7/31/2006
Trib Gets CI-97
by Matt Singer on 1:01 pm.
Speak of the devil. Earlier today, I was kvetching that not enough of a connection between CI-97 and economic development was being made. Well, the Great Falls Tribune nails it. I could quote it, but it’s so good you should just read the whole thing.
| Comments (6) | Permanent Link | Categories: Front Page |
Equality: The Train That Cannot Be Stopped
by V on 12:25 pm.
The Arkansas Supreme Court overturned a state regulation disallowing homosexuals from becoming foster parents. It also held that the sexual orientation of the parent has no negative effect on the child’s welfare. This is somewhat old-hat, since many other courts have already arrived at this same conclusion, but it is important to document the victories, be they great or small, in these trying times.
I spend a lot of time writing about this subject, and I realized that the tenor is rarely positive. It’s important to remember that the same-sex civil rights movement is moving a lot faster than some others have–partially because it only takes one gay friend to realize that homosexuality is no more a threat to normal life* than were condoms or interracial coupling, etc.. In this way, the same-sex struggle for a majority might be a matter of time alone (and the death of a confused generation), without the sort of deep-rooted racial purity overtones that similar struggles have had. To me, that is quite hopeful.
*Language of the realizer. I originally had “straight life,” but I found that lacking, considering that the folks who are anti-equality mostly think that homosexuality is a threat to all life.
| Comments (4) | Permanent Link | Categories: Front Page, glbt issues, law |
Two Quick Hits
by Matt Singer on 10:45 am.
- Republican Senator Chuck Hagel says Iraq is “an absolute replay of Vietnam.” Former Reagan Defense official Lawrence Korb says Hagel is “absolutely right.”
- I’m working down at a coffeeshop and sitting next to a table full of older conservatives. The discussion has ranged a lot. It included conversations about media bias, the leftwing education structure, and the laziness of state employees. But they also all think Burns is a moron and that he’s derailing. The conversation then turned to Tester. They didn’t have much to say — positive or negative — but one of them did comment, “I don’t even know what a Democrat principle is these days.” That’s the overwhelming problem confronting the Democratic problem these days. And a big part of that problem is that Democratic leaders spend a lot of time talking in meta. One of the things I really like about Jon is that he does not have this problem. Now, we just need to make sure that his campaign team and consultants don’t try to neuter the straight shooter.
| Comments (28) | Permanent Link | Categories: Front Page |
From Checklists to Worldview
by Matt Singer on 10:05 am.
Mark Schmitt writes that liberalism/progressivism is moving beyond a checklist and more into what could be called a philosophy.
This is an important transformation. It’s less about being right on five policies and more about an understanding, implicit or explicit, of the ideas in John Rawls’ A Theory of Justice, Karl Polanyi’s The Great Transformation, and the economic ideas of Keynes and Galbraith.
| Comments (1) | Permanent Link | Categories: Front Page |
Colorado Chambers of Commerce Sounding Alarm on Spending Cap Measures
by Matt Singer on 8:38 am.
The Bangor Daily News has a good write-up of how Colorado businessmen and women are warning their colleagues across the nation about the unintended economic consequences of government spending caps. Whatever the far right may think, businesses are ultimately pretty pragmatic. So while they support cutting taxes on themselves, business lobbies rarely lobby for actual lower expenditures. They know that investment in education and infrastructure are key to their success.
As one of my economic professors at The University of Montana put it, taxes tend to have a negative economic effect and spending has a positive economic effect. Figuring out how the two combine is a tough nut-to-crack, which is why few if any empirical studies have ever found that cutting spending and taxes actually creates long-term job growth.
I understand that the Michigan chamber is also raising concerns about the measure. I’ve heard that the Montana Chamber has concerns but is afraid to raise them publicly. That’s a brilliant strategy. Avoid a little short-term pain in exchange for basically permanently hobbling the economy.
Update — And let me just note that while it is good that the anti-spending cap forces in this state are suing to knock the measure off the ballot here for violating Montana’s single subject laws that it concerns me that we aren’t seeing more of this type of opposition from business groups. We’re down to the last hundred days of the election. In campaigns, most resources are virtually infinite — there are virtually always untapped strategic tools, supporters, money, etc. The limiting resource on everything is time. It’s not in our power to push back the election day. That means that every minute spent filing lawsuits is a minute not spent doing something else.
If we are to be victorious in this campaign, we need a lot more focus on actually convincing voters that this knee-jerk anti-government fixation is wrong-headed. They’re willing to listen. We just need to talk to ‘em first.
| Comments (1) | Permanent Link | Categories: Front Page, economic, policy, taxes |
7/29/2006
50 State Canvass
by Matt Singer on 12:00 pm.
