Free Republic

The House Ethics Committee is trying to figure out how to clear seven crooked Black Democrats. Blacks you must remember are untouchables in Democrat-think. These Black crooks aren’t going down easy. They have a lifetime of experience being crooked Black politicians; they well understand their skin color is their “Get out of jail free” card. They know how to generate White liberal Democrat guilt. Phrases that stoke the fires of guilt One anonymous Black Congressional Caucus member said: “Is there concern whether someone is trying to set up [Congressional Black Caucus] members? Yeah, there is. It looks as if there...

Paul Singer of Roll Call is reporting: The House ethics committee is likely to exonerate five members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) who were accused of taking an improper trip to the Caribbean, according to sources familiar with the case. If this is true, we are not surprised. When we provided photographs and audio recordings from the trip at the request of the Committee in May, we made clear that our willingness to do so was not an endorsement of the Ethics Committee process, which has again proven to be a joke.Rep. G. K. Butterfield (D-NC), a member of...

WASHINGTON – They may not like it, but many House liberals look ready to accept a compromise health care bill, putting Democratic leaders well on the way to delivering on President Barack Obama's call for overhaul. After claiming for months they couldn't vote for a bill without the strongest possible government-run insurance option, liberals are putting aside their disappointment over the weaker version in the legislation for a historic chance to remake America's medical system. "The current language is far weaker than what I would have preferred, and I think that is also true of the Progressive Caucus," Rep. Emanuel...

First there was a resolution to take a privilege away from a member of Congress due to his corrupt behavior: House Members Wednesday will have to cast a recorded vote on whether it is acceptable for Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-NY) to evade federal taxes for over a decade, and yet pay none of the penalties and interest charges that the IRS piles on the average American taxpayer for far less serious offenses. House Republican Conference Secretary John Carter (R-TX) this morning is introducing a Privileged Resolution calling for Rangel to be removed as Chairman of the committee...

Obama Addresses Hitler Reference on Health Debate at Black Caucus Conference Obama's remarks about Nazi leader Adolf Hitler referred to signs some people have waved outside of often testy town hall meetings around the country this summer where lawmakers discussed changing health care. Saturday, September 26, 2009 President Obama delivers his remarks at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Annual Phoenix Awards dinner. WASHINGTON -- President Obama on Saturday resumed his push to overhaul the health care system, telling a Congressional Black Caucus conference that there comes a time when "the cup of endurance runs over." "We have been waiting for...

The center teleprompter must be broken, he's whipping his head from left to right at every sentence.

Have you seen this article For the Black Caucus, New Power and an Urgency in Using It? Seems to me like that's exactly what the WaPo came dangerously close to admitting to.

Congressional Black Caucus members are standing squarely behind one of their own: embattled Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.). In separate interviews with The Hill, several members of the CBC, including Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-Mich.), Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) and Mel Watt (D-N.C.) all expressed unmitigated support for Rangel holding onto the Ways and Means post. Overall, The Hill interviewed about a dozen members of the caucus, who all defended Rangel and said he is innocent until proven guilty. “He’s done a great job as chairman of the...

The popular 2002 movie Men With Brooms is coming to the CBC as a sitcom pilot. The pubcaster has given the production order to E1 Television and Serendipity Point Films for a pilot episode to loosely follow Paul Gross' curling comedy and directorial debut. The film racked up $4.2 million on theatrical release, portraying a reunited curling team overcoming personal struggles to capture a national trophy for their late coach. The offbeat comedy starred Gross, Leslie Nielsen, Kari Matchett, Molly Parker and Polly Shannon. "Men with Brooms is a known entity, and it's nice to build on that. It did...

Is there a civil war brewing in the Democratic Party? Two of President Obama's most supportive Caucuses sent the POTUS threatening letters today. Upset with the word that the President was backing away from the Obamacare Public option, both The Congressional Black Caucus and the Progressive Caucus both sent the President letters saying the "backing away" better be nothing but a false rumor. Oh and they don't a place holding, in name only public option, the word they use is robust. There are also reports of a compromise plan in the Senate where the public option would be triggered if...

The nation's senior Black congressman fears Barack Obama is in danger of becoming a one-term president. Obama's health care proposal is “crap,” says Detroit's John Conyers, and Obama loses whether it passes or fails. Conyers: “There is no one more disappointed than I am in Barack Obama.” A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford “Progressive congresspersons may wind up voting against Obama on health care.” Congressman John Conyers says Barack Obama’s stance on health care has been wrong, and it’s going to cost the president “big time.” It might even cost Obama his second term in the White House....

