Six Meat Buffet » Pennsylvania Politics

80 Year Old Cancer Patient Goes Before Electoral Death Panel

Brian — Wed, 19 May 2010 05:58:07 +0000

I don’t think we should operate on this one. A pain pill should do the trick.

“If we’re not careful, if you don’t field the strongest candidate — frankly, like Arlen Specter — they’re going to take over,” Specter said of the tea parties. “Beating the tea party gang is more important than who does the beating.”

Fool, you were primaried by your own party and lost. Who excludes who exactly? So much for the Big Tent of the Democratic Party. It speaks volumes for the Specters of the world who complained to the very end about how far to the right the Republican Party had gone (as if!) to be done in by how far to the left the Democrats have gone.

Once a figurehead of “moderates” in the Republican Party, he evolved after decades in Washington to see average citizens who want limited government as greater enemies than Democrats and in need of a beating no less for the crime of wanting someone to represent them.

Let that be a lesson to you other traitors and turncoats. There is no honor among thieves.

Who Doesn’t Love Slandering The Dead?

Brian — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 14:31:54 +0000

It’s increasingly one of America’s most popular past times. So much so that major leftwing websites often have to close their comments sections when someone on the Right dies. Have we learned nothing?

Apparently not as these Arbiters of Good Taste have nominated a word-class necroslanderer who cynically and expediently lies about his own wife and child’s deaths to try and win over a few MADD mothers.

Who doesn’t drink their lunch once in a great while?

As late as 2007 Biden said that the man who was involved in the fatal crash that killed his wife and daughter was a “guy who allegedly … drank his lunch” before he got behind the wheel of his truck and in 2001 the TV show Inside Edition aired a tape of Biden saying the truck driver “stopped to drink instead of drive.”

We give him credit for being half right, shouldn’t we? That would be the right thing to do wouldn’t it? Except if you happen to belong to the family of the person he’s exploiting:

This drunk driving accusation, though, is simply a Biden creation and every time this claim is uttered it pains the family of the poor, maligned man involved in the tragic accident with Biden’s family, truck driver Curtis C. Dunn. Gannett owned DelewareOnline reports the anguish that Biden’s continued lie causes the man’s family every time it is uttered.

“To see it coming from [Biden's] mouth, I just burst into tears,” Dunn’s daughter, Glasgow resident Pamela Hamill, 44, said Wednesday. “My dad was always there for us. Now we feel like we should be there for him because he’s not here to defend himself.”

In truth, there was no finding of alcohol being involved in this tragic incident. In fact, some investigators thought at the time that the accident was caused by Biden’s wife pulling out into the intersection not having seen Dunn’s truck bearing down upon her. It was simply a horrible accident with no blame saying Dunn was at fault, much less drunk.

You could say it was an honest mistake had Biden not acknowledged as much in a note to the family a few years ago:

As Hamill watched a recording of the Inside Edition report Wednesday, she gasped when the clip of Biden’s comments from Iowa came on screen.

After reading a News Journal account of Biden’s 2001 speech at UD, Hamill sent Biden a letter on behalf of her father. The newspaper story included Biden’s description of getting the call that his wife and daughter had died, but not his comments about Dunn.

Hamill said her note to the senator described how Dunn was affected by the accident.

Printed on the senator’s letter head and dated Oct. 11, 2001, the response from Biden reads:
“I apologize for taking so long to acknowledge your thoughtful and heartfelt note,” Biden wrote. “All that I can say is I am sorry for all of us and please know that neither I nor my sons feel any animosity whatsoever.”

What he meant to say is: “All that I can say is that I am sorry for me. Please know that I will run your father’s name through the mud whenever it gives me an opportunity to play the sympathy card even though my wife was likely responsible for the accident.”

We know how some people feel so strongly about this subject. Please refer all comments to Biden.Senate.Gov.

It took a lot of grueling investigation work to find that Senate website with a phone number on it. If anyone needs The Slanderer of Scranton’s e-mail address you can just contact me personally* .

~~I, however, will not let people slander my good friend Joe Biden who is constantly slandering Dunn and his family for cheap political points so I’m going to close the comments.~~

/Because I’m seasoned like that.

Well, maybe I’ll open the comments if some FReepers show up.

