A New Message from Beyond

Hi, you racist, gun-toting, Bible-clinging righties. It's the King of Pork here. Still waiting on my ride to my place in eternity. All I was told was to pack a lot of light clothing.

I've heard about the snow making a mess of my airport. Those two flights a week are going to have one hell of a time getting in and out. I just hope that the priorities are straight. You know, my airport gets cleared before anything. Screw everyone else.

Pennsylvania (or should I say my buddies) is going to lose out big time now that I'm not there to secure funding for purely petty crap projects. I must say that no one was better at garnering pork than I was. Not even that crotchety old S.O.B. Byrd. I had a LOT more stuff named after me than he'll ever dream of!

Would someone please tell the Dems in Congress to make sure that they carry on my tradition of disrespecting our soldiers engaged in battle overseas? I wouldn't want to give the impression that G.W. was right. All those Iraqis with purple fingers after voting don't know what the hell they want. I knew what was best for them.

I don't know exactly what is going to happen to MY seat in the interim. I was hoping to stick around long enough to have ACORN get me enough votes to beat Burns or Russell, but some quack had to go and nick my bowel during gallbladder surgery. Bastard HAD to be a Republican!

Well, now that I've ranted enough, I'm gonna continue to wait for my ride. Ted Kennedy sent me a text saying he can't wait to see me. Maybe we can get pork money for a furnace to be named after us.

Respectfully,
John P. "Pork" Murtha

Murtha Was Warned!!!

As many of you know, I've vowed to do everything I can to see that John Murtha loses his job next year. The man is a disgrace to not only the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (I HATE the word "commonwealth!"), but to decent human beings in general.

I found a blog called Conservative Common Sense, and clicked on it. It's the official blog of Tim Burns, the conservative businessman challenging the man who defines the word corruption.

PLEASE stop and read Tim's blog. I promise you won't be disappointed!

Tim Burns: A Video

I posted today about Tim Burns challenging John Murtha for his congressional seat, and I found a video that I think exposes Murtha for what he is: a crook. Take a look and let me know what yinz think!

Murtha Being Challenged by Burns

I just found this out and am excited to announce that Tim Burns is challenging John "Our marines are murderers" Murtha for the 12th District Congressional seat in Pennsylvania. Holy crap, the good news just keeps coming!!!

As many of you know, I am ashamed to say that Murtha is my representative, and I've stated before that I will do what I can to see that he is ousted from office. That time has come. First step: Letting EVERYONE know that I plan on fully supporting Tim Burns.

The following is a statement from timburnsforcongress.com.

How $10 Dollars and Two Minutes can Change the World

If you are like me, you are concerned about the direction our elected officials are taking this country. With a $1.8 trillion dollar deficit, the bailouts and now government interference in many of America’s industries such as the auto industry, banking industry, and insurance industry, you are probably asking yourself, when is the spending going to stop? Our current elected officials don’t seem to mind spending away our children’s future. They don’t seem to care what happens to America once they leave office, but instead only care about fooling their constituents so that they can get reelected. Well, enough is enough. It’s time to put an end to this nonsense. My name is Tim Burns and I have decided to run for Congress against John Murtha. As you know, John Murtha is responsible for more wasteful earmark spending than any other sitting Congressman. Some have called Murtha the most corrupt Congressman in Washington. I’m not a politician, I am a businessman. I’ve never secured pork-barrel spending and I don’t spend more than I have. And I can no longer sit on the sidelines and watch what is happening to this great country. I am fighting to ensure our children inherit a strong America not a bankrupt one. But I need your help.

John Murtha can be defeated. He is in serious trouble and his lobbying firms and friends are being investigated by the FBI. This campaign to defeat John Murtha will cost over $2 million dollars. So, I need your help. But I’m not asking for much; just $10 dollars. If I could get all who read this to contribute just $10 dollars, we will easily reach our goal. But if you and others simply read this and move on, we don’t stand a chance. So, please take just two minutes and contribute $10 to this cause and together we can take back this country. Yes, I am concerned about this country and am willing to contribute $10.
If you can give $50, $100, $200, or more, please do. If not, that’s okay, just please don’t move on without contributing. John Murtha has damaged this entire country by taking your taxpayer money and wasting it in his district with pork barrel projects. Ask yourself, how do you want to be remembered? Do you want to be remembered as being part of a generation of Americans who stood by and watched the destruction of this once great nation? Or, do you want to be remembered as one of those who stood up to rescue this country from bankruptcy; securing freedom and liberty in America for future generations. Trust me, the $10 you contribute will be well worth your while. You will feel good knowing you have made a difference. I refuse to stand by and watch this great country be destroyed. I’m ready to contribute.

I will not only be contributing, but I will be asking Mr. Burns if I can work the polls for him or do anything else that my schedule will permit.

Murtha: YOU GOIN' DOWN!!!

[h/t to Teresa]

John Murtha: This Little Piggy Went to Capitol Hill...

