What a Sorry Bunch

These Conrad Burns campaign ads are really starting to gall me. I don't watch much TV but when I do it seems these damn things pop up every few minutes. Not only are they misleading, they flat out lie. You'd think that ol' Conrad and Max Baucus were best buddies who are working together for Montana, and that Jon Tester is some dangerous radical who is trying to destroy all of their good work. Give me a break.

Rehberg and Burns talk about taxes and security. Conrad claims to stand with Baucus on drug benefits and energy independence. Both of these guys talk about the so-called 'death tax' as if there really were such a thing. It's an inheritance tax on the wealthiest of the wealthy. It's a tax on those who have built monstrous fortunes by milking our system for everything they can. They should pay this one, or their heirs should -- it's only right that they do so. You and I won't have to worry about it. It doesn't apply to most people at all except that the middle income folks will have to make up the difference if this thing gets repealed. I don't even know anyone who will be affected by it. You probably don't either, unless you happen to know Denny Rehberg. He's the only one I can think of right off hand who is subject to it. How about Conrad? My guess would be no, but I don't know for sure. I don't know how much he may have squirreled away over the past 18 years.

So -- these two empty suits, Burns and Rehberg, are running again for public office. Their actions and voting records in Congress are disgusting. They need to be held up for public scorn and ridicule. Damn right I'll do that -- someone has to. They sure don't deserve to be voted back to Washington DC.

We, the citizens of this country, pay our Congressmen and women about $165,000 a year each. We need to send somebody there, somebody like Monica Lindeen and Jon Tester, who will actually earn their keep. We need to demand our moneys' worth. We simply can't accept guys like Rehberg and Burns. Burns is so ethically bankrupt, so lacking in vision and new ideas that he has to try to ride the coattails of Max Baucus back into the Senate. Denny Rehberg is no better. Jeezus ... what a sorry bunch.

I'm pjfinn and I approve this message -- it's strictly my own opinion. Share it if you like.

Monica Lindeen Has That Elusive It

There's one thing I've been noticing about Monica Lindeen as the campaign unfolds. She has a certain quality, that elusive it, that turns those who meet her into true believers. It's hard to define or pin down, but when you meet Monica you get the sense that here is the real deal. Moorcat came away from the dinner with her in Dillon feeling that way. I met her here in Missoula and came away ecstatic that we actually had this good a candidate running against Rehberg. Like I've said before, it's been years since I've been this excited about a candidate. I've talked to a lot of folks, some who have become hard-core cynics over the years by the way, who feel the same. They come away energized and convinced that we have a winner here. That we have someone here who's the real thing. They're right -- we do.

It's hard to define it. It's an intangible thing that comes across as honesty and competence. It comes across as a sense that here's a real person, a caring, understanding human being who has the ability and the intelligence and the strength to do the right things for her people here in Montana, and for the rest of the country. She's exactly what we need.

We're a little over a week away from the election. I wish Monica had the time and resources to meet every voter here in Montana. They could see for themselves what a fine Representative she will be. They could see she's the only real choice for the people of our state. We have a week yet to beat the bushes and drag out every possible vote we can for Monica. Let's get it done. Let's get her to DC to show us how good she really is.

Curious George in Montana

So Bush is coming to Montana to campaign for Conrad Burns. Based on his performance in Iowa yesterday, I wouldn't think Jon Tester has much to worry about. Boy George was in Iowa stumping for the Republican candidate for their 3rd District House seat. He talked about how good a friend David was, and how Dave is the man for the seat. He made several references to Dave's fine qualities. I'm sure it was a fine, inspiring speech. The only problem was, the guy's name isn't David. It's Jeff. Jeff Lamberti. One can only imagine how thrilled the Lamberti campaign was.

