Free Republic

A key House investigating body has dropped its probe of Rep. John Murtha (D., Pa.) and two other members of the House’s defense-spending committee, according to people familiar with the matter. The Office of Congressional Ethics has informed aides to Murtha as well as Reps. Norm Dicks (D., Wash.) and Jim Moran (D., Va.) that it is no longer looking into allegations that they traded government funding earmarks for campaign donations. Dick’s chief of staff, George Behan, said the congressman received a phone call earlier this month from an official at the Office of Congressional Ethics informing him that he...

War On Terror: As Khalid Sheikh Mohammed receives the benefits of U.S. justice, three Navy SEALs face court-martial for allegedly punching a captured terrorist who hanged Americans from a bridge in Fallujah. Apparently our efforts to impress the world about the marvels of our criminal justice system require us to give foreign terrorists such as Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the man who invented the manned cruise missiles that flew into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and plowed into a Pennsylvania field on its way to the Capitol Building, the full rights and protections of the American citizens he conspired...

War In Iraq: The press is salivating over the prospect of an Iraqi My Lai in the town of Haditha, with ABC trotting out Rep. John Murtha to brand U.S. troops war criminals just in time for Memorial Day. Appearing Sunday on ABC's "This Week," and with the matter still under investigation, Murtha, D-Pa., decided it would be sentence first and trial later when he proclaimed Marines responding to an attack in the town of Haditha on Nov. 19 guilty of murder of at least 15 Iraqi civilians. The incident began as a Marine convoy of Kilo Company, Third Battalion,...

Those who equate Haditha with My Lai, and Iraq with Vietnam, would do well to remember the last time we gave peace a chance. For millions of innocents, it was the peace of the grave. If there's anyone who condones the deliberate murder of civilians, it is not the U.S. government but the anti-war left and its unindicted co-conspirators in the media. Thanks largely to their efforts, we abandoned Vietnam and ushered in an era of mass carnage, boat people and reeducation camps that resulted in more death after the war than during it. After Saigon's "liberation," summary executions of...

War Trial: Rep. John Murtha has been granted an exemption from testifying in the case of a Marine accused of crimes in the Iraqi town of Haditha. Isn't confronting your accuser one of the basic rights we're fighting for?As our success in Iraq has caused it to fade as a campaign issue, so has the terrorist ambush of a Marine patrol in Haditha in November 2005 faded from public memory. But for the Marines charged with crimes in Haditha, it's an ongoing nightmare. After one of their comrades was killed by an IED, the Marines of Kilo Co., 3rd Battalion,...

November 19, 2009 Politics as Usual? A Glenn Beck case study Today's Show Segment Video-6:15

Everyone should watch the video on this post. The vote was taken! you must see this!! ABSOLUTELY UNBELIEVABLE !!! This is only 1.5 minutes long, and you won't believe it! It doesn't matter what party you subscribe to or what one believes. This is just wrong! From C-Span: HOW THE OBAMA HEALTH CARE VOTE WAS PASSED. This is what is wrong with our government and who is now controlling it. Something has to change.. ABSOLUTELY UNBELIEVABLE No wonder US citizens are appalled at the behavior of our (experienced) representatives! YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE THIS! Straight from C-Span. This is how...

Joe Wilson can apologize if he feels he should, but in my opinion, he should do so only after Rep. John Murtha apologizes to the Marines he accused of killing Marines in cold blood and the attempting to cover up the murders. In the middle of a war, where are Marines are trying to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, John Murtha went on television and was adamant about the guilt of these Marines. More than once he said there was no doubt in his mind. His words were replayed across the Arab world. Since then, all...

John Murtha (Democrat) This clip is appalling - I don't have an exact date, but it happened quite a while ago. Just watch how our government runs things. Maybe Glenn can ask what is up with this?

Paula Reed Ward and Dennis B. Roddy reported today in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Federal prosecutors filed corruption charges yesterday against a onetime defense contractor who has ties to both John Murtha and a suburban Johnstown defense contractor currently under criminal investigation. Richard S. Ianieri, former president and CEO of Coherent Systems International Corp., was accused of accepting $200,000 in kickbacks. He is charged through a criminal information and is expected to plead guilty. The indictment of Ianieri represents the first charges leveled as a result of investigations into firms receiving defense earmarks – many of which benefited former aides and...

