And so begins the march against Maxine

[Stinky The Clown]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/us/politics/01ethics.html

House Inquiry on Waters Tied to Bank
By ERIC LIPTON
Published: July 31, 2010

WASHINGTON — When Representative Maxine Waters, Democrat of California, called Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. in late 2008 to ask him to host a special meeting that would feature a California bank executive she knew well, was the request on behalf of a trade association, or a bank in which her husband owned stock?

That question will be among those raised at an ethics trial expected to unfold this fall, House officials predicted Saturday, after Ms. Waters became the second House member to indicate last week that she would challenge an allegation of violating House ethics rules.

The specific charges to be filed against Ms. Waters have not been made public.

But House officials confirmed Saturday that the case involved communications Ms. Waters had in fall 2008 with federal officials that at least indirectly touched on the fate of OneUnited, a Boston-based bank with branches in Massachusetts, Florida and California. At the time of Ms. Waters’s phone calls, her husband, Sidney Williams, had resigned as a board member of OneUnited but still owned stock in it.

>snip<

Moe at the link. Much more if you google for yourself

This was posted here just a few days ago: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=8858437

Now see, here's the thing. Maxine and Charlie may well be guilty of some malfeasance. But neither of them crashed the entire economy. Neither of them lied us into two wars. Neither of them gave America's and the world's energy resources to the Petrocartels and promised to protect their interests at all costs. Neither of them conspired to kill and torture in our names. Cheney, BushTheLesser, Rumsfeld, Rice, and Gonzo did. And they're either in the hospital on our dime, sucking up resources to keep a sorry ass alive, drinking freely and giving a few insider speeches to support himself, living on Maryland's Eastern Shore under heavy protection, giving concerts with Aretha Franklin, or begging for a job and living off the generosity of friends.

Both Charlie and Maxine, no matter their personal lives, stood with WE THE PEOPLE.

Have we all forgotten Maxine's defiant but shamefully lonely march into the Senate during the initial days of the Coup of 2000?

Why is it that two long serving, truly liberal members of the Congress and the Black Caucus are up on ethics charges but criminals who, under current laws, could, in a stretch, be subject to the death penalty for their crimes continue to walk free?

I am DEAF to being told "if they're guilty, they should be held accountable" when NOT ONE CRIMINAL MOTHERFUCKER from the BushTheLesser reign is under investigation, let alone in jail.

The only lesson I'm seeing is that if you're a Democrat, you're on your own.








And just for the fuck of it, look into what Porter Goss is doing for a living these days. You all remember Porter Goss from the CIA's Night Of Ther Long Knives. It was in all the papers. And when you find out, keep in mind: The Democrats control all of the Congress. Porter Goss is not there without their approval.

How about a little help, here, huh?

[spanone]

1. i surfed past CNN yesterday and heard this....

big stories for the upcoming week....two african-american congresspersons are up on serious ethic charges.....all i could think was what does their race have to do with ethic violations?

[PBS Poll-435]

2. Rec'd the OP because of your post.

:thumbsup:

[truedelphi]

16. And it is not just their skin color - they happen to both be out spoken about the

Economic policies favored by the Top Officials in Both Parties.

[Stinky The Clown]

3. Their race is WHY they're up on charges

This is pure repubican machinations aided and abetted by weak-assed punk Democrats.

[Lurks Often]

8. Perhaps not, may just be politics

I forget where I read it (and no, not Free Republic), but someone put forth the following theory: With David Obey retiring, Charlie Rangel would be up for Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations due to his seniority. Since the House Committee on Appropriations is one of the most powerful positions in the House, whoever holds the seat would have great deal of control of what gets funded and what doesn't. According to the theory, Rangel and Pelosi are NOT friends or political allies (aside from the both of them being Democrats) and since Rangel's seat will remain Democratic under any foreseeable circumstance, it makes Pelosi look good by going after him for corruption.

Presuming that Rangel and Pelosi are friends or political allies, this benefits Pelosi in the following ways: it makes it look like she is willing it get rid of political corruption in her own party, she gets rid of someone who is likely not to go along with her on funding issues (meaning less or no pork) and she gets to put Pete Stark in the Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations since he is the next most senior. I suspect that since Maxine Waters is a political ally of Charlie Rangel and is also in a safely Democratic seat, the same applies to her.

[global1]

4. And CNN Is Making Rangel And Waters The Lead Story In Their News Cast.........

at 8am CST. Did they make as much noise about Vitter, Ensign and Craig? It is very apparent that MSM is out to sink the Dems any way they can. All of the BushCo administration should be in jail for crimes against humanity but they were given a pass. Now the MSM is piling on Rangel and Waters.

[annm4peace]

5. I have always been worried they would have her plane go down

She is a threat to the rich, especially the rich white person, because she is trying to get help for all the poor and middle class.

[KharmaTrain]

6. Didn't You Get The Memo...

From Van Jones to ACORN to Shirley Sherrod to Charlie Rangel to Maxine Waters. What do these things have in common?