I can just imagine the campaign speech he will give for Conrad here in Billings too:

"... Don't misunderestimate the importance of Frank Burns to my administration. If it weren't for Senators like him I wouldn't be able to accomplish the things I want to accomplish. Besides, we have a secret plan for winning the war on terror. It's so secret we don't even know what it is yet, but with Frank's help I can come to a decision. After all, I am the deciderer.
... in short, the important thing is to keep Frank Burns in the Senate where he can be of real help to me. Burnsie, you're doing a heckuva job. By the way Frank, I loved you on M*A*S*H* ..."

Naw, I don't think the Tester folks have much to worry about from this one. Bring it on Reggie. Uh ... I mean George. Sorry about that.

A Shameful Reality

Anyone who has lived in Montana for any length of time has heard all the old jokes about how tough it is to make a living here. We can joke all we want to -- the fact remains it is a tough place. We're certainly not immune to poverty.

I worked some years back on a living wage campaign here in Missoula. Most of the work involved going door to door to drum up support for a Living Wage Initiative we had on the ballot. I saw much that still haunts me to this day. Mothers would break into tears telling me how they couldn't get new shoes for their kids because the power bill was overdue. Fathers were working two, sometimes three jobs to be able to make the rent on a ratty trailer while the family was eating five-for-a-dollar boxes of mac and cheese for dinner. I'm not making these up -- cases like this were, and still are, all too common. There were far worse. I'm no stranger to slim times myself, but to see so many living like this was heartbreaking.

Poverty is still one of the most shameful realities in our country. One in five children in the US lives in poverty. The poverty rate among black people is almost double that of whites. The poverty rate among Indians goes right through the roof. Candidates too often duck the issue. Too many elected officials turn their backs on it. Too many of us ignore it in the hopes that it will go away. True, there are those who are working day and night on poverty issues, and they need to be recognized and applauded. But too often, especially in election years, and with so many other horrors going on in the world, poverty tends to stay under the radar. Here's an article from Reuters about just that.

Our leaders in DC will spend billions on an illegal war. They will bend over backwards to enable the Enrons and the Wal-Marts and the Halliburtons and their ilk to pile up obscene profits at the expense of the people of this country, yet do absolutely nothing to help our most needy. Or even to ease the ever-growing burden on the quickly vanishing middle-class. That's almost too obvious to mention, yet it never seems to change. It's up to us, all of us, to say to those in office that we've finally had enough.

We Need Tester and Lindeen Now!

Things are looking grimmer everyday for Little Georgie W. and his gang. The Republicans are facing a major challenge to their control, and this guy is running scared. He of course is responding in his usual manner. He's refusing to consider the possibility of a Democratic take-over of the House and Senate, and he and his staff aren't making any plans for dealing with a Democratic Congress. Ain't gonna happen, they say. Does he know something we don't, or is he more of an idiot than even I give him credit for? We'll see.

I posted a piece a while back about the deployment of US warships to the Persian Gulf off of the coast of Iran. Moorcat had some good points to make about it. I haven't found out much about it since, but I did come across this article from a couple of weeks ago. The warships are there, and there's still much speculation that Bush will use them to try to deflect a Democratic victory in November. He knows if the Republicans lose control he'll be facing some serious music for the next two years. He's likely to be called on the carpet big time. Would he trigger a disaster like war with Iran to try to avoid political disaster for himself and his cronies here at home? It's hard to believe he's really that stupid, or insane, but he's obviously coming unhinged. Who knows what he might do to save his own ass.

This is a huge election coming up in two weeks. It's time now to show the Bush administration what we think of them and their corrupt ways. We have the chance now -- we need to take advantage of this opportunity and send this bunch packing. We can't afford not to. We need to double and re-double, and then re-double again our efforts to send Monica Lindeen and Jon Tester to DC.

Are we going to see a strike on Iran? God, I can only hope not. But I surely don't know. Any thoughts?

Can There Even Be Justice Here?

Ever since Air America went off the air here in Missoula I've had to listen to public radio again. That's OK I guess. It's not the same, but it's OK. I wake up to Morning Edition and usually lie there and listen for a while to hear what's up for that day. Usually it's political stuff this close to a big election, but this morning I heard that Jeff Skilling of Enron infamy was being sentenced today. I kept an ear out for that one most of the day figuring to do a post on it tonight. Now that I know, I'm sitting here with nothing to say about it. Or maybe I have so much to say that I can't even wrap my brain around it yet. Whatever...

