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.

Kitty Litter Police Nab D.C. Woman

Washington, D.C is a name synonymous with most of what we would call our problems in relation to our politicians’ and Government. This is the place where each state dispatches two senators and collectively send 435 representatives to look after our interests. Add to this number one President and nine Supreme Court justices that are approved by our ruling body and you have 545 individuals ruling rough-shod over the rest of the population numbering nearly 300 million people.

The city of Washington, D.C. has a population of over 585,000 people of which nearly half hold a Bachelor’s degree or higher which compares to around 27% of the United States population elsewhere. Some of the most educated people in the world live and work in our capital so you would think that this city would be the utopia of the free-thinking world. Along with all these people of superior intellect are also an above average number of people committed to saving us from ourselves by saving the environment. The following videos tell the tale of one lady trying to do her bit for the environment by recycling newspaper to be used as cat litter to only find herself getting fined when the garbage can inspector discovered she didn’t place her kitty waste in the appropriate recycling receptacle. You don’t suppose any of this “Washington Thinking” has rubbed off on our 545 ruling people’s thinking do you? Perhaps Tester is wrong and it is not the “Culture of Corruption” that is the problem so much as the influence these Washington citizens have on our congressional thinking when they are in this foreign land?

No matter what the cause I think you will agree after you watch these video news reports that what is needed to cure this problem is as simple as appointing a “Czar of Cat-Poop”

See the story video link here    (Sorry couldn't get the vid to post)

Public Works Department response to allegations

Public Works Defends Fine For Not Recycling Cat Litter: MyFoxDC.com

More Twisted Thinking from the Havre Daily “News”



Cover of Darkness

 I was a little dumbfounded when I read last night’s HDN editorial titled Our View: Options for Picking a New Police Chief. It seems this anonymous editorial article author just loves the way our mayor has been searching for a new police chief behind the scenes. You know – searching far and wide all the while keeping the whole process “Top Secret” from the poor dumb people of Havre. They think the mayor’s political opponents shouldn’t be saying anything about mayor Dim offering the chief’s job to an out of state person instead of picking acting Chief Gabe Matosich. It would appear this anonymous editorial was pointed towards our anonymous authored blog post but they just can’t come right out and say the Havre Daily Corrector name out loud for fear of giving us a free plug. Normally the newspapers are all about openness and transparency but apparently in this case their mothering instincts kicked in and here they came a running with a blankie and a ba-ba to sooth their fair-haired boy Dim as they protect him from the big bad people that are upset that he has kept everything wrapped in a cloak of darkness. Interestingly the Havre Daily “News” still didn’t reveal that the job was in fact offered to a former police officer from Arizona even though it is now common knowledge around town. Why are they working with Mayor Dim on this cover-up?

The HDN editorial 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 in accepting applications from within and outside the city, from within and outside Montana.

Balderdash? That’s a mighty big word for youse guys.
Funny thing is that most of the negative comments we hear about our local government entities involve the dirty deeds they do under the cloak of darkness which is exactly what went on here. We have no opinion on “Arizona guy’s” qualifications as we have been told absolutely nothing. Even after the “award winning “ blog journalist at the Corrector broke the story the local Havre Daily “News” and their award winning news journalists still can’t seem to get the real facts into print.

The most hilarious aspect of this sad HDN tale came tonight in the anonymous “Darts and Laurels” column where their award winning journalists give the big-ole dart to the Billings police department for their failure to disclose information about a personnel issue at their department.

So there you have it – the public’s right to know should only come into play if you are not one of the people adored by the local “professional” and “award winning” news people

The Publics Right-to-Know is not so Public After All

The Montana Policy Institute has made repeated requests over the last couple of years to the state Department of Administration to provide them with annual salaries and compensation information for all state government employees in Montana. Department director Janet Kelly has repeatedly made excuses and thrown up road-blocks to block public disclosure of this information. Kelly has given a host of excuses for not providing the citizens of Montana with what should be public information under our Freedom of information laws.

First she said there were privacy concerns. Then when that excuse failed to pass muster she went onto saying that the request would cost the department a burdensome amount of employee time and resources to comply with the information request and her department just plain didn’t have the budget to do it. Carl Graham, President of the Montana Policy Institute then said his group would pay for all costs of compiling the information. Once solutions to all of Kelly’s objections were made her next problem was that the multi-bazillion dollar computer system the state uses just couldn’t compile such reports. After months and months of excuses the Montana Policy Institute filed suit to compel the department to provide the requested information back in August of this year. Carl Graham had this to say in the Billings Gazette back when the suit was filed;

"We want to know what each state employee made, with bonus and OT (overtime) — the W-2 number," the institute's president, Carl Graham, said Thursday. "We started in 2010 and wanted the previous years. Now we want the most up-to-date numbers."

This week the Montana Watchdog reported that an attorney for the State of Montana told District Judge Dorothy McCarter that there are no statutes requiring the department to provide specific employee salary information. More evidence will be submitted to the judge in the next few weeks and McCarter is expected t render a decision in early 2012.

All this stonewalling makes me wonder what our state administration is trying to hide. Why shouldn’t the state taxpayers be allowed to know how much out state pays our public “servants”? I thought it was just a Havre thing but apparently expenditures involving our tax dollars are Top Secret throughout the entire state.

Senator Jon Tester is # 1

Looks like someone has Tester’s number. Sure doesn’t seem like the same guy that ran on big promises 6 years ago. We agree with President Obama


IT IS TIME FOR CHANGE!