Congressman John Murtha, the King of Congressional Pork acts may be losing his Teflon coating and his friends are getting a bit nervous. A few months ago, the FBI raided the offices of the PMA group. What they found suggested that Murtha and his buddies at the PMA Group operated their own little Earmark Factory. A later report suggested that the FBI may be zeroing in on the relationship between Murtha and PMA. No worries for Mr. Murtha, despite the FBI putting the heat on his PMA relationship, the Porkmeister is is still accepting money from PMA clients and still...

A former executive for a defense contractor with ties to powerful Democratic U.S. Rep. John Murtha is charged by federal prosecutors in Pittsburgh with taking about $200,000 in kickbacks from a subcontractor. The executive charged is Richard Ianieri, of Doylestown, who used to work for a company called Coherent Systems International Corp.

Congressman John Murtha, the King of Congressional Pork acts may be losing his Teflon coating. A few months ago, the FBI raided the offices of the PMA group, a lobbying group founded by a Murtha aide, and one of the Pork King's favorite Lobbying firms. What they found out suggested that Murtha and his buddies at the PMA Group operated their own little Earmark Factory. Another report suggested that the FBI may be zeroing in on the relationship between Murtha and PMA. No worries for Mr. Murtha, despite the FBI putting the heat on his PMA relationship, the Porkmeister is...

In response to a question from a reporter, Rep. John Murtha (D-Penn.) adamantly denied any connection to Kuchera Defense Systems, Inc., which is currently being investigated for alleged fraud.

The congressional cussing caucus is in need of new members. The Capitol lost its prince of profanity when Rahm Emanuel left for the White House five months ago. But it’s not just Emanuel’s departure that has turned Congress less blue. Gone, too, are Joe Biden — whose F-bombs are now largely confined to the Naval Observatory —and Tim Mahoney, the Florida Democrat who lost his reelection bid after admitting to “numerous” extramarital affairs. “He said f—- all the time,” recalls a former Mahoney senior aide. “He cursed people. He called Barney Frank names; he called everybody names. He called his...

Check out this video. Your tax dollars at work wasted folks.

A few months ago, the FBI raided the offices of the PMA group, founded by a Murtha aide, and one of the Pork King's favorite Lobbying firm. What they found out is that Murtha and his buddies at PMA Group operated their own little Earmark Factory. But the pork king isn't slowing down, he posted on his site a list of $134 Million Dollars of earmarks that he is requesting, $20 Million of it to clients of PMA, the very firm that is being investigated. Other recent revelations have been Murtha's "airport to nowhere" and his nephew getting bid-free Defense...

Lt. Colonel Bill Russell (USAR ret.) ran against John Murtha in the 2008 Congressional campaign and plans to run against him again in 2010. A fifth generation soldier, Russell began his military career as an Enlisted man, attended West Point, graduated from Louisiana State University, and earned his commission through Officer Candidate’s School at Fort Benning, Georgia. Russell has been nothing but a credit to the uniform he wore, while his once and future opponent has disgraced his uniform with the fraudulent massacre charges he brought up against marines serving in Iraq and the way he has used the defense...

The Federal Aviation Administration, after reviewing concerns about a project at a regional airport named after Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), has decided to go forward with plans to use $800,000 in stimulus funds to repave the airport's alternate runway. Late this afternoon, a spokesperson for the Department of Transportation confirmed that the department had completed its review and would be releasing the funds for the Johnstown, Pa., airport project. DOT spokesperson Jill Zuckman said the review was undertaken after a "senior policy" official at DOT decided he wanted to reconsider the project, but she declined to identify who that...

More news about the Pork King's Swine filled airport. If you remember John Murtha who has turned congressional earmarks into an art-form directed two-hundred million of your tax dollars to the John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport. Actually ghost town is a better description than Airport, Murtha Airport gets a total of THREE commercial flights a day. This tribute to the Living Pork King John Murtha is literally the airport to nowhere. But there's more. Today the WAPO announced that Murtha Airport Got Military Upgrades. The Pentagon spent millions on Murtha Airport for projects that have never been used for their...

Congressman John Murtha, the King of Congressional Pork Really knows how to "put it" to the FBI. A few months ago, the FBI raided the offices of the PMA group, founded by a Murtha aide, and one of the Pork King's favorite Lobbying firm. What they found out is that Murtha and his buddies at PMA Group operated their own little Earmark Factory. A recent report, the FBI may be zeroing in on the relationship between Murtha and PMA. Despite the FBI putting the Heat on Murtha and his PMA relationship, the Porkmeister is is still accepting money from PMA...

