September 2007

Charles Johnson Finally Calls for Open Schedules

by Don Pogreba on September 29, 2007 · 1 comment

in The Media

Sure, it’s nine months late, but Charles Johnson is calling for Montana’s politicians to make their daily schedules open to the public:

In June, Rep. Denny Rehberg started putting his daily schedules in the Internet. Finally, earlier this month, Sen. Max Baucus followed suit. Rehberg and Baucus’ decisions came after lots of pressure from some Montana bloggers, who deserve credit for holding the delegations’ feet to the fire.

Montana has the nation’s first congressional delegation in which all members post their schedules. The Sunlight Foundation, a Washington, D.C., group pressing others members of Congress to do the same, praised the Montana delegation, saying in a blog on its Web site: “Congratulations, this is a great day for Montana — and for transparency.”

Amen.

The three members of Congress post their schedules for the previous day, not the same day. That’s fine. At least they’re doing it, and any Montanan with an Internet connection can check them out.

You know, I always give the Lee Papers credit when I reference them. Just sayin’. :)

It should come as no surprise that Dennis Rehberg is an opportunistic liar. That’s probably the most accurate pair of words to describe his career. What should be surprising is that Montana’s newspapers keep letting him get away with it.

In today’s Independent Record, Rehberg presents an entirely new set of arguments about SCHIP. After seeing the writing on the wall (that poll showed showed strong support for the bill and that President Bush would veto it anyway), Rehberg decided to vote for the compromise bill.  Despite that, he can’t stop being dishonest about it. 

In the piece, Rehberg lists three concerns that kept him from supporting the bill originally:

  1. Illegal aliens would have been able to receive benefits
  2. The original bill allowed people as old as 21 to receive benefits
  3. The original bill hurt Medicare recipients

Now, had those been Rehberg’s original objections, there might be something to talk about here. What did Rehberg say when he voted against expanding SCHIP?

U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg on Wednesday voted against House Democrats’ bill to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, known as SCHIP, saying it’s based on an “extremist political ideology” to expand government-run health care.

Rehberg, a Republican and Montana’s only U.S. House member, said he supports SCHIP, but cannot support the Democrats’ bill.

“They (Democrats) are pushing forward an agenda of eliminating affordable, reliable health insurance from private providers and shifting to an inefficient, costly, government-run health care plan,” he said in a statement late Wednesday.

So, a relatively minor compromise in the bill changed it from an extremist, government run health plan to something Rehberg supports? A cynic might wonder if Rehberg isn’t just voting for a bill that he knows won’t survive a Presidential veto to score political points. After all, Rehberg might want to show one example of independence from the worst President in modern American history before going back to the voters in 2008.

It seems relatively simple to me. I’ll give my vote to someone who knew from the beginning that providing health care to children was the practical and ethical decision. Bill Kennedy didn’t need to focus group and politicize this issue; why would you want to vote for someone who did?

The Life of a Padres Fan

by Don Pogreba on September 29, 2007 · 3 comments

Did I just watch someone named Tony Gwynn drive in the run that prevented the Padres from clinching a berth in the playoffs?

Sigh.

Helena’s Deer: Safe to Live Another Day

by Don Pogreba on September 27, 2007 · 4 comments

The debate about Helena’s deer problem is sure to continue, following today’s vote by the state’s Fish, Wildlife and Parks department to not allow the city of Helena to begin using sharpshooters to cull the local deer population.

Personally, I applaud the decision. Despite a few well-publicized incidents, I find it hard to believe that aggressive deer are all that problematic. I suspect that many more people visit hospitals and animals visit veterinarians as a result of interaction with dogs than the deer.

Commissioner Victor Workman made a lot of sense:

“I see a people problem rather than problem deer,” Commissioner Victor Workman said. “Outside of an aggressive deer … I think we ought to leave the darn things alone.”

Indeed.

Goodbye Joomla; Hello WordPress

by Don Pogreba on September 27, 2007 · 3 comments

I love Joomla. It’s a great platform for things like my class web site and business page, but it’s not so grand as a blogging platform for a number of reasons. The constant changes with the site were part of an effort to make it an effective blog platform, and I just never felt entirely satisfied.

There’s a lot to fix here. I’ve imported all the posts from the old site, but many need to be reformatted. I don’t know that I can bring comments over, but am working on it.

If any of you think I am crazy and should switch back, let me know. :)

The IR Applauds…Uh, Itself?

September 26, 2007

It says a lot about the quality of the local newspaper that it just published an editorial commending itself for doing in-depth reporting, doesn’t it? Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Buzz it up share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tweet about it Subscribe to the comments on this post Print for [...]

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Since the Senate is Going Around Condemning People…

September 25, 2007

How about this delighful character? Honestly, has anyone ever made so much of having done so little? Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Buzz it up share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tweet about it Subscribe to the comments on this post Print for later Tell a friend

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Montana Meth Project: Negative Press in the Gazette?

September 23, 2007

Okay, so it’s only a letter to the editor but it’s a good one. Anyone want to take a bet that the next glowing piece about the Montana Meth Project won’t mention these results? I’m pretty sure it also won’t mention

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