This week, we’ve got a great collection of reads, including calls to regulate mining and student debt, as well as stirring, satirical piece by Sarah Laszloffy and the Montana GOP Young Guns. It’s funny stuff!
Mining industry’s poor record overlooked by state lawmakers – The record is clear: The mining industry doesn’t want to be responsible for the impacts it creates. And the evidence shows DEQ can’t nudge responsibility. And so when industry seeks new mines in sensitive places — such as the headwaters of the Smith River — and joins DEQ in telling us not to worry, the public should be forgiven for not believing them. Helena Independent Record
MT must end student debt crisis – Beyond helping borrowers with existing student debt, Montana must reinvest in higher education, so that we once again pay the majority of the cost to attend state public universities—if they are public universities, they should be publicly funded, after all. Increasing investment in need-based loans would ensure that students without the means to afford tuition could get more aid that they do not have to repay. Bert Chessin, MT Organizing Project
Perils of Proposing Public Parcel Plunder | – The deluge of letters we’ve seen recently supporting land transfer have all come, mainly, from a single source. The Washington, D.C. PR firm of Berman & Company. The Button Valley Bugle
Motl Gets Hearing – “Their laughable line of argument, if I understood it correctly, was that it’s a terrible problem that Motl is prosecuting so many Republican lawmakers and candidates who break the law. Occasionally a democratic committee member would ask a question of one of these testifiers, like “weren’t you implicated in scandal in which campaign documents were found at a meth house?” or things along that line.” MT Cowgirl
SB-334 not likely to be vetoed – “Sen. Jennifer Fielder’s (R-Thompson Falls) bill, SB-334, that defines fur bearing animals as game animals, thus giving taking them by trapping a protected status under the Montana Constitution, passed the MT Senate 31–19 yesterday. It’s headed for Gov. Bullock’s desk. Although he’s being lobbied hard to veto the bill, I think he’ll sign it and let the courts decide whether it prevents Trap Free Montana from running a citizens initiative to ban trapping.” Flathead Memo
One voice | Opinion | – “That’s why Montana Sen. Debby Barrett, R–Dillon, stood up for voters and pasted the Cloud Peak Energy letter onto her official letterhead, filling the name/group/entity field with “Montana.” The Yellowstone County Board of Commissioners did the same thing, although obviously using their own letterhead and filling in “Yellowstone County.” The Billings Chamber of Commerce, presumably as uncertain as the rest of us about what a Chamber of Commerce does, just filled in “member businesses which we represent.”” Missoula Independent
A Satirical (I Assume) Guest Opinion from Sarah Laszloffy – Although Montana elected 59 Republican legislators in a 100-person House, a handful of liberal Republicans sided with the Democrats to form a majority and muscle through the largest increase of welfare Montana has seen in our lifetimes. Billings Gazette
Kochs defeated in Montana: 6 lessons the country can learn from this rural Western state – “Tea Party threats aren’t what they used to be. The Koch team used an implied threat against any Republican who leaned in favor of Medicaid expansion: vote for it, and we’ll tell your base voters that you resemble Obama, causing you to lose in the next primary. Nobody cared. Many of these legislators have already fended off such challenges. As Tea Partyers become crazier, successful challenges like these have become rarer.” Salon
Anatomy of a failed Tea Party strategy | – “But once the bloodletting was done and the moderate Republicans who remained standing took a good look around, they realized there was nothing to be gained by trying to work with members of their own party who equated compromise with treason. So they may have been even more inclined to work with Democrats, and definitely more inclined to vote in favor of the dark-money bill, since the primary-election attacks they suffered under were funded by dark money.” Last Best News
Ms. Laszloffy says there are liberal Republicans. On a relative scale within the Kingdom of Republicans that may be correct. But within the Kingdom of Politics, there are no liberal Republicans, and there really aren’t any moderate Republicans. There are only conservative Republicans and tea party Republicans.
There are Democrats who desperately want to believe in the myth of moderate Republicans, but that’s a different subject.
I hate to call it whining but I’m having a hard time coming up with another word. Ms. Laszloffy’s guest column mirrors that of House Speaker Austin Knudsen’s column that showed up about two weeks earlier:
http://missoulian.com/news/opinion/columnists/ends-do-not-justify-means-on-rules-votes/article_c7bd772c-9886-5ea3-ad3c-f90d8b920e15.html
They didn’t get their way and are blaming it on “rule maneuvering,” particularly when it comes to the Medicaid expansion bill. It seems incomprehensible to them that the legislature used existing rules to pass expanded Medicaid and other bills. They be crying over spilled milk.
