by JC

I guess, what, the payroll for a year or two of Smurfit-Stone terminated employees is about equivalent to a $68 million dollar yacht? Maybe Sir Michael Smurfit, the “Monaco-based tax exile” can treat all of them to a good time severance leisure cruise for their sacrifice, or a game of golf at the “K-Club”.

RECESSION? What recession? Michael Smurfit, the Irish packaging tycoon, has bought a €50m (68.65 million US dollars) super-yacht, provisionally called Lady Ann Magee II. The former chairman of Smurfit Kappa, the paper and cardboard giant, expects to take delivery of the vessel, being built by Italy’s Codecasa, by next summer. The 213ft vessel will have five decks with a spa, pool, cinema, beauty salon, gym, massage room and sun deck.

Smurfit, whose family wealth was estimated at £398m in last year’s Sunday Times Rich List [#203 on Britain's most rich list], is buying the boat despite a slump across the packaging industry. The Irish group’s former American arm, Smurfit-Stone, filed for bankrupcty protection in January, and International Paper, the world’s largest paper group, slashed its dividend by 90% this month to save cash [and pay for a yacht?].

I guess when you think Montana is a third world country, Michael Smurfit doesn’t really have to care what the local dispossessed think about his new new yacht. But then again, maybe the rest of us will pay attention the next time some international playboy starts buying up local industries so he can move up in the yacht owner’s “keeping up with the Jones’” club.

And how about  today’s Missoulian story about Smurfit handing out over $50 million in bonuses to execs while the company is still stiffing Missoula County for $1.8 million in back taxes? I guess his tax-free zone in Monaco is far enough away that when the flak hits the fan, all Sir Michael will be feeling is the wind on his face, sitting in the shade of his private palm grove, with his yacht(s) docked up awaiting a quick get away if need be.

How about Smurfit’s $654 million dollars in tax credits the company has/will receive for the last two years, and which some local folks hoped would save the Missoula mill?

Of course, guilt kicked in, and in an article laying out Smurfit’s cushy relationship with “Dollar Bill” Clinton, after not being able to sell the Lady Magee I, and taking possession of the Lady Magee II, he decides to sell one:

While he is seeking to resolve his business arrangement with Gannon, Smurfit has been cutting back on personal expenditure, selling Lady Ann Magee II, a €47m, 213-ft yacht built for him by an Italian shipyard. The businessman had intended to keep the yacht and sell the original Lady Ann Magee, a smaller vessel, for about €16.5m, but eventually decided to stick with his relatively more modest vessel.

Here’s the lowdown on purchasing the Lady Ann Maggee I, if you’re interested. It has some nice pictures of all the amenities that come with a life of luxury. Also at risk: Smurfit’s “K Club,” his exclusive golf & spa resort in Kildare, Ireland.

Poor Mr. Smurfit. Bought his new luxury cruise liner before he sold his old one, and now has two. Now he can’t keep the new one because the old one didn’t sell, and only gets to keep the old one (pictured below). His golf resort is losing money, too. Such be the life of those born with silver spoons in their mouths. But I guess when you live in tax exile in Monaco, it doesn’t really matter, now does it?

I say good riddance to those who would treat Montana as just another banana republic.

(updated 2:36pm)

by jhwygirl

I’ve been asked about a half-dozen times in the last week, so maybe a reader knows?

It’s February 9th, and Montanans have yet to hear the State of the State.

That is, unless I missed it? Or can’t find it on the Governor’s website?

Inquiring minds want to know.

by JC

It’s Super Bowl Sunday, the BBQ beans are crock-potting, and I’m off for a pregame dog walk.

Consider this an open thread.

by jhwygirl

In case you were wondering where the Koopman Crazy Train and his looney litmus test all began, check out Chuck Johnson’s column on Professor Rob Natelson.

Sweet!

What I find most interesting about all this litmus test stuff is that Montana GOP Chair Will Deschamps seems willing to sit back and throw regular old Republicans to the Koopman purity wolves. Republicans like Senator Dave Lewis (R-Helena), along with Rep. Llew Jones, R-Conrad, Rep. Duane Ankney, R-Colstrip, and Rep. Jesse O’Hara, R-Great Falls:

“The party doesn’t anoint anyone. The anointing is done by the candidate and the voters,” Deschamps said.

He said primaries can “sharpen” candidates, and help them raise money. Still, he admitted that primary fights can get ugly.

“I suspect that when it comes to incumbents, it might get a little messier, but that’s our election process.”

Lewis – who has 10 years experience in the legislature and is recognized by those on both sides of the aisle as one of the few who has a damned through understanding budgetary issues (even though there may be some philosophical disagreement) – had this to say:

Look, I work very hard to try to represent six counties, and Roger can take his shot,” Lewis said. “I don’t believe in tax increases. I balance the budget by cutting spending. I’m pro-life, but I couldn’t answer the questionnaire, so I tossed it. If Roger wants to get someone to run against me, go for it, and we’ll have a primary. I’ve got a 10-year voting record in the Legislature. If he has any questions, he can take a look.

You’d think Deschamps might have some misgivings about publicly supporting the whole hot mess, considering that Montana has Democrats in both Senate seats along with the entire executive branch of state government, but hey – go ahead. I’ll pop the corn.

by jhwygirL

a hat tip to Ellen on this one….

I’m sure there are many who find this amusing or something to brag about. Montanans should be so proud.

