Blog Archives

The 2014 Montana Election Blog

2/23/2015

Thanks for your interest in Montana politics and Montana government!

This blog started in January, 2014. I started it when I was running for Montana’s House District 98, out of Missoula. I lost that race in the primary, but kept the blog going through the election and into the 2015 Montana Legislature.

This is the place to find hard-hitting commentary on Montana politics and politicians. Below you’ll find links to the nearly 350 articles this blog has, organized in a way that makes sense.

Thanks for reading and thanks for trying to make Montana a better place!

–Greg Strandberg, February 23, 2015

Business in Montana

I love talking money, and you’ll find many posts detailing Montana’s economy and the various business activities that take place here.

Business Issues Facing the 2015 Montana Legislature (Feb 15, 2014)

How Missoula and Montana Will Attract Clean and Green Businesses (Mar 9, 2014)

Public Pensions in Montana (Apr 19, 2014)

Utah vs. Montana for Oil & Tech Jobs (Jul 23, 2014)

What’s the Dam Problem in Montana? (Sep 11, 2014)

One Vision of a Higher Minimum Wage in Montana (Sep 12, 2014)

Should Montana Become a Reserve Airline Hub? (Sep 30, 2014)

How Montana’s Economy Has Changed Over 175 Years (Oct 10, 2014)

What’s the Dam News Today? (Nov 6, 2014)

Why is Montana Not Working? (Dec 12, 2014)

Tourists, Alkies and Overpaid Imbeciles Flock to Montana (Dec 21, 2014)

Looking at Montana Numbers from the 1990s (Dec 28, 2014)

Looking at Some 2015 Montana Economic News (Jan 6, 2015)

Harry Fritz’s Prescription for a Healthy Montana Economy (Jan 30, 2015)

Why is Montana Internet So Slow? (Feb 15, 2015)

Will the Dow Tumble and Fall? (Feb 17, 2015)

Montana Budget Issues

I love to look at graphs and budget reports, and I wrote about this a lot. These posts go in-depth into the various components of Montana’s state budget, Montana’s General Fund, and various income and expenses that the State of Montana has. These are valuable posts for figuring out how Montana’s state government operates.

Funding for the University of Montana is Out of Whack (May 10, 2014)

Analyzing Bullock’s 2015 Montana Budget Proposal (Nov 16, 2014)

What are the Tax Options in Montana? (Jan 11, 2015)

What is Montana Spending Its Money On? (Jan 12, 2015)

Looking at Montana’s Proposed Budget for 2016-17 (Jan 12, 2015)

Comparing Missoula County with Petroleum County (Jan 13, 2015)

Deciphering Montana’s State Special Revenue and General Fund (Jan 14, 2015)

Digging Into the Components of Montana’s General Fund (Jan 14, 2015)

Looking at Montana’s Federal Funding for 2015-2017 (Jan 14, 2015)

Exploring Montana’s Projected Statistics for 2015-2018 (Jan 15, 2015)

How Much Do State Employees Make in Montana? (Jan 16, 2015)

Looking at Vehicle Taxes in Montana for 2015-2017 (Jan 17, 2015)

Digging Into the City of Missoula’s Budget (Jan 18, 2015)

Infrastructure Spending vs. Bonding in Montana (Jan 19, 2015)

A Hard Look at Corporate and Individual Income Taxes in Montana (Feb 15, 2015)

Poverty in Montana

Too many people in this state are struggling to make end’s meat, and I discussed this issue a lot.

Income Inequality in Montana and the End of the Middle Class (Mar 31, 2014)

The Pain of the Holidays (Nov 28, 2014)

What the Hell’s Happening with Food Prices? (Nov 29, 2014)

Thoughts on the Middle Class Getting Screwed Today (Dec 18, 2014)

A Hard Time for Montanans Between Christmas and the Rent (Dec 28, 2014)

A Quick Look at Generational Economic Problems (Feb 7, 2015)

Montana Into the New Year (Feb 21, 2015)

Montana Healthcare

There was a lot of news in Montana about Obamacare and Medicaid expansion. We discussed this a lot, plus other healthcare issues facing the Treasure State.

The Costs of Rejecting Obamacare in Montana (Mar 15, 2014)

Healthcare in Montana is a Joke (Mar 25, 2014)

Meth in Montana: A Failure of the Old Political Guard (Aug 7, 2014)

Montana Democrats Have No Answers for Obamacare (Aug 22, 2014)

I’m Disappointed in the Montana Tobacco Quit Line (Sep 3, 2014)

Medical Marijuana in Montana: The Facts and Figures (Oct 12, 2014)

Health Scare in Missoula Tonight (Nov 6, 2014)

Big Sky Words is Taking a Break (Nov 7, 2014)

New Obamacare Healthcare Plans in Montana…Great (Nov 10, 2014)

Montana Obamacare Isn’t Good for Working Families (Nov 27, 2014)

Tester’s Big Chance to Help Veterans (Dec 2, 2014)

Looking at Obamacare Numbers Released Today for Montana (Dec 30, 2014)

Let’s Help Rural Hospitals in Montana (Feb 9, 2015)

The Environment

The following posts touch upon the environment in Montana and environmental issues that often tear the state apart.

