Obama groupies starting to see the light

WOW …………………. Even the liberal Obama worshipping MSNBC is turning on his lack of open and substantive communication with the press.  Reporter Andrea  Mitchell shows her disgust with DNC chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Presidential Campaigns and Medicare - What is the Truth?

Ever since Romney announced that he had chosen Paul Ryan as his running mate about all I see on the news is the liberal talking heads yammering on about how Ryan wants to eliminate Medicare. Of course news such as this would get all the older folk that either are retired of getting close to that age up in arms and leave them fraught with worry about living their golden years in poverty because of a lack of healthcare. If I remember correctly what the Ryan’s plan did was change the whole structure of Medicare but it did not eliminate it. It proposed using vouchers for folks that wanted to stay with their current health plans and it made a lot of business type changes to correct where the current system has short falls. Was the Ryan plan perfect? Certainly not but it was a jumping off point that should have made some positive life saving changes to the Medicare system as we know it if only congress could work together without political partisan politics coming into play. At no time did anyone suggest eliminating Medicare as the distorted ads on TV are trying to make you believe. Also I find it interesting that various Democrat leaders have been bellowing their sudden concern about retired people having the rug jerked out from under them by a scheme such as Ryan’s’. Apparently they missed the part where changes in the system would only affect people that were under the age of 55 and had some years to go until retirement.

I am glad to see that the Romney people have started running some campaign ads to dispel some of these untruths and outright lies. The first video below is the new Romney-Ryan campaign ad and the second video is our own Dear Leader Obama in an interview with Jake Tapper of ABC News on November of 2009. Listen carefully to what Obama says and you will find that his plan to save Medicare is to remove one-third of its funding to finance his ObamaCare program. If you really are going to cast your vote for President strictly on the Medicare issue which candidate do you really believe is out to harm you?

Amtrak - Ride with Pride

Anyone bought a ticket on Amtrak online lately? Apparently our heavily tax subsidized rail system is now weighing in on the whole gay marriage vs. the one man – one woman bunch with a new diversity program of their own called the Ride with Pride promotion. They are advertising their “diversity friendly” company on a new website called www.amtrakridewithpride.com  which features advertisements geared towards the gay community.

I guess to each their own but it would seem that a company that has been bleeding red ink for decades would want to spend some of their energy trying to figure out how to become financially solvent without massive federal subsidies. Early this summer Amtrak sponsored a contest to send two lucky couples on a fun filled time to the Pride Festival in Chicago in time to take in the largest Pride Parade. The Amtrak website says they were also the proud sponsor of Capital Pride held May 30 thru June 10, 2012.

See pictures of the two happy couples and read the article on the Amtrak website here.

It's Tim Fox for Me - Bucy scares me

I am somewhat distressed at a story I read over at Media Trackers about Attorney General Candidate Pam Bucy. It would seem that candidate Bucy doesn’t think we have enough bureaucratic roadblocks killing jobs and raising production expenses so she is proposing, if elected to the Attorney General position, to formulate a new “Environmental Crimes Unit” to make sure her office would have yet another big hammer to hold over the head of those unfortunate souls that actually have a passion for developing Montana’s resources. Just what we need, another government lackey running roughshod over the job creators in our state.

Most importantly for me this bold step tells me exactly how she would vote on any state land board question involving the expansion of any of our mineral resource extraction businesses. A vote for Bucy will be a vote to continue lagging behind North Dakota and other states that are taking advantage of the wealth and job opportunities provided by these industries. I guess this really shouldn’t be a surprise after watching these same type of folks kill our logging industry in Montana but on the bright side we are at least mentioned in the national news headlines for having an abundance of forest fires where we allow our valuable timber burn instead of doing any of that environmentally damaging logging.

In light of this Bucy bungled thinking I think I will send off a small check to Tim Fox who is Pam’s opponent in this race to make sure this insane Bucy message gets out to the voters.  The Fox for Attorney General campaign also has a place on his website to contribute online

Paul Ryan - Great Choice

Here is Paul Ryan’s first speech as Mitt Romney’s vice-presidential running mate.  I think this is a good choice.  Looking forward to November.

Chick-fil-A

Today’s cartoon by Henry Payne gave me a good laugh. Both sides of the formerly unknown chicken enterprise CEO’s gaff are still generating turmoil. You got to love alleged “news” people, cartoonists and comedians for finding the humor in all things.

To make a long story short -- Who cares?

What Happens when a Nation Bans Guns?

Nancy Pelosi guided by "Spirits"

I think we are finally getting to the bottom of what is driving all the craziness we have seen in the Democratic White House the last few years. The original Queen of “Bat-Crap Crazy” Nancy Pelosi has been taking advice from the “spirits”. I thought she was a little off last year when she teamed up with our own Senator Jon “No Ear Marks Ever” Tester to spend thousands saving some endangered mouse in San Francisco but now I learn they were being instructed by spirits of liberal political powers from the past.

You just can’t make this stuff up. Hear the Queen describe her spiritual transformation in her own words. Heck, hear it several times if you like as she has been yakking it up all over her speaking circuit.



Did she just talk about spirits at a college graduation?  Quick - call the ACLU and file one of those suits dealing with the seperation of church (or spirits) and state.

