Saturday, June 10, 2006

Pot, Meet Kettle

(Memo to the IBC, by the way - please fix this ad box issue so I can have my right nav bar again, OK?)

(A definite nod of respect to Markos Zuniga for ripping off a phrase of his to use as the title for this post...sounds like Yearly Kos is a kickass time for one and all, and I'm definitely there in spirit.)

Gosh, it sounds like Glenn Beck has added to his illustrious track record with this one.

Friday, June 09, 2006

Faith-Based Fraud

(I'm trying to recreate this from yesterday - Blogger's photo upload is hosed again...ugh!)

I happened to come across this commentary at CNN’s site Wednesday by Kay Warren, whose husband Rick wrote “The Purpose-Driven Life” and who herself has traveled and written extensively on the AIDS pandemic (as noted in her bio).

Her column about what Christians can do to combat AIDS was commendable in a few ways, and some of the comments posted below showed that her words touched a great many people, and she deserves thanks for that (though author Wayne Besen his own take on all of this).

The one question that kept coming back to me over and over, though, as I read this was, “What is going on with the funding for The Millennium Challenge Account that is supposed to address AIDS in Africa?”

Though this link is dated from January 2005, I think it contains some information that is still relevant today, and I’ve highlighted the following two paragraphs. (I’ll search for updates and add to this post if I find them).

In the State of the Union Address 2003, Bush promised $15 billion over 5 years toward the global fight against AIDS. $10 billion in new money was to be concentrated in Africa and the Caribbean. The initiative was hailed as an act of tremendous generosity and a significant contribution. However, shortly thereafter Admin Bush fell short of its own proposed effort. Following the speech, the White House submitted its 2004 budget which asked for $450 million of new money that was ostensibly coming from cutting $500 million from international child health programs. The President has consistently refused to request the full $3 billion per year and will likely follow this pattern entering January 2005.

In addition, rather than utilizing existing efforts and joining a truly global initiative to address the problem, Administration Bush opted to channel funds through USAID and created a new position to combat AIDS. The position’s responsibility is to oversee resources and activities in the global fight against HIV/AIDS pandemic. Um, I thought that’s what the Global Fund for AIDS was doing. But Admin Bush’s egotism mandated that only $200 million go to the Fund, which has repeatedly pleaded with the U.S. to increase its share of funding in order to meet real needs and avert bankruptcy. Instead of meeting the challenge and opportunity of taking real global leadership in addressing the AIDS pandemic, the U.S. has backed away from commitments to international organizations, domestic promises, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
As I’ve said before, history one day will record Dubya’s 2003 State of the Union address as one of the grossest documents of wall-to-wall lies ever seen, and this apparently is but a part of that. And of all of the bait-and-switch tactics practiced by this administration, this may be the very worst, running a close second to Bushco’s denial of the existence of global warming.

“I’m Sorry I Didn’t Get Killed”

In a few hours, the graduation ceremony will be held for the senior class of Truman High School of Bristol Township here in Bucks County, PA. Ordinarily, this would be a story of little consequence, sort of par for the course for most graduation ceremonies.

But as many people know by now, this story is exceptional because senior class president Tyrone Lewis will deliver his commencement speech via a video feed and not in person. This is because Lewis has been barred from his graduation by the school since his life has been threatened by a New Jersey gang.

Now that you have this bit of information, I’m going to point out that something highly unusual happened this week in the pages of the Bucks County Courier Times. Columnist Kate Fratti wrote about this on Wednesday, and I’ll let her provide the remaining background on this; her work on this was typically well done and, I would argue, brought a perspective to this that only a mother of a son could bring.

The unusual thing that took place was the fact that both Fratti and J.D. Mullane (the paper’s other columnist and resident journalistic hack) wrote about Lewis and his story, with Mullane making his unique contribution yesterday (I was going to avoid this entire story because I don’t know what else could have been said until J.D. “stepped in it” in his own special way).

Mullane’s take on this was typically perverse, as you can see...

