James Trafficant

[toonertoo]

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2014/09/rep_jim_traficant_is_in_critic.html

 

[wkmac]

Wish him the best. Regardless of everything else, I always loved his maverick style. A shame more people in Congress on both sides of the isle refuse to follow his independence streak and serve as party lackeys.

 

[toonertoo]

This was for you wkmac, I dont think anyone else knows who he is.

 

[wkmac]

Thanks. Keep me updated on how he does.

 

[toonertoo]

Thanks. Keep me updated on how he does.

will do. but i dont know, drug induced coma. sounds like a lot of trauma, 4 days?

 

[toonertoo]

I was reading to day that he fell out of favor more than he was especially with the ultra right wing conservative side. and the ultra liberal side, , when he voted for Hastert, and helped save Ohio farms from foreclosure.


I dont claim to know anything of history, or anywhere close to what you know....not even the same planet. Do you have the cliff note version?

 

[wkmac]

Trafficant always marched to a different drummer. The fact that the politico right and left both degraded and railed on Trafficant is what appealed to me about him. He was also never afraid to talk about controversial topics that the standard political narrative would never touch.

 

[av8torntn]

He gave some great two minute speeches on the House floor and probably had the best hair ever in Congress but he turned out to be very corrupt.

 

[1989]

Tragic

 

[toonertoo]

He gave some great two minute speeches on the House floor and probably had the best hair ever in Congress but he turned out to be very corrupt.

Corrupt to what we have now, hummingbirds and butterflies.

 

[toonertoo]

Have been listening to the local radio, all talking about him In this district, his old one. Not one, not one, person had a bad thing to say. Only people who hated him was the congress.

 

[wkmac]

I'd suggest that had Trafficant played the game, he'd never seen the first courtroom much less a prison cell. That's no defense of him but it is an indictment of the larger political system itself. And yes, I do believe it to be that corrupt.

 

[av8torntn]

Have been listening to the local radio, all talking about him In this district, his old one. Not one, not one, person had a bad thing to say. Only people who hated him was the congress.

I've never said he wasn't liked in his district.

 

[av8torntn]

I'd suggest that had Trafficant played the game, he'd never seen the first courtroom much less a prison cell. That's no defense of him but it is an indictment of the larger political system itself. And yes, I do believe it to be that corrupt.

Well as a general rule if you aren't going to play the game you shouldn't give them an easy target.

 

[toonertoo]

http://www.wfmj.com/story/26643168/james-a-traficant-jr-dead-at-age-73

 

[wkmac]

My heart felt wishes to his family and friends. I hope history in time is kinder to him. He spoke out and in time maybe his words will be understood and seen as somewhat prophetic. His own" call to arms" to average folk I will always respect regardless of his other missteps.

He and Ron Paul as well as others may not have spoken the same exact way but they both in their own way understood the dangerous course this country is now taking and tried to get people to look again and rethink their assumptions.

RIP James and as AV rightly pointed out, thanks for those great 2 minute speeches.

 

[wkmac]

Trafficant was famous for closing his 2 minute strafing of Congress with "Beam Me Up!" which was a backhand to the political establishment in Washington. But some of these are quotes worth memorializing.

On gov't regulation:

Mr. Speaker, the Gettysburg Address is 286 words. The Declaration of Independence is 1,322 words. Government regulations on the sale of cabbage are 27,000 words. Mr. Speaker, now if that is not enough to stuff your cabbage roll, regulations cost taxpayers $400 billion a year, $4,000 per every family each and every year, year in and year out. Unbelievable. It is so bad, if a dog urinates in a parking lot, the EPA declares it a wetland. (1999)

On Taxation:

From the womb to the tomb, Madam Speaker, the Internal Rectal Service is one big enema. Think about it: They tax our income, they tax our savings, they tax our sex, they tax our property-sales profits, they even tax our income when we die. Is it any wonder America is taxed off? We happen to be suffering from a disease called Taxes Mortis Americanus. Beam me up! (2001)

A lifelong loyal democrat who understood the draconian nature of gov't and was not afraid to buck the system. No wonder he was in the crosshairs.

 

[av8torntn]

While there is no doubt that he was great with his words and ideas at least in part he should be judged by his actions. While I didn't really take issue as much with the bribery part, him requiring kickbacks from his staff showed he was in the game for himself in my view.

But wow he had some great speeches. I've watched a few of my favorites today in his honor.

His hatred of the IRS could rival mine.

 

[wkmac]

He wanted to gut the IRS and the income tax as it relates to the common man. He understood taxation as a mechanism of control and he would be right.

 

[av8torntn]

He wanted to gut the IRS and the income tax as it relates to the common man. He understood taxation as a mechanism of control and he would be right.

Yes he did and that's a government action that I could get behind.