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