Another DemoRat Bites The Dust – John Murtha

U.S. Rep. John Murtha – one of the most corrupt, liberal members of Congress and an outspoken critic of the War in Iraq – died today of complications from gall bladder surgery.

The 77 year old had represented Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District for thirty-five years.

Murtha is perhaps best remembered for being involved in the Abscam scandal in the early 1980’s, an investigation in which FBI agents posed as Saudi nationals and attempted to bribe federal officials for favorable immigration treatment. Murtha was recorded by the FBI passing up a $50,000 bribe – but left open the possibility that he might be interested in accepting future bribes.

He later testified against two Congressmen who were also implicated in the scandal.

Murtha was U.S. Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s choice to become the Democratic Majority Leader in 2007, but was defeated by Rep. Steny Hoyer.

Scandal followed Murtha throughout his career. In 2009, he became embroiled in controversy related to his role as Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee for Defense.

According to the Washington Post, a Pennsylvania defense research center regularly consulted with two “handlers” close to Murtha while it received approximately $250 million in federal funding from Murtha’s earmarks.

The center then channeled a significant portion of the funding to companies that were among Murtha’s campaign supporters.

Murtha’s death means there will be a special election in Pennsylvania’s 12th district which went for John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election but flipped to John McCain in 2008.

Jack Murtha presides, ignores reality to push through his preferences without a vote.

Major C.H. Douglas on “The Causes of War”

Part 1 of a talk given on BBC Radio in November of 1934 by Major Clifford Hugh Douglas in a series on “The Causes of War”. Mr. Douglas was the founder of the Social Credit movement.

The American Sucker

Hitler Finds Out Scott Brown Won Massachusetts Senate Seat

Cass Sunstein Favors Infiltrating Online Groups

Regulatory czar appointed to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs has advocated in a recent paper the ‘cognitive infiltration‘ of groups that advocate ‘conspiracy theories’ like the ones surrounding 9/11 via ‘chat rooms, online social networks, or even real-space groups and attempt to undermine’ those groups. Sunstein admits that ’some conspiracy theories, under our definition, have turned out to be true’ Sunstein has also recently advocated banning websites which post ‘right-wing rumors’ and bringing back the Fairness Doctrine. You can find a PDF of his paper here. For decades (1956-1971), the FBI under COINTELPRO focused on disrupting, marginalizing and neutralizing political dissidents, most notably the Black Panthers. More recently CENTCOM announced it would be engaging bloggers ‘who are posting inaccurate or untrue information, as well as bloggers who are posting incomplete information.’ In January 2009 the USAF released a flow-chart for ‘counter-bloggers’ to ‘counter the people out there in the blogosphere who have negative opinions about the U.S. government and the Air Force.’

The Great Orange Juice Scam, “Fresh” and “Pure”?

Yale University Press author Alissa Hamilton fields questions from CBC’s Nancy Wilson about her new book, “Squeezed: What You Don’t Know About Orange Juice”, and her research on the orange juice industry.

FYI:

1. There is more vitamin C in a single orange than in a full glass of industrial orange juice

2. Truly fresh orange juice only last a few days. It if last for weeks (or months), it’s an industrial product.

3. Until the Florida orange growers launched a campaign in the early 20th century to deal with their surplus crop, the only people who drank orange juice were Floridians who had a tree in their backyard. There is nothing particularly healthy or natural about drinking orange juice – and the industrial product is a total waste of money.