Archive for November, 2006
by Jay Stevens Here’s an intriguing bit of news: outgoing Senator Conrad Burns hinted at future plans in a speech today to the Montana Grain Growers Association convention: Burns told the…convention that he planned to remain involved in issues such as litigation reform, taxes and fighting environmentalists – both in his last month in office [...]
Ochenski mulls the early-season Montana legislature Republican rhetoric: “The last thing we need, especially from the party that has started more wars than anyone in recent times and failed to win even one, is yet another ill-considered battle.” The Montana Chamber of Commerce surveyed its members on what they’d like to see done with the [...]
by Jay Stevens This may sound crazy, but I think I like baseball’s hot stove league more than the actual season itself. It could be because I’m a Red Sox fan and there’s too often little joy in that in the waning days of summer. But I think it’s more that the winter trades and [...]
by Jay Stevens I finally got around to watching “Walk the Line,” the Johnny Cash biopic, and I admit I was underwhelmed. Yes, the critics loved the movie, especially Joaquin Phoenix’ portrayal of Cash. I thought the script was terrible – it made Cash look like he picked up the guitar on a whim, when [...]
Laurel recount hands state house to the Republicans and Scott Sales. Ed Kemmick was at the recount and got goose bumps for democracy. And Matt comments on the “agenda” of Republican House leaders. Is it “no quarter” or “working together”? Tax relief for the rich? Or screwing Montana’s college students? All of the above? And [...]
It’s time for Wulfgar!’s annual Montana weblog awards! It’s nomination time: you know what to do folks. Go over there and nominate! No, you don’t have to be a Montanan to nominate or vote. At least, I don’t think so. Who’s going to check, anyway?
by Jay Stevens Christian Cryder dropped by in the comment thread to readbetween’s response to the SHEC giveaway. It was an interesting post, generally agreeing with the gist of readbetween’s accusation that SHEC’s materialist response may not have been very Christ-like. (There’s also a good response from a SHECIE in the comments.) Incidentally, Cryder is [...]
Montana Democratic legislators pick their leaders, too: in the senate it’s Helena’s Mike Cooney as President and Missoula’s Carol Williams as majority leader; in the House it’s Great Falls’ John Parker as leader and Butte’s Art Noonan as majority leader. Jeff Mangan weighs in on Sales’ selection to a leadership role: first, he thinks it [...]
by Jay Stevens The notorious Mark T pointed this out on the new Montana Netroots blog, but Republican state senator Dan McGee (Laurel) is planning on introducing new legislation that would force a public official to stand for reelection after switching political parties. Mark thinks this has to do with Sam Kitzenberg’s switch to the [...]
by readbetween I’m glad you brought up the the SHEC burglary, Jay, because the story has been on my mind. Frankly, when I read about SHEC making up gift baskets for the burglars I didn’t think, well golly, that’s just terrific. Of course, I appreciate the impulse: do kindness in return for offense and thereby [...]
by Jay Stevens Matt got to this first, but the Montana House Republicans chose Bozeman Representative Scott Sales to be their leader. A better choice couldn’t have been made – for the Democrats. First Sales is an “outspoken conservative,” according to the report, Sales promised to make future elections even uglier than they were in [...]
by Jay Stevens I don’t know if you saw this story in the Thanksgiving edition of the Missoulian, but a church that was burglarized recently by three teenagers chose to react to the situation in a different way than we’re used to in these times. Teens broke into South Hills Evangelical Church recently and stole [...]
Montana Jones loves Canada. After reading his post, I do, too. And then there’s the other Montana state legislator who’s “switching” parties…only he’s not really switching. Just sort of. Courtney Lowery on the new Green Congress, and other Western political links. Idaho Democrats pleased by 2006 election results and ready to try again next time. [...]
by Jay Stevens In the Billings Gazette story on Dennis Rehberg, which tells what the minority-party Representative will do with his spare time, I saw something I’d like to comment on, namely Rehberg’s comments on partisanship in Washington DC: Stressing bipartisanship, Rehberg took note of the closely divided state and federal lawmaking bodies.”I think the [...]
by Jay Stevens So there I was, having a nice, quiet holiday, completely unaware that my conservative fans were lacing my comment threads with their usual reality-challenged revisionist interpretation of history, as if somehow everything good and American that has come before leads directly to President Bush and his cadre of loyalists. I’m talking Thanksgiving. [...]
