'All Over This Country These Things Are Happening'

Indeed, one of the biggest problems facing this country is wealthy people scamming their ways to four rent-controlled apartments and skipping out on their taxes.

This plague must stop!

Rep. Charles Rangel played the race card yesterday as he entered the final stretch of his renomination campaign before the Sept. 14 primary.

Speaking to scores of supporters at an outdoor celebration organized by church leaders in Harlem, the embattled Democrat described himself as a "foot soldier" in African-Americans' struggle for equality, and urged everyone to vote for him to keep the fight alive.

"All of you remember that this fight is never, never going to end. I'm just one of the foot soldiers; just one of those [who] fought in the march so that one day our kids [will] be able to say, 'Do you remember when there was bigotry and prejudice in this country? Do you remember when there wasn't fairness?'

"This is not Charlie Rangel's struggle. All over this country these things are happening," Rangel said.

Rangel faces five opponents as he battles a slew of ethics charges in Congress, including failing to pay taxes on property he owns in the Dominican Republic and not declaring investments on his tax returns.

A House panel has charged him with 13 violations, and he is likely to face a trial shortly after the primary.

Another problem facing the nation, accoridng to Rangel, is the utter lack of patriotism shown by the left toward the commander-in-chief. Oh wait, he was silent back when Bush was under daily assault. Now, apparently, he's swept up in patriotic fervor.

"It's very difficult to understand . . . when the commander-in-chief is leading our great nation involved in two wars for people to be so overtly critical of him knowing, knowing, that the enemies of democracy are listening to that -- it's just not right," Rangel said after the rally.

Funny, but I don't have any recollection of Rangel tut-tutting his own party when they excoriated Bush for eight years.

Comparing African-Americans' gains in politics to being allowed into a meeting, Rangel said, "It won't be long now before they'll be telling our president, 'You can't attend the meeting.' "

Who is this they he says won't be letting Obama into a meeting?