HD 33 Representative Kris Hansen begins New Venture

A couple of months back House District 33 Representative Kris Hansen announced that she would be resigning her post as Deputy Hill County Attorney effective November 30th. Hansen at that time said she would begin work with a group of people interested in modernizing education in Montana and would be working on education reform legislation and policy. She also said she would run for re-election in 2012.

Since that time a few of her local political opposition have seen fit to begin to start telling folks she is leaving the area and are spreading untruths about her as they are wringing their hands in glee at the thought that they might regain the HD 33 seat. The fact of the matter is that this is what the political operatives call a “whisper campaign.” It is not a campaign that is ran above-board and honestly but rather a tactic that is used behind the scenes to sling mud in an attempt not to get any on yourselves or accept responsibility for untruths and outright lies.

Wikipedia defines a whisper campaign this way;

A whispering campaign or whisper campaign is a method of persuasion in which damaging rumors or innuendo are spread about the target, while the source of the rumors seeks to avoid being detected while spreading them (for example, a political campaign might distribute anonymous flyers attacking the other candidate). It is generally considered unethical in open societies, particularly in matters of public policy. The speed and anonymity of communication made possible by modern technologies like the Internet has increased public awareness of whisper campaigns and their ability to succeed. This phenomenon has also led to the failure of whisper campaigns, as those seeking to prevent them are able to publicize their existence much more readily than in the past. Whisper campaigns are defended in some circles as an efficient mechanism for underdogs who lack other resources to attack the powerful.

Contrary to what is being passed around by the behind the scenes “operatives” Representative Hansen will begin her consulting venture after the first of the year and will be concentrating on education issues in Montana. She will be staying in Havre and she will be filing for re-election in HD33. Hansen will be concentrating on school reform and other legislative issues full-time. Plans are being laid to contact people up and down the hi-line to start gathering information and ideas about what problems the schools are dealing with and where some changes need to be made. Hansen says she is hoping to work with teachers, parents, administrators, members of the public and MSUN to deal with issues schools are facing.

All we can think to say is that those of us at the Corrector think it is about time we took a new look at what can better our education system in Montana without being locked in to the same old same old that has proven to be a disappointment year after year. Perhaps, just perhaps there is indeed a solution to education funding issues other than just throwing more money at the problem.

If you have some positive, and I stress positive, ideas with regards to what can better Montana schools I am sure Representative Hansen would be glad to hear from you. She has always been very gracious in responding to the Corrector’s inquiries in the past even when we haven't agreed with her. Contact her via e-mail at krishansen33@gmail.com

Best Wishes on your new venture Representative Hansen

Tax Policy Explained for the Academics

Bozeman Building Contractor Leads Effort to “Buy American”

Montana has finally made the national news for something positive.  It seems all the wonderful proposals by both political parties to promote jobs fall short of making any notable difference and job expansions continue to go overseas.  A Bozeman building contractor has done his homework and contends that many jobs could be saved if only we would do something as simple as insisting on American made products.  Listen to the following ABC news report about this man’s efforts.

Free Range Bison in our Future?

I read with interest the one-sided article in yesterday’s Havre Daily “News” reporting that the Governor will not block the relocation of 68 bison to two Montana Indian reservations. The Governor had earlier gone on record saying no Yellowstone bison would be allowed to be moved anyplace in Montana for fear of potential brucellosis exposure. Apparently criticism of the Governor’s stance by tribal leaders did the trick and he is now going to allow them to be given to the Fort Peck and Fort Belknap Indian reservations.

Northern Ag Network ran a story on December 2nd that included a press release from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks that said in part;

Accordingly, management-plan agreements for each tribal site must include commitments to: (1) continue disease testing for five years, (2) properly contain bison, (3) immediately respond to any escapes of bison, and (4) provide Montana with disease-free bison for future conservation efforts. There are no infrastructure costs for FWP to pay associated with the recommended tribal lands.

The management plan sounds great but what will ensure it is being followed? You may recall that the Chinook Opinion-Journal ran a couple of articles last winter dealing with Blaine County rancher's frustration with the Fort Belknap tribe for failing to keep their current bison herd confined to their own range land. Ranchers adjoining tribal land said that the tribe failed to maintain their property line fences and the bison repeatedly were getting out and mingling with their cattle herds. To make matters even worse when the ranchers reported these incidents tribal officials many times didn’t even bother to come out to herd their animals back onto their own land. Are we to believe that they will now somehow miraculously change their ways with the addition of more bison?

The Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission will be holding a two-day meeting on this matter which will begin at 10 AM on Thursday, December 8. Northern Ag Network has published the names and contact information of each of the FWP commissioners if you would like to comment. Also the audio of these meetings will be streamed live over the internet.  See the contact information here.

As a side note I found the letter to the editor published in Monday’s Bozeman Chronicle highly enlightening as to what the ranchers are dealing with when it comes to the bison “free-range” advocates. This letter writer believes that Montana does not belong to cattle or ranchers. The buffalo is native to Montana and should be allowed to wander wherever they please. She believes it is shameful that the FWP is attempting to appease the livestock industry by participating in containment and slaughter.

You just can’t make good stories like this up. Read the letter to the Chronicle yourself here.

The following illustration is the recommended fence to hold bison. Does anyone recall a fence like this around any of the Fort Belknap pastures?

Click to Enlarge

Trouble is in the Making at the Havre Police Department

It appears that our infamous Mayor Dim has taken a few moments out of his busy love-fest with ousted councilman Kaul to stir the pot of ill-feelings over at the police department by finally appointing a new permanent police chief.