Related story CNS-News

Kids and R-Rated Movies in Havre

I received an interesting e-mail awhile back about kids attending R-rated movies in Havre. The author of the e-mail had in part this to say;

I’ve been noticing a pretty disturbing trend here in Havre when it comes to R rated movies – pretty much every one I’ve attended has been filled with young children. Sometimes these children are accompanied by adults, sometimes they are not. There’s a few ways to look at this issue – as an adult customer I find it difficult to enjoy comedy or sex scenes clearly not meant for children with a crying 5 year old sitting next to me while his three year old brother runs up and down the aisle. I’m generally a social libertarian; I believe folks are free to screw their kids up in any way they desire short of physical/sexual abuse. As a moral person however, I’d rather not be a party to it. Many theaters in the country have banned bringing children below the age of 9 into R rated films even when accompanied by an adult. Though I’m not sure 9 is appropriate either, it’s a vast improvement over the status quo

  Is this a common practice in all theaters? I always thought when the movie was rated R it meant no one under the age of 17 was to be admitted. Isn’t there some sort of law to this effect? Well it appears the rating system is only a guideline imposed by the movie industry upon themselves under threat of laws suggested by legislators some years back. As it turns out there is no actual law which regulates theatres restricting entry to any age group although many voluntarily censor their patron as to age limitations but nowhere is there any sort of law compelling them to do so. I do have to wonder about the parenting ability of a person that would take a pre-teen to an R rated movie but that is just my opinion. A very informative article about the MPAA movie rating system can be read here at Wired dot com

Does anyone have any comments or suggestions?

U.S. Drought Monitor

I happened to come across an interesting website hosted by the University of Nebraska dealing with drought conditions through-out the country.  It appears that Montana’s dry conditions are actually not that bad when compared to the rest of the country. You can check out the drought maps at this link.

click to enlarge



Senator Tester Thinks we need Another Indian Reservation

Great news (or is it?) for the Little Shell Tribe of Montana. It would appear that nothing can prod a Senator pandering for votes into action faster than a close Senate race. On August 2 Senator “No Earmarks Ever” Tester brought SB 546 to the floor to be read and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs. SB546, sponsored by Tester, extends Federal recognition to the Little Shell Chippewa Indians of Montana. The bill allows that the Tribe and each member would now be eligible for all services and benefits provided by the United States to other recognized tribes even though they don’t have an actual reservation. The bill directs the Secretary of Interior to acquire trust title to 200 acres of land to be used as a tribal Homeland base. The bill also allows for future additional land that the Secretary of Interior may acquire for the benefit of the tribe pursuant to the Indian Reorganization Act.



Way to lock up those Little Shell votes Jon but is this really what is in the best interests of the Little Shell people? It would seem to me that we are taking a group of people that have been independent and self sufficient for over a century and are now attempting to place them in a system that has obviously been a failure for other Indian peoples of Montana. Don’t we learn anything from past mistakes? I don’t know what the solution is but this isn’t it.

Read the text of SB 546 here

10% of Coal Generators to go Offline Because of EPA

Does anyone realize that over 10% of our coal fired power plants generators are slated to go offline because of increased EPA regulations? Gee ……………… I wonder if we can expect the price of our electric bills to go up?

I think I will write a letter to Obama and Senator Tester to thank them for making this happen. I think it is also time for a new hope and change this November election

click to enlarge

Check out the whole story at the Institute for Energy Research

Dress in Drag and Get In Free

The summer has been just flying by and before we know it school will be cranking up for all our little darlings.  I have spent some time looking at our universities and curriculums the last couple of weeks and it is surprising to learn how diverse the thought process has become since I was a lad in school.

For instance, did you know that the Montana State University actually has an office and staff operating what is called a Diversity Awareness Office? Their website says student learning is “enhanced when topics are examined from diverse perspectives” That sounds wonderful.  It is always good to learn about others and examination of our differences can lead to a better understanding of each other.

To kick off their liberal stance on diversity this new school year and to also celebrate “Coming Out Week” the MSU Procrastinator Theater will be presenting Hedwig and the Angry Inch which features a transsexual punk rock girl from East Berlin that is touring the US and telling her life story.  Take a look at her trailer and if you decide this is for you can get into the theater for free by simply dressing in drag to attend.

It would appear that I missed out on many “learning opportunities” back in the days of old when I went to school.  It is good to know that our young are being feed this (what is the word I am looking for?) diversity so they will come home and know for sure that I am not normal.  If we would just increase the K-12 school budget a bit this legislative session I bet we could start some of these diversity offices right here in our local high-school.

My first thought was Lord save us but I guess my tax dollars (and tuition) are being put to good use.  I mean where else would you see a show such as this in Montana and be able to do it comfortably dressed in drag to boot?

Drug Enforcement Museum? Give me a Break

It is bad enough knowing the taxpayers spend millions every year in the failed war on drugs but now I just learned that we have also been shelling out cash since 1999 so the DEA can operate a Drug Enforcement Administration & Visitors Center in Arlington, Virginia.  Do we really need taxpayers to fund this type of operation?  And most importantly, just what does the DEA have to be so proud of that they would even want to remember?  Check it out and let me hear from you.

Drive Drunk and Lose your Car

The crackdown on people receiving multiple DUI’s has gotten a little harsher in Roundup and Musselshell County. Local officials auctioned off 4 vehicles that were forfeited from repeat drunk-driving offenders. The power to seize a repeat offender’s vehicle was granted via a statute passed by the Montana Legislature in 1993 although no one seems to have been using the statute until recently.


The Billings Gazette said that the Yellowstone County Attorney hasn’t been taking advantage of the statute and said “as many as five or six vehicles a week could be seized and there just isn’t space to store them.”

So if it takes some effort some counties like Yellowstone may not take advantage of the statute but for now if you plan on being a habitual driving under the influence offender you best avoid Musselshell County.

What do you think? Should all counties take a look at this to slow down the number of DUI’s or is the Yellowstone County Attorney right that it is just too much effort? Read the whole story at the Billings Gazette

Separation of Church and State Myth Busted (again)

Apparently all the hoopla we hear about the “separation of church and state” being spelled out in our constitution since the beginning of time is not true.    Who would have dreamed that liberals and the ACLU would have lied to us?  If anyone is interested you can buy a DVD of the whole 2-hour Capital tour at Wall Builders dot com for 15 bucks. 

