By: Trevor Loudon
New Zeal

To settle confusion on the issue, the great helms-people at the White House have issued a proclamation defining “racism.”

Hat Tip: Bookworm Room

By: Trevor Loudon
New Zeal

Cross-posted from KeyWiki Blog.

New York Democratic Congressman Charles B. Rangel has been in the news recently over alleged ethics violations and his Universal National Service Bill, which – if enacted – would reinstate a compulsory military draft or alternative national service, during times of war, for men and women aged 18 to 42, who are citizens or permanent residents of the United States.

The Bill is actually an anti-war stunt. Rangel reasons that if all Americans were liable for service, public pressure to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan would become overwhelming.

This is consistent with Rangel’s long history with the peace movement and the far left in general.

After earning a Bronze Star and Purple Heart in the Korean War, Rangel earned a law degree before moving on to a political career.

In 1961, Attorney General Robert Kennedy appointed Rangel assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. In 1967, Rangel won election to the New York State Assembly and in 1971 he ran against the famous Reverend Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. in a historic election. Rangel’s victory inaugurated the first of his seventeen consecutive terms as Harlem’s representative to Congress.

Straight after entering Congress, Rangel was involved in the founding of the far left National Conference of Black Lawyers.

According to the National Conference of Black Lawyers website:

In 1968, young people of African descent in America were growing impatient with the slow pace of social change. Despite modest advances brought on by two decades of non-violent resistance, from one end of the country to the other, the cry for Black Power was raised in the midst of a sea of clinched fists. At the same time, this new militant spirit had moved many to don black berets and carry rifles. On street corners in practically every Black community, passers-by heard demands for Nation Time and Power to the People!

National Conference of Black Lawyers and its allied organization the National Lawyers Guild, are the U.S. affiliates of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, once a leading Soviet front, today still dominated by communist and socialist lawyers and legal organizations.

In the late 1970s, Charlie Rangel was linked to another Soviet front organization, the World Peace Council.

The first official World Peace Council conference in the U.S. was the Dialogue on Disarmament and Detente held January 25-27, 1978, in Washington, DC.

It was sponsored by a small committee including World Peace Council Presidium member, Communist Party USA functionary and Amalgamated Meatcutters Union vice-president, Abe Feinglass.

A luncheon was held to honor World Peace Council president Romesh Chandra that was attended by California Congressmen Philip Burton, Don Edwards, Ron Dellums and New York Rep. Charles Rangel.

W.P.C. delegation members included President Romesh Chandra, KGB Colonel Radomir Bogdanov and Oleg Kharkhardin of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union International Department.

The Congressional Record of February 3, 1988 shows that Congressmen Rangel was one of several far left Democrats to vote against U.S. aid to the Nicaraguan Freedom Fighters – the “Contras” – then fighting against the Marxist-Leninist Sandinista government of Nicaragua

In October 1989, the Nicaraguan Sandinista Government announced that they would no longer comply with the 19-month-old ceasefire agreement with the Contras. This had been considered a prime step forward for the “peace process” that was progressing slowly as part of the Arias Peace Plan.

A resolution was introduced in Congress deploring the Sandinistas’ action. The Senate voted unanimously in favor, but in the House the vote was 379-29. All of the 29 Congressmen voting against the resolution were Democrats.

The Council for Inter-American Security dubbed these 29 people the “Congressional Pink Caucus” – Rangel was one of the 29.

Rangel also helped found the radical Congressional Black Caucus and joined the equally socialistic Congressional Progressive Caucus.

On August 6, 1993, a rally to commemorate Hiroshima Day was held at the United Nations in Dag Hammarskjold Park, New York. The rally was designed “to kickoff a national campaign to collect a million signatures supporting a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, commend president Clinton for extending the nuclear testing moratorium, urge renewal of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, urge swift and complete nuclear disarmament.”

The event was sponsored by the Metro New York Peace Action Council and several other “peace’ groups. Speakers included Charlie Rangel, Leslie Cagan of the Cuba Information Project and the Communist Party offshoot Committees of Correspondence, David McReynolds of the War Resisters League, Socialist Party USA and Democratic Socialists of America, Congressmen Major Owens and Jerrold Nadler, NYC Councilor Ruth Messinger (all D.S.A. connected) and NYC comptroller Liz Holtzman – once the employer and political idol of a young Elena Kagan.

In 1994, Charles B. Rangel was an initiator of the International Peace for Cuba Appeal, an affiliate of the Workers World Party dominated International Action Center.

Other prominent initiators included Cuban Intelligence agent Philip Agee, academic Noam Chomsky (D.S.A. and Committees of Correspondence) and far left Congressman John Conyers.

Charles Rangel attended an October 1995 meeting in Harlem to welcome Cuban leader Fidel Castro to New York.

According to Communist Party USA paper Peoples Weekly World:

Almost 1,600 Harlemites and solidarity activists packed the Abyssinian Baptist Church to give a hero’s welcome to Fidel Castro, the president of Cuba.

The mainly African American audience, which included New York Democratic representatives Charles Rangel and Nydia Velasquez, enthusiastically greeted the Communist leader with a 10-minute standing ovation. Chants of “Cuba si, Bloqueo no!” resounded from the rafters and sent a strong message of protest to New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and President Clinton for excluding the Cuban leader from their sponsored events.

The audience erupted in shouts of “Fidel, Fidel” when Elombe Brathe, head of the Patrice Lumumba Coalition and chair for the meeting, asked the audience, “Who would you rather come to Harlem, Fidel or Giuliani?”

H.R. 950, the Job Creation and Infrastructure Restoration Act of 1997 was introduced in the 105th Congress on March 5, 1997 by Congressman Matthew Martinez of California. It had 33 original co-sponsors, including Charles Rangel.

The leaders of the Los Angeles Labor Coalition for Public Works Jobs (Jerry Acosta and Art Rodriguez) and its only affiliate, the New York Coalition for Public Works Jobs (Eddie Davis and Bill Davis) , who helped draft the bill, were all known supporters or members of the Communist Party USA.

Rangel was an early and vocal opponent of the Iraq War, along with his openly socialist colleague Major Owens. According to the Communist Party’s Peoples World:

Hundreds of thousands of people filled the streets March 22 in a spirited demonstration against the war on Iraq. The huge protest, held just two days after the start of the war, was proof positive that the peace movement – “the other world superpower” – is strong and growing here, one of the sites of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) said “there has been no evidence presented to Congress that Iraq is connected to 9/11. We support the troops but we don’t support the president.” Rangel was flanked by Rep. Major Owens (D-N.Y.), and many other state and city elected officials.

Socialism and corruption together in one man. Where have we seen that before?