WElcome home James Traficant

[diesel96]

Sorry to bring your Massiah back down to earth. But......

Convicted former Rep. James Traficant shouldn't reclaim the limelight -- editorial

by The editors Friday September 04, 2009, 4:27 AM


James Traficant left federal prison a free man Wednesday morning, seven years after he was convicted of 10 felonies and expelled from Congress.
For weeks, the Mahoning Valley has been buzzing with speculation about what the 68-year-old Traficant will do next. Fans have been tying yellow ribbons around trees, and at least 1,000 people have purchased tickets to a dinner Sunday celebrating his release. Some of the nine-term congressman's supporters hope he will return to the political arena. Others think talk radio is where the populist Democrat and one-time C-SPAN star belongs.

A heartfelt welcome from family and friends is perfectly appropriate, as it would be for any newly released criminal. But those who hope he will return to the public eye ought to remember why he has been away:
He traded clout for cash, gifts and work on his house. He made staff members kick back part of their salaries. He cheated on his taxes.
Traficant's misbehavior affected more than the relative handful of people he shook down. His entire congressional district -- one of the most economically devastated in America -- paid a price, too.
His crimes reinforced Youngstown's reputation for corruption, a huge deterrent to outside investment. His rants in Congress ensured his isolation and embarrassed his district. Worst of all, his embrace of angry victimhood -- his and his district's -- as a political strategy gave his struggling constituents an excuse not to face the realities of a global, knowledge-based economy.
Real leaders say things their followers need to hear. But Traficant refused to tell his voters that they had to become better-educated, more innovative and more entrepreneurial. Instead, he told them that some faceless "they" -- Washington, foreigners, Big Steel -- had crippled the Mahoning Valley and could restore its prosperity if only he yelled loudly enough. Nothing really had to change.
Over the last seven years, a new generation of leaders has preached change, and their gospel is taking hold. You can see it in a revitalized Youngstown State University, a thriving high-tech incubator and a Youngstown mayor and a congressman who embrace cooperation, not confrontation. Traficant's old constituents don't need the false prophet to roar again.

 

[toonertoo]

Oh we do need the prophet to roar again.
I will keep my Messiah, and you can keep yours and the change.
Youngstown got a Convention centre, first called the Chevy Center, now Covelli. THAT is what brought people back downtown. Jim got it, and it was built while he was in prison. He also brought much needed work to 680, and to the Vienna airbase. He may have a record, but alot of it is good.
I will stand with Jim. I am a democrat when there is a candidate.

 

[wkmac]

Oh we do need the prophet to roar again.
I will keep my Messiah, and you can keep yours and the change.
Youngstown got a Convention centre, first called the Chevy Center, now Covelli. THAT is what brought people back downtown. Jim got it, and it was built while he was in prison. He also brought much needed work to 680, and to the Vienna airbase. He may have a record, but alot of it is good.
I will stand with Jim. I am a democrat when there is a candidate.

Hey Tooner,

Your socialist redistribution is showing!

 

[diesel96]

Worst of all, his embrace of angry victimhood -- his and his district's -- as a political strategy gave his struggling constituents an excuse not to face the realities of a global, knowledge-based economy.
Real leaders say things their followers need to hear. But Traficant refused to tell his voters that they had to become better-educated, more innovative and more entrepreneurial. Instead, he told them that some faceless "they" -- Washington, foreigners, Big Steel -- had crippled the Mahoning Valley and could restore its prosperity if only he yelled loudly enough. Nothing really had to change.

Oh we do need the prophet to roar again.
I will keep my Messiah, and you can keep yours and the change.
Youngstown got a Convention centre, first called the Chevy Center, now Covelli. THAT is what brought people back downtown. Jim got it, and it was built while he was in prison. He also brought much needed work to 680, and to the Vienna airbase. He may have a record, but alot of it is good.
I will stand with Jim. I am a democrat when there is a candidate.

Toons, I chose this article because of the sterotypical conservative message it presents, yet you reject it......

I don't totally dis-reguard Mr Traficant's messages. Quite frankly there's alot of valility in some of them. It's his dispostion that's a big turn off. He kind of reminds me of an old Union head of the past. While he fights for our rights, there's some palm griesing going on in the background...

 

[wkmac]

Toons, I chose this article because of the sterotypical conservative message it presents, yet you reject it......

I don't totally dis-reguard Mr Traficant's messages. Quite frankly there's alot of valility in some of them. It's his dispostion that's a big turn off. He kind of reminds me of an old Union head of the past. While he fights for our rights, there's some palm griesing going on in the background...

