All aboard! Hahaha…

There are only 32 days until Election Day 2014. Here in Montana, ballots are being mailed to absentee voters on Monday!

If you are a first-time visitor, “Caught My Eye” is posted right here every Friday morning! This is when I take a look at some of the stories I did not have time to write about during the week. I often throw in a touch of sarcasm to make you smile – or to irritate you just a little – or maybe both.

Today I write about Zinke & Hill, the Montana Judicial Standards Commission, Voting & Ballots, Special Nuke Pay, birthdays, O.J., plus we have a winner who is making Montana proud!

Zinke & Hill:

I found the following on Republican U.S. House candidate Ryan Zinke’s Facebook page (Sept. 29, 2014) interesting:

…I am grateful for the support of former Congressman Rick Hill—he is not only a great leader, but a great statesman, and a great Montanan. I am proud to say that I have his support.

Ironically, this is the same Rick Hill, a Republican, who took to his Facebook page on April 28, 2014, trying to derail the Zinke campaign in the primary by writing things like:

“There are the obvious ethics questions surrounding his association with SOFA and it’s improper promotion of his candidacy. Even more concerning is his voting record.”

And, “Rather than honestly represent his record and views, Ryan is now campaigning as a ‘conservative.’ He simply can’t lay claim to a conservative record. Not even close.”

Plus, “So whether it comes to the second amendment, family values, fiscal responsibility, school choice, resource development and business climate, Ryan simply has not been there with conservative or mainstream Republicans.”

On June 4, Hill did post the following message: “The primary battles are over. It’s time to regroup, put away the battle scars, put aside differences, focus on the future and join together for a strong showing in November.”

Hill’s comments gave Zinke’s opponents plenty of ammo to use.

With friends like that who needs enemies…

Montana Judicial Standards Commission:

A big round of applause goes to Dan Cox for challenging the Montana Judicial Standards Commission rule about the confidentiality of complaints filed against Montana judges. Cox challenged the archaic rule in Federal court and won. Sadly, the ruling is only for his complaint. You can read the Associated Press story HERE.

Hopefully more people will challenge the secrecy around judicial complaints. The system needs to change. In my opinion, we have several terrible judges on the bench in Montana – there are probably a lot more if we were only privy to this information.

The judges who run for office as politicians deserve to be treated the same way as any politician. The good and the bad should be made public and let the citizens of Montana sort out fact from fiction.

Voting & Ballots:

This Monday (October 6) is when absentee ballots are mailed in Montana. According to the Secretary of State’s office, “Counties are set to mail more than 208,934 absentee ballots to voters on Monday, to about 31% of the state’s 668,054 registered voters.”

For more information about voting in Montana, go the Secretary of State’s elections page HERE. For other states, click HERE.

Special Nuke Pay:

The U.S. Air Force announced, “Assignment incentive pay and special duty assignment pay for select total force nuclear career fields became effective Oct. 1.” The pay is for “Select officers and enlisted members serving in eleven nuclear career fields and assignment areas will receive between $75 and $300 per month.”

This is a good thing. I worked in one of these nuclear career fields (I never lost a nuke). Working on and around nukes is not as glamorous as working in an aircraft career field, so this pay will be helpful in attracting and retaining people in these very important jobs.

Making Montana Proud:

This section is where I mention people or groups whose actions embarrass Montana in some way.

-From the Montana Standard: Matt Hawkins, age 51, is a Butte Pre-release Center inmate and he is “accused of stealing a street-legal street sweeper and driving it to Billings.”

I’ll bet the road between Butte and Billings is pretty clean…

Happy Birthdays:

Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac turns 65. Tommy Lee of Motley Crue is 52. Chubby Checker turns 73, and Gwen Stefani turns 45 today.

Remember?

On this date in 1995, a jury found O.J. Simpson innocent of murder in the 1994 slayings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.

One More Thing:

Take your mask off…it’s not Halloween yet…

 

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