Archive for August, 2007

Bet you think that this post is about global warming, it’s not. Tony Snow has quit the White House staff. He claims that as the highest paid staffer at the white house, $168,000 isn’t enough money. OK…

Personally, I would say that I am glad to see him go except that changing the mouth piece of lies doesn’t change the lies. I have watched many a press conference with him where it was obvious that he was uncomfortable saying what he was saying and admitting that he was uncomfortable about it. But, he did it anyway. I don’t know how you feel about him, but he is a man without integrity in my book. I am sure that Fox news will be happy to have him back.

Abu Ghraib. People were stacked into naked pyramids. People were led around corridors on dog collars. Pictures were taken. Videos wee made. Water was sprayed. Prisoners were peed on. Phosphoric acid was poured. And again, pictures and videos were taken and circulated.

This is not the kind of stuff that can be kept from officers. They are supposed to be watching out, they know what is going on. How come is it then when time for justice has come, it only applies to enlisted soldiers?

Tuesday’s acquittal of Lieutenant Colonel Steven Jordan on charges related to the Abu Ghraib prison abuses means that no officers have been found criminally responsible for the mistreatment of prisoners at the Iraqi prison near Baghdad.

Is there anyone here who believes that this could have been going on without officers being aware? If that is the case, then isn’t not stopping it approval by complacency? Why is it that punishments only apply to the under classes?

Republican Larry E. Craig has plead guilty to Lewd Disorderly Conduct in a Washington D.C. mens room. This on the heels of others like Mark Foley, Duke Covington and others can only make one wonder just where the Republican party is headed.

Mr. Craig went on to say that “possibly” he may have plead guilty to soon. And that the charges were misgiving on his actions in the mens room. What the ???

To be sure his connection with Mitt Romney will come to bear on his own flip-flops on same sex, gays etc., and the saga will go on and on. I guess one has to be careful when speaking to someone on the other side of the wall in a restroom huh?

[Update By Shane]
The Idaho Statesman has finally released a report it has been investigating for years. It provides a lot of context to this story, including possible relations with underage pages, cruising public restrooms and other homosexual escapades dating back to the 60’s. To be clear, we are not ‘anti gay’ but the problem here is one of hypocrisy. Note Craig’s anti-gay voting record.

Voted Yes on constitutional ban of same-sex marriage. (June 2006)
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Voted No on adding sexual orientation to definition of hate crimes. (June 2002)
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Voted No on expanding hate crimes to include sexual orientation. (June 2000)
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Voted Yes on prohibiting same-sex marriage. (September 1996)
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Voted No on prohibiting job discrimination by sexual orientation. (September 1996)

I am sure that the blogs are completley covering the abdication of the Attorney General’s seat by Alberto Gonzales today.  One Win.

The Republicans, I mean the insiders, got together this weekend and decided (72 to 14, yeah 96 people decided for you) that they don’t care about their party members and loyalists don’t matter to them, only the “up to 3,000″ or so party officials votes matter.  Don’t bother to show up at the primary, the decision will be made for you on February 5, 2008, as to who will represent the Republicans in the Presidential Race of 2008.  *Pats on head* You poor ignorant voter.  Just vote for who we have already decided is the best candidate.  You don’t know enough to vote for yourself.  Time to defect?  One Loss.

Why should you Hold Onto Your Hats?  Well, I might be remembered as someone who did some in-depth coverage of the initiatives last election season.  (Toot Toot).  The infamous Trio of Doom (CI-97, CI-98, and I-154 (which Wulfgar covered much better than I did)).

So I sit here today, and I see that the Governor has called a Special Session of the Legislature to appropriate funds from our savings to cover the costs of this fire season.  I have choked on smoke for the past couple of months; not being able to see the Sleeping Giant, or the Valley, and on the terrible days, even Mount Helena; the time has come to address the issue. 

Why does this come to mind?  Well CI-97, Stop Over Spending Montana, had it not been thrown out of the Courts as unconstitutional, would have left all us Montanans swimming in smoke.  We would have had to wait until the next statewide election, to vote in some money to deal with the issue.  Wait, when is the next statewide election?  Oh yeah, choke on that Montanans.

“Rumor has it” (the name of a game created by an old friend) that Howie Rich will be back in action in the election season of 2008.  Whether or not he trusts Trevis Butcher with it again, or can find anyone to support him remains to be seen.  Unfortunately, I know he will be back, trying to shove his ideas down Montanan’s throats again.  You heard it here first.  Hang Onto Your Hats, and remember to watch what is going on.  Better yet, look at things as they might have been had Montanans passed that proposed initiative.  Now do you understand?

