Posted on 08/13/2007 10:19:35 AM PDT by .cnI redruM
A piece of literary criticism entitled “Honor In A Noir Universe” summed up the role of Congressman Jeff Flake in our current U.S. Congress. Its author, C.S. Thompson, writes crime novels for a living and articles in noir webzines for personal enjoyment. He may write extensively about evil people, but his piece describes perfectly the dilemma of Congressman Flake, one of Washington’s last good men.
C.S. Thompson’s article header quotes another critic’s description of the Noir Hero.
"That is the noir character. Alone, a loner in a world he knows he can’t fix. Alone in a world that has turned bad, full of betrayal, deceit, dishonesty, crime, and vice. Maybe it always was bad. Yet, he keeps his own personal code of honor. It is the only useless thing left for him to hold onto." —From an anonymous online article on film noir
That was Jeff Flake, the last man standing on 4 August, as congress prepared to pass a slew of wasteful earmarks and then bolt town for a month of wasteful, taxpayer-funded junkets. Flake took to the floor to fight the wasteful inclusion of over 1,000 earmarks in the latest defense appropriations act. He probably didn’t even know Robert Novak had coverage of the floor session. Congressman Flake certainly doesn’t take these lost causes off of Saint Jude’s hands to improve his standing amongst his own party’s caucus.
In real life, Horatio never quite holds the bridge, and that sling-shot given to David, doesn’t properly discharge hand grenades. Flake could do what was right, but that didn’t mean the man stood a prayer. Flake was given one hour to debate the multitude of earmarks in a floor session chaired by the always thrifty and parsimonious Congressman Murtha.
Flake’s fellow Republicans, Jerry Lewis of California, and Bill Young of Florida, pitched in to help. They helped Jack Murtha ridicule Congressman Flake for wanting congressional spending to become more transparent. For members of a party that just lost congressional control at least partially because of dodgy ethical behavior, this truly must have rankled.
Young and Lewis give Murtha precisely what he wants, a paid minority. Republican leading powers that will trade Democrats an easy path to their agenda in return for two or three exits from an interstate and a wink and a nod. These men don’t represent America; they represent an elite cartel that leeches off America. Congressman Flake correctly identifies these men as the enemy; not as his fellow partisans.
Where does this leave Jeff Flake? He is an outsider, a man without a home. Someone unwanted, because he fights for something better than what we have now. Shosaburo Abe, a master swordsman of Meji-era Japan, described well what it was to be a dying breed like Congressman Flake.
"In the changing of the times, they were like autumn lightning, a thing out of season, an empty promise of rain that would fall unheeded on fields already bare."
Maybe earmark reform has no chance. Perhaps the Murtha-Pelosi-Lewis Axis has bipartisan agreement that taxpayers are permissible sources of income for totally useless pork-barrel spending. Even Libertarian Hero™ Congressman Ron Paul filed for $400 million worth of the pork pills. Oh well, who is John Galt?
So there stands Jeff Flake. Joined only by Freshman Republican Congressman Campbell from California and Democrat Jim Cooper from Tennessee. They won’t remind anyone of The Three Musketeers, but they are the best we’ve got, when it comes to government integrity. They perhaps stand up to the hideously elegant national corruption of our elite because someone has to.
As Novelist Raymond Chandler said of his character Phillip Marlowe,
"Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. … He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor, by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it."
Our Congress is corrupt, our media lies, and our scientists are dishonest hacks in service of their own petty agendas. Yet as long as the temperature in the universe remains above absolute zero, there will always be good men. It doesn’t get colder, more debased or more corrupt than our current US Congress. But in the face of this, Jeff Flake perseveres and so should we.
Guy Noir, US Congressman from Lake Wobegon, MN was unavailable for comment......
Apparently, representative Flake has several faces, some not very pleasant for the hard workingmen and women of United States. Flake has been at the forefront of those trying to subsidize the terrorist regimen of Fidel Castro with our taxpayers’ monies.
CONGRESSMAN FLAKE TO THE RESCUE OF CASTRO’S TYRANNICAL REGIMEN
12/17/2006
Flake: Our Very Own Neville Chamberlain Visits a State-Sponsor of Terror Country
“HMJ, Western Hemisphere Policy Watch” 12/15/2006
“It is because of people like Rep. Jeff Flake that we Republicans lost the majority in 2006; all about “me” and not about what is right, just. It is a pox that the conservative movement must work to undo.”
(From the Banks of the Potomac) We have yet to ascertain what fascinates Arizona Rep. Jeff Flake about Cuba and Fidel Castro. For years he has taken taxpayer-paid junkets to a state sponsor of terror - an ironic thing for a self-proclaimed fiscal conservative. This latest trip to Cuba clearly demonstrates Flake’s callous view of Cuban-Americans or U.S. policy in a post-09/11/01 world.
