What Price, Treason?

Despite "Jihad Jack" Murtha's treasonous betrayal of the Haditha Marines (for which he has yet to apologize); despite numerous sweetheart deals with cronies who continually line his campaign coffers; despite documented corruption going all the way back to Abscam in the early 1980s; despite all this and more, PA-12 voters have somehow found it within themselves to hold their collective noses at the polling place and re-elect Murtha, time and time-again. All because of Murtha's reputation of "bringing home the pork" for PA-12.

Yes, PA-12 again and again sold their souls elected a self-serving, traitorous politician in the grand tradition of Huey Long and other kings of corruption, because of the millions upon millions of dollars in booty that the corpulent political pirate brought home for his district.

So, what have the voters of PA-12 received in return for selling their souls?

Not much:

The Post analysis illustrates the fleeting success of some of the companies backed by earmarks. Some of the jobs generated by Murtha's earmarks cost about $2 million each, and scores disappeared as soon as projects were completed.

Peter Fiske, a former defense executive in Murtha's district, said awarding earmarks to fledgling companies often backfires, a problem that might be avoided with a more rigorous assessment of project risks. Fiske helped found RAPT Industries, a company that Murtha forecast would generate 45 new jobs. It shuttered its four-person office this year.

"If you looked at Congressman Murtha's efforts in the same way you look at an investor's efforts, it's easy to see that the business model originally conceived hasn't really panned out in terms of its rate of return, " Fiske said.

This is only the tip of the iceberg, of course. Murtha's self-named monument, the airport to nowhere, despite its hefty price tag, still has few flights. An 8-million dollar radar system continues to go un-utilized, due to the fact that there is no one around who is qualified to operate it.

So, PA-12... what did your 30 pieces of silver you deposit at the polling place every two years get you?

The question remains: In 2010, will you continue to pay your tribute to your faux provider-god, or will you finally come to your senses and do yourself (and your nation) a favor and elect an honest man, for once.

~Can't Buy Me Love~

Cause I don't care too much for money, money can't buy me love


Not only is it a great retro Beatles tune, it's a song that Jihad Jack Murtha is getting to know quite well:

A Democratic congressional candidate in Florida returned a campaign check from House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee Chairman John Murtha’s PAC, offering further evidence that Democrats in competitive races are worried about being linked to Murtha, who has come under intense scrutiny for his earmarking practices.

Lori Edwards, running in a GOP-leaning district in Florida, gave back $1,000 in Murtha money earlier this summer, shortly before the House killed a resolution from Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) demanding a probe into earmarks and contributions related to the now-defunct PMA Group lobbying firm, run by former Appropriations Committee aide Paul Magliocchetti. The returned check was revealed in the October campaign finance reports released Wednesday.

More than 100 House members secured earmarks for clients of the PMA Group in the Murtha-written fiscal 2008 defense spending bill alone, and those members had taken in more than $1.8 million in campaign contributions from the PMA Group’s political action committee and its employees since 2001, according to CQ Politics.

Murtha, the most prolific in securing earmarks for PMA clients, had received the second most campaign contributions from the group, behind fellow defense appropriator Pete Visclosky of Indiana.

Flake spent months trying to pressure the House to force an ethics investigation, and around the time Edwards returned her Murtha money, more Democrats were beginning to distance themselves from Murtha. Though Democratic leaders were able to fend off the Flake efforts, 29 Democrats — mostly from swing districts — voted with Flake on one of his Murtha-related resolutions.

Well, Jack--it looks like pretty soon we're gonna have to tie a pork chop around your neck just to get a junkyard dog to play with you.

***Get the most comprehensive information on the lies, distortions, and out-and-out corruption perpetrated by Jack Murtha, anywhere, on Murtha Must Go!!***

Finally, a project worthy of Murtha's Mettle...

Murtha lands $2 million for sewer project.

Seeing as how just about everything that receives taxpayer largesse courtesy of Jihad Jack Murtha gets named after him, I'm just waiting for the newly remodeled facility to be re-named the John P. Murtha Sewer District.

Just sayin.

At the Bidding of the Queen...and other friends in low places...

John Murtha bows...

Relations between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and the Department of Defense grew testy last year when the Pentagon couldn't come up with the aircraft she wanted for congressional travel. But this year the House has a $132 million solution: buy the Air Force more executive jets so Congress can take more junkets.

