by lizard
A PR shit-storm will now descend on UM President Royce Engstrom. I’m sure some are already thinking Wow, this asshole was just making demands that the Forrester’s ball change OR ELSE, and now it looks like he tipped off an alleged rapist so the kid could flee the country.
Read the whole article. It’s dumbfounding. Obviously pay raises for top positions, like president of a University, doesn’t guarantee a quality product.
Engstrom should go. Would that be the Board of Regents job?
What’s going to make this shit-storm particularly brutal for those involved is the fact I’m sure they had no other choice. The punk-ass who allegedly committed two sexual assaults is even more untouchable than a football player; he’s a Saudi fucking Arabian probably already soaking in the sun.
Which makes us, the Missoula community, safer, says Engstrom:
The campus is safer because of the man’s departure, Engstrom said at a news conference that he called to clarify the sequence of events involved in the incidents. He called the university’s actions “timely” and “appropriate.” Any impression “that we sat around for a week before we did anything” is untrue, he said.
Engstrom’s right, of course. They weren’t just sitting around. No, Gwen’s article makes it kind of sound like there was some aiding and abetting going on, but I ain’t a law guy, so what the hell do I know?
I know I was at a house party once, in the South Hills, and at this party I met a few Saudi exchange students. I got into an argument with one of ‘em on the back deck, a real arrogant prick. I found myself in the somewhat unique position of defending America, because this Saudi’s sense of entitlement to brazenly sample the freedoms he then turned around and arrogantly sneered at demanded a response, so I asked him if he would be able to blow coke (they were) and drunkenly grope American chicks (they did) back in his lovely country, or if Daddy just sent him to the states to get it out of his system before he got his cloaked servant. It came close to blows.
That was four, maybe five years ago. And now that UM’s rape-tolerant culture is exploding into the headlines—AGAIN—ugly little secrets are surfacing, like an administration exposed as being MORE considerate and responsive to an alleged rapist from (ahem) Saudi Arabia than they were to the two possibly victimized women. I hope everyone responsible for reporting these alleged crimes enjoyed that LOOOONNNGG weekend. Can’t get around to reporting possible sexual assaults until the following business week, right?
Unbelievable.
by Pete Talbot
Can sustainability reduce crime?
The Bakken oil boom is drawing some less-than-desirable elements to Eastern Montana and Western North Dakota. Of course, crime in boom towns is nothing new: think Henry Plummer, the vigilantes and Alder Gulch.
And apparently we haven’t evolved much from gold camps of the 1800s — environmentally or culturally. One can still see the mountains of tailings from the dredges that plied Alder Creek over a hundred years ago. Or visit the Virginia City Museum where Clubfoot George’s clubfoot, looking a bit like a standing rib roast, is on display (apparently he was dug up after being hanged by the vigilantes and his foot was removed for posterity).
And what have we learned, environmentally, since those days? Witness the Berkeley Pit, Colstrip, ASARCO, Basin, the Barker-Hughesville mining district … (and who really knows what all those chemicals pumped deep into the ground in the name of fracking will do to the water tables in the Bakken Play).
But it’s the cultural degradation that’s in the news these days: crime, infrastructure issues, housing shortages, Walmart parking lots filled to capacity with RVs, overcrowded schools and man camps. And, according to Dennis Portra, the mayor of the metropolis of Bainville, Mont., on the North Dakota border, “Korean prostitutes parking their RV in Bainville for a summer.”
Now I’m pretty sure there’s no way you can sustainably drill for oil or gas but there has to be a more sensible approach. A permit system that slows development comes to mind, more regulation of where, when and how. A greater pay-to-play system so that the impacts on schools and neighborhoods and highways and, well, everything is at least somewhat mitigated. Make sure that there is land, sacred land, that just isn’t touched. And slow the development way down so that locals get first crack at the jobs to reduce the influx of alleged murderers like these two or this guy.
I realize that we aren’t going to go cold turkey on our oil addiction but really, this cyclical boom and bust is absurd. How’s this helping to stabilize oil prices or getting us to look at alternatives to an ever dwindling supply of oil? What’s the Williston Basin going to look like when the boom plays out in 20 years? This is one bad economic model.
And now they’re sinking test wells further west: Choteau, Lewistown, on the lands of the Blackfeet Nation:
“This entire region of the Rockies holds untapped potential that can contribute much needed supplies to help meet U.S. demand,” says Marathon spokesman Paul Weeditz. The Rockies, apparently, were put here for oil, gas and mineral extraction to meet our never-ending needs.
We really need to get a handle on this, for the sake of a sustainable energy future, for our environment and for our way of life. It could even put a dent in our homicide rate.
by jhwygirl
Since seeing this article in the Missoulian I’ve been a little perplexed.
President Engstrom is threatening – quite clearly now – to put an end to some annual forester’s ball that’s been around since I-don’t-know-how-long because it (apparently) gets too rowdy.
Drunken students. The shock.
The thing is so rowdy that I’ve never even known when the darn thing’s been held – and apparently the annual soiree just occurred a few weeks ago.
But answer me this: The Griz games are one big drunken booze carnival before hand, only recently cut back to 5 hours of tailgating on campus property, right? I mean, we’re not talking clandestine alcoholic beverages sipped out of paper cups – we’re talking barrels of beer and all that you’d expect of Montana and football and a bunch of crazed Montana football fans from across the state.
But Engstrom’s got his britches in a skritches over a few dozens forestry students having an annual party to raise some money for scholarships?
When we’ve got university sanctioned public drinking on public property?
Football OK, forestry scholarship fundraising once a year, bad?
Yeah – UM has priorities.
Clearly.
by jhwygirl
I’m more disgusted than shocked – it’s no surprise, really, that a court that would side with the sale of our elections to the highest willing buyer determined yesterday that our public waterways can be owned by private corporations, without even payment to use the land.
I won’t pretend to have studiously read the court’s opinon, issued yesterday. I have read through it quickly though, and prior I had read both PPL and the state’s briefs, along with many of the other documents.
