Time for Thorns

The District of Columbia has been run so poorly for so long that I’m not surprised it had hundreds of  employees collecting  unemployment benefits while working.   If someone were crazy enough to appoint me mayor for a year,  the first thing I’d do is make every employee show up in person with proof of identity in order to receive their next paycheck.

This article is  incorrect:  only two people may have received the intended benefits,  but I can guarantee you the the corrupt pols who run Detroit made out like bandits.

Now some professor has done the work to prove that my late father was right   —  Chicago would have always been  the most corrupt city  in the USA except that the French got to New Orleans first.    But Hurricane Katrina  temporarily wiped out a lot of the territory available for graft and corruption,  so the adopted home city of His Oneness has taken the clear lead.

I would like to see someone  –  anyone  –  ask EVERY political candidate the questions Jack Abramoff poses here.

This column about  the new San Francisco/Oakland Bay bridge is why I loathe politicians,  and why I don’t trust government at any level.

A friend purchased disgraced lobbyist Jack  Abramoff’s book about  the endemic corruption in Washington.   She is horrified.  I can’t even pretend to be surprised by any of it.  I will reads the book,  but I spent two years in college around D.C. and my opinion of congress critters hasn’t improved any.

Republicans are making an effort to clean up at least part of the cesspool of corruption  and incompetence which is the United Nations.

The Washington Post  suddenly notices that Congress critters hold  fundraisers and take big checks while formulating legislation which may affect the donors.  Gee,  can you imagine that such donations would have any effect on said legislation?

As I predicted,  the old crook from Harlem got only a slap on the wrist  — censure,  with no penalties attached.   That censure is considered the most serious congressional discipline short of expulsion tells you how differently Congress treats its members than do the laws it passes treat us.

Forget to tell the IRS you get rent on your condo in the Dominican Republic for 16 years?   No problem if you’re a Congressman.   Just lie some more,  put on  a good show,  pretend to weep a bit,  then  obliquely claim you’ve been vindicated.

The Old Gray Lady  found Charlie Rangel’s behavior puzzling,  but his attempt at winning public opinion is an extension of his efforts over the past 2 years,  and I never thought he’d have the bottom to stay and hear the charges against him.

He can’t be very happy that the ethics committee took only the day to determine  that the facts,  as presented by the prosecution,  were not in dispute and that Rangel had not refuted the charges.

Dana Milbank thinks the whole thing  is a farce.    Here is Rangel whining and complaining response to the mess he created.   Charles Hurt has a  grand piece on it all.

What I think is that nobody on camera today had the balls to come out and state the plain truth,  which is that Charlie Rangel is a corrupt politician who thinks the rules should not apply to him, and is perfectly willing to lie,  obfuscate,  deny and delay to escape his punishment.  He should be expelled from Congress.   He is likely to receive a slap on the wrist.   On the other hand,  approval of Congress  is  in the low double digits  –  this should drive it down further.