Roll Call newspaper reports the addition of two unasked-for new Gulfstream 550 jets to the executive aircraft stable at nearby Andrews Air Force Base. It is not even considered an earmark under the rules of the House, just an "expansion" of an existing Air Force mission.

But it isn't hard to trace the influence of House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Murtha, D-Pa. When Ms. Pelosi's demands first surfaced in 2007, Mr. Murtha said the Pentagon was making a "mistake" by being uncooperative.

With Rep. Murtha leaning hard on the Pentagon from his position of control over defense spending, the legislative demands got quite aggressive last year. Judicial Watch, a non-profit watchdog group, earlier this year published an e-mail in which a Pelosi staffer complained, "It is my understanding there are no G5s available for the House during the Memorial Day recess. This is totally unacceptable. ... The speaker will want to know where the planes are."

Of course, the high-flying Madame Speaker of the Universe notwithstanding, having never met an earmark he didn't like, Murtha, as usual, was again quick to reward his campaign contributors:

Murtha got 15 earmarks, worth $61.4 million, for companies whose employees or related political action committees (PACs) donated $199,050 to his campaign or leadership committee since 2007. All have offices, and jobs, in Pennsylvania. This is business as usual for Murtha. Federal prosecutors are investigating a defunct lobbying firm, PMA Group, whose defense clients have contributed heavily to Murtha and remain immensely successful at getting earmarks.

My, Jihad Jack, but what a tangled web we weave, when power through corruption is your plan to achieve.

(Also posted at Murtha Must Go!!)

The Heat Is On...

And Jihad Jack Murtha is feeling a bit hot under the collar:

NEW – National media draws Murtha's ire

The Tribune-Democrat
A visibly angry Rep. John Murtha cut his Showcase for Commerce press conference short this morning after a reporters’ questions about Kuchera Defense Systems of Windber, which is under investigation by the federal government.

Kuchera offices were raided in January and the company was suspended from new Navy contracts last month. The Kuchera family and related companies are major campaign contributors for Murtha.

“What’s that got to do with me?” Murtha shot back to a reporter’s question about the investigation. “What do you think? Do you think I oversee these companies? That’s the Defense Department’s job. That’s not my job. You guys write these stories: You don’t have a clue what this is all about.”

But that's exactly what's bothering you, isn't it, Jack Murtha. The media are actually starting to get a clue, the same clue that we at Murtha Must Go!! have had since we started the blog in May of 2006. That you are a self-serving, self-indulgent, arrogant sorry excuse for a public official who thinks he can do whatever he wants to meet his ends, even going so far as to deny Constitutional rights to those who laid their lives on the line to defend them.

But now it isn't so easy, is it Jack. With two Republican challengers, and even a democrat primary challenger, the power you wielded so recklessly is now slipping through your greasy fingers like sands through an hourglass.

When you were giving your party cover as you declared the Iraq war unwinnable in November of 2005, Jack, you were the toast of the town. The darling of every antiwar moonbat, your eyes set greedily upon the majority leader post in Congress, you thought you were untouchable.

And now your plans are unraveling like a cheap $15 suit from the Goodwill, as you finally receive your comeuppance:

Murtha would not answer a question if he would distance himself from Kuchera, and cut the session off when asked if he had hired a lawyer.

“What kind of question is that?” Murtha fumed, leaving the Frank J. Pasquerilla Conference Center, 201 Napoleon St.

The right kind of question, Jack. The kind of question the media should have asked you long ago.

Better late than never, I guess.

Megalomaniacal Murtha

First he declared the Iraq War all but lost, and more than once called for an immediate withdrawal. Seeing as how the Left just loved him, invited him to all the right parties, and even gave him awards befitting Benedict Arnold, Murtha felt even more brazen in his lust for power, when he declared Marines at Haditha guilty of murder, without any official briefing, again, to further his drive for power.

Then, in 2008, came William Trower Russell. A retired Army Colonel, who still knows the meaning of honor and practices it, Russell had Murtha running scared for the first time in his checkered, scandal-laden political career. So scared was he that he had to call in Bill Clinton to wag his finger at PA-12 constituents in a last-ditch effort to save his sorry, fat, political backside.