My favorite read of the PPL v Montana case was one that I think anyone would enjoy, regardless of their opinion on the case or the court’s recent ruling. Historian Stephanie Ambrose-Tubbs’ amicus brief submitted in support of the state’s position is rich with descriptive language that brings to life the color and visual of early Montana – from Lewis & Clark’s first travels on the Missouri to the steamboat travel days, outfitting and present day fishing and floating.
My favorite television reporter Marnee Banks (Helena’s CBS news) did this reporting on the hearing just before the case was heard by SCOTUS in December.
In the end, the court did not agree with the state that a the PPL dam – one in particular which sits on a series of waterfalls on the Missouri River up near Great Falls (there are other PPL dams involved also) – was on a navigable river.
Montana’s claim to rivers goes back to the law of the Magna Carta – under the principle that the waterways are a primary source of commerce, so important to the state that it is within their interest to control. Here in Montana, rivers have been used to move logs. Here in Missoula people might be interested to know that Ninemile Creek, Lolo Creek and the Rattlesnake were all used to “float” logs. That’s in addition to what most would expect – the Clark’s Fork, the Blackfoot and the Clearwater.
“Lolo?” I said when I was first told that by an old logger smokejumper in problembear’s favorite bar over there in Bonner. Apparently the old guys would cut those logs and stack them through the winter in low lands that would then be flooded by damming the creek to then “float” them down to the mills. Today you can still see the old logs sprouting up like mushrooms on the Blackfoot, now that the dam is gone at Milltown.
Some old old maps of Missoula show a log mill a the bottom of the Rattlesnake, near its confluence with the Clark’s Fork.
In some drainages, you can still see the remains of the log structures used to hold the slats that dammed the creeks.
The courts, though, apparently didn’t find logging a compelling enough of a commerce interest for the state to protect.
Meh. Whatever. Sometime soon when the set the date, I’m heading to DC to occupy the steps of SCOTUS. They still haven’t denied the request to hear American Tradition Partnership v Montana, which challenges Montana’s ban on corporate money in elections – and two court justices are hinting that they want to hear the case – so when they do, I plan to be in DC to at least be there for what I’m sure will be well-directed chaos.
What does SCOTUS’ recent ruling mean for our waterways? Apparently if you can’t float a boat, it’s up for sale to the highest bidder.
That, my friends, is sad – no matter how you slice it.
by lizard
It should be noted that the big banks have gotten away with systemic fraud.
9 million homes have been lost to foreclosure since 2007, and there will be another 9 million before we’re done. Homeowners have lost $8 trillion in home equity (in the last 4 years) and 11 million people are currently underwater on their mortgages. All of this is unprecedented. All of this is the result of fraud.
Ok, now back to snarky commentary about the GOP (scary) clown show.
by lizard
When it comes to state politics in Montana, I’m probably the least informed contributor at 4&20. Twelve years living in this weird bubble called Missoula, with only three years actually paying attention to local politics, doesn’t gain me much unique insight.
BUT, as an outsider, without any investment of time or money in any active campaigns, I can speak as a somewhat average consumer of our state democracy, examining a bit more objectively the packages being sold.
Like Pam Bucy. Apparently the bow on her gift-wrapping is her status as Helena Insider. I infer this from the duplicitous Cowgirl(s) site (no link, you know where to find “her”) and the flak-contagion Pogie received for this post at Intelligent Discontent.
Based on that, and reading that Pam’s been keen on killing Medicinal Marijuana, my vote is more than likely going for Jesse Laslovich.
Denny’s seat I’m having a little more trouble with. Dave Strohmaier’s “social host ordinance” was a waste of time, IMO, and it doesn’t seem like he’s got wider traction outside the bubble, so I’m leaning toward Franke Wilmer, but with reservations.
Franke is touted as informed when it comes to foreign policy. Part of her pedigree in the bio on her website regarding her scholarly work reads:
Franke Wilmer came to Bozeman in 1991 to accept a position on the faculty of Montana State University. Her research has focused on war, ethnic conflict, and indigenous peoples’ self determination. Franke has written three books, numerous articles and been an invited guest lecturer in the US and abroad. She conducted field research in former Yugoslavia during the war and over five years following the Dayton Peace Accords.
After reading the bio, I found the ISSUES button and read the two paragraphs dedicated to foreign policy:
In an age where terrorist attacks pose the greatest threat to national security, the most effective tools are intelligence with a global reach and well-trained and well-equipped U.S. military Special Forces, not 80,000 troops on the ground in two countries. The greatest threat we face today comes from unconventional enemies that will not be defeated by conventional military tactics.
I have visited more than 50 countries to do research or as an invited speaker and am a professor of international relations. I have spent significant time in an active war zone. I know the great personal costs of war to civilians and military personnel. When we are asked to send our young men and women as well as our tax dollars overseas for a military intervention, we need someone in Congress who will ask the right questions and show restraint in supporting those requests.
I think there’s some decent messaging here, but the lead in framing of Wilmer’s stance features the kind of red meat I reflexively gag on. Getting beyond the arguable claim that terrorist attacks pose the GREATEST threat to national security, the following endorsement of the still-evolving Obama doctrine ( light footprint NATO-style regime change and JSOC assassinations) is going to make it difficult for Franke Wilmer to be the kind of congressperson she claims to want to be, someone who will ask the right questions.
One of many “right questions” to be asking: how’s Libya doing? Not so good.
“While the Canadian government celebrated Gadhafi’s overthrow, the countries in the region were feeling the effects.
The Libyan strongman not only had provided aid for many African nations, but employment for their citizens. His demise set into motion a mass exodus of workers back to their original countries.
That, in turn, created a domino effect as those nations struggled to deal with hundreds of thousands of traumatized and impoverished people, according to a recently released UN report for the Security Council.
Crime and drug and human smuggling have spiked in the region and the return of more than one million people to their homelands has worsened an “already challenging, humanitarian, development and security situation,” the report noted.
