grannyinsanity - on the edge in montana

Over and Above the Call of Duty

2009-05-25T00:20:00.002-06:00

I want to win this contest, and I want the book to be autographed (the last friend to send me her book did not autograph it- beautiful poetry that doesn't get a mention here because she didn't write anything personal in it.

I know that it is 26 minutes after midnight my time, but I am going to meet with Deputy Director of the Senate Finance Committee Bill Dauster on Tuesday about single payer healthcare. Send me your story by noon on Tuesday and I will tell him what you said.

Susie, ask farmer why I deserve this book, I am sure he will tell you.

Desperation

2009-04-27T01:08:00.002-06:00

The old push to copyright the phrase " The Last Best Place" was just plain wrong and dumb.

Now Leo Babuta is being pushed to put a trademark symbol by a common phrase.

I sometimes think that things haven't changed much.

Bad Idea Obama Bank Plan

2009-03-23T22:50:00.000-06:00

It's just like the Bush administration all over again. Sheesh.

Single Mother's Desire

2009-02-03T00:40:00.003-07:00

Susan Courtad really wants to reparent Ann Coulter so that she could be a decent human being. It would be a crying shame to pass over any article written like this

Get a haircut! Honey, how many times do we have to have this conversation? Eight inches off your locks and eight onto your hemline would make you look younger and less like the strippers you write about. I promise you won’t look like Katie Couric, so try it just this once. For me?

So very much fun there.

OBAMA!

2008-11-05T18:37:00.001-07:00

We earned this.

WHEW!

2008-10-19T20:11:00.002-06:00

Being a Democrat is hard work these days. I have been so busy slaughtering innocent babies,taking peoples guns and killing their Gods that I barely have time to read all that email about how scary man Obama will ruin us all.

Okay my break time is over now.

John 3:16

2008-10-08T00:30:00.001-06:00

This little twist lets me feel almost normal again.

Push Polling Montanan's

2008-06-29T06:55:00.003-06:00

It has come to my attention that Some group called HART has employed GHY Research in Texas to do "telephone surveys"about people's preferences of Democrat or Republican for the election.

They asked about Obama/McCain, Schweitzer/Brown, and Baucus/Kelleher as well as feelings about health care.

The kicker comes at the end of the survey when the caller asks Which concerns you most about a Democrat run government?

a. Amnesty for illegal immigrants

b. Job loss and rising energy costs due to environmental legislation

c. High cost of Growing government

d. Gay rights and allowing gays to marry

e. Abortion

f. Losing the right to own a gun

g. Government run health care

or

h. Raising our taxes!

holy cowpies

Great Big Bugs!

2008-05-08T22:58:00.003-06:00

Hi everybody(more like anybody who might still happen to cruise by), I feel like I should tell you how crazy all this political mayhem has been making me. I am sorry that I had to abandon you all to the abyss of this last year of Cheney/Bush wretchedness, but I've had all that I can take.

Sometimes, when I am very very calm, the underpaid state shrinks loosen my jacket a little, then I am able to work the keyboard enough to let me find solace in the less repulsive world of bugs, amoeba, germs and visual descriptives of offal or scat.

I am starting to develop a peculiar fondness for giant walking sticks and burrowing cockroaches .

Anything is better than getting swept up in any more right wing political drama or institutional food.

Sayonara Hemoroid

2008-03-31T23:36:00.001-06:00

I wonder what they will do with the Alphonso Walls of Worship now?

Just For Fun

2008-03-08T22:51:00.002-07:00

Go through the beer and wine aisle in your grocery store, casually inform beer shoppers that any money they spend on Coors products will be spent to take their human rights away.

Every time Pizza Hut, Applebys, Olive Garden, et al comes up in conversation, inform the other parties that they belong to the Restaraunt Association that sepnds tens of million dollars every single year to convince Congress that their employees don't deserve to make any more money or be treated fairly.

What other trade secrets should we let our fellow citizens on in just for fun?

The Hunt Is ON!

2008-02-15T15:17:00.002-07:00

So I have been very busy with the finer things of life like vicarious shoe shopping, but I heard that we finally have another Democratic challenger for our single Congressional seat in D.C.

I heard from a couple of respected gentlemen that Jim Hunt is a very fine and decent man who will do us very proud. Apparently he is pretty well known in this area by persons who contribute to their communities by giving of themselves without fanfare or credit.

I feel better now.

Bankrupt Budget

2008-02-07T15:19:00.000-07:00

George Bush and his Reptilian yes men's morals are lower than a snake's belly

Neverending

2008-02-07T14:50:00.000-07:00

Pharmacies are collecting non medical information, the SEC has decided we can't keep our investments unless we give them information not related to our accounts, doctors offices and hospitals have begun photographing their patients...

Apparently that is not enough. Kit Bond says that our privacy will be protected by the committee and somebody at the FBI said that we would have more privacy when they do eye scans, palm prints and tattoo mapping.

What next, anal probes?

Finally!

2008-02-04T12:25:00.000-07:00

Yes Virginia, there IS an explanation why the 2007 Legislative session failed to solve the school funding issue.

* A team needs to have an effective team-leader — again, although intuitive, yet it's vital to the success of a team.
* Most team-failure is due to either an ineffective leader or other team-players trying to interfere with that leading role.

* An effective team-leader is able to:
* delegate appropriate responsibility to each team-member,
* oversee the overall operation of the team project,
* communicate with each team-member so the parts can fit together seamlessly,
* most importantly, assign the right person to do the right job.

and

* Our research shows that most team failure is due to the inability to cooperate and collaborate among team-members.
* One of the reasons why cooperation and collaboration failed is because of the wrong people being assigned to the wrong job.
* Essentially, it is the failure of the team-leader, and consequently, the failure of the team-members.

Extreme Weather in China?

2008-02-04T07:16:00.000-07:00

I don't even know what I was looking for when I found this.

SCO Secretary-General issues statement on natural disasters in China
The Secretariat of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is expressing sympathy to the families of those who have suffered from the unprecedented extreme weather conditions in southern and north-western regions of the People’s Republic of China.
The major natural disaster disrupted the normal operation of factories, damaged transport networks, power lines and other life supporting facilities, severely compounded the movement of a large number of passengers by rail, road and air in the run-up to the Chinese New Year celebrations.
The urgent measures introduced by the leadership, ministries and departments of the PRC to provide emergency response, including the launch of a mechanism of eliminating consequences of natural disasters, ensuring the security of population in affected regions and restoring normal passenger traffic, are yielding positive results.
Against the backdrop of the continuing natural anomaly the vigorous efforts of the Chinese government to repair damaged parts of the transport, energy and industrial infrastructure and to bring the economy back to normal are deserving the recognition and moral support of all friendly states.
The relevant articles of the Treaty on Long-term Good-neighbourliness, Friendship and Cooperation among the SCO Member States signed in 2007 envisage provision of mutual assistance in eliminating consequences of natural disasters and technical emergencies.
As neighbours and friends, the SCO states are standing with the people of the People’s Republic of China at the time of the major natural disaster.

Bolat Nurgaliev
Secretary-General
02 February 2008

FOX Guarding Stock Market?

2008-01-29T12:03:00.000-07:00

Really now.

Is it true that Clear Channel is skidding the slopes to junk bond territory?

