Monthly Archives: April 2008

Still Slush

It looks like our elected representatives in the Montana legislature failed to completely do away with “constituency accounts” at least according to a recent Associated Press story.

Should we give them a pat on the back for trying? I don’t think so. Maybe it’s the lack of experience in the legislature these days. Maybe it’s that they really don’t want to do away with them, or maybe they just made a mistake.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Roy Brown correctly said, “It’s clear that Montanans want a more open, honest government, yet these new regulations allow public officials to raise and spend money behind closed doors, and it’s simply unacceptable.”

Maybe the state legislature will try a little harder to fix this problem next session. Maybe.

Pennsylvania

Finally, another primary. Here comes Pennsylvania. The last six weeks or so since the last primary has been painful. Most folks have found themselves just waiting for another piece of Obama’s past to be revealed, or for Clinton to tell another tall tale about sniper fire.

The only way to settle this race may be to hold a “Celebrity Deathmatch.” Hillary has some experience in these matches.

I fondly remember the show that aired on MTV. I guess it still airs on MTV2. If they have the Celebrity Deathmatch, then Keith Olbermann could serve as the commentator while working in Obama’s corner.

My pick for Pennsylvania: Clinton by 8 points. The race should be called about 20-30 minutes after the polls close.

After Pennsylvania, the next stop is…Guam on May 3. Then North Carolina and Indiana on May 6.

Contribution Limits for Human Beings

For those of you who like to give to the candidate of your choice, the campaign contribution limits recently increased in Montana.

Now you can give $630 per election for the gubernatorial race. The other statewide races donation limit was increased to $310 per election. The local races are now set at $160 per election.

Here’s the POLITICAL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION LIMITS SUMMMARY for those of you playing at home.

Note the part about an “individual” on the summary. An individual must be a human being. Cattle, sheep, and horses are out when it comes to contributing to the candidate of their choice, I guess.

Are these limits ridiculous or what? I’m sure glad our esteemed legislators did not decide to round the increase to the nearest penny, like $310.72.

The increases are tied to the cost of living. Maybe next time they can tie them to price of a barrel of oil?

All statewide races should be set at the same amount, like $400 per election. The local races should be set at something like $200 per election. Since the legislature meets every two years, they can change it if needed, but let’s keep it simple.

Springtime?

Ahh, springtime in Montana! Over the weekend of April 12-13, it was time to water the yard, sit outside and enjoy the almost 80 degree temperature.

This weekend, April 19-20, it was time to shovel a little snow – about 14 inches.

Next weekend?


No More

Back in 2006, the left-leaning bloggers in Montana and their friends across the nation had a field day spreading lies and misinformation about Republican candidates, especially during the Burns/Tester race. Their comments almost always went unchecked, and some were picked up by some gullible reporters. The rest is history.

No more.

Here we are in 2008, the right-leaning bloggers in Montana are out in force protecting their territory, forming the Dextrasphere, to kick butt and take names.

The other day over at Left in the West, blogger Jay Stevens told another one of those “big ones” that went unchecked in 2006. Nothing gets voters’ attention more than using children as a political football. Stevens contends that Congressman Denny Rehberg did not support the State’s Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The fact is that Rehberg supported the Senate version and was against Nancy Pelosi’s version.

BAM!

The Dextra folks hit back, and their comments are worth reading:

Missoulapolis: Jay Stevens’s SCHIP Shot

Rabid Sanity: Deception as a Political Tool.

Electric City Weblog: Hunting for a House Seat

Big Sky Cairn: Lies of the Left (in the West)

The Dextra folks know that lies, if they are repeated enough and go unchecked, become facts to the left and to the media. I don’t see that happening this time around.

St. Mary Canal

The folks who use the St. Mary Canal and the members of the St. Mary Rehabilitation Working Group must be feeling a little down today after reading this article in the Great Falls Tribune.

