There’s a great opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal by one of my favorite writers, Peggy Noonan. Noonan explains in the piece, called “The Big Alienation” her views about “Uncontrolled borders and Washington’s lack of self-control.”
Read it yourself HERE. Enjoy!
I’ve followed the Barry Beach case for quite some time and have felt that he should get a new trial. There just seems to be more questions than answers in his case.
For those of you who haven’t followed the case, Beach was sentenced in 1984 at age 20, to 100 years in prison with no parole for the murder of 17-year-old Kim Nees on the Fort Peck Reservation
I commented about his case HERE and HERE. You can view the website about Barry Beach HERE.
Beach was given a new evidentiary hearing in November 2008. Hopefully, when they get around to having the hearing, he will get a new trial.
After what I read Tuesday, that hearing date may take a little longer. Of course, I have to offer my opinion about the issue.
The Great Falls Tribune reported on Tuesday:
Brant S. Light, assistant attorney general and special deputy Roosevelt County attorney, filed the motion April 20 requesting that District Judge Nels Swandal of Livingston appoint a replacement.
Swandal was appointed to the case April 2.
Why?
The Tribune also reported: “Kevin O’Brien, a spokesman for the attorney general, declined to comment on the state’s motion, which does not say why the state is seeking a new judge.”
By the way, Nels Swandal is running for a seat on the Montana Supreme Court. This is a non-partisan race, but it appears Swandal may lean to the right. As for his opponent I don’t have an idea about her politics either, but from the list of campaign steering committee members on her website, it appears she may lean to the left. This article clears it up a little although they have received contributions from both sides of the political aisle, which is somewhat typical for a race like this.
So it seems to me the request it was probably politics, Mr. O’Brien. Being the judge in the Barry Beach case would undoubtedly given Swandal a lot of exposure, like name recognition. Name recognition is important in a state-wide campaign – especially in a Supreme Court race.
Supreme Court races are not really that interesting to me, but due to this story I took a look at the campaign steering committee for Swandal’s opponent. There’s a very interesting list of people “steering” her campaign. It looks like some committee members even work for the State of Montana, which is not against the rules or anything unless…
I don’t know if the Tribune reporter asked O’Brien if the reason why the AG’s office requested a new judge was because they felt it would give someone that office does not want to see on the Supreme Court an advantage.
But, by declining to comment on the reason, O’Brien left the door wide open for speculation.
Meanwhile, Barry Beach will probably have to wait a little longer for his day in court. We can only hope that politics did not play a role in this case.
With the signing of the bill, immigration has now taken a spot in the front row of our national debate. That is a good thing. Since it is just six months from Election Day, we’ll see if Congress will want to tackle it before then as the political battle lines have been drawn. Both parties have a lot to win or lose in the immigration debate.
Our judicial system may have a say about the Arizona law way before Congress gets around to it. Continue reading
As I commented about earlier, it will probably be tough going for the Democrats in the next couple of elections unless things turn around and the streets are paved in gold.
Not even I thought the Democrats could screw up in this short amount of time. I know, I know, it’s all Bush’s fault.
Basically, the voters gave the Democrats the keys to Washington. Some people believe they have run it like the fraternity house portrayed in the movie, Animal House. Animal House historians may remember that John “Bluto” Blutarsky (played by John Belushi) spent seven years in college (GPA of 0.0) and went on to become a United States Senator.
Washington sometimes reminds me of Animal House.
First we have Max Baucus spending campaign money to try and explain the health care bill. Then Vice President Joe Biden was sending an e-mail asking people to help Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester.
Montana’s junior Senator, Jon Tester, has been sending e-mails with the frequency that some middle school kids send text messages. So far this month, I’ve seen e-mails dealing with everything from health care, to veterans, to taxes hitting my inbox. Continue reading
This Friday, the United States Marshal’s Service will lose a valuable employee. U.S. Marshal Dwight MacKay announced his retirement last week.
The Billings Gazette Editorial Board bid a “fond farewell” to Marshal MacKay today saying that although his appointment by President George W. Bush “was a partisan political appointment, MacKay took a decidedly nonpartisan approach. The well-wishers who gathered for his retirement announcement last week spanned the political spectrum.”
The Gazette Editorial Board went on to add, “Many Montanans, including some Democrats, had hoped that MacKay would be reappointed by President Barack Obama. MacKay had expressed interest in reappointment.”