It's said that the punishment should match the crime. So this guy gets 24 years. Whether it stands up under appeal or not, or if it does and he actually has to serve all 24 remains to be seen. You can't possibly punish one person enough to match the magnitude of this crime. What can you do to a guy who cleverly and brutally robbed thousands of his own workers of their savings and livelihoods and retirements, not to mention the customers he bilked? (I say he because Skilling's the last one standing. Fastow sang like a bird to save his ass and Ken Lay dropped dead. He got off too easy, but that's a moot point now. Skilling is it). What punishment can possibly match the suffering he inflicted on these people? There is none. You can only hope that he will actually be put away for the rest of his natural life to stare at a brick wall and reflect on his greed and how far it got him. This kind of parasitic low-life should never again be allowed to roam free to prey on another human being. Period. I know it's not enough, but it's the least we can do for those who's careers suddenly ended, who's life savings vanished into these guys' bank accounts, who lost their entire retirement savings, and those who were close enough to retirement that they aren't able to start over. There will most likely be a cash settlement too, but it won't even come close. It can't. He stole too much. This guy didn't merely commit 19 counts of fraud -- he literally destroyed the lives of hundreds, if not thousands of people. Justice will be hard to measure out here, but Jeffrey Skilling should never again see the light of day.

Beyond that there's one more thing I'll say. As long as we allow a world where corporate greed and influence can grow unregulated and unchecked, where little if anything is done to rein in their power, little will change. Except maybe for the worse. The courts can punish the few of these bottom feeders who manage to get themselves caught as stiffly as the law will allow, but until runaway corporatism is stopped in it's tracks, it'll be like trying to cure a malignant growth with a band-aid.

Montana Deserves Better

Much has been said about the corruption and cluelessness that Conrad Burns and Denny Rehberg bring to Congress. That's good. It needs to be brought out and hammered home. People need to know, and people need to look at these guys and say that's enough. You guys are done. We know that you, and far too many of your colleagues, are beholden to corporate interests and we can't afford that any longer.

One of the most stupid and far-reaching decisions ever made was back in 1886 when it was decided that corporations had the same rights as citizens. Except for occasional attempts to regulate the power these ever-growing beasts amass, the advantage in the power and decision making in this country, and around the world, has shifted over to multi-national corporations. A century after that infamous decision free trade agreements and de-regulation have opened the doors to abuses and unfair advantages unheard of in the past.

Of the 100 largest economies in the world, over half of them are these giant multi-nationals. They've even got their own pseudo-government, the WTO, working to squash any legitimate governments' attempts to regulate them. The WTO is showing signs of cracking under pressure, but it's still there. It's still working to nullify any attempts at strengthening human rights, worker rights, environmental protections, or any other controls that would serve the public interest. In short, these monstrous corporations are quickly growing beyond the laws of any government except their own. Far too many of the problems that this world of ours is facing, and you can make your own list, stem from the decisions these corporate conglomerates are making, and those that are being made on their behalf by our elected officials. This is what we need to stop. We need to strip the uncontrolled power from the greedy few while we still have the chance to do so.

Montana has two Senators like every state in the country, but we only have one Representative. That's all, and for the time being at least, that's how it will be. Our Rep has the second largest district in the country, second only to Alaska. Our Rep though represents more people than any single representative ever has in the history of our nation. Not only does Rehberg represent the most constituents, he may represent the most diverse bunch that any Representative ever has or will. He's not competent to do it. He has no vision, no concept of the challenges we face. Neither does Burns. All you have to do is hear either one speak for a few minutes and that becomes painfully obvious. These guys are corporate yes-men, they don't have the capacity to be anything but that, and the longer they are in decision making positions the worse things are going to get for all of us. We deserve better and our kids need better. We need to demand better. We can all go to the polls in a couple of weeks and choose Jon Tester and Monica Lindeen. We can get started in the right direction now. We can say no to Burns and Rehberg and what they represent. We deserve better than these two.