Is the Keystone XL Pipeline Good for Montana? (Feb 2, 2014)

Montana Grizzlies and the 2015 Montana Legislature (Feb 18, 2014)

A Sound Environmental Policy for Montana (Mar 30, 2014)

Who’s Behind the Yellowstone Wolf Patrol in Montana? (Sep 15, 2014)

Who is American Lands Council? (Oct 22, 2014)

What Would the Crow Indians Do Without Coal? (Oct 25, 2014)

Let’s Pat Ourselves on the Back, Montana (Dec 3, 2014)

Who is PERC in Montana? (Feb 15, 2015)

Montana Media

These posts primarily explore the Montana media. They also touch upon Montana life in general and have some tirade too.

The State of Montana Blogs (Aug 3, 2014)

Montana Cowgirl: Protecting the Montana Status Quo (Apr 29, 2014)

Montana Political Podcasting vs. Montana Political Blogging (Jul 18, 2014)

Do Political Blogs in Montana Have Power? (Sep 15, 2014)

We’re Now Doing Facebook Commenting on Big Sky Words (Sep 29, 2014)

How Do I Get Traffic to My Montana Political Website Using Social Media? (Sep 30, 2014)

How Many People in Montana Read Newspapers? (Oct 8, 2014)

The Alternative Montana Media and the 2015 Montana Legislative Agenda (Nov 9, 2014)

Top 10 Montana Political Blog Stories of 2014 (Jan 1, 2015)

A Year Ago Today (Jan 15, 2015)

This is My Site, I Do What I Want (Jan 31, 2015)

Looking at Montana Newspapers and Readership (Feb 1, 2015)

Societal Issues

Sometimes we have to discuss the issues that really get out our society. All of us pay for these problems, one way or another

How Much Do Prisoners Cost Montana? (Mar 22, 2014)

Guest Post on Montana Cowgirl Today (Nonprofits) (May 11, 2014)

Guest Post on Montana’s Leading Political Blog (Senior Citizen Issues) (May 31, 2014)

Does Great Falls Need Malmstrom, Does Montana Need Nukes? (Jul 15, 2014)

How Much are Montana Bigwigs Paid? (Aug 23, 2014)

Should Congress Just Be Taken Out and Shot? (Sep 5, 2014)

Yet Another Existential Threat to America (Sep 9, 2014)

Why are Some Teachers in Montana Second Class Citizens? (Sep 23, 2014)

What is the Entitled Generation’s Problem? (Sep 25, 2014)

Steve Bullock Knows Montana Children Need an Education (Oct 13, 2014)

How Long Does the House Need the Supports? (Oct 19, 2014)

Comparing Rape Statistics Between Missoula and Bozeman (Oct 28, 2014)

Assisted Suicide in Montana (Nov 10, 2014)

A Short Look at Headlines (Dec 22, 2014)

What is the Helena Central School Mess? (Dec 26, 2014)

Taxes and Tirades (Jan 4, 2015)

Where Have All the TVs Gone? (Jan 9, 2015)

Montana’s Thorny Issue (Feb 13, 2015)

I ran for office to represent Missoula, so I learned a lot about the problems this county faces.

Zoning in Missoula County and the 2015 Montana Legislature (Feb 20, 2014)

Does Missoula County Need More Judges? (Feb 21, 2014)

Kohl’s in Missoula: Another Bad Place to Work (Jul 19, 2014)

The Difference Between Kohl’s and Decker in Missoula (Jul 20, 2014)

Missoula and High Speed Broadband: Just Too Slow (Aug 4, 2014)

Who Profits from the Mountain Water Lawsuit in Missoula (Aug 16, 2014)

Montana Rail Link: How Long Before Someone Gets Killed? (Aug 26, 2014)

Who is EverFi and Can They Really Solve UM’s Drinking Problem? (Aug 30, 2014)

Eric Cantor Joins Moelis & Co: Montana Watch Out (Sep 2, 2014)

Beer and Circus in Missoula (Sep 6, 2014)

Using Montana Courts to Get Your Way (Sep 9, 2014)

Derelict Areas in Missoula, Why? (Sep 13, 2014)

A Busy Campaign Day in Missoula (Sep 13, 2014)

Carlyle Shuts Off the Tap to Mountain Water in Missoula (Sep 19, 2014)

What are the New Apartments on Mount and Russell in Missoula? (Sep 25, 2014)

What is Josh Clark Doing in Missoula? (Sep 26, 2014)

