Fact-esque

We Don't Need Don't Ask Don't Tell

Cong. Patrick Murphy (my Congressman) is going to champion the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell. Watch him participate in a hearing about it back in July of 2008. It's one of my favorite political videos because he does such a good job of exposing the flawed logic and stupid lies behind the argument that allowing gays and lesbians to serve would damage "unit cohesion."

Re: DNC National Security Day!

I have been inspired by Mick to recount my impressions of National Security Day at the DNC. 

Most appalling three paragraphs spoken consecutively

I heard Sen. Harry Reid start to speak via my radio and threw the thing across the kitchen after listening to the opening three paragraphs of his speech. 

Wars were funded by, impossible without, and usually fought over oil.
Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, the Nazi invasion of Russia, Iraq's
invasion of Kuwait, and countless other conflicts have been based in whole
or in part on the world's addiction to oil. Even today, dictators and
authoritarians from Venezuela to Russia, from Sudan to North Korea, base
their actions-and their power to oppress their citizens and threaten their
neighbors-solely on access to or sale of oil on the world market.

    Since the turn of the new century, those hard facts have come home to
America in the most vicious way. Attacked at home by oil-funded terrorists,
at war abroad with oil-funded insurgents, threatened in global markets and
faced with acquisition of our industrial base by oil-funded multinationals,
we must defend America or face her utter destruction.

    If we continue to follow this slippery, oil-slicked, downward-winding
path, our citizens will shiver in darkness as our resources hemorrhage to
Third World thugs whose only virtue is their control of petroleum-based
energy.

I know I'm not the target audience for these speeches or really for any part of the convention but this level of propaganda and deceit makes my head and my patriotic heart hurt.  There has to be a way to address the issue of oil's role in modern warfare without pretending that America has been some sort of innocent victim of that warfare all along.  And that last paragraph is the worst.  Our resources are going to hemorrhage to where and whom?  Is that just a very confusing and dishonest way of saying that it's our oil, they just live (at our pleasure) on it?   

Funniest sentence

From Joe Biden:

You know, my mom taught her children -- all the children who flocked to our house -- that you're defined by your sense of honor and you're redeemed by your loyalty.

I'm sure.  Look, after eight terrible years of a president who spoke to us on a third grade level, I'm all for elevating the discourse but not only do I not understand what that sentence means in the context of how one communicates with children, I don't believe it.  I stopped watching after that.   

Best speech of the night

Rep. Patrick Murphy, from the 8th Congressional District of the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.   

For eight long years, we've had a president who rushed to stand with soldiers at political rallies but abandoned them at Walter Reed. We've had a president who spent billions on private contractors but not on body armor for our troops. We've had a president who was there for the photo ops, but AWOL when it came to doing right by our veterans. It is time for a change.

Put Him in the Senate

Hey, according to E.J. Dionne's sources, my congressman fought to do the right thing:

At one point, according to participants in the Pelosi meeting, the passionate discussion veered toward the idea of standing up to the administration -- even at the risk of handing President Bush a chance to bash Democrats on "national security," as is his wont.

Several members from swing districts -- including Reps. Heath Shuler of North Carolina and Patrick J. Murphy of Pennsylvania -- expressed openness to having Congress stay in town to fight if important constitutional issues were at stake.

But the moment passed. Even some very liberal Democrats worried about the political costs of blocking action before the summer recess. That Saturday night, the House sent the president a bill that, as a disgusted Rep. David Wu (D-Ore.) put it, with just a touch of exaggeration, "makes Alberto Gonzalez the sheriff, the judge and the jury."

Most Democrats opposed the bill, but 41 (including Shuler) voted yes, allowing it to pass. (Murphy remained passionately opposed.) The one Democratic victory: The legislation expires in six months, meaning the debate will resume this fall. But Rep. John F. Tierney (D-Mass.) warned his colleagues that "when you give up your rights under the Constitution, it is not likely you are going to regain them."

Who knows if it's true, but if it is, it's pretty cool.   

Mother Nature Needs a Favor

So it's 5:15 in the morning and, thanks to this storm, I've been up all night struggling to stop a rising watertable from flooding my basement.   As you can imagine, I'm less than completely inclined to say nice things about nature right now.   In fact I feel like Montgomery Burns, when Principal Skinner encouraged him to recycle: "Oh, so Mother Nature needs a favor? Well, maybe she should have thought of that when she was besetting us with droughts and floods and poison monkeys.  Nature started the fight for survival and she wants to quit because she's losing? Well, I say hard cheese!" 

But after spending most of big part of my Saturday morning at the Lower Bucks County Center  for Church and Community's Step It Up expo devoted to avoiding the horrible consequences of global warming, I'm feeling urgently charitable toward the planet, so here goes.

The event was held in Pavilion 11 at Core Creek Park in Langhorne.   Although there were tables for baked goods and fresh fruit and politicians at every level of government were scheduled to make the rounds, (Congressman Murphy headlined) the atmosphere was more science fair than county fair.   Tables set with tri-fold display boards lined the pavilion.  There was even a solar oven made out of a cardboard box and aluminum foil that looked exactly like the one I made with my best friend in eighth grade.   And like a science fair, it was an event designed to teach.   

