Here we go – a three-day weekend is upon us!  Congratulations on making it through another week.

Please do me a favor this weekend – take a moment to remember and honor our men and women who died while serving our country – because that is what Memorial Day is all about.  AND, fly your flag, please.  Thank you.

Caught My Eye is my weekly column (posted on Friday morning) where I take a look at some of the stories I did not have time to write about during the week.  Sometimes I add just a little sarcasm to my comments!

This week I take a look at unemployment, the Patriot Act, odd news, my political inbox and much more!  So grab a cup of your favorite drink and take a break to read Caught My Eye…

424,000:

That’s the number of people who filed new unemployment claims last week.  It’s a humbling experience filing for unemployment, but that is what it’s for.  Keep your chin up – one of these days we may have jobs again!

Patriot Act:

Thankfully the Patriot Act passed Congress yesterday.  According to the Washington Post, “…the legislation passed the Senate, 72 to 23, and the House, 250 to 153.”

Voting against the Patriot Act and, in my opinion, the safety and security of our country were the three members of the Montana Congressional delegation (Senator Max Baucus, Senator Jon Tester and Congressman Denny Rehberg).

He Likes Cars:

And it is in more ways than one.  Sick…(more)

Bite this:

A woman was arrested for biting beef jerky…(more)

The Political Inbox:

Almost every week I share a few of the e-mails I receive from elected officials, candidates, political parties and groups.  Plus, almost every week I offer some commentary! 

-The Montana GOP sent several e-mails this week and the one with the subject “Tester Handed Out Stimulus Dollars To Tax Cheats” got my attention.

Too bad this issue has not gotten more attention.  It’s terrible how much money was wasted.

-Senator Patty Murray from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee sent an e-mail out with the subject “Huge News” in which she brags about “Last night, Democrat Kathy Hochul won the special election for a deep-red House seat in New York.”

Is the GOP take-over now ending?  I doubt it…

-The Montanans for Rehberg sent an e-mail with the subject “Rehberg and Rubio receive praise for common-sense legistlation” [sic] in which they are happy about an editorial in the Daily Inter Lake praising their bill.

It was good to see Montanans for Rehberg do something; now lets run spell check next time before we hit send…

-The Montana Democrats sent a press release with the subject, “ICYMI: Tester Lauded for Defending Middle Class on Minimum Wage Anniversary.”  They use a commentary from the AFL-CIO about minimum wage which commended Tester for his stand for minimum wage and condemned Denny Rehberg.

Maybe a good rebuttal to this would be, “If you want to make minimum wage, vote for Jon Tester!” 

-Someone named Barb Skelton from the Tester Campaign sent me an e-mail with the subject “Real Montana” in which she wrote, “Dear Jack, Since we launched Women for Tester last month, over 3,600 people have joined. If you’re one of them, thank you!”

Since receiving that e-mail, I am now wondering how many people named “Jack” are women…

Boom Goes the Dynamite:

Being one who has studied broadcast journalism and enjoys poking fun at some of the inexperienced reporters around the state, this video was just too good to pass up and not show my readers.

Watch the whole thing HERE.

Twitter:

Oh man…hundreds of people are following me on Twitter (@TheWesternWord) and you should be following me, too!   This is my weekly plug as I do not have a newspaper, television, or radio station to promote my website or twitter feed!

Don’t forget to stretch…and enjoy your weekend!