I would hope and pray that people in this district WAKE THE *&@# UP and vote this clown out!

From Roll Call comes this article about His Royal Fatness. I'm just going to post the whole article as they have done a superb job.

Murtha Earmarks Funded Garment Company’s Sonar Project

By Paul Singer
Roll Call Staff

July 7, 2009, 12 a.m.

For the past several years, Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) has funneled more than $3 million in earmarks to a company in his district to build an underwater “swimmer detection” sonar system for the Navy to use to protect its docks and ships.

But the company, KDH Defense Systems, sews bulletproof vests. It had never built a sonar system and had no expertise in sonar engineering. The sonar project was to be the first product of a new “startup” company.

Documents indicate the company did have a plan — which never came to pass — to partner with other local defense contractors close to Murtha, and it also had the assistance of a lobbying firm that employed both Murtha’s brother and his former appropriations aide.

The firm ultimately ended up hiring a British company to do the engineering, fell into a dispute, lost its original military customer and by the end of last year had completed a prototype, which the company president said would have to be re-engineered before it can be produced in any quantity.

Murtha spokesman Matt Mazonkey said the project achieved its goal.

“This program was a research and development effort, not procurement, and a prototype was delivered, was tested and now is the property of the U.S. government,” he said. “KDH did develop and provide a sonar system, which was tested successfully by the government in December 2008.”

But court records suggest the prototype has had a troubled history.

In October 2004, Dave Herbener, president of KDH Defense Systems, made a presentation at a meeting convened by the Defense Department about his proposed “underwater intrusion detection system.”

According to slides of that presentation, Herbener said he already had a $1 million earmark for 2005 “supported by Congressman John P. Murtha ... funding is earmarked for KDH Systems.”

In the 2008 appropriations bill, Murtha secured $2.4 million for KDH for a “waterway threat detection sensor system,” and a 2006 press release from his office indicates that he also secured an earmark for KDH in the 2007 appropriations bill for a “waterfront perimeter detection system.” Murtha’s office offered no details about the total amount earmarked for this system.

In an e-mail to Roll Call on Monday, Herbener said KDH only received about $1.5 million for the sonar project, with the remaining funding going directly to other contractors.

KDH had no expertise in sonar systems. Herbener — a former employee of defense giant Lockheed Martin — founded a company in 2003 called KDH Defense Systems to sew bulletproof vests. In April 2004, KDH signed a $2 million contract with the Navy to sew the vests — though the company did not yet have a manufacturing facility.

But Herbener did have a strong background in radar. “My work with Lockheed included significant design, manufacture, and testing experience of sophisticated weapon systems with a primary focus on radar. It is my nearly 20 years of experience with Lockheed that helped me to develop our T3 Sonar,” he told Roll Call.

But when asked “Do you know how to develop a sonar system?” by a lawyer in a court case last fall, Herbener responded, “No, I do not.”

He also had a lobbying firm — KSA Consulting, which included Kit Murtha, the Congressman’s brother, and Carmen Scialabba, the Congressman’s former Appropriations Committee aide, as lobbyists on the KDH account. Herbener told Roll Call: “KSA Consulting has provided marketing and related services to KDH. KSA introduced KDH to Congressman Murtha.”

Herbener’s October 2004 slides for the swimmer detection project indicated that KDH was “teamed with” two other Pennsylvania companies with close connections to Murtha, Kuchera Defense Systems and Coherent Systems International — also a KSA client.

An attorney for Kuchera said “they have never teamed with KDH on any projects.” Herbener told a federal court that Coherent dropped out days after the initial contract was signed.

Kuchera and Coherent have received millions of dollars in earmarks from Murtha. Kuchera was raided by the FBI in January, reportedly as part of an investigation into the company’s government contracts. Coherent is party to a federal case in Florida alleging that other subcontractors skimmed from Coherent earmarks.

Herbener ended up hiring a British sonar company called Curtis Technology to develop the electronics for the underwater sonar, a relationship that dragged through a series of delays and disputes until Herbener finally filed suit in federal court in Pennsylvania in May 2008.

In testimony in that case last September, Herbener explained that the sonar project was not actually a project of KDH Defense Systems — it was a separate company that he established in 2005 called KDH Electronic Systems. That company “is a startup,” Herbener testified. “We were hoping this sonar system would be our first product.”

In September, Herbener told the court, “The program in general has gone waylaid.” Disputes with Curtis Technology led to repeated delays, and the original customer — the U.S. Navy — “has pretty much given up on us and they’ve moved on,” buying a similar system from a competitor company.

KDH shifted to an Army contract with the U.S. Special Operations Command when the procurement official overseeing the project moved from the Navy to the Army, Herbener said. But because of concerns about the project, “they’ve refused to reward the contract to us and we’re on the verge of running out of funding,” he testified.

