Showing posts with label jason altmire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jason altmire. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Extremists to the left of me... Extremists to the right

Yesterday, I attended dueling rallies at Jason Altmire's office... Planned Parenthood was there (in a bright pink bus), as was the Susan B Anthony group along with Lila Rose. Both sides wanted to address Altmire's vote on the Pence legislation which would cut funding to PP. Both sides were talking to an empty office, as the Congressman wasn't there.

I spent all evening thinking, and I'm still at a bit of a loss to describe how I feel.

(I'll say first that both groups behaved better than I expected. The single example of bad behavior I noticed was mild. A woman in a PP t-shirt was taking pictures of the SBA protesters... the incident I witnessed was this woman holding her camera phone about 10 inches from another woman's face, trying to take her picture. When the woman with the camera up her nose covered her face with her sign, the PP activist asked "You don't want me to take your picture?" The other woman responded "You can take my picture with my sign, but not just my face." At that point, the woman in pink wandered away. Guess she didn't want the shot after all...)

Anyway.

Planned Parenthood was up first. When the first speaker used the word "extremist" four times in a matter of moments, I was rolling my eyes. They focused solely on the healthcare aspects of PP, and I don't know that I even heard the word abortion. Instead, they tried to paint the picture that PP is the only health choice for many women. (One of the speakers, a college student, said PP is her primary care provider because her regular copays are too high.)

When the SBA bus arrived, about half of the PP crowd (around 30 at peak) had gone. The second crowd was a little bigger (still only 50 or so), and included Altmire's 2010 challenger Keith Rothfus.

Lila Rose...

I know I'm going to piss people off, she's done a lot of work to expose PP. But... well... I didn't enjoy listening to her. The problem wasn't what she said but how she said it. It was very breathy and dramatic and almost (I'm sorry, but it's my impression) cheerleaderish. It was a jarring disconnect from her words. Like the first time you actually see Rick Astley.

But that wasn't the biggest problem I had with the speakers. Another woman, a local woman, spoke about the pro-life tendencies of this district. (Even Altmire self-describes as pro-life.) But... but... BUT...

She went on. On to her views on birth control.

As she lectured on the evils of contraception (catch that? Not abortion... birth control), she told the audience:

"The reason you get married is procreation."

Now, I don't know about anyone else, but I know that wasn't my top reason. Matter of fact, I don't think I know anyone who connected with their spouse by saying, "Hey! You've got some good genes there. Want to enter into a lifetime contract for the purpose of mingling our DNA at some future point?"

But she kept talking. Next subject? Rape. Specifically, whether a woman who is raped should be able to terminate a resulting pregnancy. And her take?

"Just because an act is evil doesn't mean we have the right to destroy a life."

Say what?!

Come on! I am no fan of abortion, but really?! I would never presume to tell the victim of an assault that she must incubate the child of her attacker. And while I think abortion as birth control is a disgusting concept, rape is different. It's one of the few times I believe a legal abortion should be not only available but safe and acceptable.

The most moving (and therefore influential) speaker, in my opinion, was a mother who had aborted two of her children. I spoke with her early on (when she was the lone counter-protester, standing quietly across from PP) because of her sign... which said "I recognize the dignity of my aborted children by giving them names", with the names of her babies at the bottom. Her story should have been the centerpiece of the SBA event.

But, all in all, I felt like I was between two crowds of extremists. One wanted to talk about the beneficial services PP provides, while completely ignoring the topic of abortion (although they provide them by the hundreds of thousands). The other began with abortion, but went on to include birth control and then to suggest that rape victims should just deal with it.

While I'm glad I went and listened to both sides, I left feeling like I didn't agree with either of them.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Jason Altmire - A Hooligan?

Yesterday, T at Republican Redefined put up a pretty interesting link... It shows which politicians have requested what earmarks, and labels them "Heroes" or "Hooligans", based on their level of addiction.

So of course, I had to check out Jason Altmire. He's listed as a "hooligan".


I admit to being torn here. I didn't vote for the guy... BUT I could have. When Mary Beth Buchanan threw her hat into the primary ring, I admitted freely that if she won the nomination, I'd vote for Altmire. I ended up backing (and voting for) Keith Rothfus, because I wanted the most conservative candidate possible this cycle.


