Dump Stephen F. Lynch

So, Mr. Lynch

2006-09-11T16:33:00.000-07:00

What's your take on a new 911 commission? It appears that there are more questions than answers. Should we stay the course or ask why we are on this path? Did you watch the Press Club briefing on C-Span today? Or are you worried about keeping your job?

It appears things are worse in Iraq than we are told

2006-09-09T03:56:00.000-07:00

U.S. count of Baghdad deaths excludes car bombs, mortar attacks
By Mark Brunswick and Zaineb Obeid
McClatchy Newspapers
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/15474438.htm

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. officials, seeking a way to measure the results of a program aimed at decreasing violence in Baghdad, aren't counting scores of dead killed in car bombings and mortar attacks as victims of the country's sectarian violence.

In a distinction previously undisclosed, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Barry Johnson said Friday that the United States is including in its tabulations of sectarian violence only deaths of individuals killed in drive-by shootings or by torture and execution.

That has allowed U.S. officials to boast that the number of deaths from sectarian violence in Baghdad declined by more than 52 percent in August over July.

But it eliminates from tabulation huge numbers of people whose deaths are certainly part of the ongoing conflict between Sunni and Shiite Muslims. Not included, for example, are scores of people who died in a highly coordinated bombing that leveled an entire apartment building in eastern Baghdad, a stronghold of rebel Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

more at link above

Now remind me again why we need to stay-the-course. . . .

Lynch's misplaced entitlement

2006-09-07T05:07:00.000-07:00

Lynch's misplaced entitlement
By Joan Vennochi, Globe Columnist | September 7, 2006

STEPHEN F. LYNCH is entitled to his evolving opinions regarding war with Iraq. But why is the congressman from South Boston entitled to duck an opponent who questions his role as the Joe Lieberman of Massachusetts?

This week, Lynch had time to endorse Tom Reilly in the Democratic primary race for governor -- but no time to debate Phil Dunkelbarger , his primary opponent for the Ninth Congressional District seat.

Dunkelbarger is trying to apply Ned Lamont's script in Connecticut to Massachusetts. Lacking Lamont's money, he isn't getting the media attention Lamont enjoyed, and he is further handicapped by an odd surname. Even so, he manages to pose a legitimate question to Joe Moakley's successor: Why did Lynch back President Bush's policies in Iraq as recently as June 16, by voting in favor of a so-called ``stay the course" resolution championed by Republicans in the House of Representatives?

Lynch was one of 42 Democrats -- and the only member of the Massachusetts delegation -- to join a virtually united Republican Party to declare that the United States must complete ``the mission to create a sovereign, free, secure and united Iraq" without setting ``an arbitrary date for the withdrawal or redeployment" of US troops.

A former ironworker, Lynch stresses his common man touch. But he's not anxious to display it in any debate setting. ``He has pretty much stonewalled any kind of opportunity to give the voters of the district a chance to see the two of us in the same room," said Dunkelbarger of Westwood.

Read the entire article here: http://tinyurl.com/ohhe

Oh, by the way. . . .

since June 15, 2006, 166 soldiers have died (Iraq)
since June 15, 2006, 793 soldiers have been wounded and returned to duty (Iraq)
since June 15, 2006, 490 soldiers have been wounded and NOT returned to duty (Iraq)

Thanks for all you do, Mr. Lynch.

Steve ducks a debate

2006-08-31T09:09:00.000-07:00

Dunkelbarger: Lynch won’t debate me
By Brock Parker/ Daily News Staff
Wednesday, August 30, 2006 - Updated: 11:24 AM EST
http://www.dailynewstranscript.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=77602

WESTWOOD -- Three weeks before their showdown in the Democratic primary, congressional challenger Phil Dunkelbarger says incumbent Stephen Lynch is "ducking" a debate.

"This kind of behavior is not something that would be held in high regard in South Boston," Dunkelbarger, a Westwood Democrat, said yesterday. "They like action....Stephen Lynch is ducking."

Dunkelbarger was referring to a candidate forum the League of Women Voters recently tried to schedule for Sept. 7 with Lynch, D-9th, Dunkelbarger and Jack E. Robinson, the lone Republican candidate in the race for the 9th congressional seat.

Lynch’s campaign said yesterday the congressman cannot attend the debate because the U.S. House of Representatives will be in session that day.

Ya just gotta wonder why Mr. Lynch is afraid to debate Phil. It might have something to do with the issues. . . .

Today's question for Mr. Lynch

2006-06-26T09:07:00.000-07:00

Why were you the only Massachusetts Representative to vote yes on House Resolution 861 on June 16, 2006?