10 Ways to Run for Missoula Mayor and Win (Oct 2, 2014)

Have You Been Following the Missoula County Soap Opera, er…Sheriff’s Race? (Oct 2, 2014)

Is Paying $42 Million for Parks in Missoula a Good Idea? (Oct 6, 2014)

On November 5 I’ll Begin the Process of Removing Mayor Engen (Oct 26, 2014)

What are Those Huge Junk Storage Areas in Missoula? (Oct 26, 2014)

What is that Hole in the Road in Missoula’s South Avenue (Oct 26, 2014)

The Funny Business in Missoula’s Municipal Court (Oct 28, 2014)

Updates on What’s Needed to Recall Missoula’s Mayor (Oct 29, 2014)

Political Mish Mash (Nov 13, 2014)

Missoula County Numbers: A Disgrace (Nov 28, 2014)

A Grave Injustice in Missoula Continues (Dec 4, 2014)

How Long Does the Missoulian Have, How Long Does Montana? (Dec 13, 2014)

Franklin to the Fort Neighborhood Council Meeting (Feb 3, 2015)

If I Wanted to Run for Missoula City Council, What Would I Do? (Feb 22, 2015)

World Affairs

These posts focus primarily on China as well as the growing turmoil in the Middle East with ISIS.

Should Castrations be Official Mid East Military Policy? (Sep 18, 2014)

What is China Like? (Sep 22, 2014)

What’s Going on in Russia? (Dec 17, 2014)

What’s Been Going On in the World? (Jan 7, 2015)

Missoula Issues

Montana Democrats

These posts profile various personalities in the Montana Democratic Party

Dirk Adams: Another Choice for the Montana Senate (Feb 2, 2014)

Missoula Democrats Rally Today (Mar 19, 2014)

If You Believe in Freedom of Speech, Don’t Vote for T.J. McDermott for Missoula Sheriff (May 18, 2014)

Young Democrats in Montana (Jul 16, 2014)

Why are Fiscally Conservative Democrats Demonized in Montana? (Jul 19, 2014)

Montana Democrats Need to Tell National Democrats to Go Fuck Themselves (Aug 6, 2014)

Who is Clayton Elliott, Amanda Curtis’s Campaign Manager? (Aug 28, 2014)

Teachers in Politics in Montana (Sep 9, 2014)

Who is Montana’s Mike Wheat? (Sep 30, 2014)

Missoula Democrats Rally on Saturday for UM’s Homecoming Parade (Sep 25, 2014)

Images of Missoula Democrats in UM’s Homecoming Parade Today (Sep 27, 2014)

Super Secret Democratic State Meeting Scheduled (Oct 15, 2014)

Diane Sands Means Business for Missoula’s Senate District 49 (Oct 21, 2014)

Montana’s House District 94 and the Political Flyer Drama (Oct 21, 2014)

Who are the Best People to Vote for in Missoula? (Oct 23, 2014)

Bullock’s Big Day (Nov 4, 2014)

What Happened with Senator Jon Tester Today (Nov 17, 2014)

The Stellar Political Skills of Shawn White Wolf (Dec 7, 2014)

Sitting Down with Montana Governor Steve Bullock this Afternoon (Dec 15, 2014)

Ken Toole Gives ‘em Hell Today in the IR (Dec 17, 2014)

What Ever Happened to John Morrison? (Dec 27, 2014)

The Saga of Caitlin Copple (Jan 9, 2015)

Why Does Cliff Larsen Want to Hurt the Middle Class? (Jan 10, 2015)

Young Montana Democrats to Watch (Feb 21, 2015)

Montana Democrat Action Plans

These posts primarily serve to fire up Montana Democrats while giving them strategies to take back the state legislature.

Tea Party Politics in Montana and What Democrats Can Do About It (Jan 30, 2014)

Circumventing the Tea Party in Montana with a Little Help from Hunter S. Thompson (Feb 10, 2014)

5 Things Montana Democrats Can Do to Take the 2015 Legislature (Jul 17, 2014)

3 Ways of Shaming Politicians that Take Bribes, er…Donations (Aug 1, 2014)

Interesting Montana Political Blog Keywords (Aug 5, 2014)

Should Union Bosses Make Six Figures? (Sep 10, 2014)

10 Montana Political Thoughts that Might Piss You Off (Sep 17, 2014)

10 Montana Political Issues I Don’t Care About (Sep 23, 2014)

Did You Need Some Random Political Thoughts Tonight? (Sep 22, 2014)

Let’s Talk Montana Politics Before Lunch (Sept 23, 2014)

Breaking News: Republican Memo to Stop Voting in Montana (Oct 1, 2014)

A Note to the 2015 Montana Legislature (Oct 9, 2014)

Who is Montana’s Plazby Solutions? (Oct 10, 2014)

Special Note to Big Sky Words Political Readers (Oct 10, 2014)

What is Going to Trip-up Lawrence VanDyke? (Oct 18, 2014)

