial activity important to the nation’s economy. Nowhere does Congress cite its taxing power as a source of authority.

Mysteriously they now claim it is a tax.! Funny how you can not cite taxes in the  bill yet it now morphs and it’s a tax. Yet another reason to start voting out incumbents this November and send a message to this bunch about who they work for. They will blatantly lie to the American public to get what they want.

You can read more gory details at the source below. I put this in the crime category, because in my mind it’s a crime.

I hope everyone enjoys bending over for this. No wonder Obama’s ratings and the ratings of Congress are in the tank. When everyone gets wind of this I bet they’ll go lower.

They can’t blame George W. Bush for this one. The Obama Administration and the Democrats own this baby.

Source: New York Times