Patrick And The War

This “Thumbs Up” editorial citation on behalf of Patrick Murphy appeared in the Bucks County Courier Times on Saturday…

To Congressman Patrick Murphy for demonstrating his continuing commitment to fiscal responsibility by voting against a congressional pay raise.

During his campaign, Murphy pledged not to vote for a raise until the minimum wage was increased. And although President Bush signed that increase into law last month, Murphy maintained that, “we are a nation at war and a nation in debt. We all need to do our part to tighten our belts.”

The vote was on a motion to call for an up or down vote on the pay raise since the increase is automatic. The motion failed and the raise was awarded anyway, but Murphy has pledged to donate his raise to charity.

Murphy has said all along that he is a fiscal conservative, further enhanced by his membership in the Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, whose main focus is promoting fiscal responsibility and greater accountability for taxpayer money. As always, we’re glad to see some independence from Murphy and hope he continues to stand up for his convictions, even when they don’t jibe with the majority.

This letter also appeared in the same issue of the paper…

Since the death of our son, PFC Robert H. Dembowski Jr. of the 82nd Airborne on May 24th, we have been overcome with grief. However, our neighbors, community and friends have supported and consoled us with their words, tears, prayers and actions.

There are so many people, many of whom we don’t even know, from up the street and across the country and even around the world, whose kindness has comforted and amazed us. Our son would be touched by all of these gestures. He would appreciate all of these folks helping us in our time of sorrow.

We pray that God will give us all the strength to live the best life we can and to allow peace to thrive in a world that was meant to be peaceful.

Mr. and Mrs. Robert H. Dembowski Sr. and Family
Ivyland, PA

Our sympathies and condolences go out to the Dembowski family, as well as the families of any casualties from this stupid war.

And speaking of the Iraq mess, I thought this Guest Opinion that appeared in the Courier Times the same day as the previous two items was quite eloquent; I hope you agree (and Pat Wandling, by the way, is a totally bald-faced Repug partisan).