Hate radio will go apeshit about how corrupt, mean and ugly Maxine is...the corporate media will pick it up and play judge and jury. Rinse and Repeat.

Methinks they'll roll out a "n" of the week from now through November...can't keep the racism ramped up enough. Without it, the GOOP doesn't win.

[EFerrari]

15. Those idiots went after the NAACP.

We need to shove this right back at them. :grr:

[glitch]

25. It was so blatant even Kristol caught it.

Black and progressive, twofer for the thugs, but we expect that from them. What we don't expect is for our side to pile on. :thumbsdown:

[uponit7771]

7. "The specific charges to be filed against Ms. Waters have not been made public. "

[Xicano]

9. And to think Shrub and Cheney are still "off the table"

What was it that they said again as to why no investigations against Shrub or Cheney? Something about moving on and some other catch phrases.

[CrispyQ]

13. This is what pisses me off most about this whole thing.

:grr:

[Old and In the Way]

10. Using the yardstick of typical Republican corruption, this is pretty weak tea.

Seriously, how does an Eric Cantor not have an ethics problem, given his wife's job? How about Joe Lieberman? How about lots of other, more outrageous corruption/conflicts of interest that never gets punishe?. If we're going to investigate Waters and Rangel, then how we investigate all members of Congress? I'm willing to bet that we'd have a 10:1 disparity that favors Democrats.

I've said it before; I think, in the history of Congress, you can count the number of Congresspeople who have not benefited personally (directly or indirectly) from their time in Congress-on one hand. The difference, to me, is whether they work for or against the interests of the American taxpayer and middle class.

[truedelphi]

17. The Dems are more than happy to get rid of

Maxine - she is so far out there in terms of being a Progressive and truly caring about the people (and not only the Rich People!)

[laughingliberal]

26. +1 nt

[rurallib]

11. Just cancelled an unreccer -

Well today this will be all that the echo chamber will talk about "waters ...... ethics ...... Pelosi ...... Rangel ........."
No doubt the twits on FUX have already done their bit for the cause........

[niyad]

12. absolutely disgusting to watch the dems eating their own--and leaving the repukes in peace.

[EFerrari]

14. Sing it, brother.

:kick:

[truedelphi]

18. You happen to say:

I am DEAF to being told "if they're guilty,
They should be held accountable" when
NOT ONE CRIMINAL
MOTHERFUCKER
from the BushTheLesser reign is under investigation,
let alone in jail.

And any red blooded Progressive has to agree.

[Dreamer Tatum]

21. What a bunch of shit nt

[rustydog]

19. Democrats cannot be the hypocrites the Republicans are

When Republicans held the ethics chair, NO ONE was investigated.

We must investigate allegations of any elected person. If there is something there, action must be taken or you have no credibility.

If Maxine has nothing to hide, she will come through this ok. If she broke rules, laws, whatever, she needs to held accountable.

[Stinky The Clown]

20. Rusty, please see the post immediately above yours

Thanks!

[truedelphi]

24. Oh PLEASE - think about this for a second -

Dianne Feinsein saw to it that the entire ethics CODE for the Senate was re-written.

So that her numerous conflicts of interest can be absolved.

Prior to the re-write, a conflict of interest was a conflict of interest.

But now, due to the re-write, as long as some larger purpose exists, above and beyond the callous push of some major piece of legislation for the intent of gaining access to profits from contracts, all is well.

And in that manner, Di Fi voted for The Iraqi War Resolution, and not seven weeks later, her husband Richard Blum had scored not one million, not two million, but Twenty Seven Million bucks worth of war related contracts.

The only failing Maxine has made was her decision to be in the House, and not in the Senate. In the Senate, her small potatoes affairs would not even be mentionable.

[BeHereNow]

22. From the archives... an oldie, but a goldie.

LOT's o'Porter Goss threads in the archives.
http://demopedia.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x31945#32044
BHN

[Hugabear]

23. Repukes hate black people...especially POWERFUL black people

Why do you think they're always tearing down civil rights leaders such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton every single chance they get? Now with the blatantly racist "Tea Party" movement growing across the country, they feel emboldened to go after leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus, another group whom they've long loathed.

[nashville_brook]

30. except, this is Democrats going after the CBC.

[laughingliberal]

27. Specifically, if you're a liberal, populist Democrat, you're on your own. nt

[suffragette]

28. Brought to you by yet another "bipartisan" panel,

co-chaired by the Porter Goss.

Of course, they'll say their decision had absolutely nothing to do with Maxine Waters' rightful criticism of him in the past nor with her progressive record as a staunch advocate for the people.

I still remember standing in LaFayette park with Andy, bettyellen and so many other DU'ers early in the morning of January 6,2005 and listening to Maxine Waters as she spoke of the CBC's effort to convince one Senator to stand with them to object to the certification of Ohio's Electoral College votes.

Maxine has stood with us. We need to stand with her.

[dogday]

29. They are trying to take out the only progressive voices we

have. :thumbsdown: