Tuesday, February 9, 2010
John, King of Pork Murtha Passes Away @ 77
John Murtha passed away today from complications from gallbladder surgery. He was 77.
It’s too bad he didn’t live longer so he could spend some time in jail for trading earmarks for campaign contributions. My hatred of John Murtha is well known to my family and friends. I was planing on throwing a party when he was hauled off to jail; but that won’t happen now. Here is a man who employed immediate family and former employees and congressional staffers through ear marks. He wasted billions of dollars in tax payer money on projects like an airport that no one uses. When questioned about the billions of dollars in waste and obvious conflicts of interest the former marine would get mad and act tough. He earned the dubious title of “king of pork”.
From USA Today
Murtha had been repeatedly dogged by allegations of corruption, most recently involving his prowess at inserting special-interest spending provisions known as earmarks into Pentagon spending bills.
The House ethics committee announced last year that it was investigating a lobbying firm with close ties to Murtha. In 2008, the FBI had searched the offices of the PMA Group, which was founded by Murtha friend and former aide Paul Magliocchetti. The firm dissolved after the FBI search.
PMA Group’s clients had secured millions of dollars of earmarks sponsored by Murtha and had donated thousands of dollars to Murtha’s campaigns. In December, Murtha’s office said the Office of Congressional Ethics had closed its investigation of the PMA matter and recommended that the House ethics committee do the same. The OCE is an independent office that reviews allegations of ethics violations and makes non-binding recommendations to the ethics committee.
The FBI and other federal agencies have investigated clients of both PMA and KSA Consulting, a lobbying firm where Murtha’s brother, Kit, worked from 2002 to 2006. Three executives of defense companies that hired PMA and KSA Consulting have been convicted of participating in a fraud and kickback scheme involving Air Force contracts. Murtha was not charged or named by authorities as being involved.
Last month, Murtha told The Pittsburgh Tribune Review that his office hadn’t been contacted by federal authorities in connection with the PMA probe. He said accusations that he steered earmarks to PMA clients in exchange for campaign contributions were “pure politics.”
Murtha also was one of the lawmakers targeted in the FBI’s ABSCAM sting in 1980, where undercover agents offered bribes to members of Congress. Murtha was caught on videotape turning down a $50,000 bribe and was not charged, although the federal government named him as an unindicted co-conspirator. Murtha testified against two other congressmen who were convicted.
Here are some links (they may be removed from CREW now that he’s dead) that show just how currupt Jack Murtha was. I’d send condolences to his family but they’re probably too busy looking for real jobs now that they can’t depend on earmarks.
http://www.associate … he_king_of_pork.html
http://www.crewsmost … g/you-dont-know-jack
http://www.crewsmost … summaries/murtha.php
http://www.washingto … AR2009041802128.html
http://www.usatoday. … ha-obit_N.htm?csp=hf
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Americans is dumb
I had a conversation with my brother recently complaining about how stupid Americans are. He came with the perfect analogy. America is like Warren from “There’s Something About Mary”. Perfectly fine in there own world unless you touch his earmuffs. This is how American voters act.
People will not shut the fuck up about deficits and continue to push the idea that Americans have to tighten their belts; so should Washington. Course this is ass backwards. During a recession especially a severe recession you need counter-cyclical spending to make up for the lack of private sector demand. This means either direct spending or some kind of massive (temporary) tax cut. Some people disagree with this saying only the money supply or interest rates matter. Or that government cannot fight the natural cycle of business. However these are not the arguments you hear from American voters. Personally I’ll stick with Keynes. These aren’t left wing ideas. The Financial Times and The Economist routinely give credit to these ideas.
To make matters even worse polls show Americans do not think Obama has done enough to fix the economy. This makes no sense. What should he have done given more speeches? Government cannot create jobs unless you run deficits. I suppose you could have a stimulus plan while at the same time slashing medicare, medicaid, social security and defense spending but no one wants that. The government cannot wave a magic wand and suddenly make everything like it was during the bubble. Only stimulus can do that. If you ask voters if Medicare should be dropped to save money they’ll say no and then talk about earmarks or waste. But of course Medicare and Medicaid are the only things worth cutting. Discretionary spending is only 17% of the budget.
Finally where were these Tea Party asshats when Bush was running massive deficits when not in recession? Or when he passed the prescription drug benefit for old people that wasn’t paid for. God I thought the French were dumb when they protest in the streets all the time for basically no reason. Well America can no longer look down at the French until voters learn some basic economics and stop yelling dumb shit.