Tyrone Lewis should have the grace to apologize for the inconvenience, negative national publicity and fear that his unique situation has brought to Truman.

He should thank the school administrators and the police for going to extraordinary means to let him participate.

This is what gentlemen do. We'll see if Lewis lives up to his rep.
I suppose, when the ceremony is over and (God willing) all goes fine, Lewis should announce the title of this post to the entire universe then, huh J.D.?

As Fratti pointed out, the potential reprisal Tyrone Lewis is facing is because his sister testified in the trial of the shooter who killed Anton Cofield, all of 23 years old.

Not unlike the clients of Jack Abramoff, Tyrone Lewis has done absolutely nothing wrong. If anything, he is the one making the sacrifice by not contesting the decision of the school. I don’t see that setting up some kind of video feed allowing Lewis to speak constitutes a hardship on the part of the high school (please allow your humble narrator to voice his opinion on this, albeit reluctantly because everyone else seems to be a “know it all” on this subject also).

Along with many other people I’m sure, it is my sincere hope that Tyrone Lewis is able to achieve and accomplish all that he is able to in his life and, one day, can look back on all of this as a rough patch in what will hopefully be (metaphorically speaking) nothing but green grass for him.

And meanwhile, local yokel columnists who blame him for imaginary offenses will be left to wallow in the mud where they belong.

They're Deliberating On Santa Claus Too

Here’s the latest from the Joe Sestak campaign:

VALLEY FORGE, PA – Former three-star Admiral Joe Sestak, the Democratic candidate in Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District, today outlined a planned end to military engagement in Iraq within the next year before a group of local veterans and others.

"The war in Iraq has been a tragic misadventure," Sestak said. "It was undertaken at the wrong place because there was no clear and present danger. It was undertaken at the wrong time because it distracted us from the job that needed to be finished in Afghanistan. Curt Weldon voted for this war, and now his and President Bush's policies have led our country into an inconclusive, open-ended occupation, with elusive ever-changing goals."

Over the course of his 31 years in the Navy, Sestak led a series of operational commands, culminating in command of the George Washington aircraft carrier battle group that conducted combat operations in Afghanistan and precursor operations to the war in Iraq.

"Americans have a decision to make," Sestak continued. "'Victory', defined by the Bush Administration as the insurgency being crushed within a stable, secular Iraqi democracy, is unlikely without a significantly larger U.S. force that can stop both the insurgency and the internal sectarian Sunni-Shiite fighting. There is the real likelihood that our continued presence will lead to a prolonged occupation with rising death, injury, and cost for an unknown number of years. We must look for a new way forward; failing to do so means significantly hurting our other, more important long term interests in the world."

Sestak asserted that the best way forward in Iraq is a definitive timetable for re-deployment within a year. Such a date-certain timetable will serve as the "catalyst for change in Iraq," with the planned U.S. redeployment forcing the major parties in Iraq to accept their responsibilities for ensuring peace.

In summary, Sestak said, "U.S. interests in the world do not include pouring endless amounts of our national treasure of lives and money into elusive, endless goals when we have so much else to achieve in this world."

Pennsylvania's Seventh Congressional District includes parts of Delaware, Montgomery, and Chester counties.
So what does “Crazy Curt” Weldon have to say in response? This wonderful quote (noted in this story):

“I think the jury is still out on WMD.”
And this totally unfounded lie (also noted in the story)...

Weldon campaign chairman Michael Puppio said Sestak should take responsibility for what he said was a scheme to funnel $100,000 from Enron Corp. to the Democratic National Committee by threatening in 1995 to cut off U.S. aid to Mozambique if the African nation refused to let Enron develop its natural gas fields.

Sestak said he had no involvement with Enron as the National Security Council’s director for defense policy.

"Mozambique?" he asked, appearing confused by Puppio’s allegation. "I’m sorry, I don’t know what they’re talking about."
Curt, the whole “fear and smear” thing is soooo 2004 of you. Reach into your slimy bag of tricks and come up with something else. Or better yet, try to have AN HONEST DEBATE ON THE ISSUES with Joe, OK?

