July 2011

Montana News and their Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Coverage of Representative Rehberg

by Agrippa on July 30, 2011 · 23 comments

I’d like to thank Pogie for the opportunity to do a little writing on his site.

This morning’s story about Dennis Rehberg’s vote yesterday in the House of Representatives makes clear just how bad modern journalism can be. It’s nothing more than a press release from the Rehberg camp, touting his entirely meaningless vote. What doesn’t the story include?

A single quote from the other side (or even an indication that an attempt was made to get their point of view). Hell, even the Montana Watchdog (which leans awfully right) included a response from Ted Dick at the Montana Democratic Party.
Any analysis of the arm-twisting that lead Rehberg to change his vote this week.
Any of the readily-available analysis about the impact that the Rehberg-Boehner bill would have on programs like Medicare.

Watching the press cover the Rehberg-Tester race so far has been like watching a parent with one child who’s just not quite as bright as the other one. They’re always giving little Denny a little more help and ignoring some of his mistakes to even the playing field.

Bill Gates on Poverty and Education: Blame the Poor

by Don Pogreba on July 29, 2011 · 3 comments

in Education

Bill Gates recently spoke to the National Urban League, arguing that it is a “myth that we have to solve poverty before we improve education.”

“Let me acknowledge that I don’t understand in a personal way the challenges that poverty creates for families, and schools and teachers,” the billionaire said at the civil rights group’s annual convention. “I don’t ever want to minimize it. Poverty is a terrible obstacle. But we can’t let it be an excuse.”

Half-hearted effort to walk back what is patently false aside, Gates’s remarks do demonstrate the real danger of the corporate-Republican nexus on education. No matter how compelling the evidence, both nationally and internationally, they can’t help but shake this almost religious faith in the idea that most of what ails schools is poor decisions by students and poor work habits by teachers.

Deep-seated, crushing poverty and intermittent hunger? A lack of the resources that allow middle and upper class students to succeed? Those are hardly excuses; they are the reality for far too many American children–and it’s just possible that those kids, poor through no fault of their own, might struggle to see the promise of education.

It’s admirable that Gates and other business leaders want to give back to improve American education. It would be even more admirable if they acknowledged just how difficult improving American education without addressing poverty will be.

A Tale of Two Glenns

by The Polish Wolf on July 29, 2011 · 23 comments

in Montana Politics

I am not sure that anyone lacking a strong background in Norwegian culture and politics can really make heads or tails of the senseless violence in Norway, though D. Gregory Smith makes a worthwhile effort. I’m certainly not going to try.

What is illuminating, though, is what our response to this tragedy says about our own political discourse. Both Glenn Greenwald (charging that, contrary to popular reality, Norway is in fact responsible for violence in some way comparable to what it has suffered) and Glenn Beck (comparing the Labour Party camp that was the scene of most of the violence to a Hitler Youth camp) responded in the ways that were callous, self-serving, and inaccurate.

They don’t need exhaustive responses. Glenn Beck is being himself; his allegation that he finds indoctrinating youths in politics ‘creepy’ makes a lot less sense when considering his own status as a misguided culture warrior who attempts to press politics into every part of our lives. As to Greenwald, well he’s smarter than Beck so he takes some knowledge to refute, but here goes – Norway is indeed involved both in the Afghan and Libyan conflicts, but he would be wise to consider that in both cases, there was a state of war before NATO became involved, and in both cases, NATO forces have been responsible for far fewer civilians deaths than those of their adversaries, and have been in Afghanistan responsible for broad increases in human rights and living standards.

But the bigger point isn’t that these two Glenn’s are wrong or mean-spirited. It’s that it took so little time for American commentators on different sides of the political spectrum to cheapen 76 innocent lives to ever so slightly push their pre-conceived political notions. D. Gregory Smith points out that whatever the motivation, terrorism is possible when ideology defeats humanity. I don’t think either Glenn is likely to resort to violence any time soon, but if they are indicative of American political culture, the lens of ideology seems to be obscuring our perceptions of our common humanity to a troubling degree.