From H RES 861:

Resolved, That the House of Representatives—

. . .

(3) declares that it is not in the national security interest of the United States to set an arbitrary date for the withdrawal or redeployment of United States Armed Forces from Iraq;

You voted for this? What were you thinking?

(4) declares that the United States is committed to the completion of the mission to create a sovereign, free, secure, and united Iraq;

Mr. Lynch, what is the mission? I thought we went to war to ~~remove WMDs~~, err ~~instigate regime change because Saddam was a bad man~~.

H RES 861 was introduced by Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL) on 6.12.2006 and had no cosponsors. Not one. Nada. Zippty-doo-dah. Now I don’t know about you, but I’d be just a little curious why Mr. Hyde did not have at least one cosponsor. Could it be that Mr. Hyde is a bit of an odd duck with some strange ideas?

Dunkelbarger to be at Readville Commuter rail stop today 4:15 ~ 6:15pm.

2006-06-22T07:26:00.000-07:00

via email:

Hello Dunk Dems,

Mark, the campaign's Media Outreach Person, has arranged for Phil to have a story in the Boston Phoenix. The interview and pictures will be at the Readville Commuter Rail stop (1800 Hyde Park Ave, Hyde Park) Thursday, June 22 between 4:15pm and 6:15pm while Phil shakes hands with the commuters. Anyone who is interested in helping to distribute handouts, hold signs or generally just support Phil is welcome.

An Open Letter to the US Senate & the House of Representatives

2006-06-19T03:22:00.000-07:00

My Gratitude Truly Knows No Bounds
(An Open Letter to the US Senate & the House of Representatives)

By Nancy Greggs

Dear Elected Representatives:

As the nation readies itself for the traditional Fourth of July celebrations, I feel this is an appropriate time to thank you for your service to our country and the citizens who elected you to your respective offices.

In a true spirit of bipartisanship, I am addressing myself to both Democrats and Republicans, as both parties have contributed to the current state of the nation.

With all you have done over the past few years, it is difficult to know where to begin, or how to express the gratitude felt not only by myself, but a vast portion of the citizenry.

I would like to start by thanking you for your total lack of vigilance in protecting the Constitution, and the rights and freedoms it was meant to ensure. Your ability to look the other way while the president has usurped powers that are not rightfully his is appreciated, in the fullest sense of the word.

Thank you all so much for allowing United States citizens to be wire-tapped, and otherwise spied upon like criminals. A special note of thanks goes out to all of you who have consistently supported the Patriot Act, which has stripped us of rights and freedoms that have traditionally been our birthright, i.e. trivialities such as due process of law, legal representation when accused, a fair and speedy trial, and all of the other nonsense that you have diligently dispensed with on our behalf.

Thank you for allowing this Administration to spend not only our current tax dollars with complete abandon, but the tax dollars of future generations who will have to pay off the enormous debt you have allowed to accrue, while at the same time granting tax breaks and subsidies to those individuals and corporations who need them the least at the expense of hard-working Americans.

Thank you for not only permitting, but encouraging the outsourcing of American jobs to cheaper labor markets, and for not bothering yourselves with the consequences of same. I cannot speak for the people who now have those jobs in countries like China, but I am sure they are grateful that you have not let things like inhumane working conditions sway you from the goal of enriching the bottom lines of US corporations at their expense.

Surely no one can ignore your staunch support of things like the Bankruptcy Law, or the new Medicare Drug Program, which lines the pockets of financial institutions and pharmaceutical companies to the detriment of the most vulnerable amongst us, the working class poor, the sick and the elderly. Most assuredly, you must all sleep well at night knowing what you have accomplished.

What US citizen would not join me in a deafening round of applause for your position on the War in Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom, the War on Terror, or whatever it is being called this week)? From your failure to question the initial “intelligence” you were offered to your current stance on sending our soldiers into combat without the proper equipment or direction, you have shown incredible fortitude in ignoring the common sense attitude that your constituents would have expected. Kudos to all concerned for the shock-and-awe of it all!

And let’s not forget the fact that you have gutted our veteran’s pensions and benefits, and sent even the sickest and most psychologically damaged among them back into battle time and time again. Well done – yes, well done. I am confident there is a special place in the afterlife for each of you.

Thank you also for not bogging down the governmental process with calls for investigations into no-bid contracts that have cost the taxpayers millions of dollars without an iota of accountability on the part of those who were handed those contracts, or queries into the millions of taxpayer dollars that have mysteriously ‘gone missing’ in the fog of war. Believe me, a grateful nation salutes you for instead debating the more important issues of the day like flag-burning and gay marriage. You all must be so proud, and justifiably so!