Obama Supporter Interviewing her 2008 Self

So much for hope and change.  What will you say to yourself about 2012  when you look back 4years from now?




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Our Governor goes E-Bay

Montana’s show-boating Governor has taken his circus tent on the road again.  Our dear governor has donated one of his infamous branded Veto plaques to be auctioned off on e-bay to not only do a little personal grandstanding but to also raise some cash for NARAL Pro-Choice Montana.

The NARAL Pro-Choice Montana website says if you are the winning bidder Governor Schweitzer will write a personalized message of your choice on this historic veto plaque.  The auction started on July 17^th and is already up to a whopping $265.  Not exactly a bidding frenzy considering the auction has been going on for 8 days but at least they will be getting some free media play by our award winning gullible press.

The governor vetoed a record breaking total of 78 bills last session and branded a plaque for each and every one of them right on the capitol steps.  I hope everyone will give some serious consideration to electing a governor this November who can work with both parties and not have to resort to childish theatrics such as the Veto branding sideshow.  In retrospect the republicans weren’t much better when they appeared with their “JOBS” branding iron a few days later and ran their own side-show.

Check out the auction here on e-bay if you wish.

Gun Control Advocates on a Feeding Frenzy

The senseless loss of life at a Colorado theatre at the hands of a nut wielding a gun has brought to the forefront again the topic of gun control.  The following is an approximate 12 minute interview on the topic of gun control.  Please share your opinion

Does anyone really think taking guns out of the hands of our citizens will change anything?

Catch and Release Crime Control

Port authority police dept photo



I always get disgusted when I read about people getting arrested for a dozen DUIs and wonder why we don’t have a better system to deal with persistent offenders.  Well that is nothing compared to this 61 year old sex offender who was just arrested for the 169^th time for groping a woman on a train.  He was also charged with marijuana and drug paraphernalia possession.

Now I see why we need more dollars to hire policemen.  I didn’t realize that crime enforcement has become a sporting activity like catch and release fishing.

Read the whole story here

Rockin' On The Right Side

The Corrector received an e-mail today pointing out a relatively new blogger from Lewistown called “Rockin’ On The Right Side. The blog is being written by Tom Balek and from what we can see he is a very talented writer.  The post we were sent was titled “Montana has too much money, let’s party!”

According to Balek’s post the Montana Department of Commerce ran an advertisement in the local Lewistown paper informing people that $200,000 is available for the asking in special event grants.  It seems that money is available to fund a local party or anything to draw people to your town.   Balek suggest that perhaps he should see if he can get a grant for a good old fashioned kegger and see if he can tempt some folks from Butte to attend.  According to the guidelines of the grant application his idea would appear to qualify.  It surely is nice to know that Montana has such a surplus of money that they can afford to toss around cash like this.  I guess Monica Lindeen doesn’t have a corner on the party hearty on someone else’s dime idea.

I have to agree with Balek when he wrote;

Unfortunately, our dumbed-down citizenry thinks that grants really are free money.  They repeatedly hear mayors and city councils say, "No local money is being spent on this project - we received a grant."

If any of the local party types want to have a go at obtaining some of those “free” funds for our own kegger, wiener-fest or some other “special” hoopla gathering full detail and grant writing instructions are available online at the Montana Department of Commerce. You had better hurry before all this free money is gone.

Also be sure and take a look at the Rockin’ on the Right Side blog.  I think it may become one of my daily stops in the blog world.

The Government Built that Business

It must have been quite a shock to local business people to hear President Obama tell them that the government is they reason there are any successful businesses in Havre and the rest of America. I think the exact quote was “If you’ve got a business – you didn’t build that. Somebody else built that.”

Like a good friend commented the other day: “Here I thought that my taking two mortgages, drawing a very limited salary and working 16 hours a day is what helped build my business.”

The fact of the matter is that the government’s historic role has been to over-regulate businesses, throw up road blocks and actually punish a small business person for being successful. Do we really want 4 more years of this guy?

More on Green Stimulus Projects

I found this video rather interesting.  You got to love young people that take it upon themselves to “trap” those that make it their game to rob the tax payers out of their hard earned cash for senseless projects that accomplish nothing.  “Earth Supply and Renewal” looks suspiciously like the program called “Vibrant Futures” we have been reading about here on the local scene.

Where did all the Obama Stimulus Money Go?

We are Back

First, a heartfelt apology to our readers.  Unforeseen circumstances prevented us from having the time or energy the last few weeks to keep up with our posting.  Thanks to those that have e-mailed inquiring about our absence.  Also thanks to those that have continued to send us tips and news update we will get to your stories in due course.  Hopefully we are back on track and we look forward to hearing your comments on the “happenings” around our area.

Monica Lindeen and the Gold Diggers Part Deaux

Here she goes again.

The Commissioner of Securities and Insurance is showing a matinee of Gold Diggers: Investment Fraud in the Treasure State again in Havre tomorrow at 12:00 Noon at the Duck Inn, you can RSVP by calling 1-800-332-6148. A free all you can eat buffet luncheon is provided according to a personal phone call from Monica Lindeen's office.

If you recall people were turned away from the free prime rib dinner previously held at the Elks Club because of overwhelming response to the Lindeen campaign /slash/ investment fraud tour. Of course this free chow-down comes at absolutely no cost to the tax-payer because as I was told when I complained before - this treasure hoard of cash financing this fiasco comes from fines levied against those that have cheated investors in the past. So if you have been robbed and never saw a dime of restitution at least come down and gobble up a ten-dollar lunch compliments of Securities and Insurance Commissioner.