Having won re-election, now Murtha is again usurping his power in another nefarious way:

Russell, a retired Army man who plans another run against Murtha next year, now contends that the congressman’s chief of staff used coarse language while threatening to have the GOP candidate “recalled” to active military duty.

Russell further claims that Murtha’s office has contacted his former commanding officer, also to inquire about a potential recall.

“This is a brazen abuse of power and a threat to the integrity of both the Department of Defense and the Congress of the United States,” Russell wrote in a recent fundraising letter to local voters.

Russell, who last year lost by about 15 percentage points to the veteran congressman, said the encounter with Murtha Chief of Staff John Hugya happened at a March banquet benefitting the National Rifle Association in Washington County.

“To my face, (Hugya) said, ‘What are you going to do when we get the new Secretary of the Army seated and have your (expletive) recalled to active duty,’ ” Russell wrote.

Murtha’s office is not denying that the exchange took place.

But spokesman Matt Mazonkey also claims that Russell’s letter leaves out an important part of the conversation.

“Mr. Hugya, who is a retired Marine Colonel, was reminding Mr. Russell that his conduct while in uniform during the last campaign was in violation of sections of the uniform code of military justice” and a Department of Defense directive, Mazonkey said in a written statement.

That directive forbids those on active military duty from campaigning for federal office.

The contention, apparently, is that Russell should be recalled so that he can face charges for allegedly campaigning while he was on a 90-day, active-duty Army assignment last year.

Those allegations have been brewing since last summer. But Russell still contends they are “absolutely false.”

While he was on duty from April 30 through the end of July, Russell said, “the campaign committee operated independently of me.”

And that, my friends, is absolutely TRUE. William Russell did not personally begin campaigning until his discharge from the Army. But don't let a little thing like the truth get in the way of Jihad Jack Murtha holding on to power like a hooker grasps her last 5 dollar bill.

Bottom line is, to Jack Murtha, the Constitution and the rights it extends may as well be a roll of toilet paper. He will crumple it, trample it, and do anything he can to extend his reach on his power.

Megalomania? You bet.

PA-12-- are you starting to get buyer's remorse yet?

W.T.F?

Murtha has gotten an award... from the Navy?

The U.S. Navy awarded U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., its Distinguished Public Service Award, triggering an Internet campaign to have Navy Secretary Donald C. Winter withdraw it.

Murtha, who publicly accused U.S. Marines of cold-blooded murder in a firefight in Haditha, Iraq, and was caught on camera in the Abscam scandal appearing to negotiate a bribe, was honored by the Navy for his "selfless devotion to the Nation's Sailors and Marines."

The award credits him with making sure the military services "were provided the resources necessary to effectively conduct the Global War on Terrorism."

"His courageous leadership, vision, and loyalty to the men and women of the Department of the Navy greatly contributed to their quality of life and helped create the most modern and highly trained fighting force in history," the honor said.

This is like giving Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge an award for his humane treatment of the Hmong. I don't know, Maybe Winter saw fit to hand ol' Jihad Jack an award because it was Marines that he threw under the bus? Or was it some quid-pro-quo and some palm-greasing PR gesture, knowing that Murtha holds the purse strings for the stuff the Navy needs?

At any rate, this better be some really twisted joke. I know at least twelve Marines and their families who I'm sure don't find this amusing at all.

If you're as disgusted with this as I am, please sign this petition.

**UPDATE***

As of this writing, there are 17,934 signatories asking this honor be revoked.

Murtha: "See This? This is the Constitution!"

Murtha: As arrogant as ever!



Yes, Jihad Jack, Murtha--that is the Constitution in your grubby, slimy, greasy, blood-stained hands. That is the Constitution that you so cavalierly discarded when you played judge, jury and executioner to the Marines in Haditha, including Lt. Colonel Chessani, Sgt. Wueterich, and Lance Corporal Justin Sharratt, whose father is a contributor to this blog. That very Constitution that you held in your hand is the one you put in the chipper shredder as you threw these gallant Marines under the bus for your own sorry-assed political gain.

Then you have the chutzpah to pull it out of your pocket and tell reporters, PA-12 voters, and the American people that that same Constitution gives you the right to do as you please like you're some kind of friggin' emperor?