U.S. Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester (both Democrats) missed a great opportunity to be nonpartisan and recommend MacKay to President Obama. Baucus’ previous recommendation for U.S. Marshal during the Clinton years was characterized by the Gazette this way: Continue reading
Lee Newspaper reporter Jennifer McKee recently wrote a story about Democratic Congressional candidate Dennis McDonald and his ties to late Jimmy “The Weasel” Fratianno, a mobster who ran the West Coast Cosa Nostra crime family.
McDonald is running for the U.S. House Seat currently occupied by Congressman Denny Rehberg.
I am sure it pained McKee to do the story, being that she drifts to the left when she writes. Besides, this information has only been out there for a year or more. Continue reading
According to this story from KRTV:
KRTV has learned that John Faulkner has been selected as the new director of the Great Falls International Airport.
I guess the Chairman forgot to include me on his e-mail announcement.
I don’t think Mr. Faulkner is from Montana, like the former director. She is from Great Falls – home grown and educated here.
Also, Faulkner would have been the second best choice if the Board was not so hell-bent on nailing Director Schultz. As Ms. Schultz’ attorney, Antonia Marra, was quoted as saying in the Great Falls Tribune on March 5, 2010:
“Will she be the most qualified? Yes,” Marra said. “Does anybody realistically think this board will rehire her? No.”
Faulkner won’t do better than Schultz, who increased the assets of the airport from $18.5 million to $113 million and the hangar occupancy from 28% to 100% and discretionary grants from $235,000 to $49 million, and all that in about 10 years. Incredible.
Something else that is interesting is that the Board has not presented him with a contract yet, so there’s still time for him to bail out of this circus.
If Mr. Faulkner does agree to the contract presented to him, I do wish him well. I encourage him to read it very closely before signing. I also wish everyone on the current board would resign and give the new “man” a fresh start without all the baggage – because this baggage will weigh the airport down.
Finally, if Mr. Faulkner wants to know what he is getting into, he can read all about the circus on this blog by clicking on the drop-down menu under “Categories” on the right side of this screen and then picking “GFIA.”
There was some breaking news on the Circus front this week and, of course, I have to offer my opinion about the whole mess!
I owe an apology to the hundreds of my faithful readers as I was away from my computer for a couple of days, so I could not post my comments on this blog. I did make some comments on Twitter. You really need to follow me on Twitter!
The Circus being run by the Great Falls International Airport Board has now gone down the drain and into the sewer. Most people agree that they have mismanaged this whole mess from the start with their personal vendettas against Airport Director, Cynthia Schultz.
Sadly, it won’t get any better, Great Falls. It won’t get any better until the Board is dismissed and new people are brought on board who are not part of the good old boy network that keeps Great Falls from thriving.
Hopefully we can start by getting rid of the elected officials who appointed them.
Speaking of “good old boys” last month I commented about how the “good old boy” community had sunk to a new low when they did not select current Great Falls Airport Director, Cynthia Schultz, for an interview, although she was heads and tails a better candidate than the four “males” who were chosen.
I guess I was wrong about sinking to a new low. Continue reading
In the Great Falls Tribune Sunday edition there was an editorial about the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) and the possibility that the 150 remaining missiles at Malmstrom AFB might be taken away. The title of the editorial was “Malmstrom, area economy appear safe – for now” and you can read it HERE.
Of course, after reading the editorial, I have to offer my opinion. Continue reading
First we heard about Senator Max Baucus using some campaign dough to do a television ad. He’s not up for re-election until 2014.
Today I received a message from Vice President Joe Biden. There were no “F” bombs in it, either! The Vice President wants me to write a letter to the editor praising Baucus and Senator Jon Tester for their “tough stand” on health reform. Tester is up for re-election in 2012. The Democrats are worried about these two seats and they should be.
The VP wrote:
Two weeks after it was signed into law, health insurance reform is still the talk of the town.
It’s for a good reason: This was a historic accomplishment. But it wasn’t easy. I remember what it’s like to be a senator and take a tough stand on an issue — confident that it’s the best thing for your constituents, but equally sure that special interests will pour buckets of money into attacking you for it.
Your senators, Max Baucus and Jon Tester, took that tough stand when they supported health reform. Now, we need to provide a line of defense money can’t buy: the voices of real constituents speaking out and showing their support.
That’s where you come in. Do you have three minutes to jot down a quick letter to your local newspaper? If you need ideas on what to say, you can watch a quick video Organizing for America put together about how reform will benefit Montana.
Umm, I don’t think so. I guess VP Biden must feel Montana’s senators are in deep political trouble, and they are, especially Tester, since most of his campaign promises have been broken. On the other hand, Baucus has several other issues he must contend with over the next four years. I look for him to retire instead of getting creamed either in the primary or general election. Can you say, U.S. Senator Brian Schweitzer?