House healthcare negotiations dissolved in acrimony on Friday, with Blue Dog Democrats saying they were “lied” to by their Democratic leaders. The seven Blue Dogs on the Energy and Commerce Committee stormed out of a Friday meeting with their committee chairman, Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), saying Waxman had been negotiating in bad faith over a number of provisions Blue Dogs demanded be changed in the stalled healthcare bill. “I’ve been lied to,” Blue Dog Coalition Co-Chairman Charlie Melancon (D-La.) said on Friday. “We have not had legitimate negotiations. “Mr. Waxman has decided to sever discussions with the Blue Dogs who are...

The Congressional Black Caucus has joined other liberal Democrats and left wing groups by launching their own attacks against fellow Democrats who have expressed concern over the cost of Obama's national health care proposal. From the Politico The Congressional Black Caucus is blasting away at Blue Dog Democrats and other fiscal conservatives in their own party for making "spurious" claims about the high cost of the House health reform plan, POLITICO has learned. The issue isn't about race, aides tell me. It's about the CBC, which represents some of the most progressive members in the House, wanting to have a...

Michael Jackson's memorial service the latest stop for Houston Democrat known as 'The Funeral Lady' for the stars Shocked to see Texas U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee join the star-studded memorial tribute to Michael Jackson earlier this week? Probably not if you’re from Houston. The congresswoman, who represents the 18th District, has a reputation in her hometown for, let’s say, making herself available to speak at events, occasions, funerals — particularly when cameras are nearby. Just a few days earlier, in her signature braid, Jackson Lee stood alongside Beyoncé at her pre-concert press-conference to address hunger —both women grinning for...

Among Democrats on Capitol Hill, black aides are significantly more likely to work for committees whose chairmen are African-American, according to a survey conducted by the Congressional Black Caucus. Blacks make up nearly half the staffs at two committees with black chairmen — the Oversight and Government Reform and Homeland Security — while there are only two blacks among the 55 staff members working for the House Agriculture and Rules committees, both of which are headed by white representatives. “The survey confirms what members have noticed anecdotally—the lack of African-American staffers on Capitol Hill, particularly in senior positions,” said Representative...

The chairman of a House ethics probe into a Caribbean conference attended by members of the Congressional Black Caucus is himself a CBC member who attended the same event in 2005. Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), the former judge chosen to chair the ethics probe, has vowed to lead a fair investigation into trips taken by CBC members to St. Maarten in 2008 and Antigua and Barbuda in 2007. But the ethics watchdogs that have called for an investigation into whether corporations paid for the trips, which would violate House ethics rules, question whether a CBC member should be leading the...

Reporting from Los Angeles and Washington -- The Maxine Waters Employment Preparation Center, a job-training facility in one of Los Angeles' poorest neighborhoods, is threatened with receiving no federal money at a time of high unemployment -- simply because of its name. The center has become a victim of a move on Capitol Hill to block funding for projects that bear the monikers of sitting lawmakers. "It doesn't seem fair that rich private entities can get funded and this poor school cannot," said Rep. Waters (D-Los Angeles), who had a heated confrontation with Appropriations Committee Chairman David R. Obey (D-Wis.)...

A disclaimer at the end of this month's Senate resolution offering an apology for slavery deals with the touchy issue of reparations, and is causing some dissension among House Democrats that may prevent the two chambers from coming together on the measure. The disclaimer says: "Nothing in this resolution (A) authorizes or supports any claim against the United States or (B) serves as a settlement of any claim against the United States." That means the resolution cannot be used by descendants of slaves to sue the government for reparations or payments to compensate for slavery. The language has irritated some...

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Dave Obey (D-Wis.) and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) engaged in a late-afternoon shouting match on the House floor after Obey reportedly rebuffed Waters on an earmark request, aides and witnesses said. Witnesses, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it appeared that Waters pushed or shoved Obey. ... The two veteran Democrats — each pugnacious and 71 years old — began shouting, with the L.A.-area congresswoman following Obey around the chamber, reportedly suggesting he channel the vocational money through a local school district. At some point, they collided, witnesses say, with one Obey ally claiming the lean...

