Did Murtha violate House ethics rules?

Pelosi and Company, made promises about being the most ethical Congress ever. Two words................Jack Murtha....................followed by two more...................Bull S^&*



A published report that U.S. Rep. Jack Murtha “threatened to withdraw support from a defense project” after a spat with fellow U.S. Rep. Todd Tiahrt may have placed him afoul of House ethics rules, research by the Majority Accountability Project (majorityap.com) has found.
The Code of Official Conduct of the U.S. House of Representatives states that a Member “may not condition the inclusion of language to provide funding for a congressional earmark…on any vote cast by another Member.”
Another memorandum from the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct states that Members “are prohibited from taking or withholding any official action on the basis of…support of the involved individuals,” further noting that those rules apply to “all official actions taken by Members and staff, including with regard to legislation.”
According to the May 8, 2007, report in the Hill newspaper, Murtha was irate that Tiahrt voted against a $23 million project in Murtha’s district. Murtha allegedly retaliated “by unleashing a loud, finger-jabbing, spittle-spraying piece of his mind” against Tiahrt, threatening to withdraw his support for a project that would create between 800-1,000 jobs in the Kansas Republican’s district.
In addition to the advisory opinion from the House ethics committee, the Code of Ethics for Government Service states that government officials should “never discriminate unfairly by the dispensing of special favors or privileges to anyone.”
Murtha has been a controversial figure for more than 30 years.
In the early 1980’s, Murtha was named an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the Abscam investigation, an FBI sting operation where agents posed as Arab sheiks and offered bribes to a host of elected officials. Six members of Congress - one Senator and five U.S. Representatives - were later convicted of conspiracy and taking bribes.
More recently, questions were raised about Murtha’s relationship with the lobbying firm of his brother, Robert “Kit” Murtha. According a 2005 Los Angeles Times study, Murtha authored legislation that “benefited at least 10 companies represented” by Kit Murtha’s firm, costing taxpayers almost $21 million dollars. Another employee of the firm was Carmen Scialabba, “who worked for Rep. Murtha for 27 years.”
Scialabba’s name surfaced in another report as well, after he founded a non-profit agency in Johnstown, Pa, in 2001. “The next year, with Scialabba still on his staff,” the Washington Post reported, “Murtha secured a half-million dollars for the group, the Pennsylvania Association for Individuals With Disabilities (PAID), and put another $150,000 in the pipeline for 2003.”
In June, 2006, the Washington Times reported that Murtha “leaned on U.S. Navy officials to sign a contract to transfer the Hunters Point Shipyard to the city of San Francisco.” According to that report, “Laurence Pelosi, nephew of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, at the time was an executive of the company which owned the rights to the land.”
Earlier this year, Murtha was reportedly at the center of a controversy over Pelosi’s request for “a bigger, swankier government airplane than her Republican predecessor had used for trips back to her home.”
According to the San Francisco Chroncile, Murtha intervened on Pelosi’s behalf with Pentagon officials. “But he denied pressuring the Pentagon,” Edward Epstein wrote. "I don't need to pressure them,” Murtha told the reporter. “I just tell them what they need to do.”
The same story contained what some may consider a veiled threat by Murtha, when he criticized Pentagon staff. “They're making a mistake when they leak it because (Pelosi) decides on allocations for them,'' Murtha said.
Several newspapers, including the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Los Angeles Times, questioned whether controversies surrounding Murtha damaged his ultimately-unsuccessful bid for Majority Leader at the start of the 110th Congress

Coburn to Introduce Commonsense Amendments

The man's not from Texas..............but he's close

Coburn to Introduce Commonsense Amendments


Sen. Tom Coburn (R.-Okla.) is set to introduce three commonsense amendments to the Water Resources Development Act to prioritize federal spending.A statement from his office said, "By taking up this bill before emergency funding has been provided to U.S. troops on the frontlines, Congress has failed to take care of national security needs before addressing its own parochial interests."According to information from his website, his first amendment to WRDC will provide emergency funding for U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan without unnecessary pork barrel spending and without mandating surrender or retreat.His second amendment will require that the needs of all Louisiana residents displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita are met before spending money to design or construct a visitors center near Morgan City, Louisiana.This third amendment to the bill will require that the residents of Sacramento be protected from the threat of floods before federal funds are spent to add sand to beaches in San Diego.If you have a minute, you should call or email your senators to ask them to support Coburn's commonsense proposals.