Just for everyone’s information Miss Monica is being challenged for her office by a guy named Derek Skees from Kalispell. Check out his website here and consider casting a vote for an end to this type of nonsense.

Smacking Congressman Rehberg's Wife

The Tester – Rehberg race for the Senate will be over and done with in less than 6 months and we have been seeing an increase in the old “who done it” finger pointing from both sides. Both the Democrat and Republican parties have held their respective conventions in the last two weeks and the media has been full of stories about the Senate race which has been polling at approximately 50% in favor of each candidate. Last Saturday Rehberg and Tester met in Bozeman for a debate hosted by the Newspaper Association that was attended by about 250 people. Nearly every newspaper and television station in Montana has posted some sort of story like this one on KRTV about the debate but what I have failed to see widely publicized was the altercations and general misbehaviors of the audience members.

Oddly an out of state news source called The Daily Caller was one of the first to publish a comprehensive story about the behind the scenes actions of the debate audience. I seems one Democrat enviro-nut became so agitated that she actually hauled off and smacked Congressman Rehberg’s wife with a Tester for Senate campaign sign. The Daily Caller also reported that this person and a couple of accomplices heckled Rehberg during the debate. Why is it that you can never attend a public forum without a couple of these dim-wits disrupting the process for everyone?

In addition, The Daily Caller reported that Rachel Vaughn, another local Bozeman democrat, had also heckled Rehberg during the debate and then after the debate slapped the wrist of Watchdog reporter Dustin Hurst in an attempt to make him drop his recording device to the ground. Hurst in turn has posted the audio version of his interview which turned into assault on the watchdog.org website. Hurst was interviewing her about her campaign sign she had posted on her car that read “Drunks for Rehberg.” Vaughn went on to tell the Watchdog reporter that she was upset that Rehberg drove his boat into the rocks at Canyon Ferry Lake seriously injuring one of his aides. Funny thing about her “facts” was that I seem to remember that Rehberg was a passenger in the boat rather than the driver and that the accident took place over in the Flathead. I guess real facts aren’t really all that important when you are a political operative and to tell the truth as I listened to the Watchdog audio this woman sounded rather drunk herself.

So much for civil discourse ----- Let the games begin.

If you missed the debate the  audio of the Rehberg-Tester debate can be heard online at the Bozeman Chronicle here

Citizen Watchdog Event

The Corrector recieved the following press release that may be of interest to our readers.  Everybody welcome

HELENA – The Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity, along with Montana Watchdog, invites all bloggers and the general public to a “citizen watchdog” event July 14 that focuses on online news and open government.

The Franklin Center will provide a full day of in-depth training to equip bloggers and citizens with the tools and skills to become a more effective activist and citizen watchdog. Participants will learn how to use investigative reporting skills, how to impact the state and local government budgeting process, and how to advance your message through social media.

The nonpartisan event is an opportunity for discussion and mingling among bloggers and citizens from throughout the state.  There will be an opportunity to ask questions.  Lunch is included in the $10 registration fee. Seating is limited and advance registration is required.

The event runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Red Lion Colonial Hotel, 2301 Colonial Drive in Helena.

To register, go to: http://citizenwatchdoghelena.eventbrite.com/

If you have questions, contact Watchdog editor Phil Drake at phil@montanawatchdog.org  or (406) 442-4561.

Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity promotes the education of the public about waste, corruption, incompetence, fraud and taxpayer abuse by public officials at all levels of government.

Franklin Center identifies, trains, and supports citizens and investigative journalists working to detect and expose corruption and incompetence in government at the state and local levels.

For more information on the Franklin Center, visit http://www.franklincenterhq.org/
Phil Drake
E-mail me at phil@montanawatchdog.org
Check out our Web site at: http://www.montanawatchdog.org/

North Dakotan Jokes Now Obsolete In Montana

The following excerpt From the Montana Contractors Association newsletter was forwarded to the Corrector by one of our Montana Legislators.  We think Mr. Hegreberg hits the nail on the head.  Why are we standing by and allowing this to happen while jobs vanish?

North Dakota must think we're nuts
By Cary Hegreberg, Executive Director, Montana Contractors' Association
An excerpt from the May, 2012 Newsletter
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
North Dakotans must consider us Montanans to be a pretty humorous and goofy bunch of folks. They listen to us lament with envy the economic prosperity our neighbor to the east is enjoying as a result of the Bakken oil boom. Business leaders, elected officials and everyday Montanans routinely reflect out loud how "lucky" North Dakota is to have all that oil wealth.

Ironically, from the turn of the last century to the late 1990s, North Dakotans were envious of Montana's vast forest lands and the magnificent, fully integrated wood products industry that flourished here. We had thousands of people working in sawmills, plywood and particle board manufacturing plants, and working as loggers, or truckers, not to mention the myriad of related businesses that sprung up to serve the needs of the wood products industry and its workers.

North Dakotans watched dumbfounded as dozens of Montana sawmills and manufacturing plants closed, leaving behind thousands of unemployed workers and devastated communities, all victims of an insatiable environmental movement. Like many Americans, North Dakotans now drive through Montana witnessing mile after mile of dead, standing trees, wondering how we Montanans let this happen.

Similarly, North Dakota watched us decide at the ballot box to ignore the rich gold deposits known to exist in various locations throughout Montana. North Dakotans must have wondered why Montanans couldn't come up with a compromise to capture the economic opportunity of this gold resource while protecting the environment at the same time. At $1600-$1800 per ounce, imagine the revenues Montana could be enjoying today.