... with liberty and justice for all?

Let me see if I've got this straight. Conrad Burns tells Jon Tester, and the rest of us, that he and Bush have a plan to win the war on terror but he won't tell us what it is because he's afraid we'll screw it up and tip off the terrorists. Am I right so far? Then Emperor Bush signs a bill the other day that basically says that if we question them they can decide that we are aiding and abetting the terrorists. If they so decide, we could be snatched in the middle of the night, tortured to confess to our treasonous deeds, dragged before a military tribunal, tried on the 'evidence' beaten out of us, and be sent away to be locked up somewhere out of sight. Guantanamo maybe. Or worse yet, someplace like Kansas or Texas (there are plans for a string of detainee camps to be built around this country).

Am I being overly dramatic? Maybe, but I think it's hard to overdramatize the horrors of this. Does it even sound possible? Or is it just paranoid? I don't know. I can only hope it's no more than my well-honed sense of paranoia, but I just don't know.

It's been said, and attributed to many different people, that if fascism ever comes to this country it will come wrapped in our own flag. It's here folks. What else can you call this grotesque, shameless gutting of the laws of our land? What else can you call this brazen attempt by the insane few to grab total control? It's up to us to put a stop to it. It will take years to clean up the wreckage that the Bush regime is leaving in their wake. We need to start this fall by voting these right-wing ideologues like Burns and Rehberg out of office. Let's make no mistake about it. They've voted for this and they support it -- they are part of it. We need to remove them now. That's something every Montanan can do. Then we can go on from there. The Republicans' day of reckoning is coming. We need to do all we can to speed it along.

The Great Right-Wing JabberFest

One thing about an election year. There's always plenty to write about. I've been having great fun picking on Conrad Burns and Denny Rehberg, and indeed the whole Bush gang. Here's another reason why.

Little Georgie Bush had an interesting meeting in his office last month to discuss election issues and talking points. With who? Party leaders or policy advisors? No, with Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and other right-wing radio hosts. Now there's a team of advisors for you. To make it even more fun they have a radio fest planned. Next Tuesday, the 24th, right-wing radio personalities have been invited to set up booths on the White House lawn to do their broadcasts and live interviews. Administration officials will be available to answer questions. Sort of a right-wing radio fair it sounds like. I suppose this is what you do when you have a President who can't deliver a coherent message on his own. You have Limbaugh and O'Reilly and Hannity and these other clowns deliver it for you. What a laugher. It should be a great time. There ought to be enough gas passed at this circus to float the Goodyear blimp. Are these guys this desperate, or are they just plain stupid?

Makes me wonder though -- are Conrad and Denny going to be there to sell beer and peanuts?

note: Interesting that some of these radioheads like Savage and Ingraham are starting to distance themselves from BushCo, no?

Global Warming #3

You know, I was going to take a day or two off from this relentless pecking away at my keyboard. I wanted to rest up and enjoy a nice autumn weekend here in Missoula. But no, I couldn't leave well enough alone and had to check out what's up at the Environmental News Service.

Global warming is a major concern of mine. I see it as the single most serious threat our kids and their kids face. We're already seeing it. We're seeing it in record drought, and in record wildfire outbreaks. We're seeing shifts in our growing seasons too. Yet nothing -- absolutely nothing of consequence -- is being done to implement national policies to deal with global warming. I'm sorry, but so-called clean coal is not an answer. We can all do our bit to minimize our impact, but that's not the answer either. It simply won't be enough. We need tough action, both nationally and internationally. We're not getting it from this current administration. In fact we're getting just the opposite.

I came across two articles on the ENS that I'm passing along. The first is about the effects of warming on the west. The second one is the one though that has me howling in anger. It's about the Bush administration's attempts to silence the scientific evidence of an ever-growing catastrophe. Check these out if you're so inclined.