Former police Chief Jerry Nystrom tendered his resignation on May 2, 2011 and at that time Mayor Dim appointed Assistant Chief Gabe Matosich to act as interim chief. Gabe has over 23 years experience in law enforcement. He moved to Havre in 1997 and quickly attained the rank of Sergeant and was promoted to Assistant Police Chief in 2008.

Contrary to the popular belief amongst the Havre police force that Gabe would be permanently promoted to Police Chief we have just learned our beloved Mayor has taken it upon himself to offer the job to an out-of-state individual thus kicking Gabe back down to Assistant Police Chief. From what we can learn this came as a shock not only to the local police force but also to the city council members who have apparently been kept in the dark thru this whole sham.

What are you thinking Mr. Mayor? Hasn’t there been enough discontentment in our local force already? Leave it to a former sheriff to think he is the wisest of the wise when it comes to law enforcement issues but he should know above all others that this little behind the scenes maneuver will cause problems within our force.

We will bring you further details as we hear them.

Coming for You Soon - The Light Bulb Police

Only another month left of this year and we will be facing the so called light bulb ban which is set to take place in 2012. A bill requiring light bulbs to be more efficient was passed with bipartisan support back in 2007 and was signed into law by President George Bush. Because of these higher standards it became obvious that traditional light bulbs would have to be replaced by more efficient incandescent bulbs.

In July Republicans tried to rally the troops to stop this law from going into effect but fell short of the mark. In my opinion it is again too little too late. Least they forget this ban went into effect under George Bush in the first place. If these new bulbs were so great why haven’t the consumers fallen in line under the free market to make them obsolete? The truth of the matter is that they cost 5 times as much and produce poorer light.

Some say that the new efficiency standards will save enough energy to warrant the higher cost of the new bulbs but my experience with these bulbs hasn’t shown them to be that reliable and so far they have cost me much more than just paying to use the old style.

It appears to me to be just another example of our over-reaching government meddling in our freedoms. Just for once I would like to feel like I held enough common sense to decide for myself if something like using crazy curly light bulbs made sense for me without big brother looking over my shoulder.

Shame on both parties for this mess.

You're Killing Us with Your Escalade

Well the job killing nuts are at it again and this time it is the Harvard educators that have a brilliant plan to save us from ourselves if only the government would cooperate with a mandated warning label or two.

All you uncaring folks that are unnecessarily depleting our ozone and single-handily causing global warming by driving Escalades, Navigators, Town Cars and big diesel trucks should take note of what Harvard biologist Martin Nowak and Harvard postdoctoral fellow David Rand have in store for you. Nowak and Rand want you to know that driving these big gas guzzlers is not just good public behavior considering your choice is affecting all of mankind. In the Slate News article they are quoted as saying;

Environmental problems are difficult to solve because Earth is a "public good.” Even though we would all be better off if everyone reduced their environmental impact, it is not in anyone's individual interest to do so. This leads to the famous "tragedy of the commons," in which public resources are overexploited and everyone suffers.

Nowak and Rand’s idea is to have the government shame you into driving a Toyota Prius or other such environment saving vehicle to do your part for the common good of all mankind. Do you really want all your friends and neighbors to know that you don’t give a tinker’s damn that you are in effect ruining everything for everyone by your bull-headed selfish insistence on driving that luxury vehicle? In reality all you really need to meet your needs is a planet saving electric car or maybe even just a bicycle.

Nowak and Rand suggest that there be laws implemented requiring full disclosure of your carbon foot print on the planet. The government should require a searchable data base that would show how much electricity, gasoline and other energy you have wasted in your selfish indulgences. Cars should display large labels showing miles driven and fuels consumed. Inefficient vehicles would be forced to display signs with warning labels similar to what we see on cigarette packages

"Environmentalist's warning: This car is highly inefficient. Its emissions contribute to climate change and cause lung cancer and other diseases."

You just can’t make a story like this up. Read it for yourself over at Slate News here

Just goes to show you that a doctorate and a Harvard education don’t necessarily make you the brightest bulb in the pack. Also it was interesting to note that nothing was mentioned about the problems associated with some of these “green mobiles” such as the planet saving Chevy Volt electric car that periodically blows up killing its occupants in a fiery death.

It is clear to me now that there is no problem whatsoever that the government can’t solve by just implementing more regulations and oversight.

GUEST SUBMISSION: Another “Award Winning” Editorial from Our Friends at the HDN

In this evening’s edition of the Havre Daily News, the unsigned editorial column “Our View” sought to opine on the recently passed cell phone ban by poking at the City’s plan on easing the public into this new ordinance.  “There’s no need for more lollygagging,” says the HDN, “the ban on cellphone use while driving is the law.”  Certainly this is true, but having some time to promote the idea of a ban on cell phone use while driving and educating the folks on the penalties associated with this action is completely warranted.  I’m not sure I would call Chief Matosich’s new plan for a “definite” warning period “lollygagging.”  To me it should be up to the police to determine when and if to charge someone with breaking the law and if they feel three more months is necessary, so be it.