But Gadhafi’s overthrow did breathe new life into one organization — al-Qaida.
As Gadhafi’s forces retreated from NATO’s relentless air attacks, theyabandoned bases and ammunition depots holding thousands of weapons, including surface-to-air missiles. In the chaos that engulfed Libya, the sites were quickly pilfered, either by rebels or black marketeers.
African nations were the first to sound the warning. In late March, just weeks into the conflict, Chad’s president, Idriss Deby Itno, told journalists that al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM as it is known, had obtained missiles and small arms from abandoned Libyan stockpiles. “This is very serious,” he said. “AQIM is becoming a genuine army, the best equipped in the region.”
Canada was slow to recognize the problem. In April, Canadian Forces spokesman Brig.-Gen. Richard Blanchette said the military didn’t have any information about missing armaments or missiles.
But a month later, Algerian intelligence also was warning that looted Libyan weapons were in the hands of AQIM.
“The region has turned into a powder keg,” Mohamed Bazoum, Niger’s foreign minister, later would tell delegates to an anti-terrorism conference. “Things have changed and degraded since the Libya crisis and the region is on a war path. With stolen weapons circulating, al-Qaida’s total impact is growing.”
There are serious consequences for how the US&Co bumble-fuck around in the Mid-East and Africa. I hope candidate Franke Wilmer is willing to consider the potential blowback of Obama’s preference to use low-casualty humanitarian/terrorist-killing bombing of a half dozen countries to get at those “unconventional enemies”.
by lizard
Here’s a quick hit for your Sunday enjoyment. The following performance is from Guante, a two-time national poetry slam champ who blasts, in ten responses, the phrase MAN UP! Clicking his name will take you to his site, where you can see more, including a free music sampler.
by jhwygirl
But shhhh…no one’s supposed to know. He has a plan.
Out on the far right of the state (can’t get any further west Senate District 7) Greg Hinkle – a favorite around these parts for years – has decided that he’s not going to run for a second term.
Even though Hinkle won by about 1000 votes over Democrat Paul Clark in 2008 (5555 to 4581), incumbents have an advantage and Hinkle knows that. So no one’s supposed to know that Greg doesn’t plan to file.
Why? The Tea Party (of which Hinkle is part of) has two good reasons for this: One is that Mark French is planning a run for that seat, and Hinkle wants to see him run unopposed.
French, if you recall, made a run for the chair of the Montana GOP last year after losing his congressional run (25K to Denny’s 96K) in the GOP primary in 2010. After that miserable loss, he then a run for the GOP chairmanship in 2011.
He failed there, too, to Missoula’s most refined and civilized Will Deschamps.
The second reason no one’s supposed to know that Hinkle isn’t going to file for SD7? Back in 2010, the Sanders County GOP had a bit of a split in their ranks, things having gone haywire after the Tea Party tried to take over. The details are foggy to me right now (why oh why didn’t I write about it then???) but the county group split, then later regrouped with the Tea Party triumphant.
In between, Judy Stang, a Republican and former county commissioner in Mineral County then began a write-in campaign for SD7, but eventually withdrew due to Montana GOP harassment, throwing her support to Democrat Paul Clark.
Yeah – things got a little crazy. There are still a lot of pissed of Republicans up there, and the incidents of 2010 have yet to dissolve from the memory for many.
Republicans, though – older ones, especially – still abide by that ‘speak no evil’ rule – which is where Hinkle’s incumbency shines. He knows no one is going to challenge him and that means something.
And so will his endorsement.
So when Hinkle doesn’t file, but Mark French does just a few days before the filing deadline, Hinkle is planning on endorsing Mark French.
Delightful plan, huh?
Incidentally – Hinkle made nationwide news last year with his spears-for-hunting bill, which died in standing committee.
It might sound crazy to some – and he tried to legitimize it as taking up a cause of the poor persecuted spear hunters of Montana thing – but it is symbolic of the Tea Party: Wanting to take Montana back to the day of the Cro-magnon man.
~~~~~
Have I dastardly foiled the Hinkle/French/Tea Party plans for Senate District 7? Who knows. But will Republicans and Democrats and Fake Republicans and Fake Democrats be considering a run for that seat now?
If they read this, they just may. Especially the ones that are calling themselves the “real Republicans” after this last eminent domain-enabling, more-government-intrusion legislative session.
by lizard
Like many Americans, I’ve been absolutely disgusted watching how “conservative” opportunism (read: desperation) has revived the culture war to try and drown out the somewhat encouraging economic trend lines and subsequent bump in Obama’s poll numbers.
But, like Wisconsin union bashing, Republicans have once again overreached, figuratively shooting themselves in the foot by apparently forgetting this important little fact: women vote. Political idiocy? to quote the Queen of political opportunism: youbetchya!
This weekend’s poetry series features a poem from Minnie Bruce Pratt. The poem is from a collection of poetry, titled Crimes Against Nature (Firebrand Books, 1990), and was the Lamont Poetry selection for the previous year (Note: the form of the poem is slightly altered from the original). Enjoy! Continue Reading »
by lizard
This post is a tribute to one of my favorite visual artists, Jess. I am drawn especially to his collage art, which you can see examples of here. I recommend looking at his bio—Jess went from working on Plutonium for the Manhattan Project to focusing on art and settling down to live a long, happy life with one of my favorite poets, Robert Duncan.
Click for more images from my collage tribute Continue Reading »
by lizard
The title of the post comes from statements made by Hillary Clinton, referencing the short-sighted foreign policy of the US arming the Mujahideen against Russia in Afghanistan. It’s a refreshingly candid statement.
But that was over two years ago, plenty of time to conveniently forget how an expedient ends-justify-the-means approach to fighting the Evil Empire (Russia) blew back in our collective faces (9/11).
Is it impossible for this country to learn from it’s blunders abroad?
