Bent Corner

Even though Representative Roscoe Bartlett admits that since 2004 he submitted fraudulent incorrect personal financial disclosure forms that he is required to submit because he is a member of Congress, he claims that his taxes filed during that same time period with the Internal Revenue Service are correct.

Why would the two be any different?

When asked by the Frederick News-Post to release copies of his tax returns to the public, Bartlett spokeswoman Lisa Wright said he would not do so because legally he isn’t required to do it.

That doesn’t make any sense. The tax returns should contain the exact same information that is on his personal financial disclosure forms. That information is public record. Granted, that information is fraudulent incorrect, but he claims that he is “planning” on filing an amended personal financial disclosure.

My guess is that his tax returns were just as fraudulent incorrect as his personal financial disclosure. He’s probably just hoping he doesn’t get audited.

Good luck with that Roscoe.

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It seems that Roscoe Bartlett, my elected representative in the U.S. House of Representatives has been less then honest with his finances. The Frederick-News Post uncovered the fact that since 2004, Bartlett underreported or failed to report roughly $1 million in property sales.

As a member of Congress, Bartlett is required by law to disclose details of his finances each year.  He is required to report his earned and unearned income, assets, gifts and travel. By submitting false financial statements, he could be facing up to five years in prison.

Being the man of character that he is, he quickly did what all men of character do - he blamed his wife and son:

“I really was a bit player,” he said. “My son rebuilt the houses; my wife wrote the checks.”

Bartlett also blamed the people that work for him:

Bartlett blamed that error on staff first not reading his handwritten notes correctly, and then his own signing of the finished form without reading it, something he said he shouldn’t have done.

Bartlett also made a series of interest baring loans to various family members.  He failed to declare the money generated from the interest from this loans.  Who even charges their own family interest?

I’m not really sure who he is blaming for that mix up.

The unbelievable has happened - I have found something that I agree with congressmen Roscoe Bartlett. I guess it was only a matter of time until the stars aligned and he said something that made sense to me. Not that I ever thought it would happen.

From Hagerstown’s award winning newspaper of record, the Herald-Mail:

As far as energy concerns, the country needs to find a “clearly sustainable” form of energy, he said.Until then, Bartlett said, he foresees a shift from trucks to trains as a way to move freight, driven by the high price of oil. Trains are five to six times more energy-efficient, he said.

Trains are the way to go to move stuff. It’s a shame that we don’t use the rails to move stuff from one place to another. It’s far more efficient then moving stuff with trucks.

I wouldn’t even have known about this if it wasn’t for Steve Shives of Steve Likes to Curse. I was reading the newspaper’s website about his mother and the pet rabbit that Steve saved from a friend’s landlord. Steve’s mom trained the rabbit to use a litter box and now the rabbit is free to roam the Shives’ home.

It’s a really cool story. Now I want a pet rabbit.

It’s New Years Day. That means two things; there is a never ending Law & Order marathon on TNT and it’s the time to make worthless New Year’s resolutions. I don’t plan on keeping them, but nobody else really does either. I’m just being honest. So here goes:

1. Go to the gym at least four (4) days a week.
2. Eat better.
3. Stop eating at all-you-can-eat-Chinese buffets (see #2).
4. Stop making fun of Joe Quesada’s bald spot.
5. Go to Dragon*Con.
6. Try to say something nice about my elected congressman, Representative Roscoe Bartlett.
7. Stop reading comics I know I’m probably going to hate.
8. Watch more Premier League Football (Soccer).
9. Get my A+ Computer Tech certification.
10. Start drawing again.
11. Find a cradle for my Casio EX-Z60 digital camera.

So there you have it. These are my New Year’s resolutions. I’m going to come back here next year and see how many of these I was able to actually do.

My representative in congress Republican Congressman Roscoe Bartlett spoke at a town hall meeting on energy in Mount Airy and said he thought “gasoline needs to cost more that it already does” in order to promote conservation. He also said that “too many people are driving pickup trucks as personal transportation.”