Better palm grease than anal lube because that doesn't leave you with that "hurts to sit down" feeling!


Truth is, when gov't gets this big, liberal/conservative, something in between, to think it's without some element of corruption is just naive IMO.

Sad?

Agreed! No argument! But it's a fact of life. If we look acros the entire spectrum of gov't and the enormous amount of money it cost and then add that up over a 10 year period, it'd be cheaper, more cost effective and a more permanent solution to just collect the money, subdivide the total by the number of needy population or what have you and cut them all a check. Instead, we turn the whole thing into a massive jobs program and a power base in order for a oligarchy (liberal or conservative) to rule the rest of us dumb masses!

True charity I can handle but pure authoriterian tyranny? Nope! Not interested! Have no desire to take money from your community nor any interest in telling you and your neighbors how to live. You guys live there and therefore are the best experts IMO. Not some Washington Puke Tank pretending to act on my or anyone else's political behalf!

Nothing ever gets solved, no problem eliminated and yet Congress every so many years has to revisit the same issues again and again. Even idiots get it right by mistake after so many tries. This now IMO is obvious they have no intention of getting it right other than to fatten some other well connected's wallet. In the meantime, the poor average struggling souls are the meat in the political meat grinder and always come out the worse for it.

No offense to Tooner but why should some kid work the midnight sort in BumF##K Egypt, barely making enough money to pay college tutition much less normal living expenses while the good corp. folks in Traficant's district (or even my district for that matter) can use the public treasury under penalty of death (resist taxes all the way and see what the outcome is) to boost they own profits?

Sorry but welfare goes both ways and either one is just flat wrong. That kid on the sort no matter how you slice it and dice it is a forced slave of the state for the propose of feeding the taxeaters in order for them to buy and accumulate power while serving their political enablers! It just comes down to determining how much the plantation master will allow the slave to keep or at what point the slaves rebell and upon whose political watch (republican or democrat) that it takes place.

The political juggling act is to convince the masses that they are getting much more out than they put in or could otherwise do themselves. History is loaded with this but history is also loaded with revolts too!

Ironically neither Tooner nor Diesel object to the spoils of State being dished out, it just comes down to who does it and how much they or their pet ideals get. There is no difference between republicans and democrats, conservatives or liberals, nothing more than a den of thieves!

Hey Tony, you asked why Russians hate Americans?

 

[toonertoo]

I am not a socialist, but since our money is taken and we basically get no say in how it is spent, at least it went for something that "could" generate money and possibly bring jobs to an awful area.
That being said, I think the National guard manning the streets for a few days might improve the area much better. And would be money better spent. While the Convention center is nice, Ive never been to it, all streets around it are miserable, and I would not want, if I did not know the area, to be there at night. Imagine a downtown of a few streets, all nice and shiny, but the veins to it, all filth and decay.
I dont live here, I only work here, and I cant vote, or could ever vote for Traficant, I said I would vote for him. I would live under a bridge before I would live In youngstown.
Actually, better yet, tell the good people to get out, bomb it and start over.
I like Jim, I dont think he deserved 7 yrs in prison. Child molestors get out in less.
He does appear to be a thug from the 70s. His clothes are ridiculous and so is his hair. I also notice this among car enthusiast. Their antique car will have the best of everything known to the industry, and they wear 10 yr old Trex tennys from Kmart. I think it is called passion for love of something. I think Jim loves this country. I think he got shagged.

 

[toonertoo]

Jimbo on Hannity tonight. They didnt seem to get along very well on the radio interview and it was moved to a different day. Seems Sean doesnt like some of his views on Israel. Ill stay out of it as I dont know much about Israel, but Im listening and learning.

 

[toonertoo]

O'reilly got fired long ago, Hannity tonight, Greta is Ho hum. Beck rules. Guess Ill stick to the internet because every single talking head on every station sucks. They never let the guests talk.

 

[diesel96]

Better palm grease than anal lube because that doesn't leave you with that "hurts to sit down" feeling!


Truth is, when gov't gets this big, liberal/conservative, something in between, to think it's without some element of corruption is just naive IMO.

Sad?

Agreed! No argument! But it's a fact of life. If we look acros the entire spectrum of gov't and the enormous amount of money it cost and then add that up over a 10 year period, it'd be cheaper, more cost effective and a more permanent solution to just collect the money, subdivide the total by the number of needy population or what have you and cut them all a check. Instead, we turn the whole thing into a massive jobs program and a power base in order for a oligarchy (liberal or conservative) to rule the rest of us dumb masses!