Fat, Dirty and Stupid Is No Way to Go Through Life

annika — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 03:58:15 +0000

This is the full ABSCAM video, starring Jack “I never took that money” Murtha. It’s fifty-three minutes and forty seconds long, but I was fascinated by the entire thing.

6MB readers are pretty well informed, but on the off chance that you need some background, here’s the setup. Back in the waning days of the Carter administration, while Tip O’Neill was House Speaker, there was a junior congressman named John Murtha. He’s the dude that’s sitting on the couch in the video, the one with the elevated opinion of himself.

The FBI created a sting operation in which they approached 31 congressmen and told them a couple of rich Saudi princes needed help getting into the United States. The Saudi princes were fictitious, but Murtha and the other congressmen didn’t know that. All they knew was that the offering price was $50,000 per prince.

You may read elsewhere that Murtha was clean, because he didn’t take the money. You won’t find a perfect smoking gun soundbite in this video. The dude was careful. But after listening to the totality of the shit that comes out of his mouth during this haggling session, there was no doubt in my mind: that asshole’s dirty.

Weldon Update

Cranky — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 11:49:12 +0000

Well, Weldon’s bonehead campaign staff doesn’t see the value in blogs. I called his office and his press manager last night offering to get his side of the story out.

Regardless, here is Congressman Weldon’s official statement. You know what would quash this right now? If FBI Director Muller
would make a statement on this incident. As it is, Weldon is left to twist in the wind.

I have received confirmation that the Justice Department has opened a preliminary inquiry into items previously reported on by the LA Times in 2004.

I look forward to providing law enforcement personnel with any and all documents and information that they may seek to review. I will cooperate 100 percent with the inquiry. I am confident that investigators will reach the same conclusions as the House Ethics Committee, which looked into these allegations in 2004 at my request, and found that I had engaged in no wrongdoing.

…

But what’s really disappointing to me is the politics of personal destruction that left wing liberal activists like CREW have engaged in. CREW, for those of you who don’t know, is the group that requested the Justice Department look at this issue two years ago. It is no coincidence that the Vice President of CREW, Philadelphia trial lawyer Daniel Berger and his law firm are among the single largest contributors to my opponent Joe Sestak’s campaign. This is a group that is closely tied to my opponent Joe Sestak and now, just weeks before my reelection word that the inquiry is occurring has mysteriously trickled out. That is dirty, partisan politics at its absolute worst.

I look forward to the completion of the inquiry so that my name can be cleared.

For me, the question remains if this is payback for making Intelligence bureacrats squirm or simple partisan politics.

Filthy Tricks

Cranky — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 19:23:12 +0000

“What I find ironic, if there is an investigation, is that no one would tell me until three weeks before the election,” Weldon said at an appearance in Media. “This incident was 2 1/2 years ago.”

Why is my Congressman’s daughter being subjected to an FBI search right now – three weeks before a very tight election race?

I’m purely speculating here, but he has pissed a lot of bureaucrats off in the intelligence community for the spectacular incompentence before and after 9/11. There is this:

Weldon, regarded by some as a foreign policy expert, has clashed at times with the Bush administration. In the last year, he has repeatedly said a secret military unit called “Able Danger” used data- mining to link four Sept. 11 hijackers to al-Qaida more than a year before the attacks. A Pentagon report rejected the idea.

I’m the last person to don the ol’ tinfoil… but even in this particular political season, where nastiness has attained new heights, I suspect he might be getting some payback.

Maybe Joe Sestak has some favors owed to him.

Hopefully, I’ll have a chance to ask him in person at the rally next week.

The Hannibal of Immigration

Cranky — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 18:51:15 +0000

Raj Bhakta, congressional candidate from Pennsylvania’s 13 district and the guy I pimp for crossed the Rio Grande on an elephant to make a point about immigration.

Raj will be on the O’Reilly Factor tonight at 8:00pm

I’ve written earlier on why this particular race is important – his opponent, Alyson Schwartz. If Congress could displace one rabid liberal, that would be good for everyone.

Also, it is a brilliant way for him to raise his profile. He needs your help. You probably don’t live in North Philadelphia, so please consider donating to his campaign or spreading the word on your blog. Link here.

