Yes, Rangel did propose the draft law to cause fears pre-election of a draft.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:h.r.163:

The guy is scum.

DAMN. I really should have read the article.

/Thanks Rangel, now you owe me!

Feh. How about having your PAC pay your wife and daughter $500,000 do nothing.

McCain can run all he wants, but if he couldn't beat Bush in 2000, what makes people think he'll be able to beat Tom Delay? Delay has the evangical vote in the bag thanks to the whole Schiavo incident, and that's going to pay off big time in the primary when the extremists in political parties are the ones with the highest turnout.

And for all the Democrats who love McCain, he is a conservative at heart, even if he opposes Bush from time-to-time.

someone should probably read that last paragraph:


Rangel, in his 18th term representing Harlem in Congress, needs no funds for his own re-election. He distributes funds to other Democratic candidates through his National Leadership Political Action Committee, augmenting his influence and power in the House.

aside from his birthday party, the money goes to his party and for the campaign of his colleagues.

Happy Birthday to me!
Happy Birthday to me!
Happy birthday, dear scuuuuuum!
Happy Birthday to me!

no, they have no shame.

you're all a very bright bunch.

*cough*

Red Donkey:

These Republicans need to get their farking asses into gear and stop this petty larceny of the people.

Is this before or after they investigate Delay.

thornhill:

McCain can run all he wants, but if he couldn't beat Bush in 2000, what makes people think he'll be able to beat Tom Delay? Delay has the evangical vote in the bag thanks to the whole Schiavo incident, and that's going to pay off big time in the primary when the extremists in political parties are the ones with the highest turnout.

ooops. I'm meant Bill Frist.

machoprogrammer, I note that one of the co-sponsors of the bill is Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), who currently suffers disabilities caused by wartime injuries. You gonna call him scum, too?

thornhill:

And for all the Democrats who love McCain, he is a conservative at heart, even if he opposes Bush from time-to-time.

Yeah, but this Aussie's impression of McCain is that he's a *real* conservative(Goldwater-like?), unlike the shameless Rapturists that are the current standard-bearers of conservativism.

\keep salt-shaker handy when reading this post

hmmm... from a report by Robert Novak, who should be sitting in jail next to Judith Miller right now, for his refusal to disclose the source of the Plame leak.

Yeah, I think I'm gonna withhold judgment on this one, until an impartial source with all the facts weighs in.

thornhill

I apoligized in my next post. I assumed it was Republican scum since they run the government. Just my luck it turned out to be Democrat scum.

someone should move into Rangels district and run for congress just to piss him off.

2005-07-09 09:53:24 PM Nuke Laloosh: that headline made sense until I read the name of the article's author... and then the better question came up: Has ROBERT NOVAK no shame? two people are going to jail for his ass, and he has the right to question anyone's ethics? I know Rangel is a partisan blowhard, but considering recent events, it amazes me that Robert Novak hasn't hid under a rock yet!

I'm trying to come up with some way this all relates to the accuracy of Bob Novak as a source, or the likelihood of this particular story being true, and I'm coming up with nothing.

CaptainFatass, I'm with you on this one. Charlie Rangel isn't one of my favorite congressmen, but since Robert Novak wrote this report, I'll take anything he writes with a few pounds of salt. I'll wait until a more reliable news source comes along.

Actually, the most interesting part of the article is 2 footnotes up.

"We have a lot of properties in my city [Memphis] . . . that are crying out for development," Ford said on a Nashville radio talk show. The congressman asserted, "I've always been one to believe that individual rights is a big thing," but added, "there is some real value to this decision."

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi also went against the popular tide by defending Kelo. Opposing congressional efforts to nullify the court's decision, she said it was "almost as if God has spoken."

If other Democrats share this view on property rights and this becomes part of the Democratic platform, they've lost a voter.

Imagine what our country would be like if the founders had the wisdom to include the words: "...no more than 6 terms in the House, no more than 2 in the Senate, no more than 2 as President." in the Constitution...

EightDeerOcelotClaw:

Yeah, but this Aussie's impression of McCain is that he's a *real* conservative(Goldwater-like?), unlike the shameless Rapturists that are the current standard-bearers of conservativism.

Goldwater was pro-gay rights, pro-choice, and most of all, hated the religious right. That sure ain't McCain.