But the simple truth is -- Altmire's not that bad. He's reasonably centrist, has a good record on veteran's issues, pro-gun, anti-abortion. Someone I know referred to his voting record as "schizoid... this guy's all over the place." I guess that's accurate. But that's also how I vote, so I don't hold that against him either. He wasn't my preference, but I consider him tolerable.


And I'll tell you what I think: THAT'S why he won. Financial differences aside, his opponent made the tactical mistake of trying at every turn to paint him as a liberal. Despite my remarks to Rothfus that they were very similar (moreso than he'd like to admit - and the voters knew it), he attempted to portray Altmire as Pelosi's lap dog. And lost.

Mr. Rothfus... on the off chance you're reading this... I hope you do decide to run again. And I hope you're wise enough to acknowledge the similarities between the two of you while highlighting the differences. It's just smarter strategy.

Anyway, back to the earmarks.

I don't like earmarks, but not for the generally given reason about federal spending. Sometimes, federal spending is necessary and appropriate. My problem with earmarks is the way they're tucked into everything else. If the federal funds are appropriate and necessary, they should be able to pass as a stand-alone bill, no?

Still, I'm undecided on some of Altmire's requests. Examples? Advanced Lightweight Gunner Protection Kit for Lightweight MRAP Vehicle. Collagen-Based Wound Dressing. Transportable Renal Replacement Therapy for Battlefield Applications. These seem like positive things. And if it brings the work to this area? Well, someone has to do it, and this region is in a bad way.

Even this one: National Network of Digital Schools Management Foundation... While I ordinarily think federal intervention in education has been nothing but a negative, I can't get too worked up about this funding. We struggled and busted our butts to get out of a toilet of a town/school district. If I were still there, I'd be very happy to have the cyber schools option.

So, I admit it. I'm undecided on Altmire's requests. I'm open to thoughts, if anyone still reads this blog. Gimme some input.

I'm just not convinced Altmire is necessarily deserving of the title "hooligan".

Hell, half the time I'm not convinced he's deserving of the title "Democrat".

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Mary Beth, Don't Go Away Mad... Mary Beth, Just GO AWAY!

So...

Last Tuesday, Mary Beth Buchanan got... well... THUMPED here in PA4, and I haven't even been on to gloat celebrate.

I don't have an excuse. Demands on my time have, shall we say "evolved", and I'm still trying to adjust. But now that I have an extra minute or two, please allow me to say a respectful, sincere:

WOOHOO! ALL RIGHT! TOO SWEET! EXCELLENT!

OK. Got that out of my system. (Yeah, right. I was practically dancing a jig around the living room on election night, and have found myself giddy at odd moments ever since. And if you don't grasp why, go read my piece about her when she announced for the race. This is a victory in more ways than one.)

Now it's on to November, and nothing more will be heard from my less-than-favorite former U.S. Attorney. Hopefully. From PA2010's coverage:

After delivering a concession speech and thanking her supporters, Buchanan hugged her husband and told him she’d have a second glass of wine.

Yep. Pour me one, too, Sweetheart! I don't drink... but for THIS, I'll make an exception!

A special "Thank You" to anyone who responded to my post and helped (or just went to learn about) her opponent, Keith Rothfus. He's been called a "true Tea Party conservative", and his win has saved me from voting for Altmire in the fall. I don't agree with the guy on everything, but he was the better candidate, and I'm glad he won. By a 2-1 margin, no less.

Looking forward to November, and hoping we see similar upsets all over America!

-------------
UPDATED to apologize...

I don't know what the hell is going on with my fonts. I've edited three times, and it keeps coming out all wonky. (No, I didn't have that wine. We'll blame Blogger.)

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Help Keith Rothfus defeat Mary Beth Buchanan... then Jason Altmire

Well, whaddaya know?

I slack off on blogging for a few weeks (burnout - did ya miss me?) and something fantastic happens! Maybe if I take off a couple of months, aliens will abduct most of the current administration or something! OK, that's too good to hope for. But this is pretty freaking cool, all the same.