The Tit That Will Never Die

Howard Stern predicted that this bill, known as the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act, would eventually pass Congress and (of course) be signed into law by Bush, and he was right. The bill passed in the U.S. Senate on May 18th (S.193), and yesterday, it passed in the U.S. House (H.R. 310). As a result, fines on communications companies and individual broadcasters have been raised to a potential maximum of nearly half a million dollars.

Let’s think about how utterly preposterous this is for a minute, OK?

If I accidentally said a bad word in a particular circumstance, the effects could be highly detrimental to my employment and, potentially, my career, but I can guarantee you that it wouldn’t cost me nearly half a million dollars. Likewise, if Preston and Steve on WMMR or anyone else on TV or radio (excluding cable and satellite, but make no mistake…the FCC under Bushco is going to try and find a way to regulate that also) now accidentally drop an “F” bomb or something similar to it, it could cost them that preposterous amount of money.

And for what? Who will be “corrupted” anyway? These stick-up-their-ass, Dobsonite zombies who seem to have no problem with violence in our media marketplace but go into spasmodic convulsions at the sight of a diamond-studded, 40-year-old African American mammary gland?

Historians and others will be commenting on the farcical absurdity of all of this for decades I’m sure, but for now, I’d like to pay tribute to the 35 voices of sanity in the U.S. House (entirely Democrat but for two) who opposed this nonsense:

Abercrombie
Baird
Becerra
Berkley
Berman
Blumenauer
Clay
Conyers
Delahunt
Frank (MA)
Grijalva
Harman
Hinchey
Honda
Kucinich
Lee
Lofgren, Zoe
McDermott
Nadler
Olver
Paul (R-TX)
Payne
Sabo
Sánchez, Linda T.
Sanders (I – VT…great job, Bennie!)
Schakowsky
Scott (VA)
Serrano
Sherman
Stark
Wasserman Schultz
Waters
Watson
Watt
Waxman
In response, I can’t wait to get home tonight and watch a Friday DVD double feature I’d been planning for some time of “Raging Bull” and “RoboCop.”

Update 7/29/08: Sanity prevails! (here)

Let The Trash Take Itself Out


I read the following paragraph from this article and I wanted to spew all over my keyboard (re: the departure of “The Bug Man” at long last):

At the conclusion of the almost 25-minute speech, Republican members stood and applauded and cheered. Lawmakers crowded into the well of the House to hug DeLay and wish him well, including one of the chamber's most well-known liberals, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio.
For some perspective from the reality-based community, here is a particularly good column on this cretin from Molly Ivins.

Update 6/9: Curiouser and curiouser...

Yep, That "Bounce" Is On The Way!

Why did I know that right-wing stenographer Mike Allen was responsible for this?

Just keep running your ads for Flush Limbore, I'll keep reading The New Yorker and finding much better information than I could in the rag this once-proud periodical has become, and I guess that will be that.

Mikey, The Ethics Czar

(note: republishing from yesterday in an effort to fix some site issues...)

More tons of communication issues, including the fact that Blogger has been an absolute mess over the last few days (hence no photo here and messed-up spacing, though I know you know what Fitzpatrick looks like – hopefully, the communication stuff is getting addressed)…

The Bucks County Courier Times ran this article yesterday in which our 8th District U.S. House Representative from PA said that the FBI raid on the office of Dem Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana was OK after all, in spite of the fact that, as mentioned by Patrick Murphy, Fitzpatrick “favored weakening House ethics rules to protect Tom DeLay.”

OK, now let’s consider all the ways that Patrick Murphy has been beaten up in the C-T over the last few days, OK? Criticism for calling Fitzpatrick’s “MySpace” bill for the fraud that it is, criticism for taking money that came indirectly from clients of Jack Abramoff (said clients being completely innocent of any wrongdoing, by the way), criticism for supposedly not supporting Israel by calling for troop draw-downs in Iraq (yes, I’m serious…somebody in Newtown, PA went off about that on Tuesday), and even criticism because the entire Murphy campaign staff signed the paper’s “honesty pledge” a week or so ago as opposed to only Fitzpatrick (no, I couldn’t believe my eyes either when I read it either).