I should point out that I like many in Havre opposed this ordinance from the very beginning as I felt not only was this an incredible overreach by the City Council into the lives of those who live here and travel through Havre, but also because it was unnecessary.  We have ordinances on the books for careless driving which cover distractions as well as State laws which cover these incidents too.   The HDN though takes another path in their editorial, by categorically and emphatically stating that “study after study shows that cell phones cause accidents far more than any other distraction,” really?  What studies?  Many studies purport to do just that, but a measurement of the amount of the distraction is quite a leap.  For instance the University of Utah study that many cite as proof actually could not discern the use of the phone itself as any more distracting than talking without a phone because it measured “talking” as having the same level of impairment as a .08 blood alcohol level.  If you read any of the other studies as well such as Carnegie Mellon’s, Virginia Tech’s, etc. all came to the same conclusion a distraction while driving is a distraction, period and all contribute to accidents.  Cell phones don’t cause accidents, just as guns don’t kill people.  Don’t get me wrong, use of a cell phone while driving is unsafe, it is a risk, but what in life isn’t?  Is this reason enough to ban the use of one of the most widely used technological advancements in human history?  I think not. 

The HDN also sought to praise Councilman Woody Woodwick’s “sponsorship” of this ordinance as heroic.  Really?  Councilman Woodwick worked very hard to pass this ordinance and lobbied his fellow Councilpersons very successfully since it passed, but he didn’t sponsor this ordinance.  There is no sponsorship of ordinances before the Council, nor is there is an introduction of ordinance’s by members either, those are legislative tools reserved to Congress and the State Legislature.  Actually this ordinance was brought before the Council by the Ordinance Committee themselves if my memory serves me correctly.  Val Murri was quite instrumental as well if I recall.  Councilman Woodwick was quite passionate about this particular ordinance because of an accident he was involved in where a driver who was texting while driving struck him while he was riding his motorcycle.  This accident was very tragic and could have been much, much worse and thankfully Councilman Woodwick recovered, but would a ban have actually stopped this from happening?  Probably not since the person who did it was already violating work policy prohibiting such activity and probably also knew how dangerous it was, but did it anyway!  And that folks is the problem, you cannot legislate a change in human behavior, it is simply not possible, just as a ban on smoking in public has not lessened the use of cigarettes in any way it just moved the behavior outdoors and away from those who dislike the activity, but the habit continues.  This ordinance is just the latest fad in behavioral policy legislation and is exactly as the HDN described it, a “progressive movement.”

Call your Councilpeople and ask them to repeal this overreach, this Council has gone way too far.

Havre’s Population in 1930

Found this interesting population chart over at GreaterFalls.com    Doesn’t seem like Havre has grown much in the last 70 years compared to some of Montana’s bigger towns.

The Sexual Predator Free for All

Anyone remember anything from the long list of “promises” made back in 2008 by candidate Steve Bullock who was running for Attorney General? Bullock promised to make protection of children from sexual predators his priority. Bullock bemoaned the fact that Montana’s sexual predator registry was woefully out of date and he claimed he would get that whole mess straightened up post-haste if he was elected to the AG office. The Billings Gazette quoted Bullock as saying;

Bullock, father of three young children, said he would put two more investigators at the Justice Department focusing on Internet crimes involving children. And he would try to find more people and money to keep the registry up to date. But Bullock said most Montana children who are crime victims are abused by someone they either already know or meet in person, not over the Internet. The state still fails to do an adequate job protecting children from traditional predators and prosecuting the perpetrators of such crimes.

To that end, Bullock said he would expand the Children's Justice Center within the Justice Department. The center, already active in Missoula, Helena, Butte and Ravalli County, deals with children victimized in any way, including by Internet predators.

Well Steve Bullock won that race and has been our AG for the past 4 years so what has he accomplished? Nada – Zip – Nothing. In fact the Sexual Predators Registry has sunk even lower in worth than it was 4 years ago. The Montana Watchdog reports that a review of Montana’s Sexual and Violent Offender Registry found that three sexual offenders of the 5,000 listed in Montana claim a Wal-Mart parking lot as their listed home address. The Watchdog further reported that over 1,400 of the 5,000 sexual predators didn’t even bother to verify their location as is required by Montana law. Furthermore the Legislative Audit Division noted back in June that these violators were not even flagged so local law enforcement would be aware they had failed to register.

This should give everyone that warm and fuzzy feeling knowing one of these predators could be living next door to you. If Bullock can’t make good on this promise why would I now want to vote for him for Governor? The Democrats had best find a decent candidate for Governor or we will be seeing one of the vast herd of GOP contenders taking Governor BS’s spot when the vote is cast in 2012

Is a Budget Cut Really a Cut?

I was scanning the news over at the liberal’s favorite news source CNN (so you all know it is accurate) and ran across this report about the failure of the Super Committee to reach a deficit reduction agreement.  As you can imagine the Democrats blame the Republicans and the Republicans blame the Democrats.  So what else is new except for the fact that we the taxpayers take it in the backside again?  Watch the video below and tell us what you think.

That report brought a tear to my eye. The poor guys raking in millions building military drones may take a 2-9% cut. Poor people will have the food literally taken off their plates just as they are poised to have lunch. The Border Patrol will be overrun by bad people and on and on. Even the stock market took a tumble as all the corporations’ dependant on government waste paced nervously awaiting the outcome of the Super Committee’s report.


Let’s take military spending for instance. Looking at this chart obtained over at Business Insider we see that we have doubled military spending in the last 6-7 years. Are they really trying to get us to believe that a 2 to 9 % cut will be the end of the world to the military? Similar numbers pertain to the budgets of nearly every agency in the Federal Government.  Since when is a cut to a requested increase a cut in the budget?  Spending won’t be decreased but rather the amount of the requested increase has only been decreased a trifle.  Of course the news media perpetuates this sleight of hand by running headlines that claim budgets are being cut.  That is pure hogwash!
Cut Spending! -- I for one am willing to take that chance.

