Rangel goes free--Wesley Snipes goes to prison
Jason
Charles Rangel is a member of the House of Repretatives and appears to me
to be above the law because he is a Congressman. Wesley Snipes is a famous
actor. He committed the SAME crime that Charles Rangel committed. Wesley
Snipes is NOT above the law so has to go to prison for three years. On the
other hand, since Charles Rangel is a Congressman--he will NOT have to go
to prison. It appears to me to be a double standard. Back in the days when
many countries had Kings--those kings were above the law. Things have not
changed very much. Charles Rangel is just like those kings--he is above
the law and does NOT have to go to prison for committing the same crime
that Wesley Snipes committed. Beam me up Scotty, there is no intelligent
life on this planet. Read this story:
http://libertyslifeline.com/2010/11/22/oh-to-be-charlie-rangel/
November 22, 2010Politics, Taxes
The injustice of it all. Poor Charlie Rangel ran out of money for his
attorneys and stomped off saying he wasnąt going to play anymore, because
his fellow House members were being unfair to him. As many a parent has
said to their recalcitrant child, łYou should have thought about that
before you [fill in the offense here].˛ It is most likely that Mr. Rangel
will be censured, just like his predecessor in that same Congressional
District, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., was censured.
So what does censure actually mean? According to the CRS Report for
Congress titled, łExpulsion, Censure, Reprimand, and Fine: Legislative
Discipline in the House of Representatives˛ it says:
In the House of Representatives, a łcensure˛ is a formal vote by the
majority of Member present and voting on a resolution disapproving a
Memberąs conduct, with generally the additional requirement that the
Member stand at the łwell˛ of the House chamber to receive a verbal rebuke
and reading of the censure resolution by the Speaker of the House.
There was probably a time, where personal honor and dignity were values
held in high esteem, where this meant something. In todayąs world of
trash talking, smash mouth politics, this is almost embarrassingly inane.
Picture Charlie Rangel with his toothy grin standing in front of fellow
House Members while Nancy Pelosi delivers the slap on the wrist. Do you
anticipate a scathing, dressing down of Mr. Rangel by Nancy? Neither do
I.
On another front, actor Wesley Snipes has just been sentenced to three
years for tax evasion. Yes the amounts Mr. Snipes was convicted of
withholding from the government were more substantial than anything Mr.
Rangel purloined. But Mr. Snipes used a firm to prepare his taxes that
had a history of filing false return and taking a percentage of the
refund. I donąt seek to defend Mr. Snipes. But I find it ironic that Mr.
Snipes faced the challenges of someone complying with the tax code, ran
afoul of that and now faces jail time. Mr. Rangel, on the other hand,
headed up the committee that wrote the tax laws and when he didnąt follow
them, he gets to listen to Nancy Pelosi call him a bad boy. Maybe those
are equivalent punishments, but in the latter case it will be over more
quickly.
So Mr. Rangel can continue to draw his $174,000 salary courtesy of you and
me; he can remain in at least three of his four rent controlled
apartments, while his poorer constituents battle with the rent being too
damn high; and at 80 years of age, he could also retire to some pretty
good sunset years.
As far as the claim that he didnąt know rent was being collected on his
condo in the Dominican Republic and therefore not paying taxes on it was
an honest mistake, that goes out the window with the evidence that Rangel
instructed the management of the condo complex to deposit the rent
directly in his personal account.
But Mr. Rangel is a Democrat. So the Democrats, will circle the wagons.
John Lewis will come out and make a speech saying that although he knows
nothing about the facts, he is sure this is racially motivated.
Republicans are not a choir of angels, but when one of theirs cross the
line, they are typically dealt with honestly and swiftly. Rangel spent
many months in the chairmanship seat while these claims swirled around and
it wasnąt until a formal hearing and trial imminent did he finally give up
the gavel.
So perhaps Mr. Rangel can visit Mr. Snipes in prison and explain the tax
code to him in detail so that he doesnąt embarrass himself again, when he
is released.