So what criticism of Murphy appears in the newspaper today? Well, unbelievably, I can’t find anything – I’m truly shocked.

You’re slacking off, people!

An Idiot In Any Language

The Philadelphia Inquirer made this good catch this morning regarding our illustrious Senator Santorum and his rabidly-right-wing take on immigration (no amnesty, automatically "criminalizing" all illegals here right now, etc.):

U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum seemed to be sending different messages to different audiences on his campaign Web site this week.

English-language visitors to www.ricksantorum.com encountered a home page filled with concern about the "amnesty-ridden proposal" the U.S. Senate adopted to deal with illegal immigration.

But a section of the site for Spanish readers made no mention of amnesty in its discourse on immigration. Nor did it refer to "rewarding criminal behavior" of illegal immigrants, as the English version did.

Jim Hoefler, a professor of political science at Dickinson College, noted: "The English version is kind of the Rick Santorum we know - no amnesty, law and order, tough guy. The Spanish version is a lot softer - we need to find a balance, that sort of approach."

But Virginia Davis, the Republican senator's spokeswoman, said Santorum was not deliberately crafting different messages for different people. She said the English version had been updated since passage of the Senate bill May 25 and that the Spanish had not.

"Probably next week we'll have the identical version in Spanish," she said.
Don't hold your breath waiting for that one, people.

Update 6/9: Here's more fun with Little Ricky courtesy of Will Bunch via Atrios.

Thursday, June 08, 2006

So What?

Good for our troops that they’ve killed the murdering animal in Iraq Abu Musab al Zarqawi. But before we see too many more dramatic, all-cap-letters headlines from CNN and elsewhere about it, let’s remember some of the people who al Zarqawi slaughtered, including CARE director in Iraq Margaret Hassan (pictured) and Nicholas Berg (and I will never forget the last image of Hassan that I saw with that pleading look on her face knowing the fate that awaited her).

(I can just picture Faux News right now, proclaiming that long-anticipated “Bush Bounce” from a 33 percent approval rating to a whopping 36 percent approval rating.)

And also, read this to know why their deaths, as well as countless others, could have been avoided if this war were being waged by the military and intelligence communities instead of a bunch of greed head, holier-than-thou chickenhawks who have murdered people in their own right as a result of their delusions. A modicum of planning in advance could have taken out al Zarqawi before the illegal war even started.

Finally, I think this diarist on The Daily Kos captured my opinion on this pretty well.

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

"Always Fun To Have You"

Memo to Matt Lauer:

This is NOT how you end an interview with a hateful, demagogic, female right-wing criminal.

This is NOT how you end an interview with someone who has said that the 9/11 widows are “millionaires,” described by this utterly reptilian conservative as people whom she has never seen “enjoying their husband’s deaths so much.”

My ire in this post isn’t really aimed at this disgusting mongrel who, pitifully, has been granted a forum to spew her bile and thus inflict her utterly depraved words upon us yet again. This is par for the course with her.

No, Mr. Lauer, my ire is aimed at YOU for NOT TELLING HER WHAT HILLARY CLINTON SAID HERSELF (I’m a little uncomfortable with the New York senator’s flirtation with the right, but when push comes to shove, I can’t think of a single time when she hasn’t done the right thing, including – and especially – now).

Mr. Lauer, try reading this article from the real widows of 9/11 to begin to have a clue. And also, if you want to actually help instead of grabbing a cheap, sensational headline, you can read about the 9/11 Memorial Garden here in Bucks County, PA and consider making a donation.

And for the rest of us, let’s read here to find out what we can do to try and stop sickening episodes like this from being replayed ever again.

Update 6/8: Why did I know Keith Olbermann would have a good take on this (and John Kerry also...remember him, the guy who supposedly was "incapable of relating to the voters" in the 2004 election?).

