Tag: John Murtha

PA Rep. John Murtha (D) Passes away at age 77 Today

Democratic Congressman John Murtha of  Johnstown,Pennsylvania, age 77, has just passed away early this afternoon in Arlington, VA, following complications from gall bladder surgery he had earlier.                    

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…

Murtha, a Vietnam era Marine veteran who was recently best known for being one of the first more “establishment type” Democrats to have enough cajones to criticize President George W. Bush on his Iraq war policy.  Murtha was Chairman of the House Appropriations Sub Committee on Defense.  He served in Congress from 1974 to 2010.  In November of 2005, Murtha, who had visited many injured troops at Bethesda’s military hospital, whose suffering made a deep impression on him, submitted a resolution in Congress calling for the redeployment of US troops in Iraq.

“The United States cannot accomplish anything further in Iraq, militarily. It is time to bring them home. ”

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J…     This statement set off a MSM Faux Outrage Conservative Shitstorm, and helped push some of the nation out of its complacent stupor on Bush’s war in the Middle East.

Altho Murtha was pro- life, he came at it from a respectable viewpoint, in that he was politically liberal on many other issues such as labor and civil rights. Considering his district was conservative western Pennsylvania, which can be been rather “redneck” (Murtha himself used that gloriously un P.C. term to describe some of the less than socially progressive attitudes of some of his district’s residents), he was a leader.  

Murtha is survived by his wife, Joyce, and 3 children, John, Patrick, and Donna, and 3 grandchildren.  

May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. And may you find yourself in heaven, 5 minutes before the Devil knows you’re gone.  RIP, John Murtha

Military Spending:

Many of us are starting to prepare our 2007 taxes, but how many of us know what our tax dollars are actually paying for? FCNL calculates that 43 cents of every dollar {PDF} you’ll pay in taxes go to pay for current and past military activities.

War Is Not the Answer!

Especially WARS Of CHOICE!

And I wish I could have been at the Center for Strategic and International Studies last week.

From the report written about the speach, Murtha and the Cost of the War,  Rep. John P. Murtha gave, any doubters were no more when they left!

Thirteen Congressmen, Thirteen Subpoenas

Anybody who watches Countdown with Keith Olbermann regularly has seen his recurring feature, the Apology Hall of Fame.  In it, the snivelling apology of Congressman federal prisoner Randy “Duke” Cunningham always holds a prominent place.  And well it should.  He’s arguably “the most corrupt Congressman in history”.  (Or at least, right up there.)

Most of that corruption was in conjunction with defense contractor Brent Wilkes.  Wilkes’s criminal trial is coming up, and his defense attorneys have issued subpoenas to 13 sitting Congressmen to appear as witnesses in the trial.  Nine of the 13 are Republicans.

All of them, in consultation with House attorneys, will not honor the subpoenas.  Call me old fashioned, but I always thought subpoenas weren’t optional.  Like if you don’t show up, you’re in contempt of court.  And can get your ass thrown in jail.  But maybe they’re all looking to the White House, and modelling their behavior on that…