I've posted before about Mary Beth Buchanan, the former US Attorney who'd like to be my next CongressCritter. Can I be blunt here? (Well, I'm gonna anyway...) I don't like Mary Beth Buchanan. Actually, that's an understatement along the lines of "Pelosi's had a little Botox". The fact is, Buchanan makes my skin crawl. My current Congressman is Jason Altmire (D), and while I'm not the guy's biggest fan, he's preferable to Buchanan in my opinion. But what I'd truly like to see is Buchanan's primary opponent, Keith Rothfus, take the Republican primary and then the PA04 seat in November.

This morning, I see this lovely item on PoliticsPA... In their "Up and Down" post, MBB is going down:

Mary Beth Buchanan. Can she be called the GOP favorite in the 4th Congressional District anymore? The former U.S. attorney, touted by some Republicans as Jason Altmire’s worst nightmare, has had a terrible start to her campaign, capped off by Thursday’s abysmal first quarter fundraising numbers. She was even outraised by little-known Allegheny County attorney Keith Rothfus, who supporters say has outworked his high-profile opponent. After entering the race with baggage attached, don’t be surprised if some Republicans begin viewing Rothfus as a better challenger to Altmire’s seat.

Wonderful news. Buchanan and her GOP cronies have been spouting off about her name recognition before she even officially entered the race. Well, sure she's got name recognition. She's widely known, and widely hated. (Duh. Jeffrey Dahmer has some pretty awesome name recognition. Would you vote for him?)

In addition, Buchanan's campaign manager had to resign recently. Seems he was caught up in the kind of dirty work that Buchanan tried to pin on Cyril Wecht - only seems her campaign manager might actually be guilty. Heh.

...So I'm pretty happy. But I'd be happier yet if I knew this woman was out of the running. If she's able to pick up the fundraising pace, the GOP will continue trying to push her into office. And let me repeat - if Buchanan wins the Republican primary, I'm voting for Altmire.

Now, I realize my little blog here is a fleck in the blogosphere. I don't have the readership or the network to push anything like a Scott Brown moneybomb for Mr. Rothfus, or I'd do it. But I'd like folks outside of PA04 to realize that if Mary Beth Buchanan wins her primary, I'll hardly be the only conservative (hyphenated libertarian or otherwise) who'll vote for Altmire. He is fairly moderate, and has on occasion bucked the Obama administration. We can live with him, if ya get my drift.

So I'm asking... Can you help? Will you help? Do you want a conservative retaking of Congress badly enough to help support a little known, but truly conservative, candidate in this hotly contested district? From PA2010, in Mr. Rothfus's own words (emphasis mine):

"There is no doubt in my mind that voters in this district want real change. They are tired of the Washington establishment, and they want a Congressman who understands business, not another government insider. In every corner of this district, I have talked to men and women who want to have a citizen-legislator representing them and standing up for their values in Washington. With their help, I am confident that we can not only win the Republican primary on May 18 but prevail in November."

THIS is what we need in November. Please, help me help him. Here's the link to the official Keith Rothfus campaign site, if you'd be kind enough to throw a little support his way.

Mary Beth Buchanan can't win this election. She won't win this election. It's going to be Rothfus or Altmire, simple as that. Let's replace the "Blue Dog" with a true conservative, and start changing things back.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Altmire To Vote No On ObamaCare

Finally, my congressman announces his intentions.

From KDKA:

Altmire confirmed that he has decided to vote no in a telephone conversation with KDKA Political Editor Jon Delano.


In the final push for Obamacare passage, Jason Altmire (D-PA) has been besieged by his own colleagues in the House and in DC, activists from both sides of the argument, and his own constituents as we fought for his attention through emails, phone calls, and rallies. The WSJ reported:

A recent poll in his district asked the straightforward question, "Do you generally support or oppose the reform plan?" Precisely 29% support it. Conversely, 60% believe it will raise their health costs, 72% believe it will raise the deficit, and 68% believe it will cause their taxes to go up.

And Altmire himself acknowledged it is not what his voters want:

“I really am trying to be thoughtful,” said Altmire, D-4, McCandless Township. “The number one factor is where my district is (on health-care reform), and my district is overwhelmingly against it at this point.”

--snip--

“They have great concerns about this bill,” he said. “If I vote no, it’s going to be because a great majority of my district doesn’t support this bill.”