How About Those Revenue Estimates?

by Don Pogreba on July 28, 2011

in 2011 Legislature, Brian Schweitzer, Montana GOP, Montana Legislature, Montana Politics

While the ongoing farce of John Boehner’s default meltdown in Washington has led every single political leader in the nation other than Denny Rehberg to take a position, back home, today’s news provided a stark illustration about the difference between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to budgeting.

The Democrats believe in using facts and honest revenue calculations; the latter believe in using distortions and being deliberately obtuse to deny workers small raises, the needy social services, and children better schools.

Let’s look back at the session, shall we?

Republican House Speaker Mike Milburn, in February:

What he is doing is making our job difficult, because we have a responsibility to do. We still are short and we are short a lot of money and it is not looking that good into the future….We are doing better, but we are doing it at a less rate of growth than we have seen in the past. We have to deal with that, those are real numbers we have to deal with that, we can’t play games, we can’t play politics.”

Republican Budget Guru Dave Lewis in January:

Sen. Dave Lewis, R-Helena and chairman of the Senate Finance and Claims Committee, said Democrats, including Gov. Schweitzer, are being too optimistic. He said most Republicans believe the economy isn’t ready to take off, and that state spending must be reduced to match what they believe may be depressed tax revenue for some time.
“I could be a little less hard on that issue if I thought the economy was improving, but I just don’t see it,” Lewis said. “I think that’s the big policy debate of the session.”

Throughout the session Democratic leaders like Carol Williams, Jon Sesso, and Governor Schweitzer made it clear that a fact-based examination of tax revenue made draconian cuts and broken promises entirely unnecessary.

And they were right. How does the state look today? $340 million in the bank:

Schweitzer says Montana will start this new fiscal year with about $340 million dollars in the bank.This is the largest amount of money the state has ever had set aside for emergencies.

It’s bad enough that Montana Republicans acted the way they did during the session. It’s even worse that they couldn’t be bothered to be intellectually honest while they did it.

Senator Mary Caferro and Sheila Hogan for Jesse Laslovich

by Don Pogreba on July 27, 2011 · 91 comments

in 2012 Statewide, Jesse Laslovich, Montana Politics

I had the opportunity to attend an event for Democratic Attorney General candidate Jesse Laslovich last night in Helena, hosted in part by Senator Mary Caferro and Sheila Hogan, two women I respect immensely, in large measure for their commitment to alleviating poverty. In this short video clip from the event, Senator Caferro and Sheila Hogan explain why they are supporting Jesse Laslovich for Attorney General.

Caferro spoke specifically about Laslovich’s work in 2003 to fight for Health and Human Services in the face of proposed enormous cuts from the Republican governor and Legislature.

It’s unfortunate, given the enormous individual and societal impact of poverty, that our political leaders often forget those who most need our help and I’m impressed that Laslovich saw the need to work for those services.

The other part of Senator Caferro’s message that was important to me was the idea that primaries can be good for the party. I look forward to a spirited contest about ideas and qualifications, not labels, between the Democratic candidates—and hope we get it.

The Montana Republican War on Women Continues

July 27, 2011

It appears that Ravalli County commissioners are continuing the Montana Republican Party’s war against poor women, threatening, as the Ravalli Republic reports, to not accept federal Title X money for no other reason than their ideological opposition to helping low-income people lead healthier and more productive lives. The “reasoning” for the proposed move comes from [...]

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Representative Rehberg’s Free Ride in the Media Continues

July 26, 2011

I can’t begin to express how frustrating–and yet entirely unsurprising– today’s story about Montana’s Republican legislators pushing for a federal balanced budget was. The only newsworthy elements about a letter concerning federal policy coming from the Gang Who Couldn’t Govern Straight would have been noting how many used an “X” in lieu of a signature [...]

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Self Serve Protests

July 24, 2011

Everyone probably read already about the pie Mr. Rupert Murdoch took to the face recently. What I found interesting was how the event was reported – with pieces like this. Reporters of all people understand who Mr. Murdoch is and what he stands for. The fact that he is still getting sympathetic treatment even from [...]

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