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer Nedra Pickler, Associated Press Writer – 2 mins ago WASHINGTON – A federal appeals court has ruled that a Marine cannot sue Pennsylvania Rep. John Murtha for defamation. Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich of Meriden, Conn., claimed Murtha damaged his reputation by saying he and his comrades killed women and children "in cold blood" in Haditha, Iraq, in November 2005. Murtha argued he has immunity from the lawsuit because he was acting in his official role as a lawmaker...

Murtha: "If I'm corrupt, it's just because…." @ 3:04 pm by Eric Zimmermann In a stunning interview today in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) inadvertently stumbled over the central ethical quandary surrounding earmark legislation: "If I'm corrupt, it's because I take care of my district," Mr. Murtha said. "My job as a member of Congress is to make sure that we take care of what we see is necessary. Not the bureaucrats who are unelected over there in whatever White House, whether it's Republican or Democrat. Those bureaucrats would like to control everything. Every president would like to...

During a March 22, 2009, Freedom Radio interview, retired Marine Lieutenant Colonel Robert Weimann discussed the improper command influence that occured throughout much of the Haditha investigation. The 'Sins of the Generals' were many and began even before Tim McGirk's insurgent talking-points driven Time magazine article. The top brass violated both the spirit and intent of the 1986 'Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reform Act'. The combat commander was the convening authority yet politicians, those outside the chain-of-command, and others improperly interjected themselves, let media buzz and enemy propaganda into their decision cycles, and forced further investigation even after Army Colonel...

If there is anything worse than a bully its a bully with questionable ethics. John Murtha is one of perfect example of a bully. He wrongly convicted some of our military heroes in the court of public opinion by claiming a "massacre" of which they were later cleared (and he still hasn't apologized). He didn't do it for any moral reasons, (if he did he would have apologized for the mistake) Murtha slandered our Heroes for political gain. We have been reporting about Murtha's newest scandal. The FBI raided the offices of the PMA group, founded by a Murtha aide,...

You have to give Congressman John Murtha points for creativity. Almost every day, Murtha finds a brand new way to disgrace the US Congress he sits in, or the Marine uniform he once wore.... ..Murtha has a new scandal brewing. The FBI raided the offices of the PMA group, founded by a Murtha aide, and one of favorite Lobbying firms, that was on top of another raid of a Murtha buddy back in November.What they are finding out is that Murtha and his buddies at PMA Group operated their own little Earmark Factory:

Marvin Hoffman is listed in campaign finance records as one of the many lobbyists with the powerful PMA Group donating money to lawmakers. But Hoffman is actually a soon-to-retire information technology manager in Marina Del Rey, who has never heard of the Arlington lobbying firm or the Indiana congressman to whom he supposedly gave $2,000. "It's alarming that someone is stealing my identity somewhere," Hoffman, 75, said in an interview. "I've never heard of this company." Another contributor listed as a PMA lobbyist is, in fact, a sales manager for an inflatable boat manufacturer in New Jersey. John Hendricksen said...

Over the objections of a large majority of 9/11 family members, President Barack Obama is expected to sign an Executive Order today directing that the detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base be closed: Relatives of victims of the September 11 attacks, who were at the base this week to observe pretrial hearings, told reporters they oppose any halt to the trials. "The safest place to have these trials is Guantanamo Bay. If they were to move to the homeland it would endanger all of us," said Lorraine Arias Believeau of Barnegat, New Jersey, whose brother, Adam, was killed in...

BEAVER, Pa.—Pennsylvania is more a nation than a state, less a state than a confederation. Political science is wasted on the place because, just when the numbers are in and the formulas calculated, truculent locals do what they want in spite of themselves. The old recipe worked this way: Philadelphia and western Pennsylvania would vote for whatever Democrat was on the ballot. This vote would be countered by Republican suburbs in four counties bordering Philly and by a rural, Republican "T" that comprised the counties in the state's center and stretched across its northern tier. This gave undecided voters powers...

On Friday, October 17, news broke that Rep. John Murtha told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that Barack Obama might have tough sledding in his home area: "There is no question that western Pennsylvania is a racist area." Trying to add context to his remarks, Murtha later said many in Western Pennsylvania were "rednecks" several years ago. Now he’s in danger of losing his House seat. But have the national media noticed? ABC, CBS, and NBC all brushed past the remarks in stories on other, broader subjects, as did NPR. Time and Newsweek have run nothing. Even the major newspapers – The...