Apparently so. And as proof, check this out: Obama’s administration is trying to achieve the same goal as Al Qaeda. Let me say that again. Obama and the TERRORISTS WHO ATTACKED AMERICA want the same thing: the destruction of the Syrian Regime.
This point became crystal clear when that new head terrorist guy who took the place of America’s frenemy, Bin Laden, recently called for jihad in Syria.
Gee, how awkward. Too bad Obama has already demanded Assad step down, and declared that America marches in lockstep with Israel. So no diplomatic poker playing here. Instead, US foreign policy seeks to again exploit the R2P for another imposed regime change.
Why? Could the answer be as simple and stupidly short-sighted as Iran?
Because if it wasn’t for aligning with Iran, it seems like Bashar al Assad is totally the kind of secular dictator that America, under different circumstances, could tolerate. To prove I’m not totally nuts in making that assertion, I offer this link showing how Vogue magazine once fawned over his wife, Asma al Assad, then later tried to scrub itself clean.
Getting back to that lockstep with Israel thing, it makes sense the Obama administration has the same goal as the evil terrorists who attacked us, because Israel is all too eager to work with terrorists as well:
Israel is working with an Iranian terror group to kill Iran’s nuclear scientists, U.S. officials have told NBC News. They say Israel is financing, training, and arming Iranian dissidents known as the People’s Mujahedin of Iran, a group designated as terrorists by the U.S. since the 1970s, when members allegedly killed U.S. service members. They later broke with the Iranian mullahs. Five nuclear scientists have been killed since 2007, often by a motorcycle rider attaching a magnetic bomb to the scientist’s car. U.S. officials say the Obama administration is aware of the assassinations.
Diana Johnstone’s featured piece at Counterpunch is very much worth reading. Here is a snip:
And who are these rebels? We simply do not know. Someone who may know better than we do is Osama bin Laden’s successor as head of al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who is seen on a video urging Muslims in Turkey and neighboring Arab states to back the Syrian rebels.
With uncontrolled armed groups fighting for control, the insistent Western demand that “Assad must step down” is not really even a call for “regime change”. It is a call for regime self-destruction.
As in Libya, the country would de facto be turned over to rival armed groups, with those groups that are being armed covertly by NATO via Turkey and Qatar having an advantage in hardware. However, the likely result would be a multi-sided civil war much more horrific than the chaos in Libya, thanks to the country’s multiple religious differences. But for the West, however chaotic, regime self-destruction would have the immediate advantage of depriving Iran of its potential ally on the eve of an Israeli attack. With both Iraq and Syria neutralized by internal religious conflict, the strangulation of Iran would be that much easier – or so the Western strategists obviously assume.
To approximate what’s happening globally: shit’s getting really fucked up, and there’s an inevitability being actively constructed toward war with Iran.
*
Domestically, the big banks got the handjob of justice with their foreclosure settlement. Good for them. Help piddle down a few billion in principal for a crash that wiped out trillions.
The domestic opposition, OWS, and its subsidiary occupations, are caught in a myriad of difficulties. The big flare up came from Chris Hedges, stirring it up with his piece titledBlack Block: The Cancer in Occupy.
A great response came from this piece, Self-Critical Reflections from the Santa Rita Jail.
Another great response came from this open letter to Chris Hedges.
And then there’s the latest from Hedges, where he says this:
How do we fight back? We do not have the tools or the wealth of the state. We cannot beat it at its own game. We cannot ferret out infiltrators. The legal system is almost always on the state’s side. If we attempt to replicate the elaborate security apparatus of our oppressors, even on a small scale, we will unleash widespread paranoia and fracture the movement. If we retreat into anonymity, hiding behind masks, then we provide an opening for agents provocateurs who deny their identities while disrupting the movement. If we fight pitched battles in the streets we give authorities an excuse to fire their weapons.
All we have, as Vaclav Havel writes, is our own powerlessness. And that powerlessness is our strength. The survival of the movement depends on embracing this powerlessness. It depends on two of our most important assets—utter and complete transparency and a rigid adherence to nonviolence, including respect for private property. This permits us, as Havel puts it in his 1978 essay “The Power of the Powerless,” to live in truth. And by living in truth we expose a corrupt corporate state that perpetrates lies and lives in deceit.
This conversation happening about how to resist is absolutely critical right now, because we’re not Greece. Not yet.
But Greece is the future if the methods of squeeze are adopted. And it’s not austerity hawks circling above us, but vultures.
by lizard
This weekend’s love poem comes from a collection by Sharon Olds, titled The Wellspring (Knopf, 1995).
*
TRUE LOVE
In the middle of the night, when we get up
after making love, we look at each other in
complete friendship, we know so fully
what the other has been doing. Bound to each other
like mountaineers coming down from a mountain,
bound with the tie of the delivery-room,
we wander down the hall to the bathroom, I can
hardly walk, I wobble through the granular
shadowless air, I know where you are
with my eyes closed, we are bound to each other
with huge invisible threads, our sexes
muted, exhausted, crushed, the whole
body a sex—surely this
is the most blessed time of my life,
our children asleep in their beds, each fate
like a vein of abiding mineral
not discovered yet. I sit
on the toilet in the night, you are somewhere in the room,
I open the window and snow has fallen in a
steep drift, against the pane, I
look up, into it,
a wall of cold crystals, silent
and glistening, I quietly call to you
and you come and hold my hand and I say
I cannot see beyond it. I cannot see beyond it.
—Sharon Olds
by Pete Talbot
Abortion, birth control, women’s health care and religious freedom have all been in the news lately, often in the same story.
As a man, I’m not even sure I get to comment on this but since knotheaded dudes write letters to the editor all the time decrying a woman’s right to choose and a couple of Montana Catholic Bishops, neither whom are women, have made pronouncements, here goes.
Let’s start with Congressman Rehberg’s response to the Obama administration’s rule that birth control should be provided in insurance plans for Catholic schools and hospitals:
“This order is government intrusion into the private lives of Americans under the guise of health care reform and infringes on the religious liberty of women and men of faith in direct opposition to the religious freedom enshrined in the First Amendment of the Constitution,” says Rehberg.