Johnathan Adelstein is concerned

Media consolidation has really degraded the quality of a lot of what people see in the media. When they see the level of gratuitous material that they don’t consider appropriate for their children, they can thank the unrivaled consolidation in the media for some of it. You’ve had massive consolidation in recent years, and that’s resulted in these big multinational conglomerates that are chasing the bottom line ahead of all else and will sensationalize things, cut back on news and information and really put all kinds of content on there that people are embarrassed to watch with their children. … I think it’s a crisis. Its also a crisis for the broader country because we want to make sure there’s a diversity of voices so that one booming powerful media conglomerate can’t disproportionately affect the political discourse in any one community or nationwide.

interesting, indeed.

Is Now a Good Time?

2008-01-24T23:56:00.000-07:00

Is now a good time for Congress to slap some maximum rate ceilings on the credit card companies?

Stop The Spying. Org

2008-01-24T23:48:00.000-07:00

* Action Alert: Your Photos and Videos Needed at
StopTheSpying.org!

Let's show our elected representatives that we the people
-- concerned Americans and voters from across the country
-- oppose telecom immunity. Visit StopTheSpying.org for
details on making photos and videos to drive the point
home: no immunity for lawbreaking telecoms!
http://www.stopthespying.org

The Senate has begun discussing telecom immunity and the
FISA Amendments Act on the Senate floor, and by many
indications a vote is imminent. Congress needs to hear from
citizens like you on this issue!

It is likely that there will be several rounds of
amendments and filibusters in the Senate. In addition, the
House version of the surveillance bill does not include
immunity for telecoms, setting the stage for an inevitable
reconciliation of differences in the House and Senate bills
if the Senate does pass retroactive immunity. Congressional
champions that have so far remained resolute in rejecting
telecom immunity to defend the rule of law and privacy
rights need your support now more than ever!

So visit StopTheSpying.org now to speak out against telecom
immunity!

For the campaign's Flickr page featuring submitted photos:
http://flickr.com/photos/stopthespying

: . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . :

* Opposition to Telecom Immunity Swells

With Congress back in session and the Presidential election
season in full swing, the fight to prevent the
Administration from granting immunity to the telecoms for
illegal spying is heating up once again. Activists and
bloggers alike are keeping the heat on.

First, Credo Mobile (formerly Working Assets) urged its
members to write to Senators Clinton, Obama and McCain, the
three presidential candidates who are still in the Senate
and who have said that they would oppose immunity. The
results were tremendous: 67,000 emails were sent to the
Senators.

Meanwhile, Jane Hamsher from Firedoglake has been urging
folks to write to former Senator Edwards. Edwards can make
telecom immunity a debate issue for the presidential
candidates who still have a vote in Congress.

And of course, the amazing Glenn Greenwald continues to
point out how Senator Harry Reid has the power to help stop
the immunity train by supporting Senator Dodd and the
handful of others who are willing to lay down on the
tracks, but instead, Senator Reid seems to be shoveling in
more coal.

Additionally, the Melman Group, a national polling
organization commissioned by the ACLU, recently published a
poll finding that 57 percent of likely voters opposed
immunity for the telecommunications carriers that
participated in the government's warrantless surveillance
program, while only a third supported letting the telecoms
off the hook.

For the Melman Group poll:

For the complete post by EFF Senior Staff Attorney Kurt
Opsahl:
h
For this complete post by EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn:

(this post did not contain any original content.)

Shortchanging Internet Customers

2008-01-22T23:09:00.000-07:00

Did anybody else notice the launch of the little story about test driving graduated rates for internet customers the other day?

I see alternate health and philosophy being swallowed in large gulps. Practice waving goodbye to anything but Britney spears gossip folks, the information control wars are set to set to march.

Corn Fed Commedian

2008-01-17T23:25:00.000-07:00

I do not know. Truly I do not know what is going on, but I turned the TeeVee on to watch E.R. and didn't get around to turning it off, but there is a very OBESE man on Jay Leno (who apparently does not believe that his writers deserve to be paid fairly for their work--writer's strike, if I'm out of the loop on this let me know.).

The fat man was on some ignorant tirade about English as our official language.

Sounds great, really-until you realize that it is plain old ignorant to go about life without knowing what our neighbors think about or want from us.

WHY ON EARTH WOULD OUR PUBLIC MEDIA BE SELLING US ON THE IDEA OF WEAKENING OURSELVES ANY MORE THAN WE ALREADY ARE?

Iranian Swiftboats

2008-01-17T20:08:00.000-07:00

Ok you do know that those speed boats were just Miami Vice shots right.

Odds of Dying

2007-12-06T13:12:00.000-07:00

Active smoking: 1 in 771

Adult obesity: 1 in 2681

Intentional injury: 1 in 2810

Medical errors: 1 in 3061

Terrorism: Nearly nothing

Perchloroethylene (dry cleaning solvent):1 in 5,882,352

Did you get the part where the odds of terrorism related death weren't large enough to assign a number to?

Tell me again why we let them waste our money, planet, children, future and reputation with the flimsy and false excuse of war and security?

source

Abstinence Only?

2007-12-05T23:31:00.000-07:00

U.S. teen births rise for first time since 1991

In 2006 birth rate overall climbed to highest level since 1971, report finds

Additional bonus frenzy for the rising STD rates!

Yay! Drinking Liberally Fridays at Five p.m.

2007-12-05T23:25:00.000-07:00

I heard a rumor that Drinking Liberally will be going on Fridays at five p.m. at Reds Wines and Blues.

Should be fun!

Poker, Fishing or Test Pattern

2007-11-18T02:42:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share my television choices with you all.

They are fishing Rays, but I think they are killing them too.

Worst Movie Ever

2007-11-18T01:31:00.000-07:00

I think I'm watching it now. Pierce Brosnan and Linda Beauty and the Beast Terminator Chick driving under water in a volcano that makes everyone including helicopters wreck . Everyone except her two young children who drive up the mountain to get grandma.

I don't have a clue what it is, but this movie is really bad.

My other choice is hunting. Wait, ABC23 is showing Stargate instead of it's usual test pattern.

Stargate it is.

I Had to Copy Lambert

2007-11-17T22:39:00.000-07:00

hmmm

Diary of a Mad Voter

2007-11-12T18:52:00.000-07:00

I have to agree.

Max, Jon, please do something that needs to be done!

Orson's right, fix the bear scat stinking mess the neocons have dumped on us.

Infant Mortality

2007-11-12T11:48:00.000-07:00

How do you like this one for a source of national pride?

The rate at which infants die in the United States has dropped substantially over the past half-century, but broad disparities remain among racial groups, and the country stacks up poorly next to other industrialized nations.

In 2004, the most recent year for which statistics are available, roughly seven babies died for every 1,000 live births before reaching their first birthday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. That was down from about 26 in 1960.

Babies born to black mothers died at two and a half times the rate of those born to white mothers, according to the CDC figures.

The United States ranks near the bottom for infant survival rates among modernized nations. A Save the Children report last year placed the United States ahead of only Latvia, and tied with Hungary, Malta, Poland and Slovakia.

The same report noted the United States had more neonatologists and newborn intensive care beds per person than Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom — but still had a higher rate of infant mortality than any of those nations.

Doctors and analysts blame broad disparities in access to health care among racial and income groups in the United States.

Not surprisingly, the picture is far bleaker in poorer countries, particularly in Africa. A 2005 World Health Organization report found infant mortality rates as high as 144 per 1,000 births — more than 20 times the U.S. rate — in Liberia.