Update 6/9: The Raw Story exposes more Coulter fraud here...

It Takes A Fatheaded Politician

(Once again, I know I shouldn’t call people names, but that rule doesn’t apply for one of our Pennsylvania senators as far as I’m concerned.)

So Sen. Scumwad writes this book last year (assuming he did it without assistance, and I’m sure he didn’t though I can’t prove it at the moment) and says, among other things, that either a mother or father could stop work and stay at home full time with their child if “they took an honest look at the budget” (moron…we take “an honest look” every day and realize that that’s utterly impossible), and now he’s trying to defend his record on the environment?

(By the way, not to change the subject again, but there is a whole body of information out there on the Internet concerning how Santorum and his wife both worked at one time, she as a well-heeled consultant, and managed to sock away enough dough until he was elected to the Senate over Harris Wofford, a man Santorum could exceed in hard work, intellect and moral fortitude only in his dreams, one of Santorum’s many hypocrisies which are as limitless as the grains of sand on a beach.)

Here is what little brownshirt Ricky said recently (as quoted in an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer):

"What I have tried to do is deliver, not just talk," Santorum said. "The real difference between the candidates is someone who has worked hard, focused on the issues important to the people of Pennsylvania and accomplished something, as opposed to someone who will talk about controversial issues and criticize me for having a zero scorecard from the League of Conservation Voters or the Sierra Club or some other liberal environmental group."
God, I absolutely detest that man.

The Inquirer printed a compilation of lowlights yesterday on Santorum’s environmental record versus Casey’s stated positions on environmental issues, which were assembled from the League of Conservation Voters, Republicans for Environmental Protection (I’ll bet that’s a lonely group), and the candidates’ own campaigns (good job by the paper to do this…I’ll let you, dear reader, decide whether or not “liberal bias” exists in this information). Here it is:

Artic National Wildlife II

Santorum has backed drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge, saying the benefits of tapping a domestic oil source (my note: which would only last for about six months) outweigh the environmental drawbacks. Bob Casey Jr. opposes efforts to drill in the region, which environment groups say should remain untouched.

Fuel economy standards

Santorum has opposed congressional mandates raising the average fuel efficiency standards, which is 27.5 miles per gallon for passenger cars. In April, however, he embraced a measure allowing the transportation secretary to write new rules for passenger cars (my note: gee, maybe because this is an election year?). Casey says he would have voted for a bill last year that called for raising the standard to 40 miles per gallon for passenger cars and light trucks by 2015.

Global warming

Santorum says more study is needed on global warming (my note: of course), and the government should therefore “be cautious in reacting to this issue.” Casey said he believes that global warming exists and the government should move to regulate greenhouse gases.

Land preservation

Santorum authored a farmland preservation program in 1996, helped pass a 2004 bill authorizing $110 million to preserve land in the Highlands region, which stretches from Pennsylvania to Connecticut, and pushed brownfields redevelopment and the cleanup of abandoned mines. Casey said that he would continue “robust funding and tax policies that encourage the preservation of open space.”

Mercury emissions

Santorum backed
Bush’s 2005 rule requiring reductions in mercury from power plants. Casey says that measure doesn’t go far enough and supports an effort by Gov. Rendell to enact stricter rules on state coal plants.
Tell you what, Ricky: this compilation shows a little progress on brownfields, but I don’t see anything to crow about anywhere else. Why don’t you go watch “An Inconvenient Truth” and then go hug a tree or something (or better yet - speaking of the movie - sign this).

Feed The World

A lot has been going on with yours truly lately, including fighting an illness and ongoing network issues, and unfortunately as a result of all of that I missed posting yesterday on National Hunger Awareness Day. However, we can fight this all year round, and here, here, and here are links to three locations that will give us more information on that.

Also, here once again is the story of a champion in this cause.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Same Dots, Same Connections


This great letter from Sister Mary Scullion, the executive director of Project H.O.M.E., appeared in today's Inquirer.

