A Smart Blog For Smart People...

Please excuse the Kubrick reference…but sometimes it feels like we are approaching a “Strangelovian” catastrophe.

Welcome to the age of incumbent superpowers, where the rules that apply to the everyday American citizen don’t apply to the people who work for us in the government. Perhaps it is a symptom of the “Old Boy” network in Washington, which continually seeks to protect its own ranks and insulate those in power from the full scope of the law. That is partially true. What is closer to the truth is that in Washington our politicians believe they are above the law. Just because they help draft laws does not mean they are above them (which might be obvious to us common folk).

The most recent news on the corruption in Washington is Representative Charlie Rangel, who was charged with 13 counts of corruption by the House Ethics committee. According to the New York Times, Rangel’s charges included”

“…his improper use of his office to solicit donations for a City University of New York center to be named in his honor; his failure to report rental income from his villa in the Dominican Republic and to pay taxes on it; his omission of some $600,000 in assets on his House financial disclosure forms; and his acceptance from a Manhattan developer of four rent-stabilized apartments, one of which he used as a campaign office.”

One might think that this is enough to put one of our politicians in jail (because it surely is enough to bag someone like me for at least tax evasion). However, the Ethics committee recommended only a “reprimand” for Rangel and not an ousting. The NY Times defends this by saying that other recent ethics hearings, Barney Frank and Newt Gingrich, were also resolved with reprimands. What it doesn’t tell you is that Frank’s crime was the use of Federal stationary and 83 of Gingrich’s 84 charges were dropped and the hearing was inconclusive (they left the determination of criminal activity up to the IRS). So, if those two cases ended in reprimands how can Rangel’s possibly be treated in the same way?

Representative Charlie Rangel should be ousted for disgracing his office and the Federal Government of the United States.

On March 26, the South Korean corvette, the Cheonan, was sunk. After much speculation, it is now believed that North Korea launched a torpedo at the corvette and sunk it, killing the 46 sailors aboard. The South has not officially blamed the North and the North has denied any involvement. For the official North Korean [...]

I meant to blog about this before, but better late than never. Iran has been under international scrutiny for its nuclear program, which is perceived by most reasonable people to be a step towards getting the bomb. In response to continued criticism, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the following: “These foolish people who are in [...]

You may have seen a recent advertisement on television. It initially appears to be a preview for the latest installment of Iron Man. One-liners about power, speed and sex appeal are cut with shots of Iron Man in action, shooting hot jets of energy out of his palms, or with his assistant/lover Gwyneth Paltrow making [...]

The New York Time yesterday unveiled a new super-weapon, called Prompt Global Strike, in development by the United States military. Though not currently operational this new weapon will surely redefine American military strategy for many years to come. A multi-stage launch process would allow for the launch of a missile, the deployment of a ‘glider’ [...]

Immigration reform, understandably, has taken a back seat to the economy in the past year. Both parties have been content to ignore this elephant in the room because they are either spending all their political capital on pet projects (Healthcare Reform and their reelection campaigns) or avoiding the issue altogether. It is clear that, even [...]