Memphis fights its infant mortality rate

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The first thing you notice is how tiny they are: Row upon row of babies, some no older than this day, hooked to grotesque jumbles of tubes. Press your palm against the incubator wall and the infant inside disappears from view.

It takes a while for something much sadder to occur to you: In a room full of newborns, dozens of them, there is no crying. The sound of beeping heart monitors, the rustle and murmur of observing doctors, but no crying.

"They're too small and too sick to cry," explains a passing nurse.

This is the newborn intensive care unit of the Regional Medical Center of Memphis, universally known around this city as The Med, perhaps two miles from the blues clubs and rib joints of Beale Street.

And these are the children with a fighting chance.

Some of them, a small fraction, will join the sparse field of little corpses buried in wooden boxes at the county cemetery, distinguished only by little metal plates and identification numbers, perhaps remembered with a stray and shriveled balloon.

Others will go home with mothers in a few days, a week, a year, and they will begin a life fighting impossible odds in this city's worst neighborhoods, forging a struggle against poverty entrenched for generations.

A 2002 federal report put this city at the top of the list for infant deaths in American cities: 692 dead babies over a four-year span, a rate of more than 15 deaths for every 1,000 births, more than twice the U.S. average.

Broken down by ZIP code, centering on the poorest places in this very poor city, there are spots where babies die at a higher rate than they do in some Third World countries.

Some health officials object to that characterization because the figures are small enough to call their statistical significance into question. But no one denies that there is an epidemic of dead babies here.

It is difficult to explain exactly why. It is even more difficult to say whether it will get significantly better any time soon.

Ask people here about their city and they are quick to acknowledge the problems — particularly poverty and racial disharmony, the one exacerbating the other for decades.

They also will physically grab your arm and insist that this is a place with a lot of people pulling for it. And trying very hard, desperately, to figure out a way to save more of the smallest among them.

___

Infant mortality gets reported and tracked and scoured for trends in the agate box scores of medical journals, right along with lung cancer and tuberculosis and heart disease. But it is a different animal entirely.

It is not something you catch. There is no vaccine. There is no prescription to make it better. It is not really even something you can describe, beyond the umbrella definition: Infant mortality is a child who never turns 1.

It includes babies born after just five- or six-month pregnancies, children who enter the world with holes in their hearts or devastated lungs and who die in their mothers' arms.

It includes babies born to mothers who simply do not know about sudden infant death syndrome — "crib death" — and who suffocate from being placed on their stomachs to sleep.

It includes babies born into poor homes with unguarded space heaters or chemicals within easy reach under the sink, children who are fed potato chips and Coca-Cola and die of malnutrition.

The U.S. infant mortality rate is just under seven for every 1,000 live births, according to the most recent figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Global reports consistently place the United States near the worst among industrialized nations; analysts have blamed extreme disparity in the health-care quality depending on race and income level.

But here in Memphis, a few other statistics drive home both the severity and the intractability of the problem:

_In 1990, about 20 black babies died for every 1,000 born in Shelby County, and about seven white. In 2006, the numbers were little changed: 19 black, seven white.

_Premature birth and low birth weight are by far the biggest causes of infant death. In 2002, they accounted for about a quarter of infant deaths in Shelby County; in 2006 the figure was more than 31 percent.

_Shelby County lost 209 babies in 2006, according to state Health Department data. No other Tennessee County lost more than 93.

And it is a problem with yawning demographic disparities. In Shelby County, which includes Memphis, about 17 black babies died for every 1,000 born in 2004. For whites, it was about six. Statistical maps that track infant mortality in the county darken ominously in Memphis' poorest neighborhoods.

"It touches on every inequality and unfairness you can think of in our day-to-day life," says Dr. Sheldon Korones, who started The Med's newborn intensive care unit in 1968 and still roams it day and night.

Korones, who is 83 years old, speaks in a whisper and literally laughs off the question of retirement, is still this city's foremost expert on infant deaths, and he seems haunted by the problem's intractability.

He filled out a psychiatric questionnaire once. One of the questions was: What gives you the most pleasure?

His answer was: Turning blue babies pink.

___

There are foot soldiers in Memphis' war on its infant death problem — medical, governmental, religious. And then there are people like Rosanna Stepney, an AmeriCorps volunteer.

She was assigned to Porter-Leath, a Memphis nonprofit children's center. And now she is holding the hand — figuratively and, once in a while, literally — of a 19-year-old named Crystal Owens, steering her through her first year as a mother.

Today Stepney is driving through the streets of Hollywood in north Memphis, a place with all the telltale pockmarks of poverty in an American city — graffiti and closed shops, cracked roads with leaning street signs, glares at the unfamiliar.

The topics today are stress management and nutrition — the former for Crystal and the latter for Jaquarius Butler, her 4-month old son, who is smiling up and giggling from an infant seat on the floor of the sparse home where Crystal lives.

(Where Crystal "stays," as she puts it. Her mother kicked her out of the house after learning she was pregnant with her boyfriend's child. The boyfriend's mother has taken them in.)

Things are improving: Crystal has found a job, as a cashier at Burger King, and has begun taking night classes. She had no job, no classes and no prenatal care when Stepney approached her, two months pregnant, at their church.

They navigated the pregnancy together, and now they are navigating Jaquarius' first year. On this visit, Stepney is concerned about Crystal's newly packed schedule. "Exercise is good for you," she says. "Or relax in the bathtub."

For Jaquarius, Stepney recommends Peek-a-boo and baby push-ups.

"And start him on the cereal," she says. "That's a four- to six-months food. Make sure he gets his proper vegetables and fruits. If he doesn't want to eat it, you know, just put a little applesauce on there."

These are the basics. Many young mothers in Memphis are lacking prenatal care, and with it they are lacking some of the most basic dos and don'ts about carrying a child to term.

Margaret Taylor, a nurse midwife who works at a Christ Community Health Services on a particularly gloomy section of Broad Avenue in Memphis, can tick off what she hears:

If you raise your hands over your head your baby will become wrapped in the umbilical cord. If you feel sick, open the medicine cabinet, any bottle will do. Or just as bad: Stay away from everything in the medicine cabinet.

"I've been in health care for 28 years," Taylor says. "There have been so many programs over time. But you still have women that don't take advantage of it. So you have to look at the culture. What makes people believe things that have no medical basis? It's been passed down."

___

A pickup truck and a backhoe show up on the days, usually Tuesdays and Thursdays with good weather, when babies are buried at the county cemetery. The first carries the little wooden coffins, and the second digs the hole, maybe three feet wide, where they are placed a foot apart.

The caretaker is an ordained minister named Robert Savage who has done the job for three decades, and some days before or after driving in the takes to mark the numbered plates above the coffins, he will offer humble comfort to families who show up there. The mothers are often missing, still in the hospital.

In 2005, the local newspaper here, The Commercial Appeal, published an award-winning series called Born to Die that all but forced the people of Memphis and Shelby County and their leaders to confront the ghastly infant mortality figures.

It told the heartbreaking story of a 19-year-old mother named Fredesha Bradley who gave birth to twins; one who died of seizures in intensive care and one who survived and slept face-down in a bed, with a baseball bat nearby for safety.

Nine babies in the family's last three generations had failed to turn 1.

The newspaper series landed on this town like a lead safe.

"Folks had no idea it was this bad," says Yvonne Madlock, who heads the city and county health department.

