Samantha West: Murtha's Worst Nightmare

If you'd like to hear William Russell's one-hour appearance (Monday) on "Jenn of the Jungle's" BlogTalkRadio you can do by inserting the following in your browser: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/screwliberals

Scroll down, and you'll find the program link


I invite you to read the piece below on a remarkable woman, Samantha West, a novelist and political activism who passionately supports William Russell. Here are some other piece you may enjoy about John Murtha (not exactly "John the Great")

New Column on Defeating MurthaBy Stephen R. Maloney During the month of December, I'll be folding "SmartPolitics101" in with my two other sites, which are: http://stevemaloneygop.blogspot.com and http://camp2008victorya.blogspot.com. The number of "Bloggers 4 Russell" continues to grow. ...SmartPolitics101 - http://smartpolitics101.blogspot.com/

Three Issues to Defeat MurthaBy Stephen R. Maloney NOTE: THIS IS CROSS-POINTED AT MY NEW MAIN SITE: http://stevemaloneygop.blogspot.com/. I sent the following to Chris at http://thehotjoints.com/, who just joined "Bloggers for Russell." (Look to youir right on the blogroll to see who ...Campaign2008VictoryA - http://camp2008victorya.blogspot.com/

MURTHA, ALTMIRE: PA'S ODD COUPLEBy Stephen R. Maloney By tomorrow morning (Friday), I'll have another column up on my new site: http://SteveMaloneyGOP.blogspot.com. It will deal with the close -- and even somewhat disturbing -- relationship between Cong. John Murtha (D, PA 12th District) ...Campaign2008VictoryA - http://camp2008victorya.blogspot.com/



Samantha West: Murtha's Worst Nightmare (cross-posted on: http://stevemaloneygop.blogspot.com/.

I've been honored lately by numerous visitors who are Marines or members of Marine families. If more come -- and if you ask them for help, they will come -- please scroll down to the picture below of the Iwo Jima flag-raising.

One of the bloggers I found in my searches is not a Marine, but she's written a novel featuring the Corps! That's Samantha ("Sam") whom I noted in the previous column. She's one of many people who've joined the "Bloggers 4 Russell," an online force that's going to play a key role in helping Lt. Col. William Russell defeat John Murtha. (If you haven't joined the Russell Bloggers, what are you waiting for?)

Why is Sam, who's located in the Southwest, working hard to defeat a congressman from far-away Pennsylvania? Because, as she said on her own blog, she'd "vote for the Devil before she'd vote for Murtha." My sentiments entirely.

Sam did two things that some conservatives neglect to: (1) she noted that it's going to take a lot of money to defeat Murtha; (2) she volunteered to help with fundraising. Also, she went to http://opensecrets.org/, keyed in the name "Murtha" and found out about some of this recent fundraising. Here's the comment she left (in italics).

"In 2006 Murtha raised $2.7M, we have got to get together and raise a lot of money for William Russell. While issues are of the utmost importance, it is a practical matter that money has a huge impact on who wins the race. Every blogger who is for William Russell must do their best to bring cash to the table. This afternoon and evening I am putting together a letter writing campaign that anyone can do to help bring in the money. Within 48 hours I will have the procedure posted on my blog." -- Sam

I don't know exactly what Sam's politics are -- aside from the fact that despises Murtha, an understandable position. But I'm gratified that, unlike some political types, she doesn't regard her own ideological purity as somehow sufficient. She also doesn't assume that Murtha will self-combust and blow away.

She understands that it takes money for a challenger to have a chance to defeat a well-financed incumbent who does everything in his power to extract money from the beneficiaries of his dispersals of your tax dollars -- mainly lobbyists and well-heeled executives.

It will require a national effort to overcome Murtha, the House of Representative's version of Methuselah. That effort is already underway, and it's paying many early dividends.

Sam mentions that Murtha raised 1n 2006 about $2.7 million - more than three times as much as his opponent (and my friend) Diana Lynn Irey. What Sam didn't mention is that Murtha spent about three-and-a-quarter-million. He accused Diana of getting her money from out of state. In the end, he got two-thirds of his from out-of-state -- and she got two-thirds of hers from Pennsylvania (as you'll see on OpenSecrets). He doesn't allow the facts to interfere with his condemnations.

