They Have No Shame!

There are creatures walking among us who have no shame or sense of decency. Most of these creatures masquerade as politicians who have our best interest at heart. Take for instance,the case of two particular poor excuses for congressmen in my area and their indecorous acts.

I will start with one Curt Weldon; who in my opinion, seems to spend more time at Star Trek conventions, and Area 51 gatherings than in Washington. Now this ten term republican congressman and certifiable wack job, serves the fine people of the seventh district of Pennsylvania. This, my friends, happens to be the suburbs of Philadelphia. So I am quite familiar with Mr. Weldon, and his conspiratorial rantings from time to time. But I digress. Well it seems, that congressman Weldon is in a fight for his political life against a democratic opponent by the name of Joe Sestak. And what has he done? He has questioned Mr. Sestak's patriotism, and his willingness to fight the war on terror. So who is Joe Sestak? Would you believe the guy went to the Naval Academy, -where by the way, he graduated second in his class-. He was an executive officer on a guided missile frigate, and was the Captain of another one, was also deputy chief of Naval operations and worked in the Pentagon assisting other naval admirals. So folks, I ask you, does this seem like an unpatriotic candidate? Of course not you say, and who would call such a man who has served his country so honorably such a thing? A man who could have taken his two post graduate degrees from Harvard and backed up the Brinks truck to his house working in the private sector. Who you say? Well, look no further than the good congressman from the seventh district, the aforementioned Mr. Weldon, and his republican cronies.

So let's look at that congressman for a minute. Folks, I checked, and as far as I can see, brave heart Weldon did not serve one single day in the military. Not one! Now he might have played a soldier on T.V. or when he was playing pretend as a kid, but he never signed up to defend his country. He did sign up to be a volunteer fire fighter, so I will give him that much. And I checked on Mr. Weldon's formative years as well, and it seems that when the Vietnam war was raging and thousands of American boys were dying, my man was safely tucked away at West Chester University. And yet, he has the stones to question his opponent. See what I mean folks? No shame.

The next loser on this hit parade, is the congressman from the 8th congressional district of Pennsylvania,- or suburbs to the North of the field negro here in Philadelphia-Michael G. Fitzpatrick. Now Mr. Fitzpatrick has been even more blatant in his attempt to "swift boat" his opponent, Patrick Murphy. Who by the way, happens to be an Iraqi war veteran. -Are you starting to see a pattern here?-So anyway, this got so bad, that the original victim of the "swift boat" shuffle himself, John Kerry, got involved and came to Murphy's defense. Said Kerry; "this is a game they play. They throw mud around and hope it sticks" Well it sure worked with you didn't it John? The republican chicken hawk, Fitzpatrick, actually organized a hasty gathering which included four other Iraqi veterans, who disagreed with candidate Murphy's plan to withdraw most of the troops from Iraq by the end of next summer. One gentleman by the name of Kevin Kelly-who happens to be from right here in Philly- accused Murphy of mischaracterizing his service in Iraq. Kelly claims that Murphy exaggerated his service, which turned out to be a lie. Because according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, when questioned about his claim, Mr. Kelly could not give a cite, place, or a publication where Murphy made any exaggerated claims. Of course we know that he couldn't, because Murphy served with distinction with the 82d Airborne in Iraq, and unlike his chicken hawk opponent, actually served by putting his butt on the line in that God forsaken country.

And oh yes, I checked on Mr. Fitzpatrick too. And it seems, that he, like his colleague Mr. Weldon, never served a day in combat. As it turns out, he took the legal path; he went to law school, and became a lawyer, before becoming a lying politician. Don't you just love it. And don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with lawyers-except there are too many of us- but there is something wrong with criticizing someone and questioning his courage when your sorry ass has never done it, or wouldn't dare to, when the rubber meets the road.

It's as simple as that folks, republicans smear a quadruple amputee, a man who left body parts on foreign soil so that their sorry asses can get a nice tee time every Sunday morning, and drink Chablis at their private clubs; and think nothing of it. Not to mention, a man like Jack Murtha, who spent 37 years of his life in the Marines, and now finds his patriotism questioned by a dope smoking, alcoholic, draft dodger; who but for his daddy's protection, would have had to take his sorry ass to Nam like Kerry and the rest of the patriots he likes to criticize.

So I guess shame and republican politicians are not synonymous , because the examples I gave above scream hypocrisy. But let's see how the little weasel -Karl Rove- spins this one. Democrats have over 50 veterans running for congress on their ticket this mid term, and I can't imagine the party of the hawks, having close to that much.

So I guess the republican attack group, "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" had better step up their game, and start doing some serious smearing again, or their republican friends will get their shameless chicken hawk asses thrown out one by one. And personally, I can't wait.

Speaking of the war, I would like to offer my condolences to Peggy Johnson Croker, the mother of Army Cpl. Carl W. Johnson. Mr. Johnson, a Philly native, who sacrificed his life in Iraq on October 7, 2006. He was killed in Mosul when an IED detonated close to his vehicle. "I didn't want him to go into the service, but I figured either the streets are going to absorb him or Uncle Sam was going to absorb him, so I stood by him" Don't worry mother Johnson, you didn't have much of a choice and neither did your only son. These are the choices that our young are left with, and none of them are appealing. He chose to serve his country and be a hero in a strange country, fighting a pointless war. Like so many others, he could have died right here on the mean streets of Philly in another war. The war on drugs, gangs, and poverty. Sadly, like the war in Iraq, we are losing this one too, and no one seems to want to do a damn thing about it. At least your son tried to get out, he heeded Uncle Sam's call, and paid the ultimate sacrifice. It would have been nice if his Uncle Sam had given him more choices, just like he does with his nephews in the burbs.

Thank you Philadelphia Inquirer for the stories that gave me the inspiration for these posts, and allowing me to lift a quote here and there.

The field is out!