Let's face it, our "leaders" are embarassingly corrupt to a man. It's a practical impossibility to get your foot in the door unless you're corrupt.

Until the people learn to discern sincerity and responsibility from lies and charlatanism, we'll continue to elect for the name backed by the biggest propaganda machine, which will continue to be built by our representatives true constituents -- the lobby groups that represent corporate and other well-heeled interests.

An article written about a douchebag by the douchebag for liberty. I love it.

if someone votes along party lines simply because the person is a democratic or republican, the

person is a voter zombie...and zombies eat brains because they don't have any of their own

/ vote libertarian ...wait, i'm hungry...brains

atlanta_ufo
vote libertarian

I happen to like NASA and Social Security.

Incontinent_dog_and_monkey_rodeo:

Imagine what our country would be like if the founders had the wisdom to include the words: "...no more than 6 terms in the House, no more than 2 in the Senate, no more than 2 as President." in the Constitution...

The problem with the House is gerrymandered districts. Up until the '70s there used to be great turnover in congressional elections. Popular Presidents when would true mandates when 70 new congressmen would ride in on their coattails. In the last election something like 10 seats were actually considered competitive. That's just sad. Since neither party will agree to have a non-partisan group draw up districts, we really need term limits.

As for the Senate, this is just a mess. Republicans are probably right in thinking that they will forever have control of it thanks to the geographic distribution of the country.

Incumbency has truly turned American democracy into a sham. Once you're elected, you have the job for life.

Rangle has remained in office too long but if the residents of Harlem feel that he represents their interests then they will continue voting for him.

People get the politicans they deserve.

/Lives in Cynthia McKinney's district
//Didn't do anything to deserve her
///Irony has left the building

Let's see ...

Rangel is running unopposed because ...

Opponents feel there's little chance of unseating him, which is no surprise because ...

90 per cent of incumbent Congressmen win reelection ...


Which probably has something do with the shape and boundaries of congressional districts ...

And Americans let politicians, as opposed to non-partisan commissions, draw up their congressional district boundaries

So it's easy for the Republicans and Dems to scratch each others' back and agree on district boundaries that benefit their respective incumbents ...

Maybe you need to have independent commissions decide where the boundaries for each district should be -- instead of farkers like Rangel.

Imagine if the people were actually smart enough to vote their politicians out when they became corrupt instead of relying on the governement to do it for them.

This crap has to stop. Make elections publicly funded, make such donations illegal, make the representatives represent the people, not special interests.

Unfortunately this is not that uncommon. Senators and members of the House from both parties have all types of parties/trips paid for by corproate lobbyists all of the time. America is well on it's way to being a corporate oligarchy if it is not already because of this type of thing.

Ah, yes, so many of my favorite pet peeves in one convenient thread:

*Robert Novak. If I recall, yesterday rumors- rumors started by Novak- said Rehnquist would retire that same day, that afternoon in fact, as soon as Bush got back to the States. Gets some media play, but when I checked Google News, all the sources led back to him and the Drudge Report. I at that moment knew Rehnquist wasn't going anywhere.
Also, shouldn't he be in jail?

*Rangel: Unopposed? Well, NOW he's probably got an opponent.

*No matter how you fund campaigns, it's going to turn out badly. The only real recourse is to make it cheaper to run so some good candidates can get in the ballgame. (I looked during the election season, forget where, found it costs $1 million to run for a House seat.)

*The entire article is Novak going off on any Democrat who happens to be nearby. Get some farking balance.

*Term limits- It's looking like a better and better idea, but unless you put in a grandfather clause so that the current staff can finish out their careers in their current seats, it would never pass as it means that a lot of people would become lame ducks as soon as Bush signs it into law. It would mean the DeLays, the Rangles, the Sensenbrenners, the other corrupt politicians currently in office would stay, but you'd have to give a little or else it would die before it even got off the ground.

3 major corrupting influences of politics today: money, media, gerrymandering.

The money is really due to the media. Before mass media a politician campaigned by pressing the flesh: whistle stop tours, cookouts, etc.

