If you tried to comment and got blocked because you needed cookies or javascript, I apologize. I was testing an anti-spam plugin, and it appears to have also blocked non-spam users. Back to the drawing board!
Archive for April, 2008
In 2006, you couldn’t pick up a newspaper without hearing about how many Burns staffers took jobs as lobbyists. I believe Montana Democrats used the phrase “revolving door” quite a few times. I actually never had too big a problem with this since realistically there was nothing he could have done to prevent it. If a staffer wants to take a new job with a giant pay increase and more perks there’s not much to be done about it. It’s still a free country.
As Max Baucus could undoubtedly explain since he too has to deal with a lot of staffers heading for the gold-laced hills of lobbying.
Since 1996, a fifth of U.S. Sen. Max Baucus’ highest-paid staff members have left their jobs to become lobbyists, usually for industries regulated by the powerful committee that Baucus heads, a Gazette State Bureau analysis shows.
I’m not going to fault Baucus for this. As with Burns, Baucus doesn’t have any way to prevent this. My problem is with how the Montana media covered the Burns story in 2006. Knowing that the “revolving door” wasn’t just Burns’ problem in 2006 would have helped shape the corruption story that proved Burns’ undoing.
If the media had spent a few hours doing the research that they did for this story about Baucus, it would have been clear that the “revolving door” was not just Burns’ problem but one that afflicted any powerful Senator as a natural course of their power. Their influence gives their staff influence that makes them attractive to the private sector - which has a lot more money.
Interesting. Very interesting, indeed.
If Americans turn to the right, can it solve the energy crisis?
If motorists make only right-hand turns, it seems, they can save a lot of energy.
When UPS rearranged its routes to eliminate as many left-hand turns as possible for delivery drivers, the company saved 3 million gallons of fuel by trimming 30 million miles last year, according to Parade magazine.
Think of the savings if we all go right.
Added to the energy efficiency of right turns (not as much gas is burned because we’re not idling in turn lanes) is the safety factor.
Some traffic-safety experts recommend that motorists go out of their way to make right-hand turns, since left turns across oncoming traffic are also more dangerous.
So why do the Democrats keep pulling our energy policies to the left? Looks like the Left is wrong… again.
The campaigns are aflutter with Barack Obama’s latest words of hope.
“You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them…And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are going to regenerate and they have not, and it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations”
Treating middle America like a bunch of weapon wielding, xenophobic, neanderthals aside; I am a bit surprised Obama would say being anti-trade is an irrational reaction to financial struggles. Probably not the best statement to make the weekend before the Pennsylvania primary.
Obama is not doing himself any favor in the rust belt with misguided speeches like this. All you have to do is take a look at the electoral college maps. While Obama opens up avenues in some unusual places (Texas), it is offset by Republican gains in places like Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Big things are happening behind the scenes here at Big Sky Cairn. Earlier this morning, we delivered the first edition of the Dextra E-Newsletter. Many thanks to blogs that have added this to their own sidebars: Missoulapolis, Rabid Sanity, The Western Word and Montana Politics. It’s pretty simple right now and while I don’t foresee the content getting much more complex.
But I do want to add some extra features including an option to send a post as a Letter to the Editor to a Montana newspaper - a feature, that I added a few minutes ago to every post on Big Sky Cairn (take a look below). Right now, it’s just a compilation of contact info and instructions for a few major Montana Newspapers. Eventually, this will be a locally hosted web-form that delivers the letters to appropriate websites but I have to teach myself some coding before that happens.
I wrote a bit about what is going on with the financing problems for Montana’s student loan provider MHESAC here, but after today’s news I thought I would go a bit deeper into what is going on.
The crux of the problem remains that student loan providers are unable to find liquidity, which in turn will affect their ability to finance new loans. The problem over liquidity is not unique to the student loan industry, it is a market-wide problem right now. More after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
I just sent out the inaugural Dextra Montana E-Newsletter. As we go, we’ll be improving the layout and adding features, but I wanted to get the first one out the door even if it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles that I’m hoping to eventually add.
If you missed Issue 0001, 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.
It’s a comedy sketch, but absent the rapid-response delivery, it could very well be real.
Jay Stevens claims that Republicans booed “zero-to-partisan in five seconds flat” Jackie Speier during her opening remarks on the House Floor. Here’s the transcript:
SPEIER: Recently, I was introduced as having been elected to replace Tom Lantos. I had to laugh. I was elected to succeed Congressman Lantos. No one will ever replace him. […]
Madam Speaker, I was struck with something while campaigning for this seat. A public servant is never more in tune with her constituents than when she is first running for the office. While holding over 60 community meetings across my district this year, the most common question was — when will we get out of iraq?
It was asked by voters across the spectrum, veterans, students, parents, the prosperous, middle class, those still working towards their piece of the American dream. The process to bring the troops home must begin immediately.
The President wants to stay the course, and a man who wants to replace him suggests we could be in Iraq for 100 years.
But, Madam Speaker, history —
(BOOS)
PELOSI: The House will be in order.
SPEIER: — will not judge us kindly if we sacrifice four generations of Americans because of the folly of one. And, Madam Speaker, as a passionate as people are of getting out of Iraq, they’re also worried.
PELOSI: The house is not in order. Will the gentlemen please take their conversations outside the chamber.
The C-SPAN video does not leave Rep. Speier so there’s no evidence as to who was doing the booing. Considering when the booing occurred though - right after she described the statements McCain made about how long the US might have a presence in Iraq - it’s not unreasonable to suspect that it was actually Democrats who were booing the McCain policy she was explaining.
At that point in her speech, it doesn’t really make sense for Republicans to boo. I think these boos came from the left instead of the right and were directed at the policy instead of the speaker.
Of course, it’s impossible to tell from the evidence we can see. I don’t know and neither does Jay.