The Bureau of Reclamation’s (BOR) commissioner, Bob Johnson, basically told Senator Jon Tester to stick it when Tester asked about the BOR repairing the aging structure. Tester was told the users must pay for the repairs, estimated at $140 million, with the cost growing every day.

Tester did not even receive assurances that the BOR would support legislation to repair the problems. It must have made him feel kind of inadequate since some of these projects are in his back yard.

Here in Montana, we’ve heard about several water projects that will never be fully funded, mostly because of the loss of clout in the U.S. Senate, and especially because we no longer have a senior member on the Senate Appropriations committee.

In November 2007, the Tribune also reported, “So little federal money is trickling into Montana’s two fledgling regional rural water projects that, barring a drastic increase in funding from Congress, it’s possible they’ll never be built, according to project proponents.”

Look for that trend to continue.

Disgraceful

Veterans are upset about the April, 21, 2008 cover of Time Magazine. This veteran agrees. It portrays the photo of the flag raising on Iwo Jima. Instead of raising the flag, like the original photo showed, the men are raising a tree…to signify the war on global warming.

Very poor idea.

Very poor taste.

Disgraceful.

Craving Public Attention

Some of my readers may have been following the stories about the Seattle film crew who were detained in Nigeria for allegedly traveling illegally in southern Nigeria. A Montanan was part of the crew.

It’s a tough situation when Americans are detained and jailed in foreign countries. It’s best to let the professionals at the State Department and in the local embassies be the lead. If a press release or public information is released, they should come from these folks, not an elected official craving public attention.

It seems Montana’s two U.S. Senators decided this was a good press opportunity, instead of quietly working behind the scene and keeping the family informed. They decided to issue press releases and make statements to the press and on the Senate floor. Governor Brian Schweitzer decided he wanted to call Nigerian officials. Both Baucus and Schweitzer are running for reelection this year, so we know they want their names in the news. Tester? Well, he just doesn’t know any better.

Their actions could have escalated the situation into something worse for the Americans. Thankfully, it does not look like it did. The Seattle film crew is still in Nigeria, although reports say they are now in the American embassy.

Max Baucus, Jon Tester and Brian Schweitzer should have just kept their mouths shut, except to say they were aware of and working on the situation, at least until the crew was safely out of the country or until they were safely in the hands of the officials at the American embassy. Then Baucus, Tester, and Schweitzer could have patted themselves on the back and crowed to Montanans about how hard they worked to get their release.

Politics, Religion, and Life

The Associated Press did a story yesterday about the Catholic members of Congress who publicly support abortion attending Mass today in Washington, D.C. The Pope has said that these folks should not receive Communion.

I am not a Catholic, so it does not bother me one way or the other, but I have some Catholic friends who, for years, hoped that the leaders of the Catholic Church would stand firm and deny Communion to the Catholic politicians who refuse to stand up for life.

I doubt that it will happen today.

Too Old?

Congressman John Murtha seems a little worried that John McCain will become the next President of the United States.

So Murtha decided to attack McCain’s age, although Murtha is four years older. He told a crowd of union members today that McCain is too old to be President. By the way, Murtha is a Clinton supporter.

But, there’s really another reason Murtha does not want McCain to become President: Pork.

Murtha knows his pork projects will disappear. The Citizens Against Government Waste gave Murtha the Porker of the Year award for 2007. Murtha is the chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. McCain has always been against wasteful spending and Murtha knows that President McCain will veto his pork projects

By the way, Murtha has taken some of Montana’s defense dollars, too. Montana lost millions in defense funding the last couple of years since we lost a senate seat on the defense appropriations subcommittee. Those dollars found a nice cozy home in Rep. Murtha’s district in western Pennsylvania.

Since Murtha has been on and in charge of that subcommittee, billons of dollars have been funneled into his district. In fact, Murtha brought home 72 pork projects worth $159.1 million just in fiscal year 2008, which is more than Montana received as a whole state ($92 million).