Congressional Black Caucus Members Under Investigation

The Washington Post is reporting that House ethics investigators have been scrutinizing the activities of more than 30 lawmakers and several aides in inquiries about issues including defense lobbying and corporate influence peddling, according to a confidential House ethics committee report prepared in July.

Dozens in Congress under ethics inquiry

Ellen Nakashima and Paul Kane staff writers with the Washington Post are reporting the a number of members of the Congressional Black Caucus are being investigated for defense lobbying and corporate influence peddling, according to a confidential House ethics committee report prepared in July.

Rep. Charles Rangel . (AP Photo)

The document also disclosed that ethics committee staff members have interviewed House Ways and Means Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) about one element of the complex investigation of his personal finances, as well as the lawmaker's top aide and his son.

Rangel said he spoke with ethics committee staff members regarding a conference that he and four other members of the Congressional Black Caucus attended last November in St. Martin. The trip initially was said to be sponsored by a nonprofit foundation run by a newspaper. But the three-day event, at a luxury resort, was underwritten by major corporations such as Citigroup, Pfizer and AT&T. Rules passed in 2007, shortly after Democrats reclaimed the majority following a wave of corruption cases against Republicans, bar private companies from paying for congressional travel.

According to Wapo Rangel said he has not discussed other parts of the investigation of his finances with the committee. "I'm waiting for that, anxiously," he said.

There is more.. According to Wapo, Politico, and The LA Times, the committee did not detail the two newly disclosed investigations. However, according to the July document, Rep. Maxine Waters, a high-ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, came under scrutiny because of activities involving OneUnited Bank of Massachusetts, in which her husband owns at least $250,000 in stock. Waters arranged a September 2008 meeting at the Treasury Department where OneUnited executives asked for government money. In December, Treasury selected OneUnited as an early participant in the bank bailout program, injecting $12.1 million.

AAPP: Voters in their congressional districts need to take a hard look at these Corrupt Congressional Black Caucus members. It just may be time to throw these folks out of office. I know if any of them were representing me, I would vote them out of office in a heartbeat. I guess Cathy Hughes would do the same thing. If I were Obama I would not meet with the Congressional Black Caucus until they stop standing up for crooks, get there act together and purged those who bring the group into disgrace.

I'm also getting a bit tired of these Congressional ethics inquiries, that have been dragging on for sometime despite vows to end corruption.

I guess I can understand why some democrats are worried that one of their own could cost them their jobs.

Is Massachusetts Ready To Steal The Stimulus Money?

AAPP: In my home town, of Boston, Massachusetts, the crooks and liars are ready to steal the stimulus money. As reported by The Boston Globe, The real estate developer chosen by Governor Deval Patrick to distribute billions of dollars in federal stimulus money has been receiving a state pension ever since he was fired from his job at a state development agency in 1995, according to state records.

Jeffrey A. Simon, 58, was tapped by the governor on Wednesday to the newly created job of director of infrastructure investment, which will pay him $150,000 a year. The governor promptly posted a summary of Simon's résumé on his website after the appointment, listing a distinguished career as a real estate specialist in government and the private sector, with expertise in redeveloping military bases.

But what the résumé posting did not say was that Simon was terminated in 1995 from his state job overseeing the redevelopment of Fort Devens.

The governor and his staff also did not disclose that, under a Massachusetts pension law intended to protect patronage hires from retribution, his firing entitled him to begin collecting an enhanced state pension while he was in his mid-40s.

Simon could not be reached for comment. His retirement records do not include a reason for his dismissal from the agency where he worked in the mid-1990s, the Massachusetts Government Land Bank. His official résumé suggests he left the Land Bank because he was recruited for a similar job by the government of Bermuda.

A spokesman for Patrick, Joe Landolfi, provided a statement last night that said the administration knew Simon had departed state government. The statement did not address the questions of Simon's pension or his dismissal from the agency, however.

"Mr. Simon was fully vetted prior to being offered the position of director of infrastructure investment. He disclosed that he retired from state service more than a decade ago," Landolfi said. "He is eminently qualified to serve in this critical role, and we are confident he will successfully ensure federal stimulus funds are invested responsibly and transparently."