We single out Flake, and this applies equally to other Republicans, because they should know better. With the Democrats? Well, there are some good ones but not a majority in the U.S. Congress would ever support a hard line position against the Cuban Communist Party (CCP) and the Cuban regime generally.
A few months ago Flake (pictured at the left) and Massachusetts Democrat Rep. Bill Delahunt requested a GAO Audit of U.S./Cuba programs. So far, not too bad. We agree that these programs have to change, but that is just about the only thing we agree on. If you want to read about the GAO audit, we posted several pieces on it (here is one). It is what Flake is now doing with the results of the report that irks WHPW Editors.
Imagine for a moment if during World War II a U.S. Congressman had ordered a study of U.S. efforts to undermine the Nazi regime. Rather than fix problems in the program quietly, so the enemy did not figure it out, this Congressman puts a target on it by releasing a report about how effective that program happened to be. Then, to add some flavor, takes a copy of the report with him to Germany to share with the Nazi high command. Well, that is exactly what Flake and company have done with the Cuba programs.
What do these Congressmen seek to gain by sitting down with the leaders of the Cuban Communist Party (CCP)? The CCP has tortured and murdered American citizens, spies on the U.S. including implanting agents deep in our military (see this link as an example), and work to undermine U.S. interests throughout the Western Hemisphere in a variety of ways. And, this is not even discussing how the CCP treats its people and locks up dissenters in political jails. We doubt this crew will be thinking of any of this as it stays in the Hotel Nacional, sips mojitos with CCP officials, or begs to meet with Raul Castro.
For the first time in decades we have the CCP and the Cuban Armed Forces how we want them: really scared and vulnerable. We have them where we want them. We can and will force them to change before the Cuban people take matters into their own hands and change it for them (with sticks and stones if they have to). And, what do these Congressmen do? Step into this political mosh-pit for a voyeuristic junket, with spouses, to the Cuban gulag! Shame on them.
Early reports from our sources inside-the-beltway indicate that the focus of this trip is designed to reassure the CCP, the FAR, and others in the regime that there are people in the USG that they can work with, to ignore the Cuban-Americans in Miami or the hardliners in Washington. The Democratic Congress and the few Republicans that support them will see to it that policy changes, that the CCP gets to stay in power, and that there will be no negative repercussions for decades of hard line rule. Sad, so sad.
On a bright note, Neville Chamberlain went down in history books as an appeaser and a coward. The cooler and patriotic forces in England prevailed and she was victorious. Freedom seekers always beat out cowards. We know that should be the case here as well. It is because of people like Rep. Jeff Flake that we Republicans lost the majority in 2006; all about “me” and not about what is right, just. It is a pox that the conservative movement must work to undo.
We hope that the Bush Administration’s foreign policy team on this matter will work smart to counteract this propaganda trip. We have the political upper hand. Let’s use it and not squander the political goodwill that we have created with millions of Cubans in Cuba that do not support that system.
Posted by From the Banks of the Potomac ...
50 years of trying to isolate Cuba didn’t do much to undermine Castro. Just as isolation did little to undermine Mao in China.
Flake’s objective is to expose the Cubans to what they’re missing and, thereby, stimulate dissatisfaction from within Cuba. If this strategy worked to lessen China’s harsh communism, maybe it can work in Cuba.
Flake is not a friend of the regime in Cuba. He is looking for a more effective way to over turn it.
During more than three decades, Castro’s regime was sustained by the Soviet Union to the tune of 5 billion dollars annually. There is no doubt that Castro aided in the bankruptcy of the communist Soviet empire. To Castro’s rescue, then came Spain, Canada, and Mexico. Japan and Argentina, along with 140 other nations that traded with Castro on a credit basis, enabling his billionaire status since he never repays the debts. In spite of his debt delinquency, for the last 48 years, hundreds of thousands of tourists and businessmen from around the world have visited and invested in Cuba. Nevertheless, the Cuban people have not experienced the slightest change toward personal or economic freedom, instead misery and oppression has remained unabated. Now the useful idiots of Capitol Hill, such as Jeff Flake and William Delahunt, want the American taxpayers to take on the role of the Soviet Union under the pretense that American entrepreneurs and tourism will transmit a stronger strain of the democracy virus and freedom for which the Cubans lack immunity.
AMERICAN TAXPAYERS BEWARE!
The Cubans do not need congressman Flake to realize that they lack freedom and that food and cloth have been ratioaned by castro’s regime during 45 years.
