Just Don't Embarass Us

The Rev. Henry J. Lyons, former president of National Black Baptist Convention USA was forced to resign after his wife burned down Lyons' and his girlfriend's million dollar condo. I asked my cousin, who was a prominent pastor, what he thought about it. His response: "We gave our president of the convention unlimited power to steal and fornicate, all we asked was that he did not embarrass us."

As Congress feigns its outrage – Congress lately leads the world in outrage - over the AIG bailouts, I can't help but be reminded of my cousin's comments. For decades Congress has been the equivalent of street whores – no offense to the street whores- for Wall Street's excess. Every attempt to regulate the financial markets was seen as an assault on capitalism and the American way. They bullied regulators on behalf of their wealthy Wall Street Pimps and when that did not work, they simply gutted the regulations. Details are now coming out that regulations that would have banned bonuses were mysteriously stripped out of the TARP legislation in Committee.

I have been watching these hypocrites in congressional hearings today shift the blame over AIG bonuses to the Obama Administration and present AIG CEO Edward M. Liddy. Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner, along with Liddy, have the most thankless jobs in America. They have been asked to clean up a sewer that Congress has been dumping feces in for decades. Liddy, who is being paid $1 a year, should have stood up and told Congress to kiss his ass.

As outrageous as it is to pay AIG Executives bonuses – it like being raped and then having to take the rapist on a shopping trip- the real outrage are the trillions of dollars that were looted from the financial system over the last decade, with the help of Congress. These elected hypocrites are not mad over the bonuses and the Wall Street bailouts. They are mad because the thugs they are in bed with embarrassed them.

The President said today that he does not want to quell the anger of the American public. Nor should we let him. I hope that we stay angry. I hope that we insist that when we get this mess cleaned up, some people on Wall Street go to jail. I hope that some members of Congress are sharing that cell with them.