There’s some snow in the mountains.  The air is chilly and the leaves are starting to turn yellow, gold, and red.  Yes, fall has arrived in the Rocky Mountains.

Normally as the weather gets colder, the readership grows, but The Western Word has seen unprecedented growth in the number of readers over the summer of 2011.  In fact, August was a record month and then September readers shattered the August record.  Thank you.

For those of you stopping by for the first time, this Friday column called “Caught My Eye” is designed to help you kill some time and make it through another Friday – and let you hit the weekend with a smile on your face and armed with knowledge!  Caught My Eye has been published every Friday for 64 straight weeks!

Today I take a look at a poll regarding state and local governments, a settlement, some e-mails from my political inbox, Baucus and aliens, a bear and pizza, bras and magic, an anniversary and there’s a lot more! 

Confidence:

According to a new poll from Gallup, “Two-thirds of Americans have a great deal or fair amount of confidence in their local governments to handle local problems, and a solid majority feel the same way about their state government.”

I’d bet none of the folks participating in the poll visited the Montana Legislature…or attended an urban chicken meeting in Great Falls (Montana).

No Fun Allowed:

According to the Associated Press, “The chairman of a Massachusetts school board has resigned days after performing a magic trick at a televised meeting that made it appear as if he had removed a fellow board member’s bra.”

You just never know when a joke may fall flat…

$500,000 Settlement:

The local CBS station, KRTV, reported on Thursday night that “Susan Overfield will receive $500,000 from a settlement with the city of Great Falls, more than four years after being forcibly removed from a City Commission meeting.”

The city of Great Falls is not being run very well.  This is another black mark on it.

Political Inbox:

Last week I was hit with tons of e-mails asking for donations so the candidates and groups could spend it on their campaigns.  This week has been a little slower, but I managed to pick out a few e-mails that caught my eye…

-The Montana GOP will hold a Harvest Dinner in Lewistown on October 22.  They also wrote, “…it’s going to be an awesome event.”  Tickets for the event cost $55/$85 per couple.  Ouch…

Guess who is giving the keynote speech?  Go ahead, guess!  Nope, it’s not me.  It is going to be Denny Rehberg.  I would bring just a little too much laughter to the event…plus I have been working on this magic trick where I remove a bra…

-Senator Jon Tester is using his official senate e-mail account more as he approaches Election Day 2012.  I received two e-mails from him this week, one came with the subject “Billings and Bozeman — A busy weekend in Montana” and the other had the subject, “Hope and Opportunity in Indian Country.”

I wonder if there are any politicians out there who don’t blow their own horns every time they do their jobs.  Wow – visiting Billings and Bozeman…

-The Montana Democrats sent their weekly anti-Rehberg e-mail this time writing “What’s in Congressman Rehberg’s bill?”  Then they tell me what’s supposedly being cut.

Times are tough all over…I’ve cut a lot of things out of my life…

–Steve and Lisa Bullock sent an e-mail with the subject “You Did It” where they wrote, “Last week our campaign asked our grassroots supporters to raise $10,000 before an important fundraising deadline – and hundreds of Montanans responded, doubling our expectations.”

There are way too many Republicans running for anyone to stay with Democrat Bullock in the fundraising race.

Commercial Break (More “Caught My Eye” follows) 

I have to interrupt this column to bring you this important announcement!  Since I don’t have a newspaper, television or radio station, or taxpayer money to promote this website, I have to advertise here:  The Western Word is free to visit – no matter how many times you click on it.  Send this link: www.TheWesternWord.com to your friends and family and tell them stop by!  You can even subscribe to The Western Word for FREE!  Now back to Caught My Eye…

Not Their Values:

According to Gallup, “Americans’ once-prevailing view that government should do what it can to promote traditional values in society has weakened in the past decade. Today 48% hold that view, while nearly as many, 46%, say government should not favor any particular set of values.”

I don’t know what kind of values those elected to represent us have that I would want…

Max Baucus and Aliens:

In this video, Senator Max Baucus was asked by a Billings (Montana) fifth grader “Do you think aliens exist?” Baucus goes on to tell about his “close encounter” in eastern Montana.

Baucus’ filibuster in answering the question finally comes to an end after a few minutes and he answers, “There may be aliens.”

He did not say anything about Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell being an alien…

No Tip?

This could be a joke, “Did you hear about the bear that walked into a pizza joint…”

There have been a few bear sightings in Montana this year, but in Canada this bear “…walked into the establishment through the door and grabbed a beef and blue cheese pizza from the counter.”

Hmmm…beef and blue cheese pizza – no wonder there wasn’t a tip…

Happy Anniversary:

The Fox News Channel is celebrating their 15th anniversary today.  Congratulations!  It all started in 1996.

I watch Fox News.  I watch CNN.  I watch MSNBC.

Unemployment:

The jobless rate stayed at 9.1% for the third consecutive month in September.

That is not good.  If you have a job, cherish it…

Approval Rating:

With high unemployment rates, comes low approval numbers.  A new Gallup poll tells us that “President Barack Obama’s job approval rating averaged 41% in September, tied with August for the lowest monthly approval average of his administration.”

Obama can’t even get members of his own party to agree on how to put America back to work.  Lee Newspapers has the concerns from Max Baucus and Jon Tester HERE about the Obama jobs bill.

I bet the approval rating of The Western Word is much higher…

Rehberg Offers Supercommittee Solution:

Montana Congressman Denny Rehberg made headlines across the nation with his idea on how the Supercommittee can save $1.2 trillion.  In a press release, Rehberg says the committee can save money by canceling two new government programs created by the President’s health care bill.

Politico has the story HERE.

Rehberg received some attention for this move – look for the Democrats to tell us what programs would be cut if Rehberg’s plans were approved.  It’s a chess game. 

Harry and Mitch:

I’ve never thought that highly of Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid (Democrat), and Senate Minority leader, Mitch McConnell (Republican).  Both may be just a little smarter than a box of rocks.

Last night Reid changed some procedural rules in the Senate and McConnell cried foul. In short, McConnell wanted to vote on Obama’s jobs bill (McConnell knew it would not pass because people like Democrat Jon Tester who is up for reelection won’t support it) and Reid stopped him.

The Huffington Post has some very good round by round coverage HERE.

And it goes on and on and on…

Twitter:

Did you know that you can follow The Western Word on Twitter – @TheWesternWord.

Important Notice:

Since the weather is getting cooler, don’t forget to stretch…