North Dakotans, with their relatively meager deposits of low-value, high-sulfur lignite coal, have undoubtedly wondered for decades why the state with the largest deposits of high value, low-sulfur coal in the U.S., allowed Wyoming to dominate coal markets, dwarfing Montana's production levels. We can only speculate on how North Dakota would have dealt with the world class coal reserves Montana has.

North Dakota was not blessed with millions of acres of forest land. North Dakota does not have huge deposits of gold tucked away in the hills. North Dakota does not have hundreds of millions of tons of coal that is in high demand throughout the world. They do have oil, however, and they must find it amazingly ludicrous to hear us Montanans expressing envy at their good fortune.

To be sure, environmental activists are still hammering away at what's left of Montana's timber industry. They are opposing any expansion or extension of the scant few gold mines here that escaped the regulatory pummeling. Nary a day goes by that some rag tag group is rallying to oppose coal trains, alleging all manner of atrocities in order to set the stage for a wholesale attack on coal companies planning to expand production in Montana.

And, it is a given that the promising new opportunities for oil and natural gas development in Montana will be met with the same onslaught of opposition our other resource industries have largely succumbed to.

Will we screw up our oil opportunity too? Will our North Dakota neighbors build new schools, new highways and bridges, and reinvigorate their communities as they watch us Montanans squander yet another chance to convert a natural resource into economic prosperity?

The MCA led the effort in sponsoring the highly successful Montana Energy 2012 conference and tradeshow in Billings Apr. 3-4 as our way to push Montana into a new era of optimism for the future. We don't need to be envious of North Dakota-we need to emulate their attitude to capitalize on resources and create opportunities for our people.

The huge turnout, fascinating presentations, and positive reviews of the energy conference prove that Montana is ready to embrace energy development as The Next Big Thing to reignite our economy. Thanks to a visionary Board of Directors, a supportive membership, and a dedicated staff of professionals, the Montana Contractors' Association stands ready to help lead the way. 

OBAMA: Give Me One More Chance

The Quote of the Decade: 
“The fact that we are here today to debate raising America 's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government cannot pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America 's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that, "the buck stops here.' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.”
~ Senator Barack H. Obama, March 2006

Graduation speaker turned away for fear he may be “too conservative”

The Hollywood Reporter says a Montana High School principal told Gerald Molen that he could not deliver his commencement speech to the graduating class in Ronan Montana even though he was the invited speaker because he is “a right-wing conservative.” Molen, who lives in Montana, is well known for winning a best picture Oscar for co-producing Schindler’s List with Steven Spielberg and has produced other Hollywood blockbusters like the Jurassic Park films. Molen has spoken at dozens of schools and never accepts a fee.

In a letter written to the Daily Interlake Molen said;

Recently I was invited to speak to the Ronan High School seniors. After three weeks of preparation, research and re-write after re-write, I arrived at the appointed hour only to be told my talk had been canceled. The reason: “some” callers had informed the principal that they were concerned about the scheduled speaker being too right-wing or having an opinion that might be counter to theirs or some other lame excuse.

When I was informed of the decision, I asked to speak to the principal and he agreed to meet with me. He apologized for the inconvenience of being canceled and said the decision to cancel was his alone. He was concerned about my presentation. No, he didn’t ask me of the content. No, he didn’t ask to read the speech for any clarification as to content. No, he would not tell me who the complaining party or parties were, nor would he give me any further explanation. Just that there would be no presentation by me that day.

I have to agree with the blog writers at 2 Helena Handbasket who suggest that it is time we get back to education over indoctrination and look for a new direction for our schools. Let’s make some changes in the status quo in our education system by getting behind a new thought process by supporting Sandy Welch for Public Instruction.

Thanks to 2 Helena Handbasket for pointing out this story and be sure and read the whole story by clicking on the links in red.

On the home front --  the word around town is that our local school is asking the school board to approve the purchase of approximately $250,000 dollars worth of new IPads for the upcoming school year. We have been told that this money is from budget savings and unused funds this past year. That seems rather odd considering that back in May of 2011 The Corrector reported that school officials were asking for additional mill levy funding to “keep our schools afloat.” The trustees ran a mill levy of $73,000 to address anticipated shortfalls and an additional mill levy of $370,000 for the building reserve. Both requests were given the green light just over a year ago under the threat of having to cut services and lay off teachers and yet now they seem to miraculously have an ending balance adequate enough to squander over a quarter-million dollars. Ever heard of refunding the over collected tax amounts back to the taxpayers?

I think we need a new direction from the top down. We need Sandy Welch to win the race for the office of Public Instruction for starters.

Canadian Health Care Utopia Questioned

I had to laugh when I read the article headlined “Benefis offers deep discounts to Canadians” in this morning’s paper. The jest of the article was about a Canadian man that needed surgery on his shoulder and was told by the Canadian doctors that he would have to wait 6-8 months for his surgery because of back-logs. Apparently socialized medicine in Canada isn’t all it was cracked up to be by all of the Obama Care Fan Club when they were shoving Obama Care down our throats.

Senator Max Baucus (the guy who wrote the bill yet didn’t read it) and Senator Jon (Never Tells the Truth) Tester both told us our plan was modeled after all the fine aspects of the Canadian plan and we would be in a state of utopia once the system is fully implemented in the United States.

Either they were sadly mistaken or we were told another out and out lie again. So what else is new? Time for a change in both the Senate and the White House.

EPA Defends Clandestine Spy Plane Operations on Cattle Ranches

New American Magazine reports that the EPA is adamantly defending the use of spy drones flying over farms in Iowa and Nebraska to check-up on farmers to make sure they aren’t abusing any of the thousands of Environmental Protection rules. When the Nebraska congressional delegation expressed their concerns about this invasion of privacy to the EPA administrator Lisa Jackson they were told that everything was within the law and they were being used simply because the drones are a cost effective way of monitoring potential environmental violators.