Within a year, the state of Tennessee — ranked 48th in the nation for infant mortality — had launched a program called 1 For All that took aim at all sides of the problem, encouraging healthier pregnancies and preaching how to care for children.

Still, Madlock acknowledges, the obstacles can seem daunting.

Maybe a young mother-to-be can't get sick leave to see her doctor. Time off is money lost for rent. Maybe she's in denial, and doesn't even have the pregnancy confirmed until the baby has already been harmed. Maybe she is ashamed to visit a clinic. Maybe she has no insurance.

"I'm not crazy. I'm not Pollyanna," Madlock says. "Change isn't immediate. Certain things just take sustained effort."

While devoted health officials here have been working quietly on the problem for years, only in the past two years did Memphis and Shelby County launch a broad, coordinated attack.

The governor's office committed more than $3 million in grants to boost grass-roots programs that try to keep women of childbearing age healthy and to pay for better equipment and add workers at city health clinics.

At the moment, health leaders in Memphis are placing their faith in a relatively new idea called "centering pregnancy," which gathers about a dozen women with similar due dates and coaches them through their pregnancies. They take their own measurement at each meeting, call each other with questions.

The idea: Solve the medical problem by getting vital prenatal care to women who otherwise might not have it, and chip away at the social problem by building a community who women who trust and rely on each other, and perhaps as well at some of the shame and inaccurate information that may have been passed down in families.

Two studies in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, including one that came out this August, have found the models led women to be better prepared to handle their pregnancies. One of the two studies also found the model led to higher birth weight, especially for premature babies.

The county has the program up and running at one of its clinics, with plans for two more soon. And Christ Community, where Taylor works, is expecting a state grant soon to start one of its own.

Taylor, who wears earrings depicting babies in the womb — head down, the optimal way, she points out when a guest inquires about them — can barely contain her excitement.

"They are acknowledged. They are heard," she says. "They interact with each other. It produces a community support for each other. You're actually growing a community and teaching women to take care of themselves."

___

Sheldon Korones grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and his grandfather, a Russian Jewish immigrant, was a wainwright, a powerful man who fixed wagons.

The grandfather observed the Sabbath on Saturday, and closed his shop then and worked instead on Sunday, in violation of city blue laws. One Sunday he was working on a wagon, chained to an anvil to keep it in place, when the cops showed up and ordered him to stop.

The police picked up a sledgehammer and went for the chain. The man puts his fists there and said, "You break the hands first."

That is, at 83, how Korones sees his work. You would have to break his hands to stop him from trying to save the babies who keep turning up at the intensive care unit he started 40 years ago.

And yet it is difficult to spend much time talking with him and come away feeling anything but despair for the babies in this city where babies die at such an alarming rate.

"We have treated 48,000 babies here," he says. "Infant mortality is still a problem, and the reason for that, my friend, is we are after the fact. We're a Band-Aid. As soon as a premature baby is born, society has failed."

But the statistics: When the intensive care unit was started, about a quarter of the babies who arrived there died. Last year, the unit admitted 1,200 and lost just 35, about 2 percent. Twenty of the 35 weighed less than 2 pounds.

"I've watched this problem since the days of LBJ," he says. "I've gone to meeting after meeting and we're saying the same damn thing we said back there. I started as a man possessed. And I remain a man possessed."

ed notes: both articles were cut and pasted in their entirety because they disappear so rapidly.

While You're Not Watching T.V.

2007-11-11T14:28:00.000-07:00

There's a STRIKE, dont'cha know?

Maybe do the Pipecleaner Dance instead.

Are You a Liberal?

2007-11-10T14:00:00.000-07:00

I was refered to this so-called "happiness expert", and found this hateful pile of misinformation deceptively packaged as a self help quiz asking "Are You a Liberal?"

Now I must go through some self purification ritual lest I give in to the compulsion to gauge my eyes out.

Ron Paul Revolution

2007-11-09T06:45:00.000-07:00

We have a fairly decent sized group of young men who have been holding weekly meetings for months on end. They have home made posters splashed all over town, wear Ron Paul t-shirts and hand out flyers at all kinds of community gatherings.

Funny, but I keep hearing so much more about Britney Spears than Ron Paul and that Edwards guy who actually came to Missoula

Hunger in the Flathead

2007-10-31T00:47:00.000-06:00

If you don't already know it, many of these people are already working at least one low paying job here.

Flathead agencies serving the poor struggle to keep up
In the proverbial sense, Lori Botkin is crying over spilled milk.

As director of the Flathead Food Bank, it’s Botkin’s job to see that the food bank’s five branch pantries provide nutritious food to the Flathead’s poorest residents. Milk is one of the basics, but a large supplier has dried up.

This year, the food bank has gotten 62,000 fewer pounds of food from area grocery stores that have long provided products a day or two past the expiration date.

*
Most of the decreased poundage is milk that’s no longer flowing.

“It’s a liability issue for grocery stores and it’s unfortunate,” Botkin said, explaining that grocery stores simply don’t want to risk getting sued by providing outdated food. “My milk purchase has more than doubled. I’ve spent $10,000 on milk this year.”

And with milk prices hovering around $3 a gallon these days, the food bank’s budget isn’t stretching as far as it used to.

In addition to the decrease in grocery-store donations, Flathead Food Bank is short nearly 20,000 pounds this year from private donations. Yet the food bank has given out 708 more food baskets this year than at this point in 2006.

“Fortunately our monetary donations are up a little this year,” Botkin said.

Trying to find enough food for the food bank’s 250 families every week is a constant struggle.

“THE NEED will grow,” predicted June Munski-Feenan, the tireless coordinator of the North Valley Food Bank in Whitefish. “There are a lot of single parents and just plain low-income folks. We’re in a wealthy area, but it’s two classes almost.”

The Whitefish-based food bank has its own wild game processing center, where fresh road-killed animals are cut and wrapped.

“We’re the only one doing wild game,” Munski-Feenan said proudly. “We’ve got the crew. Hill Brothers [towing company] loads the big animals. They’re super.”

Is CBS Pushing a Political Agenda?

2007-10-23T04:21:00.000-06:00

I am extremely leery of their in depth story on defensive medicine.

The reason probably has something to do with the fact that the centerpiece of their story is supposedly the Dr's daughter, but she went to the emergency room without consulting him before, during or after.

He learned of it when he got the bill. Miraculously, he knew which tests should have been done and that he had been cover charged by $8,500 right off the bat, AND HE HAD THE CONNECTIONS To GET FEATURED IN A CBS IN DEPTH STORY.

I especially loved the tips for service shopping and price comparisons in the emergency room, don't you?

Do you think his daughter didn't trust his professional judgement or that some combination of he's not a Dr., she's not his daughter because this story was the brainchild of a rogue public relations firm?

Hero

2007-10-23T03:23:00.000-06:00

Did I see something about a new hero, Bush wearing his dog tag replicas under his clothes?

I love heros, too.

Pat Tillman, Jessica Lynch, somebody remind me who the other ones were, please.

1-800-828-0498

2007-10-22T23:46:00.000-06:00

Congressional Switchboard, call it to back up Dodd, Feingold in their quest to protect the constitution.

Filibuster,

Maybe we should remember to mention that there is a trail of dirty Teleco money that leads all the way to Senator Rockefeller's pockets that proves now is a good time as any to make some loud public noise about the need for public financing.

Flabbergasted

2007-10-22T21:42:00.000-06:00

If I read this correctly, Blackwater is what the Small Business Administration considers a small business.