Today, he announces that he has listened to his voters. Thank goodness, because yours truly is one of many who have sent email after email while listening to the busy signal from his office phones. (Thank you, Organizing for America, for helping to make sure that when it mattered, I could not get through to my elected representative.)

From the statement on his website - emphasis mine:

"I ran for Congress in large part because I believe we need to find a way to bring down the cost of health care. I also ran for Congress with a simple promise: I would do my best to represent my district and to give western Pennsylvania a voice in Washington, not the other way around.

--snip--

It has become clear that the vast majority of my constituents want me to oppose this bill.

--snip--

The politically easy vote would have been to vote with my party. But I was notsent to Congress to take the easy way out or to vote the way they want me to vote in Washington. I was elected to represent my district and give western Pennsylvania a voice in Congress. I strongly believe that a vote in opposition to the health care bill is consistent with the views of the district I represent, and is the correct vote based on the impact of the bill on my constituents and the overall health care system."

This is exactly what I want in a person elected to represent me. When Altmire voted against the original House bill, there were insinuations that he was "allowed" to, because Nancy Pelosi already had the votes she needed. This can not have been an easy decision... but it was the right one.

Thank you, Jason Altmire... for doing your job. I'll keep it in mind when you come up for your next "performance evaluation" in November.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Mary Beth Buchanan Wants To Replace Jason Altmire

Former US Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan (R) wants to be my new Congress-critter. She announced Wednesday that she plans to challenge blue dog Jason Altmire (D). In a statement, Ms. Buchanan said:

"I am running for Congress because Washington needs a new direction."

Sure. If by "new direction" you mean the same old crap.

Buchanan has worked as a public official for over twenty years, eight of them as a Bush-appointed US Attorney. She claims she has:

"always understood that I was accountable to our citizens to keep our communities safe and our taxpayers to protect their hard-earned money."

Yes, she's kept us all safe.

By making it a personal mission to hound, harass, and eventually imprison such dangerous, hardened felons as Tommy Chong. Which, I'm sure, in no way wasted vast amounts of taxpayer money and law enforcement manpower.

By going after medical examiner Cyril Wecht and doing her damnedest to take him down for the heinous crime of spending about four bucks of county money on faxes that weren't work related. Which, I'm sure, didn't waste literally years and hundreds of thousands of dollars.

By taking on pornographers and purveyors of obscene materials (the first federal obscenity case in fifteen years). Which, again, probably didn't waste a penny of taxpayer money while protecting us from terrorism nasty movies.

By jailing a doctor for doing his job - writing prescriptions. Never mind the expert witness who was hardly an expert, or the allegations of outright perjury. We're talking OxyContin here - hillbilly heroin - a scourge that justifies any cost and measures. Right?

But forget all that for now. (And I guess you should forget this excellent roundup of Buchanan's priorities and principles here at ReasonOnline.)

No, what's important is Ms. Buchanan wants to move Washington in a "new direction". Presumably away from the nanny-state foolishness she's spent her career advancing, as well as the arrogant, above-the-peons way of handling things that's become all too common in DC today.

Why, on the very first day after she announced her intentions, she showed in an interview with KDKA-AM that she's just a simple, humble public servant -- by telling the host to "Shut up", and then by threatening him:

"And you know, we still have defamation laws in this country. To the extent that you keep repeating things that are flat-out wrong, you're running afoul."

Her first day in the race and already she wants people to shut up or else. Charming lady. She doesn't even wait to be elected before she reminds us all that she's above us.

I predict the Republican party will love her. She wastes tax dollars on what are more properly social moral issues rather than criminal ones, makes drug-busting (even when questionable) a top priority, and has the chutzpa to come right out of the gate trying to threaten and silence her detractors.

I'll not vote for her. Oh, noes. Not at all. I'm going to try to help get one of her primary opponents on the ballot, and then elected to the House. And if the Republican Party backs this woman, and she ends up in the "R" slot on the ballot?

I'll vote for Altmire.

Jason Altmire's Snow Job

PA representatives Jason Altmire (D) and Tim Murphy (R) are showing they can work together in a bipartisan effort - to beg for federal funds. And they're willing to bend the space-time continuum to do it.

You see, it snowed here. A lot. I may have mentioned it once or twice...