Wishy-Washy Answers from Republicans on Voting in Montana (Oct 20, 2014)

I May Never Knock on Another Door Again (Oct 27, 2014)

Thoughts from the 2014 Montana Election Front Lines (Nov 13, 2014)

Who Benefits from the Jon Tester Billboard West of Helena? (Nov 16, 2014)

Is a Democratic Meeting in Order? (Nov 18, 2014)

Republicans are Organized and Democrats are Screwed (Dec 1, 2014)

A Serious Lack of Passion in Montana Democratic Politics (Dec 3, 2014)

10 Ways the Federal Government Wastes Money (Dec 11, 2014)

The Aggressive Teddy Roosevelt (Dec 12, 2014)

Congress is Like an Old Coot Whose Time Has Come (Dec 13, 2014)

How Would Dirk Do It? (Dec 22, 2014)

I Think It’s Time (Jan 3, 2015)

5 Honorable 2nd Jobs for Montana Politicians (Jan 4, 2015)

Gosh Darn, I’m Excited to See James Carville! (Feb 4, 2015)

When Will I See You Again? (Feb 8, 2015)

5 Ways to Get Rid of Art Wittich (Feb 9, 2015)

Is Your Ignorance of Montana Showing? (Feb 10, 2015)

Is Tester a Wheeler or a Murray? (Feb 10, 2015)

5 Ways to Get Rid of Jennifer Fielder (Feb 19, 2015)

Should You Go to the Mansfield/Metcalf Dinner? (Feb 20, 2015)

The 2015 Montana Legislature

Many of these posts are speculative at first, anticipating what the 2015 Montana legislature will do. After it started they’re more in-depth and look at problems and solutions.

What’s on Montana Governor Steve Bullock’s 2015 Legislative To-Do List? (Mar 19, 2014)

What’s Going on With Committee Assignments in the 2015 Legislature? (Nov 17, 2014)

The 2015 Montana Legislature Committee Assignments: Odd’s On Favorites and Predictions (Nov 20, 2014)

Who are the Moderate Republicans in the 2015 Montana Legislature? (Nov 25, 2014)

Two Interesting Legislators Serving in Helena in 2015 (Dec 1, 2014)

Does Debby Barrett Have Any Sense? (Dec 5, 2014)

How Will the 2015 Legislature Make Laws? (Dec 6, 2014)

Let’s Not Waste Time on Political Frivolities (Dec 8, 2014)

Using Excess Campaign Funds to Hire Staff (Dec 9, 2014)

A Rather Boring Time for Montana Politics (Dec 10, 2014)

Oh How the Legislative Babies Cry! (Dec 18, 2014)

Back in Helena, Thoughts on the Coming Fiasco (Dec 23, 2014)

Knudsen: One Bad Idea After Another (Dec 29, 2014)

Taking a Look at the 2015 Montana Legislative Calendar (Jan 5, 2015)

Very Hopeful Start to the 2015 Montana Legislature (Jan 5, 2015)

The Day’s Lesser News (Jan 5, 2015)

Tracking the Montana Legislature (Jan 7, 2015)

What are the Montana Legislature’s Silver Bullets? (Jan 8, 2015)

Interesting Tax Measures Coming Up Next Week in the Legislature (Jan 17, 2015)

Analyzing Jon Tester’s Speech to the Montana Legislature Today (Jan 19, 2015)

Early Thoughts on the Montana State of the State Address (Jan 28, 2015)

The 2014 Montana U.S. Senate Race

You’ll find lots of posts on the 2014 Montana U.S. Senate race on this blog, including the many candidates that ran.

Who Will Be the Next Senator of Montana? (Feb 9, 2014)

Montana Political TV Ads in the 2014 Election (Jul 22, 2014)

John Walsh and Plagiarism: 7 Ways to Make it All Go Away (Jul 23, 2014)

The Human Face of Steve Daines’ Outsourcing to China (Jul 24, 2014)

How Democrats Keep Walsh’s Senate Seat: Attack Daines (Jul 24, 2014 Podcast)

Who is Giving Money to Steve Daines in 2014? (Jul 28, 2014)

I Wouldn’t Vote for John Walsh If You Paid Me (Jul 29, 2014)

The Department of Defense Swoops in to Defend John Walsh (Jul 29, 2014)

The Pros and Cons of Replacing John Walsh for Senate (Jul 29, 2014)

What the Hell Does “Steve Daines: More Jobs, Less Government” Really Mean? (Jul 31, 2014)

Who Can Pressure Walsh to Drop Out? (Aug 2, 2014)

5 Unforgivable Sins Causing Candidates to Drop Out of Political Races (Aug 8, 2014)

Likely Picks to Replace John Walsh for U.S. Senate (Aug 7, 2014)

John Walsh is Out, What’s Next for Montana Democrats? (Aug 7, 2014)

The Calm Before the Storm (Aug 8, 2014)