Things will be more complicated this time, as I am headed to law school, but I promise to maintain my contacts, and keep fighting the good fight in the name of truth.

According to a piece just released by Roll Call, Senator Larry Craig of Idaho was arrested in June for lewd conduct in an airport bathroom.

After he was arrested, Craig, who is married, was taken to the Airport Police Operations Center to be interviewed about the lewd conduct incident, according to the police report. At one point during the interview, Craig handed the plainclothes sergeant who arrested him a business card that identified him as a U.S. Senator and said, “What do you think about that?” the report states.

He went to court on the issue In early August

On Aug. 8, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct in the Hennepin County District Court. He paid more than $500 in fines and fees, and a 10-day jail sentence was stayed. He also was given one year of probation with the court that began on Aug. 8.

Generally, the scandal cases like this are not so interesting to me generally. However, Craig is coming up for reelection in 2008 in a state traditionally considered Republican but with a newly elected Democratic governor. Right now, the DSCC site doesn’t seem to be putting a lot of effort into this race, but that might change soon. I am not sure how much traction this story will get, but the nature of it leaves me wondering if we are going to see another cycle dominated by Republican scandals.

Our own PJFinn made a pretty important post over at Buzztail recently where he talked about Mr Bush’s plan to open up mountain top mining in light of the recent mining tragedy in Utah. My thoughts are that this is a topic that bears discussion.

As this NYTimes article points out, this would be a ‘ruling’ that would not require congressional approval. It was expected to come down Friday, so it is extremely eminent. If you don’t want this, we need to act now. I have prepared a visual representation of the Mission Mountain Range, before and after. Enjoy.

Don’t think it will be like this? Well, it wont. It will be much uglier. The part of the mountain that is left would be a stripped scabland. My photoshopping skills aren’t good enough to make it look as bad as it really would.

You see, I am from Appalachia. I have seen first hand what mountain top mining does to a mountain. It is not pretty. Here are a few examples:

As PJ points out, there is still some room for public input. I suggest that each of you who cares contact Baucus, Tester and Rehberg.

President - Hillary Clinton Vice President - Bill Clinton hmmmm

If you missed it this morning Meet the Press was an interesting insight into what, if anything, we can expect in September. On the show was Republican Warner discussing the scenarios that we could expect when the General’s report on the progress in Iraq. What I found interesting was the fact that Mr. Warner is 80 years old and when asked if he would run again in the State of Virginia he was not coy but a politician just the same. What was different was that he was being totally honest on the questions of Iraq and what may or may not happen when all the cards are laid on the table so to speak.

When asked “if” the Senate would separate should President Bush push for more of the same with regards to the surge I think a fair minded person can expect that they will do just that.

I also came away with the mindset that we can expect some sort of movement by those in Washington to send a “clear message” to the Iraq government that their days are numbered and that they are going to have to take control of their country sooner than later. I for one, am of the opinion that this should have taken place long before now but I was impressed with Mr. Warner just the same. Just think, should he run for Senate again, he would be 88 years old and one should respect his age if nothing else.

I can only hope that more people are listening to those who have the insight and experience that he has shown because if they don’t we are in for a long, long war that in the end will have done little else other than to lose a lot of young lives at the expense of the middle-aged people running this country and that would be a huge shame!

So, everyone is rushing to an early primary this year. If they move any harder on it, it will be held… last week. To make matters worse, the Florida legislature passed a resolution pushing their primary into January, which is in violation of DNC rules.

The Democratic National Committee, threatening to take the toughest line possible, voted Saturday to refuse to seat any Florida Democrat at the Democratic presidential convention in 2008 if the state party did not delay the date of its 2008 primary to conform to the party’s nominating calendar.
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The committee gave Florida Democrats 30 days to propose a primary date that conformed with Democratic rules prohibiting all but four states from holding their primaries or caucuses before Feb. 5. But Florida leaders, who seemed stunned by a near-unanimous vote and the severity of the punishment, said they were doubtful they could come up with an alternative.

I think that this was a pretty tough stance, but I also understand that rules are rules and really outlines the problems with the primary process.

Of course, it is most likely that this will not come to anything. It is most likely that the Democratic nominee will be decided by the time of the convention and that nominee would be able to decide which state’s delegates were seated. The nominee (who we’ll call Sen Edwards for brevity ) would be insane to deny Florida delegates a seat.

I say that there is only one solution for this problem in the future: a national primary.