I can't wait til this PMA investigation comes through, Jihad Jack. I can't wait to see you in handcuffs and leg-irons as you're frog-marched into a federal courtroom. I can't wait for the day when you're introduced to your new roommate, Bubba at the Federal Penn. Hope you have plenty of vaseline handy.

Yep, Jihad Jack, that day can't come too soon in my book.

Well...We Tried To Tell You...

Markos over at the Daily Kos has let loose on Murtha.

Well, we tried to tell them.

A Response to the Pennsylvania GOP...

Although I don't live in Pennsylvania, I somehow got on the PA-GOP email list, and was sent a fundraising letter for a supposedly up and coming PA GOP star who wants money.

Well and good, but the PA-GOP has an absolute treasure trove from which to rally around the troops if it so chose, but instead, it chooses to sit on it.

Below was my rant response:

Dear PA-"GOP."

Right now you have a United States Congressman; a Democrat, at that, who is embroiled in the middle in a huge scandal with a pay-for-play, quid-pro-quo lobbying firm that is finally closing its doors because they know that the gig is up.

Perhaps you've heard of this congressman. Yeah, from PA-12... ever hear of him?!?

You know.. John "Jihad Jack" Murtha.

Oh, you have? Perhaps in passing?

Well, PA-"GOP" leaders-- I have a question for you regarding Jack "Jabba The Hut" Murtha, who just happens to reside in your own backyard. And that question is:

What is your MAJOR MALFUNCTION, PA-GOP?!?!

Why aren't you shouting from the rooftops from one end of the gerrymandered confines of PA-12 to the other the incontrovertible FACT that JACK MURTHA IS
A LYING, TRAITOROUS CROOK?!?!

Or are you, too, as deep in his slime-filled pocket as are a lot of defense contractors, lobbying firms, front-end laundering operations and dirty congressmen?

Why did you NOT LIFT A FINGER to help when William Russell ran against Murtha??!?

Why did your local... ah-hem... Johnstown-area "REPUBLICAN" leadership try to get Russell, an honored military veteran, thrown off the ticket???

As you may or may not know, I and a number of very talented, passionate folks have run a blog called "Murtha Must Go!!" and we have since 19 May, 2006 chronicled Murtha's misdeeds, from Abscam to Haditha and beyond.

Congressman John P. Murtha made it personal for me when he went and unjustly pronounced guilt against the Marines in the Haditha incident. On national TV. He did this when my own son was in theatre and in harm's way.

As you can imagine, this didn't sit too well for me.

So, from a livingroom in friggen St. CLOUD, Minnesota, I and my compadres (living in places like North Dakota, Texas, Chicago, and yes, one or two in Pennsylvania) have done more to expose this creep in the past two and three-quarter years than you and your ENTIRE STATE PARTY have done for the past 34 years that the gasbag has been in office!!

Murtha deserves to be spending the remainder of his days in an 8 x 10 cell in Leavenworth, not roaming the hallowed halls of congress!

What's it going to take to get the local and state PA-"GOP" leadership to finally get off of their, as Murtha would say, "Big fat backsides" and get this clown out of office, once and for all, if not behind bars??!?

As I've stated before, I (and I'm sure I can speak for my co-contributors) are more than willing to do the heavy lifting that's requried to expose this creep.

But it's high time you as a state party start putting cronyism aside and concentrate on principles, for a change. You call yourself "Republicans"--well then start acting like REPUBLICANS, already, instead of a group of obsequious toadies that kowtow to corruption!

Exasperated and Flummoxed,

Leo J. Pusateri, Jr., founder and editor

Murtha Must Go!!

Be Still My Heart!!!

While browsing the net today, I came upon this headline:

Murtha to Step Down

"Gads!" I thought, "could it really be? Could it be that the most corrupt politician to come down the pike since Huey Long has finally had his comeuppance?" So I clicks on the headline, and finds this:

BRATTLEBORO -- After nearly 14 years serving on bench, U.S. District Court Judge J. Garvan Murtha will move to senior status this July.

Murtha, approaching 68, said Tuesday that he has fulfilled all the requirements in the full-time position and decided to step down in order to give someone else the opportunity to be a federal judge.

Curses. I certainly look forward to that day when such a headline will be attributed to the target of this blog.

Murtha and Kuchera Industries: Follow the Money!