On Monday, President Barack Obama signed into law the nation’s strongest ever anti-smoking law. The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act will ban flavored forms of tobacco — with the exception of menthol-flavored cigarettes. Now, some observers are asking whether the Congressional Black Caucus’s close ties to the cigarette industry may have played a role in the menthol exemption. Menthol-flavored cigarettes are by far the most popular form of flavored tobacco in the United States. Menthol cigarettes account for some 30 percent of the U.S. cigarette market and are preferred by almost 75 percent of black smokers.

The House ethics committee has launched a formal investigation into two trips Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) took to the Caribbean in 2007 and 2008. The committee voted Wednesday to establish an investigative subcommittee to look into the matter and issued a release late that night. “The subcommittee will have jurisdiction to conduct a full and complete inquiry into allegations that have arisen regarding the sponsorship of the travel in 2007 and 2008,” the release stated. “At the conclusion of its inquiry, the subcommittee is to report its findings, conclusions and recommendations...

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) say there is a lack of diversity on the Sunday political talk shows. The CBC, which is more powerful than ever before, with four committee chairmen and a former member in the White House, contends that more minorities should be invited to appear on the influential shows. "I'm not pleased at all with the diversity issue as it relates to talk shows," CBC Chairwoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) said in an interview with The Hill. "We have, what, 17 subcommittee chairs and four full committee chairmen? These members are brilliant; they know their stuff....

I'm so glad these two are on the job.

Monday May 25, 2009 CBC "Engaged in Blatant Media Censorship" Says CLC about Lack of National Coverage for March for Life CLC lodges formal complaint to the CRTC By Alex BushMay 25, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Campaign Life Coalition (CLC), the Canadian pro-life organization that every year organizes the National March for Life, is accusing the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) of engaging in "blatant media censorship." According to the pro-life group, "for a broadcaster who is funded by the taxpaying Canadian public" CBC's failure to give national coverage to this year's March for Life "certainly constitutes unethical journalism and professional...

High-ranking House Democrats are urging the Treasury Department to prop up minority-owned broadcasters suffering from a lack of capital and lost advertising revenue amid the economic slump. House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) is leading an effort to convince Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to take “decisive action” by extending credit to this sector of the broadcasting industry. Clyburn and other senior members, including House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), argue that minority-owned broadcasters are sound businesses, but that the recession could undermine the government’s efforts to diversify the airwaves....

In 2008, the United States would enter a recession that was 32 years in the making. Actions taken by congress starting in 1977 would begin the process that led to the catastrophic collapse of the housing market, which directly brought about the banking crisis that triggered the recession. The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) passed in 1977 would create the framework for a machine of catastrophe. Building upon that framework, the Housing Enterprises Regulatory Reform Act of 1992 would force banks by law, to write sub-prime loans in federally mandated numbers that would eventually cause banks to collapse in America and...

In the recent past, this column has looked in some detail at ACORN Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. This corrupt organization which is a favorite of Democrats has spread its web of deceit and graft far into the depths of congress. ACORN’s most solid backers lay within the Congressional Black Caucus. This group of people in congress is exclusively black and democrat and they have a specific agenda. Keeping the black community poor and dependent on government while they publically state they are out to change people’s lives for the better. Better if you define that as creating...

"This is the beginning of a new day! In my household [Fidel] is known as the ultimate survivor." Fidel himself, in a letter in the state-run Granma newspaper, saluted "this legislative group. The aura of Martin Luther King is accompanying them." To others of us who honor King, there is a barely surviving black Cuban disciple of King (and Mohandas Gandhi) whom the caucus visitors did not meet because he has been in a Castro brothers' cage for many years and was off-limits to them. He is Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, and he is among those designated by Amnesty International...

Last week, seven members of the Congressional Black Caucus...returned from a visit to Cuba where they met with the dictators of Cuba, Fidel and Raul Castro. They were quite impressed with Fidel Castro...

Six members of the Congressional Black Caucus traveled to Cuba last week and were delighted with their reception. They met with Raul Castro for four hours (including dinner). Three lucky members of the delegation were even entertained by Fidel at his home. As the Miami Herald reported, the representatives found Castro, to be "very engaging, very energetic . very talkative.'' Imagine. The dictator known for his five-hour speeches. Who could have guessed?