Now with mass media a typical campaign spends millions on 30 second ads which are so glib that you never get a detailed idea of where a politician stands on an issue. Also, the brevity makes mudslinging more effective: it's a lot easier to fit an insult into 30 seconds. The media has turned our democratic process into a profit center. This gives undue influence to corporate interests because they're better able to pony up the millions it takes to run a modern campaign.

The gerrymandering is pretty self explanatory I think. The Republican led early redistricting in Texas is a perfect example; not that the Democrats are any better, e.g. California. The vast majority of seats in congress are totally noncompetitive. This is how you get incumbents in office for 20 - 30 years.

The solution is probably unconstitutional though: make it illegal for politicians to buy campaign advertising. Require FCC broadcast spectrum license holders to provide a series of 30 minute position statements. The only way for this to happen is if we can get a constitutional amendment. But guess who gets to start (or not start) that process? Yeah, the bums that we're trying to get rid of.

Also we need to reform the election system. We need proportional representation, and we need a way to not be forced to vote for the lesser of two evils. There's no point in voting for a third party without some way of getting past the winner take all system. Instant runoffs would solve part of the problem. Even better, hold statewide elections and award seats based on the proportion that a party takes. We can accomplish this part just by modifying each state's election system, so this is where we should start.

These people have abducted our democracy and it's high time that we take it back.

The fact he is unopposed is the most damning.

Hmm, well I'd like to give props to the submitter, it isn't as if seeing the name Charles Rangel and shame in the same sentence is all that unusual.

Oh, and I note the Democrat party is already starting to embrace the recent abomination of a SC decision, Kelo...

Rep. Harold Ford, one of the brightest young Democratic lights in the House and a Senate candidate in Tennessee next year, stunned colleagues by endorsing the Supreme Court's unpopular Kelo decision. That ruling permitted a Connecticut city to seize homeowners' property and transfer it to private developers.

"We have a lot of properties in my city [Memphis] . . . that are crying out for development," Ford said on a Nashville radio talk show. The congressman asserted, "I've always been one to believe that individual rights is a big thing," but added, "there is some real value to this decision."

A footnote: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi also went against the popular tide by defending Kelo. Opposing congressional efforts to nullify the court's decision, she said it was "almost as if God has spoken."

Nothing that good old Tom DeLay hasn't done already. Here's my favorite bit about him that came to light recently:

"DeLay laid the groundwork for the K Street project by calling corporate lobbyists into his office after he was elected whip in 1995. He sat them down and pointed to their names in a ledger that included contributions they had made to Democrats and Republicans. Then he reminded them that Republicans were in charge and their political giving had better reflect that -- or else. The "or else" was a threat to cut off access to the Republican House leadership."

Oh yeah, and never forget Robert Novak is a treasonous douchebag of liberty.

A "treasonous douchebag", eh? Good phrase, I like that.

As corruption like this becomes more and more the standard procedure, the individuals doing it get more and more blatant about it. They don't hide it because they don't have to. There are no consequences. We're posting on Fark, but what are any of us going to do that actually affects the situation? Probably nothing, and neither is anybody else. So long Democracy!
[Yeah I know, America's not a democracy, it's a republic. Good for you.]

How about this instead: All campaign contributions go directly to the Federal Election Commission. Half the money goes directly into into a candidate's account, with the remaining half split evenly among all qualified candidates. (For a two-candidate race, this works out to a 75/25 split for every dollar donated.) A candidate can *only* spend the money that is in his account, and it can only be used for campaign expenses (no "become a candidate and get a redwood deck and hot tub"), with the record of all expenses made public in a timely manner.

Come on, how easy would it be for a Congressman to get 20 unknown candidates to run against him?

/Reads the article one more time

/Reads Pheed's post

/Looks at the article

/Looks at Pheed's post again

How is this relevant?

Why we have so many lifelong congressmen: GIS for congressional districts. Click for full size:

As long as the money is used to buy strippers and coke, what's the problem?

Seth_J -- if it were only so easy for me to vote for a Libertarian (or for any third party candidate) in Tennessee. Here, the Libertarians rarely field any candidates, and are effectively a branch office of the Republican Party (ditto for the relationship between the Greens and the Dems here).

Until the third parties decide that they want to field some candidates and actually compete, I'm largely stuck with whichever "religious right" candidate the GOP picks out and Harold "I love eminent domain abuse" Ford, Jr.

Nope.