This week some of the items that caught my attention were the “phantom districts,” the Sarah Palin book tour and media blitz, the Terrorists trial in New York, polls, healthcare, and veterans.  Of course, there’s a little sports thrown in, too.

Phantom Districts:
Sometimes you just have to laugh at some things that come from the Government.  According to the government-funded ($18 million) website (Recovery.gov) that tracks stimulus spending, Montana has 13 different congressional districts.  In reality, we only have one and that district is called At-Large (remember that for trivia).

The info is changed now, thanks to people like Congressman Denny Rehberg.

One of the funnier comments I saw on this website is that Big Sandy, Montana (home of Senator Jon Tester) used the stimulus money to save or create 4,538 jobs.  Big Sandy has a population of about 700.

The new leadership in Washington seems to really be screwing things up.

Hardly Anybody Likes Max:
Montana State University Billings released a poll done with people who have “land-line phones” showing Sen. Max Baucus’ approval ratings have dropped like a rock in a pond.  He’s lost 20 points in two years, probably due to his weak leadership when it comes to the healthcare debate.  Only 44% approve of Baucus in the poll.  62% approve of Schweitzer, which makes one wonder when Schweitzer is through with his second term as Governor if he won’t turn his attention to Baucus’ seat in the U.S. Senate.  The funniest thing is that Baucus spent a year or more working on a healthcare bill that Harry Reid flushed down the toilet and introduced his own.   The Great Falls Tribune came to Max’s defense in today’s paper.  Pathetic.

Chicken –cluck cluck:
Seeing how far Baucus has dropped in the polls has convinced Sen. Jon Tester not to say if he supports the healthcare bills currently being debated in Congress.  That’s very poor statesmanship on Tester’s part.  Luckily in the U.S. Senate, there’s not an “I don’t know” vote.  My belief is that Tester will drop right in line behind Reid, Baucus, Schumer and vote for it.

By the way, what do you do if you are afraid to have face to face town hall meetings about the healthcare bills?  You hold a telephone town hall meeting.  Tester held one the other day and interested people had to call in beforehand (to be approved?)

Terrorists on Trial:
As I mentioned last week, I believe it is ridiculous for the United States to prosecute terrorists in our civilian courts.  Attorney General Eric Holder seems like an intelligent man, but this is a very stupid decision.  Sen. Lindsey Graham schooled AG Holder on the law the other day, asking if our solders are now required to Mirandize terrorists and others captured on the battlefield.  This trial will lead to further messes down the road.

Palin:
She sure does get a lot of attention, and she sure will make a lot of money off her new book.  She’s an underdog and you know how I like underdogs!  Even the lefty networks understand that Sarah Palin is ratings gold.  The liberals are afraid of Palin and how many followers she has so they attack.

Today I received this e-mail from Barack Obama’s campaign team, which is called “Organizing for America.”
They wrote:
“Right now, Sarah Palin is on a highly publicized, nationwide book tour, attacking President Obama and his plan for health reform at every turn.
It’s dangerous.  Remember, this is the person who coined the term “Death Panels” — and opened the flood gates for months of false attacks by special interests and partisan extremists.”

Dangerous?  Really?  Maybe the Obama team should spend a little more time on things that matter like jobs or making a decision about how many troops to send to Afghanistan, instead of worrying about Sarah Palin.  Of course, they asked me to chip in $5 to stop her.

But, with all the talk back and forth I believe that the two or three former McCain campaign staffers showing up on the news should just shut up.  Yes, shut your traps because you lost the freaking election.  You failed to prep your VP Candidate for interviews and that hurt your team.  Losers.

By the way, Palin will be in Billings later this month to sign books.  Nope, I won’t be attending.

Veterans:
Sen. Jon Tester sent me an e-mail this week about “landmark” veterans’ legislation the senate recently passed.  I thought this paragraph was interesting:

“Montana is a rural state, which means all 100,000 veterans there are rural veterans,” Tester said.  “Many of them live in frontier communities.  Sadly, that means they have a tougher time getting the health care they earned.”

He’s right, Montana is a rural state and veterans have trouble getting the healthcare they earned.  Then why doesn’t the Senator push for veterans to get healthcare in their local communities instead of spending tons of money on leases for clinics, salaries for doctors/nurses, travel costs, etc.  The VA could use that money for actual veterans’ medical care and for hiring more people to work on the record backlog of claims at the VA.  We earned it, right?  You can’t put a VA clinic in every town that has a veteran living in it, but many of the towns have local civilian clinics or hospitals just a few blocks for veterans to travel.

Montana Griz at Montana State Cats:
I am neither one, so I can honestly say that I want to see a good game.  Griz coach Bobby Hauck has it right when he said the pressure is on the Cats because the Griz have clinched the Big Sky and the automatic birth to the playoffs.  The Cats will need to win to probably get a playoff spot or they may sneak in by being very competitive.

NASCAR:
Sunday will end the most boring NASCAR season ever.  NASCAR is reminding me more and more of pro-wrestling with their changes in rules during the season, not to mention during a race.  When the leader only needs to finish 25th or better to win the championship, I imagine I will be watching something else on Sunday.

That’s it for this week’s edition.  Have a very Happy Thanksgiving!  Follow me on Twitter!