The same old Communists, with the same old communist agenda, but a new friendlier face called "progress," now control the US government. The time has come to name names! Think I'm kidding? Connect the obvious dots! (snip) Still Wondering... Why today's Democrats seem more like communists than classic liberals? Today's Democrat Party is controlled by the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the official legislative arm of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Congressional Black Caucus Democrats went to Cuba to see what they wanted to see. Not since The New York Times reporter Walter Duranty traipsed around Stalin's Russia, filing cheery travelogues whitewashing Communist-engineered famine, has America witnessed such disgraceful propaganda tourism. Led around by the nose by the Castro brothers, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver declared, "If there is repression in Cuba we didn't see it." Somehow, the gulags and slums got left off the itinerary. Go figure. The CBC members saw instead a land of milk and honey. Fresh air and freedom. Shiny, happy people cared for by a kindly, benevolent leader....

Cuba's atrocious record on race was somehow overlooked by the Congressional Black Caucus. Last week the Stalinist regime that jailed and tortured the longest suffering black political prisoner in modern history (Eusebio Penalver) rolled out the red carpet for 6 smitten members of the CBC. All of these U.S. legislators met with "President" Raul Castro while a lucky three secured back-stage passes to meet Fidel himself. Not since Ann Margaret's reaction to Conrad Birdie's kiss has anything been recorded to match these U.S. legislators' reaction to these meetings. "He looked directly into my eyes!" gasped Rep. Laura Richardson (D-Ca.) "and...

This is America’s Enemy Within - Castro’s Communist Cuba and Our Congressional Black Caucus By JB Williams Wednesday, April 8, 2009 While the leftist American press kept public attention focused upon Obama’s International Apology Hajj, working around the clock to put a positive spin on Obama’s failed Throw America Under the Bus Tour abroad, another important and equally dastardly trip was taking place below the average American’s radar… Six members of the US Congress traveled to Castro’s Communist Cuba over the weekend to open talks aimed at establishing a cooperative relationship between the United States and Communist Cuba. The six...

After returning from a visit to Communist Cuba, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-California) and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus were overflowing with praise for former Cuban President Fidel Castro, the Politico reports. Hours after meeting with her idol in the class struggle, Lee, who chairs the liberal CBC, told reporters on Capitol Hill the tender reunion "was quite a moment to behold." Lee's been a friend of Cuba for years. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Illinois) was also filled with love. He said the retired dictator's home was modest and his wife hospitable. "It was almost like listening to an old...

''We believe it is time to open dialogue and discussion with Cuba,'' Lee told a news conference in Washington upon the caucus members' return. ''Cubans do want dialogue. They do want talks. They do want normal relations.'' ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

HAVANA -- A "very healthy, very energetic" Fidel Castro asked visiting Congressional Black Caucus members what Cuba could do to help President Barack Obama improve bilateral relations during his first meeting with U.S. officials since falling ill in 2006. Caucus leader Rep. Barbara Lee, a Democrat from California, said the ailing former Cuban president talked for nearly two hours with her and two other delegation members on Tuesday in a meeting seen as signaling Cuba's willingness to discuss better relations with the United States. "We believe it is time to open dialogue and discussion with Cuba," Lee told a news...

CBC members praise Castro By ALEX ISENSTADT | 4/7/09 7:01 PM EDT CBC Chairwoman Barbara Lee and others heaped praise on Castro, calling him warm and receptive during their discussion. Photo: AP Key members of the Congressional Black Caucus are calling for an end to U.S. prohibition on travel to Cuba, just hours after a meeting with former Cuban president Fidel Castro in Havana. “The fifty-year embargo just hasn’t worked,” CBC Chairwoman Barbara Lee (D-Ca.) told reporters this evening at a Capitol press conference after returning from a congressional delegation visit to Cuba. “The bottom line is that we believe...

Key members of the Congressional Black Caucus are calling for an end to U.S. prohibition on travel to Cuba, just hours after a meeting with former Cuban president Fidel Castro in Havana. “The fifty-year embargo just hasn’t worked,” CBC Chairwoman Barbara Lee (D-Ca.) told reporters this evening at a Capitol press conference after returning from a congressional delegation visit to Cuba. “The bottom line is that we believe its time to open dialogue with Cuba.” Lee and others heaped praise on Castro, calling him warm and receptive during their discussion. But the lawmakers disputed Castro's later statement that members of...

Key members of the Congressional Black Caucus are calling for an end to U.S. prohibition on travel to Cuba, just hours after a meeting with former Cuban president Fidel Castro in Havana. Lee and others heaped praise on Castro, calling him warm and receptive during their discussion.

