Politrix, the art of hustling and shysternomics personified. Take the Honorable Mr. John Murtha. Other than his recent concerns for bringing troops home from the war effort in Iraq, what stands out in my mind about Jones here is the FBI sting video he made in 1980 in which he told a man supposedly who was a lawyer for a rich Arab looking for a Visa that the way to do business with him was to invest in his district. Although he was hesitant to take the 50 stacks in cash from the agent, he in essence said he did business this way (via pay offs) all the time.Reading a Wall Street Journal last week, I found out a little more about Mr. Murtha. It said that he had funneled hundreds of millions to his district over the years, establishing a defense-based economy for his district. Even in the current 2008 House defense spending bill, hey say more than 40 earmarks worth approximately $166 million is slated to go to corporations that have established businesses in his district.
The problem is that these businesses are getting loot for work (if you can call it that) that doesn’t add any productive value other than government waste. Take Concurrent Technologies. They have gotten, through Murtha’s effort, more than 200 million in defense contracts for what the WSJ described as “vaguely worded research.” Examples include $2 million for “Advanced Combatant Materials Research” and the “Electronic Commerce Resource Center”, a non-profit military program funded by Murtha designed to help small businesses use Internet technology. Basically the received millions to provide Internet access to these businesses when such services and access was already available.
Murtha also help establish the Johnstown National Drug Intelligence Center in 1994. Since its start, it has received b his efforts more than 500 million dollars. Operating as an extension of the Justice Department, the US General Accounting Office reported that it was a waste because it duplicated on-going efforts conducted in Washington and around the country. Then there is MTS technologies, a company that was started by a man who used to shine shoes at Murtha’s Minute Carwash in Johnstown.
These are just a few of the problems with Congress the way I see tings. I guess it is ok to be responsible and to get jobs for one’s district. I just don’t think it is the right thing to do at my expense as a tax payer, in particular when the money is being wasted. I’m certain he is not the only one. I wonder how much we could have benefited as a country if it was applied to education, both at the primary and college level. Or for health care? Maybe i'm just a hopeless romantic, maybe they would have made more companies like the ones above, to waste the money and pad their pockets. What ever the case, that Murtha F**ka is a straight up crook.
