Dump Pelosi, Protect
The Insitution of the Congress
by Anita Gallagher
Dec. 5—A broad onslaught against the U.S. Congress as an institution is underway, to remove or demote Members with the potential to implement Franklin Roosevelt's approach, as the current financial system vaporizes. The FBI has launched more than a score of known investigations of members, some through illegal methods, to keep them from bucking the "principalities and powers" based in the City of London. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi—whose financial guru is Felix Rohatyn, the protégé of pro-Nazi banker André Meyer—has, in "shock and awe" style, smashed the House "seniority system," which gives experienced members the power to stop unconstitutional moves against the American people, and check power grabs by the Speaker or other branches of government. With the imps of the British-controlled press, these all constitute a concerted effort to destroy the power given to the Congress by the Constitution.
The recent attacks on the senior leadership in Congress, such as the daily targetting of Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), to oust him as chair of the Ways and Means Committee; Rep. John Dingell's (D-Mich.) removal as chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee; Sen. Robert Byrd's (D-W.V.) pressured resignation from the Senate Appropriations Committee; and former Senate Commerce Committee chairman Ted Stevens' (R-Ak.) prosecution, represent a weakening—by decapitation—of the Congress. This, together with an escalation of FBI targetting of Congress, is an assault on the legislative branch in violation of the Constitutional separation of powers.
American statesman Lyndon LaRouche advised on Dec. 3, "Get rid of Pelosi. Give her the uplift she needs." LaRouche said, that under the conditions of the onrushing collapse which the incoming Obama Administration faces, it is essential to free the President-elect from the threat that this evisceration of Congress represents. This means dumping Nancy Pelosi, and replacing FBI Director Robert Mueller with a new director willing to clean out the corruption that has remained since the J. Edgar Hoover days.
There is a war between the FDR tendencies represented by some of the former Clintonites in the Obama Administration, and the pro-fascist tendencies of the George Soros forces who backed Obama to stop Hillary Clinton, whom financiers feared would turn to FDR precedents. And the same Soros vs. FDR lines are drawn in the Congress, with Pelosi leading the charge against the FDR potential.
Imagine, No Rangel at Ways and Means?
The Ways and Means Committee is arguably the most important committee in Congress, where, under the Constitution, all tax and money bills originate.
Since February 2008, Rangel has had "the kitchen sink" thrown at him, led by Rupert Murdoch's New York Post, and the pro-Hitler New York Times. Using more than one rent-controlled apartment (a common practice in New York City), raising money on Congressional stationery for a public service school at City College to be named for him, merited epic-length smears in the Times. Why? Because Rangel's committee refused to give a blank check to Treasury Secretary Paulson's $800 billion bonanza in early Fall, insisting instead, that it be counted in the U.S. debt ceiling.
Without Rangel, who is going to stand up to Wall Street? Barney "Bailout" Frank (D-Mass.)? Or Wall Street's Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.)? The Ways and Means Democrats are now moving to eliminate the Treasury ruling of Sept. 30, which allows banks taking over other banks with losses, to deduct those losses against their own taxes over 20 years, as Wells Fargo did in its takoever of Wachovia Bank.
A source with historical knowledge of Capitol Hill told EIR, "Like it or not, people like Jesse Helms could stop legislation, appointments, and power grabs. Not because they had the votes, but because they were a real power in the Congress. They could stand up and challenge an issue, including the leadership, and actually change the direction in a debate by raising an issue."
This is exactly what occurred in May 2005, when Vice President Dick Cheney threatened to trigger the so-called "nuclear option," by changing the rules of the Senate by a simple majority vote of 51, rather than the two-thirds vote required by the Constitution. Cheney was trying to change the rules because the Senate refused to approve seven "judges from Hell" that Bush was attempting to appoint. Sens. Robert Byrd, John Warner (R-Va.), and other senior members formed the "Group of 14," and forced the Administration to back down.
From 1910 until 1975, U.S. House chairmanships were awarded solely on the basis of seniority. In 1975, the rules were changed to allow the party caucuses to approve the committee chairs. In 1994, Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.)put a six-year term limit on Republican committee chairs, and in 2007, Pelosi quietly changed Democratic chairmanships to a six-year limit. "Pelosi's power seems to grow by the day," The Hill comments, in a line evoking Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.
FBI Targets Congress, not Terrorists
Most people think that since 2001, the FBI's priority has been stopping terrorism. As LaRouche warns, "Popular opinion is always wrong."
"Public corruption is the top criminal priority for the FBI," Director Robert Mueller testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2006. Between 2004 and 2006, the FBI convicted 177 Federal officials, 158 state officials, and 360 local officials.
Mueller reiterated the "public corruption" priority in an April 2007 speech, touting the fact that the FBI had more than 2,500 pending corruption investigations—an increase of more than 50% since 2003. At least 21 Members of Congress were targetted by the FBI between 2005 and 2006, according to propublica.org.
In two known cases, the FBI wiretapped Members of Congress, and listened to hundreds of calls between Congressmen and their constituents. Such interference by the Judicial Branch in the Legislative Branch's activity is prohibited under the Constitution, as a Federal Appeals Court affirmed in the case of William Jefferson (D-La.), whether or not Congress is "in session."
Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.) is seeking to have his 35-count indictment dismissed, because the FBI listened to hundreds of his calls with constituents at the time of the 2006 elections. On Nov. 24, the House leadership of both parties, acting as the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group, filed a motion to declare the wiretaps unconstitutional.
Jefferson's Congressional office was searched in May 2006, another violation of the separation of powers. Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) was not reelected in 2006 after the FBI's raid on his daughter's office became public. The FBI wiretapped more than 105 of Sen. Ted Stevens' own phone calls, in a prosecution in which the judge attacked the prosecutors for withholding evidence.
Congress itself has raised the question of how was it that the FBI knew that New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer would be testifying before Congress, when the FBI successfully charged him with soliciting prostitution. Was the Congress wiretapped again?
FBI's Operation Fruehmenschen, Again
At the local level, the FBI has relaunched J. Edgar Hoover's 1950s Operation Fruehmenschen, targetting African-American elected officials. Racist Hoover believed that such prosecutions would show the inherent corrupt nature of African-Americans, but financial interests continued to use it to get rid of political leaders who would fight austerity measures targetting their constituents. Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner, Massachusetts State Sen. Dianne Wilkerson, and Birmingham, Ala. Mayor Larry Langford have been charged by the FBI in the past two weeks.
Edward Spannaus, Michele Steinberg, and Rochelle Ascher contributed to this article.