Look at the Heritage Foundation

2007-10-20T15:47:00.000-06:00

Posting so much stuff on you tube as if they weren't already spending a wadzillion bucks manipulating public opinion anyway.

awww!

Oh Look, a possible explaination!

Wash Post' Explores Tawdry Divorce Details Involving Richard Scaife

By E&P Staff

Published: October 22, 2007 4:55 PM ET

NEW YORK When the messy divorce proceeding involving billionaire conservative funder -- and owner of The Tribune-Review daily in Pittsburgh -- Richard Mellon Scaife went public, you had to know it would get tawdry before it was over. The battle over the couple's dogs now seem like the innocent days, in the wake of an epic report in today's Washington Post by David Segal...

[snip]

Remember him? The cantankerous, reclusive 75-year-old billionaire who's spent a sizable chunk of his inherited fortune bankrolling conservative causes and trying to kneecap Democrats? He's best known for funding efforts to smear then-President Bill Clinton, but more quietly he's given in excess of $300 million to right-leaning activists, watchdogs and think tanks. Atop his list of favorite donees: the family-values-focused Heritage Foundation, which has published papers with titles such as "Restoring a Culture of Marriage."

Sugar Daddy's money could be stuck somewhere else.

-ed. em, mine

What's He Up To Now?

2007-10-17T08:53:00.000-06:00

I get very suspicious every time Junior Bush calls these press conferences like the one he's got going right now.

Do you suppose that he really doesn't know that the reason bills aren't making it to his desk is because the Republicans have everything filibustered?

Is he ignorant or manipulating the average uninformed citizen?

What do you think?

Montana Faith Community Impact Summit

2007-10-10T22:43:00.000-06:00

Let me just tell everybody that Max Baucus and his staff did a terriffic job pulling it all together.

It was good, very good.

Update:

Max will be giving the Democrat's weekly radio address this weekend.

Digby delves into the right wing brew haha about helping children who aren't destitute and unwashed as conservatives would have them be in the style that only Digby can. You will be so much wiser after you read what she had to say about the whole soulless shamefest the conservatives and Randians have been trying to pull off.

318 - a New First in the Flathead

2007-09-30T10:03:00.000-06:00

We had 318 paid dinners for the Flathead Democrat's Harvest Dinner last night. Apparently that has never been done before.

It's not even an election year!

The Republicans, they will have to sit in their own messes. Unless they decide to run as Democrats.

Unless they like, Loonybits Lange, who spoke at the Pachyderm meeting the other day are suddenly against the war while promoting their non stop stories of job creation by removal of all public health and safty regulations because (not in quotes because this is my take on inside spy's recantation of Lange's speech)the minimum wage law put Lange out of business.

That's right, Lange was forced out of business by greedy employees who wanted to wanted to cut back to only three extra people sharing their barely heated homes and Smack Ramen twice a day lifestyle.

Yes, we truly want our jobs to allow us to eat Top and not Smack Ramen. Those pennies do add up at the minimum wage or below level. They do.

Lange and the current force of the Republican party seem to believe that any working person who actually ekes out a living is getting more than they deserve, that they are taking what rightfully belongs to some faceless billionaire who signs the checks.

Hmmm.

Is it any wonder the Flathead Democrats sold out their dinner last night?

Missing Nuke?

2007-09-16T14:18:00.000-06:00

Were there really six nuclear weapons that inexplicably disappeared from North Dakota ? Is it true that only five of those weapons showed up in Louisiana?

Is four or six the number of airmen from the Minot base who died in an accident, from suicide or as yet unexplained reasons?

Does it matter?

I kind of miss my nice padded room, I think I'll head back that way now...

Ethics Investigation??????

2007-08-29T02:28:00.000-06:00

The Ruling Republicans refused to investigate:

Diebold, Sequoia, ES&S

9-11

Illegal propoganda

Intelligence manipulation leading to the Iraq war

War profiteering

Torture

Tom DeLay

Jeff Gannon

The NSA running out of power

Alberto Gonzales

The Katrina Non response

The later Katrina non reconstruction headed up by Karl Rove

Bin Laden, why was his family given expedited no questions asked free ride out of town?

Now, there is a rumor thata Republican Idaho homophobic Senator, Larry Craig, has a penis that he takes to the restroom with him:

The Ruling Republicans call an investigation

WTF?

Brainhell's Death Viganette Winner

2007-08-26T16:00:00.000-06:00

I know this is so three days ago, but Brainhell chose it and I agree it was the best:

President-elect Hillary Clinton died yesterday felating blogger brainhell as the pair bungee jumped. The line broke, killing both jumpers, and Vice-President-elect Newt Gingrich will become America's 44th president.

Jason, is, after all into absurdity in sports and pop culture.

Republican's Deny Party Split

2007-08-24T19:26:00.000-06:00

They all get along just great in the Flathead despite the chasm that exists between my young hate fed winger friend and the the accomplished woman who swears that her party will surely lose everything due to their support of every irresponsible far fetched right wing wet dream imaginable.

My eyebrows are truly stuck behind my shoulderblades right now.

Who Put Chertoff In Charge of the World?

2007-08-17T02:45:00.000-06:00

I tell you this snooping and bullying and ninny picking has got to stop and we need to elect a Congress to make sure it does.

Speaking of Congress, where are all those Republicans going as they simultaneously slither off center stage anyway?

The Worst is Still to Come?

2007-08-17T01:45:00.000-06:00

"The sector that will determine if the market is bottoming or not is the banking sector and we don't know how much damage has been done or to whom yet."

We've known this was comming down the tubes for a long time, that the only thing propping it up was the rest of the world's need to tiptoe around the exit rather than stampede through it.

Small wonder that Digby said "The elites are apparently fed up with the state of the country under George Bush."

Forcing Good News Under the Wire

2007-08-16T14:55:00.000-06:00

How common is it for the Washington Post to release the good financial news to offset the bad financial news of the day a half an hour before quitting time?

Rats, Ship

2007-08-16T14:42:00.000-06:00

Color me suspicious for kenning this is little more than a flashy reseeding scam.

We're All Lab Rats Now

2007-08-15T23:56:00.000-06:00

Lest anyone get the idea that we should be afforded the most basic privacy rights because we are human, you should examine the eye in the sky.

via avedon

Flathead Dems to Explain Property Tax Rebate

2007-08-15T01:41:00.000-06:00

Senator Dan Weinberg along with Representatives Mike Jopek and Doug Cordier will be at the home of the lovely Jo Ann Blake at noon on August 15 to explain how to cash in on the $400.00 property tax rebate.

I know that I don't usually get quite so vocal about local issues here, but I was recently confronted with an obvious right wing smear about how Governor Schweitzer wouldn't even compromise on property tax rebates.

Excuse me folks, but there truly does come a time, usually after you give up the idea that moving back in with your parents will solve your financial problems, that responsible adults do not carelessly spend money without making sure that money will be there.

That reminds me of the way our local Republicans took something like twelve votes statewide as some kind of mandate to abolish our public education system then hid like cowards to let Governor Schweitzer take the blame for what they did.

Something So Right

2007-08-15T01:15:00.000-06:00

I can't explain it, but it seems like it should have always been this way

How About Those Healthy Forests?

2007-08-14T09:26:00.000-06:00

I think I heard that the Jocko fire by Seely Lake was the number one priority in the nation.