State retirement records show that Simon has been paid $29,000 to $32,000 a year since December 1995 with his enhanced, early pension. He has collected $403,751.84 in all, according to state records.

Simon will forgo the pension payments while he serves in his new state job, according to administration officials. More HERE

I guess Black Agenda Report was right. Black Folks will get the short end regarding the Stimulus Package. As The Black Agenda Report noted, Obama's economic stimulus plan is built around "shovel-ready" projects already vetted by the states. That means "Mississippi will be enabled to do more of what Mississippi always does." More HERE

Note: Let's include northern Mississippi in the equation, Massachusetts.

More political report and discussion at: African American Political Pundit.com

Who will hold Governor Deval Patrick accountable?

The New Faces of Republican Bigotry, Intolerance and Ignorance

The Palin/McCain team continue to support their audiences who shout 'Socialist!', 'Kill him!', 'Traitor!', 'Treason!', 'Terrorist!', 'Off with his head!', and 'Bomb Obama!'

Now get this, Here is the new face of Republican bigotry.

As reported by The Washington Post, the chairman of the Virginia Republican Party has compared Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama to Osama bin Laden because of the Illinois senator's past association with Bill Ayers, who has confessed to domestic bombings as a member of the Vietnam War-era Weather Underground.

According to a report in this week's Time magazine, the Virginia party chairman, Del. Jeffrey M. Frederick (R-Prince William), told Virginia volunteers working for GOP nominee John McCain that Obama and bin Laden "both have friends that bombed the Pentagon. More HERE and HERE:

"[Frederick] climbed atop a folding chair to give 30 campaign volunteers who were about to go canvassing door to door their talking points -- for instance, the connection between Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden: 'Both have friends that bombed the Pentagon,' he said. 'That is scary.' It is also not exactly true -- though that distorted reference to Obama's controversial association with William Ayers, a former 60s radical, was enough to get the volunteers stoked. 'And he won't salute the flag,' one woman added, repeating another myth about Obama. She was quickly topped by a man who called out, 'We don't even know where Senator Obama was really born.' Actually, we do; it's Hawaii."

Now get this, Frederick (below) stood by his remarks, even though the McCain camp called them "not appropriate."

AAPP: Not appropriate? that's it Mr. McCain?

Del. Jeffrey M. Frederick

This is not the first time the "Palin/McCain" ticket had to address internal bigotry and color arousal within the Republican Party. Check this out, as reported by The Chicago Tribune, Republican presidential candidate John McCain's campaign has ousted a prominent Virginia GOP figure who wrote a newspaper column mocking a potential Barack Obama administration. A McCain spokeswoman said Bobby May was dropped this week from his job as McCain's Buchanan County campaign chairman.

May wrote in his column, "The (clarified) platform of Barack Hussein Obama," that if the Democratic senator were elected he would hire rapper Ludacris to paint the White House black and change the national anthem to the "Black National Anthem." More HERE

AAPP: We should not be surprised with the rise of bigotry with the Republican Party. Both Palin and McCain have attacked Obama with every bigoted and color aroused reference they could. Now we learn the Washington Post/ABC News poll indicates that the color aroused and bigoted campaign style just has not worked, and just may have worked against the palin/McCain ticket. Maybe Palin and McCain are getting good faith guidance.

Read more at: African American Political Pundit.com

Lynch Mobs, John Mccain, and his sidekick Sarah Palin

Enough is Enough! Stop inciting lynch mobs John McCain and Sarah Palin.

Mark Karlin's Editor's Blog over at buzzflash.com says it best, It's a John McCain/Sarah Palin Lynch Mob politics.

As Mark writes, "There was the raw smell of scary stupid ignorance in the air, and even Jon Stewart could barely conceal his disgust with what was supposed to be a comic sketch.

Palin has been going around the nation inciting mobs with the kind of emotional appeals (although in a more coded form) that one used to find at segregationist rallies. A video of some rabidly ignorant crowd at a Palin speech in Ohio has gone viral on the Internet, and it’s a brief and scary insight into the reality that the ugly, bigoted heart of America’s dark underside is still beating strong – and has just gotten a second life with the incendiary direction of the McCain campaign.

