It’s hard to believe that my previous column represented my fifth full year of writing for The Daily Star. That’s around 120 columns (I missed a few times), 100,000 words, hundreds of supporters and a bunch of ticked off secular progressives.
It is impossible to run out of ideas, and there are a lot of topics I still want to write about but haven’t yet had the chance. I must admit, however, that the submission deadline has been creeping up on me faster and faster, and I find myself procrastinating more and more.
But back to the latest news. This time it involves that crook Charlie Rangel, just the latest of a string of dishonest Democrats bringing embarrassment to their colleagues. He was just censured by his House colleagues when in all actuality he should have been expelled from Congress and then prosecuted for all his brazenly intentional misdeeds that took place over many years.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could commit all kinds of ethical lapses and cheat on our taxes like Rangel did and only have to stand before an IRS panel and be chastised for a half-hour or so? Also, after this “censure,” we could go on and pretend nothing had happened while we suffered no further consequences.
My, what an actor Charlie has been over the last week or so. First, he was all smiles and not worrying one bit about what was going to happen to him. After all, Nancy Pelosi, that old self-proclaimed swamp cleaner, was going to continue to ignore the facts for a little while longer. All his misdeeds were going on under her surgically perfected nose, and she hadn’t done a thing about it for the last four years, so why should she start now?
She also stalled the ethics hearings on Rangel for more than 60 days so that he would not be a distracting and embarrassing element during the then-upcoming 2010 elections. After this, all of a sudden, the push was on to have the hearings take place as soon as possible before a Republican was appointed head of the ethics committee.
Alas, it was to no avail. He tried everything from talking about his heroism from 60 years ago (as a matter of fact, he kept bringing this up until people were beginning to get nauseated), then he kept shrugging it off as if it were no big deal. He tried the brazen approach when he chastised the committee for not giving him enough time to prepare (the investigation had been going on for more than two years) and not giving his entire 60-year record the appropriate respect.
After the bluster strategy, he tried the whining approach and then even turned on the tears to see if that gained him any sympathy.
Maybe he finally quit defending himself because of the 4,200 pages of evidence the committee had. Maybe it was because the committee attorney presenting the case said there wasn’t even the need to call any witnesses since the evidence was so damning.
Whatever the reason, the embarrassment should now switch to the House itself and its members. The evidence was so stacked against him the House should have been voting for expulsion rather than censure, but it circled the wagons around a colleague and only voted to censure him. Even then there were 79 representatives who voted to not even hit him with censure, even when the evidence so clearly proved his guilt. These people are going to have to be the next to be evicted from Congress in 2012. I’m sure some of them also served on the O.J. Simpson trial and voted not guilty.
We the people are going to have to continue to take matters into our own hands and take out the trash ourselves come election time. Charlie Rangel is an embarrassment to himself, his colleagues and his country, and should be sitting in jail this very moment. Let’s hope this still could happen.
Tom Sears is a local professor of accounting in Oneonta. He can be reached at searsthomas16@gmail.com. His column appears every other week. His columns can be found at www.thedailystar.com/tomsears.
Columns
Related Photos
-
Tom Sears
Discussion
Welcome to our story comments feature. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including the unpopular ones. We only ask that you keep your conversations clean, civil and on the topic of the story you are commenting on.
Coinciding with our websites redesign, we launched our new story comments feature through Disqus.
Disqus gives users the ability to log into our story comments feature so that they may be able to track their conversations, receive emails when their comments get a reply or to even have your comments update onto your Facebook or Twitter accounts.
For the time being, our story comments feature will continue to have the ability to post comments anonymously. We reserve the right to require registration in the future using your name and verified email address.
Not all comments are deemed printable. Some are disqualified at the newspaper’s discretion for a number of different reasons. Please follow our Online Rules of Conduct at all times.
RULES OF CONDUCT:
We reserve the right to remove comments that are unacceptable, to wit:
1. False and inacurate statements.
2. Personal attacks. Explicit name-calling.
3. Harassing, harmful, vulgar, obscene and defamatory language.
4. Threatening statements or statements that suggest violence.
5. Hate speech of any kind.
6. Intolerant comments on religion, race, age, gender, sexual preference or disabilities.
7. Accusations of criminal activity.
8. Content that is harmful to children and minors in any way.
9. References to any type of sexual activity and other private matters.
10. Random and inflammatory statements that are off topic.
11. Advertising of any kind.
12. Typing in all caps.
WE ENCOURAGE REASONABLE AND COURTEOUS COMMENTS THAT:
1. Create conversation on issues of interest and concern to fellow readers and local community members.
2. Express opinions and contrarian views.
3. Stimulate debate with respectful language.
4. Stay within the boundaries of these rules.
WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO SUSPEND OR TERMINATE ACCESS FOR:
1. Violating any of these Online Rules of Conduct.
2. Deliberately disrupting discussions with repetitive messages, meaningless messages or spam.
3. Misrepresentation of identity or impersonating another user.
WE WELCOME:
1. Flagging violations of these rules that you observe to our attention.
MONITORING:
We monitor comments regularly Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Approval of comments outside of this time (including weekends) will be sporadic.