I don’t know about people driving pickup trucks, but I know that gas already costs too much as it is. It doesn’t need to cost more then what it costs now. The fact that my elected representative in Washington D.C. actually hopes that gas goes up in price just confirms what I already know - I have a representative that does not represent my interests. Not only my interests, but the interests of my fellow neighbors in the Maryland 6th district.

Roscoe Bartlett uses the power of his office to satisfy his own whims. He doesn’t use his office for the benefit of the people he is elected to represent.

I also know that Roscoe Bartlett will continue representing the 6th district of Maryland until he either retires or dies. He will never lose an election. My fellow voters here in the 6th district of Maryland will continue to vote for Roscoe Bartlett no matter what he says or what he does. He can even say that he hopes our gas prices go up and people will still reelect him into office.

I got an email from my draft-dodging nutball of a representative Roscoe Bartlett last night. Evidently Roscoe wanted to explain to me why he voted against the State Children’s Health Insurance Programs bill. Not that I needed any explanation. Of course Roscoe would vote against a law providing better health care for children.

What cracked me up were some of the reasons he came up with. Check out reason #8:

Dramatically Increases Taxes on Working Families. The Democrats’ bill hikes tobacco taxes by 61 cents per pack, once again proving that Democrats are harming low-income families they claim to want to help. In April, 15 Democrats acknowledged this fact when they sent a letter to Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt (D-SC) encouraging him not to raise the tobacco taxes in the budget resolution because they were not only regressive but a declining source of revenue. (Section 701)

Smoking is a disgusting and a severely unhealthy habit. I think everyone that smokes should quit, especially people in low-income families. The only thing wrong with a 61 cent per pack tax is that it’s far too low.

It ought to be at least $10 a pack.

I used to smoke. Quiting was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done. The high price of cigarettes was one of the main reasons I didn’t take the habit back up. I thought cigarettes were expensive when I was addicted, but I was addicted. Once I was no longer addicted to nicotine, the high price of cigarettes seemed absolutely ridiculous. It really made me stop and think.

The truth is that if cigarettes were cheap, I probably would have started up again.

If Roscoe Bartlett is going to vote against a bill that helps provide health care for children, it shouldn’t be because it would make it harder for poor families to buy smokes. Once again Roscoe Bartlett uses the power of his office to vote against the best interests of the people in his district.

Last year I did some volunteer work for Andrew Duck, a Democratic candidate for the United States House of Representatives. He sought to represent Maryland’s 6th congressional district against Republican incumbent Roscoe Bartlett. Normally I would automatically support anyone running against Bartlett. Duck was different in that I really thought he would make a good Representative. Unlike chicken-hawk Bartlett, Duck served over 20 years in the United States Army, serving three tours in Bosnia and one tour in Iraq in 2003.

I wasn’t voting against Bartlett, I was voting for Duck.

I guess because of my volunteer work, I ended up on a Maryland Democratic email list. Tonight I received an email inviting me to a special Maryland Democratic Gala event in Greenbelt, Maryland. The keynote speaker at this Gala will be Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley.

To be honest, I don’t really know what a Gala is.

If I want to go to this Gala, I have two options. I can pay $250 and be a regular Gala Guest or I can pay $500 and be a VIP guest. As a $500 VIP, not only would I be attending the Gala, but I would be able to attend the special VIP Reception held prior to the regular old Gala.

The $250 guests don’t get to attend the Reception. I guess they have to sit in their cars and listen to Air America Radio.

There is something horrifically wrong with our political system. I volunteer to deliver VOTE DUCK yard signs to old people and now I get emails from my political party offering to let me hang out with them if I agree to pay enough for the privilege. I should not have to pay $500 to listen to my governor give a speech.

This isn’t how the political process is supposed to work. It is broken.

Roscoe Bartlett
2412 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C.
20515-2006
Dear Roscoe Bartlett –

I’m writing this letter in regards to comments you made shortly after your historic vote last March against the continued funding of our troops in Iraq.