I also have to agree with Mr. Conner, above: “liberal Republicans?” That’s sort of like George Ochenski’s use of “conservative Republican” to define Rep. Art Wittich in today’s Missoulian Opinion Page:
http://missoulian.com/news/opinion/columnists/george-ochenski-legislature-s-end-or-is-it/article_8c322db6-6731-5f34-81ee-5013aaac8312.html
There are conservative Republicans, even some conservative Democrats, but Wittich is an extremist, obstructionist, member of the tea party.
It’s a war I tell ya! You librul fascists are waging WAR against the inbreds! And they don’t like it one little bit!
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/04/obama-mocks-michele-bachmann-for-blaming-apocalypse-on-him-and-conservatives-are-furious/
Now, can we please find some common ground with these good xtian inbreds? Anyone? Anyone?
I call it death by hero! This hero shit is bizarre. Now, here in GF, we have, get this, are you ready, “police week”! And of course, and endless stream of stories about the deputy who got himself killed while putting stop strips in the road. HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN? It doesn’t. Something else happened and we aren’t being told exactly what. Stories that I’ve heard are that another cop actually ran Dunn over. And really, that makes more sense than anything we heard so far.
But if you’re TO DAMNED weeniefied to disarm a five foot pregnant woman with a knife, you should really find another line of work! Check it out.
http://countercurrentnews.com/2015/04/police-pregnant-woman-in-15-seconds/
Sick stuff going on with the cops. OOPS!, I mean our “heroes”! What a joke.
What a bunch of freakin’ HORSE sh*t! I happened to go by their little ceremony, and the ONLY ones I saw there were some retart cops and the press! Come ON, people! There’s a friggin’ REASON that we have funerals! It’s called closure! But not at the GF Spitoon and the Keystone Cop Shop here in GF. They have to trot out every cop who ever got himself killed…..ENDLESSLY now! Give it a freakin’ rest, morons! I personally attended the funerals of two cops I knew who got killed, both outstanding men. But for god’s SAKE I can’t mourn them forever! This “hero” worship bullsh*t is turning into some kind of sick fascism, and of course, the feeble minds at the GF Spitoon just eat this crap up with a spoon! If I read one more story about this Dunn dude I’m gonna puke! Let the guy RIP ferrchrissakes! It makes the Spitoon look even more retarded than the already are! Police week. What a joke. More like weak REPORTING at the local faux newspaper!
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/local/2015/05/11/law-enforcement-memorial-dedicated-great-falls/27126693/
Wow! Just wow! Even MORE hard hitting bullsh*t, OOPS!, I mean news from the GF Spitoon. Does the Spitoon really ever stop and think just who really CARES and gives two shits about this bullshit? What a joke newspaper. Why can’t they allow the dead to RIP ferchrissakes?! What does it benefit them to keep digging the dead dudes up to proclaim them as “heroes”? SOME dudes get them SELVES killed through dumbazz actions. It appears that Dunn did this. Somehow, the dude got his ass killed doing something that NEVER gets a guy killed. But sigh, now he’s a “hero” for doing so. Sad, so sad, that THIS is what the Spitoon has come to!
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/local/2015/05/13/dc-vigil-honors-dunn-officers-killed-line-duty/27282493/
I can see why jonny adams left this rag. I mean, who the hell would want to report END lessly on this Dunn dude who somehow managed to get himself killed? No me!
And really, why can’t we know what happened? None of it makes any sense at all. A high speed chase from Stanford to Black Eagle in Great Falls? How can that happen? It doesn’t, unless of course there was supreme incompetency on the part of LE in the area. And that seems to be the case!
When idiots bring you the news! I can see Ecke addressing his morons.
“Boys, it’s a slow news day, so get out there and dig some up! Dig up some REAL news for our readers! Dig up Dunn again if you have to, but dammit, we need news! And for good measure, throw in cops from all around the country that no one knows or cares about. Oh, and be sure to mention their wives and kids too. And blacks? Show how cops love little ungrateful black kids who give’em the finger. For remember, it’s NEVER a slow news day when we get our shovels out and start shoveling it! Gentlemen, start shoveling it!”
“Right boss! We’ll get right ON it!”
I offer up exhibit A. But be advised, this is a moron alert! This is NOT for the faint of heart or half way intelligent folks!