The Sierra Club was there to talk about using fluorescent bulbs and the promise of sustainable development and their Cool Cities initiative, which Doylestown Boro and Lower Makefield Township are exploring.  The Bucks County Board of Commissioners sent a representative to let people know how to get rid of their hazardous household waste (pdf).  The Bucks County Foodshed Alliance was there to promote local and sustainable produce by announcing the opening of the Middletown Grange Farmers Market, which will happen May 26.   Of course there were several churches there to share their choirs, sell baked goods, promote faith-based ecology programs and otherwise celebrate the drive to protect Earth.

You can click on the links above to read about those various plans.  I'm going end here by listing two sets of steps you can take right now to make the effects of global warming less dangerous to yourself and the world.   The first was from a pledge that was posted in the middle of the expo.  By signing it you agreed to:

1. Reduce thermostat settings by 2 degrees in the winter and increase them 2 degrees in the summer.
2. Reduce driving speed by 3 mph at speeds over 60 miles per hour.
3. Replace 3 frequently used light bulbs with compact fluourescent bulbs.

Those couldn't be easier.   

The second list comes from Congressman Murphy, who came armed with an equally do-able list of things constituents can do to drive solutions to global warming forward:

1. Learn more about global warming  - join the movement to stall it;
2. Write letters to the editors about global warming and what we can do to move toward a sustainable life style;
3. Talk to your friends and neighbors about the crisis;
4. Get other Congress members to sign on to the Safe Climate Act, which Rep. Murphy has already co-sponsored; 
5. Do what you can to lead by example.

Good advice.

Guns and Butter

I haven't been doing too much blogging lately because work has been so crazy.   The House is in recess and budget resolution talks need to be had with the members we can get to so we can explain that we want the final budget to look more like the House version than the Senate's.   After that it's a push to get the funding right during the appropriations process.  Tax Day is coming, which means holding events that highlight the need for fully-funded human needs programs instead of tax breaks for the super-rich.   Plus we're working on getting our used book and clothing store off the ground. ...

So it's a madhouse and there isn't time for blogging but if you want to read more about what I do, pick up a little paper I like to call the New York Times, whose own Francis X. Clines is on the recess road with Congressman Patrick Murphy (PA-08):

In the buzz of the roadhouse, the scene suggested a mini-America: There were more drinkers at the bar ignoring the congressman and watching a ballgame than constituents buttonholing this curious representative who used to lead convoys down Ambush Alley in Baghdad. This day, Mr. Murphy was all diligence, listening to old-timers describe Medicare snafus in tedious detail over beers. “You have my word I’ll try and help,” he promised as his aides took notes.

He did discover a few things from Robin Stelly, a constituent who grilled him on his vote against the domestic budget, which he cast as the newest Blue Dog Democrat, part of the caucus that aims to cut spending.

“I learned the lessons of the ’60s, where I saw the domestic program torpedoed by foreign entanglements,” said Ms. Stelly, a field organizer for PA Action, a nonpartisan advocacy organization dedicated to protecting social welfare programs.

“He is The Guy in Congress on the war,” Ms. Stelly conceded. She happens to run weekly vigils against the war but thinks her congressman better keep an eye out for the government basics that national recovery will eventually require.

Indeed I do. 

Shooting Star

Congressman Patrick Murphy getting standing ovations in the US House of Representatives.

"Fitzgerald calls that extreme."

Oh, the wheels are coming off the Fitzgerald campaign in Bucks County.  Like most Republicans, Team Fitzgerald's got no defensive game.  They only know how to go on the attack.  And so you got the truly ill-conceived swiftboat attacks on Murphy.  Murphy knocked those down with this ad:

Now, with under two weeks to go, Fitzgerald is lying about Murphy's work history:

A new television ad paid for by the campaign of Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick, R-8, claims that Democrat Patrick Murphy has lied about his employment as a federal prosecutor in New York. 

Murphy called the ad “a lie” and “shameful” and demanded that his political opponent pull the ad from the airwaves; Mike Conallen, Fitzpatrick’s chief of staff, refused.

...

Essentially, Murphy worked as both a military lawyer prosecuting military  personnel accused of crimes at West Point and as a special assistant U.S. attorney, where he prosecuted civilians accused of committing crimes on federal land, Finnegan said.

In a recent interview, Finnegan, who was head of the academy’s Department of Law when Murphy worked in West Point, confirmed that Murphy prosecuted at least three high-profile felony cases while at West Point. Those cases included two academy cadets who broke into a retail store and stole tens of thousands of dollars in merchandise and another case when a West Point instructor was accused of molesting a child.

Murphy was also a prosecutor in the case of a  21-yearold cadet accused of possessing ketamine, a hallucinogenic drug, according to court records.

Finnegan, who stressed that he was “taking no position in this race,” said that Murphy never lied about his employment as a prosecutor.

Murphy fought back harder than any Democrat I've ever seen aside from Howard Dean:

“It’s a desperate and false ad from a flailing campaign,” Murphy said Tuesday. “Mike Fitzpatrick is a liar and a coward.”