You stated that you were against a time table for withdrawal. Wouldn’t you agree that our military has already accomplished everything they were asked to do? They have:

• Ensured that Iraq is free of weapons of mass destruction.
• Removed Saddam Hussein from power.
• Allowed Iraq to become a democratic and free country.

Our troops have successfully done their job. Now it’s time for you to do yours. You need to work towards bringing them home. Their mission has been accomplished.

You stated back in March that another reason you voted NO was because one-fifth of the spending bill was pork. Expenditures unrelated to our national defense. As though the continued occupation of Iraq has anything to do with the defense of our nation. Now that the Democrats have caved and removed any type of timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, voting YES on the supplemental spending bill should be fairly easy for you to do - unless you really are a fiscal conservative. All that pork is still firmly attached to the bill.

Rick Rottman

Hagerstown, Maryland

My elected representative Roscoe Bartlett has found something else to waste his time on. Evidently he believes that the already existing penalties for cockfighting and dogfighting are somehow not tough enough. Once again he is introducing a law that does nothing to benefit the people of his district. Unless he somehow believes that we are a bunch of blood thirsty cockfighting and dogfighting aficionados. That only tougher federal laws will reign in our desire to witness cock on cock or dog on dog combat.

He recently got a federal law passed that forbids home owner associations from banning the display of the American flag. Something that is already against the law here in Maryland.

Years ago he got a law passed that banned the sale of adult magazines on military bases. Both state-side and overseas. Because of Roscoe Bartlett, 20 year old kids in the military stationed in South Korea cannot buy the same nudie magazines sold in any 7-11 or Sheetz. This from a man that refused to serve in the military.

It’s not like we have a problem with cockfighting or dogfighting here in western Maryland. I’ve never heard of either activities taking place anywhere near here. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not an advocate of animal cruelty. I don’t have much patience for people that abuse animals. I just don’t see a big cockfighting or dogfighting problem here in western Maryland.

I would prefer it if Roscoe Bartlett concentrated on issues that actually pertained to the people he is representing.

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This is a letter to the editor that was published today in the local newspaper, The Herald-Mail.   I'm fairly certain that it's technically considered plagiarism when you republish something from a newspaper on the Internet. My only defense to this example of reckless plagiarism of my local newspaper is that I actually wrote this.  

To the editor:

I was disappointed to see The Herald-Mail chose to endorse Rep. Roscoe Bartlett for another term as the Maryland 6th District's congressional representative. We deserve better. 

Instead of endorsing Bartlett because of the car he drives or because he believes we should all just get used to high gasoline prices, look at his congressional record. He has done little in the last 14 years to benefit the people he is supposed to represent.

For example, Bartlett recently authored a bill that was passed into law that prohibits private homeowner associations from enforcing rules that ban displaying the American flag. Though on the surface this bill seems good and even patriotic, it does not actually benefit the people of the 6th District, or anyone in Maryland.

Our flag-flying rights were already well protected under existing Maryland state law when Bartlett authored his federal bill. I contacted Bartlett's office soon after his bill was signed into law. I asked specifically how this new law actually benefited the citizens of the 6th District. I have yet to receive an answer to my question.

Bartlett avoided serving in the military during a time of war by claiming he wanted to pursue a life in the ministry - a pursuit he abandoned when our country no longer needed him in the military.

Democratic challenger Andrew Duck, who your newspaper failed to endorse, honorably served more than 20 years in the military.

His military career included combat tours in Iraq and Bosnia. I believe that Duck represents what we Marylanders do when it comes to the defense of our great nation.

It was George Washington who gave our state the nickname "The Old Line State" because of the steadfast way Maryland troops conducted themselves.

It was because Maryland troops could always be counted on to hold the line. It was not because we lined up to become members of the clergy instead of going into military service in wartime.

Bartlett voted to authorize President Bush to use military force in Iraq. If Bartlett is once again re-elected, he may again be called upon to make a similar vote. I would rather have someone representing us who has experience with such things. Someone who knows exactly what it means to send American armed forces into harm's way.

Andrew Duck has that experience. Who better to represent us during this time of war than an actual warrior?