REP. FLAKE, THERE ARE POWERFUL REASONS FOR NOT TRADING WITH CASTRO
By Jesús J. Chao*
Columnist
La Nueva Cuba
May 11, 2002
When Castro sees American congressman, Jeff Flake, he keeps “laughing day and night” at this valuable and useful idiot who works diligently for him, perhaps without pay, instead of representing the best interest of the American taxpayers and the security of his own country.
Flake maintains that Castro “is not a man who has missed too many meals because of the embargo.” Certainly no, Castro is among the richest heads of state in the world with over 1.5 billion personal fortune.
Cuba can freely trade with the rest of the world, but he starves his people as Stalin did with the Ukrainian peasants. The big problem is that whoever trades with Castro is never paid back. Flake, wants you, American taxpayers, to feed and maintain Castro’s repressive apparatus.
THERE ARE POWERFUL REASONS FOR NOT TRADING WITH CASTRO.
1st.— Cuba is, and has been a terrorist state for 43 years (NOW 48), and counts with advanced chemical, biological and cyberwarfare capabilities aimed against our country. The cooperation between the Cuban regime, Iraq and Iran in the chemical and biological research is well documented.
Just a few days ago the Bush Administration made public their deep concern about Castro’s menace to our security.
A few months before the September 11 attack Castro affirmed at the University of Tehran that their cooperation would put the U.S. down to its knees. That was an ominous threat that materialized on the 9/11 attacks to our country.
Castro plays a central role in the international terrorist network as recognized by the U.S. State Department, with strong nexus with the Islamic terrorism. Right after the attack without even counting with Fidel Castro, Prime Minister Putin dismantled their most important Russian spy and electronic base, which was located in the outskirts of Havana.
Castro went berserk when he found out about it by the media. Did Castro’s partners in the Islamic terrorism gather the necessary intelligence for the success of the attack through Castro’s access to the Russian spy base?
Castro once tried to nuke our cities and he has the means and the will to fulfill his dream of destroying our country.
If we are involved in a worldwide war against terrorism, Cuba at 90 miles from our coast should be a prime target in that war; so, those involved in appeasement policies towards Castro and in the promotion of the lifting of the commercial embargo against Cuba are in fact aiding and abetting our worst enemy.
2nd.— Cuba has defaulted in all its international financial deals and Castro encourages other Third World nations to follow his example. Why are we going to sell to someone without the expectation to ever be repaid. The American taxpayers should be aware that they are the targets of the scam by which the multinationals sell to Castro whatever he needs and we, the taxpayers, end footing the bill.
Castro for 42 years has been with commercial ties with over 150 nations. Now when he has exhausted the patience of nations foolish enough to have given him credit. Castro’s puppets in the media, and the Congress in cahoots with some greedy commercial circles are wanting for the American taxpayers to shoulder the heavy burden of subsidizing his regime to the tune of 9 billion dollars annually.
Is not enough the billions of dollars in pork just approved by the Congress for the benefit of ADM and the powerful agriculture lobby? How much blood does Rep. Flake and Castro’s lobbyists want to extract from the overburdened American taxpayers?
3rd.— The American companies can not legally conduct business with Cuba without violating several American laws.
A.- Trading with the Enemy Act.
B.- U.S. Commercial Embargo Against Cuba.
C.- Helms-Burton Law.
D.- Involvement in bribes in commercial dealings with another nation.
Foreign companies must hire the workers through Castro who keeps 96% of their salary for himself and the repressive apparatus.
E.- Involvement in slave labor of foreign workers in connivance with the local authorities. This is another factor necessary to reconcile with. Every deal; every investment in Cuba is a “joint venture” in partnership with the Cuban tyrant, and that includes being part of slave labor practices, for which those entrepreneurs and multinationals, sooner or later, will pay dearly just as it happened with the companies involved in slave labor during the Nazi era. The scam consists that for each worker they employ, the foreign companies must pay Castro $300 to $500 monthly in dollars and the Cuban dictator pays them 500 to 600 worthless Cuban pesos, which is the equivalent of $12 to $20 dollars or 96% bribe, an outrageous bribe without parallel in the world.
That outrageous business practice is in violation of international and American labor laws and will expose those companies to huge law suits for the slave labor exploitation of the Cuban worker in cahoots with the corrupt communist regime.
We have to wonder why there are so many American politicians promoting the violations of our trading laws, and in the process, they are endangering the security of the U.S. Why is the Treasure Department authorizing all those business trips and all kind of conventions in Cuban soil by which American citizens circumvent and break the U.S. laws? Why is Rep. Flake betraying President Bush’s war against terrorism and stabbing the American taxpayers in the back?
As Senator Jesse Helms rightly stated: “Unfortunately, some in Washington are all too willing to give Castro what he wants. At the least they should stop pretending that they are doing this to promote Cuban democracy and American values.
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