[freema]

Ouch. And don't I hope somebody's pouring salt on this wound.

"I have been told to help Bill Kuchera for nearly two years," Mr. Harris wrote to another EOC employee three years ago. "Mark Critz [a Murtha district aide] may not have been aware of that -- it came directly from Mr. Murtha ... ."

In an interview last week, Mr. Harris said the e-mail was "in error" and that he did not receive direct requests from Mr. Murtha to help Kuchera.

[Marine_Uncle]

The system of how earmarks are allowed under the rugs, etc., just invites thieves who are elected and else wise to steal, and gather huge sums of money to buy the votes to keep them in power. The system must be changed. What would be a better system is beyond me. I don't pretend to understand how it all works in full. But as long as we have what is in place, despite the best efforts of regulators, the FBI, etc., to enforce the laws, we will always have those that find ways to get at huge sums of money. Lets face it. This practice is old as written records stretch back in time.
On the main subject. Perhaps Murtha will in due time be tried in a court of law for all his criminal acts.