Does anybody know how all the thinned out areas are comparing to the rest of it?

Most Astonishing Health Disaster of the 20th Century

2007-08-14T01:33:00.000-06:00

This youtube video, informative as it is , is a production of Joseph Mercola of ehealthy News You Can Use and a first rate pit stop for all you Ron Paul followers out there.

The video and the newsletter are both worth a look, I'm interested in what your opinions on them are.

It's Better to Know Now

2007-08-06T22:57:00.000-06:00

Will Joe Lieberman be endorsing the Republican candidate for President in 2008?

What excuse do you suppose he might offer?

Come on, take a guess or two.

The Fire Map

2007-08-06T17:20:00.000-06:00

I swiped it from Courtney because I know you want it, but she's got links to things I wouldn't dream about taking.

Meanwhile I can't see or breathe very well at all...

Forest Fires and Forced Enemas

2007-08-03T03:51:00.000-06:00

Google away!

(sometimes I do wonder what people have on their minds though...)

Infrastructure Sucks

2007-08-03T00:11:00.000-06:00

Give the rich another tax cut!

Supporting bridges for those who can't make it on their own.

Sinking money into levy's for those who don't walk on water.

It's all a days work for rat bastard commie socialist sympathizers anyway.

What Does It All Mean Anyway?

2007-07-29T00:11:00.000-06:00

Is it true that the New York Times has finally let Josh Marshall know some of what Lambert has been documenting for practically an eternity?

Some stuff about the Supreme Court... Gonzales and impeachment, bipartisan "can't we all get along ?" itude-iveness... Karl Rove still works in the White House, prolly still gets his male hookers off the internet or delivered by a private military corporation...

Do you suppose that Harriet Myers spent the day getting a pedicure and a massage?

Public Announcement About My personal Life

2007-07-25T14:10:00.000-06:00

Let's just say that I had to check out politics for a more positive outlook on life.

Mercy, mercy me.

9/11 Truth Now in Kalispell

2007-07-17T11:34:00.000-06:00

I like to believe that I'm pretty connected up in my community because I'm so easy to talk to, apparently I missed the boat or plane on one or more occasions because I don't have a clue who has plastered all our major intersections with 9/11 Triuth Now
posters.

Let me applaud my community , I love your courage and integrity.

Colleteral Damage

2007-07-11T21:28:00.000-06:00

What's a granny to do?

2007-06-27T21:07:00.000-06:00

Oh boy oh boy, i have to confess to a major energy shortage.

I don't know what to tell you about why I've given up writing and reading, I don't know what you said either. I'm sick. I'm heartbroken, worn out, damn tired and just plain sick I tell ya.

It's always this crime or that. One outrage or another, one insult and another. How long can this go on?

When my dear beloved and impossibly sexy friend wiped out his blog that was filled with reams of absolute proof of the crimes of G.W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Right wing Rove et al and their creepy cabal gang of overpaid on the dole for life thugs I was upset enough to confront him about the whole ordeal. His reply was that he recieved a spring garden catalogue and that he could not bear to spend the next so many planting seasons helplessly enmeshed in the heinous acts of the evil doer in chief, his almost housebroken extexas governor, and assorted six figure illiterate henchmen while our rulemakers punted and groaned between cashing large and enormously large corporate checks n lieu of real governance or responsibility of any kind at all.

It's been a year or two, but I finally understand. Oh yes I do.

I'm tired, I'm hungry, and in need of a bath. Soldiers die and money goes out the window faster than I can hear it. There is pollution, corruption, starvation, three quarters of a million non existent dead and or tortured Iraqis, media consolidation, voter intimidation and melamine in my dog food.

I'm tired, oh so weary.

What's a granny to do?

War Dead ? What War Dead?

2007-05-27T18:15:00.000-06:00

These war dead?

h/t Xan

Oh! The People You Meet!

2007-05-25T09:48:00.000-06:00

Tristero's new job inspired my decision to run NASA. Imagine the excitement of letting the grandbabies launch rockets into space.

I was quite surprised to make the aquaintance of Menopause Woman with her ability to overheat small planets in a flash, more surprised to learn that Social Security will fail because we keep aborting all the babies who would save it. That's what happens when your slave work force is vulnerable.

There was rampant speculation over dinner about how the health department knows which restaraunt employees don't wash their hands. We will continue to eat at home, thank-you very much.

Is Katie Couric pulling it out of her intestinal orifice? Ms Couric just reported that Al Gore was called "Mr. Stiff", now he's known as the "Goracle". I don't know if it's true or not. Once I had been lied into submission and bored beyond oblivion my alternatives were to believe what the corporate media says about absolutely everything or to spend my energy learning not to care so much anymore.

Learning not to care so much is hard work, hard work.

The Special Session Is Scheduled to Begin Thursday

2007-05-07T16:47:00.000-06:00

Courtesy of Montana Conservation Voters (MCV)

We've just heard that Governor Brian Schweitzer has called a special legislative session starting this Thursday, May 10. This session will not be limited to budget concerns but will also feature a debate over Schweitzer's "clean and green" energy plans.

There's more but it's too sunny and calm outside for me to get all worked up about the Republican scheme to convert our surplus into their own personal paychecks.

Hey Guv, What's the Rush?

2007-05-07T14:39:00.000-06:00

So there I was minding my own business when I was ever so rudely interrupted by one of the all night repeating infohypatainment stories about Texas Governor Goodhair's evangelical desperate zeal to dump his state's (golden goose) lottery system into the lap of some cash laden corporation for an infusion of some quick cash that he can "invest" right quick.

If the hair isn't standing up on the back of every Texas citizen's neck somebody should do emergency lead testing on their water supply.

International Respect For Chickens Day

2007-05-04T14:32:00.000-06:00

You didn't forget, did you?

The bad news is more Mad Cow:

BSE CASE CONFIRMED IN BRITISH COLUMBIA

OTTAWA, May 2, 2007 - The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has
confirmed the diagnosis of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in a
mature dairy cow from British Columbia. The animal's carcass is under CFIA
control, and no part of it entered the human food or animal feed
systems.

Preliminary information indicates that the age of the animal (66 months)
falls well within the age range of previous cases detected in Canada and is
consistent with the recognized average incubation period of the disease.
This signifies that the animal was exposed to a very small amount of
infective material, most likely during its first year of life.

An epidemiological investigation directed by international guidelines is
underway to identify the animal's herdmates at the time of birth and the
pathways by which it might have become infected. All findings will be
publicly released once the investigation concludes.

...

sorry, no link

Tester Asks Mercer to Resign

2007-05-02T14:30:00.000-06:00

Funny that I didn't hear about this on the Noon News.

Thank-you Jon!

Smoking Honeybees at the DOJ

2007-04-25T08:41:00.000-06:00

Consider the source, but FOX is reporting that THC may fight lung cancer tumors. THC, not Marinol. There is supposed to be something about it here although I haven't found it yet.

Mobile phones are the latest suspected cause for honeybee's colony collapse disorder.

In the UK, firms urged to give smokers time off with pay to try to kick habit. There is quite a difference in the way our government treats the issue. Huge difference.

Has Anyone Asked Them?

2007-04-19T10:23:00.000-06:00

You know I don't really remember the details about when the Montana Republican Party? NRA? Well funded Right Wing Group? went on a vicious attack against J.P.Pomonowski, Doug Cordier and another House Democrat were going to be responsible for all our dead friends and neighbors if people couldn't buy enough big ammo without identification or something like that.