Lou Dobbs: The Next Don Imus?

Sunday night's "60 Minutes" on CBS featured a story about CNN's Lou Dobbs that strangely included the comments of a monitor of "hate groups." The implication was that there might be something hateful about Dobbs' opposition to illegal immigration and open borders. Dobbs may not know it yet, but he is being set up as the next Don Imus.

While the story showed reporter Lesley Stahl exchanging pleasantries with Dobbs and interviewing him and his wife, the inclusion of Dobbs critic Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center was ominous. It is an indication that certain political views, mostly of a conservative nature, are being put into the same category as the Don Imus racist joke that got him fired from CBS Radio and MSNBC. The threat of political censorship in America has never been more real than it is today. And Dobbs isn't the only target..........................

http://www.aim.org/aim_column/5442_0_3_0_C/



This has been coming for quite a while. On one of the Catholic Channels they were having a discussion about gay marriage, one of the points made was that if you come out against gay marriage, you might be labeled as a bigot, thus affecting your standing in the work place.
They cannot win in the arena of ideas, so they strike to drive us out by legislating us out.
Everyone need to realize what is really at stake here and rise to the occasion.......it is time
start defending ourselves.

WP

"The Vanguards of Freedom"

Written by Ron Ewart

Used with permission.

All the great men and heroes of the last 250 years, started and ended over a thousand times higher than where I stand today. Most were men of privilege and ambition, as were the founders and defenders of America and America's freedom. Most aspired to shape the future and leave their mark upon it, sometimes for personal gain, other times for the benefit of man. Most were dogged by failure, even though history recorded their successes. Many were insecure, as was Winston Churchill, but still he pressed forward, in spite of that insecurity, because he believed and had confidence in himself and his appointment with destiny.

Most of these great men were visionaries and could divine the future from present events. Most were men of courage, like George Washington, and although out-numbered and out-gunned, he stood steadfast in the face of overwhelming odds. We owe our very freedom to him, and men like him. Most understood human nature and used that knowledge to direct their own actions. Although destined to follow a common path, many strayed from the path, or took issue with the prevailing wisdom. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, two men who worked tirelessly on our founding documents, became bitter enemies during the presidential election in the early 1800s. These differences among men sometimes altered the course of events in a positive way. Other differences would lead us down dead-end paths, or put our very freedom and security in grave peril, as it is today.

Some men would pick up the sword, musket or cannon to advance their cause, while still others would pick up the pen. Thomas Paine was just such a man, who used his pen to move men through inspiration, during the revolution from which America was born. On the night before George Washington led his troops across an ice-jammed river into a British encampment, in which defeat was all but assured, General Washington read Thomas Paine's inspirational words to his troops to ready them for battle. Did those words turn the tide of battle to victory? Perhaps.

In the hearts of all men lay the seeds of the opposing forces of good and evil. Fortunately for history, in that eternal struggle, the good most often defeats that tenacious of all enemies, evil. And so it was, 230 years ago, the forces of good, won out against evil. Men of good will entered into a battle that would alter the course of history forever. A vastly different kind of freedom would be born on a new continent. In this new freedom, individual rights became sacrosanct, inalienable, and an irrevocable gift from our creator. Government was instituted among men to preserve, protect and defend those inalienable and irrevocable rights. For the last 100 years or more, government has failed miserably in this solemn duty, as we lay sleeping.

