As noted on my last post, “Latest Kuhl Campaign Ad”:
[NOTE: The ad hits on Massa’s opposition to the Patriot Act. This is a complex subject worthy of a book, let alone a blog post. Therefore, I’m going to briefly address this in a following post. (This one is long enough already.)]
So, lets talk about the Patriot Act. From the Electronic Frontier Foundation:
(more…)
Did You Know that Eric Massa Hates the Troops and America and wants this nation to be attacked again? You didn’t??? It could be because its not true. However, according to the latest “hit piece” from Rep. Randy Kuhl’s campaign, this must obviously be the case.
I’m getting highly annoyed and pretty tired of debunking these attack ads from Rep. Kuhl. Rep. Kuhl, when are you going to start sending out ads that detail your positions on issues instead of sending out these attack ads on Mr. Massa??? How about something positive from you, about only you, for a change? Do you have any plans for that type of advertising? You are running out of time, though. (And I could use the break from doing these reports. PLEASE???)
This morning’s lead story in the New York Times: U.S. Web Archive Is Said to Reveal a Nuclear Guide
Last March, the federal government set up a Web site to make public a vast archive of Iraqi documents captured during the war. The Bush administration did so under pressure from Congressional Republicans who said they hoped to “leverage the Internet” to find new evidence of the prewar dangers posed by Saddam Hussein.
But in recent weeks, the site has posted some documents that weapons experts say are a danger themselves: detailed accounts of Iraq’s secret nuclear research before the 1991 Persian Gulf war. The documents, the experts say, constitute a basic guide to building an atom bomb.
I’ve recently received the mailing from the Kuhl Campaign, “Eric Massa must think money grows on trees”. As with any negative ad I read or hear, my natural instinct is to (first cringe, because I feel that what I’m reading is distorted) look beyond the rhetoric and try to find the truth. So, lets take a look.
Massa Responds to North Korean Nuclear Test
…Massa said that this development “fundamentally changes the nature of the security situation in the Pacific.” …
“The Bush Administration and its allies in Congress have been in a state of denial over the real threat of a nuclear-armed North Korea,” said Massa. “Now, because of this administration’s uncompromising focus on a war of attrition in Iraq, our national security options are severely limited.” Massa has been an outspoken critic of the Bush Administration’s foreign and military policies – particularly with regard to the war in Iraq, which he has often described as a distraction from the effort to combat terrorism. (more…)
This one I like:
…the government planned to announce today that it will supply hazard warning radios to all 97,000 public schools in the nation.
(snip)
The Homeland Security Department now has decided to provide $5 million to make sure every public school has such radios, NOAA Administrator Conrad Lautenbacher said.Originally conceived to convey weather warnings, the system now covers all hazards – including terrorism, abducted children and derailed trains carrying toxic materials.
Now, I know that we rarely have tornadoes in this area, but we do have periods of heavy snow and/or blizzard-type weather. Having lived for an extended period in a traditional tornado alley area, I know what it means to have that early warning.
As Martha would say, “It’s a good thing”.
Ever since I heard Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld call the majority of Americans “Nazi appeasers” and that we are “confronting a new kind of fascism”, I’ve been struggling with how I was going to approach this subject. (more…)
Sherman Moreland, the former Chemung County Chair for the GOP, wrote the following letter to Eric Massa expressing his disappointment with the current state of the GOP and his subsequent support for Eric Massa. It appears in today’s Corning Leader newspaper; the actual letter to Mr. Massa can be viewed here.
Dear Eric:
I’m a life-long third generation Republican with 58 years of proactive party membership, but I’m having this problem staying the course. The policies, ideology and outcomes of the Bush Administration governance and buttressed largely by a go-along Congress are starkly in contrast with and contravene everything I have believed and thought my Party stood for. (more…)
Sometimes, a coincidence is just that – a coincidence. Sometimes, when too many coincidences occur under similar circumstances, it just makes you wonder.
Last night on “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” (MSNBC, weeknights at 8:00 pm EST), they revisited a story that they had first broadcasted this past October. I leave it up to you to decide if these are all purely coincidental.
Bureaucracy Impedes Bomb-Detection Work
WASHINGTON (AP) — As the British terror plot was unfolding, the Bush Administration quietly tried to take away $6 million that was supposed to be spent this year developing new explosives detection technology. Congressional leaders rejected the idea, the latest in a series of Homeland Security Department steps that have left lawmakers and some of the department’s own experts questioning the commitment to create better anti-terror technologies.
Senators Judd Gregg, R-N.H., and Robert Byrd, D-W.Va, and Representatives Martin Sabo, D-Minn and Hal Rogers, R-Ky, Homeland Security Appropriation Committee members of their respective Congressional branches, rejected the request that would have diverted the funds to “cover a budget shortfall in the Federal Protective Service, which provides security around government buildings”.
As noted in an earlier post, Randy Kuhl, our congressman, voted Friday in favor of passage of The Oman Free Trade Agreement (OFTA). Eric Massa, who is campaigning against Mr. Kuhl in this November’s election, has issued a press release regarding his concerns about OFTA.
Prior to the House vote, Mr. Massa called upon Mr. Kuhl to “do the right thing for upstate New York and vote against this agreement”. Mr. Massa cited, “It’s bad for American workers, bad for workers in other countries, and bad for our national security.”
The Rural Patriot 