I would ask them myself but you can see I'm just a little too hazy on the facts myself and it's almost time for more halcyion.

Data Mining Didn't Save Those 32 Lives

2007-04-19T10:12:00.000-06:00

The Patriot Act did not save those 32 lives. Neither did the war in Iraq. Not only did the Patriot Act, data mining and the Iraq War not save any of those lives, Homeland Security did not prevent that troubled young man from taking a two hour break to run a few errands in the middle of his killing spree.

Tell me again how forfeiting our basic human rights protects us.

The Presidential Prayer Posture

2007-04-16T14:36:00.001-06:00

There are days when I am truly shocked that God doesn't strike me down with a lightning bolt. In the midst of the tragedy that has occured in Virginia this morning, I watched George W. Bush give another one of those comforting speeches where he calls upon a loving God to make it all better, I find that today is one of those days.

Would that be all that was necessary, there would be nothing else to worry about.

I am personally very sorry about what has happened, but my greatest wish for the survivors and the families of the victims lies in the feeble hope that nobody in the Bush Administration will try to fix anything for them.

For what it's worth I will be working in a clear, flat area of the yard all afternoon.

Maybe you forgot that bad things tend to happen to people when this administration helps them. Iraq, Afghanistan, Katrina, Abstinence-only-AIDS- Programs... Oh yeah, their energy policy stings a bit too.

Leadership We Can Live With

2007-04-04T18:23:00.000-06:00

Under the Bush regime we've suffered more than six years of beligerant bullying, deception, incompetence, human rights abuses, loss of our treasury, reputation and other humiliations.

Leave it to a woman to lead by example, to show the kind of strength, integrity, decency and respect that let's the rest of the world that we're serious.

Nancy Pelosi is the person we need to be our President right now.

KPAX TV Passing Out Propaganda

2007-04-02T00:41:00.000-06:00

So the pretty, dark haired anchor who was not Jill Valley, didn't balk when she reported that John Mccain's assertion about the safety of Baghdad's streets. She did mention the six U.S. soldiers who were later killed there, but she didn't say a single word about what it took to give John McCaine his few minutes of it's tough but oh so encouraging speech today.

Aspell reports that McCain's "stroll" today through a Baghdad market was guarded by 100 American soldiers, three Blackhawk helicopters, and two Apache gunships.

In his Dukakis-in-a-tank moment, McCain himself wore a bulletproof vest on his stroll.

Coincidentaly, ABC's World News tonight also neglected to mention that Senator McCain was escorted by 100 American soldiers, three Blackhawk helicopters, and two Apache gunships.

Maybe KPAX could team up with our own Frank Meile to challenge Senator McCaine to replicate that feat right here in America. Say Senator, would 100 American soldiers, three Blackhawk helicopters, and two Apache gunships be enough cover for you to attempt walking by the level four lab in Hamilton, Mt.?

It's April First

2007-04-01T13:33:00.000-06:00

Does everybody know what day it is?

Erich Blumrich Violates Patriot Act ???

2007-04-01T12:59:00.000-06:00

The website that you are attempting to visit is currently offline, pending investigation of possible violations of §802 of the USA PATRIOT Act.

Prepare, plan, stay informed at Ready.Gov

I got wind of a rumor that he may have been arrested by Homeland Security so I typed his name into my browser. There was an

http://www.bushflash.com/

address with this on the page. I have no idea what it all means.

wait and see.

Department of Precrime

2007-04-01T11:48:00.000-06:00

pre-pilfering, pre-petty crime, pre-curiousity... what the hey.

* RIAA to Parents: Pay When They're Toddlers and Save the
Bother Later

The RIAA today sent a "settlement letter" to all parents of
children under 3 years old offering a toddler settlement rate
for online copyright infringement if they simply send payment
to major record labels before their children learn to read.

"Our goal is to make this easier for parents," said RIAA
President Cary Sherman. "Everyone knows that in this era of
increasing hard drive capacity and new digital media
technologies, it is inevitable that every child in America
will infringe copyright sooner or later. With our 'toddler
settlement' rate, parents can avoid those pesky lawsuits.
Consider it a way to invest your child's future."

The toddler settlement requires parents to log everything
their child ever does online and to make those logs available
to the RIAA at regular intervals. "It can just become a part
of every birthday celebration," added RIAA's counsel at Holme,
Roberts and Owen. "Blow out the candles and send your Internet
logs to Uncle RIAA!"

Sheesh!

That is my em, and that The RIAA is done in my bold interpretation of bedwetter yellow.

Speculating on Sinrud's Surprise

2007-03-28T23:58:00.000-06:00

Oh lookee here

John wants to Revise our tax law at the last minute without with a yet unwritten bill. Why so sneaky ?

BALLS!

2007-03-21T18:12:00.000-06:00

Did I hear that Montana's Senators have asked Bill Mercer to resign his position as U.S. Attorney? Just hearing somebody ask for accountability from any of those self indulgent Constitution Crappers gives me a vicarious testosterone rush. whew.

Well Alrighty Then

2007-03-10T13:26:00.000-07:00

My horoscope said that it is time to begin a slow reintegration into society so here it is. It will not be easy after weeks of nearly total isolation and my sheer disgust at the level of dishonesty and callous disregard our Republican legislators treat us with, but who am I to argue with all the stars in the sky?

Oh, there is so much vicious rubbish like this piece of politically motivated fear mongering that the Montana Republican Party tried to smear Rep Doug Cordier (D-Flathead) with that I could ridicule and chastise for your amusement and/or information, but my limited time and energy is going to force me to start horning in on the story of the fired U.S. Attorneys until our local media can understand it well enough to tell the story of a rogue Presidency and one of it's taxpayer funded campaigns of intimidation, harrassment and blatent political cronyism .

The universe asked me to ease back into life so I will leave it at this for the time being; meanwhile, have a good one and don't forget about Daylight Shifting Time tonight.

Crash and Burnout

2007-01-30T06:08:00.000-07:00

I was one of those fools who took too many hard falls on the ice last month, and that my down time let me stew in my own despair at the speed the entrenched powers that be were able to suck up to enough of the new found majority party members to subvert any real ethical standards for oh, I probably couldn't begin to tell you without going into a serious crying jag that would scare everybody close to me more than they already are. Let's just say that I am appalled at how blatantly indecent the whole scheme is and that I have also got one hell of a case of battle fatigue, and will be trying to face down another major gag alert tomorrow night while I watch Denny Rehberg con Ian Marquand on the Ten O'clock News into showing us all that he's such a concientious public servant that he sleeps on his couch rather than take the time to go home for dinner, shower or sleep yeah, right.

I do have a lot to say about everything including the doings at the state legislature, but most days now I just sit in the corner bluh bluh blubbering until somebody comes along to wipe the drool off my chin. What I can say about the problem is not too much more than it is an affliction that seems to be making the rounds lately. I hope to be back when I'm a little more balanced and the twitching subsides.

As far as those passive aggressive puss bags, a.k.a. Bush, Cheney et al, Impeachments Are Way Overdue.

College Dem GOTV Strategies

2007-01-10T10:29:00.000-07:00

This article has been parked in my browser for four days now, and not completely because of dataguy's fantasy to:

"really motivate college students by talking about 1) their costs in loans 2) reminding them that Republicans have cut grants 3) reminding them that Republicans have raised interest rates on college loans and 4) noting that the Democrats will be passing a bill to cut college loan rates in half."