Who is Montana’s Amanda Curtis? (Aug 8, 2014)

Who is Montana’s Franke Wilmer? (Aug 9, 2014)

Who is Montana’s Linda McCullough? (Aug 10, 2014)

An Electrified Montana Democratic Party (Aug 11, 2014)

Dave Wanzenried Says No (Aug 14, 2014)

Thoughts After the Helena Shindig (Aug 16, 2014)

Amanda Curtis at Forward Montana’s Ten Year Anniversary (Aug 16, 2014)

I Gave $25 to Amanda Curtis Today (Aug 18, 2014)

Where Will Amanda Curtis Get an Extra 50,000 Votes? (Aug 22, 2014)

Who are the Out-of-State Donors to Steve Daines? (Aug 23, 2014)

Steve Daines Needs a Swift Kick in the Balls from Amanda Curtis (Aug 25, 2014)

Amanda Curtis Cares about Montana Students, Steve Daines Could Care Less (Sep 2, 2014)

Big Time Helena Get Together Tomorrow (Sep 4, 2014)

It’s Two Month’s to Election Day, How’s Campaign Spending? (Sep 6, 2014)

I Felt Bad Today (Sep 8, 2014)

The 2014 Montana Election Campaigns in Pictures (Sep 14, 2014)

What Has the Amanda Curtis Campaign Been Up To? (Sep 22, 2014)

Are Steve Daines’ Shirts Trying to Tell Us Something? (Sep 24, 2014)

Analyzing the New Steve Daines Mailer for Political BS (Sep 28, 2014)

Steve Daines’ Attitude: Screw the Poor, Suck Up to the Rich (Oct 11, 2014)

What is CISPA and Why Does Steve Daines Support the Erosion of Liberty? (Oct 11, 2014)

Steve Daines Doesn’t Want Women to Get Paid as Much as Men (Oct 12, 2014)

When are Montana’s Senate Debates? (Oct 14, 2014)

Analyzing Fast Response Messages from Montana’s Political Campaigns (Oct 15, 2014)

What Does the New MSU/Billings Poll Tell Us? (Oct 18, 2014)

What Do the Montana Political Numbers Tell Us? (Oct 19, 2014)

How Did the Steve Daines/Amanda Curtis Debate Go Tonight? (Oct 20, 2014)

The Second U.S Senate Debate in Montana: A Freeze-Out (Oct 21, 2014)

What Has Steve Daines Done? (Oct 27, 2014)

Should Michelle Obama Campaign for Amanda Curtis? (Oct 28, 2014)

One Step Up and Two Steps Back (Oct 30, 2014)

The Campaign’s Witching Hour (Oct 30, 2014)

Election Day: A Real Nail-Biter (Nov 4, 2014)

Montana Election Reporting: 2014 Montana Election Results (Nov 5, 2014)

What Happened Last Night and What Does it Mean? (Nov 5, 2014)

The Anger Over Losing (Nov 8, 2014)

The 2014 Montana U.S. House Race

We had an exciting U.S, House race in 2014 between Ryan Zinke and John Lewis. You’ll get a lot of posts on this right here.

Message to Montana Republicans in U.S. House Race (Mar 23, 2014)

Voting for Ryan Zinke is Like Stepping in Dog Shit (May 3, 2014)

John Lewis and the Worst Political Emails in History (Jul 27, 2014)

Montana Needs a House Debate with One Empty Podium (Aug 31, 2014)

Giving $10 to John Lewis is Good for Montana’s Future (Sep 10, 2014)

A Poor Listen at Tonight’s Montana House Debate (Sep 29, 2014)

10 Campaign TV Ad Ideas for John Lewis and Amanda Curtis (Oct 7, 2014 Podcast)

Ryan Zinke’s Environmental Plans are Balderdash (Oct 13, 2014)

Will Ryan Zinke’s Fundraising Efforts Fall Flat? (Oct 16, 2014)

The 2014 Montana Supreme Court Race

Things really heated up in this race around October when outside agencies tried to influence our election.

Who Sent the Shady Montana Political Mailers? (Oct 23, 2014)

Who Bankrolled the Shady Montana Supreme Court Propaganda? (Oct 24, 2014)

Were any Montana Election Laws Broken with Political Mailers? (Oct 24, 2014)

Why is the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Meddling in Montana Elections? (Oct 24, 2014)

Final Thoughts for Today on Montana Political Fiasco (Oct 24, 2014)

Those Dumb Montana Hicks, They’ll Fall for it Every Time (Oct 28, 2014)

Montana Podcasts

After the election I started to do a lot of podcasting as a way to get my frustrations out. This turned into good therapy, and great public speaking practice.

