In 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. penned one of the most powerful modern soliloquies in his Letter from Birmingham Jail. The subject was injustice and civil disobedience as a response to injustice. Undoubtedly, one of the students that staged a sit-in at the University of Montana read a rah-rah version of this letter in their “Activism for Dummies” handbook.
At first glance, it seems like a perfect match. Martin Luther King talks about sit-ins to challenge injustices. It’s his entire justification for why he’s sitting in Birmingham Jail writing letters. He is even analytic enough to provide certain steps - goals set forth - for civic disobedience.
The purpose of our direct-action program is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. I therefore concur with you in your call for negotiation. Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than dialogue.
So far so good, right? For MLK, sit-ins were a means to an ends, in this case forcing negotiation with a dominant party that was refusing to come to the table. The sit-ins weren’t designed to get a press hit, they were designed to spark dialog.
But the similarities begin to fade with closer examination.
This weekend I spent some time with my ladyfriend (hi baby!) - and honored her request that I keep my computer use to a minimum. She gets jealous sometimes and being that it’s her birthday, I figured I’d respect her request. But over the next few days, I’ll be back. And when I get back I’m changing tracks a little bit to talk about some hyjinx that aren’t getting nearly the attention they deserve. Governor, you’re been warned. Consider this a warning to get your house in order.
And just to let you know I appreciate your patience, here’s a fun little factoid I learned from the good people at Diet Mountain Dew (I kid you not).
The term “news” to describe important current events like reprinting DC-based gossip columns as if they were really important came from an old graphic that was use by papers. It was a globe, with the points of a compass marked thusly:
North, East, West, South. NEWS.
I love Diet Mountain Dew.
Update: Okay, so this factoid more interesting than it is true. I still love Diet Mountain Dew though. And to make up for it I leave you with this replacement factoid: You have more bacteria in your body than cells. Even with anti-bacterial soap.
Issue 003 just went out. A lot happened this week - between Welcome Home Montana and the Rehberg Op-Ed. I hope I didn’t miss anything important.
If you’re still not a subscriber, you’d best sign up to make sure you don’t miss the next one. And while you’re at it, why not get a friend or two to join up as well. They’ll thank you.
Looks like the neighborhood is changing, and we just got here too. Craig over at MTPolitics has a guest blogger today, Denny Rehberg. The Congressman is showing his support for the Blogger Protection Act which protects the political speech of bloggers from FEC rules. Go check it out.
Obviously, the problem of global food shortages raises uncomfortable questions about the ethics of using 20% of the world’s corn in biofuels and about how the rising cost of gasoline makes everything more expensive. But this post isn’t about energy policy, or about how corrupt governments squander international contributions with zero accountability. Instead, this post is about what you, yes you Virginia, can do to help alleviate some of the burden.
To give directly to the nations most in need of food aid, while ensuring that your money will pay for food isntead of paper clips you can donate to Friends of the World Food Program. You can earmark money specifically for Haiti, or have it placed in a general fund and spent at the UN’s discretion. Even a little bit helps, a contribution as small as $30 buys roughly 75 meals.
Contribute to economic growth and stability in the third world through micro-financing. Microcredit makes it possible people in the developing world to own small businesses which contributes to the success of their family, their community and their country. The donations are small (usually under $50), and the repayment rate on the loans is 98%. Some good options are Mercy Corps, and my personal favorite Kiva.org.
Another charity that provides a helping hand to individuals who need it is Heiffer International. Instead of giving money, you buy a cow, some ducks, a swarm of bees, or whatever barnyard creature strikes your fancy. Heiffer then gives these animals to small family farmers who milk the cow, sell the ducks and cultivate honey to make their living. Heiffer also makes a good gift for the Mom who has everything. My mom is getting little yellow duckies.
If you prefer to keep your money in country, and there’s nothing wrong with that. The rising cost of food and fuel is also effecting American charities. Groups that feed the poor and homeless are reporting that contributions are drying up. And Meals on Wheels, a damn worthwhile charity, is suffering from rising food prices and a lack of volunteer drivers. So, consider donating your time to Meals on Wheels, writing a check to the soup kitchen or making a donation to the local food bank.