No Class

NASCAR fans out did themselves this weekend when they booed First lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden who is Vice president Joe Biden’s wife. Obama and Biden were invited to serve as grand marshals for Sunday’s race along with Army Sergeant Andrew Barry.

I usually can’t find one good thing to say about the Obama-Biden administration but this is just a plain hillbilly low class lack of respect. You don’t have to respect the person to show a little class and respect the office of President of the greatest country on earth.
However it does appear that I am not the only one fed up with this administration.

Cut Congressional Pay

It’s nearly 11 months since Democrat Representative Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona was shot in the head during a rally held with her constituents outside a Tucson grocery store. Giffords had just won re-election to her seat over a tea party candidate that campaigned against Gifford’s support of the Obama’s health care law. As usual our “professional” media reported as “fact" that there may be some connection with Tea Party fanatics and the shooter. Gun control folks immediately jumped on the bandwagon and claimed if we had nationwide gun control this heinous act would have been prevented and the gun rights folks countered with claims that if people were allowed to exercise their 2nd amendment rights someone in the audience would have been packing a firearm for defense and could have returned fire saving at least some of the lives lost and people wounded in the shooting would have been saved. As the months went by police investigations determined that a mentally unstable shooter named Jared Lee Laughner claimed to be a liberal upset with Giffords too conservative stance on the issues. Not surprisingly the media had again reported as fact something that wasn’t even close to being the truth.

It seems Representative Giffords, who is making heroic efforts towards recovery, has submitted a plan to the Super Committee with an idea to cut our $1.4 trillion dollar deficit. POLITICO reported late last week that Giffords and 25 House members have asked the Super Committee to consider cutting lawmakers’ pay as part of the deficit reduction before the November 23 deadline. In a letter to the Super Committee the bipartisan group asks that the cut be made;

“both as a commonsense way to cut government spending and to send a powerful message to the American people that Congress should not be exempt from the sacrifices it will take to balance the budget.” The savings from a 5 percent cut — the amount sought in Giffords’ bill — would amount to just $50 million over a 10-year period, according to the letter.

To tell the truth – this makes sense. Congressional people are paid $174,000 in salary as well as a benefit package that is pegged worth about half again as much as their salaries. It would seem that the very people making our laws and currently earning about 5 times as much as the average American citizen would want to get on board with this proposal to “share the pain” like the rest of us are doing during this recession. The last time congress took a pay cut was in 1933 in the midst of the great depression.

Noticeably absent from those calling for a congressional pay cut are Montana Senators Max Baucus, leader of the Super Committee, Senator Jon Tester, K-Street corruption fighter and Representative Denny Rehberg, former Bush yes-man turned Tea Party poster child.  Congressional staff budgets should be cut as well along with the congressional pay cuts.

It is time to get with the program boys -- your constituents are watching and election time is rapidly approaching.

Related story at POLITICO
Copy of Gifford's letter to the Super Committee

The Popularity Rating of Congress

The Washington Post recently reported that the general public’s Congressional approval rating has sunk to a whopping 13%.  It looks like the year 2011 will turn out to be the year where the most people ever are disgusted with our political leaders. Democrat Senator Michael Bennet brought this chart to the Senate floor to show his colleges the extent of the contempt in which the American people hold our politicians.  Only 9% of people surveyed actually think Congress is doing a good job.  To put that number in comparison 11% of the public surveyed actually thought America going Communist was a favorable objective.

Click on charts to enlarge

Before you get to quick to blame one party or another for the public’s disgust it should be noted that people claiming to be both Republican and Democrat are nearly equal in their level of loathing towards our so called “leaders.” Interestingly the people claiming to be Democrat held a nearly 63% favorable rating back in 2009 as newly elected President Obama entered the White House with both the Senate and the House of Representatives controlled by Democrats. Apparently that “Hope and Change” that they actually have seen hasn’t been to their liking as they are turning their backs on our wonderful leader in droves.

A Gallup Survey article further went on to point out that if the Super Committee fails to make significant headway in cutting our deficit by the November 23 deadline poll numbers are predicted to drop even further. Roughly two-thirds of the seats in the Senate that are up for election are currently held by Democrats so it is likely that we could see an upswing in the number of seats held by Republicans. The House is currently held by Republicans so it is also possible that the voter’s disgust for any currently seated representative will result in losses for all incumbents.

I for one am ready for some of that “Change Thingy” that everyone was so excited for only a few long years ago.

Click on chart to enlarge

Havre School Funding Issues Being Presented in Helena Today

We just received the following information from one of our readers that we thought you may be interested in watching firsthand how these committees work

The Montana State Education Interim Committee is meeting today in Helena. Representative Kris Hansen is a member of this committee and she called to let Havre people know that Havre Superintendent Andy Carlson will be addressing the committee at approximately 2:30 pm this afternoon in regards to some of the problems and issues we have in Havre.

This meeting is in progress and can be viewed via a live video stream. You can watch the proceedings at this link http://leg.mt.gov/css/Committees/interim/2011-2012/Education-and-Local-Government/default.asp

You will need Real Player to view the video which can be downloaded free from the State website or an audio only version is also available. Forward this on to anyone you think may be interested.

Deficit Reduction Super Committee --- Who will take a cut?

The bi-partisan “Super-committee” has supposedly been working hard to devise a plan to reduce our deficit in recent weeks. Numerous public opinion polls are not showing that the American public holds much faith that the committee can reach any kind of meaningful compromise before the November 23 deadline that the President put on the committee to find ways to trim $1.2 trillion dollars from our deficit.

