Murtha (D, PA-12) client indicted for taking kickbacks.

Plus: a look at one of his possible general election opponents.

(Via The American Thinker, via Instapundit) The bolded part is the part that you want your eyes to linger over.

Ex-contractor with Murtha ties charged over kickbacks

Federal prosecutors in Pittsburgh have charged a former executive for a defense contractor with ties to Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) with taking nearly $200,000 in kickbacks from a subcontractor.

Richard Ianieri, former president and CEO of Coherent Systems International Corp., is accused of accepting the kickbacks from a subcontractor identified only as “K” in court documents filed Monday. The charges came in the form of a criminal information, an indication that Ianieri is working with prosecutors and plans to plead guilty.

As you might remember from the Rezko trial – and that saga isn’t over yet; it’s just still in its Blagojevich phase – these kind of cases take time to build up and play out; so now is the time that you’d be wanting to see the first corruption cases go down.  Is Murtha involved?  That’s an interesting question… and, given that this is the first election cycle since 2002 where the man has had a primary challenger, the answer to that is probably of interest to more people than myself, or even the rest of the Republican party.

As to opponents in the general: it’s been reported (and assumed) that Bill Russell’s planning on another shot at this seat; and there’s also Tim Burns.  Local businessman, looks decent on the issues, not notably involved in blatant acts of federal money patronage and unashamed pork-barrel appropriations; all in all it would make for a refreshing change.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

McArdle, Suderman to wed.

Megan is from the Atlantic; Peter is from The American Scene; James Joyner of Outside the Beltway breaks the story; Stacy McCain of The Other McCain takes the credit; and I shall avoid making any heavy-handed libertarian/fiscal references.  Heck, I won’t even speculate if they’re going to start a group blog in a couple of years.

Mazal tov.

Moe Lane

PS: What?  Nope, not Jewish; just from New Jersey.  It’s what we say.

Crossposted to RedState.

Your free MMORPG time-suck for the day.

AdventureQuest Worlds. It’s eaten about an hour and a half of my life already, which is why I am putting it down now.  As you can see from the artwork, it’s heavily anime-flavored, but not excessively cheesecake.

I generally like Artix Entertainment’s stuff; they have a good handle on the two-tier gameplay model.  You can have fun playing their free games, while still getting a decent deal on their pay versions.

Bernie Sanders: Kinsley Gaffe, or just not paying attention?

Contra Gateway Pundit (and Hot Air), I am not certain that Senator Bernie Sanders (Socialist-VT) actually meant to imply that the Democrats were going to destroy private health insurers. Given that he is in fact a socialist, it may be that being one has finally killed enough brain cells to make him not notice that he answered the question so poorly.

Look, it’s not my fault that intellectually speaking being a self-identified socialist in this day and age is much like being a self-identified Flat-Earther*. It just is. And it makes you do dumb things, like tell private insurance companies that the United States Senate is coming after them with a mad gleam in its eye. Given that, true or not, this is precisely the impression that current Senate leadership does not want to create… well. To use the terminology of the guy that the Senator spent the last eight years ineffectually fighting: heckuva job there, Bernie.

Moe Lane

PS: More seriously, please remember: no matter what happens with the health care plan, neither Senator Sanders, his family, nor his close associates will ever suffer from the more onerous aspects of it. Because while all animals are equal, some animals are more equal than others.

*Well, except for the former’s higher historical body count.

Crossposted to RedState.

I can’t call this an ‘Obamateurism.’

It’s one heck of a Kinsley Gaffe, to be sure.  But accidentally admitting who really runs Russia?

“I suspect when I speak to President..eh.. Prime Minister Putin tomorrow, he will say the same thing.”

That’s just him saying what we all know. I have yet to grasp why Putin hasn’t just gone ahead and found that evidence that he’s actually the son of the Princess Anastasia, and thus heir to the Romanov Dynasty.  Pravda would eat that up. 

With a spoon.

Crossposted to RedState.

Metal manufacturers pay the price for Joe Biden Opening His Mouth.

It was apparently their turn.

The annoying bit is that we can’t even put the Vice President in an undisclosed location, given that he’s already gone out and disclosed it. I would write that it’s days like this that make me miss Dick Cheney, except that doing so would imply that I’ve ever stopped doing so since 01/20/2009.

Biden comments drive metal manufacturers lower

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of major metal manufacturers traded sharply lower Monday, a day after Vice President Joe Biden said the White House “misread” the economy, prompting concerns that an economic recovery could be slower than expected.

[snip]

During the second quarter, commodity prices “went through the roof,” and investors snapped up metal makers stocks on word that the economy was “less bad” than before, he said.

But, now, the market has switched its thinking amid broader concerns about the economy, he said.

See here for a link to the interview (Hot Air for the H/T). About the only thing that you can say about it is that at least the White House hasn’t sent out people to retract the economic portions yet – unlike, for example, the VP’s recent comments that could be read as the USA giving permission to Israel to bomb Iran (via Sense of Events). But the ‘pace of the ball is now going to increase,’ at least – and if you know what that actually means, I’m not sure whether to be envious of, or worried about you.

Just another Monday in this, the best of all possible worlds…

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

NY Senate Watch: Paterson (D) could end this, any time?

He arguably has the authority to do so.  And knows it.

Groups call on Paterson to appoint Lt. Governor

Citizens Union, Common Cause and Assemb. Michael Gianaris (D- Astoria) urged Paterson to exercise the authority given him by Section 43 of the Public Officers Law.

The provision reads in part, “if a vacancy shall occur, otherwise than by expiration of term, with no provision of the law for filling the same, if the office be elective, the governor shall appoint a person to execute the duties thereof until the vacancy shall be fill by an election.”

Gianaris said the groups’ idea was presented to Paterson several weeks ago and he hasn’t yet made a decision.

It seems odd that Paterson, who is (like other Democratic governors) polling extraordinarily badly right now, doesn’t seem all that interested in ending the Senate mess in NY*, or at least getting it under some sort of control.  Then again, it seems odd that Attorney General Andrew Cuomo would be arguing against the constitutionality of a solution that would arguably help not only New York, but his own party head.

Well, no.  Not really.  An out-of-control Senate is a wonderful thing, if you’re a Democrat trying to unseat an incumbent…

Moe Lane

Continue reading NY Senate Watch: Paterson (D) could end this, any time?

Yeah, kind of politics-heavy today.

That’s how it goes; take a few days off, more or less, and the stuff piles up. Meanwhile, drink your coffee:

Coffee ‘may reverse Alzheimer’s’

Drinking five cups of coffee a day could reverse memory problems seen in Alzheimer’s disease, US scientists say.

The Florida research, carried out on mice, also suggested caffeine hampered the production of the protein plaques which are the hallmark of the disease.

Is it true?

Do you really care?

Moe Lane

PS: You really do have to wonder about the karmic burden that mice must be bearing.

Line of the day, Reason Hit & Run edition.

‘…the soft sophistry of low absolutism.’ – Matt Welch, in the process of eviscerating Ezra Klein for, among other things, holding up as a model the state-run newspaper industry of a minor European country with no meaningful defense budget and a GDP comparable to that of North Carolina’s. (Via Jim Treacher‘s Twitter.)

I’d comment further, except that I’m doing a quick check for the thens, so forths, after alls, insofars, and especially of courses that apparently cause Matt to get that funky Hulk-pupil effect going.  I haven’t decided yet whether to banish them from my language, or save them up for the next Reason shindig…

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.