Burns and Rehberg are clueless about global warming. Worse, they don't even want to know. Tester and Lindeen on the other hand recognize the threat. They may not have the answers, but they are willing to tackle the problem. That's the kind of people we need to send to DC in November.

Idiot #2

I've got to admit I haven't been following the Tester-Burns debates very closely. I know how I'm voting. They're not going to influence me much. Besides, my time is pretty well taken up trying to come up with clever pot-shots to fire off at the Republicans and their monied masters. Who knows? I might even come up with some one of these days. I do need to overcome my tendency to be such a meek, mild-mannered chap. It's embarrassing to be such a nice guy. Oh well... I'll get over it. Takes practice I guess.

I did catch a few clips of the last debate on the news though, and I happened to hear it on public radio this afternoon. What I noticed is that old Conrad 'it wasn't supposed to end this way' Burns sure does look different than he has in past campaigns. Before he always came across as a cocky smart-ass, but this time the poor sap looks like he's got his hands tied behind his back and is being led up the gallows steps. He's even achieved a level of incoherence that only George W. has been able to attain. Congratulations Conrad!

Burns, and Denny Rehberg too for that matter, remind me of these kids toys we've all seen. You know the ones. You pull a string and they keep repeating the same stupid nonsense over and over again. The only way they'll shut up for good is if the string breaks. So when are these guys strings going to break? Well, I don't know... how does November 7 sound?

And on that cheerful note I'll sign off. I want to take a day or two to reload. You folks have a fine weekend.

A Hell of Long Way To Go

These guys like to talk their tough talk, don't they? I'm talking about Bush, Cheney, Conrad Burns, Denny Rehberg, and all those others that share in the decision making in this country of ours. We've heard it all too many times -- we've got to stop the terrorists, we've got to fight them there so we don't have to fight them here, we've got to stay the course, you've got to vote for us so we can keep you safe, just trust us and we'll protect the national security and .. awww Christ! On and on it goes. I'm not going to go into the evils of this administration's lies and half-truths that have gotten us firmly stuck in an illegal war that has killed and maimed hundreds of thousands. It's old news. We've heard it and will act accordingly. We're not stupid.

We've heard plenty too about the corporate influence in our nation's decision-making process. Corporate money has for all practical purposes bought and paid for our government, and the corporate heads keep busy calling in their debts. They have a frightening degree of control in the law-making and executive decisions that affect every single one of us. We know this. It's nothing new. We know it, we rail against it, but I'm not sure we grasp it with our hearts and our guts. We seldom hear about the real life and death consequences of having a President and a Congress who bend over backwards to do the bidding of their corporate masters. We don't hear much about how people are suffering and dying, along with other living things, because these monstrously huge, greedy, and powerful corporations are calling too many shots.

We hear about the homeless, the working poor, and the 20% of our kids who live below the poverty line. Do we hear how many thousands of kids go to bed hungry in this country every night? Or about their parents who lie awake wondering if they will be able to feed their kids the next day? Or the next? Or about the number of people who suffer and die simply because thay can't afford to see a doctor? There's security for you. We've seen the death and suffering from severe weather. But have we grasped the fact that hundreds of thousands of people on this planet die from global warming related causes every year? We know of the thousands who died on 9/11 and continue to die in Iraq. It's truly horrifying, and I'm the last one who will belittle such a loss. But it still doesn't compare to the thirty to forty thousand who die in this country alone every year from air pollution related causes. And the number is growing. Why? Because BushCheney and their allies in DC are busy gutting our environmental laws as fast as they can. I don't hear that one much on the network news. I'm not pulling these numbers out of a hat. They come from the World Health Organization. These are critical problems indeed. That our leaders' don't see fit to include them in their simplistic definition of national security is an international disgrace. No, it's worse than that. It's criminal negligence. People around the world are dying and having their lives turned upside down because of it. They know it and they're getting pissed.