And he's not just saying that for the newspapers.  I heard tonight that he's also using those words to Fitzgerald's face, which may have been the cause of an early exit by the Congressman from a recent debate.   Cutting and running, if you will.

I want to write about this because I followed the 2002 race between Schrader and Fitzgerald.  It was then when he refused to denounce a piece of direct mail produced by the NRCC that linked Ginny, who has Jewish children but is not Jewish herself, to Hezbollah.   Here it is, in case you missed it:

Now remember, one of the most popular pro-Fitzgerald talking points among his supporters and staff is that he's "a good man."   If you live here and are around politics, you hear it all the time in much the same way you hear similar sentiments expressed about Sgt. Raymond Shaw in The Manchurian Candidate.  It's a comforting and tempting mantra.  But I've never been able to forget that ad. 

Fitzgerald's  refusal to denounce the ad led to Schrader walking out of a late debate.  She took some big hits for that although opinion was mixed.  I supported the decision.  I wouldn't have stood on a stage next to Fitzgerald either under the circumstances.  But the tactic didn't work.  The corporate press didn't pick up the story (and it was a story - similar ads ran about Lois Murphy at the same time over in the Sixth ) and the spin became about Ginny walking out instead of why she walked out.

Now we're two weeks out and it looks like the slime isn't sticking and the walking shoes are on Fitzgerald's feet.   Couldn't happen to a better man.

Endorsements

Big thanks to the dopey Sierra Club, who in all their dopiness, joined the LCV and decided to endorse Mike Fitzpatrick in Bucks County.    If he wins, as they hope, and if that win helps the GOP hold a majority in the House, they can look forward to at least two more banner environmental years from the Republican government that brought them such green and lung-healthy programs as Clear Skies, Healthy Forests, Sequoias Must Go! and my personal favorite, the Get Back to Work at Ground Zero, the Air is Fine Campaign that is now reaping its victims. 

And then there's the Philadelphia Inquirer that gave a very narrow nod to Fitzpatrick based on the LCV endorsement as well as his knowledge of the district, supporting my theory that he should resign from the House and run for County Commissioner again.   

The Inquirer also notes that "both [candidates] support a responsible plan to exit Iraq," which is news to me.   I know Murphy's plan.  It's been around for several months.   But this is the first I've heard from anyone, inlcuding Fitzpatrick, that he has a plan, responsible or otherwise, to exit Iraq.  In fact, the word "Iraq" doesn't show up at all on either of his campaign websites.  That's some plan  It's a Secret Plan.   

But my favorite part of the editorial is this, under Character/Ethics:

Murphy disappoints with his go-along attitude on detainee rights in the war on terrorism, ...

I'm on record as being very disappointed with Murphy's "go-along attitude" on the MCA but how is it possible that the Inquirer can fault Murphy for his awful support of the unconstitutional and immoral bill without mentioning that Fitzpatrick, the soul of Independence, didn't only support the bill hypothetically but also actually voted for it and supports the Party that is working as hard as it can to undermine the country's stabilizng institutions.  If anyone in the race owns that monster, it's him. 

Your liberal media at work.

Sestak and Murphy

Joe Sestak is putting together a fearsome Election Day plan.  He's already got 576 people volunteering to watch the polls.  From his email:

I want to thank the 576 new polling place workers who will make this election the most secure in recent memory. Through your effort, we will have a presence at every polling place district wide. This week we will conduct training for every polling place worker.

I'm not sure how secure he expects the elections to be since his county, Delaware, will be voting on the unsecure, error-prone Danaher machines that can't be independently verified.   

Full text of email is posted in the extended entry. 

Also Sestak-related: Be sure to see his new ad that takes on Weldon's swiftboating.  It's different from Murphy's but just as good.

Speaking of Murphy in the 8th, he's trying to put Social Security in play.  I wish he'd talk about Medicare Part D as well. 

MikeFitzPatrickMurphy

If you were as angry as you should have been when Mike Fitzpatrick launched his swiftboating campaign of Patrick Murphy, they you're going to love this ad that Team Murphy put together in response.   

I can't believe that anyone would think it's a smart move to call into question Murphy's service a) after what the Dems clearly learned from the 2004 election and b) when their own military service extends to the Boy Scouts.     But Fitzpatrick did it and he deserves to see this ad run during every commercial break on network and cable tv until Murphy takes office in January. 

On the flipside, I'll never understand why Murphy listened to whoever told him that it would be a good idea to support torture and the rending of Habeas Corpus - especially after he gave such a good answer to that question during a debate earlier that week, that Fitzpatrick could only pretend to agree with him.  Such a good answer that I hear that it's being handed out at the campaign office if you go in there asking about the candidate's position on torture, Habeas Corpus and the MCA.    I say "pretend to agree" because in his answer Fitzpatrick did invoke St. McCain author of the Great Torture Compromise, which was code for "You people are so stupid, I can say just about anything and you won't understand me. Will you?  You don't even know what I'm saying now."

What a mess.  Get the goddamn consultants out of politics and maybe there will be some hope for this country.