Given that the mainstream media has still not picked up on the video of Sarah Palin welcoming, this year in 2008, the Alaskan Independence Party to their yearly meeting –- which we have posted on BuzzFlash several times -– it is hard to understand how the irony of a governor who has clearly documented close ties to a group that regards the United States as an "occupying force" gets away with the ugly farce of basically calling Obama a terrorist. (Yes, it’s in coded language, but that is what Palin and McCain are doing, inciting the fears of the "dark other," the man with the middle name of "Hussein.") One of the bigots at the Palin Ohio rally said that terrorism was in Obama’s "bloodline." This is the kind of talk that brought Hitler to power.

In 2008, the McCain campaign has decided to use the Salem Witch Trials as its model for running for the highest office in our great land."

More HERE

Meanwile, The head of the nation's biggest labor federation is joining the chorus of voices warning about the increasingly angry crowds coming to John McCain's campaign events. This as reported by the Boston Globe.

At rallies this week, McCain's criticisms of Democrat Barack Obama have been met with shouts of "terrorist," "liar," and other harsh words.

"Sen. John McCain, Gov. Sarah Palin and the leadership of the Republican party have a fundamental moral responsibility to denounce the violent rhetoric that has pervaded recent McCain and Palin political rallies," said John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, which has endorsed Obama. "When rally attendees shout out such attacks as 'terrorist' or 'kill him' about Sen. Barack Obama, when they are cheered on by crowds incited by McCain-Palin rhetoric -- it is chilling that McCain and Palin do nothing to object.

AAPP: Lets not forget how this all started. People throughout America have been tracking it on Youtube. It all started when McCain and Palin incited almost a color and idealogical war.

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Cross Posted on African American Political Pundit.com

Is John McCain a bigot? Trying To Rise Up The Bigots In America?

Is john McCain a color aroused bigot? This AAPP thinks so. There are many other people who feel that John McCain's bigoted remarks are troubling. Remember, this is a guy who voted against MLK Day at almost 50 years of age. But the again, what’d you expect from someone who voted against the MLK holiday?

There are many other reasons why many in America have concluded that John McCain is a bigot, take for example what he recently said on his campaign bus. John McCain told reporters, "I hated the gooks. I will hate them as long as I live." Although McCain said he was referring only to his prison guards, there are many reasons why his use of the word "gook" is offensive and alarming.

As Katie Honk noted in her recent article, 'It is offensive because by using a racial epithet that has historically been used to demean all Asians to describe his captors, McCain failed to make a distinction between his torturers and an entire racial group" More HERE

The fact of the matter is John McCain is a troubled man. He seems to hate the fact that a black man stands in between him and the presidency. This guy is an old school bigot.

It gets me that during last night's debate, John McCain said we need "a cool hand at the tiller," but McCain has proven to be a loose cannon. He has accosted his Congressional colleagues on both sides of the aisle on everything from the federal budget to diplomatic relations. He is known for hurling profanities rather than settling disagreements calmly. His belligerence is legendary. Even conservative Senator Thad Cochran of Mississippi has said, "He is erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."

When someone earns the nickname "Senator Hothead," the public ought to call his character into question. McCain's propensity to explode undermines his abilities as a rational decision maker, particularly on national security issues -- which could prove disastrous considering our country is already involved in two wars.

As reported by Doug thompson at the blog Capitol Blue, "John McCain, a member of the House of Representatives in the mid-1980s, often held court at a table near the bar at Bullfeathers, a popular Capitol Hill watering hole, telling jokes and matching hangers-on drink by drink.

As a Capitol Hill chief of staff, I often drank at Bullfeathers and was invited to join the throng at McCain's table one evening. A few minutes listening to the racism, bigotry and homophobia of the Arizona Congressman told me all I needed to know.

McCain loved to tell jokes about lesbians, blacks, Hispanics and the Vietnamese community that occupied a large section of Arlington County, Virginia, just south of the District of Columbia."