So Conrad and Denny, I for one don't want to hear anymore of your sloganeering and empty rhetoric about national security. Do something about it or get out of the way. To remain silent in the face of this brazen takeover of our nation, and our planet, is to condone it. To work to bring it about is to support it. To support it and to ignore the well-being of your constituents is criminal. You've shown us where you stand and who you really work for. I'll do what I can to see that you are fired this fall. The world is watching to see what decisions we make in November. Waiting to see if America is willing to change direction now. We'd better be -- we've got a hell of a long way to go.

What An Idiot

I pedaled into work on my trusty old bicycle this morning, and lo and behold there was Boy George doing a press conference on our Missoula public radio station. I of course listened eagerly figuring he'd give me plenty to post about tonight. After listening to him blather away about how staying the course meant staying the course so we'll stay the course I realized I could sum up my thoughts on the whole thing in three short words -- what an idiot! That's about as eloquently as I can sum up my reaction to most of what I heard. Honest. To be fair though, I missed the beginning of it. It's possible I missed something really profound.

He did say one thing I can reply to though. He was answering a question about the Dems possibly gaining a majority in Congress. He dismisses the idea saying there's two things voters will be asking in the voting booth:

1) How can we prevent further attacks?

2) How can we keep our economy thriving?

There's obviously more than that to consider, but I can answer these two questions with even fewer words. Vote Democrat. We can start to build opposition to this rogue administration on November 7. Even old line Republicans, if they're truly honest, have to be uneasy with this bunch. To say the least. We can start taking steps in the right direction this fall and continue it in '08. Then we'll be in a position to start healing the wounds, both internationally and domestically, that this gang of zealots has opened up. It won't happen overnight, but we need to get started on the right path now.

More Union-Busting From The Bush Gang

There's a discussion tonight in Missoula about the health-care crisis in America. That's good. It needs to be laid out on the table and dealt with. There's another side to the health-care crisis that doesn't get as much press. This one fits more into the what's being taken away when no one is watching category. It's another criminal assault on workers' rights.

The NLRB, the gang that's supposed to watchdog workers' rights, issued a ruling last week that makes it easier for employers to re-classify their workers as supervisors. What does that do? Well, in short it denies countless workers the right to organize into unions. Supervisors are considered management -- they can't unionize. This is one more attempt by the corporatocracy to bust unions once and for all. The biggest impact, at least at first, apparently will be on health-care workers. A lot of people's lives are in these folks' hands. Is this the kind of treatment these vital workers deserve? We'd all better think about this. Check this out, by former Rep. David Bonior.

The outrage meter just keeps climbing doesn't it? Any Congress that will allow this needs to be rooted out for the good of the American people. Any legislator who will turn his or her back on this obviously isn't qualified to represent the people. This crime is one more example of why we need to elect people like Lindeen and Tester on November 7. Get out there and do it.

Time For a Real Representative

The people of Montana haven't had a Representative for about ten years now. That's when the honorable Pat Williams retired from the House. For the past six years we've been saddled with Denny 'I never met a corporation I didn't like' Rehberg. He doesn't represent the people of our state. Never has, never will. Hell, he wouldn't even know how. He's clueless about what it's like to make a go of it here. He's never had to do it. He keeps trotting out the old Republican tax- cut chestnut like it's really something that's going to make a difference for all of us. I've been hearing this one for as long as I can remember -- at least forty years now, but I'm sure it's gone on longer than that. Denny talks about it like it's really going to do us some good, like it's the key to the future. C'mon Denny -- if this is the best you can do you ought to just do us all a favor and step down now. If you really work for us like you claim, how about something that would really help? Something like living wages for workers maybe. Or health care for all. How about backing us instead of the big oil companies? How about preserving our public lands and open spaces? Can you even imagine that? I don't think so. The tax breaks you talk about are for you and your wealthy buddies. They don't really cut it here in Montana.

On the other side we have Monica Lindeen. She knows what it's like to be a working person in Montana, she knows what affects all of us. She's also worked for us in the state House, and she's done a damn fine job too. She knows her stuff. Unlike Rehberg she has vision. She sees the challenges we face as a state and a society and will work to meet them -- economic challenges, environmental challenges, and energy challenges. That's what we need to lead us and our kids into the future. Denny Rehberg simply isn't equipped to do that. We need to take the step on November 7. We need to elect Monica. We need a real people's Representative again.

