FOUNDING FATHERS WOULD FLINCH AT HOUSE ACTION AGAINST AIG-or-CHARLIE RANGLE THE 10 MILLION DOLLAR AIG MAN....

The savvy old men who became known as the 'founding fathers,' would be surprised not only at the egregious abuse of the public treasury underwritten by malfeasants at A.I.G., but they'd be equally aghast I venture at the recent bill passed by the US House, sponsored by Ways-and-Means Chairperson Charlie Rangel who reputedly solicited a $10 million dollar gift from AIG to endow a chair at a public university named after Rangle, that would tax at 90% any bonus received by an A.I.G. employee.

While the 'founding fathers' would be surprised, one person or two who would not be surprized would be P.T. Barnum or Will Rogers, because the US House has become a three-ring circus where the 'sucker born every day' is assumed to be the US taxpayer, and where in the words of Will Rogers: "there is no distinctly criminal class except for the U.S. Congress."

Why would the 'founding fathers' be surprised at the Congress's recent action relative to the AIG bonuses? Because when they created this nation they specifically prohibited the creation of ex post facto laws and bills of attainder, both of which they considered to be British abuses of the public, permitting public authorities to punish behavior after the fact, as well as to specifically target select individuals using the punitive powers of the law.

While Secretary Geithner may have known about the bonus provisions, and while Chairman Rangle may have solicited a $10 million dollar endowment gift from AIG, while Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) now admits he knew about the bonuses, after first denying he did and casting blame towards 'the administration,' it's obvious that for too long Chris Dodd has been too cozy with the financial industry and their "I'm entitled to this" mentality. The same is true for the Secretary of the Treasury who prior to this stint on the public payroll was eating at the public trough as the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where he was-if not chummy-at least well known to the malfeasants of Wall Street; as would be the respective Chairmen of the House Way and Means Committee and the House Committee on Financial Services who hasn't been 'totally frank' of late.

While it's too much to expect that the 2nd Senator Dodd of Connecticut will slink off in shame as did his father Thomas who was censured by the US Senate, the voters of Connecticut should effectively terminate his public career at the ballot box at their next opportunity.

It's time that the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, and the Chairs of the US Senate Banking Committee, the US House Committee on Financial Services, and the Chair of the Ways-and-Means Committee all came forward with "clean hands." If they're looking for a place to wash their hands, perhaps Chairman Rangel can take his circa 1970s House garaged Mercedes-Benz out for a spin, and they can all wash their hands in the Tidal Basin while chanting: "We remember Wilbur Mills and Fannie Foxx!"