True charity I can handle but pure authoriterian tyranny? Nope! Not interested! Have no desire to take money from your community nor any interest in telling you and your neighbors how to live. You guys live there and therefore are the best experts IMO. Not some Washington Puke Tank pretending to act on my or anyone else's political behalf!

Nothing ever gets solved, no problem eliminated and yet Congress every so many years has to revisit the same issues again and again. Even idiots get it right by mistake after so many tries. This now IMO is obvious they have no intention of getting it right other than to fatten some other well connected's wallet. In the meantime, the poor average struggling souls are the meat in the political meat grinder and always come out the worse for it.

No offense to Tooner but why should some kid work the midnight sort in BumF##K Egypt, barely making enough money to pay college tutition much less normal living expenses while the good corp. folks in Traficant's district (or even my district for that matter) can use the public treasury under penalty of death (resist taxes all the way and see what the outcome is) to boost they own profits?

Sorry but welfare goes both ways and either one is just flat wrong. That kid on the sort no matter how you slice it and dice it is a forced slave of the state for the propose of feeding the taxeaters in order for them to buy and accumulate power while serving their political enablers! It just comes down to determining how much the plantation master will allow the slave to keep or at what point the slaves rebell and upon whose political watch (republican or democrat) that it takes place.

The political juggling act is to convince the masses that they are getting much more out than they put in or could otherwise do themselves. History is loaded with this but history is also loaded with revolts too!

Ironically neither Tooner nor Diesel object to the spoils of State being dished out, it just comes down to who does it and how much they or their pet ideals get. There is no difference between republicans and democrats, conservatives or liberals, nothing more than a den of thieves!

Hey Tony, you asked why Russians hate Americans?

Here's the part that you always leave out Wkmac....When the stateless society corrupts and endangers the well being of the inhabitants and the ecological balance of the state we all share, live, and breathe in, who else but the state, is dependent upon to remedy the situation, while the stateless society cheerleaders hide under their rocks with their hands secured deep in their pockets, unwilling to contribute towards the damage conflicted as a result of their profiteering independence....

O'reilly got fired long ago, Hannity tonight, Greta is Ho hum. Beck rules. Guess Ill stick to the internet because every single talking head on every station sucks. They never let the guests talk.

Tooner, you need to diversify your portfolio of information.....if all your listening to is right wing slanted bias reporting, please take time in your day and give other points of view an ear full.....

 

[toonertoo]

Here's the part that you always leave out Wkmac....When the stateless society corrupts and endangers the well being of the inhabitants and the ecological balance of the state we all share, live, and breathe in, who else but the state, is dependent upon to remedy the situation, while the stateless society cheerleaders hide under their rocks with their hands secured deep in their pockets, unwilling to contribute towards the damage conflicted as a result of their profiteering independence....



Tooner, you need to diversify your portfolio of information.....if all your listening to is right wing slanted bias reporting, please take time in your day and give other points of view an ear full.....

I have told you several times Diesel I do listen to all. Sometimes to the point of depression. Your left wing is no less slanted than my right wing. I actually gave Rachel Maddow a try.

 

[av8torntn]

I listened to him and he said he may run for Congress again. I wonder will they have to seat him if he wins the election? Does anyone know?

 

[toonertoo]

I was under the impression that he could never again hold public office. I dont know, maybe he can? He would win is all I know. He may be a "kook" as stupid Hannity told him, but he helped many a many people by cutting through the bureaucratic red tape. Even for people not in his jurisdiction, and then he helped stop foreclosures, and peed on the IRS. OMG. he just seems real to me, he cares about the people who put him in office for 17 yrs. Being paranoid never hurt me. Maybe he is right.

 

[fact check]

I was under the impression that he could never again hold public office. I dont know, maybe he can? He would win is all I know. He may be a "kook" as stupid Hannity told him, but he helped many a many people by cutting through the bureaucratic red tape. Even for people not in his jurisdiction, and then he helped stop foreclosures, and peed on the IRS. OMG. he just seems real to me, he cares about the people who put him in office for 17 yrs. Being paranoid never hurt me. Maybe he is right.

gee tooner, you just described a mafia don.

That don't make it right.

 

[toonertoo]

As said on Quinn and Rose (Home Base Pittsburgh PA, "Indicting a guy in Youngstown for having ties with the mafia, is like indicting a fish for being wet".
I didnt say it was right.

 

[toonertoo]

http://www.wfmj.com/Global/story.asp?S=11696922
I would love to see Tim Ryan ousted. Hes just Nancy Pelosis lap dog.