The committee has spent a lot of time talking about eliminating wasteful spending and tax preferences but just last week the Senate voted to create yet another tax break. Our own Junior Senator Jon “No Ear Marks Ever” Tester sponsored a bill giving a tax credit of up to $5,600 to employers that hire a veteran who has been out of work for over 6 months. Jon’s bill passed the Senate by a vote of 94 to 1.

It is hard to speak against a credit designed to be a boost to our military men and women who have served our country and we commend Senator Tester for going to bat for our veterans but it is obvious that cutting our deficit by over a trillion dollars is going to be nigh onto impossible when so many seemingly worthy programs and tax credits abound.

Someone someplace is going to have to take some cuts to reach the $1.2 trillion dollar goal by November 23rd. Who is willing to take a cut?

The Infamous "Dirt" Farmer

The following is an advance political ad paid for by Cross Roads GPS talking about Senator Jon “No Ear Marks Ever” Tester

THANK YOU VETERANS

The Corrector would like to take a moment to offer a big THANK YOU to all our local veterans and active military.  We appreciate all you have done to protect our freedoms and way of life.  I hope to see everyone at the Veterans Memorial in the Havre Town Square at 11 am this morning to honor our Veterans 

New Tax on Christmas

What will they think of next?

Thanksgiving isn’t even here yet but the sugar plums have been dancing in the Obama administration for some time. Just this last week they unveiled their plan to give everyone a very Merry Christmas simply by levying a tax on Christmas trees.

No! ---------------- I am NOT making this up

The Federal Register published notice that a 15 cent a tree tax would be placed on all producers and importers of more than 500 trees. Oddly some Christmas Tree Growers petitioned the U.S Department of Agriculture for what they called a "Christmas Tree Promotion, Research and Information Order" which is intended to present a more favorable view of decorating with live Christmas which would increase sales. The Journal Times reported that tree sales have slumped to only 31 million trees in 2007 while fake tree sales had increased to 17.4 million in the same time period

As you can imagine there was a huge public backlash against this “Tax on Christmas” and ABC News has reported that the whole idea is being mothballed for now.

Occupy Atlanta - Haftin' To Be Uproared

The Occupy Wall Street “Movement” appears to be moving across American.  This video is from last month when the college students from Atlanta Georgia hosted their own Occupy Atlanta event.  Hear what their spokesperson has to say about the reasons behind the movement.

Let’s Change the Form of Havre City Government

I am not going to try and pretend the folks at the Corrector are not happy about the results of Havre’s city election. Getting Bob Kaul replaced with a man of some apparent intelligence that is not the type to antagonize and obstruct progress will be a welcome change. Also the fact that Bonnie Parenteau and Brian Barrows will be replacing two retiring council people will give the council an entirely new makeup and thought process.

What is most interesting is that for the first time in decades the city governing body is made up of an even split of republicans and democrats which should go a long way to ending the political party game playing. They may just have to get along to get anything done. Looking ahead to the next council election in 2013 the local republicans will be in a position to take control of the council. The only republican up for election at that time will be Bob Kaftan but the democrats will have to defend 3 seats so if the republicans continue with the gains we have seen the last few years we would predict they will pick up enough seats to control the council.

The apparent problem that comes to mind is the fear that a republican majority would allow them to ram controversial council actions down the minority democrats throats just as they have done to the republicans all these years. Due to our past sad history with democrat politics in Have I am of course willing to take that chance but wouldn’t it make more sense to try and change our city government to a city manager type of operation with non-partisan council positions instead of continuing on with our present political back-biting with political parties and untrained mayors that really aren’t capable of managing a city?

If we hired a city manager that was actually educated in the job of managing a city wouldn’t we save money in the long run? If with this change in our form of government the council and honorary mayor positions were elected without thought to what party they belonged to wouldn’t we see more people with actual business experience and common sense actually file to run for these offices?

If you agree that we should at least take a look at changing our system of city government why don’t you give some of our council people a call and tell them that you would support a new direction. It is high time we took a look at a more efficient non-political form of government.

The new council will be made up of Andrew Brekke, Woody Woodwick, Rick Dow, Bob Kaftan, Brian Barrows, Janet Tretheway, Bonnie Parenteau, and Jerry Vies

Republican Dow stomps Democrat Obstructionist Kaul in Havre Council Race

I just got the fantastic news that newcomer Rick Dow handily beat incumbent bumbler Bob Kaul to take the council seat for ward 3. The vote was 320 votes for Havre newcomer and unknown Rick Dow to 264 votes for Havre old timer and media hog Bob Kaul.

The city council is now made up of 4 republicans, 3 democrats and our beloved councilman Vies as the Independent. This could put some added pressure on poor Mayor Solomon as a 4-4 split in a contentious council vote will put him in the position of actually having to make decision for any tie breaking votes.

As usual the Havre Daily “News” posted an award winning slew of stories about tonight’s election. The one I like the most was the last paragraph in the Dow wins in Ward 3 story which I have copied and pasted below;

With Dow’s election, City Council will have four Republicans and our Democrats working with Mayor Tim Solomon, a Democrat. It is believed to be the first time in decades that the GOP has had so many members on council.

Do you suppose the HDN boldly proclaiming that “Our” democrats working with Mayor Tim Solomon in that last paragraph was a Freudian slip or are they actually finally admitting publically their biased allegiances to the liberal agenda?

It is a great night for Havre voters.  I will be back tomorrow to bring you the full details of this election and recent council happenings that seem to miss the paper.

WE ARE NOT GOING TO MISS YOU

Do Animals Have Constitutional Rights?