The Dems are holding another big ol’ canvass event for anyone interested in knocking some doors.
| Comments (1) | Permanent Link | Categories: Events |
Globe Editorial Strikes the Kanye Chord
by V on 11:46 am.
This is a fair expose on the two-faced nature of Republican, particularly Bush administration, support for civil rights. Read it. Great one liner (with context):
He talked about his recent tour of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis with the prime minister of Japan. ‘If you haven’t been there, you ought to go,’ he said.
…
Bush tells the NAACP to go to the museum. His administration is a civil rights mausoleum.
| Comments (1) | Permanent Link | Categories: Front Page, ideologues, overreach, political, republicans |
7/28/2006
Monica Lindeen Fundraiser – Missoula
by Matt Singer on 5:30 pm.
Home of Kathy & Mark Kuipers
Friday – July 28, 2006
5:30 – 7:30pm
4770 Duncan Dr. (West Rattlesnake Area)
Recommended Minimum Donation: $30
| Comments (0) | Permanent Link | Categories: Events |
In His Defense…
by Matt Singer on 4:43 pm.
Conrad is not nearly as noxious as parts of his base. From the comments at Eric Coobs’ Crazyhouse:
told you the Tester teenyboppers would have to go find something else to chant. Now it’s Burns was mean to some lowly out-of-state government workers (“firefightersâ€), who often fly business class between fires, get fresh strawberries and cream on the morning flight while the taxpayers in back get nothing, and who board aircraft with knives, hammers, and axes and are never checked by TSA.Get ‘em Conrad. Make the lazy bastards take a Greyhound Bus.
Hat tip, Wulfgar.
| Comments (27) | Permanent Link | Categories: Front Page |
Conrad Burns Dug Himself a Hole
by Matt Singer on 3:07 pm.
Conrad Burns is in pretty serious trouble for attacking firefighters. Honestly, fires threaten homes, health, and livelihoods every summer in Montana. Firefighters, who risk their lives and work long days, are one of the most respected and well-liked professions in the country, much less in the dryland West (it’s called “dryland” for a reason).
But I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a public outcry occur so organically. Literally, the Gazette’s two online stories on the subject have hit over 400 comments in the past 36 hours or so (300 of those today). That’s simply an insane amount of commentary. 300 comments on this story today compares with 50 for the dog-beheader and 200 total for a controversial ballot issue down there. By the time these threads wind down, I’d be surprised if they don’t go over 1,000 comments.
And it’s not just Montanans — everyday wildland firefighters are pissed.
But this story isn’t over. For one, Burns went from calling these guys lazy to saying they are hardworking and that he has nothing but respect for them. That’s a load of bull from a supposed straight shooter. Paula Rosenthal, the state employee who self-censored her report for the media, has some explaining to do as to why she went to bat to cover a politician’s ass in a state with strict sunshine laws. And fire season is blowing up — August will remind the entire state what our moron Senator said to a group of hardworking firefighters from Georgia.
I’ve seen some chatter that Tester isn’t hitting hard enough on this. He doesn’t have to. This fire is burning on its own and Tester can’t effectively fan the flames any more than Burns can smother them at this point.
Update – Oh, damn. 120,000 votes in AOL’s poll on the AP story. It’s running 2-to-1 against forgiving Burns. Man, what a way to lose a Senate race.
| Comments (11) | Permanent Link | Categories: Conrad Burns, Front Page |
Burns’ Inconsistencies Show His True Qualities
by V on 2:03 pm.
Matt made this an update to the earlier post, but there is a serious problem with under-reporting blameworthy acts of powerful people. Conrad Burns has really messed up this time, and while a lot of us are not surprised, considering his long history of foot in mouth syndrome, I am surprised that this incident was so blatently undersold.
Conrad Burns seems to think that a simple apology will make up for the terrible way that he treated visitors to this state–not just visitors actually, workers trying hard to help out our citizens. The problem is that he doesn’t know what he is apologizing for. Conrad Burns is the kind of man who bursts into the airport and yells at tired firemen waiting for a ride home. He is the kind of man who calls them lazy and says they “haven’t been doing a God Damned thing.” Now he says that their service is appreciated. When it first came out, he sent in a lackey to pretend like he was saving the day. Now that we have the whole truth, we know that he wasn’t saving the day at all. In fact, he would probably be surprised to find out that it was day at all.
