Rush Hour: Rangel on the Ropes, Facebook's Privacy Holes, and Citi's Fine

Today's hot business topics, boiled down to a couple of arbitrary quotes, comments, and tweets.

On the ethics charges against Representative Charles Rangel, his "deal" with Democrats, and the Republican position that it's time for a trial.

"But to say that Rangel is the only one mixed up in the unsavory combination of cash, influence, and policymaking would be disingenuous…. It's not about Republicans or Democrats or just some random members. It's not a few bad apples—it's the whole damn barrel that's rotten." —Nick Nyhart, CEO of Public Campaign, writing in the Huffington Post.

"Rangel should be getting spitted and grilled like what should have happened to the Tataglias in Coppola's The Godfather." —mockiusphilper wrote in his first-ever Twitter post.

On the news that the personal data of between 100 million and 170 million Facebook users was posted on BitTorrent:

"You have to trust that Facebook knows what it’s doing with your information. And if you cannot trust Facebook to keep your information safe, perhaps you shouldn’t have an account there?" —Nicholas Deleon writing on CrunchGear.

"The whole case has stirred up a predictable firestorm of responses from privacy campaigners who fear that somehow this informati0n could be put to evil ends. Well, no doubt it could. But on the other hand, if you want to get back in touch with people you’ve maybe not seen in a long while, there’s little sense hiding behind a shield of anonymity. The very point of social-networking sites is their openness." —Paul Carpenter, a search marketing professional in the United Kingdom, writing on his company's site.

On Citigroup and the SEC settling for $75 million:

"The lack of transparency is what caught the SEC’s ire, but it was the decision to take on that much risk in the first place that was the original sin." —Michael Corkery writing in the Wall Street Journal.