Analyzing Montana Primary Results in Missoula County (Jun 4, 2014)

Analyzing Political News Outlets in Montana Newspapers & Blogs (Jun 4, 2014)

The Berghdal Prisoner Release, Benghazi and Montana (Jun 5, 2014)

A Missoula Nighborhood Meeting and Political Internet Strategy in Montana (Jun 6, 2014)

D-Day, European Conflicts, Energy Wars and Montana Politics (Jun 6, 2014)

Montana Democrats Refuse to Add Climate Change to Party Platform (Jun 7, 2014)

A Lack of Leadership and Ideas with Montana Democrats (Jun 8, 2014)

The Senate and House Races and Progressive Politics in Montana (Jun 9, 2014)

A Simple Democratic Strategy for Passing the Affordable Care Act in Montana (Jun 9, 2014)

The American Economic Model: Buy Crap You Don’t Need (Jun 10, 2014)

New Student Loan Laws Signed by Obama and Montana Students (Jun 10, 2014)

Close Guantanamo, Pay for College (Jun 11, 2014)

Fuck Iraq (Jun 13, 2014)

Thoughts on Energizing Democratic Voters in Montana (Jun 15, 2014)

The VA and Obamacare (Jun 16, 2014)

How Will Global Warming Happen? (Jun 17, 2014)

Iraq, Ancient China Floods, Global Warming and Montana Politics (Jun 19, 2014)

Filing My Closing Campaign Finance Report, the Dreaded C-5 (Jun 20, 2014)

Radio Interview Today on KYRS Spokane (Jun 21, 2014)

Border Priorities in America (Jun 22, 2014)

Who are the Richest Fat Cats in Congress? (Jun 24, 2014)

Montana Judge Puts Foot in Mouth, We All Eat It (Jun 24, 2014)

Who is Donating to Steve Daines? (Jun 25, 2014)

The Idea of the West: An Outlet for Discontent (Jun 29, 2014)

Hobby Lobby Employees Begin Having Children Every 9 Months Like Clockwork (Jul 1, 2014)

Nation’s Need Secure Borders to Exist (Jul 2, 2014)

Should Missoula Recall Mayor Engen? (Jul 8, 2014)

Bums in Downtown Missoula, Montana (Jul 9, 2014)

Colstrip and Granite, Coal and Silver, and Montana’s Economic History (Jul 11, 2014)

Montana and China and Jobs (Aug 8, 2014)

Pot and Idiots in Montana (Sep 18, 2014)

Are You Ready to Get Pissed? (Oct 1, 2014)

What Republicans Stand For (Oct 11, 2014)

Taking the Low Road (Oct 15, 2014)

What is GOTV in Missoula? (Nov 3, 2014)

2014 Election Eve (Nov 3, 2014)

Election Day Thoughts (Nov 4, 2014)

Thoughts on Armistice Day (Nov 11, 2014)

Thoughts from the Sidelines (Nov 22, 2014)

National Debt, the Spending Bill, and China’s History/Economy (Dec 12, 2014)

Where Do We Stand? (Jan 26, 2015)

Trust in Government (Jan 27, 2015)

Dollars at Work (Jan 27, 2015)

Anticipating the State of the State in Montana (Jan 28, 2015)

The Select Few (Jan 29, 2015)

Election 2016 Preview (Feb 2, 2015)

Montana and National Issues (Feb 3, 2015)

Politics of Frustration (Feb 4, 2015)

A Frank Talk About ISIS (Feb 5, 2015)

Pay or Borrow? (Feb 6, 2015)

During My 2014 Montana Political Campaign

These posts profile my attempts to get elected in Montana. You’ll find lots on door knocking, making walking cards, making walking lists, and getting out the vote.

2014 Montana Election Blog (Jan 29, 2014)

January Election Progress (Jan 31, 2014)

Montana Campaign Bank Account (Jan 31, 2014)

Montana Candidate Walking Maps (Jan 31, 2014)

Montana Campaign Walking Cards Coming Along (Feb 4, 2014)

Montana Democrats, Give Me a Chance! (Feb 5, 2014)

My 2001 Legislative Experience in Helena (Feb 25, 2014)

My Montana 2014 Legislative Walking Cards (Mar 1, 2014)

Out Walking Tonight in Missoula (Mar 3, 2014)

Walking and Knocking to Get Elected in Montana (Mar 5, 2014)

Media Trackers Profiles Greg Strandberg for Montana House District 98 (Mar 6, 2014)

Serious Montana Political Campaign Setback and Quick Solution (Mar 8, 2014)

We’ve Got a Crowded Montana House District 98 Primary This Year (Mar 10, 2014)

MEA-MFT Endorsement Meeting Yesterday in Missoula (Mar 11, 2014)

Walkin’ and Knockin’ and Smellin’ Pot in Missoula’s House District 98 (Mar 12, 2014)

Montana House Election Campaign Progress Report (May 3, 2014)

Preparing a Political Mailing in a 2014 Montana House Legislative Race (May 5, 2014)

Planned Parenthood of Montana Endorses Greg Strandberg for 2015 Legislature (May 21, 2014)

One Week until the Montana Primary Election (May 27, 2014)

Election Day in Missoula (Jun 3, 2014)

Thank You, Missoula! (Jun 3, 2014)

If I Wanted to Run for Missoula City Council, What Would I Do?