I am mad as hell, that we did not have the full story from the beginning. Now, I am not going to get preachy about bases you oughta make your decision in this election on, but I am going to say that you deserve to know the whole truth before you decide. If you want to ignore that Burns is an arrogant jerk who walks into a room expecting to blame people earning an honest days wage, you are free to. Rosenthal’s brand of incumbant protectionism is BS and we are seeing it all over the place. Incumbancy is not a life appointment. State employees, like Rosenthal, should stop treating incumbants with kid gloves. Conrad Burns is a big boy, who makes dumb mistakes that make Montana look as stupid as he is.
If you want to write to the local Augusta Free Press to apologize, you can find a link here to their letters page. I am done apologizing for Burns’ incompetence. I am voting for Jon Tester. I am volunteering for Jon Tester. I am donating to Jon Tester. I am asking you to do the same. Enough is enough.
Update: Taking a look at the actual report, I noticed that the hotshots were from Augusta, GA, and not VA as originally reported. I fixed the link to the local opinion section up above.
| Comments (21) | Permanent Link | Categories: '06, Conrad Burns, Front Page, censorship, corrupt, elections, montana, overreach, political, punitive, republicans |
Fracts
by Matt Singer on 11:49 am.
Real quick point. Chicago just passed a living wage and minimum health benefits rule for big box retail stores. There is a lot of crowing about this is unfair, to treat one class of businesses differently. Small businesses get treated differently all the time in this country, including by the government. Montana’s minimum wage law, for example, does not apply to certain very small businesses. Certain labor standards don’t. Insurance costs are different, etc., etc.
There are very good reasons for some form of discrimination. Size of company is not a patently offensive form of discrimination – like, say, racism. So, really, what’s the big deal?
| Comments (6) | Permanent Link | Categories: Front Page |
Senator Dickhead Wishes He’d Been More Measured While Insulting Firefighters
by Matt Singer on 9:03 am.
Wow. Nice catch and solid capture of the lede by Chuck Johnson:
U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns pointed across the Billings airport Sunday and accused a member of an elite firefighting team of not doing “a God damned thing’’ and charged that crew members just “sit around’’ on the job, the original version of a state report said.
Apparently, Burns predicted that these lazy firefighters were making “$10,000 to sit around.” Bzzzt, Senator. Unlike you, most of us can’t vote ourselves payraises. Luckily, a state employee corrected him:
Rosenthal wrote in both versions: “I offered to the senator that our firefighters make around $8-$12 per hour and time-and-a-half for overtime. He seemed a little surprised that it wasn’t higher.’’
Yeah, I’m actually a bit surprised, too. But it turns out that between the pork line items inserted into every bill in Congress, the massive tax cuts for the billionaires, two wars, grants for rich Michigan tribes, and those increases in Congressional pay, the federal government may not have a whole lot of money left over for those firefighters.
Laughably, Burns tried to characterize his criticism of the firefighters as being a criticism of the way the fire was handled:
“In retrospect, I wish I had chosen my words more carefully,” Burns said in a statement issued Thursday night. “My criticism of the way in which the fire was handled should not have been directed at those who were working hard to put it out.”
So, what were they, Senator — lazy or working hard? I’m confused. Did you phrase your apology this way because you didn’t think Lee would get its hands on the uncensored version of what you said?
Oops. What’s your explanation now?
Update – And honestly, why was this state employee censoring the report on the incident in the version given to the press? Is our Constitution’s public right-to-know clause now no longer applying to reports that make Senators look bad?
Update 2 – Who calls firefighters lazy? Honestly, who is this man? When I thought the story was simply that he said they should have listened to ranchers, I thought it was just the story of Conrad Burns being rude again — no real news. But calling firefighters, especially hot shots, lazy — that’s just insane. This man is seriously out-of-touch.
| Comments (18) | Permanent Link | Categories: Front Page, political, republicans |
7/27/2006
wHa?
by Matt Singer on 4:59 pm.
This has been one of my side projects for a while. It’s kicking into high gear. And I mean high gear. Details to come.
| Comments (11) | Permanent Link | Categories: Front Page |
Joe Balyeat: “We’re Too Po’ to Pay Our Own Way”
by Matt Singer on 2:30 pm.
Montana Senator Joe Balyeat, who is chair of Destroy Our Communities Montana and a promoter of Sink Our State, has this explanation for why it is funded so heavily by out-of-state interests (apparently, they’re no longer claiming to be funded by local money):
Sen. Joe Balyeat, chairman of Protect Our Homes Montana and a promoter of Stop OverSpending, says that because Montana is a low-income state and the iniative time frame is so short, money has to come from outside the state.“It doesn’t mean Montanans don’t support the issue,†he says.
