In a vote of 333-79, the House voted yesterday to censure Charlie Rangel. It’s the most serious penalty they could give him short of expulsion.

Let’s reiterate what Rangel actually did, and then we’ll discuss the horrendous penalty.

To summarize briefly, we have blatant and recurring Federal and State tax fraud, illegal use of four rent-controlled apartments in New York City, using his Congressional letterhead to illegally solicit funds for his private foundation from lobbyists for companies he was writing tax regs on, outrageous conflict of interest, failure to declare over $600,000 in income..the sort of stuff that would get you or I locked up for a long time.

Charlie Rangel’s penalty? He’ll be required to stand in the well before his colleagues in the House while a censure resolution is read, which will then become part of the Congressional Record. That’s it. Boo-freaking hoo.And he will stay in Congress.

Rangel lobbied to the end for a ‘reprimand’, a lesser punishment based on the idea that he did not commit the violations for personal gains.

According to Rangel there was “no evidence of corruption, no evidence of self-enrichment found, no evidence there was an intention on my part to evade my responsibility, whether in taxes or whether in financial disclosures.”

As I revealed earlier, that’s exactly what the Rangel Center he solicited corporate and lobbyist donations for was all about.

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The exclusive picture below is via a source in the House. It seems that just as his colleagues appear prepared to censure disgraced Rep. Charles Rangel, he has decided to capitalize upon the deaths of NYC residents who gave their lives in military service to their country from 2006 through 2009, most likely as something of a distraction from his own misdeeds.

And, yet, once, again, Rangel is violating House Rules for his own benefit.

In a rare ritual of public humiliation, House lawmakers Thursday will begin considering censure of Rep. Charles Rangel, a legendary New York politician found to have broken 11 different ethics rules.

The 80-year-old Harlem Democrat was found to have misused congressional perks, failed to pay taxes on some income for 17 years, failed to report assets properly for a decade, and misused a rent-stabilized apartment as a campaign office.

It isn’t that it’s somehow wrong to honor our fallen American heroes, despite a rule clearly prohibiting it, it’s that on the one day his offices are likely to see a larger than ever press presence, Rangel would so brazenly interject them into the news on the very day when the focus of his office should be on Rangel’s own shameful conduct and abuse.

3.4.1 Furnishings of any kind, including but not limited to furniture items (including sign-in/registration tables, pedestals, easels, carpets, rugs and mats); shades, drapes and screens; artwork, exhibits or posters; and trees, flowers and other plans may not be placed in a hallway or exit access.

The source has also informed me that Rangel’s staff appears to have developed the habit of only putting up the display on days when his office is assumed to be coming underseige by the press and it is taken down as soon as the cameras go away. No doubt many patriotic members of the House would like to honor their own home state, or town’s fallen in such a manner, were it not prohibited by House rules.

Clearly the disgraced Rangel has not learned the lesson of playing by the rules, when ignoring them might offer him some potential benefit. Have you no sense of decency, Charlie Rangel, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency at all? Evidently the poster only makes an appearance on bad news days for Rangel, perhaps otherwise being left in some closet somewhere to collect dust.

Tonight, Delegate (or in her self-absorbed world, Congresswoman) Eleanor Holmes Norton responded to reports that she put the squeeze on a lobbyist. Of course, she tried to change the subject:

The conservative blogger, Andrew Breitbart, best known for his misinformation concerning Shirley Sherrod, is trying to mislead again. He is circulating a voice mail of a standard request made by candidates to potential donors who do not know the candidates or their work. Norton, therefore, identified herself as a subcommittee chair and the kind of work she has done in subcommittee. Norton is a longtime supporter of public financing of campaigns, but barring that, candidates from all parties regularly raise funds in calls by first identifying who they are and what they have done. The call was made from campaign headquarters. Her request fully complied with legal and ethical requirements.”

Go here to see if her voicemail was a “standard request.”

Of course, this isn’t Eleanor Holmes Norton’s first brush with possible ethics’ violations. In fact, her first election for Congress was almost derailed by the revelation that she and her husband had decided not to pay DC income tax for seven years.

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In an interesting turn of events this week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was forced by her caucus to pry Rep. Charlie Rangel’s (D-NY) Ways and Means gavel out of his hands and throw Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) under the bus. Then,  she cut Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) loose late Friday afternoon, pressuring Massa to step down just days after allegations surfaced against the one-term Congressman. Rep. Massa will resign his House seat effective Monday, March 9 at 5pm.

Through all of the months of drama of Rangel’s ethics violations, tax evasion, and abuses, Pelosi has stood by Rangel–up to the very end–even being quoted as saying:

After huddling with Rangel for 45 minutes, Pelosi initially said, “No comment” when asked if Rangel remains panel chairman.

She later added, “I guess he is still chair of Ways and Means…”

Although Rep. Rangel has been forced to “temporarily” step down as chair, there have been just about no calls for him to resign his seat. So, what triggered Peolsi’s intolerance to Massa? It appears that she was capitalizing on an event to banish Massa from the House. Could it be that Massa had the audacity to actually represent his constituents and vote Nay on the House healthcare takeover bill?

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This week, the House Ethics Committee found that Rep. Charlie Rangel, Chair of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, violated House rules. There are more pending investigations.