So, some non-Catholic woman working in St. Patrick Hospital’s cafeteria will not have access to affordable birth control because of some archaic religious belief. Talk about infringing on the “religious liberty of women” as “enshrined in the First Amendment of the Constitution,” right Denny?
To the uber-Catholic women who happen to work at St. Pats and are opposed to birth control: just don’t use it (you can always use the rhythm method. That works, sometimes).
Closer to home, the Ravalli County Commissioners, by a 3-2 vote, are accepting Title X family planning funding. This would seem like a no-brainer — around $40K for birth control, annual exams, pregnancy and pap tests, testing for sexually transmitted diseases, nutrition education and counseling, on a sliding scale.
But of course these commissioners have issues that deal with a lack of parental notification for minors. They’re willing to sacrifice low-cost women’s health programs for their narrow ideology.
Granted, I’d want my kids to talk to me about their sexual concerns. I’d rather they have access to an STD or pregnancy test, birth control, or sexual education and counseling, if they choose not to confide in me .
Again, I’m always amazed by the less-government intrusion crowd dictating their moral imperatives to the rest of us, via government programs. The overused but accurate “hypocrite” comes to mind.
All this news comes on the heels of the Susan G. Komen controversy. If you believe that attacks by the right on women’s health care issues aren’t still in play, often under the misnomer of “religious freedom,” you’d be wrong.
by jhwygirl
If you aren’t reading James Conner’s Flathead Memo you are missing a whole lot of balanced political honest-to-goodness reporting and opinion on Montana politics.
James has been knocking it out this week (indications he has acquiesced to a caffeine addiction?), but most notably he’s pointed out – while Denny Rehberg is under reporting lobbyist cash – so is another candidate. A Democrat.
Diane Smith, a Kalispell resident seeking the Democratic nomination for Montana’s lone House of Representative seat – is also, too, under reporting lobbyist cash dollars.
Smith – ironically enough – is using the same tactic (failing to fill in the occupations on donors) – as our current House of Representative Denny Rehberg.
James point out that these things will happen, and social niceties and just plain old logistics often bring about situations where donations come in where that disclosure information isn’t always collected, “… but all campaigns have a legal and moral obligation to exercise due diligence. Cards should be followed by telephone calls.”
Conner, of course, is correct.
It’s excusable to miss one or two or even a few – but the extraordinary number of “information not provided” is not only a legal and moral obligation shirked, it’s laziness and failure to organize.
If Smith can’t run a primary campaign, why would any elector want her in Washington with those kinds of account skills and staff oversight?
(And that’s aside from Smith’s other issues, including the “Is she really a Democrat?” issue.)
by lizard
LAPD deputy chief, Stephen Downing, has a question for president Obama. As a member of LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition), officer Downing asks the following YouTube question:
Good question. Meanwhile, the war on drugs chugs along.
Like wherever there’s a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area established.
Missoula’s PD participates in this wonderful program, and if you want to fill out some info about drug dealers, go to the city website and fill out a report.
And thanks to a City Council vote tonight, the city’s participation (via a lease) with HIDTA will only get stronger. Kudos to Wiener, Wolken, Taft, and Jaffe for voting NO. Boo on Copple for voting yes. And does anyone know why Hertz abstained?
Ultimately it doesn’t matter. When it comes to the WAR ON DRUGS!!!, the Feds call the tune, and local officials dance accordingly. Sure, it’s nice to know more and more sane members of law enforcement are seeing the absolute failure of this impossible-to-win war, but when it comes to the Feds, sanity does not appear to be contagious.
**UPDATE: Adam Hertz abstained because of his matrimonial ties to the Lambros empire, and they are the ones facilitating the lease.
by lizard
A resolution to address the violence in Syria has failed, vetoed by Russia and China. My twitter feed is buzzing with outrage. Susan Rice and Hillary Clinton are buzzing with outrage. Russia and China are now complicit in whatever violence follows, they say.
And without any sense of irony, Susan Rice called Russia’s opposition to the resolution a “cheap ruse by those who would rather sell arms to the Syrian regime than stand with the Syrian people.” (ahem, Bahrain?!)
All week, there has been wrangling over the language of the resolution. This is a direct consequence of the US and its western allies exploiting the UN resolution to establish a no-fly zone in Libya for the real motive of imposing regime change. This from the link:
The resolution referred to “targeted measures” – instead of sanctions – if the clampdown in Syria continued.
But Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said that draft was based on “the philosophy of confrontation”.
He said the threat of an ultimatum of sanctions against the Syrian authorities was “unacceptable” and that the approach went “against the principle of a peaceful settlement of a crisis on the basis of a full Syrian national dialogue”.
He repeated Moscow’s concerns that a resolution could lead to a Libyan-style foreign military intervention in Syria and said pressure should also be put on the Syrian opposition movement to refrain from violence and disassociate itself from “extremists”.
But Mr Churkin added that Moscow would like the Syrian regime to be “quicker with implementing the promised changes”.
China’s UN ambassador Li Baodong said that Beijing opposed the idea of “interference in (Syria’s) internal affairs.”
He added that “sanction or threat of sanction does not help resolve the question of Syria” but “may further complicate the situation”.
Do Russia and China give a shit about dead Syrians? Of course not. But neither does the US. This is geopolitics, and the US is getting its my-way-or-the-highway attitude rebuffed because of past deceits.
It’s also incredibly difficult to determine what’s actually happening on the ground in Syria. Initial reports of 200 dead from last night’s attack are already being revised.
And the opposition to the Assad regime is NOT comprised of relatively non-violent civilians occupying some square. It’s an armed insurrection comprised of military defectors, who call themselves the Free Syria Army. This piece looks at how, in recent months, the Free Syria Army have turned to guerilla tactics against the regular army.