HAHAHAHAHA!
“Sure, we’re bought-and-paid for lackeys of East Coast developers. But some Montanans still support the issues.”
Yeah, sure, whatever. You think Montanans lack money? They’ve managed to dump quite a bit into the coffers of the Senate candidates. They’re putting thousands into legislative races.
And hell, the anti-marriage amendment from a couple years ago qualified on virtually no money, because those people actually used volunteers. We qualified the tobacco tax measure under stricter rules for far less money. The problem that Balyeat has is 1) his incompetence and 2) the public really isn’t that gung ho for his measures.
None of which is to say our side has an easy way on these measures. They both sound real pretty ’til you get through makeup and realize you’re kissing a pig. Still, the public is clearly not engaged in a groundswell of enthusiasm for the initiatives supported by Joe “Pawn” Balyeat.
| Comments (10) | Permanent Link | Categories: Front Page |
GRRRRR
by Matt Singer on 11:47 am.
So my email has been busted for about a month. I finally found out it is because Bresnan decided to just make it impossible for their non-business users to use private, client-based email accounts.
Sweet.
| Comments (1) | Permanent Link | Categories: Front Page |
Tester T-Shirts
by Matt Singer on 10:05 am.
Jon Tester t-shirts, union-printed and American made.
Also, to the right, you’ll notice the Montana is for Badasses shirts. They are Montana-printed. Women’s shirts are American made.
| Comments (1) | Permanent Link | Categories: Front Page |
Why Does Burns Hate First Responders
by V on 8:53 am.
Wow.
Republican Sen. Conrad Burns chastised a group of firefighters over the weekend for doing a “poor job†of squelching a 92,000-acre blaze near Billings, a state report shows.
…
Burns approached the firefighters and told them they had “done a poor job†and “should have listened to the ranchers,†according to a report prepared by Paula Rosenthal, a Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation employee who was sent to the airport to speak with the senator.
…
The 92,000-acre timber, grass and sagebrush fire was contained on July 19 and the 368 people who came to fight it began dispersing a few days later.
…
Matt Mackowiak, a spokesman for the senator, said he didn’t think Burns met with any of the fire bosses who managed the firefighting response.Instead, he confronted firefighters waiting for their ride back home.
Apparently, having a free money card has made Burns completely forget how to treat people who are trying to save lives. I say again, wow.
| Comments (9) | Permanent Link | Categories: '06, Conrad Burns, Front Page, elections, montana, overreach, republicans |
Stupid Bus Drivers Don’t Realizes Tammany Burns Has Bought Them
by Matt Singer on 6:53 am.
Isn’t that basically the point of this letter to the editor from Dave Brown?
Honestly, reading this steady stream of horse puckey from the GOP, I’m beginning to believe that all Montanans really owe our jobs to Burns’ ability to move federal largesse into the state. The rest of his party seems to be claiming that any recent economic development stems from their tax cuts, but it seems Conrad argues that it all comes from increased spending.
The Republican Party is a soulless, bankrupt shell of its former self. It’s really time that it and its leaders spent a couple cycles in the wilderness finding themselves.
| Comments (8) | Permanent Link | Categories: Front Page |
7/26/2006
Howard Rich’s ALG Claims Credit for Montana Initiatives
by Matt Singer on 5:15 pm.
In a press release:
Yesterday, activists in Michigan turned in over half a million signatures, topping off what has been a tremendous response to ALG’s grassroots campaigns for property rights and spending reform. ALG is supporting the efforts of local groups in Arizona, California, Idaho, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Washington this year.[...]
“I’ve been active in politics for years,” said Howard Rich, chairman of Americans for Limited Government, “and I’ve volunteered with a lot of campaigns. This is one of the most tremendous responses I’ve ever seen. I’m pleased that we could help these local groups.”
Rich also established the Fund for Democracy, which provides seed money for initiative campaigns across the country. He is on the board of directors of the Cato Institute, and is a successful entrepreneur.
Seed money? Is that a fancy way of saying funds the whole thing and provides the signature gatherers as well. Nothing about this operation is grassroots. The money comes from New York. The signature gatherers are virtually all paid out-of-staters. And that’s the same story in state after state after state after state.
Americans for Limited Government is issuing press releases taking credit for Montanans in Action. Rich is on the record saying his organizations provided at least $200,000 to the land grab intitiative alone. Honestly, where is the press on this?
| Comments (5) | Permanent Link | Categories: '06, Front Page, ballot initiatives, elections |