Your May 30 editorial "Bad math, slick politics" was an important tool to help voters connect the tax-and-spend dots. However, it overlooked how the current choices of President Bush and this Congress related to taxes and budgets have already impacted federal investment in education, health care, social services, affordable quality child care, and community development. These leaders continue to count on the fact that voters aren't educated and do not comprehend the real consequences of cutting taxes for America's wealthiest - less revenue means less investment in American priorities.

Congress' approval of billions in tax cuts for wealthy investors came within months of the same Congress enacting the Deficit Reduction Act. This brutally unfair legislation adversely impacted tens of millions of low-income Americans while at the same time increasing the deficit. It guaranteed cuts for Medicaid, child-support enforcement and child-welfare services, and included changes to the country's welfare reform laws that will deny more low-income, hard-working parents access to child care.

Another important point for people to consider is that the tax cutting is far from over. The Senate leadership has vowed it will tackle repeal or reform of the estate tax. Either route will have virtually the same result. Billions more will be siphoned out of the federal treasury assuring essential American domestic priorities and programs are further starved. We should use our voices and votes as a signal that we have connected the dots, and we're ready for a new direction.
To learn more about the lawsuit filed by Rep. John Conyers over the Deficit Reduction Act, click here.

That's The Way God Planned It

Billy Preston had been in ill health for a long time, so this was not completely a surprise, unfortunately. I always thought his finest performance was at The Concert for Bangla Desh in 1972.

Also, another keyboard legend of jazz passed away today.

Update 6/7: This hasn't been a good week for keyboard players...one more fell earlier.

The 'Net Belongs To Us

The latest from John Edwards...

When MoveOn and The Christian Coalition agree about something, it's a good bet they're right. Groups as wide-ranging as Gun Owners of America on one side and U.S. PIRG and the One America Committee on the other are fighting to keep the Internet the way it is now - free and open to anyone with access to a computer.

Today, everyone in the world can communicate through the Internet on an equal basis. A small-time programmer like Pierre Omidyar can start an auction site out of his home office and turn it into eBay. A blogger like Josh Marshall can post his opinions on Talking Points Memo and end up attracting more readers than the country's biggest newspapers.

On the Internet, big corporations are on equal footing with everyday people. And it needs to stay that way.

Right now, special interests are pushing bills through Congress that would divide the Internet in two. Corporate deals would determine which web sites would run incredibly fast and which ones would barely run at all. Some users might not be able to access sites operated by regular people.

I don't want Internet service providers to decide which web sites I can look at. And I know you don't either.

The House of Representatives is expected to vote on "Net Neutrality" on June 8th. Please help keep the Internet free and open to everyone by signing this petition to Congress.

Sign the petition now.

Some people fear that creating two tiers of the Internet could allow service providers to shut down web sites whose politics they didn't like. But even if they didn't discriminate based on content, the access fees could marginalize smaller and poorer players.

This is the completely wrong direction. We should be making the Internet more accessible, not less. We should be working to connect rural areas, schools in poor neighborhoods and other areas where people have not yet benefited from access to innovation and technology.

I need you to sign this petition before Congress votes on a telecommunications bill on June 8th. That bill needs to contain provisions that protect the fundamental Internet principle of Net Neutrality.

The companies that want to charge for the Internet are running a slick public relations campaign to make themselves look like a grassroots operation. That's why the folks on our side need to wage a real - and overwhelming - grassroots effort to make sure Congress understands that Americans want to keep the Internet the way it is - free and open to everyone.

As a member of our online community, you understand the critical role of the Internet in promoting free speech and the exchange of ideas. Hearing from you through the help of technology - podcasts, blogs, emails - helps me learn what's important to you and make decisions about where the country should be headed.

I hope you will take a moment to stand up for Net Neutrality.

Sign the petition now.

Thank you for taking action.

Your friend,

John
Click here to learn more.

Monday, June 05, 2006

Bushco Needs To Get Laid

I think Bill Maher voiced a sentiment along those lines some weeks ago, and I couldn’t agree more.