If you'll go yourself to opensecrets.org and search around in Murtha's financial reports, you'll see that as of 9/30/2007, he'd raised more than $700,000 for the 2008 race against Russell. Somehow, somewhere he's spent a good chunk of that money (on what???). But I assure you, there's a lot more where that money came from.

After all, Murtha doesn't just sell out to anyone, after all. Unless they have big bucks, he's not interested in them. I'll be writing more about this, but I hope you will go to OpenSecrets. Doing so -- and I do it all the time -- is one of the great "guility pleasures" of political activism.

In the meantime, please (pretty please?) heed "Sam's" words. If you want Lt. Col. Russell to have a fighting chance against Moneybags Murtha, go to his site and make a contribution. You won't regret it.

As for "Sam," she's quite a find, although we've already found some others like her. She's one of those "connectors" I've referred to recently. That means she knows people, seeks to influence them, and takes the real actions that lead to positive political outcomes. If Lt. Col. Russell can find 100 or so people like Sam, then John Murtha will drink alone on Election Eve.

I told Sam, whom I met today, that I like her. She's feistiness incarnate.

Heck, I'd go to war beside her, and I bet my Marine friend Larry would also!

RUSSELL ON BLOG RADIO MONDAY AT 8 P.M. (EASTERN)

Jenn of the Jungle, a BlogTalkRadio powerhouse, will have Lt. Col. William Russell, who's running hard and well against John Murtha, on her radio show at 8 p.m. Monday, Dec. 10. Jenn announces her show will be "Skewering Leftards like shrimp on a barbi . . . Jenn's Jungle Radio supports our troops and their mission. Bring it Moonbats." She's good. She's funny. And she just may be the girl your mother warned you about! Find Jenn at http://blogtalkradio.com/screwliberals.

The call-in number for her show, and I hope you will do so, is: (646) 478-5334.

YOU Can Help Defeat Murtha

Thursday, December 6, 2007 (This column appears on my new, main blog, which you can reach by clicking on the link below. Your comments are always welcome.)

YOU Can Help Defeat Murtha
Note: What if you're not in Jack Murtha's district? Should you care about the race there? YOU SURE SHOULD! If Lt. Col. Russell can defeat "The Prince of Pork," it would be the race-heard-round the world. It would have a tremendous -- positive -- effect in undermining al Qaida and other terrorists worldwide. It would let them know they can't play politics in the U.S.Also, the principles and tactics that will lead to Murtha's defeat will work in many other districts around the nation. Murtha is widely -- and wrongly -- perceived as a "conservative" Democrat. That view of him is dead wrong. As perhaps Nancy Pelosi's closest ally in Congress, Murtha is a critical component of the Democratic majority.

Mrs. Pelosi is opposed to nearly everything that's important to 12th District voters. If you don't like Pelosi, the worst way to express that is to vote for Murtha.A loss by Murtha will send a message to all Democratic elected officials. It would show them that can't play "fast-and-loose" with the lives of American troops, as Murtha has done with his disgraceful comments on the Haditha Marines. I've advocatedLt. Col. Russell deserves and needs your support. If you can make even a small contribution, it will be a factor in helping him defeat Murtha.

Let's just do it!

(Please scroll down to see columns about Murtha and the myths he has tried to perpetuate.)

MURTHA ECONOMICS: JOHNSTOWN, PA'S LOOMING DISASTER

NOTE TO ALL VISITORS: I've started another blog, one that deals with personal finances -- basically living better on less. It's meant to be humorous, insightful, and eye-opening. Please pay me a visit at: http://livebetteronless.blogspot.com. Then, bookmark it, keep coming back, and tell all your friends -- even your enemies -- to visit. It will have a new column every day. And God bless the blogosphere. -- Steve

JOHN MURTHA: PORTRAIT OF A POLITICAL BULLY

If John Murtha went to his Eternal Reward tomorrow, most of the bogus “jobs” he’s brought to Johnstown would disappear before the funeral Mass.

Voters who habitually cast their ballots for John Murtha are unintentionally ensuring that their kids and grandkids aren't going to be able to live in Johnstown, PA

John Murtha, congressman from Pennsylvania's Johnstown area, is a master of the nasty political business called "earmarks." These are basically federal grants that powerful congressmen get for special projects -- basically, no bid contracts -- in their districts.