After more than ten months of a deadly crackdown on anti-government protests in Syria, members of the Free Syrian Army – out-armed and out-numbered by Syrian military forces – are now engaging in a classic military manoeuvre by drawing their enemy into urban areas they know well. In neighbourhoods where the population is on their side, fighting in the streets works to their advantage, as they can easily hide inside homes.
Yeah, civilians are going to be getting killed in Syria, just like they’re getting killed across the Middle East. Sometimes, when it serves US interests, those deaths get amplified, and sometimes they get conveniently omitted.
10 years ago Syria was declared to be part of the Axis of Evil by the Bush regime. That hasn’t changed.
And here’s something else that hasn’t changed: Geopolitics is a deadly game played by the leaders of Nations, and civilians are just pawns. In death, civilian body counts can be used as leverage to pressure certain outcomes. That’s what I think is happening here with this UN posturing, and that is what I find to be truly disgusting.
by jhwygirl
As always – please consider this an open thread.
Kevin Hamm has a new project: PoliticktickBOOM. It’s a podcast on politics. I’m looking forward to an issued-based audioblogpodcast for here in Montana. Hamm (if his blog stuff is any indicator) will be doing it right.
Crazy amount of money pouring/poured from Jackson Hole Wyoming residents into GOP pacs for Santorum and Huntsman. This story from the Jackson Hole News & Guide also illustrates the absolute stripping of any election funding limits that result from PAC’s. Sickening.
Reminds me that I probably should go poking around looking at where Montana’s money is coming and going….
From two of the best this week, George Ochenski over at the Missoula Independent points out the similarities in Obama’s “Blueprint for an America Built to Last,” to nearly every conservative’s favorite, President Ronald Reagan. That ‘built to last thing’ is described by the White House as “President Obama’s Blueprint to Make The Most of America’s Energy Resources.”
Supermontanareporter John S. Adams, of the Great Falls Tribune, was back from furnication this week with the real scoop on who Governor Schweitzer has in mind for that (what I’m thinking now is a) ridiculous office of the Commissioner of the Office of Political Practices.
First there were 16, then there were 4…And somewhere in between there a secret email about a secret Republican.
I don’t know why this is kicking in here, but did anyone notice the <a href = "http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/missoula-man-accused-of-setting-former-lover-s-car-on/article_1a7252a6-4dd1-11e1-937f-0019bb2963f4.html"Psycho boyfriend burns lovers car" story? At least that's what the headline should have read. The "Man burns former lover's car" has a bit of a bias, if you asked me. Lover? Really?
Seriously..anyone notice that?
Montana’s beloved Rep. Denny Rehberg was out with a gaff this week – but what do you expect from a mulit-millionaire subdivision farmer? Don Pogreba over at Intelligent Discontent kicks up that story which has a lot of people talking.
Speaking of….James Conner, of the Flathead Memo scores a “10″ with his piece this week on Whitefish’s Big Mountain’s Jesus. Perfect weave of words on the absurdity of truth. Don’t miss it.
Jack over at The Western Word gave his take on the political scene here in Montana this week. (Hint? “Money Money Money”)
…And that’s about all I got…Happy weekend everyone!
by lizard
I’m going to feature poems this month about the mess of human relationships. I hesitate to use the term “love poems” because love may not always be present, even if the word “love” is used, especially with this weekend’s selection.
The poem below the fold comes from Judy Blunt, creative writing director at that tree hugger school here in Missoula. I may consider the administrative leadership at UM to be a bunch of tone-deaf idiots prioritizing the promotion of burning bio-mass over investigating alleged rapes, but I do respect the creative writing program that continues to draw very talented professors and adjuncts.
Judy Blunt’s star really shot up after her collection of personal essays, Breaking Clean, was published by Knopf in 2002. But though Judy is now more well known for her non-fiction, she proves to be a versatile writer very capable of writing great poems.
The poem I’ve selected comes from a book titled Not Quite Stone, released two decades ago, in 1992, when Judy won the Merriam-Frontier Award. As a dogged hunter of poetry books, I was lucky to stumble across this signed copy (1 of 400 published).
It’s a poem that, two decades later, is still terribly applicable. Read it and you’ll know what I’m talking about. Continue Reading »
by jhwygirl
By now most of you have heard of the Susan G. Kolman for the Cure Foundation hullaboo over them having pulled funding from Planned Parenthood for mammogram funding. Because Planned Parenthood is under investigation by Congress.
Because, you know, women’s health is an issue for a bunch of old white men in DC to decide.
Statistically, most of you that read this blog are men. I don’t know if the severity of this is something that you all understand. Planned Parenthood has been under attack for decades now because a very very tiny portion of the many services it provides to women includes abortion. The House has voted to eliminate it’s funding at least twice last year with all the budget battles.
This attack on Planned Parenthood represents an attack on women’s health issues and free choice.
The bulk of what Planned Parenthood does is regular old women’s doctor stuff – and we’ve got lots of parts that need regular maintenance and inspection. That preventative health care is provided to women of all incomes, and in areas where access to healthcare is limited. While they provide birth control pills, they also provide obstetric care.
I was outraged when I heard this late Tuesday – that’s because Twitter is light years ahead of everything, including print media. I was more outraged to find the GOP agenda directly imprinted on the more by Susan G. Kolman.
Meg Lanker, of Cognitive Dissonance was on this story like the winds that batter I-80 outside of Laramie, Wyoming from where she writes. You must follow her on twitter. Immediately she pointed out that Susan G. Kolman’s new VP of Public Policy, Karen Handel, vowed to defund Planned Parenthood when she ran for governor of Georgia. Ms. Lanker also provides Ms. Handel’s mailing and email address – just in case you wanted your thank you note from Planned Parenthood sent her way.
Shannyn Moore, another favorite blogger of mine going back to the 2008 election (she provides investigative political reporting and commentary from The Mudflats), tweeted this very early (Montana time) Wednesday morning:
@shannynmoore Shannyn Moore
Planned Parenthood found my lump on a Tuesday and I was in surgery on Friday. I was 33. #ThanksPP #SuckItKomen
From there, 1000′s of women spoke up for what Planned Parenthood has done for them. I didn’t read of one abortion. We’re talking life-saving breast and cervical cancer screenings and treatments. Lives saved.
