The Smoke Break

You want some brie with that whine?

Bad News Comes In Threes

By

This evening the Senate voted by a significant majority to confirm Eric Holder as Attorney General of the United States, proving once again that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Mr. Holder has been gunning for this position since the days of Clinton administration and even though his clearly unconscionable role in the Marc Rich pardon has been well-documented, perhaps Mr. Rich’s fugitive mindset has somehow replicated like a rogue virus, magically contagious and able to spirit away the memory cells of our current crop of public servants.  But many outside the Beltway are immune from such funky diseases, and I’m not the only one who remembers that despite the fact that pardons are by definition granted post-conviction, Marc Rich neither took responsibility for his actions nor served any sentence.  He scuttled off to lay low in Switzerland to avoid prosecution for tax evasion, racketeering, and trading with the enemy while his minions here wormed their way into the White House.  Riding on coattails fashioned out of blue cloth that some say bears an uncanny resemblance to a dress once worn by Monica Lewinsky, courtesy of Mr. Rich’s ex-wife, a Clinton friend and major donor to both the Democratic Party and the Clinton Library, the deal was greased and condoned by none other than Mr. Holder.  Who was already on the record as hoping for the Attorney General position in a Gore administration.

It was a brazen and outright piece of brown-nosing but has finally paid off handsomely for apparently Mr. Holder’s alleged “good qualities”, combined with the Senate’s incomprehensible ignorance of history, outweigh the fact that he is a patsy when it comes to standing up to those who wield power and money. 

A fact that I dare say is apparently intended to serve President Obama well in the days to come.  Everyone needs a “good lawyer” in their back pocket.

I’m sure the FALN* members pardoned by former President Clinton agree.  Holder was responsible for signing off on their clemencies, despite the fact that “the FBI was unequivocally opposed to the release of these terrorists under any circumstances and had so advised the DOJ.” (Louis J. Freeh, former Director, FBI)

Mr. Holder also supported the District of Columbia in its case banning ownership of handguns (see District of Columbia v. Heller) that was…ahem… shot down by the Supreme Court and he believes the Second Amendment does not support the individual’s right to bear arms.

Don’t you feel safe now that our nation’s law enforcement is in such good hands?

 

  
* – The Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (English: Armed Forces of National Liberation, FALN) was a Puerto Rican clandestine paramilitary organization that, through direct action, advocated complete independence for Puerto Rico. At the time of its dissolution, the FALN was responsible for more than 120 bomb attacks on United States targets between 1974 and 1983. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) classifies the FALN as a terrorist organization. (Wikipedia)

No, It’s NOT Ok

By

“Make no mistake, tax cheaters cheat us all, and the IRS should enforce our laws to the letter.”
(Sen. Tom Daschle, Congressional Record, May 7, 1998, p. S4507)

 

It has been reported that Tom Daschle, who holds a degree only in political science and at various times in his Senate career was a member of both the Finance and Ethics committees and afterwards a paid lobbyist (reportedly $2 million in 2008) with Alston & Bird (whose clients include CVS Caremark, the National Association for Home Care and Hospice, Abbott Laboratories and HealthSouth), not only “forgot” to pay taxes on perks received, but has also had “some [other] tax issues” – in one instance being paid $220,000 in speaking fees by health care groups with a vested interest in the work done by the Secretary of Health and Human Services.  Which you should know includes advising the President on matters of health, welfare, and income security programs.

For most of us who’ve been exposed to the corporate world, conflicts of interests are a big no-no.  As is even the appearance of impropriety.  Full disclosure is required at the first sign something might be or might be “merely” perceived as being even the slightest bit amiss.  When even the  perception of vested or conflicts of interests ruin one’s credibility in the business world, I have to ask – why is it any different for those running the business of our government?

Apparently it is different, because despite “concerns” over Daschle’s tax situation, most are going on record saying (at best) they’ve not yet made up their minds about confirming him, or (at worst) that they think it’s ok.  Our President being in the latter camp.

When I was growing up, we were taught that a lie by any other name is still a lie.  Have we grown so complacent we will accept thin justifications based on selfishness over truth – even over black and white law – and honestly believe that nothing can be done?