(snip) This week, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times reported that Waters used her access as a senior member of the latter committee to arrange two meetings between officials of the Treasury Department and a group of banks owned by African Americans Ostensibly, the bankers wanted to talk because their institutions had been hard hit by the implosion of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. According to the New York Times, though, Kevin Cohee -- chief executive of OneUnited Bank -- took the opportunity to plead for a $50-million bailout of his institution. "Here you had a tiny...

AT a flail-and-wail House hearing last month, California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters melted down in front of big banking CEOs. "Raise your hand! Raise your hand!" she shrieked as she harangued the executives on their business practices and management of federal bailout money. Sneering at the "captains of the universe," whom she refused to address by name ("You, Bank of America!"), Waters excoriated the corporate heads for their greed. "All of my political life," she bragged, "I have been in disagreement with the banking and mostly financial-services community because of practices that I have believed to be not in the...

Rep. Maxine Waters defends work with banksThe Los Angeles congresswoman denies having influence over Bush administration officials in the Treasury Department and the issuing of bailout funds to OneUnited Bank. By Richard Simon and E. Scott Reckard 11:11 AM PDT, March 13, 2009 Reporting from Los Angeles and Washington -- Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) today defended her efforts to help minority-owned banks -- including one with ties to her husband - survive the financial crisis, and scoffed at the notion that she could sway the Bush administration's actions. "Although both my supporters and detractors often refer to me as...

OTTAWA -- The Conservative government has no plans to "insulate" the CBC from the sharp decline in advertising revenue that has forced companies across the media industry to lay off workers and cut costs, a spokesman for the prime minister said Wednesday. The comments suggest the public broadcaster could come up empty in its efforts to lobby the government for a bridge loan to cover a deeper-than-anticipated drop in ad revenue. "The CBC cannot be insulated from all market realities," said Kory Teneycke, chief spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper. "Nobody likes to see this, but broadcasters have to adapt...

President Obama has decided to bring the U.S. Census Bureau under White House jurisdiction, a move that incensed House Republicans, who fired off a blistering letter to him Thursday, calling it "outrageous and unprecedented" and a "blatant partisan and political maneuver." The move would shift the chain of command with the bureau and the Commerce Department, where the bureau currently resides. It comes after the Congressional Black Caucus, National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials and other groups expressed displeasure with Obama's nominee for Commerce secretary, Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire. Gregg, the groups said this week,...

The Congressional Black Caucus is lobbying President Barack Obama to pick African-American technology executive John Thompson to be his commerce secretary. Thompson is chairman and chief executive officer of Symantec Corp, the software security company best known for its Norton computer protection products. He is expected to step down in early April. In a letter to Obama, the caucus members stressed that Thompson is the only African-American leading a major technology company. The letter, sent last week and obtained Thursday by The Hill, also lists the seven black Cabinet members chosen by President Clinton during his two terms. Obama has...

As the McCain campaign ratchets up the intensity of its attacks on Barack Obama, some black elected officials are calling the tactics desperate, unseemly and racist. “They are trying to throw out these codes,” said Representative Gregory Meeks, a Democrat from New York. “He’s ‘not one of us?’” Mr. Meeks said, referring to a comment Sarah Palin made at a campaign rally on Oct. 6 in Florida. “That’s racial. That’s fear. They know they can’t win on the issues, so the last resort they have is race and fear.” “Racism is alive and well in this country, and McCain and...

The 41-member Congressional Black Caucus, which often describes itself as the “conscience of the Congress”, is anticipating a power surge next week as one of its former members takes the oath of office as president of the United States. “As I stand here today, I can tell you with certainty that these 41 members of the Congressional Black Caucus recognizes that this is our moment,” said U. S. Rep. Barbara Lee, the new chairwoman of the 40-year-old caucus at the group’s ceremonial swearing in last week. Recalling the mission of the 13 founding members of the CBC as being “to...

George Stroumboulopoulos is the biggest faux hip poseur ever to grace Canadian airwaves. Guaranteed to recycle all the old cliches from American campaign coverage because he's too vapid to think of original and incisive questions on his own. He is probably the most shallow and blinkered of CBC hosts. And that's saying something. Sarah should have no problem running rings around him.

WASHINGTON (NNPA) - They clearly won't have it by Christmas, but the nation's Black state legislators are now looking for what they perceive as their fair share of an economic bailout for 'the neighborhood' while Congress is doling them out to corporations....