Pete Talbot mulls the 2008 election landscape; in the post, blogswarm finds an opportunity to slam Max Baucus’ staff. Memo to Max: you’re even more popular when you play ball with economic populists like the Good Guv and JT. Meanwhile, the Washington Post got its hands on an email to Big Pharm executives saying Jon [...]
I suppose I should encourage you all to discuss what you’re thankful for in the comments, but that’s probably pretty overworked this time of year. Save that stuff up for murmuring over your mashed potatoes and gravy. Instead, what would you like to be thankful for next year? It might be fun to revive the [...]
by Jay Stevens There have been a couple of interesting articles I’ve linked to in the past few days about corporate responsibility and their role in how they can be steered to do good. Of course “good” is a wildly subjective term, and some feel big business shouldn’t be “steered” at all. But most reasonable [...]
New West’s editor-in-chief, Jonathan Weber, comments on the deal between Yahoo and newspaper groups and waxes philosophical about journalism, the Internet, and readership. JT prepares for his trip to DC. Gerik touts wind farms and Jon Tester’s alternative energy legislation. How about a military draft? Montana’s legislative representatives aren’t so crazy about the idea. The [...]
by Jay Stevens How low can you go? True to Republican party form, Montana’s branch of the party is raising a fuss about Montana state senator Sam Kitzenberg’s switch to the Democratic party. Unwilling to come to grips with the simple fact that their party may indeed be coursing steadily to the right and alienating [...]
by Jay Stevens James Carville has been in the news lately for attacking DNC chair Howard Dean’s 50-state strategy. It was a sort of foolish move. Chris Bowers has an excellent post about the brouhaha – or lack of one – and how Carville’s attempt to smear Dean may have been a bald try to [...]
by Jay Stevens As conservative politicians jockey for position in the 2008 presidential nomination battles by trashing gays at every opportunity and banking on the issue to once again divide the electorate in their phony “culture war,” it’s important for everybody to remember who gets hurt: people. Now Seattle-based columnist Dan Savage is hardly an [...]
Robert Altman dies. Kos reveals Jon Tester’s skeleton in his closet — two weeks after the election! *whew*, disaster averted. ePluribusMedia finds in Tester and Webb’s Meet the Press appearance a refreshing willingness to actually discuss Iraq in an intelligent manner. That’s why we put him there, fella! What’s in the water in Big Sandy, [...]
by Jay Stevens For those of you only now drifting back into consciousness after the election – or those of you with the blankets still tucked firmly over your heads – there’s been some major rumbling in the ‘netroots about our senior Senator, Max Baucus. You heard a little bit here a week or so [...]
by Jay Stevens I promised a few thoughts about Ed Kemmick’s column on fair coverage in the media in Sunday’s Billings Gazette. In it, Kemmick defends traditional media against criticism lobbed against it from both the right and the left and makes a case for sticking to traditional forms and ethics when covering the news: [...]
Craig has all the pertinent info on Montana football in the I-AA playoffs. Aren’t football playoffs great? Bowl games? *yawns* Ed Kemmick’s column on “fair coverage” and the traditional media. Worth a read. I’ll likely pen a response later… JT was on Meet the Press yesterday, talking about earmark reform and transparency in government. Welcome [...]
by Jay Stevens The Washington Post’s EJ Dionne has written an astute commentary about the post-election environment. On conservative spin that the loss wasn’t all that bad: Many who play down the Democratic gains are the very same people who said six months ago that the Democrats had no chance of winning either the House [...]
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