Of course, McCain didn't use polite language in the jokes: He used names like "fags" or "queers" or "dykes" or "niggers" or "spics" or "wetbacks" or "gooks."

A typical McCain joke (overheard at Bullfeathers):

Two dykes are talking at a bar and one leaves. As she walks toward the door, the other watches her leave and says out loud: "God, I've love to eat her out."

Two men are standing near by and one turns to the other and says: "I'd like to do the same. Guess that makes me a dyke."

Or another (also overheard at Bullfeathers):

Question: Why does Mexican beer have two "X's" on the label?

Answer: Because wetbacks always need a co-signer.

(McCain has a documented history of lesbian jokes. He's also come under fire for other jokes about rape.)

Exampe:

Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly?

Because Janet Reno is her father.

Another example:

Did you hear the one about the woman who is attacked on the street by a gorilla, beaten senseless, raped repeatedly and left to die? When she finally regains consciousness and tries to speak, her doctor leans over to hear her sigh contently and to feebly ask, ‘Where is that marvelous ape?’

When he ran for the Senate, I attended a gathering of GOP operatives at the National Republican Senatorial Committee where McCain outlined his campaign strategy:

I play to win. I do whatever it takes to win. If I have to fuck my opponent to win I'll do it. If I have to destroy my opponent I won't give it a second thought.

McCain's so-called sense of humor has no limits when it comes to simple human decency. Shortly after former President Ronald Reagan announced he had Alzheimer's Disease, McCain told this joke at a GOP Fundraiser:

Do you know the best thing about having Alzheimer's?

You get to hide your own Easter eggs.

Even his wife is not immune. Writes Cliff Schecter in his book, The Real John McCain:

Three reporters from Arizona, on the condition of anonymity, also let me in on another incident involving McCain's intemperateness. In his 1992 Senate bid, McCain was joined on the campaign trail by his wife, Cindy, as well as campaign aide Doug Cole and consultant Wes Gullett. At one point, Cindy playfully twirled McCain's hair and said, "You're getting a little thin up there." McCain's face reddened, and he responded, "At least I don't plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you cunt." McCain's excuse was that it had been a long day. If elected president of the United States, McCain would have many long days.

This is the man the Republican Party thinks should be the next President of the United States. What else should we expect from a party that promotes racism, homophobia and discrimination against anyone with a different skin color, sexual orientation or ethnic origin? More HERE

I guess I understand why John McCain refused to shake Barack Obama's hand. He is a true old school... bigot. So is his running mate, Sarah Palin. He is a bigot, still stuck in Vietnam.

McCain referred to Americans as his "fellow prisoners." Watch:

Yes, Bigots, who even the NY Times are questioning when they wrote, "Senator John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin have been running one of the most appalling campaigns we can remember. They have gone far beyond the usual fare of quotes taken out of context and distortions of an opponent’s record — into the dark territory of race-baiting and xenophobia. Senator Barack Obama has taken some cheap shots at Mr. McCain, but there is no comparison." More HERE

The Congressional Black Caucus should be renamed - "The Congressional Black Cowards"

AAPP says: Well, it appear that the Congressional Black Caucus are a bunch of bought off cowards and traitors. Yes, Skeptical Brother is right. The Congressional Black Caucus are "selling us out."

First Key Congressional Black Caucus Members Actually Stopped The Bailout Then they fall in line and follow Nancy Pelosiand George W. Bush. Folks the Congressional Black Caucus sold us down the drain. As reported by the Daily Voice, and Skeptical Brother members of the Congressional Black Caucus voted 31-8 in favor of the financial rescue bill that passed the House of Representatives on Friday, with several members swtching their votes. The vote was a dramatic turnaround for the Caucus from Monday, when most members of the group voted against the plan.

The bill passed the full House of Representatives 263 to 171, just one day after the Senate approved the measure, 74 to 25. Senator Barack Obama personally called members of the CBC, some of whom credited him for changing their minds in favor of the bill, according to the Associated Press.