Old King Coal in a New Suit

There's a lot of back and forth going on about Governor Schweitzer's plan for a coal to diesel plant near Roundup. You can dress this one up in all the finery you want, but it's still a giant step in the wrong direction. It's nothing but Old King Coal in a new suit. This process is nothing new. It was developed in Germany in the 1920's and was used by the German military in WWII when they were isolated from the world's oil supplies. South Africa used it in the 1980's during apartheid when they too were cut off. Both countries abandoned it as soon as they were able to. It worked, but not all that well.

Coal to diesel is similar to oil shale and oil sands projects. To put it simply, it involves using massive amounts of energy and water to squeeze a few drops of fuel out of a rock. The net gain is marginal, if indeed there is any at all. Carbon emissions are a major threat. Probably the greatest threat we have ever faced. Capture and sequestration is yet to be proven. It's kind of like eating a pot of beans for breakfast and then hoping you don't fart at work. The gas is going to go somewhere. In any event, once it's burned as fuel, coal diesel produces as much CO2 as it does when coal is burned as a solid. The biggest reason for the push for liquified coal, and oil from sand for that matter, is that it's starting to look potentially profitable for the energy companies. These processes have been ignored up until now because they weren't profitable, but with the changes recently in oil politics it's beginning to look like they might be. It does little for our energy problems, but it might fatten industry wallets. Boom and bust all over again.

We need to quit dragging these old dinosaurs out of the attic and putting new clothes on them. We need to get away from carbon-based fuels as quickly as we can. We need to make a commitment to real alternatives and renewables. And we need to start now.

Wrong On Deadline

I owe a tip of the hat to Shane at Left in the West. I posted yesterday about the voter registration deadline in Montana -- it turns out my information is out of date. I called the Missoula County election office yesterday afternoon and was given the information I passed on about the deadlines for in person registration and the mail-ins. Obviously I'm not the only one who didn't pick up on the changes.

That's good news, but it doesn't change my basic message -- get registered and get out there and vote. This is a break, but the urgency is still there. Get the word out --we have more time to do it now. That means more voters for Lindeen and Tester if we're dilligent, beat the bushes, and get the people out. Thanks Shane.

Voter Registration Deadline: October 10

The deadline to register to vote here in Montana is Tuesday October 10. There's still time for a final push to get people out. You can register at your county courthouse until closing time Tuesday. You can register if you're renewing your driver's license. If you live in the Missoula area you can even find a registration form to mail in on page 60 of the Blackfoot phone directory. I don't know how far the Blackfoot area extends -- maybe other areas of Montana have a similar service. Check your phone book. Mail-ins must be postmarked no later than the 10th and must be received within three days after that. There's still time. Get it done.

We have two incumbents in Rehberg and Burns who both bend over backwards to service their corporate masters. We know who they work for. If we want to start breaking up the corporatist stranglehold on our society, indeed on our world, we need to kick these guys out. Jon Tester and Monica Lindeen have good records of working for us in the Montana House and Senate. We need to send them to DC to continue the good work. What will we support --corporate interests or the public interest? The choices should be obvious.

The Tester/Burns race is running close. I don't watch much TV but even I've seen the Burns ads. You know, an ominous looking Tester talking about repealing the PATRIOT Act. Every time I see it I get up and open a window and start looking around. It smells like Karl Rove walked into the room. Tester is running a solid campaign, but we still need all the votes we can turn out for him. It's too close to do otherwise. The same goes for Monica Lindeen. Rehberg has the money, and right now he has the poll numbers. The only thing that can turn it around is people who will get out and vote for Monica. That means us.

Are you outraged by a government that will steamroll it's citizens to cater to corporate interests? Had enough? Well, you know what to do about it. You have the power. You have the responsibility. Get out there and exercise it.