2/22/2015

Missoula from Highway

Let’s say that I wanted to run for office again.

I’d probably choose the Missoula City Council races, as they start up here in about two months.

A good place to begin boning up on information is by reading the Missoula City Charter. I have a feeling this is like the U.S. Constitution – a document many elected officials know exists, but have never actually seen or read.

Another good fount of information is the Missoula FAQ. They have information on what you need to do if you lose your pet, whether bikes need to be licensed, and what building inspection jurisdictions are. In other words, good stuff to use to sound important with.

Speaking of sounding important, nothing does that like knowing what district you’re running in. Actually, they’re called wards at this level, so you might want to look at the Missoula Ward Map.

If you’re going to look at the map you might as well look at the 2011 City Council Elections as reported by the Missoulian. Why? Because it could help you.

And why not take a look at the Missoula City Council Elections – Missoulian Landing Page as well? It has lots of good info that could make you stand out.

Something else that will make you stand out is money, but I can’t help you with that.

Good luck!

Young Montana Democrats to Watch

2/21/2015

Back in April or May of 2014 I emailed the Montana Democrats and asked them which young Democrats were set to make a name for themselves in the future.

I got no response.

Now, that didn’t surprise me much.

First, we know that Montana Democrats can’t support anyone during the primaries – it might look bad and give someone an unfair edge;

Then, I was a candidate from HD 98 emailing them, and I perhaps giving me that information would give me an unfair edge in that race;

Finally, Montana Democrats may have had inept leadership during the 2014 races, as seen by the firing of their Executive Director a week ago.

Those are all reasons why you don’t read much about up-and-coming Montana Democrats. I suppose there are some old has-been Democrats that also feel threatened by these whippersnappers, and since that might put their precarious positions in an even more precarious spot, it’s best to keep the limelight away from them, far away.

I hate that tired old attitude, and I blame it for the immense amount of red we see on Montana election maps. This benefits the top dogs of the Montana Democratic Party, but you and I it benefits not at all.

So we’ll profile these young Democrats, and hope to hell they can save us from ourselves…someday.

Zach Brown

Zach Brown is one young Montana Democrat to watch. He served as president of ASUM at UM and then got elected to the Montana House of Representatives in 2014,winning House District 63 outside of Bozeman 61% to 39%. Other than that, I just don’t know much about this young man.

(Check out this Montana Legislative District Map to get the whole picture)

Ryan Lynch

Ryan Lynch is a Montana Democrat was unopposed in the House District 74 general in 2014, a race he won in 2012 55% to 45%. That’s around the Butte area, a place that doesn’t see much in the way of competition…obviously. That’s great for those candidates, but it’s not too good for Montana Democrats trying to win the state. In other words, having Butte folks in key leadership positions makes little sense a lot of times…but that’s just my opinion.

Bryce Bennett

I’ve covered Bryce Bennett before on this website, and he’ll go places. Those places include key spots in administration, they don’t include statewide office. You can argue that with me, but I’d rather you argue with the bigoted voters in our rural areas. So a jaunt in the House, then the jump to the Senate. After that perhaps a spot in the governor’s administration or a run at Missoula mayor.

Kimberly Dudik

Kimberly Dudik could go far. Like Bennett and the other Missoula Democrats to follow, I’ve talked about her a bit on this site before. She’s married to an up-and-coming lawyer as well (Matthew Lowy), so there’s that. Still, with the stiff resistance she faced in 2014, and the Montana Democrats complete disregard for close elections being seen as a problem, trouble could be on the horizon. And that means a jump to the Montana Senate will cost at least $30,000.

Andrew Person

Andrew Person should have a bright future – he’s a veteran and will be a lawyer soon. It’s hard to run against veterans, as one of our Missoula Tea Party nuts found out in November. Running against lawyers is always hard. I haven’t heard much from Person in the legislature this year, just a few bills. He does write letters to the paper and has a good network of supporters, however. I’d imagine he’ll be around for awhile.

Chris Goodridge

Chris Goodridge wanted to represent House District 52 right in Billings. The problem was that Montana Republicans took that area over a long time ago, and Goodridge got beat 47% to 53% (hey, I got beat by 90% in my primary race). Still, just 2,822 votes were cast in that race, and Goodridge got 1,322 of them. It’s important to remember we have lots of support, because many times the media makes it out that we have none. 1,300 people is something. So that’s why I’d keep my eye on this person, one that feels ready to go into an “unwinnable” situation to try and win.

Jesse Laslovich

Jesse Laslovich is someone to watch. He first served in the Montana House of Representatives from 2000 to 2004 and then the Montana State Senate from 2004 to 2010 out of District 43 in Anaconda. I remember seeing him on the floor of the House when I was a lowly printer in the basement, coming up to watch the shenanigans from time to time.