I went an checked some of Montana’s county jail rosters to see what kind of tallies we have currently on how many DUI defendants are under incarceration right now (8 p.m. on a Saturday night):

– Yellowstone & Lewis and Clark don’t list the specific offenses.
– Butte-Silverbow doesn’t provide a list at all (that I could find)
– Flathead County has 9 DUIs in jail right now, with 3 being noted as 4th offenses
– Gallatin has 12 in house for DUI’s
– Missoula has 23 DUIs in house, 12 of them being mulitiple offenses. All of those multiple offenses are 4th DUIs with the exception of 1, which was a 2nd DUI. Of the 23 DUIs? One of them is under the age of 21, and his current arrest is his 3rd alcohol-related.

Wow. Lovely, huh? More than half of Missoula County’s DUI related inmates are multiple offenses?

(Update: Looks like Billings Gazette columnist (and 4&20 fav) Ed Kemmick has a somewhat cynical take on his city’s latest brush with notoriety:

But what if the researchers read this newspaper on a regular basis and saw how many of our DUI arrests involved drivers racking up their third, fourth, seventh or 12th DUI? Maybe we would have left Reno and Fresno in the dust.

Kemmick dug into the criteria used to make the list. One of ‘em?: The severity of state laws regarding drunken driving.

Yep – Montana should be so proud.)

by JC

Here’s few choice Palinisms from her performance:

“Around the world, people who are seeking freedom from oppressive regimes wonder if Alaska is still that beacon of hope for democracy.” Alaska?

“Now a year later I gotta ask all the supporters of that, how’s that hopey changie stuff workin’ out fer ya?”

“Nuke-u-lar power” — gack, more Bush-speak

“would be wise of us to start seeking some divine intervention again in this country so that we can be safe and secure and prosperous again”

Calls main stream media “irrelevant”

by JC

It was a slow afternoon at work. So I had to revise the litmus test that has been making the rounds. I’m sure that if you fill this one out and send it in, it will make much more sense to Koopman, et al.

Enjoy!

MCA Litmus Test

by JC

How much more stupid can republicans get? Plenty. What do local weather events have to do with global warming? Absolutely nothing.

Claiming that winter events in parts of the country are evidence that global warming isn’t occurring only points out the ignorance of the difference between “climate” and “weather.” Even in a climate that has warmed several degrees above current average temps, winter will occur. But sea levels will still rise, coastlines will recede, drought patterns will change, food growing capacities will change, populations will migrate, and wars will be fought over scarce resources like water.

And republicans holding a snow shovel in their hands will go: huh, how can it be?

Here’s a graph. Maybe it makes sense to some people. But not to republicans who just want to use a snow storm to win an election.

–Change in global surface temperature anomaly as computed by NOAA (NCDC Dataset), NASA (GISS data set) and combined Hadley Center and Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia (UK) (HadCRUT3 data set). Uncertainty in the HadCRUT3 data is shown in gray. Image and quote below credit: WMO:

The year 2009 is likely to rank in the top 10 warmest on record since the beginning of instrumental climate records in 1850, according to data sources compiled by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)…

The current nominal ranking of 2009, which does not account for uncertainties in the annual averages, places it as the fifth-warmest year. The decade of the 2000s (2000–2009) was warmer than the decade spanning the 1990s (1990–1999), which in turn was warmer than the 1980s (1980–1989)…

This year above-normal temperatures were recorded in most parts of the continents. Only North America (United States and Canada) experienced conditions that were cooler than average. Given the current figures, large parts of southern Asia and central Africa are likely to have the warmest year on record.

by jhwygirl

I’d been waiting….frankly, I was a little concerned that he might be recruited by some org in the private sector, and we’d loose a legislative superstar.

Senator Dave Wanzenried announced on Wednesday that he would be once again seeking the senate seat in senate district 49.

Wanzenried currently sits on several senate commitees: Finance and Claims, Highways and Transportation, Natural Resources and Rules committees. He is also on the Joint Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services.

In 2007-2008, he chaired the Environmental Quality Council, a product of the Montana Environmental Protection Act in our state constitution. He’s now moved over to vice-chair the Water Policy interim committee.

Ya’all know how I feel about water and natural resource issues.

Which brings me to reference the Missoulian article on his announcement. The article points to two issues Wanzenried highlighted. One being the value of small business to Montana’s economy, and fostering an environment that both bolsters business and enhances expansion.

The other? Water. Wanzenried is committed to solving Montana’s water issues. Issues and events are bringing water issues to an apex or a disaster, depending on your perspective. Here’s the senator on the issue:

“As water flows decline while the demand for water increases, there will be tensions amongst a large number of users: agriculture; municipal, hydroelectric, recreationists, fisheries,” he said. “In our efforts to plan for a drier future, we must preserve the rights of senior water rights holders, the cornerstone of Montana water law.”

There are big money interests fighting any changes to water policy. You can be there will be big money interests working against him.

You can help re-elect Dave Wanzenried by donating here.

by jhwygirl

Keila Szpaller’s Missoula Red Tape has the story and the link to the SEC filing.

The quick and dirty: $2.8 million in bonuses to 5 executives, including one Missoula local. The total in 2009? $8.1 million in executive bonuses.

Maybe this is a question for the finance-reform knowledgeable: How does a business hand out $8.1 million in executive bonuses while it is under federal protection, via bankruptcy courts, from complete loss of its assets?

How is that even fair to the creditors?

What ever happened to a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people?

How can a corporation hand out those kind of bonuses, while sending at least two communities and states – Missoula, Montana and Ontonagon, Michigan – into a tailspin?

Smurfit owes Missoula County backtaxes, for crying out loud and they’re paying out fat bonuses? I wonder if they owe state taxes?

There’s something wrong with laws (not the courts) that allow that. Courts enforce the laws. This kind of shit shouldn’t be OK.