This morning I was going to write about the City of Great Falls (Montana) and their issue with urban chickens. Yes, chickens. City officials spent about three hours discussing the issue Tuesday evening. If anyone can get a copy of the DVD of the meeting, it is worth a few laughs. We may see clips of it on The Daily Show or maybe The Colbert Report.

But that was before I happened to read the 600-word Guest Opinion from U.S. Senator Jon Tester that appeared in his newspaper, the Great Falls Tribune, this morning. This is not actually Tester’s newspaper (he does not own it), but let’s just say there’s a lot of love for him from the Great Falls Tribune.

The title of the Guest Opinion is “Congressmen refuse to work together, don’t solve problems” but that was the title the Tribune gave it as Tester gave it the title “Congress must cut spending responsibly” on his website. Newspapers can do stuff like that.

Back in November 2010, The Western Word named Jon Tester the number one most vulnerable Senator running in 2012. Now several other groups have followed along. Guest opinions like this one lend a lot of support to the title of most vulnerable.

Tester uses the Democrats’ time-tested scare tactic (used many times by his mentor, Max Baucus) that the big bad Republicans want to cut or take away your Social Security, Medicare, and deny you funding for Education. These tactics have worked in the past, but the country is in much more terrible shape today than it was about 4-5 years ago when Tester took the oath of office. Then there’s the “government shutdown” threat that many folks are finding more and more enticing each day as it may be the only way to save money.

But there’s one sentence from Tester that almost made me choke on my waffle: “Ten years ago, this nation enjoyed a $128 billion budget surplus. But in one year, in 2001, Congress squandered it all away.”

Hmmm…2001. Maybe Tester does not remember September 11, 2001, but it did happen and that horrific event caused our country to beef up our security here at home – and that does cost money. Sure some spending was done that was not needed (it even continues today) with money for the Port to Nowhere that Tester first gloated about and then tried to get stopped. Tester is very weak on national defense and military issues and it shows when he directs valuable federal funding to places that don’t need it.

Tester touted his support for a balanced budget as a candidate, but he has sure not toed that line since he took the oath of office in January 2007 (kind of like his stand on earmarks). He supported $787 billion stimulus and the health care spending bill which has crippled our country. We can’t even get a budget from the Democrats these days. Another fact is that the national debt has soared past $14 trillion on the Democrats’ watch. Some reports say that since President Obama has taken office, federal discretionary spending has increased 24% – and Jon (balanced budget) Tester has been there all the way.

Finally, at the end of his column Tester writes, “Montanans deserve better. They deserve responsible, thoughtful decisions in Congress.”

I agree with that. When will Senator Tester start?