And now Altmire and Murphy have decided PA is entitled to FEMA money to clean up the mess. There's just one problem... FEMA rules say that to qualify for disaster relief, there must be one all-mighty big snowstorm and we actually had two storms. So despite the fact that two separate systems moved through the state three days apart, these two would like the feds to consider it one big storm and cough up some money. The Post-Gazette quotes Altmire:

"The other two big snowstorms, in March 1993 and Thanksgiving 1950, were at a time of the year when it got warm very quickly after the snowfall," he said. "This happened in the dead of winter when it's as cold as it gets. And the snow didn't melt in between. It just piled the second snowfall on top of the first, and that's why we think we can make the case that this should count as a singular event."

Yeah. Except that it was two distinct events. AND, it's supposed to be above freezing for most of the coming week, and when that happens snow... well... melts away on its own. Duh.

Maybe I'm being overly sensitive about this, but for all my own complaining about the weather, it hardly strikes me as an emergency on a scale requiring federal funds. It doesn't really strike me as an emergency at all, matter of fact. Everywhere I go I see clean, dry roads. If we have areas of the state that haven't been cleared, send the trucks from areas (like mine) where it is clear to lend a hand. Why involve federal agencies and make a mountain out of a mole hill?

It's snow, fer gawd's sake. And a couple-three feet of it at that. I can just picture folks who live where it really snows (Wisconsin, the Dakotas, Buffalo, etc) laughing at us. A lot.

Ooooh. Three feet of snow in three days? We get that before breakfast - every winter! You people in Pennsylvania are a bunch of sissies, don'cha know?

But let's not be cynical... I'm sure this being an elecion year has nothing to do with these stalwart public servants going hat-in-hand to the federal government to bring home some money. I mean, I'm sure the Federal EMERGENCY Management Agency was designed with things like snow removal in mind, right? No sense letting that money sit around waiting for a hurricane, or an earthquake, or a terrorist attack when we can use it wisely for something like... rock salt.

Good grief.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Terror Trials in Western Pennsylvania?

I don't know how I missed this...

My first hint that the terror trials might happen in my back yard came in an email this morning from my congressman, Jason Altmire. (Yeah. He emails me. We're tight like that.)

So, first thing this morning I got a big dose of WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT with my coffee. Great. Slack off on the news for a couple of days and see what happens? They're trying to sneak a terror trial past me. Bastards.

From Politico (who covered it Sunday):

The trials would have to move to a federal courthouse, military base or other site in a state where crimes related to the Sept. 11 attacks were committed, with likely options including White Plains in the Southern District of New York, Newport News or Alexandria in the Eastern District of Virginia or a venue in the Western District of Pennsylvania.


What the...?!

Now, I'm not Altmire's biggest fan. He's received more than one email from me suggesting he have his things packed and ready come November, to make his move home easier. But based on his email, he either has his head screwed on straight on this issue, or he's aware that he and his Pennsylvania counterparts in the Senate are already on thin ice. Whatever his reason, he's on the right side this time. From the email:

You may have recently heard reports that the 9/11 terrorist trials may be held in western Pennsylvania. Today, I sent a letter to President Obama stating my strong opposition to this plan and any other plan that would allow these trials to be held in U.S. civilian courts.

--snip--

Please know that I will continue to work with our Senators and western Pennsylvania’s Congressional delegation to prevent these terrorists from being brought to our region.

President Obama and the rest of his tone deaf administration had better figure out right quickly that there is almost nowhere in America that they can move the terror trials that they won't be met with anger and protest.

The unrelenting pressure from American citizens has them finally realizing New York was a terrible idea for a venue. We need to keep at it and hound them out of every city they try to endanger, and they'll eventually cave just as they have over New York. When push comes to shove, this entire administration is weak and overly sensitive to criticism. If we all complain long and loud over every venue they bring up, eventually they'll have to take it back to Gitmo where it belongs...

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Can You Hear Us Now?

Heh. I just emailed my Senator and my Congressman and asked them the same thing:

"CAN YOU HEAR US NOW?"

I also told Specter "Teddy's seat is gone. Yours is next."

Altmire got a longer note, but the gist was the same.

We should all email and call our congresscritters today, and make sure they got the message loud and clear! They're feeling the heat anyway... I'm just rubbing salt in the wound.

Looking forward to November!