Apparently the EPA has been photographing farm operations and looking for potential violations and who knows what other information they have been collecting. You just never know when a cow might decide to break the law and relieve herself in the creek or heaven forbid a farmer would fire up the old chisel plow on a windy day and violate the new EPA dust rules. We have to be on top of our game to make sure these farm operators that are accustomed to living out in the boonies out of sight of government bureaucrats aren’t trying to pull any fast ones on us.

In addition when they start flying over Montana farms perhaps they can also monitor the Milk River and Fresno for potential terrorists. Maybe they could even be so lucky as to snap a few photos of that radical bunch of fishermen below the dam at Fresno illegally standing on their step ladders and trying to fish over the security fence into the forbidden spillway pool.

In addition the New American article stated that congress has already approved the deployment of around 30,000 drones in the U.S. by the year 2020. Think about this – 30,000 drones divided by 48 mainland states equals 625 spy planes per state. Considering we have 56 counties in Montana that number would suggest we might have up to a dozen of these babies right here in Hill County protecting us from the wrong doings of the farmers growing our food or the ungrateful anglers that want to get that last fish out of Fresno before they escape down the Milk River.

What's next?  Jackboots for everyone?


H/T to the Flint Report where I first noticed this alarming story.

Fresno Dam Story Goes Nationwide



Fresno Spillway
Outdoor Life Photo

 The Great Falls Tribune ran a story on Sunday about the restricted fishing access below Fresno Reservoir. Fresno is a popular local fishery about 10 miles west of Havre but access to anglers below the dam has been severely restricted since the 9-11-2001 terrorist attacks. The Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) erected a chain link fence blocking access below the dam in 2002 because of concerns that terrorists just might travel to Havre Montana and could raise havoc with our water supply. While it is great that bureaucrats are concerned with our safety out here in these remote regions their action ruined one of the local’s favorite fishing holes. A local fisherman and retired fisheries biologist, Kent Gilge, has been leading the charge to restore at least partial access to this popular fishing hole.

Gilge says that

“Several hundred local and in-state fishermen have written letters and emails to the BOR and our congressmen to make a small change in a downstream closure boundary so we can fish the basin below the dam. The effort spans almost a year. The BOR has sent out form letters but has not responded to requests for information nor will they hold a public meeting as requested. Despite letters to the BOR from our congressmen, we are being ignored. A perfect example of the waste of time, money and personal freedom by our government.”

According to Gilge this story was given to the Havre Daily “News” over a month ago but they just haven’t found the time to get an article out in our local paper. In the meantime the story has gone national with an excellent article in OutDoorLife.com called “How Terrorism Ruined a Fishing Hole.”


Current and proposed access boundaries

(click to enlarge photo)

 Gilge, who says he is just the mouthpiece for several hundred irate local fishermen, recently again asked that the BOR open up a dialogue with local fishermen to at least consider moving the existing boundary back to allow access to the spillway pool. The Homeland security people have also been contacted and they claim that this is simply a BOR directive and they have no control over where the boundary fence restricting access was erected.

Senators Baucus, Tester and Congressman Rehberg have weighed in on this controversy but it appears the BOR have their heels dug in. We have attached the most recent letter from the Bureau of Reclamation to Mr. Gilge and also a picture submitted to the Corrector by Gilge showing the current boundary and the new boundary requested by the local fishermen. It certainly doesn’t seem to be any radical adjustment that would cause national security concerns. I would venture to guess that it is just another in the long list of lost freedoms we are enduring by a government run amuck.

FEEDBACK: We Need Reader Feedback

We need some reader feedback.

As you have noticed we have been lax in getting mew posts online. We have had complaints about the new format being slow to load and other issues so we have been devoting some time trying to figure out how to correct these problems and are looking at a new format that will be faster and easier on our readers. We have made some recent changes to try and correct some of these problems and would like to hear back from you so we can tell if our readers have seen any improvement. The whole Google Blogger is making changes that don’t seem to be for the better in our opinion but we will have to deal with them if we want to stay on this venue. We just got notice that additional “upgrades” on Google will be added in August also.

Please let us know if you are having any issues with our present format.

Rep. Mike Bost goes Nuclear

This State Representative loses his cool and makes a heck of a scene on the Illinois house floor a couple of days ago.  It seems that Representative Mike Bost is tired of the House Speaker forcing votes on bills no one has had a chance to even read.  While his antics are a bit over the top the first thing that came to mind was that if our own Senators Baucus and Tester would have insisted that all bills be read before the vote we wouldn’t have had Obama Care shoved down our throats.  Thanks again Jon for being the last vote needed to pass that job killing health care bill.

xx

A Big Thanks to our Military on this Memorial Day

For years, Memorial Day was celebrated May 30. Then, in 1971, Congress passed the National Holiday Act moving most federal holidays to Mondays to ensure a three-day weekend. Since that time, Memorial Day has been observed on the last Monday in May.

Today we stop to remember those that died protecting our freedoms. Memorial Day, which was originally called Decoration Day, is the official day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service. Remembering fallen soldier dates clear back to civil war times. The first official day of observance was proclaimed on May 5th, 1868 by General john Logan who was the National Commander of the Grand Army and was first observed on May 30th, 1868 when folks got together to place flowers on the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery President Lyndon Johnson and Congress made the day into a three-day weekend with the National Holiday Act of 1971 which calls for the day to be observed the last Monday of May each year.

We would like to say thank you to all of those that have died so that we might remain free. We all know that freedom isn’t free.

