- Congress, what has happened to you. Back in the day, you would have been proud of a man like veteran Rep. Charles Rangel instead of having the House ethics committee accuse him of 13 violations of House rules involving alleged financial wrongdoing and harming the credibility of Congress, as happened on Thursday. "Credibility is what's at stake here; the very credibility of the House itself before the American people," said Rep. Mike McCaul, the ranking Republican on a subcommittee. Wrong, Mike, just wrong. Congress has NEVER been about credibility, integrity, honesty or any other character trait falling into that general category. So before you and your fellow committee members hold a trial-like hearing on the charges against Rangel, I want you to stop and think about what it is you’re doing. You have a 20-term Democrat from New York running for re-election this year, a man who seems to espouse every value that Congress has stood for these many years, and you are about to ruin his career. No wonder Rangel decided not to show up for the hearing in which the charges were formally announced. For starters, he wasn’t required to attend, but mostly, I have to think his heart was broken by the knowledge that the Congress he once knew and loved has suddenly developed a conscience. He even attempted to provide his colleagues with a way out earlier this week when he filed a motion to dismiss the allegations against him that was denied. There was even hope right up until Thursday’s announcement that Rangel’s lawyers and committee lawyers would be able to agree on a possible deal to avoid the public hearing on his alleged violations. That hope was given a breath of life when Thursday's hearing was delayed for 55 minutes with no explanation. Rumors of an imminent agreement quickly spread and hope was alive, but it died when the panel gathered and held the hearing. Now, all we’re left with are ugly allegations that Rangel failed to report more than $600,000 on financial disclosure reports and improperly solicited funds for the construction of a center bearing his name at the City College of New York, improperly used a rent-subsidized apartment as a campaign office for over a decade and failed to pay taxes on a home in the Dominican Republic. Rangel "argues that errors on his personal taxes do not implicate discharge of his official responsibilities," according to committee investigators who handled Rangel's request to have the charges dismissed. He "appears to be operating under the erroneous belief that the only conduct subject to discipline is conduct directly related to the discharge of his official responsibilities." Well said, Rep. Rangel, well said. If you want to lie, cheat, steal and skirt the rules of this great nation and it doesn’t relate directly to what you do on the floor in the House, then it doesn’t count. So if you violated the House's solicitation and gift ban while repeatedly meeting with business leaders to raise funds for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Policy at the City College and attempting to woo potential donors, I say we just forget about it and move on. Never mind these ugly accusations that the "accumulation of (Rangel's) actions reflected poorly on the institution of the House and, thereby, brought discredit to the House." Taking illegal gifts from donors is your right as a member of Congress and those committee members who believe these actions would violate "the most fundamental code of conduct" for House members can suck it. Try to remember who you are and what has made your reputation what it is over the years, House of Representatives, and maybe you can stop being the scrawny, clumsy and nerdy brother of the Senate in this country………
- Try to shake the mental image of Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino getting after it with some crazy cougar in a restaurant booth next time you see him on the sidelines, coaching the Cardinals in a key Big East game. Pitino spent much of the past two days on the stand testifying in the case of a woman who demanded millions from him after a sexual tryst, relating freaky and graphic details of his encounter with Karen Cunagin Sypher, who is charged with extortion for allegedly attempting to blackmail the coach for a house, millions of dollars and other benefits after their supposed restaurant love session. On the stand Wednesday, Pitino acknowledged the two had sex in a restaurant booth. Sypher claims that it was rape, but witnesses at the restaurant (who didn’t see the sex itself, but what led up to it) claim that Sypher was flirty and aggressive toward Pitino. The two hooked up after the establishment closed, something Pitino finally admitted to but attempted to push blame for onto Sypher as if he had no choice but to have sex with her after she allegedly whispered dirty things in his ear and unzipped his pants as he got up to leave the booth. During questioning about the rape allegation, Pitino interrupted defense lawyer James Earhart saying he's "here to give the truth." Earhart snidely replied, "I bet you are." As for the threatening phone calls he supposedly received from Sypher demanding the aforementioned cash and bennies, Pitino testified that he didn't immediately report threatening phone calls because he didn't want his family to find out. I bet you didn’t, Ricky. I wouldn’t want my wife and kids (if I had them) to find out that I hooked up with some crazy coug in a restaurant after hours. Pitino said Thursday that he kept quiet to "contain" potentially damaging information, which always works very well. Embarrassing, life-wrecking secrets about a person never, ever come out, right? This just might be one of those court cases in which, regardless of the verdict, no one wins………
- Add access to clean drinking water to the list right behind life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Well, those three rights of all men are part of the American Bill of Rights, but the United Nations has declared that the right to clean water is inherent in all people, regardless of their nationality. The organization announced earlier this week that access to clean water and sanitation is a fundamental human right, spurred on by the reality that approximately 1.5 million children under the age of five die each year from water and sanitation-related diseases. A unanimous vote (122 nations in favor, none against and 41 abstentions) passed the resolution, although the abstaining countries did voice concern that the resolution could undermine a process in the U.N.'s Human Rights Council in Geneva to build a consensus on water rights. The text of the resolution stated that some 884 million people have no access to safe drinking water and more than 2.6 billion (billion with a “B” lack access to basic sanitation. It goes on to declare “the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of the right to life.” Furthermore, the resolution calls upon the international community to "scale up efforts to provide safe, clean, accessible and affordable water and sanitation for all.” You may ask yourself what right-thinking nation would abstain from voting for such a bill. Well, these backward-minded nations are…..umm, world powers like Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. Well done, U.S. In addition to being waaaaay behind on our U.N. dues, this is going to make us extremely popular at the annual United Nations end-of-the-year picnic. American delegate John Sammis said the resolution "falls far short of enjoying the unanimous support of member states and may even undermine the work underway in Geneva,” as if that justifies not voting in support of it. Just vote yes and smile, Sammis, because we can easily replace you with someone who will………
- Don’t you just love scientific research that confirms that blatantly obvious truths of this world? I know that every time I read a study that affirms something I have known for a long time based on having a working brain and an IQ above 45, a smile comes to my face. So you can imagine how pumped up I was to learn that new research indicates that having satisfying social relationships may be about as important as not smoking when it comes to your lifespan. A new study unearthed that gem of medical wisdom, finding that people with adequate social relationships have a 50 percent greater likelihood of survival than people who have poor or insufficient relationships. Measured against the survival benefits of quitting smoking, the two are fairly equal. The Stormin’ Mormons at Brigham Young University teamed up with researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to review at 148 different studies that examined the connection between survival and relationships. They found that good social relationships is a stronger factor than obesity and physical activity in terms of lifespan. Furthermore, this reality holds true regardless of age, sex, initial health status and cause of death. Building upon the previous research, this dynamic team of scientific minds found that those with stronger relationships have an increased likelihood of survival. They found evidence for this theses even at the most basic level - in babies. Back in the mid-20th century, infants in orphanages were observed to have high mortality rates when they also had a lack of human contact. When these orphanages changed their operations to promote social interaction, the death rates decreased substantially. Why? One theory is that having close social relationships helps diffuse the negative effects of stressors on health, such as illness and transitions and changes in life. Or perhaps good relationships promote healthy behaviors, which was also postulated by the researchers. "In addition, being part of a social network gives individuals meaningful roles that provide esteem and purpose to life," the authors wrote. If you want to read more on this non-groundbreaking piece of research, the study appears in the journal PLoS Medicine, which I am certain you already subscribe to………
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