Sea World Courtesy Photo

Every night when I turn on the news I see people wringing their hands and going on and on about the economy being in the tank. The despair you see is unbelievable as they talk and talk and talk about what could be causing all these economic problems. The plans they advance to “correct” all these problems such as the stimulus, bailouts and more government oversight are just off the wall they are so ridiculous. Funny thing is I rarely hear anyone mention what I think is the real problem with our economy which is too much government interference in the business sector and a legal system that will let any idiot with an agenda shut down any new project for any reason.

Take for example this recent story over at the Northern Ag Network  PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has filed suit against Sea World because they keep Whales on display to perform for the tourists. I am sure you have all read stories about PETA and maybe have even seen the guy in Great Falls that used to dress up in his fish costume with the big hook sticking out of his mouth while he paraded around holding a sign that said something to the effect of “I have feelings too and feel the deep pain of this barbaric hook.” Lawsuits by PETA have become fairly commonplace but this recent suit against Sea World takes the prize for idiotic stunts that clog up our court system.

PETA claims in their lawsuit that Sea World is violating the whales 13th amendment rights and should be freed. HUH? The 13th amendment? Whales have constitutional rights? What does the 13th amendment say?

Passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865, the 13th amendment abolished slavery in the United States and provides that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

PETA claims that the 13th Amendment, while prohibiting slavery and involuntary servitude, does not specify that only humans can be victims. They are quoted in an Associated Press article as saying;

"By any definition, these orcas are slaves — kidnapped from their homes, kept confined, denied everything that's natural to them and forced to perform tricks for SeaWorld's profit," said Kerr. "The males have their sperm collected, the females are artificially inseminated and forced to bear young which are sometimes shipped away."

So the whole court case is comparing these captive whales to the days of slavery in America? I wonder how the descendants of the “real” slaves feel about whales being compared to their plight. The sad part is the PETA attorneys have spent over 18 months preparing for their day in court using this logic. Apparently a few more attorneys need to also be unemployed if this is the best they can do.

Blatant attacks on business such as this one by PETA is part of what is wrong with our economy. At the very least laws need to be changed allowing court costs to defend idiotic lawsuits such as this to be recovered from the tormenting parties by the defendants

A Great $20 Christmas Present

The VFW Posts of Montana are again running their daily December gun raffle. Starting December 1st, 2011 a gun will be awarded to a lucky raffle winner each and every day throughout December. Some days more than one drawing will be held for a total of 35 firearms to be given away to benefit the VFW Posts during December. The first gun to be given away will be a Remington 700 SPS Varmint 22-250. The full list of guns can be found on the Missoula VFW Post 209 website here

Tickets cost $20 each or 6 for $100 and are available in Havre from Ruben McKinney at rebenj2@gmail.com  or phone 265-4917. Ticket sales are limited to 2,500 tickets so don't waste any time giving Ruben a call to purchase your tickets.

You can win a great Christmas present for only $20 and help out the VFW posts of Montana at the same time

Last Call for Havre City Council Voting

Tuesday is the absolute deadline to get your ballot for city council returned to the courthouse. The only real race is in Ward three where challenger Rick Dow is going up against incumbent Bob Kaul.

If you want to see a change from the status quo of idiotic happenings at the council meetings you can do yourself a favor and make sure anyone you know that votes in Ward three gets their ballots back into the election judge.

We took a drive around town today and I had a heck of a time even finding a campaign sign up anyplace for Kaul but the Dow signs pretty much blanket the ward so hopefully that is a sign of good things to come this Tuesday.

Don’t forget to return your ballot and if you have yet to register to vote and you live in Ward three there is still time to participate

 

Are We Winning the War on Poverty?

We Agree ............... the government needs to get out of the business of welfare.  Very interesting discussion with Star Parker on Reason TV

The Lynching of Jim Lynch

Yesterday’s Billings Gazette said the new transportation director is vowing to fix all the illegal hirings in the Department of Transportation. You may recall that Governor Schweitzer canned the former director Jim Lynch because Lynch allowed the hiring of his daughter at the Department of Transportation violating the state’s nepotism policy. Even though Lynch’s daughter had held her position for over four years and Lynch recused himself from the hiring process the governor only seemed to get interested in the “problem” after Lynch started yakking it up about running for governor. Was that just a coincidence?

Newly appointed director Tim Reardon told the Legislative Audit committee that he was disturbed that a recent audit showed the agency has hired some unqualified employees and he is going to get everything fixed post haste. Funny thing is that Jim Lynch specifically asked about the legalities of hiring his daughter within the department and was told it was acceptable as long as he wasn’t the person doing the hiring. Tim Reardon was the department’s chief legal counsel at the time so it is very strange that he is now incensed by the whole deal. I mean this guy says he knew nothing about any of this, but he was the Chief Legal Counsel? Give me a break.

I would have to wonder if this whole deal is one big scam to bring attention to the fact that Lynch has filed to run for Governor as a republican. Something just doesn't smell right in the way Schweitzer and his cronies are attacking ole Lynch. Interestingly Lynch has been a life-long democrat and every political cash donation attributed to his name has been made to only democrats. So why did he file for governor as a Republican? Some would have you believe that it was because he was “mad” at the governor but I have to wonder if Lynch filed on the republican ticket at the bequest of the democrats to muck up the whole republican primary and this whole lynching of Jim Lynch is nothing more than another one of the governor’s big tent sideshows.