Susan G. continues to defend its stance – even now. A nonpolitical decision, they say – and their funding of breast cancer will continue as their mission. Women will just have to go about differently. Maybe they’ll weather this storm, but I think it’s more likely they end up battered and significantly downsized with support after this. People are already pulling funding, burning ribbons and pulling from races.
Their pink-shirted races being their most visible message. So while conservative money may pour into Susan G. as a result of this choice, throwing a partisan blanket on what was a cause that brought women together of all folds has now been forever changed.
We’ve reached a point in this nation where national organizations can be taken over by GOP ideologies. Susan G. Kolman no longer represents elimination of cancer, it represents the conservative ideology of making a woman’s vagina a crime scene, subject to the scrutiny of elected officials.
Susan G. should be losing their tax-free status (though I won’t be holding my breath). What congress has to do with breast cancer and Susan G. Kolman for the Cure’s choice in funding, I don’t know – but that connection alone should be clear enough a political connection that their mission is muddled.
by Pete Talbot
Eating crow
First, an apology to our readers for a factual error. We wrote that GOP gubernatorial candidate Ken Miller was going to announce Billie Orr, from Bozeman, as his running mate. It turns out that the PSC’s Bill Gallagher got the nod.
We got the Orr info from a reliable source. The tip was originally emailed to jhwygirl but it bounced back because of an old address. It was then forwarded to me. I passed it back to j-gal because: 1) I’m super busy right now and 2) I’m not really that interested in who the far right is recruiting for lieutenant governor. But I figured the tip was worth a mention.
Now in real journalism, at least one more source should have confirmed this, and calls to both Miller and Orr would be made, to confirm or deny. But hey, this isn’t the New York Times. It isn’t even the Missoulian. It’s a blog. The contributors here all have real lives and do this in their spare time, with no remuneration.
But apologies are still due to jhwygirl for me passing the buck to her, to Pogie for giving him an erroneous tip, and to our readers.
Some interesting asides, though. One is that I learned a little something about Ms. Orr — an education activist and tea party member. Now that’s an oxymoron. Also, the Miller campaign is doing some strange things — campaign insiders are either being very clever or haven’t a clue as to what’s going on. I suspect the latter. Finally, the PSC’s Gallagher is a right-wing ideologue who poorly represents Montana on the commission. We can only hope he resigns to spend more time on the governor’s race but fat chance of that. The PSC paycheck is just too good.
UM makeover
So the University of Montana is giving $160,000 to a Pittsburgh consulting firm to “rebrand” the school’s image.
From the Missoulian story:
“Tree-hugger school.”
That’s what a Missoula gas station attendant called the University of Montana when a Mind Over Media team member casually asked whether he knew anything about the university.
The university is redoing its image based on what a gas station attendant says. It should be ashamed of its nationally recognized environmental studies program, its touring Montana Repertory Theatre, its creative writing program, its journalism, pharmacy, law, education, forestry and music schools …
Yo. It’s a liberal arts college. If someone wants to learn about mining, they go to Butte’s School of Mines (now known as Montana Tech). Engineering or agriculture? Go to MSU (also known as Moo U, but I don’t see them “rebranding”). Another excerpt:
UM is still defined in some ways by the political rhetoric expressed in the 1960s. That, in addition to its liberal arts curriculum, has earned UM names over the years such as “The People’s Republic” and the “Dancing Academy.” It shows how slowly perceptions change, said Chris Comer, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
“Your campaign is going to have to be awesome,” he said.
Again, the university should shy away from its artistic, political and environmental activism. That sure would be “awesome.”
Here’s a PR suggestion: take that $160K and put it toward faculty and staff raises, or a break on tuition, and be proud of what you are, UM. I am. That’s what I call “branding.”
by jhwygirl
A number of people falling over themselves – and I say this with gratitude – mea culpa’ing over my post GOP’s Ken Miller to Announce Billie Orr as his Lt. Governor Running Mate.
In the end, I put the fingers to the keys…and know what? I’m OK with that. Normally I put out a few calls – and would have had it included some sort of accusation. This clearly wasn’t that.
But I was wrong..and there are those that need to see me say that. It’s OK. I am human. It happens.
Should Miller be pissed? I don’t know – he did get a number of clicks on his pages that came from that post. He probably also got some name recognition too. If he was harmed in some way, that was not the intent and I apologize.
With I-don’t-know-how-many-candidates-the-GOP’s-got in the race, getting your name out there, if even in a dirty stinking hippy progressive blog like 4&20, can’t be all that bad.
But what do I know? I’m a dirty stinking hippy….and now I’m off to find out who he did pick.
by jhwygirl
Quick hit here. Caught this yesterday Bozeman Daily Chronicle.
Montana’s Electrical Cooperatives Association is sponsoring its Campaign School which is designed – as the Chronicle put it – to encourage newcomers to enter the political sector.
Classes are being held in Great Falls on the 7th, Missoula the 8th, Bozeman the 9th and Billings on the 10th.
From the Chronicle:
Gary Wiens of the Montana Electric Cooperatives’ Association, one of the school’s sponsors, said Monday the classes help remove some of the fear and mystery that surround running for office.
Many people don’t think they can get elected because they don’t have a background in politics or know how the process works. But, Wiens said, all they need is knowledge of public policy issues and some basic training.
The classes are billed as nonpartisan and are co-sponsored by the Montana Chamber of Commerce, Montana Credit Union Network and Montana Association of Realtors. Instructors and support are provided by the National Rural Electric Co‐operative Association and the Credit Union National Association.
by jhwygirl
I’m getting a little sick of hearing Newt Gingrich whine about the negative campaigning of “Massachusetts liberal Mitt Romney.”
Isn’t that negative campaigning? Newt calling Mitt Romney a “Massachusetts liberal”? Isn’t the word “liberal” an insult in the GOP world?