Thirteen CBC members -- Andre Carson (IN), Emanuel Cleaver (MO), Elijah Cummings (MD), Donna Edwards (MD), Al Green (TX), Jesse Jackson Jr. (IL), Sheila Jackson-Lee (TX), Carolyn Kilpatrick (MI), Barbara Lee (CA), John Lewis (GA), Bobby Rush (IL), David Scott (GA) and Diane Watson (CA) -- who had voted against the bill on Monday switched their votes in favor of it on Friday. Many who switched their votes cited the changes in the proposal made since the Senate passed the measure on Thursday.

Despite tremendous pressure from House Democratic leadership, eight members of the Caucus -- Reps. G.K. Butterfield, William Clay, John Conyers, William Jefferson, Hank Johnson, Donald Payne, Robert Scott and Bennie Thompson -- voted against the final bill on Friday.

Rep. Elijah Cummings and Donna Edwards, both of Maryland, told AP that Senator Obama had contacted them and pledged to help homeowners facing foreclosure on their mortgages if he wins the White House and promised to support changes in the bankruptcy law to help consumers. More HERE

AAPP: Lets call it the 700 Billion dollar fleecing of America, without any protections or direct help for homeowners facing foreclosure on their mortgages. Now I read my own Maryland congressional delegation, including of all people Rep. Elijah Cummings and Donna Edwards, both of Maryland, told AP that Senator Obama had contacted them and pledged to help homeowners facing foreclosure on their mortgages if he wins the White House and promised to support changes in the bankruptcy law to help consumers. As bigbaby says, WTF

There are also some four dozen small provisions. Among them, with projected costs over 10 years:

_Extending an expired provision that gives Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands a rebate against excise taxes charged on imported rum. The rebate, at $13.50 per proof gallon, helps finance local infrastructure projects. The cost is $192 million.

_Establishing a new tax credit ranging from $2,500 to $7,500 for purchasers of plug-in electric-drive vehicles. Cost: $758 million.

_Extending tax credits that expired at the end of 2007 for certain domestic corporations involved in American Samoa economic development. Cost: $33 million.

_Extending a credit of up to $10,000 for the training of mine rescue team members. The credit expires at the end of this year and the one-year extension costs $4 million.

_Enacting President Bush's proposal to erase the debt of the black lung disability trust fund at a cost of $1.3 billion.

_Extending for one year a seven-year depreciation timetable that NASCAR and other motorsport racing facilities have had for some years, the same tax break that amusement parks enjoy. Without the extension, the tracks would have to depreciate the cost of their improvements over 15 years, raising their taxes by $100 million.

_Extending for five years a program that reduces import duties on some wool fabrics. The tariff relief benefits U.S. worsted wool fabric producers that use imported fibers and yarns. Cost: $148 million.

_Increasing the single-year deduction in production costs, from $15 million to $20 million, that film and TV productions may take if the costs are incurred in economically depressed areas. In an effort to keep film and TV productions in the U.S., it also allows more companies to use a domestic production deduction. Cost: $478 million.

_Allowing commercial fishermen and others hurt by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska to average out damage awards over three years rather than taking a one-year hit from the IRS. Cost: $49 million.

_Extending two programs that fund rural schools and rural communities that have been relying on declining income from logging on federal land or have low property tax bases because they are located on or next to federal lands. This is a major issue in the West. Cost: $3.3 billion.

_Exempting wooden practice arrows used by children from an excise tax of 39 cents per arrow. Oregon's two senators and two Wisconsin representatives previously introduced legislation calling for the action, saying the tax was meant for more expensive archery arrows and is untenable for makers of toy arrows that may cost only about 30 cents apiece. The bill would affect about a half-dozen manufacturers nationwide, including one in Oregon; the Oregon senators said they didn't seek its addition to the bailout, however. Cost: $2 million.

_Allowing employers to exempt from taxation what they spend on some fringe benefits for workers who commute to work by bicycle, for example reimbursing the cost of parking the bikes. Cost: $2 million. More HERE

H/Tip Bygbaby and Soul Cast

The Congressional are truly a bunch of bought off cowards and traitors. We need to throw all of them out of office, and get a new group of members.I must say I expected more out the new member Donna Edwards, I guess she is not the new breed of leader I thought she would be.