More at
Raj Blog and
Ace O’ Spades

Oh, one other thing. In the full length video, he films an illegal border crossing right under the U.S. Border Patrol crossing. It’s a well spent five minutes.

Why This Congressional Seat Is Important

Cranky — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 12:11:03 +0000

All Insufferable Prick Party politics aside, here is an important Republican race to follow.

As you may know, I am a Pennsylvanian and am hijacking this blog to plug candidates in some key races.

Pennsylvania’s 13th Congressional District, which covers parts of North Philly and the northern suburbs, is an important seat for Republicans to pick up this November.

Raj Bhakta is the Republican candidate running against Allyson Schwartz – a liberal that gives Liberalism a bad name.

Schwartz made the local newstalk buzz a few months ago for her communications with a doctor over tort reform.

From the Bryn Mawr Alumnae Bulletin

As a thinking individual, I try to support candidates, usually Democrats, who believe in women’s rights, the sanctity of the U.S. Constitution, etc., but after a few communications with Ms. Schwartz, I quickly realized that she should be nowhere near any public office.

After I was graduated from BMC, I spent 13 years training to become a neurosurgeon. I returned to Philadelphia to bring my skills “home”—to serve my community. I was devoted to providing the highest level of care primarily to young people who had suffered from intracranial aneurysms or who were victims of head and spine trauma. When many doctors were leaving Pennsylvania because of rising malpractice insurance costs, I came home to help what is now an underserved population. But we were beaten. Malpractice insurance costs did us in. Without any suits or claims against me, my premiums were more than I could earn because I was providing care primarily to the uninsured or underinsured—the young and lower socio-economic strata. So now people who cannot personally afford health care do not have access to top doctors as they have had in the past—the politicians and current laws tie our hands as caregivers.

The remedy to the situation is complex, but unquestionably the first step is to cap non-economic losses, a.k.a., “pain-and-suffering.” This has a ripple effect at multiple levels. Caps need to be instituted as soon as possible. Prior to the recent election, I contacted all the candidates, and, sadly, the Democrats—who also coincidentally get much of their campaign funds from trial lawyers and many of whom have themselves been trial lawyers—are against this critical first step in tort reform.

Allyson Schwartz in particular is one of the biggest adversaries of tort reform. Prior to the election, I wrote to Ms. Schwartz expressing the horror of the situation we are facing as doctors in Pennsylvania. She stated quite specifically that she opposes any caps on pain-and-suffering awards. Her point, in summary, was that if for example a drug dealer in north Philadelphia gets shot in the head, and I operate on him, and he gets an infection or something, since he has no “economic losses”—after all he is a drug dealer—then he can only get pain-and-suffering awards. She stated that it would be “prejudice” to “take away this type of patient’s rights.” She went on to say that she was married to a doctor and he agrees. I explained that perhaps she has not experienced the pain of a malpractice suit, and how more than 70 percent of cases that go to court are ruled in favor of the doctor, at a cost of hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars anyway. So what happens? Good doctors like me leave. Because, guess what? That drug dealer does not pay for his care. I do not get paid for operating on him, and despite my good intentions, I open myself up to exposure not only for myself, but also my family, over these frivolous lawsuits. So I, like the other five neurosurgeons in my group, leave Pennsylvania for states where we can still afford to practice.

Now, let’s look at her recent voting record:
6/16/06 Vote 288: H RES 861: This vote pledged support for the War in Iraq and rejected a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops. No

5/10/06 Vote 135: H R 4297: Extended the Bush tax cuts. No

2/1/06 Vote 4: H RES 653: Cut nearly $40 billion from the federal budget by imposing substantial changes on welfare, child support and student lending programs. No

12/16/05 Vote 661: H R 4437: This bill would clamp down on illegal immigration and toughen border security. It does not include any new avenue for current illegal immigrants to gain legal status. No

12/14/05 Vote 630: H R 2863: Supported a ban on cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of detainees held by U.S. forces and to requires the military to follow the Army field manual for interrogations. Yes

9/29/05 Vote 506: H R 3824: Would have forced the government to compensate property owners if development plans were stymied by attempts to protect endangered species and would have given political appointees more power to make decisions about which species and areas would be subject to government intervention aimed at protecting plant and wildlife. No

Consistiently on the wrong side of every vote, eh?