And sometime we’re going to have to have a discussion about negative campaigning. When it’s factually true, and relevant to the campaign, is it negative campaigning? Or just facts that the candidate who is the objet d’affection of said campaign feels are negative?
Because there’s a difference between the two, don’t you think?
All of that being said, one of Newt’s complaints is that he doesn’t deserve to be “attacked” over his ethic charges when he was Speaker of the House. Nor his large fine. And nor his subsequent resignation. That’s because while the House had concluded that he violated Federal tax code, they left those charges up to the IRS, which eventually dropped the charges.
Based on that, Newt claims the ad is unfair. Clearly, Newt doesn’t understand ethics.
See – the way I understand it, an ethics violation occurs when there is even the implication of impropriety. That’s the thing about ethics – the law doesn’t actually have to have been broken – a reasonable suggestion or implication of impropriety that has people question….your ethics….is enough.
Lawyers, judges…government officials: These are the people you typically hear charges of ethics violations. Why is that? Well – who polices these people? Who knows the laws? Who is the law? Those charged with that task should be held higher.
Clearly Newt’s failed that test.
Is it proper to push the law to the outermost reaches of ethical boundary? By the very people who write and interpret and administer said law?
Gingrich needs to get himself a dictionary. For someone who treats everyone as if they are stupider than him, it’d be a start.
As for Newt Gingrich getting himself some ethics? The realm of that possibility departed back in the 90′s.
by lizard
I can’t wait until we start killing prisoners for sport, like in the dystopia depicted in the Steven King story turned crappy movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, The Running Man.
I don’t think we’re that far off, and lately I’ve been thinking that maybe it’s time we just embrace violence. Kill who needs to be killed. I mean Jesus Christ, it doesn’t always have to be such a bummer, does it? And didn’t Obama just prove that to be true, bookending his SOTU with a celebration of death?
In the free market of moral outrage, those of us who go through the motions of expressing concern are free to choose which atrocities to be disturbed by, and which ones to sort of let slide. I wasted nearly a minute of my life tweeting to some guy who calls himself BardOfEarth because he went ballistic over a cat that had its head bashed in and the word “Liberal” scrawled across its dead corpse.
The image of the dead cat is terrible, but these are terrible times, and in the free market of moral outrage I choose to be more disgusted that a Marine can get off with just a pay cut and drop in rank for slaughtering women and children in Haditha than for some sick fuck’s misplaced political rage.
My twitter feed is a mosaic of moral outrage, and I’m sorta getting tired of this woman from #Bahrain. Her father and husband have both been tortured in prison and she’s always talking about terrible shit happening. I’m considering unfollowing her. Or maybe tweeting her that The State killing their little uprising doesn’t blip in the US, because Bahrain lends America its oceanic parking lot for its 5th fleet. And to spit in her face, the president quietly supplies Bahrani royalty with weaponry:
President Barack Obama’s administration has been delaying its planned $53 million arms sale to Bahrain due to human rights concerns and congressional opposition, but this week administration officials told several congressional offices that they will move forward with a new and different package of arms sales — without any formal notification to the public.
In a recent exchange with a fellow blogger, there were some thoughts shared regarding the philosophical opposition to war as juxtaposed to the sometimes vicious behavior of (all of us at times) bloggers and commenters; civil discourse abandoned for mud wrestling, implying an inability to practice what one preaches. Guilty.
Despite my own personal failings, in the free market of moral outrage, I’m gonna continue using my market share of the social media revolution to amplify my personal mosaic of moral outrage. And to make the tediousness of my anti-imperial brand more palatable, I’ll keep offering poetic interludes, like this one, that explores the possibility that at times I behave like a dickish somnambulist: Continue Reading »
by jhwygirl
Worthy sources are confirming GOP gubernatorial primary candidate Ken Miller – who’s hitting Rick Hill’s insurance big business connections pretty hard – will be announcing one of Bozeman’s newer residents Billie Orr as his Lieutenant Governor running mate soon.
Who is Billie Orr? From her Wikipedia page:
Billie J. Orr, Ed.D. is an advocate for education reform. She is the former president of the Education Leaders Council, and former deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction for the state of Arizona . She was the principal of Kiva School in Scottsdale, Arizona from 1994 to 1997.She lives in Bozeman, Montana, is active in the Tea Party movement and is a Republican candidate for the Montana House of Representatives.
As Arizona Superintendent of Education Ms. Orr implemented the most vigorous charter school program in the country.
Makes me want to look at how education is doing down there in Arizona, considering her 20+ years of influence there….
I will say I ran into a guy at Costco a while back with a Ken Miller t-shirt on. When I stopped to ask him about “Ken Miller” he actually knew a good bit about the candidate (usually I find the opposite). We had a short pleasant chat, and about 25 minutes later he “found” me and provide me with some literature.
Miller’s got some enthusiastic supporters – that one being from Mineral County, as I recall. Now it looks like he’s got a Tea Party favorite for his running mate. Both, I’m sure, will serve him well as he fights Hill’s cash – which (on hand) is 88 times more than what Miller’s got earmarked for the primary.
Seems everyone’s fighting big money these days. Even the good old GOP candidates – Gingrich included.
America – and Montana – is now for sale to those able to purchase the best government they can afford.
by lizard
I went looking through my Pablo Neruda to find a poem for Newt Gingrich. I found one that seems appropriate in Neruda’s collection, titled Fin de Mundo, published by Copper Canyon Press (2009). I’m going to feature the poem in its native ghetto language first. For those of you who can’t read Spanish, William O’Daly’s translation of this poem into the language of prosperity is below the fold. Enjoy!
TAL VEZ
Es cuerdo el hombre que voltea
y parpadeando en el alambre
cambia de piel y paladar
buscando el sol o el equilibrio.
(La astucia cambia de color
y el conservador no conserva
sino las máscaras que usó
ya convertidas en ceniza.) Continue Reading »
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