Working with Curtis and other contractors, KDH managed to construct a prototype, but Herbener told the court: “The current prototype is a prototype. It’s not intended to be built in any kind of quantities.”

“Ultimately, to have a production system, we would most likely change out components, hardware, probably rearrange components, maybe redesign,” he said.

Herbener told Roll Call on Monday: “The situation with Curtis has definitely slowed down our progress. I am most confident that if the Curtis issues had not arisen, our sonar system would have been produced and in full operation by now.”

But he also said that the protype has been successfully tested four times and that KDH is continuing to make progress on the sonar system. Herbener said he has hired a new subcontractor and that “as funding permits we firmly believe we can field an end item production system in short order — possibly 3 to 6 months.”

I Warned You, Mr. Murtha!!!

I'm still seething over last night's passage of the Cap and Trade mess in the House of Representatives. Now, I am on a mission to see that my representative, John P. Murtha, will never occupy the seat that he has held for 18 (not a typo) terms. This is the poster boy for term limits.

Murtha represents the 12th Congressional District here in Pennsylvania, which includes Johnstown and Altoona areas. Everywhere you travel in this area, you will see many buildings and roads bearing his name. Why don't they just rename Johnstown "Murthaland"?These areas are democratic strongholds largely due to the fact that many early residents were coal miners and belonged to the union. And we know that the unions aren't in bed with Republicans nearly as often as Democrats! I'd almost venture a guess to say that if most of the people in this district had to choose between a million-dollar check or voting Democrat, they'd still be poor and unemployed.

Old Johnny Boy really raised the hackles of most Americans who really had no idea who he was when he called our brave soldiers "murderers" for the incident in Haditha. Murtha claims that innocent civilians were killed by our Marines before any facts or testimony were presented. Well, being a former Marine, you would think Jack would have a little more RESPECT for the military. Guess not. Yet he chairs the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee and, if he gets hacked off at the military, he has a lot of say as to whether or not they get funding. Isn't that special???

Even more special: Murtha's nephew, Robert C. Murtha Jr., just received a $4 million no-bid no-competition contract from the Department of Defense for his company, Murtech. What does Murtech do? Warehousing. That's it. A lot of the offices in the building are unoccupied and its reception area is unmanned. Many days, you can see only a handful of cars in the parking lot, and no trucks pull up to the 10 loading bays. One of Bobbo Murtha's contracts came through PMA, a Jack Murtha-associated lobbying group now at the center of a federal investigation for corruption in earmarking and influence peddling. Better yet....Robert C. Murtha Sr. (John's brother) runs a highly-successful lobbying group, KSA, that specializes in (drumroll please)....DEFENSE CONTRACTS FROM THE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE. Nepotism at its very finest!

By the way, have you received a "Thank You" note from dear Jack for the stimulus money for the John P. Murtha-Cambria County Airport? You didn't know? Let me tell you what you kind folks have done. In the stimulus package passed by Congress earlier this year, $800,000 of that is going to be spent to pave the backup runway at Jacko's airport. Pretty cool, huh? Recently, the Washington Post had an article about the airport after a reporter visited there. On the day of the reporter's visit, four passengers lined up to catch a flight, and those passengers were outnumbered by seven security staff members and supervisors, all who wore uniforms and gloves to screen the six pieces of luggage. After all that hard work, they all got a three-hour break because no flights, private or commercial, came in or took off. During the week, three commercial flights leave the airport -- all bound for Dulles International Airport in Washington, DC. In the past decade, this airport of all airports has received $200 million in federal funds, and Murtha is credited with securing at least $150 million of that. It's been dubbed "The Airport to Nowhere".

John Murtha is definitely one of the most corrupt members of Congress, yet the people of the Johnstown area keep electing him based on his ability to bring money into the area. Nevermind that he's not creating a lot of jobs in what has been a depressed area since the coal mines shut down. He's just securing funding for already established projects that usually bear his name.

Coming from a region rich in coal and coal-mining history, I would almost think for a nanosecond that he would've voted against Cap and Trade. Then I wake up and I'm still in the nightmare known as the 12th Congressional District.

Cap & Trade Debacle Passes House

Image via Wikipedia

In a 219-212 vote, the Climate bill, affectionately known as Cap and Trade, passed the House just minutes ago. The bill now goes to the Senate, where analysts are predicting a tougher time getting it passed there.

It really hacks me off that the arrogant members of the House did NOT listen to the people. Capitol Hill switchboards were jammed for a large part of the day. Do you think people were saying "Pass it!"? I don't think so.

Our mission now becomes twofold. One, pressure every senator to vote it down. Second, remove every member of Congress who votes for this massive tax that will put the final nail in the coffin of the economy.

As for my representative, John Murtha, I have a message for him: I WILL DO EVERYTHING I CAN WITH MY DYING BREATH TO SEE THAT YOU ARE NOT REELECTED AND TO SUPPORT ANY CANDIDATE RUNNING AGAINST YOU!!!!