Stemming the rise in food costs will require long term political solutions on both a national and international scale, but those take time. And in the interim, I’m not willing to watch people starve. So, I’ll keep donating a little bit of my monthly paycheck and I hope you will too.
Before I begin my argument, I thought I might offer you a bit of background on myself. I’m a gun owner, a member of the Butte Gun Club and an NRA member. So, needless to say, I count a candidate’s position on second amendment rights among my top five electoral considerations.
Earlier this week, Erik Iverson penned a guest column for the Missoulian about Barack Obama’s stance on gun rights. This editorial prompted a scathing critique by Pete Talbot at 4&20 Blackbirds, who argued that there was very little evidence to suggest that gun owners should be concerned about an Obama Administration.
I laughed about Mary Ann Aker’s blog post at the Post. I mean, it was so insanely partisan and pointless that I’m not sure it wasn’t ghost-written by Montana Democrats. It’s hard to take such a clumsy piece seriously.
But past the ‘hit piece’ nature is an amusing human story. You can just see the poor campaign treasurer scrounging over receipts in a darkly lit office with a single lamp by which to work. He picks up his cup of warm coffee and grabs the next receipt. $300 for “Tune Inn” - no notations. Naturally he assumes that Tune Inn is an Inn where you sleep. Poor guy has probably never been to DC and wouldn’t really know that Tune Inn was a bar. Now his oversight is national news. Whoops.
As bars go though, this is the sort of Bar Montana’s Congressman should go to. Just look at this description.
There are eight mounted deer heads on the walls of the tiny Tune Inn — and, more important, two mounted deer butts. The butts are a lot more emblematic of this raucous neighborhood joint. The most popular thing on the menu is the pitcher of beer, just $5.50 (as long as you order Busch, not any of that yuppie stuff). During the day, the place specializes in workingman breakfasts and quick lunches. At night, if you feel like eating, the straightforward and cheap cheeseburger is the house specialty. Push through the loud throngs that mob the front of the place on weekend evenings and you may find a relatively peaceful booth in the back. An historical note: This is where James Carville and Mary Matalin went on their first date. They left quickly.
Sounds a bit like Stockmans in Missoula. They probably have peanuts. It’s things like this that make me wonder why Montana Democrats are trying to suggest that Rehberg is out of touch with Montana. He’s still Montana through and through - which is why the east-coast liberals like to make fun of him so much.
And where’s the contrast with Max Baucus? And a tab of $300 is a drop in the bucket compared with the $37,000 Max Baucus spent in three months on pretentious high-brow east coast restaurants. Think there’s not a difference?
I’ve discussed the orthodoxy of science - the fall-in or get out mentality that political advocacy has created in the scientific community. I’m not personally sold on Intelligent Design. I’m not a fan of Christian Apologetics. But the way science acts to protect the status quo is similar to our discussion on Global Climate Change.
Obviously, I haven’t seen the movie. I’ll probably end up getting the DVD on Netflix. Whether or not you agree with Intelligent Design doesn’t seem to matter. From what I’ve seen, the movie is less about the nuance of origins and more about the way the debate is waged.I was going to write more, but Montana Headlines beat me to the punch, and did it with much more eloquence than I would be able to muster. Go read.
Speaking of taxes, turns out Montana’s businesses are paying more than the national average in taxes. Montana Main Street Blog has the scoop:
1. State taxes paid by businesses in Montana (45% share) are higher than the national average (39.9% share).
2. Local taxes paid by businesses in Montana (66.5% share) are higher than the national average (50.5%).
3. The amount of state and local taxes paid by businesses in Montana as a percentage of the Gross State Product (6.5%) is higher than the national average (5%).
4. The total change in business share of the tax growth in Montana (55.6%) is higher than the national average (45.8%).
Of course those taxes are ultimately paid by the consumer - you. There’s more so go read it. And then think about supporting Roy Brown.