Why we are entering the age of Ron Paul

Obama Bucks

I am beginning to think that the non-working people that vote for the person most apt to continue all these wonderful government “programs” allowing them their life of leisure are finally out numbering those of us that think able bodied people should work for a living.  The following is an interview with some people found standing in line in front of the New York welfare office. One guy even says we owe him because his ancestors were slaves.  I guess in his mind the 149 years that have passed since the Emancipation Proclamation is to short of time to become a part of a capitalistic working society.  Republicans shouldn’t be surprised if in fact our Dear Leader is re-elected because people receiving from the federal government outnumber people that are giving to the federal government.

The next video interviews  people last election that actually voted for Obama.  See any problems?

Dear Leader: Gas Prices for Dummies

I am staying close to Havre this Memorial Day.  It just costs too much to buy fuel to make unnecessary trips just for the sake of gallivanting around the country.  Anyone remember Dear Leader’s explanation for our high gas prices a few months ago?  If not be sure and watch the re-run of his blathering performance before you cast your vote for President.

And The Award for Best Actor Goes Too...

Yesterday during the White House press briefing, Wendell Goler with Fox News, asked Jay Carney, White House Press Secretary, about the President's past support for the Occupy Movement and whether or not he's changed his mind in light of the recent Chicago occurences.


It's so painful to watch it's amusing, but in reality, we were quite embarrased for poor Mr. Carney.  Clearly maintaining the most serious composure while attempting to cover for Barack Hussein Obama is most certainly worth the Best Actor nod at the 2013 Oscars in our humble opinion.  Congratulations Jay, on your achievement!

Don't You Dare Kill that Rattlesnake

Sorry for the lack of attention to this blog the last week.  It is spring and we all needed a little vacation from reading news reports about what is wrong with the world.  Personally, I have discovered that reading about all the stupid ways our government and government officials waste our tax resources and hinder economic progress depresses me and I took a much needed vacation from it all.   Today’s most idiotic story is brought to you from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.


Image Credit: Photos.com

 It seems that some of our good environmental wacko-nuts have convinced the Federal Fish and Wildlife Service that the highly venomous eastern diamondback rattlesnake is getting close to extinction and should be listed as an endangered species. In 2011 the Center for Biological Diversity filed a petition to add the rattlesnake to the endangered species list.

“Survival of these snakes in large part depends on whether people continue to persecute them or instead choose to allow these amazing creatures to share the land with us,” said Bill Matturro of Protect All Living Species. “In the Southeast, we are blessed with a rich natural heritage of animals and plants. All of these species — even the rattlesnakes — should be allowed to exist.”

Isn’t this story heart-warming.? A nasty creature that has wrecked havoc on the country since clear back in the Garden of Eden has a fan club protecting them from “persecution” and on your tax dime to boot. So when you encounter a rattler this summer be sure and keep in mind the poor folks that want to save the rattlers before you whack them with your shovel.

The Midwest Fish and Wildlife Website (take note of the date of publication) was advocating the protection of snakes since way back in November of 1999 which has to lead me to believe that some of our government paid officials are intertwined with some of these outrageous environmental groups that are pushing for all these nonsensical agendas. Be sure and read the linked stories about this drive to protect the snakes at the links in red above.

Additional story in Alanta Journal

Havre GOP Kicking Off for 2012 Elections

I just noticed this weekend that the local GOP has again opened an office next to the Hank Tweeten Auto Body shop.  This is the same office they used last election to head up their election efforts that resulted in historic GOP victories in the Havre area.  What we found unusual last time was the total lack of effort on the local Democrats part to even try and retain any seats in what is typically a Democratic strong-hold.  Seems kind of early to open an office for local candidates but it is apparent the local GOP is not going to take anything for granted and have hit the ground running.

Anyone heard if the local Democrats are planning on hibernating thru the election again this year?  Let us know what they are up to at havredailycorrector@gmail.com and we will report to our readers.

Bowen Greenwood Mounts Write-in Campaign for Clerk of Supreme Court

Bowen Greenwood

We received an interesting press release today announcing that the Republicans are mounting a write-in campaign against Supreme Court clerk Edwin Smith.  Smith is running unopposed and has held the position since January 2, 1989.  Voters are asked to write in the name of Bowen Greenwood and then darken the oval on the ballot next to his name.  More information can be viewed at his website http://www.bowengreenwood.com/

United States Budget Dilema

Something to consider as we cast our ballots this election .

Citizens United Decision

The following is a Letter to Editor regarding the Citizens United decision

Jerry O'Neil

By Representative Jerry O'Neil

I don’t blame the Democrats for condemning the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission; nor for lauding Steve Bullock, their candidate for governor, for fighting it. After all, if business interests are allowed to speak as freely as the union and environmental activists who normally support the Democratic Party, it might erode some of their support.

Bullock’s supporters use catch words for their favorite villains, such as, “powerful out-of-state corporations” and “buying our elections” in their propaganda. I readily admit some corporations, such as Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs and the Federal Reserve System, can be real scary; but this should not justify forbidding local businesses from supporting their favorite political candidates and causes.

The Pierce Pepin electrical cooperative stated in their newsletter, “the Environmental Protection Agency has numerous rules in process which, if enacted, will require utility spending to increase for compliance. - - Some of these rules could cost millions of dollars but only decrease pollution marginally.” Without the decision in Citizens United this likely would have been illegal corporate campaigning. Shouldn’t our energy, lumber and mining companies be allowed to defend themselves when the radical environmentalists and bureaucrats place onerous burdens upon them? Shouldn’t they be allowed to campaign against legislators and laws that will shut them down?

Historically Montana is the poster child for why to stifle corporate participation in elections - and why not to.