Clean Coal? How About Perpetual Motion...

Governor Schweitzer announced plans for a coal to diesel plant here in Montana, and most of us seem to be think this is great. Well, sorry Gov, but I need to be a thorn in your ass on this one. We're looking for a simple painless alternative to oil but we're not going to find one. Clean coal is a fiction. You can turn the stuff into a liquid or silly putty or whatever you want but it's still the same dirty stuff. The only thing that really gets cleaned up here is the image of the coal industry.

There's three big problems with the whole thing. At least. First of all we would sacrifice huge areas of eastern Montana and Wyoming to coal mining. Much more than we already have. Do we want to turn the landscape into something that looks like what's left of Afghanistan for the sake of what will ultimately be a limited resource? I sure as hell don't. Then there's the emissions. Forget carbon sequestration. It's iffy, if it's even practical at all. Nobody knows yet. This stuff's a volatile gas -- gas is tough to contain. Hoping it will stay put is like hoping Conrad won't say anything stupid in public. It probably ain't gonna happen. A release would be devastating. Once coal is converted to diesel, and is burned as a fuel, the carbon emissions would be about the same as burning coal in it's natural form. No reduction of greenhouse gasses. Mercury contamination would stay about the same too. The only reduction would be in acid rain pollutants. Third, we won't get much for our money. Schweitzer is talking about 22000 barrels of diesel a day from a plant that costs a billion dollars plus. That works out to somewhere around eight million barrels a year. Sounds like a lot, but it's a drop compared to the roughly one billion barrels of diesel we burn in this country every year just for on-road transportation. It would take a lot of these plants, at a billion plus apiece, to even make a dent. The coal will run out someday -- no one knows for sure how soon, but it's like oil. It's finite and it's non-renewable. We'll be no further ahead on energy supplies, and a lot worse off for carbon emissions. The whole thing is really no more than another in a long string of boom and bust economic schemes that Montana has suffered in it's history. Take the resources and run. It's estimated that this coal based diesel would have to sell for about a hundred bucks a barrel. You know who's going to benefit from that.

Bottom line is that we need to get away from carbon-based non-renewable fuels, and we need to start now. We need to put our time and efforts into research and development of renewables. Why? Simply because we have no choice. Nature says so. Chasing the dream of clean coal would be a big time blunder. We'd be better off reviving plans for a perpetual motion machine. It would be just as likely to happen and a whole lot cleaner.

When The Voices Of The People Are Silenced...

Conrad Burns and Denny Rehberg talk tough about preserving our freedoms and making us all safer. But we've seen over and over again where they stand on our basic freedoms. It's chilling. We have the PATRIOT Act with it's ugly provisions. There's a so-called Election Integrity Act, which amounts to a poll tax and a voter disenfrachisement act. If these guys indeed get their way American citizens could be subject to military tribunals simply for exercising their freedom of speech. Who knows what Rehberg meant by his comments that blogs need to be controlled. It has an ominous sound. Some freedom, eh?

This junta that has taken control of our country is truly frightening. More so than any other threat that we face. They dare try to scare us with talk of attacks by those that would take away our freedoms do they? We need to show them that the best defense of freedom this country has is the voice of it's people. That voice needs to be heard this November with a mass routing of those responsible for these attacks on our liberties as citizens. To gut our Constitution, and the founding principles of our country like this is unconscionable. To do it in the name of national security, to frighten people into complying is criminal. If it doesn't quite qualify as treason it should.

You know how school works. Things are repeated until they're learned. Advertising works like that too. I like to ponder the obvious questions now and then. I don't want to forget. Too often we respond to these in an abstract theoretical way. We don't always grasp the implications at a fundamental gut level. So I keep bringing them up. This one is truly obvious. We've all heard it time and time again. Let's let it sink in though, and really grasp the horrors of it. It affects all of us -- Democrat or Republican or black or white or red or blue or purple or green. All of us. If the voices of the people are silenced, Who will speak for the people? Who will tell the truth? I don't think there is a single one of us who wants to find out.