August 2008

Calling for a scaled-back Monday agenda at the Republican convention, Senator McCain said that Republican delegates should “take off our Republican hats and put on out American hats."

Wow. I know how hard it is to find my winter cap after a few months. How hard will it be for these people to find clothes they haven’t worn in eight years?

For what it’s worth, what do the two candidates feature on their web pages today?

Senator McCain:

McCain Web Page

Senator Obama:

Obama Web Page

Sarah Palin, maverick candidate for Vice President, on Friday:

And I’ve championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. In fact, I told Congress thanks, but no thanks, on that "Bridge to Nowhere." If our state wanted a bridge, I said, we’d build it ourselves.

That’s rugged mooseburger-eating individualism, right? Well, it would be, if she hadn’t told the people of Ketchikan that she supported the project (Ketchikan Daily News, September 28, 2006):

‘We need to come to the defense of Southeast Alaska when proposals are on the table like the bridge and not allow the spinmeisters to turn this project or any other into something that’s so negative,’ Palin said.”

What does the Anchorage Daily News say?

But Palin was for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it.

The Alaska governor campaigned in 2006 on a build-the-bridge platform, telling Ketchikan residents she felt their pain when politicians called them "nowhere." They’re still feeling pain today in Ketchikan, over Palin’s subsequent decision to use the bridge funds for other projects — and over the timing of her announcement, which they say came in a pre-dawn press release that seemed aimed at national news deadlines.

Maybe I don’t understand the mindset of a maverick, but if a person’s sole qualification for national public office is her tough-minded, truth-telling independence, shouldn’t she really have those qualities?

In a nation filled with reactions ranging from “really?” to “No, you’re not serious” to “Who? WHO?” only one person is unreservedly happy today.

Dan Quayle: no longer the least credible candidate for Vice President in American history. Maybe he can fit that on a campaign sign in 2010. God know the Republicans are getting pretty desperate for candidates.

Say your job (or one of them—it’s hard to tell where one begins and the other ends) is defending Dennis Rehberg to the people of Montana. Do you have any credibility attacking someone as partisan?  Especially someone like Governor Schweitzer, who has a proven record of working with Republicans?

Well, I guess credibility is one of those things you throw out the window when you work in Dennis Rehberg’s office. Erik Iverson, on a day, when Governor Schweitzer made a strong national impression with a speech at the DNC, could, as is the only strategy for the Montana GOP lately, be critical:

“I think that (Schweitzer’s) role was to be the partisan attack dog, heading into Hillary Clinton’s speech,” Iverson speculated. “His role was to go on the offensive and get the crowd riled up heading into Hillary’s speech.

Maybe the person who represents Dennis Rehberg and represented Conrad Burns ought to choose his words a bit more carefully. Intoxicated?

I’m still waiting for a positive GOP message-and a reason to prefer the negative, sniping, critical, cynical candidates they have chosen to offer Montana. I suspect I’ll be waiting a long time.

I was reading this morning  about wind farms… and how they are lethal for bats. I am just wondering though – out of all the options we have, which is the lesser evil: coal and oil or air, water, and solar power?  As I was reading about the cons of wind farms, I did get a little disheartened. Apparently, when the huge arms of the wind turbines rotate they change the atmospheric pressure in front of them. Birds are not affected by this pressure change, but bats are. When bats fly near them, the don’t get hit, they just die from internal hemorrhaging (um, ouch). But let’s think about it – there are plenty of ways to deter bats from wind farms.  Bats rely on an echo navigating system, and some research groups have supported a radar system that would act as a bat scare. Granted, it’s not natural (nothing really is), but in my humble opinion, it’s a lot better than burning ancient mulch and dead dinosaurs. We can save the bats!   No matter who wins the election this November [Obama, please], both are campaigning for more green energy .  With science and time, perhaps he can earn the name Batman for his efforts to save our furry little blind friends.

That’s a big yes. BBC reported that an 8-year-old girl was preparing to go to court to get a divorce. 

A court in Saudi Arabia is reported to be preparing to hear a plea for divorce from an eight-year-old girl who has been married off to a man in his 50s.

The Saudi newspaper al-Watan said the girl had been married off to the man by her father without her knowledge. 

The child’s mother is thought to be pushing for the marriage to be annulled – though the father opposes the move.

Child-protection groups say children are often given away in return for hefty dowries, or as a result of old customs in which a father promises his infant daughters and sons to cousins out of a belief that marriage will protect them from illicit relationships.

Okay – I am more than willing to assume that young girls get promised away a lot more often than young boys do. I am just disgusted that any one person would actually be willing to take an 8-year-old into their bed with them (the marriage has to be consummated, you know). These sick and outdated traditions just need to go away.

Why Does It Matter What the Montana Shooting Sports Association Thinks?

24 August 2008

Mike Dennison alludes to an important fact in his story today about the importance of of the gun question in the upcoming election. About the Montana Shooting Sports Association, he writes: The Montana Shooting Sports Association, which doesn’t release numbers of its membership, has endorsed Fox, McCain and Schweitzer’s Republican opponent, Roy Brown, and will [...]

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Your Republican Scientists in the Montana Legislature

23 August 2008

It’s hard to argue with reasoning like this. Confronted by environmental groups who say that the legislative Environmental Quality Council’s draft recommendations don’t do enough to address greenhouse gas emissions, Representative Chas Vincent of Libby had this to say: “I believe the science is not resolved,” Vincent said. “And there’s a growing body of evidence [...]

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The McCain Campaign: All Positive, All the Time

23 August 2008

Remember when John McCain was piously intoning that he didn’t want a campaign based on character attacks and baseless accusations? You know, he wanted to elevate the discourse in American politics. Unfortunately, his campaign has been rather Rovian of late, extending to his attack on the choice of Joe Biden as Barack Obama’s running mate. [...]

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“Housing Problem”

22 August 2008

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School bells ringing… are you listenin’?

20 August 2008

Don has already been starting posting on education to help kick off the new school year. On the theme of schools, I was struck by the release of an ACLU report that claims that corporal punishment was used more than 200,000 times last school year. I am at a loss. Bookmark on Delicious Digg this [...]

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Maureen Dowd in One Image

20 August 2008

Let it go, Maureen. You hate Bill and Hillary Clinton. We got 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 later Tell a friend

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