Happy Columbus Day!  For those of you who get the day off, congratulations – and thanks for stopping by The Western Word!

In regards to Columbus, I personally believe it’s hard to “discover” a place that’s already inhabited – but at least we found out the world was not flat.  Last Columbus Day I mentioned that if people wanted a different look at Christopher Columbus, I’d suggest reading, “A People’s History of the United States” by Howard Zinn, especially Chapter 1, “Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress.”

Back to the column – every Monday we take a look at some of the political stories from the past weekend and put them in one place for all to read.  This week we take a look at Occupy Montana, the Associated Press and town hall meetings, a gubernatorial forum, Mormonism, the Rolling Stones, Chirping,  Values Voter and a lot more!

Occupy Wall Street:

The protests are continuing to grow – even into Montana!  Here’s Occupy Montana’s Facebook page!

KRTV (CBS) in Great Falls has this STORY posted on their website.

Town Hall Meetings

Associated Press (AP) reporter Matt Gouras wrote a story about Congressman Denny Rehberg holding fewer town hall meetings.  You can read the whole story HERE.

While I am not paid to promote or defend Rehberg (although I could do a fine job at it), the AP seems to show up every six years and insert silly stories into a campaign.  The fact is that during one of the most major debates this country has ever seen (health care), Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester held few, if any, public meetings.  The media, including whomever the AP had covering Montana at that time, gave them a pass.

Gubernatorial Forum

The Montana Farmers Union (MFU) will be holding a gubernatorial forum at 4:15 p.m. on the 14th of October (this Friday) in Great Falls at the Heritage Inn.

Should be crowded – especially if all the GOP candidates show up – gonna need a bigger stage.  Hopefully the MFU won’t have to feed them…

The Mormon Question

Politico reported on Friday afternoon that, “Texas evangelical leader Robert Jeffress, the Baptist megachurch pastor who introduced Rick Perry at the Values Voter Summit, said Friday afternoon he does not believe Mitt Romney is a Christian. Jeffress described Romney’s Mormon faith as a “cult,” and said evangelicals had only one real option in the 2012 primaries.”

The “Mormon” angle may be one that some use against Romney – and some people may vote against him because of his religious views. 

You Can’t Always Get What You Want…

That may be the song that several groups are singing after hearing what Congressman Denny Rehberg proposed as Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education last week.

Rehberg’s plan garnered attention from Lee Newspapers and you can read their story HERE.  Lee Newspapers reported that the Rehberg’s plan is “drawing fire from all sides” which to me means it is a pretty good plan out of the gate.  Of course, Rehberg’s budget plan has to make it through several steps before it becomes law – and it will change.

…And if you try sometime you find you get what you need…

Chirp Chirp

The Hill, a Washington D.C. publication, published a story saying that Senator Jon Tester is the “Senate Dems’ canary in the coal mine.”

They did not mention the size of the bird cage needed for Senator Tester…

The Hill reports, “Since August, President Obama has made “running against Congress” a centerpiece of his reelection strategy, as President Truman did in 1948. But the comparison between 1948 and 2012 contains one inconvenient fact: the Senate is still controlled by the President’s own party, and that happens to be the part that is giving him the greatest trouble.”

They added, “This week, Jon Tester, one of the three most vulnerable Democrats in the Senate, publicly opposed the Obama stimulus tax bill.”

I guess President Obama campaigning for Jon Tester in Montana next summer is probably not gonna happen…

10 Mile Rule

There are at least a couple of bills “to ban the Postal Service from closing any post office if there is not another post office within 10 miles” out there.

Senators Tester and Baucus are supporting a couple of them.

This debate is a classic, “Not In My Back Yard” (NIMBY) deal – even if it means more red ink for the Postal Service.  Most politicians are fighting this only to get the rural vote – they know that the Postal Service is in sad shape (like our country). 

Values Voter Summit

The Los Angeles Times has the story about Congressman Ron Paul winning the Values Voter presidential preference straw poll with 37% of the vote.  Herman Cain was second with 23% and Rick Santorum came in third with 16%.

Ron Paul is kind of like the “Walmart” candidate – nobody will say they shop there but the parking lot is always full.

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