Another week is in the books!  This week I take a look at the “Peace Prize” as well as a jail sitting empty, some healthcare stuff, investigations, audits, and sports.  I also comment about the weather.  

Give Peace a Chance:

I was a little stunned when I heard that President Barack Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize.  I was even more stunned when I heard that nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize closed on February 1, 2009.  Obama was sworn in on January 20, 2009.  He had been the President for only 12 days.  What a leader!

Hardin Jail:

Here we have a small community in Montana attempting to bring some economic development to their city and it appears they got screwed over by several people.  The deal with the California company is now dead.

But there’s good news:  Obama has not closed GITMO.

Healthcare-The Public Option:

A few bloggers have commented that Montana’s junior Senator, Jon Tester, is in favor of the public option in the healthcare debate.  I’ve also read where Gov. Schweitzer is in favor of the public option.

It looks like the Democrats have a simple majority who will support the public option, so they will need to use a loophole called reconciliation to get it passed because they probably don’t have 60 votes to cut off debate.  Are they willing to take the chance?  We’ll see, but I kind of think that the GOP might want the Democrats to try it.  If you are a political junkie, you can read more about reconciliation HERE.

By the way, I’m still wondering if the GOP has any leaders.

Healthcare-The big vote:

Max Baucus will get to see if his committee’s $829 billion bill passes next week.  I’ve become a little sad for “Montana’s Max” lately.  He’s in way over his head, he’s nearing the end of his career in politics, and he’s accomplished nothing.  Now his healthcare mess has angered almost everyone and history won’t be too kind to Max Baucus.  I look for “Montana’s Max” to ride off into the sunset at the end of this term, or face a primary opponent from someone like Brian Schweitzer.

Nothing happened, brother:

The “independent” investigation into the Governor’s brother, Deputy State Auditor Walt Schweitzer, found nothing wrong.  Deputy Walt was accused of soliciting campaign funds on government time.  The State Auditor selected the investigator.  Surprised?

That seems to be typical.

We’ve watched U.S. Senator Jon Tester pick a party insider to conduct what he promised in 2006 to be a yearly ethics audit (I think we’re on year three and I’ve only heard of one being completed, and that was in April 2008).

They seem to think we’re all fools.

Sports/Football:

I had never seen a team collapse like the University of Missouri football Tigers did on Thursday night.  They entered the 4th Quarter up 12-0 on Nebraska.  They lost 27-12.  No excuses.

I thought that the Missouri Tigers might be the best football team in the state of Missouri, putting the Kansas City Chiefs and the St. Louis Rams in second and third, respectively.  Now with the loss to the “Big Red” of Nebraska, I give the Tigers a 50/50 shot of beating the Chiefs and the Rams.  I’m thinking about calling them the Kansas City Chefs and the St. Louis Lambs.  Not original, but still funny.

Brett Favre dodged old age again and led the Vikings to a win over the Green Bay Packers on Monday Night Football.  Sweet revenge (even if Favre won’t say it, I will).  I am sure the Packers were growing tired of Favre’s indecisions when they were preparing for training camp.  Now they may lose the NFC North to Favre and his team – something they tried to prevent when they did not want him.  Hold on, there’s one little trip that people have circled on the calendar, and that is when the Vikings visit the Packers at Lambeau field on November 1.  That will be fun to watch.

Sports/Baseball:

I must say, the tie-breaker game between the Minnesota Twins and the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday was one of the better games I’ve watched.  It went 12 innings with the Twins winning.  Now they get to play the Yankees.

The weather sucks:

We don’t need no freaking snow in October, period.  Get outa here!

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