Even today, as we drown in the fog of our own prosperity and look for the easiest paths to take, while ignoring the clear and present dangers that confront us from foreign and domestic foes, men of courage and vision are still on guard. They are still looking into the future and warning us of what lies ahead. They are the vanguards, the scouts and the early-warning alarm to the many who have forgotten that freedom comes at a price. These vanguards cannot hold onto freedom all by themselves. They must be able to wake the masses from the deep sleep of apathy. They must be the signalmen of the "one-if-by-land", or "two-if-by-sea" lights in the old North Church. We can only hope that soon, the people will wake from their slumber, and see and act on the signal, before it is too late. The fate of individual freedom could very well hang in the balance.

Ron Ewart is the President of the National Association of Rural Landowners, (NARLO) (www.narlo.org) a non-profit corporation headquartered in Washington State and dedicated to restoring, maintaining and defending property rights for landowners.

God and Country

It dumbfounds me on a consistent basis how so many question our founding fathers basing our country on the Christian religion. Quote after quote is to be found where our founders gave praise to God for the blessing they enjoyed and accrued.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Declaration of Independence

I have lived, Sir, a long time; and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this Truth, that God governs in the Affairs of Men. And if a Sparrow cannot fall to the Ground without his Notice, is it probable that an Empire can rise without his Aid? Benjamin Franklin

I now make it my earnest prayer, that God would have you, and the State over which you preside, in his holy protection, that he would incline the hearts of the Citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to Government, to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow Citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for their brethren who have served in the Field, and finally, that he would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all, to do Justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that Charity, humility and pacific temper of mind, which were the Characteristicks of the Divine Author of our blessed Religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy Nation. George Washington

"It is the right as well as the duty of all men in society, publicly and
at stated seasons, to worship the Supreme Being, the great Creator and
Preserver of the universe.  And no subject shall be hurt, molested, or
restrained in his person, liberty, or estate, for worshipping God in the
manner and season most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience;
or for his religion profession of sentiments; provided he doth not
disturb the public peace, or obstruct others in their religious
worship...."

Massachusetts Bill of Rights, Part the First, 1780


Today as we slide further and further into some sort of
depraved abyss, where Christian's are forbidden to pray in
school, Muslims aren't.
Where homosexuality has no social taboo, and the word bitch's
and 'ho's are allowed to describe women, one has but to
look around and see that maybe
our founders knew something that we have overlooked.

WP

There is a God

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A judge sentenced Paris Hilton to 45 days in county jail Friday for violating her probation, putting the brakes on the hotel heiress' famous high life.

Hilton, who parlayed her name and relentless partying into worldwide notoriety, must go to jail by June 5 and she will not be allowed any work release, furloughs, use of an alternative jail or electronic monitoring in lieu of jail, Superior Court Judge Michael T. Sauer ruled after a hearing.

I know I'm not supposed to take pleasure in someone else's misfortune, but I don't see this as misfortune. Miss Hilton has been given wealth beyond imagining. She has had every opportunity to become a productive member of society and squandered them all. I'm certain the department stores love her.
She is the poster child of the Left's seething hatred of wealth and productivity. That's why the MSM fixates on her. They want us all to believe she represents the wealthy in America. She does not. To group this person together with Tracy's BYA 24/7 brothers and sisters is a gross injustice.

The judge, saying "there's no doubt she knew her license had been suspended," ruled that she was in violation of the terms of her probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case.

She does, however, represent a subset of our society that thinks the rule of law does not apply to them. People like Representative William Jefferson, Democrat, LA, and Senator Diane Feinstein, Democrat, CA. They won't be seeing the inside of a jail cell any time soon.

"I'm very sorry and from now on I'm going to pay complete attention to everything. I'm sorry and I did not do it on purpose at all," she told the judge before he announced the sentence.

She was then ordered to report to a women's jail in suburban Lynwood by the set date or face 90 days behind bars. The judge's ruling excluded her from paying to serve time in a jail of her choice, as some are allowed.

So Paris had better not oversleep on June 5th. If she does, the jail time doubles. The only remaining question is what the title of the "reality" TV show will be. My money's on "Jailbird".

How Hillary's Hit Man Got Imus

One of the most dangerous women in America..................