Two veteran warriors battling to represent the 12th Congressional District appear locked in the closest race in the district in years. Democratic Rep. John Murtha leads retired Army Lt. Col. William Russell by a little more than 4 percentage points, within the Susquehanna Poll's 4.9-point margin of error. The poll of 400 likely voters was conducted for the Tribune-Review on Tuesday, amid uproar over Murtha's statement that some of his constituents are racist. Stanley Shemanski, 67, a retired meat cutter who lives in Apollo, said he's undecided about the congressional race. He doesn't know much about Russell, but he's upset...

While congressional leaders wrangled over the details of a federal bailout for Wall Street that could cost taxpayers an extraordinary $700 billion, the U.S House quietly passed an omnibus-spending bill for nearly the same amount Wednesday. The Senate is expected to pass the $630 billion measure by week’s end. Senate leaders wringing their hands over where to find $700 billion for the Wall Street bailout might start with the fine print of the omnibus bill: The measure includes more than $6.6 billion in pork-barrel spending. The 2,000-plus earmarks fill 752 pages attached to the 357-page spending bill. Sen. Ted Stevens,...

OUR JOURNEY—Not Quite Ended When our son, L/Cpl Justin Sharratt, was exonerated of murder charges involving a firefight in Haditha,Iraq our family was finally able to sleep. We set out to piece together our lives and make some sense as to what happened to us. Bringing Justin home seemed to be the medication our family needed. With Gods help and the support of thousands we made it through this dark period in our lives. Our family can now enjoy today, look ahead to tomorrow and plan for the future. The golf matches between father and son. An occasional fishing trip...

PITTSBURGH (AP) - A Marine Corps lance corporal from Pennsylvania has sued U.S. Rep. John Murtha, saying the Democrat lawmaker slandered him by saying he and other marines killed 24 Iraqis in Haditha in "cold blood."

August 04, 2008 Murtha's reckoning Thomas Lifson Rep. John Murtha's disgrace in denouncing the Marines of the Haditha incident is not going to fade away gently into the night. William Russell, has returned from a tour of duty in the military and is running against him. His campaign has produced this video featuring Darryl Sharratt, the father of one of the Marines accused by Murtha of being a "cold-blooded killer." His son Justin Sharratt has subsequently been fully vindicated, and all charges dropped. Darryl Sharratt's video does not have the produiction values of a normal campaign commercial, but in his...

John Murtha grudgingly admits the surge is working in an interview in Pittsburgh but misrepresents facts about the Iraqi war. What follows is what was left on the cutting room floor. (Video Included)

Jack Murtha (democrat-PA) was quick to lay blame on these Marines for the killing of these Iraqis. He should be approached at every availability and confronted about the Haditha boondoggle.

Italy's Finmeccanica to buy DRS Technologies for $5.2BBusiness Courier of Cincinnati DRS Technologies Inc., which has several Cincinnati-area operations, is being bought by Finmeccanica SpA, an Italian aerospace and defense supplier, for $5.2 billion. Finmeccanica said the deal, expected to close in the fourth quarter this year, allows the company to enter the U.S. market and enables DRS to better compete in the global military and security market. DRS (NYSE: DRS) will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary, maintaining its current management and headquarters. The company will lead Finmeccanica's defense electronics efforts in the United States and it is expected...

A shadow legal body was set up by the Defense Department to manipulate the prosecutions of U.S. Marines accused of massacring Iraqi civilians in Haditha in 2005. That’s the bombshell disclosure from the Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm that is representing one of the accused Marines, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani. And it could prove to be the most damning piece of evidence showing the political motivations behind the ongoing prosecutions of the Haditha Marines. “The hysteria and media firestorm over Abu Ghraib and the Pat Tillman investigations led to fear of a similar media reaction...

Democrats for Boeing The truth about the tanker deal. by Christian Lowe 03/24/2008, Volume 013, Issue 27 It was one of those insider deals that give the defense industry a bad name, conjuring up images of smoke-filled negotiations between the brass and corporate fat cats in plush leather chairs. By the time it was over, two fat cats were in jail, a top Pentagon official had been forced to resign, a corporate CEO had lost his job, and the reputation of an iconic company that had served American troops for decades had suffered irreparable damage. Then it turned out it...

