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?