How Hillary's Hit Man Got Imus

Do you think something is fishy about the Don Imus affair? Why was the boom lowered on him at this time? The answer may have something to do with his main accuser, the Media Matters group, which is emerging as a front organization for Senator Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and has extensive ties to the national Democratic Party. In firing Imus, NBC News and CBS got rid of one of Hillary’s major political enemies in the media.

Glenn Thrush of Newsday wrote a revealing September 7, 2006, article about the relationship between Senator Clinton and David Brock, the former conservative who runs Media Matters. Calling it the “Clinton-Brock alliance,” Thrush revealed that Hillary “advised Brock on creating the group” and “chats with him occasionally and thinks he provides a valuable service…” Thrush added, “For her part, Clinton’s extended family of contributors, consultants and friends has played a pivotal role in helping Media Matters grow from a $3.5 million start-up in 2004 to its current $8.5 million budget.”

Another key funding source for Media Matters (and much of the left-wing movement in this country) is George Soros, the billionaire financial speculator who profits at the expense and decay of Western civilization. His causes include legalization of marijuana and other drugs, gun control, abortion rights, gay rights, rights for felons, opposition to the death penalty, rights for illegal immigrants, and euthanasia. On foreign affairs, Soros, a big backer of the United Nations, is associated with opposition to the U.S. policy of resisting the rise of radical and anti-American Islamic groups and states. He spent $26 million in 2004 trying to defeat President Bush.

Media Matters receives Soros money through the Democracy Alliance, a group of wealthy “progressive” donors that was the subject of rumors in the left-wing press that it was a front group for Hillary’s 2008 presidential campaign...................

The Will to Win

The US Marine Corps book on Strategy and Tactics, "Warfighting" states that an army's ability to hold a position is dependent on the commander's willingness to hold that position.

As we have seen in recent weeks the Demo's are prepared to cave at the drop of a hat. They are certain that the way the world works is that everyone just needs a big hug. That by sitting and talking and negotiating, (read US pays) everything will be fine and no one will get hurt.
All of us that have children know, sometimes you have to draw a line and just dare someone to step over, and if they do there has to be consequences.
The same applies with dealing with other countries.(See Cuban Missile Crisis)
The Viet Cong are really the ones we should have learned from. Ho Chi Minh once said "For every one of you we kill you will kill ten of us, but in the end you will be the one who tires of it".
He was right they were the ones willing to hold their position and they won. That road was too hard and America was growing soft.
Today its Iraq and once again the road is hard and we are showing how much softer we have become.
With the big Brown Bear and the Red Dragon pushing, wondering how far they can get,
all we have is the Dem's holding out their arms to hug anyone who need it.
They are, inviting in millions of immigrants who we cannot afford, are willing to cut our defense budget, allow the UN to guide our thinking, they would remove our nuclear arsenal, disarm our citizens, and bond us with a socialist country to the north, and a country of poor led by a corrupt government and riddled with drug dealing murdering cartels to our south, for which the burden of cost of assimilation would fall upon those making 200,000 a year and up. Not to mention the
probable increase in taxes for the rest of us.
The rise of Militant Islam is a real threat to America, the potential destruction of one of our major cities might just be a blow that we will recover from, but an all out confrontation with Russia/China might not be.
Who is there that will lead us? Upon what vision shall we rely upon to show us the way?
At the moment rest assured it is not the willingness to win.

WP

VETO

I guess the President has the balls to do what is necessary. He has vetoed the bill with the troop withdrawal timeline. The voters last Nov. wanted change in Iraq not surrender. The Dem's want votes and care not what is in the best long term interest of our country. They think that the populous want an end to Iraq, well they do, an end where the actions of the American military and the lives lost have a meaning, a purpose and a legacy. Not another anti-American conclusion.
From where I stand the Dem's do not understand the principles of our country, nor do they support the America that our forefathers established thru the sacrifice of their lives and fortunes.
One begins to wonder what do they support, what do they love, what is it they want this country to become.
I am afraid that their vision will cause the deaths of many innocent Americans.

Bush Vetoes Troop Withdrawal Bill