This may be falsely termed yet another era of change*, but in many respects enough important things remain the same that plenty can be done.  And plenty could have been done had enough people pulled their head out of the sand and taken a firm stance towards responsible accountability and honesty on Election Day*.  Shouldn’t it be common knowledge that every one of those people in Washington are public servants, that they work for every single one of us?  Just because we choose to send them to Washington to represent us doesn’t make them somehow smarter; unless you call the latest examples of deliberate cunning used for the personal gain of Daschle and Geithner intelligence.

I don’t.  And those who cannot lead by example, even the most simple ones like properly paying taxes (when they, far more readily than the rest of us, can afford to pay someone competent to figure out their taxes for them), do not deserve my vote nor deserve the privilege of serving the people of the United States.  Need I spell it out in plain English that if they are, indeed, too stupid to do something as simple as properly pay their taxes they really shouldn’t be representing us in the first place?  Nor should those who think those kind of “mistakes” are ok be in charge of anything.

Bottom line:  blaming your accountant doesn’t absolve you of your personal responsibilities.  The IRS uses those kinds of “problems” all the time to nail criminals wanted for other reasons.  And claiming “confusion” about “reentering private life” is a cheap and smarmy ploy for sympathy; it’s pathetic and inexcusable when that reentrance into a well-heeled private life took place five years ago.

Think about it.  Do we really want such a slow learner (or an outright cheat) in charge of Health & Human Services?

 

 
* – According to the numbers, very little changed after the 2008 election.  In the House of Representatives, 381 of 435 members returned (31 retired; 23 were defeated in either primary or general elections) and in the Senate, only 4 out of 29 running incumbants (5 if you count Minnesota) were defeated.  (Source:  The Corner, National Review Online)

How You Like Them Examples?

By

It’s a new year and we have a new President.  The Democrats are prostrate in their ecstacy while the Republicans try to salvage some dignity after a ludicrous campaign that resulted in major losses.  Wall Street, the media, and others who lost their sense of personal responsibility in the game of speculation still can’t find their ass with both hands.  The rest of us, of more modest and realistic means, sit here wondering how we’re going to pay our bills as the landscape grows more and more uncertain and the trickle of our tax money becomes a bloody, raging river diverted upstream to bail out those who got us into this mess in the first place.

It’s time to get up off those worshipping knees, toss those rose-colored glasses and take a good look around you.

Right off the bat the Obama inner circle decides Timothy Geithner is a good choice for Treasury Secretary.  I don’t know about you, but it sure gives me a warm & fuzzy that someone besides his mother really believes a man – who was awarded a masters degree in international economics – who conveniently “forgets” to pay his own personal taxes can do a good job watching over the economy of an entire nation.

Now it comes to rather ironic light that he’s shot off his Asian-studies-educated mouth about China “manipulating its currency” – in writing, no less – causing a headlong scramble – led by Joe Biden, no less; he himself a carrier of open mouth disease – to head off the possibility of a trade war.  Don’t care for that kind of icing on the recession cake we’ve been forced to eat of late?  Too bad.  The damage has already been done and the new administration isn’t even a whole 2 weeks old.

Now the news apparently worth just a single day of reporting is that Tom Daschle, Obama’s choice for Secretary of Health and Human Services, also conveniently forgot to pay taxes on a chauffeur perk.  For years.  But accompanied by a large sucking sound coming from the media, since he made up for it and wrote the check on January 2, 2009, it’s ok.

I hate to state the obvious, but no, it’s not.

Just what do these people drink or smoke at night?  How can they believe that these kinds of behaviors have become acceptable in our society?  The message being sent loud and clear from Capitol Hill – purported to be our finest examples of leadership – is that cheating and lying are ok as long as the excuse is “I forgot”.  (And that’s only if you get caught.)

And yet they continue to make fun of and lambast GWB.  Now, I don’t say that in George’s defense for I’ve never been a fan, but the sheer hypocrisy really ought to scare the bejesus out of you.

And last but not least, while those of us struggling to make ends meet in the frigid Midwest sit wrapped in blankets because we’ve turned down our thermostats in order to patriotically save energy and out of necessity to save money, President Obama toodles around the White House in his shirtsleeves with the heat kicked up high enough “to grow orchids”.  Ostensibly because “he’s from Hawaii”.  Anyone else remember that he hasn’t actually lived in Hawaii (or anywhere else toasy warm) for 30 years? He went to college in the Northeast, and spent his entire adult life in the Midwest, neither of which are exactly subtropical paradises. 

As it’s been said, please, don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining.