Occupy Protesters turn on the President

Yesterday the Time Newsfeed reported that the Occupy Wall Street folk held a march and blasted poor President Obama on what is the 10th anniversary of the opening of the Guantanamo Bay prison. You might recall that when Obama campaigned for President back in 2008 he promised that his first order of business on his very first day in office would be to close the Guantanamo Bay complex. Of course Senator “No Ear Marks Ever” Tester also promised to never ever support an earmark, associate with the culture of corruption on K Street in Washington and he was going to get the troops home.  We now know that like the president his word is also not his bond. This rally must have come as a surprise to the President as he earlier had gone on record supporting the Occupy protesters.  Both Tester and the President just may be losing some of their voting base.

The protestors have been plagued with various problems as of late including getting banned from camping in Zuccotti Park, their tent kitchen was closed by the health department and the colder winter temperatures make for some miserable conditions living under tarps and in tents. The Washington Post also reported that rat infestation around the two Occupy Wall Street camps was running rampant. Mohammad Akhter who is the district’s director of the Department of Health said that the camps resemble refugee camps he has witnessed in the Middle East and Africa. Akhter also told the Washington Post that he would advise the Federal Government to close down the camps if conditions worsen or if there were a severe winter storm because “suddenly we’re watching a tragedy unfold in Washington, D.C.”

Rats, poor sanitation, no food, shelters made of plastic tarps and bitter cold. Sounds like a protesters dream come true. It may just be easier to look for work and abandon the protesting.

Treasurer’s Office Disaster

This could be a disaster for those addicted to Ho Ho’s. The Hostess Brands, Inc filed for bankruptcy protection again. Hostess cites declining sales and rising labor and pension costs. The company listed assets of $981.6 million and liabilities of $1.43 billion on Dec 10, 2011. Forbes.com reported recently that Hostess Brands, Inc had revenues of $2.5 billion in 2011. I wonder if it is just a coincidence that this decline in sales came on the heels of our Hill County Treasurer’s office new management? I haven’t noticed the big displays of junk food at the county work stations since the big election upset last year.  Maybe I just happened to be there on a non-junk food day but it certainly seems to be a bit more professional and I am assuming Ho Ho sales to county employees is way off.

I am off to buy a case of Ho Ho’s while they are still available. With all the preservatives I would think I can buy a decade’s supply and probably be OK with freshness.

Gun Control

Everybody in Montana has read at least a few articles touting the wonders of gun control. You know that by controlling who has firearms violent deaths at the hands of murderers has plummeted in the last decade in areas enforcing stringent laws controlling guns, in particular the handguns that the whole world of liberals have grown to hate. Or have they?

New York City has the most stringent gun controls of anyplace in the nation. In order to buy a gun license in New York City you first have to visit the license office (in person) to pick up an application. You then apply for a series of permits that need to be typewritten - hand written applications are rejected. They want to know everything about you – your employer, your SS number, physical description, criminal history, history of alcohol and drug abuse, disabilities and on and on. They also want to know your past employment history for the last 5 years and you will need to explain why it is necessary for you to own a gun. If you are so lucky to get thru all the paperwork you need to have all the documentation notarized. Include with your documentation a licensing fee of $340 and a fingerprinting fee of $94 payable only by money order or credit card made out to the New York City Police Department. You then take your paperwork and fees to the License Division office where you will receive you license upon approval.

Don’t hold your breath while waiting for approval as this may take some time and if you are not approved for some reason all fees are forfeited. Some applicants have reported waits of up to two years. If you are lucky enough to obtain a permit you will need to obtain and fill out a “Handgun Purchase Authorization form” which you can use to make your purchase. You will again be asked to provide personal information and in depth details as to your reasons for wanting to buy a new gun. If you are given approval you will have 72 hours to visit a licensed gun dealer and make your purchase and return to the License Division to update your license with the gun information such as make, model and serial number. Take a look at the New York City Police website to get further details or you can compare the newest requirements to the synopsis of the state laws on the purchase, possession and carrying of firearms compiled by the NRA back in 1998.

So after all this hassle just how is everything working out for the folks in New York City? In a 25 year period New York City has had more than 15,000 murders while a town called Kennesaw Georgia had 1. What’s the difference you might ask?

In 1982 the City of Kennesaw passed an ordinance [Sec 34-21][13]

(a) In order to provide for the emergency management of the city, and further in order to provide for and protect the safety, security and general welfare of the city and its inhabitants, every head of household residing in the city limits is required to maintain a firearm, together with ammunition therefore

Funny thing is that Kennesaw, where gun ownership is mandatory, has been called one of the safest cities in America. Up until 2009 Kennesaw had one murder. In 2010 three murders were committed by one man in a “school safety zone” which is an area extending 1,000 feet from any school where guns were off-limits. I wonder if the outcome would have been different if the murderer had known the school employees were also armed.

It sure makes me wonder about the rational of the gun-control folks

Havre's Mayor Tim Steps up to the Plate

The Havre City council met last night to install the new council members and wish those departing farewell. Three Democrats stepped down from their ward seats - Pam Hillery, Cal Long and Bob Kaul. Republican Andrew Brekke Ward 4 retained his seat and was joined by fellow Republicans Rick Dow Ward 3, Brian Barrows Ward 2 and Democrat Bonnie Parenteau serving Ward 1.

For the first time I can ever remember in my life-time there is a 50-50 Democrat-Republican split on the Havre Council. They will be serving with Democrat Mayor Tim Solomon who will cast the deciding vote on any ties. What is interesting is that when we were checking out the information for the story this morning we learned that when it came time to elect the council president Councilwoman Janet Tretheway nominated fellow Democrat Woody Woodwick to again serve as council president. Newly seated councilman Rick Dow then nominated Republican Andrew Brekke. As expected the four republicans voted for Brekke and the four democrats voted for Woodwick. Typically in the past Democrat (sometimes calling himself independent) Gerry Veis will not vote on any of the matters such as this that he views as political but he toed the democrat line this time which laid the decision at the Mayor’s feet.

I am sure the council Republicans were shocked when Democrat Mayor Tim actually cast the tie-breaking vote for Republican Brekke who will replace Woodwick as council president. Our source told us this morning that many partisan democrats are feeling betrayed by Mayor Tim but on the other hand many folks feel now that there is a 50-50 split Havre can actually get some things accomplished.

Either way a hat tip goes to the Mayor for putting partisan politics aside in this case and we look forward to seeing a new council that joins together as a team instead of bickering political opponents.  We are encouraged by reports of last nights council meeting.

Professional "Occupy" Training now Available

Great news for all you people out there that are sick of the “man” and want to stage a 60’s style sit-in or rally people to your cause like the Occupy Wall Street lay-abouts but really don’t know how to get organized to get the most out of your community organizing efforts. The New York Post recently ran a story announcing that the prestigious Columbia University will be offering a new graduate course called simply “Occupy 101” The class will be taught by the doctorate holding Hannah Appel who was one of the crowd camping out in Zuccotti Park protesting against the 1% or the country’s money brokers that are ruining the chances of Utopia for the other 99% of the people. Never mind that most of said protesters were an unemployed lot of whiners that were upset because they think they are entitled to the “good life” with no effort on their own part.

I wonder what the mommies and daddies shelling out over $40,000 a year in tuition to Columbia will think of their little darlings enrolling in this course? Is it just me? Or is there something wrong with an education system that sets course to brainwash the spoiled and gullible while taking the parents hard-earned dollars for tuition?

This about sums it Up

Anyone else remember when Ronald Reagon delivered the knockout punch to President Jimmy Carter in the 1980 presidential debates by simply asking the question " Are you better off today than you were 4 years ago?"

Flash forward 32 years and ask yourself that same question

Merry Christmas!

As we pause this evening to give thanks and celebrate with our families, fiends and neighbors the birth of Jesus Christ, we here at the HDC are sadly reminded of the recent passing of Blaine County Undersheriff Pat Pyette and the lessons we all can learn from his tragic death.

First we cannot begin to express our sadness and concern for Deputy Pyette's family to lose their loved one at a time when we all should celebrate a happy and joyous time. Pat gave his life in service to the people of Blaine County and will be missed by everyone. We should all be reminded of the selfless sacrifice our law enforcement officers and their families provide to us for our personal and community security. They put their lives on the line each day for all of us.

We must also take some time to thank our men and women in harms way over seas defending our freedoms and fighting to make the lives of others more like ours. Once again they serve this nation selflessly and many families must endure their absence at this special time and we thank them as well for their sacrifice.

We can all be thankful we live in a free nation of independent thinkers and with our individual and civil freedoms of religion, assembly and speech. Freedom is not free. So as we pause to celebrate Christ's birth and the more secular and commercial spirit of the holidays as well with our friends and loved ones, take a moment to say thanks to those who provide the security we all share in.

Merry Christmas!

Havre "Award Winning" Journalists may suffer from Split Personality Disorder

Something just doesn’t make any sense to me. Back on December 5th we broke the story that our wonderful Mayor Dim had offered the Chief of Police position to an Arizona man. We raised some questions about why the Mayor had kept everyone in the dark and more pointedly we bemoaned the fact that some police department folk just may have hard feelings over these sole actions of our mayor. The local award winning folks over at the “professional” paper finally ran a story announcing that the mayor was near to selecting someone to be chief and then wrote one of their infamous anonymous blogs, err….. editorials on the 15 that said;

The mayor's political opponents quickly pounced on him for hiring from out of town. The mayor's opponents say he should have appointed someone from within the police department, most likely Matosich. An insider, they believe, would be more familiar with the department and how it operates. Solomon was duty-bound, they said, to appoint a hometown person.
Balderdash.
The mayor did just what he is supposed to do

Funny part is as near as we can ascertain these political opponents spoke of in the papers anonymous authored article are none other than us, one lonely Blog bunch, that are now elevated to the role of “Mayor’s political opponents”. Here I thought that professional journalists did some investigation of facts before publishing articles based solely off of information gleaned from some anonymous blog. My mistake. I guess I was confused by all the awards their journalist have been piling up because I assumed what I have been reading in print in the Havre Daily “news” was factual and researched.

Now move forward to today, Dec 22 and the anonymous editorial want to be blog author pens an editorial taking the mayor to task for keeping the Chief of Police hiring behind closed doors. WHAT???  You said just last week the mayor did just what he was supposed to do.

The paper only woke up to the fact that the mayor had hired someone when we broke the story on December 5th, they gave us the old BALDERDASH spanking on December 15th for speaking against the mayor and now on December 22 they are going after the mayor for meeting behind closed doors. First they are loving him up and now they are against him for doing the same thing we were complaining of from the get-go. Do these people have some sort of split personality going on over in their news office? Is the anonymous editorial writer suffering from a Dr Jekyll – Mr. Hyde affliction?  Better check your health plan to see if it covers split-personality disorders.

Lordy I am confused. For the record we at the Corrector are against the Mayor flying solo and hiding the fact that he was hiring Kirk Fitch from Arizona as our new chief of police. We also are not against Mr. Fitch and have heard many wonderful things about his experience and abilities and we welcome him to Havre. Furthermore we will continue to be against the things done at city hall in the back rooms and under the cover of darkness any time, all the time and every time, every day, all month long.

A big hat tip to the HD”N” commenter that coined the new Solo-man handle for our mayor. Mayor Dim Solo-man ……………… Now that fits!

Why Obama's Stimulas Failed

Very interesting take on the colossal failure we know as the stimulas.

Somebodys Got to Pay

Is this what is viewed as "Normal" nowadays?  I feel bad for these kids.  Apparently getting paid to take care of your kids is a right that you are entitled to.