In 1912, during the Progressive Era and shortly after copper king W.A. Clark was caught bribing Montana’s legislators to secure a seat in the U.S. Senate, Montana passed a law that severely restricted corporate participation in Montana’s elections. About that time William A. Clark and Marcus Daly purchased virtually all the newspapers in Montana thus nullifying the law's affect on them.

According to University of Montana Journalism Professor Dennis Swibold's book, Copper Chorus: Mining, Politics and the Montana Press, 1889-1959, “not until the late 1950s did their successor, in the form of the Anaconda Co., determine that its newspapers had lost their relevance. Anaconda unyoked much of the state's press, including The Billings Gazette, in 1959 with the sale of its newspaper holdings to Lee Enterprises.”

The issue in Citizens United was whether a non profit corporation opposed to a political candidate had the right to publish a movie about that candidate. This would be the same right as corporate media, such as the media owned by GE, now has. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled “The Government may regulate corporate political speech through disclaimer and disclosure requirements, but it may not suppress that speech altogether.”

In today’s world without the Citizens United decision the copper kings would only need to purchase media corporations to publish videos and movies to advance their political views. The corporations without a voice would include our small, local corporations and cooperatives.

To give Steve Bullock credit for fighting against out of state influence on Montana’s elections would be to ignore his own actions. In his 2008 campaign for the Montana Attorney General’s office he collected over $150,000.00 from out of state interests. He also collected funds from several unions, including SEIU Healthcare and MEA-MFT; donations from employees of the office he was seeking; donations from a good portion of the Montana Trial Lawyers Association’s members; many environmentalists, including Elizabeth Best, presently a candidate for the Montana Supreme Court; along with funds from the NARAL Pro-Choice MT PAC.

You might think Steve Bullock is altruistic and fighting against his and his Democratic Party’s own interests with his battle against the Citizens United decision. This is not the case as is demonstrated by Brian Schweitzer’s campaigns in 2004 and 2008. While stating he would not accept any corporation or PAC money, he never-the-less filled his coffers from the Democratic Party’s union and environmentalist friends. From out of state contributors Schweitzer raised approximately $240,000.00 in 2004 and over $800,000.00 in 2008.

An example of where these out of state interests lie might be deciphered by the $1,000.00 Schweitzer received from Rutherford Seydel who resides in Atlanta, Georgia. Seydel is a director and vice-chairman of The Conservation Fund, co-founder and CEO of the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper Fund, Inc. and is a member of the board of directors of the Southern Environmental Law Center and Turner Environmental Law Clinic.

An example of out of state union interests contributing to Schweitzer’s 2008 campaign would be the $600.00 donation by Edward J. Gorman, III, Exec. Dir., United Brotherhood of Carpenters Health & Safety Fund, which is located at 101 Constitution Ave., N.W., Washington, DC.

Personally I believe Attorney General Steve Bullock in on the wrong track with his crusade to gag corporations in Montana politics. Instead I agree with the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United that the Government may regulate corporate political speech through disclaimer and disclosure requirements, but it may not suppress that speech altogether.”

Jerry O’Neil

Representing HD 3

985 Walsh Road

Columbia Falls, MT 59912

406-892-7602

Senator Tester “Blowing Smoke”

Have you seen the great new ad from Senator Jon “No Ear Marks Ever” Tester?  You surely remember the guy:  he has been our transparent Senator for nearly 6 years now and he was the guy that said he was going to clean up the culture of corruption on K-Street, end the wasteful practice of ear-marking, and wasn’t going to be bought and sold by the evil lobbyists.  Don’t forget that the Center for Responsive Politics lists old Jon-boy as the number one recipient of lobbyist funds and reports that he received over $875,000 from the banking and real estate industry in 2011 – the very same guys he said he was going to get “under control” for the well-being of us peons back home.  Of course that promise was 6 years ago and a feller sure might change his mind just a few days after winning election back in 2006!

Customer Issue with Local Cinema

The Corrector received the following editorial from a reader that is disturbed about their treatment at the Havre Cinema.

Havre Theater is kicking people out of the movie The Avengers before the final scene after the credits. At first they were telling people that there is no scene and now they are just using the excuse that there is no time for them to let us watch it because there are a lot of people waiting to see the next showing and their boss told them to kick us out so they can clean.

I went Sunday afternoon and Tuesday night and both times they kicked us out. Some other kids I saw later said the same thing happened to them. Tuesday night after I left the theater before that scene there were literally ONLY four people in the lobby waiting for a movie after the employee told me there were a whole bunch of people waiting to get into the theater. When I demanded to see the scene the employee told me I can "buy the DVD when it comes out" and laughed when I said I wanted a partial refund if I don’t get to see the full movie I already paid to see. Then an employee offered to turn the movie off so it won’t be there for me to worry about seeing. And I know per their contract with the distributor, most if not all theaters can NOT turn the movie off until the credits have fully run. They can get fined and lose their contract with the distributor. Hmmmm.....wasn’t Avengers Disney.....Oh if Havre lost their contract with Disney; I bet they'd lose a good chunk of income. Where has customer service gone in this town?

I realize I CAN buy the DVD in a month or however many months when it comes out, but I have paid twice to see the movie and been basically told it doesn't matter that I paid to see it and that that is part of the movie. I am angry and frustrated and I have NO idea if there really is anything that can be done about it. It isn't as if I asked to see another movie free or demanded free drinks or something. Anyway, I figured I would tell you in case you felt like having a rant/complaint about people being cheated out of their money. And I am angry enough right now that I am going to tell EVERYONE I come in to contact with about the horrible service I got. Sure it might not do anything, but right now, it’s all I can do.