A special tip of Uncle Sam’s hat is more than appropriate to each and every one of you for not being drawn into discussions nor debate concerning the pitfalls of hackable electronic voting machines, voter suppression, the purging of legitimate voters from the rolls, or the like. I am thankful you have realized that with all of the challenges presently facing our democracy, the concept of fair elections is but a nuisance to be deferred to another day.

To all of you who are on-the-take (whether presently under investigation, serving prison time, or waiting to be caught and indicted), I am grateful for your willingness to sell your fellow citizens out for financial gain. It is that kind of Yankee Doodle entrepreneurial spirit that separates you from the dummies who have attempted to do the right thing throughout their political careers, and I am sure an entire nation holds you in the esteem you so undoubtedly deserve.

I know that many of you will be appropriately unwilling to accept responsibility, and the accompanying accolades, for many of the things that have happened ‘on your watch’, so to speak. I do not deign to speak for all Americans, but I am confident that my fellow citizens share my gratitude for your total abandonment of the victims of Hurricane Katrina, as well as those who have slipped below the poverty line during your tenure in office, the children who go to bed hungry thanks to your gutting of social programs, and the children who will go uneducated as a result of your failure to fund educational institutions.

As though the accomplishments I have outlined above were not enough to thank you for, there is the one issue that is, for me, the most outstanding of all you have done: the issue of torture. Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart, for allowing the “quaintness” of the Geneva Conventions to be abandoned. Surely all of us must realize that if you are going to hold out our beloved country as a model of a Good Christian Nation, that title would have little meaning without the use of torture, without rendition, without the secret prisons you have allowed to be utilized the world over.

I am confident that the parents, siblings and spouses of our brave fighting men and women in the Middle East are thrilled to know that their loved ones are made safer and more secure, should they fall into enemy hands, by the fact you have allowed these outdated rules of conduct in wartime to be summarily dismissed.

As for the fact that you have participated in the squandering of the goodwill we once had around the world, the distancing of our traditional international allies, and have managed to garner the enmity of millions of people all over the globe, I cannot begin to express what I am feeling. Your behavior in this regard has been mind-boggling, to say the least.

As we near the 4th of July, I think it is important and appropriate that all American citizens come together, regardless of political affiliation, to celebrate the tattered remnants of our democracy.

So a heartfelt thanks to all of you. You’re doing a heck of a job!

One Truly Astounded Citizen,
Nancy Greggs

Originally posted at democraticunderground.com

Stephen Lynch is a Republican!

2006-06-17T09:00:00.000-07:00

On Friday, June 16, 2006, Stephen Lynch showed his true color – Red. Stephen Lynch was the only Member of the MA Congressional Delegation to vote with the Republicans on their “Stay the Course” H.R. 861. The MA Delegation vote was 9 Democrats Nay and Stephen Lynch Yea. Even Rep. Neal, Lynch’s sometime neocon soulmate, voted with the rest of the MA Delegation to repudiate this Republican sham.

This is the first time he’s stood all alone since he joined Tom Delay and George Bush in the attempt to reconnect Terri Schiavo’s feeding tubes.

Just a week ago, Stephen Lynch voted to cede control of the Internet to the communications conglomerates (Verizon, Comcast, etc.). In that vote it was 8 MA Democrats Nay, Lynch and Neal Yea.

We are working everyday to inform the voters of the 9^th District that they have a real, Democratic alternative in the September Primary. Having collected over 5,000 signatures, we’ve put Phil Dunkelbarger on the ballot. We are convinced that, once 9^th District Democrats become aware that they have a real choice, in a successful businessman and former City Councilor who advocates a strong Democratic agenda, they will vote Dunkelbarger and restore Democratic representation to the 9^th District.

Today, the Dunkelbarger for Congress Committee makes an urgent appeal to 9^th District Democrats, to help us send a message to Democrats around the country, to stand firm and speak clearly for Democratic values and principles, and to help us replace Stephen Lynch with Phil Dunkelbarger, who will truly represent and serve the people of the 9^th District.

Dunkelbarger for Congress Committee

What alternatives do we have?

2006-06-16T19:26:00.000-07:00

Fortunately, we have options this November. Phil Dunkelbarger’s team has collected enough signatures to have his named placed on the September 19 (primary) ballot.

Take a look at Mr. D’s web site: http://www.dunkelbargerdemocrat.org/index.html to see where he stands on the issues of these times.

Much more to come later.

So, what's this blog about?

2006-06-16T17:52:00.000-07:00

The Massachusetts 9^th Congressional district is mis-represented by Stephen F. Lynch. The purpose of this blog is to document his egregious voting record against the citizens of Massachusetts and the United States of America.