So, what's changed?

Via Naked Emperor News, this video of Senator Byrd (D-KKK) talking about attempts to use reconciliation and the Byrd Rule to move health care reform through the Senate.... circa 1993:

A picture is worth...

I saw this over at The Black Sphere and thought it was a great picture. In one shot it highlights the hypocrisy of the Democrats, and echoes their cousins in the old National Socialist model....

Pathetic

So The One says he "screwed up" with Daschle... and presumably Nancy Killefer too. But Geithner wasn't a screw up?

Meanwhile, Irishspy links to a piece by Jonah Goldberg on the hypocrisy of the Dems:

During the presidential campaign, Joe Biden insisted that paying your taxes is a patriotic duty. No, scratch that. He said that supporting a tax hike was the American thing to do. "It's time to be patriotic," he told America's putative tax slackers. When asked whether he might be questioning the patriotism of people who don't want higher taxes, Biden, as is his wont, took things to the next rhetorical level. Forget patriotism, insisted Joe, paying higher taxes is a religious obligation.

The man who gave an average of $369 a year to charity over the previous decade fulfills his religious obligations by cutting a tax check -- a check he's required to cut by law.

The Heritage Foundation at their Foundry blog point us to a piece in the The Weekly Standard on the woman who would be Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis:

The lead from TWS:

A seemingly innocuous letter sent to the Clerk of the House of Representatives last Thursday by President Obama's Secretary of Labor nominee Hilda Solis raises serious and troubling legal questions about her nomination and apparent violation of House ethics rules. Not only was she involved with a private organization that was lobbying her fellow legislators on a bill that she has cosponsored, but she apparently kept her involvement secret and failed to reveal a clear conflict of interest.

Back to The Foundry:

On January 29, Congresswoman Solis filed a letter with the House clerk detailing her involvement. Much like Tom Daschle, Timothy Geithner and Nancy Killefer, her “honest mistake” was uncovered only when she was seeking a Cabinet appointment. This time, Solis says she “incorrectly answered” a question that directly asked if she was a member of any organizations like ARW. Apparently, she forgot that she was handling all of the finances and leadership of an organization that was pressing her colleagues to vote in favor of her own pro-union legislation.

Hans von Spakovsky points out in his Weekly Standard column that the Ethics Manual of the House of Representatives is quite clear that Members should not “take an active role in lobbying Congress on behalf of a private organization since that would conflict with a Member’s general obligation to the public.” Even if these circumstances didn’t warrant an ethics investigation, they surely would require the President to investigate whether his nominee has a clear conflict of interest as Labor Secretary. As of today, she is still listed as a Board Member on ARW’s website.

President Obama has repeatedly praised his own attempts to restrict lobbyists from working in his administration on issues they previously lobbied on. It appears the White House has added an asterisk to that promise when necessary. The latest is even more troubling in that Solis was a member of Congress when the lobbying occured. We certainly hope Congresswoman Solis can provide a reasonable explanation for what may be very serious lapses in judgment.

Read the original piece.

The lull between the Super Bowl and baseball opening day just got more interesting...

Tax Time

All across America regular folks are rounding up their W-2s, 1099s, receipts and other scraps of paper for the annual rite of Tax Time. For it is widely known that Spring will not come until every American has filed.

Every American, except some High Profile Democrats that is. In the last few months we have learned that Al Franken had "tax problems" in 19 different states. nineteen. Charlie Rangel went for a two-fer - tax dodges on investments and misuse of rent control apartments (there may have also been campaign finance violations in the mix). At least two Obama appointees have "problems": Tim Geithner, despite getting a specific allowance from the IMF to pay taxes did not, and now we learn that Tom Daschle owed taxes on a car and driver that was "loaned" by a wealthy friend. And Daschle didn't report over $80,000 in income in 2007.

I hold Al Franken in pretty low regard, however of the four he has the best 'defense': 1) He's an idiot. 2) As an "entertainer" he didn't know the laws and he relied on an accountant, or at least so he can say... He has other money issues dating to his tenure with Air America, but those are probably behind him. Probably.

Rangel's tax issues can't be as easily explained away. He's chairman of the Ways and Means committee - the hell whence tax laws come. As a member of the House of Representatives he voted on these tax laws... Yet nothing will come of his crimes.

Geithner's transgressions - and their implications - are worse. It boils down to this: he was given an extra allowance to pay Social Security taxes. He signed documents indicating he knew it was his responsibility. But he didn't pay. For 4 years. He got caught first by an IRS audit - not the publicity of his nomination. But the audit was for 2003 and 2004. When caught, he paid up. But he also owed for 2001 and 2002. Did he take the opportunity to fix the issue then? No. It was only when he was nominated did he finally make good. Now he is the head tax collector.

Daschle has two tax problems. He was loaned the services of a car and driver. For years. Why did he need a car and driver? The real answer is he didn't. But it was nice to have. Much is currently being said about the tax issue, but I think this illustrates a bigger wrong. A wealthy fundraiser loans a car and driver to a former Senator for years... for nothing? Really? Well - let's assume the Franken defense - he's an idiot. But failing to report over $80,000 in income in 2007? It requires the willing suspension of disbelief...

Clearly if they were Republicans the press coverage and reaction would be much different. Any Republican transition team would have pulled Geithner's and Daschle's nominations. An inexperienced candidate like Franken would have been eaten alive for his tax transgressions if he were a Republican. And if a Republican had done the things Rangel admits, the ethics investigation would have been finished faster than the Blagojevich impeachment.

My advice to Franken, Rangel and Daschle? If anything else comes up, you can always throw yourself on the mercy of the head Tax Collector. 

Weasel

Jim Vicevich at Radio Vice points us to this comment by Harry Reid (D-Collaboration):

Fannie and Freddy are orphans

Q: Will any one point the finger where it belongs?

A: The National Republican Congressional Committee has:

Denver DOA...

LGF reports on weirdness in Denver: A man was found dead in a hotel room in Denver. He had a large amount of a white powder... his name was Saleman Abdirahman Dirie. Oh, and the Dems will hold their convention their soon.

I remember when a dead man in a hotel room with copious amounts of a white powder was just a lead in to an episode of Miami Vice:

The good old days

Update: The man is a Canadian of Somali ancestry (or an immigrant, I'm unclear which). And it was cyanide... a pound of the stuff. Awaiting toxicology to figure out why he died... as many as four days before his body was found.