This country has sanctioned torture through extraordinary rendition, created human rights disasters at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, waged an illegal and illegitimate war to oust Saddam Hussein based on reasons that were lies, spied on its own citizens as part of “the Global Now And Forever And Ever War On Terror,” and now we have witnessed the murder of innocent Iraqi civilians by troops in our thoroughly depleted armed forces.

And this administration actually has the unmitigated, sickening gall to preach to other countries about their immoral behavior?

When it comes to that score, so to speak, you’d have to say that we’re pretty high up on the list with every other country these days. And on top of that, Bushco will continue its “full steam ahead” campaign of demonizing gays and lesbians to curry favor with “values voters” who are convenient ignored until it’s time to run for election and are thus played for the suckers that they are.

WAKE UP, PEOPLE!!!

Hypocrisy

Before I say anything else, I should point out that most of the text of this post was originated previously and is located elsewhere on this site, but I believe it needs to be mentioned again and again and again.

As we know, Repug Mike Fitzpatrick has portrayed himself as a “moderate” in a district that has trended toward Democratic candidates in elections going back into the 90s. He succeeded Republican Jim Greenwood, who eventually threw in the towel, took a nice payout from Big Pharma, and retired to “K” street where he’s (presumably) living happily ever after.

I would ask that you keep this in mind while you read about the latest slime tossed by Fitzpatrick at Patrick Murphy; namely, that Murphy is a “hypocrite” for accepting money indirectly from Jack Abramoff’s clients, while Murphy has criticized Fitzpatrick for accepting donations from Abramoff via Tom DeLay (Mikey has done well from his one-time relationship with DeLay, who is up to his neck in legal trouble with Abramoff).

As we know and as I’ve pointed out many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many times, Abramoff’s clients have done nothing wrong. Abramoff himself, on the other hand, is quite another story.

And as for Fitzpatrick’s “moderation”:

- Fitzpatrick voted for the House Immigration bill that would have punished priests and ministers performing aid work for illegal aliens (“undocumented”…whatever, with House cheese head and Judiciary chairman James Sensenbrenner saying complaints against the bill amounted to “a hysteria”). Financial penalties and jail time could follow, including up to five years in jail.
(I’m sure the Bucks County Courier Times would be shocked – absolutely shocked – to know that Fitzpatrick supported legislation that would hurt members of his own church. After all, Mikey’s such a good, Christian man who – and the paper NEVER misses an opportunity to let us know this – has fathered six children.)

- Fitzpatrick said he would support stem cell research when running for his seat in 2004, then contradicted himself by voting against HR 810 which would have enabled research using cells that would otherwise be discarded.

- Fitzpatrick voted to inject himself into the Terri Schiavo fiasco (where Dr. Bill Frist made his wonderful T.V. “diagnosis” that there was somehow brainwave activity going on in a terminally comatose woman).

- Fitzpatrick voted with Tom DeLay and the Republican leadership 86 percent of the time, according to The Washington Post.

- Fitzpatrick voted to strip away the Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances by withholding funds to a federal court in Indiana because he didn’t like a decision rendered by the court (HR 2862).

- Fitzpatrick voted to eliminate contraceptives from the list of prevention methods available under a new program to treat and prevent obstetric fistula—a debilitating injury with lifelong consequences for women. Simply, this vote jeopardizes the health and lives of women by limiting access to a full range of family planning options.

- Fitzpatrick voted for the budget bill that hurts children, senior citizens, students, working families, and child-support collection efforts, all the while protecting special interests and doing nothing to cut the debt (See Roll Call #s 601, 670, and 4). The bill was so bad that the Catholic Bishops opposed it, because it “failed to ‘meet the needs of the most vulnerable among us;’” but Mike called it “reasonable.”
I could go on and on about Fitzpatrick, but this is enough for now.

I don’t know in what universe someone like Fitzpatrick could be considered a “moderate,” but certainly none that I know of (and if that’s what he really was, when then would you make of this?).

Oh, and by the way, did you know that Mikey was a law school classmate of Sen. Scumwad?