There were some other pretty good party organizational ideas in there as well, my favorite one is to be social.

Swearing In

2007-01-03T10:28:00.000-07:00

I haven't heard anything about Jon's swearing in lately, so I was just cruising pictures of the Hotel wishing I was there and trying to imagine it full of his supporters.

Good luck Senator Tester, do us proud.

Happy Merry Whatever Matters to You

2006-12-24T16:55:00.000-07:00

Well the family is all but dissipated into the ionosphere. Everybody made it safely to the next destination of their respective journeys and for that I am completely greatful. I have been well and truly blessed to have spent time with all of you here and there as well as in my personal life this past year. The year ahead looks like it is sure to be filled with challenge and adventure previously unimagined in my humble cocoon so let me wish you all the love you can spread around before I deliver the last gifts on my list and retire to my candlelit room to ponder all that was and all that can be.

Happy Merry Whatever Matters to You.

Love,
granny

Christmas Baking

2006-12-18T13:37:00.000-07:00

No, I don't do it like this although it has me ROTFLMAO.

Reject Jore

2006-12-18T12:40:00.000-07:00

Tacking onto Shane's post, let me reprint the letter that Jerry Reckin had published in the Daily Interlake yesterday:

Reject Jore

The conservative Republicans in the Montana House of Representatives have chosen to perform an all out assault on public education in our state.

The appointment of Constitution Party Rep Rick Jore to chair the House Education Committee will most certainly be a setback to education in Montana. I can only think of two motives for this conservative Republican appointment: 1)they are trying to court his vote on many other different issues, or 2) they agree with his ideology on education, which includes eliminating public schools. (He refers to them as government schools.)

He has been known to say that "I am ashamed to say that my oldest three went to government schools." Jore's five children are home schooled. He favors greatly decvreasing funding for "government schools" and abolishing property taxes , which fund all public schools K thru college.

In Montana, 93 percent of our students attend public schools. Perhaps he is of the opinion that an uneducated electorate is easier to influence and control. Nothing is perfect, and certainly our schools can improve and continue to advance our highly technical world. In Montana we must not drop further behind in our effort to educate all our children to the fullest extent of our ability. Our economy, our culture and our very way of life depend on it.

It is very unfortunate that the conservative Republicans have made the decision to be part of the problem rather than the solution. Let's continue to support our students with a positive attitude and provide them with a quality education by rejecting this appointment.

Well said Jerry, you are a handsome in print as you are in person!

Koopman and Jore Spell Education Horror

2006-12-17T11:28:00.000-07:00

There have been several posts about the Montana House Republicans heavy handed bullying tactics in anticipation of the upcomming legislative session.

I am most concerned with at the moment is that our House Education Committee lacks Montana values due to Republican Party's blowhard decision to appoint Rick Jore, to the position of committee chair. Not content to settle for giving Montanan's a kick in the b***s, House Speaker Scott Sales decided to follow up by giving the Vice Chair appointment to kooked out Koopman who does not appear to be any saner than the preacher I heard screaming on the radio that "SANTA IS SATAN! WAKE UP AMERICA! SANTA IS SATAN". Really not somebody we want in charge of our children's education . Really not.

Fortunately LaNette Diaz and the great folks at Forward Montana have taken it upon themselves to put up this online petition asking Speaker Sales to appoint new education committee leadership. Moorcat takes it a few steps further, and I am going to remind everybody that our representatives are members of our own communities who need to respond to us.

Give them a call, send them a postcard, write to your local paper or call your local talk show asking them to apply pressure now when it would do the most good. Heck, have a get-together with your neighbors and invite your Rep over to hear your concerns.

Most of all, pay attention and take an appropriate action.

Thank-You, Senator Tester

2006-12-17T01:41:00.000-07:00

Icy roads didn't stop Jon and Sharla from meeting us at the Central School Museum so he could let us all know his plans, thank us for the work we did and answer some of our questions.

It was so good to hear what he had to say about not accepting meals, travel, trips, about how his mom called him to the matt because his ethics reform did not include campaign finance reform.

Most moving was the woman who gave Jon a picture of her son who did a year in Iraq and the grandmother who gave him a photo of her grandson who will be headed there soon.

Jon made sure we knew where his office will be, informed us that it is up to us to make sure that he knows what is going on because news doesn't usually make it to D.C. and to keep our lines of communication open.

How cool is that?

Fishy Business Indeed

2006-12-13T21:27:00.000-07:00

Why is there such a rush on the media's part to sell America the story that Senator Johnson will need to be replaced?

media consolidation?

net neutrality?

Oh gee, why would they want to do that?

Still Alive

2006-12-13T21:12:00.000-07:00

Yo. I've been overwhelmed with family and holiday preparations with too little time to thoroughly read the days events, let alone to analyze and regurgitate them or even to blindly strike back.

Stay sane.

Laundry Lists of Ideas

2006-12-06T03:42:00.000-07:00

A Tale of Two Laundry Lists

Richard Clark's were ignored years earlier than Rumsfeld"s.

Sainthood Alert

2006-12-03T17:25:00.000-07:00

Jesse James, aka Mr. Sandra Bullock hired a homeless person for $8.50 hr, plans to give more homeless people the chance to work their way off the street.

'Tis a sad state of society when doing a decent thing gets more notice than the ghost prisoners ever get.

Small Penis?

2006-11-28T22:19:00.000-07:00

Why the sudden interest in Googling "small penis", is it the latest new thing or what?

My Cup Runneth Over

2006-11-27T12:25:00.000-07:00

What was I thinking?

My normally quiet sanctuary has been over run with noisy hungry messy familly members from all over for some time now. Yi yi yi yi yi!

Did I really sign on for six weeks of this insanity?

Now Here's a Surprise

2006-11-19T01:02:00.000-07:00

Sunday afternoon finds me over at Laurie's place looking for that little something to dissipate my factured energies. Er, um, hide out from the decisions that I need to be making soon. Anyway, there I am passively enjoying Laurie's life instead of living my own and getting sucked into those silly get to know yourself quizzes.

I know that you will be just as shocked as I am about the results of this one:

Your Element Is Fire

Your passion and emotion are as obvious as the brightest flame.

You make sparks fly, and your passion always has the potential to burst out.

You are exciting and creative - and completely unpredictable.

You sometimes exercise control, and sometimes you let yourself go.

Friends describe you as sensitive, spirited, and compulsive.

Bright and blazing with intensity, you seem mysterious and moody to many.

What's Your Element?

Amazing, isn't it?

Very Low Food Security

2006-11-16T01:31:00.000-07:00

The USDA says they're really not hungry.

Who you gonna believe, some food insecure whiners or the long arm of the USDA?

What the Roberts Are They Pulling Now?

2006-11-13T22:49:00.000-07:00

I shudder to think of what could possibly lie behind that near pornographic stroking that Nightline's Jan Crawford Greenberg just slathered on John Roberts and his crack team of P.R. handlers.

Jon Tester and our new Democtatic congress can't possibly be sworn in soon enough.

(this post has been edited for repetitive stroking)

Congratulations Montana

2006-11-08T12:13:00.000-07:00

We have ourselves a brand new senator!

I know that Jon will make us proud and that his best friend will be there to steady him through the next phase of his journey.

Last night we learned exactly how difficult the road ahead will be. It's tough but we're tougher.