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THE WEIRS TIMES & THE COCHECO TIMES, Thursday, June 2, 2011


FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS If you want


by Michelle Malkin Syndicated Columnist


to watch a corruptocrat start sputter- ing like Porky Pig with aller- gies, confront him with three simple words: conflict of in- terest. Asked t h i s we e k about his role


MEMORIAL DAY 2011


by Oliver North Syndicated Columnist


QUANTICO NA- TIONAL CEMETERY -- When I was a kid, we called May 30 “Deco- rat ion Day. ” It was an oc- casion for Boy Scouts to be up before dawn and report, in uniform, to the American Le-


gion hall. There, Cub Scouts would be paired with older Boy Scouts, organized into detach- ments of a dozen or so and is- sued bags of small American flags. The groups then “de- ployed” in station wagons and pickup trucks to local cemeter- ies and churchyards, where we placed Old Glory on every veter- an’s grave. Later in the morning, there was a parade down Main Street, led by a color guard, the high-school band and ranks of veterans from World War I, World War II and the war of the moment, Korea. The Veterans of Foreign Wars sold red poppies to raise funds for the disabled. Politicians made speeches, and


citizens prayed in public. It was a solemn annual event that taught us reverence for those who served and sacrificed for our country. It’s no longer so. Begun as a local observance in


the aftermath of the Civil War, the first national commemora- tion took place May 30, 1868, at the direction of Gen. John A. Logan, commander of the Grand Army of the Republic. Though his General Order No. 11 speci- fied “strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion” -- meaning only Union soldiers -- those who tended the burial sites at Arlington, Va., Gettysburg, Pa., and Vicksburg, Miss., decided on their own to decorate the biers of both Union and Confederate war dead. For five decades, the holiday


remained essentially unchanged. But in 1919, as the bodies of young Americans were being re- turned to the U.S. from the bat- tlefields of World War I, May 30 became a truly national event. It persisted as such until 1971, See NORTH on 18


in securing an ex-lover’s highly coveted job at government mort- gage giant Fannie Mae, Massa- chusetts Democratic Rep. Barney Frank retorted: “Aba-dee aba-dee aba-dee aba-


dee.” Or that’s what it sounded like, anyway. Frank was rather miffed about the recent disclosure that he helped former lover Herb Mo- ses land a job with the behemoth lender while sitting on a House committee that regulates lend- ers a decade ago. The Boston Herald reported Thursday that Frank immediately invoked the Everybody Does It card: “It is a common thing in Washington for members of Congress to have spouses work for the federal gov- ernment. There is no rule against it at all.” Frank then switched to the Everybody Knew defense: “It was widely known. It was out there in the public.” Next, he dismissed any contro-


versy about his ethical judgment with the Nobody Cares shield: “It’s nonsense.” No doubt he’ll spring the Ho- mophobia Card on critics at an opportune moment to ice his multitiered cake of excuses. Funny thing. Not too long ago, it


was Frank himself counseling fel- low Democratic scandal magnet Rep. Maxine Waters to butt out


BARNEY FRANK’S


of Boston-area OneUnited Bank’s bid for $12 million in federal TARP bailout funds because of conflict-of-interest odors. Waters’ husband, Sidney Williams, was an investor in one of the banks that merged into OneUnited and owned stock holdings estimated at $350,000. Frank’s exact words to Waters:


“You should stay out of it. ... You should stay away from this.” Waters didn’t listen. The House


ethics committee charged her with several ethics violations (though no trial has yet been scheduled). Frank nearly broke his arm patting himself on the back and pronouncing himself “vindicated” after the charges were filed last year. But where was Mr. Clean when


his own sleazy dalliances needed self-policing? While head of the House Finan-


cial Services Committee in 2009, amid economic upheaval across the country, Frank was jet- setting with hedge-fund mogul and TARP beneficiary S. Donald Sussman to his private Caribbe- an resort. The foxes in the House Ethics henhouse granted what they called “unusual” permission for the jaunt because Frank’s partner, Jim Ready, is close pals with Sussman. When Repub- licans raised questions about ethical improprieties, Frank -- whose party has perfected the art of class warfare demagoguery -- whinnied that it wasn’t a crime to have wealthy friends. What should be criminal is the Democratic friends and fat cats protection racket run by the Fan- nie Mae and Freddie Mac over- lords. While political operatives have raked in tens of millions of dollars in directors’ fees and lav- ish compensation packages, the See MALKIN on 15


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