The most famous earmark in modern times is the one Congressman Young of Alaska got for "The Bridge to Nowhere." Recently, Alaska's no-nonsense Governor, Sarah Palin, torpedoed the Bridge to Nowhere. Unfortunately, Pennsylvania's Governor, Ed Rendell, lacks the intestinal fortitude to do the same with Murtha's make-work earmarks.

Here's what the Harrisburg Patriot recently said about Murtha's earmarks:

"Murtha's a master of the 'earmark,' those pet projects and special interest items that lawmakers tuck into appropriations bills with little public scrutiny. Taxpayers for Common Sense estimates that Murtha has directed $600 million in earmarks to his district in the last four years."

"Over his 33 years in Congress, the [Wall Street] Journal found, many of his earmarks were for projects opposed by the Pentagon and other federal agencies as inefficient or unnecessary."

"Earmarks have become the way of doing business in Washington, where they were perfected to an art form by the previous Republican Congress. But Murtha's use of them is almost legendary."

Not only has he brought home the bacon, but the nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, which recently listed Murtha as one of the most corrupt members of Congress, says he uses his power as subcommittee chairman to threaten to withhold earmarks from others who don't see certain political matters his way."

Murtha defends the earmark process as a good one. He says individual members of Congress are in the best position to determine how money should be doled out in their districts.

"That could be, but it has little to so with this system, which shortchanges taxpayers whose representatives and senators lack the seniority necessary to take the lid off the cookie jar"

The Harrisburg Patriot concludes, "And that should serve as a warning to those in Murtha's district. Enjoy it while it lasts, because he won't be there forever. Someday the gravy train will be redirected by some other political bully. By Murtha's own philosophy, that's as it should be in Washington."

Of course, Murtha's earmarks are very popular among short-sighted people in the Johstown area. However, as the Patriot indicates, the problem is that, when Murtha's politicalcareer comes to an end, the earmarks will dry up. At that point, the companies that bought Murtha's favors with campaign contributions have no reason to stay in the area. One supects that, before Murtha's funeral mass concludes, many of them will be gone.

At that point, Johnstown might soon be back at the situation it had in 1983, with 24% unemploymnet.

There are many things wrong with "earmark politics." It's essentially a very expensive way of increasing employment. Also, it essentially raises taxes in order to benefit one region at the expense of the rest of the country. It certainly increases Americans' cynicism about how politics works.

Let's compare Johnstown, population of about 27,000, to Blue Springs, Mississippi, population 150, a village near Tupelo, Mississippi (where "Elvis" was born). The prospects of that tiny town are much better than those of Johnstown.

Why? Because Toyota is building a large auto assembly plant there. Soon, Toyota will be the world's largest automaker -- and one of the most profitable.

Unlike Murtha's phantom companies, the Toyota plant should be around for many years. It will provide many good jobs for the current generation in the area -- and probably for their children and grandchildren. With the multiplier effect, the Toyota facility will lead to the creation of many small businesses -- and perhaps some large ones.

In other words, Toyota in Blue Springs will be a real company providing real jobs. Its future will not be dependent on some congressman's clout in extracting earmarks from the political system. In contrast, John Murtha's "accomplishments" in Johnstown will largely fade away when his tenure ends.

Apparently, Murtha assumes that Johnstown can't survive without the distribution of billions in dollars in government handouts.

The situation in Johnstown would be much different if Murtha had taken a page from Blue Springs, a town where taxes are low, the labor conditions are good, and the climate for private business is excellent. Is the climate for such businesses in Johnstown good? Apparently, only for those companies whose commitments to Johnstown depend directly on their receipt of federal dollars.

If you go to http://www.opensecrets.org/, you'll find that several companies -- including University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and PMA -- have given Murtha hundreds of thousands of dollars. That from companies that have received hundreds of millions (in taxpayer funds) from the congressman's efforts. When Murtha stops "giving," as the Patriot suggests, the companies will get going -- right out of Johnstown.

Johnstown will be able to tackle the real issues confronting the community when it elects a new congressman. That person will be William Russell, who's committed to putting the area on a sound economic footing -- and on creating jobs that will outlast the tenure of any congressman.