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/opinion/2015/05/14/lives-matter-national-police-week-sends-message/27311311/
P.S. to my BS. My Native American pals call these morons who endlessly write about how sad they are that some cop got his ass killed “professional mourners”. And they’re right! There really do exist among us folks who are professional mourners, like the dinks at the GF Spitoon. NOTHING gets their journalistic jingoistice juices flowing like a cop who got his ass killed! Makes not matter that we STILL haven’t had any facts on the case, but a dead cop is live print! It USED to be said in the bizz that if it bleeds it leads. But now, if it’s a dead cop it’s tops! And this is just real sick. For you see, cops don’t even friggin’ COUNT in the grand scheme of things. Hell, their job is WAY safer than most. But by GOD and thunder the morons at the Spitoon don’t see it that way. Dead cops are tops! And hence, the endless exhumation of the blue, or as they say in the bizz, the thin blue flame line! We just GOTTA see that corpse one more time for the lead story! That’s some pretty sick sh*t!
As Dylan might have written,
how many times must a cop be exhumed, beee fore he’s allowed to sleep!
Yes and how many stories must the Spitoon write, bee fore he’s allowed some RIP.
Yes and how many times must the Spitoon front page a story sure to depress,
And how many years must the poor cop die, before he’s allowed to some rest.
The answer my friend, is blowin’ in the wind, right up the Spitoon’s dress!
And for the record, HERE is a list of the REAL most dangerous jobs in the country. Do you see cop in there? Me neither. Professional mourners a weak minded and piss poor journalists!
http://www.businessinsider.com/most-dangerous-jobs-in-america-2014-12
p.s.s. GF has had some really dirty cops over the years. Hell, just ask their ex-wives! They’ll tell ya. Right Cold Case?
And by GOD if they didn’t do it again! Or as Brittney Spears would say, OOPS, I did it again! Even MORE hard hitting news from Montana’s premiere jr. high newspaper! They get a topic, they RUN with it! Forever! Endlessly!
You see, for a while we had the oldest man in the world living in here in GF. We were treated to stories about this interesting man maybe two, three times a week for YEARS until the guy finally passed. And then, we had follow up stories for another couple of years. Eventually, the dead guy lost traction. But by GOD the Spitoon gave the guy the next best thing to eternal life, eternal SPITTON coverage! Front page! Beat THAT Jeezus!
And now, eternal life for another dude. But really, ya gotta ask, is THIS what the readers pay this moron paper for? Endless coverage of dead dudes in STEAD of actual news that affects their lives?
Pretty friggin’ pathetic I’d say. Time to move on, Spitoon morons, for you’re starting to besmirch the guy’s memory with your bullshit coverage! Again, it’s called a FUNERAL so that we might have some closure. Ever heard of it? Apparently not!
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/local/2015/05/16/week-healing-dunn-family-sheriffs-department/27440985/
That’s all we get now in the paper is cops news and military news. Yep! Those are the two most important matters in the lives of GF residents!!!
HAPPY POLICE WEEK, Great Falls! Same thing happens here. I can remember a number of incidents in which the cops shot guys in the back who were running away! Oh, and the beatings? Common place, common practice! But by GOD and thunder mayor stumpy winters thinks our “heroes” can do no wrong! And so does the GF Spitoon! I think we should have at least THREE OR FOUR police weeks annually! They could trot out their tanks for a nice military parade!
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/05/breaking-grand-jury-indicts-baltimore-cops-for-assault-and-manslaughter-against-freddie-gray/comments/#disqus
Yet a NOTHER hard hitting editorial from the GF Spitoon about their “heroes”! Hmm. Let’s see. If my calculations are correct, with the number of employees the Spitoon has, they should be able to print heartfelt testimonials about the heroes for about some FIVE YEARS!…….they’re beginning to look a wee bit simple minded down there along the river!
If it wasn’t for the thin blue flame line and the military, there would be NO news at’all in the Falls!
Oh, and wait. Church news! Now we are treated to church news! Like some old reruns of SNL, we get treated to their favorite characters over and over and over again! For really, when you think about it, what’s more important than that?!
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/opinion/guest-opinions/2015/05/21/tribune-soapbox-academy-shows-hearts-beneath-badge/27731739/
But in the Spitoon’s defense, at LEAST they didn’t dig up the dead guy this time! Guess their savin’ that for their next worker to write about their phallic like worship of the boys in the thing blue flame line!
The ONLY proper use if the stars and bars. As more and more inbreds from down south move up here to flood our welfare rolls, I thought that THIS roll might be more appropriate for them!
http://a4.ec-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/118/79ba37b8c4b052ff2f3a635981a36eea/l.jpg