Waters Charged With Three Ethics Violations

The House Ethics Committee announced Monday that Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) is facing three counts of ethics violations.

The charges stem from accusations that the Congresswoman played a role in soliciting TARP funds for OneUnited, a bank that her husband had a combined total of 3,976 shares in. 

“If OneUnited had not received this funding, [Waters’] husband’s financial interested in OneUnited would have been worthless,” a statement released by the committee reads.

The committee found that Waters behaved in a manner that did not reflect creditably on the House, and that she breached standards barring the exertion of influence for individual financial gain and the use of special favors.

In July, Waters motioned to have the charges dropped, citing the ethics committee’s decision last year to dismiss allegations that Republican  Sam Graves (Mo.) benefited from failing to disclose his financial ties with witnesses he invited to testify before Congress. The committee denied Waters’ request.

The ethics committee’s response to Waters coincides with the upcoming trial for Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), who faces 13 alleged violations.

Rangel Steps Down From Chairmanship Position

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.), who has recently been plagued by a number of ethics scandals, announced Wednesday that he will be stepping down from his chairmanship position.

“In order to avoid my colleagues having to defend me during their elections, I have ... sent a letter to [House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)] asking her to grant me a leave of absence,” Rangel said during a morning press conference.

Rangel said that he intends to be absent from the position until the House Ethics Committee completes its investigations.

The 79 year old Democrat added that he had offered to resign his chairmanship previously.

“From the very beginning I had offered this to Speaker Pelosi,” Rangel stated.

Rangel has been found at fault by the Ethics Committee over a Congressional junket to the Caribbean. The committee has not yet issued a statement over concerns that Rangel holds undeclared real estate and has used Congressional stationary to seek funding for a project that bears his name.

Stress And Suicide In The Military

Stress And Suicide In The Military

One great thing about the current state of journalism is that it is impossible to sweep things under the rug. Some blogger somewhere is going to take up the cause. It is, however, information explosion, and so some things go unnoticed and do not receive the attention they deserve. There is one issue that has reached both bloggers and the mainstream press. It is psychological stress and military suicide. The New York Times is running a series of articles, and the House Armed Services subcommittee on Military Personnel had a hearing about it on Wednesday.

In a statement released by Chairman Ike Skelton’s office, the Representative addressed the problem not as an end point but as a chain of events. He said, "It is the final step an individual takes when they can no longer deal with the stressors in their life." He said that it was important to determine why the suicide rate has increased and what stressors led to it.

Some of the testimony came from Gen. Peter Chiarelli, vice chief of staff for the Army. His main point was that they couldn't just focus on reducing the number of suicides; they have to address the stress and anxiety faced by the military and the results of that stress such as increased substance abuse, infidelity and even reckless driving. The numbers are not pretty. Last year in the Army alone there were 140 suicides, translating into a rate of 20.2 per 100,000 soldiers. In January and February there were 41 suicides compared with 16 in 2008. By anyone's standards that is a whooping amount of suicides.

My view is that part of the problem lies with recruitment. Recruiters are rewarded with how many bodies they can bring in to the all-volunteer military. I once asked the head of recruiting for one of the military branches if he had one wish for training potential recruits before they signed up for active duty what would it be? He replied, "financial literacy." He said they get credit cards, get a girlfriend or wife and start charging. Soon they are up to their necks in debt, and it adds huge pressure to their military service.

In the Air Force they found that young enlisted men with a rank of E1 to E4 and between the ages of 21 and 25 have the highest risk of suicide. That is not surprising given that brain development is more complete by age 25. The pre-frontal cortex, which helps reason over impulse, is more fully formed by then. There is a reason car companies don't rent cars to people younger than 25 without a surcharge. The young adult brain is just not fully developed.

Other factors in the Air Force suicide rate include relationships gone awry and poor coordination among professionals. Weekends were the prime time for suicides, and there was also poor communication between the treating mental health providers and commanders. There is always tension in the military between confidentiality and the need to communicate with supervisors. This is now being addressed so that soldiers can discuss personal issues without being worried about facing discharge.

Each branch of service is engaging in suicide prevention programs. In Iraq they deal with post traumatic stress right away, not when someone gets home. Programs are set up so that there is immediate intervention before the trauma is replayed over and over by the less-advanced part of the brain.

There are some issues that go right back to engagement strategies, including too many back-to-back tours of duty and the fact that National Guard duty has become synonymous with active service. It was never intended to be that way, but it functions that way. The other problem is young wives who have not had parenting education and are raising children as a single parents because their loved ones are on active duty across the oceans. This puts enormous stress on them and their husbands who are alone and enlisted.

The military is doing its best to try and address these problems and has engaged in the lives of these soldiers in ways that have been previously unheard of. However, little of the testimony on Wednesday dealt with recruitment. It was a glaring deficit in the hearings and must be addressed by a more complete assessment of incoming recruits.
There also needs to be less focus on getting bodies in and more focus on finding recruits who can handle stress, as well as financial and family problems. It is time our military began to look at what happens before someone enters the service, not just after. The other option is the draft, and some liberals including Chairman Charlie Rangel thinks that would make a military more like the rest of America. It is worthy of consideration and may make a stronger and healthier military.

Late Night Health Care Discussions Bring Historic Progress, Says Pelosi

By Courtney Ann Jackson-Talk Radio News Service

Two more House committees have passed versions of health care reform legislation following discussions that stretched into the early hours of Friday morning. That brings the total up to three out of the five House and Senate Committees that have now reported legislation. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) noted in Friday’s press conference that this is the farthest comprehensive health reform has ever gotten in Congress.

The House Committee on Ways and Means chaired by Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) completed their discussion and reported legislation at around 2 AM Friday. The Committee on Education and Labor chaired by Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) had an even longer discussion which lasted till 6 AM and came back at 9 AM to complete the votes.

Pelosi said, “Congress has made historic progress on health insurance reform that will put patients and doctors back in charge and ensure quality, affordable, accessible health care for America’s middle class.”

Pelosi also noted the recent endorsement from the American Medical Association (AMA) of America’s Affordable Health Care legislation.

“This legislation includes a broad range of provisions that are key to effective, comprehensive health system reform...The AMA wants the debate in Washington to conclude with, real, long overdue results that will improve the health of America’s patients.”

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) joined the Speaker and two Chairmen to announce the “historic progress.”

“These next pivitol months will finally be our chance to deliver-and we will,” said Hoyer.

Pelosi: Reducing Health Care Surcharge For Wealthy A Possibility

The 1-5.4% surcharge proposed by Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) for those making over $280,000 to help cover the costs of health care reform could be reduced, said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) during a press conference Wednesday.

The current version of health care reform that passed through the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Tuesday is expected to draw half of it’s funding from revenue streams, notably the proposed surcharge, and the rest from surplus funds taken from other programs, such as $500 billion in savings from the Medicare program.

“I believe that all the costs of the health reform bill can come from squeezing more savings out of the system,” the Speaker said.

If successful in acquiring enough savings, Pelosi noted that reducing the surcharge was one possibility. Another would be maintaining the surcharge at the current cost and reallocating it towards paying off the U.S. deficit.