As IF Times

link ‘Follow the Islamic way to save the world,’ Charles urges environmentalists | Mail Online.

If there was ever an argument against in-breeding as well as allowing your kids to live at home unemployed,  the Prince of Wales would be exhibit A.  Sequestered from reality as he has been for his entire adult life, his tenuous link to the lives of actual people appears to have severed entirely.  Unless what he says is reflective of his loyal subjects, which would be a tragedy of another order completely.

For now, let’s just assume that his recent pronouncements reflect only his personal mangled sense of reality.  Everyone makes mistakes in judgement but the combining of two ludicrous ideas into one  pronouncement places our Charles into the express lane of fantasy living.  Even with all the recent revelations about climate change,  which should make any thinking person skeptical about the charade of global warming, our hero decides to double down on his delusion and now claims that the Muslim faith is a green movement and that their protocols and traditions should be emulated by the west.  It’s not as if anyone actually hangs on his every utterance, but sadly he does represent England and is the formal face of his subjects.

HRH must think that he still lives in a time a few hundred years ago when the pronouncements of insane people aka royals, were edicts to be followed.  Newsflash to our man, we now have information not filtered by the royal information bureau.   In a nutshell, HRH opines that we should all follow the Muslim way in order to save the world.  To be fair, from this small article, it’s not clear whether he states that the Muslim faith is exclusive in its planet friendly approach or if it is one of many.  If the former, does that mean all other faiths are tacitly encouraging global grief by their particular beliefs? Is he really saying that to save the world, we should all be on our knees facing Mecca six times a day? Someone should remind him that he would be the head of the Church of England should he ever be crowned.  Would he dismantle the church pews and instead have prayer rugs installed?

It’s one of the truths of life that those who proclaim that money isn’t everything actually have lots of it.  A guy like Charles who has lived a life virtually in bubble wrap is exhorting people to live the comparatively ascetic lives of Muslims.  This from a guy who has never wanted for food, shelter, a good table in a restaurant or even worn out a pair of shoes in their entirety.  Is he really saying that the accomplishments of civilization are an affront to nature?  Are the advancements in science, technology and medicine which have flourished over the past 100 years in western society all just plain bad for the planet?  Stick to fox hunting Charles, leave the deep thinking to those with life accomplishments. 

It’s no wonder his mother, The  Queen won’t relinquish the margarine hat to her son!  In fact if Charles is going to insist on saying insane things, then long live the queen!

link The End for Rangel Appears Greatly Exaggerated – NYTimes.com.

The old cliche goes, people elect who they deserve.  Mr. Rangel, under clouds of  ethical suspicion that would have made those over then president Bill Clinton seem like rainbows, is looking likely to hang on to his congressional seat if his supporters have their way according to this article.  The 79 year old congressman who has presided over his Harlem district for forty years  is looking to extend for one more term his tenure to preserve his legacy.  !!!

Really?  In all that time, no one else has emerged to possibly be  more capable  to represent the constituency that he oversees? Think of all that has happened in the world since Mr. Rangel came to office just after the Nixon administration.  The Vietnam war aftermath, the seventies, Jimmy Carter and the Iran hostage crisis, massive interest rate hikes, Reaganomics, the Clinton era, O.J., the twin towers bombing, 9-11, the Iraq war, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, real estate collapse, Obama, banking collapse and  the currency crisis  just to name a few events.  This guy is like Forest Gump, throughout all the changes that America lived through, Charlie Rangel was the only constant. 

Meanwhile, Harlem has evolved from an enclave of poor blacks to a somewhat gentrified and cosmopolitan area of yuppie housing and mainstream living.  Even the Clinton library is there now.  The whole Harlem experience has moved essentially to other cities including Detroit and south Chicago.  The fact is, poor people can’t afford to live in New York without massive subsidies.

For whatever lapses of ethics Mr. Rangel may be accused of during his 40 year tenure, obviously, he must have delivered the goods to his district.  As noted, the poor black neighborhoods he originally represented doesn’t really exist any more.  How then is he able to hang onto his seat?  Accusations, yet to be proven of course, that he engaged in graft, took advantage of rent control programs intended for the poor, tax  and asset amnesia would sink any other politician in today’s tabloid style political climate.  Yet, somehow, Rangel seems to command the loyalty of those that would like to see him finish out his career on “his own terms”.  From what I can see, he’s pretty much had a career on his own terms for 40 years.

There is no logical explanation for this but we see elements of this in all political dynasties and that is this:  It doesn’t matter what your guy does, as long as it’s YOUR guy.  If politics was about putting the most capable people in office, the nation would be run by the Coca Cola people.  Politics is a popularity contest supported by payola and quid pro quo activities.  As long as the candidate is not found to be hiding dismembered corpses in his basement, chances are good that he will be supported especially if he happens to identify with his constituents in the simplest of ways.  People are tribal.  Blacks will elect blacks, Asians will elect Asians and Latinos will elect Latinos.  Liberals and Conservatives will pull for their man even if it happens to be Al Franken or Arnold Schwarzennegger respectively, regardless of  how unqualified they may happen to be.   In the case of Arnold, to be fair, he may have conned some liberals to vote for him based on the hollywood pedigree. We are seeing some changes to this in some ways on the conservative side with the rise of the Tea Party movement, but generally, capability and integrity are not job requirements for office.

In the early 90’s, the mayor of Washington DC, Marion Barry was arrested, convicted and went to prison for crack cocaine use and possession.  Amazingly, the voters put him back into that office in 1994.  Think of that.  Of all the possible candidates the voters could have put into the mayor’s office, the people decided that a convicted drug felon was the best choice.   Earlier this year, Ted Kennedy passed away after battling cancer.  Long worshipped by the American left, but especially in Massachusetts, he died as a hero to his peeps.  Somehow the events at Chappaquiddick were ignored in the deification of uncle Ted.

It’s no wonder that so many people try to get into office.  Once you get in, it’s practically a life entitlement as long as you keep your peeps happy.  So I would tend to agree with the premise of the linked article.  Don’t count Charlie out.