As I posted yesterday, the FBI raided a Pennsylvania defense contractor with strong ties to our very own Jihad Jack Murtha. What I didn't know was just how entwined our porcine earmark king was with the bigwigs at Kuchera Defense Systems:

Over the last several years, Murtha, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, has helped steer more than $100 million in contracts to Kuchera, a government contractor founded in 1985 by Bill Kuchera. The company and its employees have donated more than $65,000 dollars to Murtha’s re-election campaign and leadership PAC, according to Federal Election Commission records.

How many more times are the folks in PA-12 going to send this slime-laden, corrupt bloated dinosaur of a politician back to what should be a position of trust in Washington? How many times must he be caught with his fat, greasy fingers in the cookie jar before PA-12 voters finally get sufficiently disgusted to say, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH?!?"

(Cross-posted at Murtha Must Go!!)

Murtha won't let military directly lobby for their needs

It has long been known that Jack Murtha has been living high off the hog with regard to earmarks that have been given to his military contracting buddies. As a matter of fact, he's making such good money from his beneficiaries that he wants to streamline the earmark process: He plans to bypass advice by members of the military altogether:

The House’s top defense appropriator has pledged to help strengthen the role of the Pentagon’s comptroller in an effort to curb lobbying by the military services for their controversial programs.

Why should he listen to the military, as the military itself doesn't provide Jack with campaign contributions.

As I've stated before, Jack Murtha does nothing without there being something in it for Jack Murtha. To Jack Murtha, the military is merely a tool he uses to keep his fat backside in power, or to advance his political career, a/la his slanderous declaration of guilt toward the Haditha Marines.

I don't know; perhaps I'm a bit too cynical. I'm absolutely positive that there is no lobbying going on when Concurrent Technologies receives a taxpayer-funded porkbarrel contract to the tune of $200 million dollars... or is there?

Yet, the Murtha situation is very troubling when you look at CTC’s Form 990. With the exception of three individuals listed on the schedule of officers and directors, all have contributed to Murtha’s congressional campaigns since 2002.

[SNIP]

The Times also notes that CTC has paid somewhere around $500,000 to a lobbying firm. The lobbying firm's executives and clients have contributed over $1.2 million to Murtha in campaign contributions (the Times refers to these as donations) since 1999, according to the Times.

So we have a congressman who was a driving force behind the creation of this tax-exempt entity. That same congressman is earmarking significant amounts of money to that organization. Those who are in control of the organization (several of whom receive significant salaries from CTC) contribute large amounts of money to the congressman’s campaign. We can only wonder how the entity distributes the federal grant money within the local community.

I mean, with sweetheart deals like that, why should Murtha even bother to take the time listen to those pesky military folks who actually know what they need?

I mean, there's gold in them there earmarks, right, Jihad Jack?

(Cross-posted at Murtha Must Go!!)

On Calling a Spade a Spade...

Amen Terry Everett!

WASHINGTON - Republican Rep. Terry Everett of Alabama unleashed an unusually harsh attack on a House colleague, calling decorated Vietnam War veteran John Murtha, D-Pa., a cut-and-run idiot.

"Don’t talk to me about defense," Everett, who is retiring at the end of this term, said during a radio interview this week. "Cut-and-run John Murtha is in charge of the appropriations committee for defense and he is certainly no friend of the military.

"And don’t talk to me about him being an ex-Marine. Lord, that was 40 years ago. A lot of stuff can happen in 40 years. Thank you for your service as being an ex-Marine but that doesn’t mean you’re (not) an idiot, and he is," Everett said of Murtha.

Of course Murtha was shocked, shocked, I tell you!

Murtha, the House’s biggest recipient of home-state pet projects and a key distributor of them to other lawmakers as chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, has been a leading critic of the war in Iraq. His spokesman, Matthew Mazonkey, said in a statement that Murtha would not "stoop to that level" by responding to personal attacks.

Not surprising, to tell you the truth. Since the ol' gasbag "Jihad Jack" has still refused to respond to the fact that made personal attacks of his own when he falsely accused some Marines of being cold-blooded killers.

Like I've always said about Jihad Jack, he supports our troops like arsonists support firefighters.

Murtha's self-centered, reckless actions literally made life a living hell for Marines whose only crime was following ROE. Not to mention a living hell for their families.

And no apologies. Not. One. Word.

Where are the apologies, Jack Murtha? Where is your resignation, Jack Murtha?