On the Right Side: If we cheat on taxes, will IRS censure us?
- Big Chuck D'Imperio
-
-
Safety Patrol D.C. visits never get old
I asked Cam Morris, head of Eastern Travel/Oneonta Bus Lines, how many years her company has been handling the Safety Patrol trip to Washington, D.C.
Continued ... - My pal Brucie, savior of Sidney's hospital
- Catching a whiff of 'Vermont Vapor'
- Selections from the virtual mailbag
- Recalling days of 'Doughnut King'
-
Safety Patrol D.C. visits never get old
- Cary Brunswick
-
-
We've become our own worst enemies
The past month has been marked by a seeming unprecedented number of man-made tragedies, as distinct from those caused by violent outbursts of the natural world, such as earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis.
Continued ... - Plenty of blame to go around for Bangladesh horror
- Obama is going against his word on Social Security
- Reflecting on a Florida trip
- Those magnificent spies in their flying machines
-
We've become our own worst enemies
- Chuck Pinkey
- Guest Column
-
-
Records seizure is an insult to free press
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
Continued ... - The evangelical view of same-sex marriage
- Manor's fate will be Otsego board's legacy
- A closer look at our economy - Part II
- Use fracking to fill budget gaps
-
Records seizure is an insult to free press
- Lisa Miller
-
-
A view from above
Fire towers in the Catskill Mountains have always been destination points, built to capture some of the region’s best views. These sentinel stations served an important role for the earliest possible sightings of forest fires in the remote mountain ranges. But the fire towers and those who manned them fulfilled a multitude of other roles as well.
Continued ... - Being a parent is a constant learning process
- Healthy doesn't have to mean expensive
- A family era ends with close of Potter series
- Independent stores make up for loss of Borders
-
- Mark Simonson
-
-
General Clinton Canoe Regatta got a new home in 1972
Ever since 1963, when Charles Hinkley and a group of Tri-Town businessmen came up with the idea for what we know today as the General Clinton Canoe Regatta, people lined the shores of the Susquehanna to watch the canoeists as they made their 70-mile trek from Cooperstown to Bainbridge.
Continued ... - Sunday movies in Oneonta finally shown in 1934
- Politics, fitness and landmarks dominated local news in May 1968
- Local people sought income in many ways in 1933
- Local windstorm in 1983 caused tense moments
-
- Rick Brockway
-
-
Kids have sparkle in their eyes
When I was in my teens, old Bill Naatz told me about a stream north of Lake George where a man had panned out enough gold to make his wife a wedding band. It was all rumors, but to his grandson and myself, it sounded like the makings of a great adventure.
- People make the outdoors even better
- Turkey season has ups and downs
- Spring air isn't always the freshest
- Adriondacks keep growing and growing
-
Kids have sparkle in their eyes
- Sam Pollak
- William Masters
-
-
Schreibman tops Chris Gibson on women's issues
As the time to vote draws near, we need to remember how money can run politics more than we can. Raising funds is a prominent (if not the dominant) task of getting elected. Raising issues is also crucial, but those efforts are subject to distortion and fear-mongering.
- Republicans feelentitled to allthey can garner An entitlement is a legal benefit available from the government to individuals who are within a defined category of recipients, such as needing insurance for unemployment or health services.
-
Romney focuses on self; Obama emphasizes unity
Mitt Romney criticizes President Obama for saying a person's success is rooted in his community, and is not all his alone. Romney belittles this with his belief in individual initiative. He is better at the put-down than the push-up.
-
Romney shows little regard for common man
The Republicans in Congress have voted over and over, 33 times, redundantly and uselessly, to rescind what they call Obamacare.
-
Scouts' gay ban creates problem where none exists
The Boy Scouts of America's "emphatic reaffirmation" of its vow to exclude any and all homosexuals from its hallowed ranks is ill-considered and pathetic, especially in view of its having reviewed the matter for two years.
-
Schreibman tops Chris Gibson on women's issues
