Charlie Rangel has heard from the man (err, woman) upstairs about a House ethics probe, and the verdict is — fight, Charlie, fight! “How lucky you are when God tells you that you don’t have to take a plea,” Rangel said during a speech Thursday in Harlem. He later backtracked on communing with God, saying, “I haven’t spoken to Her lately.”

Rangel is losing what few marbles he has left. Meanwhile, one of his buddies on the House Ethics Committee refuses to return campaign cash from the Harlem Democrat and, so far, has declined to recuse himself from deliberations on Rangel’s case. I write of G.K. Butterfield, a Democrat from North Carolina’s first congressional district.

Butterfield sits on the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct and the adjucatory subcommittee that’s weighing the Rangel case. He’s refused to return $3,000 in campaign donations from Rangel or recuse himself. It’s just one example of the many Democrats who have benefited from good ol’ Charlie.