The U.S. Snooze and Won't Report
has a puffpiece entitled,
Ten Facts About Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania
.Those "facts", including:
- John Murtha was born June 17, 1932, in New Martinsville, W.Va.. He describes his family as "run by strong women." His grandmother wrote for a newspaper, and his mother, a homemaker, was a college graduate.
- While in high school, Murtha delivered newspapers and worked at a gas station. After high school, a desire to serve his country prompted him to join the Marines.
- In 1955 (while remaining in the Reserves), he started a family, ran a small business (a car wash), and attended the University of Pittsburgh on the GI bill. In 1962, he graduated with a degree in economics and went on to graduate studies at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
- In 1966, Murtha volunteered for Vietnam. For his service in Southeast Asia, he was awarded the Bronze Star, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, and two Purple Hearts. He remained in the Marine Corps Reserve until 1990.
- In 1969, he was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. In 1974, he was elected to Congress by special election (filling a vacancy caused by the death of GOP Rep. John Saylor), becoming the first combat Vietnam veteran to win a House seat. Murtha has been re-elected every two years.
- Colleagues report that although seats in the House are not assigned, Murtha has a specific seat. "No one else sits in his seat–that's the kind of respect he commands," explains Rep. Mike Doyle, also from Pennsylvania.
- Decorations in Murtha's House office include a golf club President Clinton gave him on his last day in the Oval Office, a painting of Teddy Roosevelt (his favorite president), a model of an assault ship his wife christened, and his great-grandfather's Civil War hat.
- Michael Barone in the Almanac of American Politics describes Murtha as "one of those old-time politicians who operate best in secret, holding court in the back corner of the House chamber where he trades gossip and votes to colleagues who crowd around him as if they were kissing his ring."
Of course, there are some other "fun facts" that the U.S. News & Won't Report neglected to include:
- Jack Murtha has played judge, jury and executioner to Marines without formal charges being filed, even without so much as reading a report.
- Despite Jack Murtha's self-reported frequent visits to Walter Reed Military Hospital, Jack Murtha thought it fitting to say he supports the troops via regular visits to Walter Reed, while accepting an award as "Man of the Year" from Code Pink, a radical socialist antiwar group that regularly protests in front of our wounded soldiers at Walter Reed.
- Jack Murtha actively attempted to seek ways that he could accept a $50,o00 bribe without getting caught. Since he turned states evidence, he was able to get away with being named an "unindicted co-conspirator" in the ABSCAM case.
- Murtha thought it fitting that he should vote against the Patriot Act, and to say that we should be without the tools necessary that may prevent another 9/11 (showing that he is in fact to the left of the ACLU).
- Jack Murtha thought it fitting that he should, in another of his famous "political deals," vote against funding research that would improve prosthetics for wounded soldiers.
- Jack Murtha thought it fitting to be against measures that would strengthen the security at our borders, and to vote against stiffer sentences for illegal aliens who have committed felonies.
Oh yes, I neglected to report two other Murtha "fun facts" reported by U.S. News & Won't Report