Obviously we’re not the only ones who think this. Salon’s Jacob Weisberg wrote the perfect article.
http://www.slate.com/id/2243797
*Sorry for the lack of updates. I’ll have more on how dumb Sarah Palin and Dennis Kucinich are next week.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
The night of the white pants is awesome!
Tom Wilkinson gives an awesome performance. Damn. If you want a good drinking movie with strange characters then this is the movie for you. Selma Blair and her boyfriend meet her screwed up family. A road trip quest of sorts ensues fueled by drugs and alcohol. If you love Selma Blair then you’ll be disappointed that she is missing for most of the movie. Tom Wilkinson is the real star as a Texas businessman who has 2 ex wives and recently had a heart attack that is going through a bitter divorce. The plot falls apart at the end but it is very amusing. Great rental.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
The Public Option Delusion
The Public Option Delusion
Robert Samuelson writes a perfect analysis of the nonsense that is the public option. I could not have articulated it better myself. Why can no one else see this? Ideology blinds people. Educated progressives live in a fantasy land. Read Robert’s article now and sit and think for 5 minutes about why the public option is bunk.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
I suddenly want to vote for Meghan McCain
I suddenly want to vote for Meghan McCain for any political office.
Jesus Meghan McCain looks damn good here. God bless her boredom and twitter. Not sure how smart Meghan is but her heart is in the right place. Her appearance on Bill Maher didn’t go real well but she seemed nervous and was outnumbered. This wonderful twitter picture aside I do like the fact that crazy talk radio loons like Laura Ingraham can’t stand her.
*According to Wikipedia she’s 1 month younger than myself…… hmmmm (stares @ her beautiful cleavage).
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
The Worthless Public Option Finally Dies.
The Worthless Public Option Finally Dies.
Finally the Senate Finance finishes off the worthless public option. Senator Kent Conrad although he is a rube on many economic issues is 100% right on the public option. Switzerland or Japan is preferable to Great Britain. A public option that pays lower than market rates just moves us to government run health care. Single payer then must to rationed.
Mandates and regulation will have to suffice. The best option would be an individual health insurance model with high deductibles and an end to government comprehensive coverage. This won’t happen. Under this plan moderates and sane liberals win; progressives/socialists lose. Now we need to get one or two sane republicans to vote for this to achieve the liberal goal of universal health care for all Americans. The hell with single payer nonsense.
Monday, September 21, 2009
I’m not the only one who thinks William Greider is an idiot so does Krugman…
Circa 1997.
Back when Paul Krugman still had a spine besides his textbooks on economics and international trade he would write various columns and books that really didn’t mince words. Fast forward to the present and now that liberals and progressives have come together to battle Bush and stop McCain Krugman seemingly has lost that blatant edge. I miss the old Krugman who was so merciless to Robert Reich in his book Pop Internationalist.
Anyway I digress. I found a great article that Krugman wrote for Salon back in 1997. I’m going to reread the piece and file it away in my brain so next time someone starts quoting Greider, like William Greider is smart, I can retort “Yeah Paul Krugman said he was a fool”.
The article is on another worthless book Greider wrote on the evils of capitalism and international trade titled One World, Ready or Not: The Manic Logic of Global Capitalism. Another lengthy book that sounds intellectual but according to now Noble Prize winner Paul Krugman is anything but.
God I wish Krugman would return to his old self. The Princeton economist should take no prisoners defending capitalism and free trade from the evils of Nader, Moyers, Greider, Wallach and Senator Brown. I leave readers with a sample of the blunt goodness that was the old Paul Krugman.
Needless to say, I have little hope that the general public, or even most intellectuals, will realize what a thoroughly silly book Greider has written. After all, it looks anything but silly–it seems knowledgeable and encyclopedic, and is written in a tone of high seriousness. It strains credibility to assert the truth, which is that the main lesson one really learns from those 473 pages is how easy it is for an intelligent, earnest man to trip over his own intellectual shoelaces.
Andrew Young your book should be good.
http://www.bostonher … e&position=also
I’d still like to see Edwards in handcuffs for violating campaign finance laws. Andrew Young says they paid off John Edward’s mistress; tried to find a doctor to falsify a DNA test and Edwards planned on marrying his mistress after Elizabeth died.
What do the daily kos people say about Edwards now? I’d look but I’m sure they plan on writting his name in for 2012. “He apologised for Iraq”. Is all they say. Now his political career is over. Good he’s scum. Get that Rustbelt populism out of my party.