More Fog And Lies From Mikey

As reported in the Bucks County Courier Times, Saint McCain brought his “Straight Talk Express” to our area yesterday to campaign for Mike Fitzpatrick and proclaimed that a timeline for withdrawal from Iraq would bring “chaos.”

And how exactly is that different from what our people currently face in that godforsaken mess?

And another thing…am I the only one out there who is suspicious as to the reason why we haven’t heard the official findings from Jim “The Fixer” Baker and Mikey’s precious Iraq Study group concerning the war? Gee, do you think it’s the same reason why the verdict on Saddam Hussein was just announced yesterday? Do you think Baker’s findings are being, oh, I don’t know – how shall I say it…TIMED FOR THE ELECTION?

Given that, how much do you want to bet that, a week from now, McCain will “reconsider” based on the group’s findings and say, “The Republican Party advocates a new strategy on Iraq,” completely ignoring the fact that Patrick Murphy and John Kerry among others, have been calling for a very similar “new” strategy for almost a year?

Oh, but they’re Democrats, so we can’t possibly give them credit for anything, can we now?

Well anyway, please allow me to turn to the most recent campaign mailer we received from the Fitzpatrick For Congress committee, and I'll do my best to refute each of Mikey's claims.

- Mikey said that he voted for the Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Act (House Resolution 2520).

This is the stated purpose of the bill:

To provide for the collection and maintenance of human cord blood stem cells for the treatment of patients and research, and to amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize the C.W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program.

This bill became law last December.

- He also said he cosponsored the Cord Blood Stem Cell Act (HR 596).

Here is the stated purpose of this act:

To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish a National Cord Blood Stem Cell Bank Network to prepare, store, and distribute human umbilical cord blood stem cells for the treatment of patients and to support peer-reviewed research using such cells.

It’s currently stuck in the House Energy and Commerce Committee (as with the prior bill, it supports using stem cells in human cord blood.)

After reading about these two pieces of legislation, I found myself a bit curious as to how cord blood stem cells could be used to treat disease or some other bodily affliction, and it seems that the best used for cord blood stem cells is for replacement in blood or bone marrow tissue and to combat related diseases. This is important and should be supported of course, but it doesn’t appear that this type of stem cells has the same potential for disease treatment as embryonic stem cells.

I hasten to add, though, that I am not a scientist or other life sciences professional, so I’ll defer to someone without a political agenda who knows more about this than I do.

- Also cosponsored something called the Ronald Reagan Alzheimer's Breakthrough Act (even the name sounds suspicious...HR 1262).

Here is the stated purpose of this bill (all three, so far, were introduced by Chris Smith of New Jersey):

To amend the Public Health Service Act to fund breakthroughs in Alzheimer's disease research while providing more help to caregivers and increasing public education about prevention.

This bill was introduced a year and a half ago and is currently stuck in both the House Energy and Commerce Committee also as well as the House Education and Workforce Committee.

I would say that that’s not much of a way to honor the memory of the premier icon of the Republican Party, by the way (though Reagan’s widow Nancy had something to say about a piece of legislation Mikey voted against related to Alzheimer’s, and you can watch the video file about it here.)

- Also voted for the Alternative Pluripotent Stem Cell Therapies Enhancement Act (HR 1262).

This bill was introduced in the Senate by Rick Santorum (automatic freeper alert), and it is described as follows:

A bill to derive human pluripotent stem cell lines using techniques that do not knowingly harm embryos.

“Not knowingly harm embryos” is vague legalese here, and my suspicion is that, though this passed in the Senate somehow, this is why it failed in the House, so the bill is now dead.

- Also cosponsored the Gynecological Resolution for Advancement of Ovarian Cancer Education (HR 444).

And here’s what this did:

Supporting (sic) the goals and ideals of National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month.

Yawn... (I’m not trying to trivialize ovarian cancer, only the pomp and silliness behind this proclamation).

- Also cosponsored the Breast Cancer and Environmental Research Act (HR 2231).

Here is the stated purpose:

To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to make grants for the development and operation of research centers regarding environmental factors that may be related to the etiology of breast cancer.

This bill has been introduced and is currently sitting in the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

So, based on all of these accomplishments from Mikey, this is where we stand:

- One bill signed into law
- Three bills stuck in a House committee
- One resolution passed the House
- One bill passed in the Senate but died in the House

Call me crazy, but this doesn't sound like much of anything to crow about, particularly because we pay for this.

Also, the mailer states that "Pat" Murphy's supporters are also lying about Mike Fitzpatrick on "wanting to ban the birth control pill."

The Truth: Mike Fitzpatrick has never voted against contraception. Never!

This is a flat-out lie based on the information from this link, in particular what I've highlighted below (and if someone out there wants to argue, argue with NARAL - if it turns out that they're wrong somehow, you'll see it here, though this is completely "in character" for Mikey):

Update: Hmmm...you never know, do you?

- Eighty-three percent of this electorate says that the fact that incumbent Mike Fitzpatrick co-sponsored an amendment to the Constitution to outlaw abortion creates serious doubts about Fitzpatrick in their minds, with 54 percent saying that it creates very serious doubts.
- Eighty-four percent of these voters said that Fitzpatrick’s co-sponsoring of a bill to ban the pill creates serious doubts. Fifty-two percent respond that it creates very serious doubts.

This entire mailing to me represents Mikey's "Hail Mary" pass because he's lost the moderate vote, particularly among women voters, so he's willing to say ANYTHING to get it back, per usual.

Also, this is more disinformation from Mikey’s campaign because the decision to fund a contraceptive like Plan B would not be made by Congress. It was made in August by the FDA under Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach; the pill is now sold as a prescription to those 18 and older (and we can thank Senators Hillary Clinton of New York and Patty Murray of Washington for that – they held von Eschenbach’s nomination until he approved the sale of Plan B, as noted here).

However, Congress can cut off funding, making the decision irrelevant, and I read that there was some thought to do this in the Senate, but I cannot locate the link on that at the moment (someone probably realized that it would be election-year dynamite at a time when the incumbents are on the run anyway and decided not to try it).

And on a wholly unrelated matter, please allow me to remind everyone that Fitzpatrick, to date, has STILL not returned about $190,000 worth of campaign contributions linked to Jack Abramoff (I suppose he never will at this point).

This will probably be the last opportunity I’ll have to post against Mikey like this – I can only imagine what fresh new NRCC garbage awaits today, but I may not be able to get to it tomorrow. Posting will be sporadic over the next few days in general, so this will probably be my last chance to urge everyone as strongly as I can to VOTE TOMORROW and drive a stake through the heart of the Repugs, so to speak (assuming they even have one), and make sure they NEVER FORGET IT!!