Cross posted on African American political Pundit.com

Hillary, The NY Mag, Liberals and Snakes on the plane

Barack Obama and his handlers have to really watch his political back, now that he has agreed to provide Hillary with the opportunity for a floor vote. But it is not only Hillary he has to watch out for. He also has to watch out for liberal rags like the NY Mag.com as so-called liberal magazine that is dogging out Obama with outragious statements like, "The description of the Obamas’ life together displays no evidence of their connections to black culture."

AAPP: OK, here we go again with Barack Obama and his wife are not "black enough" bull. This time with an academic twist.

This rag, the New York Mag.com went out to find anyone they could to lend credibility to the story. They found someone to degrade the 21st century black bourgeoisie involved in U.S. politics. Yes, Gayle Pemberton was dug up from some academic cave to say as much silly garbage about obama as possible. asking questions like, "And what does the white world know about black people like the Obamas, really? “The black middle class is the most invisible, unknown group in the country,” said Gayle Pemberton, a professor of African-American studies at Wesleyan University.

“There are millions and millions of people in it, and yet we know nothing about them.”

AAPP: Them? Them says, Gayle Pemberton? we already know where she is coming from.

Here are some more excerpts from the article:

One would think that the Obamas enjoy being called the black Kennedys, but maybe they don’t. “This Camelot myth has formed around Barack and Michelle, but they come from almost the opposite place in the world from the Kennedys,” says Obama’s friend Kenneth Mack, a law professor at Harvard University. “If you saw Barack on a yacht, that would be pretty unseemly. He’s the guy from the basketball court who used to go around in jeans and a leather jacket. In law school, he was really uncomfortable with the markers of elitism, like even dressing in a suit.”

It’s a sitcom, this miscommunication between black and white people: In fact, a manager in Hollywood told me that he’s getting calls from producers searching for TV writers to work on All in the Family–style shows for next year—they know the country will be hungry for this type of comedy if Obama is elected.

While Michelle hasn’t made many interesting statements in public—it’s a very small canon of comments, over the course of almost two years of campaigning—they’ve taken on enormous meaning. She’s not quite as smooth a political player as Barack: “Whenever Obama enters the room, there’s a sense of calm and satisfaction,” says a former campaign aide. “Michelle can get a little more tense. Before she goes on-camera for interviews, we’d have to give her a couple of minutes to compose herself. She’ll sit down, raise her hands over her head, and go, ‘Ugh, God!’ ” That’s a mask she’s wearing in public, most of the time, and we aren’t sure what is underneath. When she uttered her fateful words about how, for “the first time in my adult life, I’m really proud of my country,” she unleashed an explosion of emotion, because everyone who’s awake could read between the lines—she was angry about the treatment of black people in America. And anger will not do. Besides, what does she have to be angry about, with her Ivy education and Hyde Park mansion? Isn’t she herself an example of the fact that racism is over in America? More HERE

All of this as Barack Obama's plane was forced to endure an emergency landing after the Democratic presidential candidate's aircraft suffered mechanical problems over Missouri.

A spokesman for the Federal Aviation Authority confirmed to The Times that there had been an emergency landing in St Louis last month after the pilot notified air traffic control of problems. It is understood that the pilot of Mr Obama's plane had warned that he was having problems controlling the "pitch" of the plane and requested emergency assistance.

A controversy has erupted over the landing. According to a US news channel, control tower tapes show that the pilot of Mr Obama's plane demanded an emergency landing. At the time, both the FAA and Midwest Airlines insisted that there was no emergency.

But Laura Brown, a spokesman for the FAA said that she had said minutes after the incident happened that there had been no emergency because of what she had been told by the agency's public affairs staff for air traffic control. More HERE

AAPP: Right! Something seems just a bit fishy with this story. I wonder what Samuel L. Jackson would say:

I guess Barack has to look out for Hillary, The NY Mag, Liberals and Snakes on the planes.

African American Political Pundit is a 2008 DNCC Credentialed blogger and blogs at African American Political Pundit.com