I don’t put much stock in the differences between our parties, but I do concede that the Democrats offer marginal improvements over Republicans, such as pro-choice judges and a tiny little bit more environmental consciousness. Among the Democratic candidates, I find myself in agreement with Dennis Kucinich more than the others, but I think his mousy persona is his undoing. If he were more like Arnold Schwarzenegger saying the same thing, he’d have a better chance. I say this knowing he has a very hot wife.

So I lean to John Edwards as the one most to my liking who is also electable. Maybe he can pull it off. Maybe he means what he says.

Whoever the nominee is, I fear the right wing noise machine. They will pillory most of them without much problem. There’ll be a few meetings of top level Republican strategists and emails will go out to the hundreds of talk radio hosts and FOX news, and whoever the nominee is will be undone, Swift boated, if you will.

Of all of the candidates, I think it is Hillary who is best able to withstand the wind tunnel, to give it back in kind. Policy-wise, I don’t like her, I’m pretty sure that she, like her husband, will carry out the Bush policy in Iraq. Much as I don’t like her, I do think she is one tough woman. She may be the best nominee.

I damn her with faint praise, pat her on the back as I pee down her leg. It’s a half-hearted endorsement, I know. Comments?

So a leading Republican comes out today and says that President Bush should “consider” pulling out some 5,000 troops by December. Would that be some kind of Christmas gift or something?

He continues by saying the administration will ask “Give me six more months” and then we’ll see where we are at! For Christ sakes and how many more dead or injured? Then you hear the Surge is working? RIGHT - and the Iraq leaders are on vacation - They sure as hell are NOT working are they?

No matter how you want to paint this it simply will NOT work - Not Now - Not Ever. These folks just don’t get it do they?

We lose again. Go figure that the esteemed city leaders have lost yet again in court to the tune of some $5 million-plus. Firefighters were seeking some $3 million. The Montana Supreme Court ruled in favor of the firefighters.

If that was not bad enough, city officials are now touting that it will be some 10 years to recoup this blunder, and they have rescinded the employment offers made last week to seven young firefighters, along with retiring firefighters over the next year. Bet your check that they will be coming to us long before that for more money with some cockeyed excuses why we need it!

I’d almost bet that we will see yet another suit brought about with the elimination of jobs and/or offers by the city to date. What a hell of a way to run a business, wouldn’t you say?

It was clear from the outset that the city should have done not only what was right, but that it would have taken the common-sense approach to realize that it would lose should it go to court.

Remember this the next time you go to the polls to vote! Remember that the next time you have to call for emergency services. And, finally, remember that when you see this whole ordeal back in court because city officials are unwilling to do what it right in the first place. They haven’t managed to quite clean out your wallet yet.

Story available at http://billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/08/24/opinion/letters/24-letter.txt
Published on Friday, August 24, 2007.

A friend of mine told me recently of their desire to leave the grid and stop participating in this rat race of consumerism. While I am not ready for that myself, it got me to thinking about some of the implications.

We talk a lot about the future of energy sources on this blog, sometimes we even have productive discussions, but there are obviously other areas of our ‘lifestyle’ that are simply not sustainable. There are multiple levels where the manner that house ourselves will not be able to continue into the future.

The first problem that I see (very clearly) is that the majority of the population are being priced out of the housing market. You can see it in cities and town all across Montana and you can see it all across the US. We see it happening right now, folks can’t afford the houses they have purchased and it is causing a panic in the lending market. Will this cause a long term downturn in housing prices? Not likely. As gas prices continue to rise, so will the cost of building materials. As the cost of new homes rise, so will the cost of all houses. Look at it from a historic perspective and it is pretty easy to see that wage increases have been far outpaced here.

The second problem is that there just isn’t enough room. With or without immigration, the population is going up in the United States. At some point, we are going to run out of room. We can’t use all the room out there for housing, we need crop and grazing land. We need timber land. We know this in Montana. Anyone that has traveled back east in the past… 40 years… can tell you that it is possible to run out of room.

Are there viable solutions to the commercial housing industry? A simple Google search turns up a few alternatives, but are they viable? Does anyone have experience with any of these?

Tiny Houses: Small, compact houses. Energy and space efficient, but counter to the You-Want-A-Meatball-Sub mentality of the nation that brought you the Hummer.

Custom Steel Buildings: You have seen them on TV, and they really don’t look that bad. Not sure about efficiency and the like.

Yurt: These things look really cool. Ultra efficient and really nice, I am not sure that there is a downside here.

Any thoughts?

You might want to tune in Friday, if you are interested.

Sign the letter.