Jack Murtha is invincible. He's survived ABSCAM [Hannity and Colmes vid] and waltzed through recklessly slandering our troops in Iraq. And he seeks to walk to his 18th term, with the help of two "Republicans." Bill Russell [campaign site] is a 44-year-old Army veteran who wanted to challenge Democrat Murtha as a Republican, but he might not be included on the Republican ballot in Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District because of two people referring to themselves as "Republicans": former Johnstown Mayor Don Zucco and Johnstown attorney Jeanne McKelvey. Those two have petitioned the Commonwealth Court to keep Russell's name off the...

WASHINGTON -- The National Defense Center for Environmental Excellence opened its doors in 1991 with a $5 million earmark from a powerful lawmaker. Operating in Johnstown, Cambria County, the privately run center has received at least $671 million worth of federal contracts and earmarks since then to research and develop pollution-abatement technology and other systems for the Defense Department. The center's researchers have examined scores of software systems and other gear, including groundwater monitoring equipment, gun cleaners and ultrasonic devices, according to its managers. They said the center had delivered nearly 500 technology products and tools to protect the environment,...

I had to look up the word "conniption." I wasn't sure how to spell it, but I'm sure that the likes of Code Pink, MoveOn, and other far left anti-war groups had a collective conniption fit last week. One of their poster boys, John Murtha, quit toeing their line. Surely what followed were the same fits of rage I've seen them have before. In September at a Washington D.C. rally as Senator Joe Lieberman began to address a group of pro-mission vets and Gold Star Families, several members of the anti-war groups charged toward the stage with seemingly unrestricted fury,...

In January 2005, Hillary Clinton's "goon squad" at Media Matters for America came after me because I pointed out on a national television broadcast that the New York Democrat was "divorced from reality"(TM) for her statements asserting that Social Security was solvent for the long term and the economy "was on the verge of collapse." In "The Question" posed to President Bush that fateful day, I also noted that Sen. Harry Reid suffered the same separation from logic and fact. On Monday, the Democratic Senate Majority Leader reconfirmed his disconnect from the world everyone else inhabits in making the statement:...

As we've discussed before, everything that happens, anywhere in the world is now being described a "a defeat for George Bush." Two such "defeats for George Bush" came to light this past week - and I'm not even counting West Virginia's loss to Pittsburgh which helped vault LSU and Ohio State into the BCS title game in January. First came the news that John Murtha (D-Pa) who has been mentor to, and ally of, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca) had changed his mind on Iraq. For years Murtha has been among the most outspoken critics of the war in Iraq. According...

While watching 300, the thought occurred to me that it could be considered a morality play – a metaphor for the War on Terror now ongoing. There was the intrepid king, Leonidas, who moved the 300 Spartan soldiers to the narrow pass to cut off the massive army of invading Persians. Leonidas, who was opposed by the liberals in the Council, could be compared to President Bush, who, like Leonidas, saw the danger and the need for action. As usual, the liberals wanted to do nothing and hope that the danger would pass. They were led by the treacherous Theron,...

Those with long memories remember that American forces were winning the Tet offensive in Vietnam while the CBS leftist commentator, Walter Cronkite, was lying to us and telling us that we were losing. This gave the Democrat-controlled Congress the impetus and the backing to throw away the honorable peace accords negotiated by the Nixon Administration, pull the rug out from under our troops and from the government of South Vietnam, and turn a phased withdrawal leaving in place some hard-won arrangements into a shameful rout. I thought I would never again see the day when history would repeat itself

This particular AP report is an interesting study in how the AP subtly backs the Democrats in their efforts to undermine the war effort and how they present the GOP as somehow lacking all support or being merely a blocking force in Congress instead of actually representing their constituent's wishes. In the AP's stylebook, Republican = bad and Democrat = good. In this case, funding for the troops is presented like an average fight over tax money and only the Demos side is discussed with no GOP views offered in the story. Let's start with the very first paragraph of...

Seeing as how Congress, led by the corruption kingpin himself, Jack Murtha, is jones'n on earmarks and other freewheeling spending with other people's money (ours); perhaps it is time for a bit of exploration as to the root causes of our congresscritters' poor behavior. After all, it is feasible that the poor congresscritters, once elected, and once presented with the aphrodisiac that is big time power and money, simply cannot help themselves. Perhaps it is a disease that has taken over, and they simply are powerless in acting in any other manner than as profligate buffoons who couldn't run a...