By way of contrast, Raj Bhakta is committed to reform and is a refreshing kind of conservative.

Here are his key strengths:

Fiscal Responsibility – He is a reformer against earmarking. If there is one thing keeping conservatives away from the polls, it is the irresponsible spending of our Republican leadership.
An increasingly relevant issue is the environment. Republicans are traditionally seen as weak in this area. Raj has a strong pro-environmental position.
National Security – What, are you kidding? Of course he’s good – he’s a Republican

Curt Weldon For President

Cranky — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 18:01:37 +0000

Well actually Curt Weldon for Congress; the seventh congressional district specifically.

In my many cyncial moments, I dismiss politicians as little more than folks who love to get their hands in the public trough. It is still my contention that that is the case when you are dealing with such politicos like Trent Lott and anyone with the last name of Clinton.

Then there is Curt Weldon. Congressman Weldon is a true conservative with a voting record to show it.

On of his defining traits is his fiscal conservatism. Even as a supporter of the WOT, he has this to say about the war spending:

Republican Representative Curt Weldon, vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, puts it, “have come to think that it’s politically embarrassing that they need more money to pay for this war.” To their credit, congressional Republicans like Weldon have pressed the White House to ask for more money up front.

After ten terms in the Congess, he is involved in a fierce political fight from the national Democratic party. The seventh congressional district is considered a battleground which Democrats have reasonable hopes to capture a seat in the Congress. His opponent, Joe Sestak is an outsider who has returned to the area after thirty six years.

Which brings us to today. Congressman Weldon held a meeting this morning which I had the pleasure of photoblogging.

Driving to the meeting – I know it’s around here somewhere… maybe another mile or so.

Yep, this is it. The Loyal Opposition is here!

Nice people actually, and very sincere. Their primary objection was on issues related to the Iraq war and funding of the contractors.

The ladies were happy to engage me. The gentleman was a little somber and probably couldn’t separate the “me” from the “neocon”. However, he was a very good sport.

I took a flyer from them, which very nearly got me tossed out when I dropped it and it was found by one of Weldon’s staffers. I sang, I danced and finally convinced them of my bonifides. Gawd, I’m such an idiot.

Weldon is deeply tied to his upbringing in working-class Marcus Hook and his time as a firefighter. The campaign staff wore firefighter themed t-shirts.

Into the lion’s den I went.

The man, the myth. Representative Curt Weldon

This man knows his constituency. In the few minutes he had, he identified the many communities in his district and cited many things he was able to do for them in Congress.

Interestingly, he can boast much bi-partisan support. Many of the unions endorse him as well as the Democratic mayor of a local town. He is truly a great representative to our region. Am I gushing? OK, I’ll stop.

So who is this guy?

This is Congressman Tom Reynolds. I was unclear on the exact nature of his role, but I believe his is the Republican strategist for Congress.

His job was to “whoop it up” and he delivered. His main point was that the Democrats were attacking from a national level on issues driven by groups like MoveOn. Even their choice of candidate shows the leveraging of the national unpopularity of the war rather than the regional politics.

From USAToday:

Joe Sestak, a retired Navy vice admiral, is trying to topple Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, by depicting the 10-term incumbent as a “pseudo-secretary of State” who is out of touch with his constituents.

“I don’t think he’s working for the right issues” such as education and health care, Sestak said in a recent interview.

Weldon rejects that argument, noting that Sestak had been away in the Navy for 36 years before becoming a candidate.

“I’ve lived and breathed this district” during that time, Weldon says.

Despite his emphasis on domestic issues, Sestak addressed the war Saturday when he gave the Democratic response to Bush’s weekly radio address. “We must begin a phased redeployment of our forces” from Iraq, he said.

Afterwards, I mingled with the elite top 1% richest in the country.

Young volunteers. …get the heck away from me scary man with a camera

Here are the volunteers. I remember being a young adult. My entire life was go to school, go to the arcade, see movies, repeat. These young people are interested in local politics and active. It’s very encouraging to see them here. Sorry for freaking you out, dude.

Finally, the money shot, if you will.

Weldon: the things I gotta do…