In our area I would guess that any votes for Lynch in the republican primary would come at the expense of republican candidate Rick Hill who is the apparent front-runner in the republican herd of candidates for governor. Is this Lynch bashing attempting to simply make the republicans comfortable with voting for a former democrat in an attempt to swing the election to one of the less popular candidates they think Democrat Steve Bullock can beat?

I wouldn’t put anything past the devious Schweitzer organization

Suprise Suprise - Obama not all that popular in Montana

Anyone notice in the Great Falls Tribune the article with the headline “Obama’s popularity low in Montana”? A poll by the Montana State University-Billings found that just 32% of those polled approved of the president’s job performance while 58% disapproved. I wonder if that is why our ever campaigning Senator Jon “No Ear Marks Ever” Tester has been releasing news release after news release bragging about his recent change of heart from ultra-liberal to conservative view points. You got to love a guy that voted for every wasteful stupid Obama program that came down the pike until he kicked off his reelection campaign. Apparently our Obama loving Senator thinks his adoration of the president may just cost him some votes.


Will Tester’s connection with the president affect how you vote in the senate race?

Expanding Government

Every day I read about the ever rising unemployment rate in our country yet the Montana Watchdog reports that in Montana Local, State and the Federal governments have added over 5,100 people to our workforce since 2007. Montana now ranks 11th in the nation for the most government employees with 91,000. Does this sound like a reasonable number considering we have around 900,000 residents?


Our population has stayed basically the same yet we continue to employ more and more people to "govern" us.  No wonder we are going bust

Federal Regulators Run Amok On Farm Labor

I listened on the radio to both Congressman Rehberg and Senator Tester talk about this and I read about in the Billings Gazette and the HDN about this issue.  So let me see if I got this right.  In the last year, the Feds have embarked on three separate attacks on Farmers and Ranchers.  The first was a trial balloon meant to put all farmers and ranchers on notice that the Department of Transportation feels that anyone pulling a horse trailer should hold a commercial drivers license.  Then there are these insane attempts to regulate farm dust and now we see the Department of Labor wants to ban farmers from hiring children.  Could we please stop with all this mothering from the Feds? Please?  You already tell us that we must drive with our seatbelts, we must watch what we eat, we must buy health insurance, we must only drive cars that the government deems is safe enough or efficient enough.  The list goes on and on and on and for many of us, we are sick and tired of being regulated to death.

I grew up working on a farm and ranch here in Montana and I still believe it was one of the most important experiences a kid could have to learn not only how to grow food, but also a traditional work ethic.  Those folks in New York bellowing about Wall Street could use a little hard work in my honest opinion.  Farming and ranching is a noble profession and one which is crucial to our economy, not only in Montana but for our nation as well.  Food continues to be in the top 5 exports for the U.S. whether it is wheat, beef, corn or soybeans, agriculture is by far one of the largest industries the U.S. and certainly for Montana.  Not only that, it is one of the few areas of the economy actually performing quite well, so leave it alone!

The President and all of the dwarfs running for President continue to say finding jobs is the most important issue for the upcoming election.  Duh!  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out, yet we might need one to figure our why our government continues to attack our own industries as opposed to trying to help these industries grow and employ more people.  It baffles the mind why at this stage in our economy while we continue to hemorrhage jobs, the Feds continue to find ways of destroying more jobs.

So for those keeping score, Montana has three main industries, 1) Agriculture, 2) Energy and 3) Tourism. Obama’s administration has all but attempted to destroy our energy industry by seeking to regulate coal by EPA regulations and Wyoming and North Dakota are kicking our butts on State regulations, now with these attacks on agriculture, how can any Montanan sit idly by and allow this to continue?  The bottom line is we all need to write our Congressman and our Senators and send comments to the Department of Labor telling them just how dumb this is.  Stop the nanny state right now! We are sick and tired of it.  Montana cannot afford to lose anymore jobs or we will go the way of California, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

To comment click the links below:

Sen. Max Baucus, D-MT

Sen. Jon Tester, D-MT

Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-MT

Department of Labor Regulation Comments

The White House

How much is a “Created Job” worth?

I couldn’t help but notice a couple of newspaper articles and even a letter to the editor of the HDN this weekend bemoaning the fact that there is not enough support to pass Obama’s wonderful $447 billion dollar jobs plan. Obama claims that 2 million jobs could be created or saved with his plan but is that really true? Thanks to one of our readers pointing out a website called FactCheck.Org we read a report saying that economists can only show that 288,000 jobs could either be saved or created over the next 2 years with the president’s plan.

Do the math - $447 billion divided by 288,000 jobs = $1,552,083 spent for each job saved/created. Even Jacksons far-out plan of just paying everyone that is unemployed $40,000 per year to just “do something” would employ 11,175,000 people or 38 times what the Obama plan would do. What is wrong with these alleged highly-educated economists? Even if Obama’s claim that 2 million jobs would be created was in fact true the cost would be over $223,500 for each job “created.” Don’t any of these people own a calculator to run some simple math numbers before they go on prime-time TV bragging about these wonderful plans? I only took Havre High math and I am smart enough to do the math on this one.

So what of the Republicans “better” jobs plan they have been touting. You got it! - The economists said there would be a net gain of ZERO jobs but looking on the bright side at least they were proposing spending considerably less of our tax dollars.

How about just totally forgetting “job creation plans” and taking a look at cutting some of the job killing excessive government regulations that keep the economy from moving ahead instead? That would not only cost you nothing but would actually save some money by eliminating thousands of government bureaucrat positions that do nothing more than muck up the whole job creation process

How much do you think we should spend to create each job?