Laslovich resigned his senate position in 2010 so he could go work as chief legal counsel for state Auditor Monica Lindeen. In 2012 he ran against Pam Bucy in the primary for Montana Attorney General and got 49.5% compared to Bucy’s 50.5%. Just 887 votes separated the two. Yes, I think this guy is going places.

Pat Noonan

I like Pan Noonan. I’ve never met him, but he seems like a likable guy. What’s more, he’s got some good ideas, or can at least carry them through. For instance, he’s pushing the governor’s healthcare plans this year…not the most popular thing. He’s been in the Montana House since 2010 and won each race easily. I’m sure we’ll hear more from him in the Montana Senate.

Matt McKenna

I don’t really know who Matt McKenna is, and I think he’s got his eye more on National than Montana, but I thought I’d include him here. He was former communications director for Tester, a revolving door position that in this case seemed to benefit the Republicans. You never know when the shit will hit the fan, both in the Capitol and Montana. Things can change quickly, and people that could have been heading for the stars might find themselves heading to Helena instead. You never know, you just never do, and in Oregon they know this well now.

Barrett Kaiser

Here’s another name I don’t know, Denver-native Barrett Kaiser. I think that’s because Hill Top picked him off. This leads me to believe two things. One, he’s so good that we need him out of elected politics where he can be a greater help. He’s so bad that we have to take him out of elected politics so he doesn’t mung things up for everyone else. I’m not sure which is which, but you can read more on this paid-pol Barrett Kaiser on the Montana Democrats’ dark money site.

Other Important Democrats

The following folks have had their names mentioned before when it comes to possible candidates. I don’t know a lot about these people, and maybe not all of them are young. But perhaps they can help turn this state blue again, and that’s what we need to be thinking about. Most of these names come from an August 7, 2014, post on MT Cowgirl.

Carl Borgquist (Bozeman): President of Grasslands Renewable Energy

Ed Smith (Helena): Clerk of Montana Supreme Court

Mike Phillips (Bozeman): Montana Senator from Bozeman

Dan Villa (Anaconda): Former Schweitzer staffer, member of House from 2004-2009

Anna Whiting Sorrell (St. Ignatius): Director of Billings Indian Health Services

Diane Smith (Whitefish): Gave to Republicans, can win Republican votes

Jacquie Helt (Helena): UK-native and strong supporter of Montana AFL-CIO

Elizabeth Best (Great Falls): Ran for Montana Supreme Court in 2012, always thankless races to be in

Casey Schreiner (Great Falls): Serves in HD 21 near Great Falls, proponent of mental health and prison reforms

Mike Cooney (Helena): House member from 1976-80, Montana Secretary of State from 1989-2001. (related to former Governor Cooney, anyone?)

Andy Shirtliff (Helena): Small-business ombudsman for Governor Bullock

Not on the list and not happy? Wanted to see someone on the list that’s not there? And where the hell is Amanda Curtis?

Hey, I’m not perfect, and this list isn’t perfect either. My advice would be to start your own website, make it clear you’re posting once a week, and begin doing what I do. It’s tough, but you can do it. And that goes for you Republicans, too. After all, I just profiled 21 Montana Democrats, and that hopefully will give them an edge against your candidates.

Thanks!

Montana into the New Year

2/21/2015

It’s becoming harder and harder for us to live in Montana, and I’m not sure I’ll make it another year. I’m not alone. More and more of our most populous group of citizens – workers – are being hard-pressed.

Older workers too are worrying, for they see the burden staying here has in store for them – a subsistence retirement. What’s the incentive to work hard when you’ve hardly got anything to show for the work you did? That’s Montana today – a place where there’s not much incentive to do anything.

Why is this?

First, my wife gets paid poverty-level wages, but if she moved to another state, she could double her income. Certain businesses in Missoula collude on keeping wages down, and that’s what we have here.

Next, Amazon changed things with Kindle Unlimited, giving readers 750,000 books a month for $9.99 or so. That means eBook sales are going down, and I’m worried my income will be affected. People in France are worried too – that’s why they just ruled Kindle Unlimited as illegal.

Then, I’m getting a whole lost less writing work. What’s more, I’m seeing more and more employers give jobs to people in India and Pakistan and the Philippines for $40, something that I’d do for $500, and used to do before quality standards suddenly plummeted in the West.

Finally, why not? I’ve tried very hard for the past year to get some political dialogue going and incite some change, but I’m afraid I’ve failed. What’s more, I just don’t have the money to keep doing it. I mean, when you’re starting January with $2 in the bank and no money coming in…what do you do?

So it’s pretty depressing and it seems no matter how hard you work, you just can’t get ahead. But then that’s America today, and Montana has always been at the forefront of America.

What’s incredibly frustrating is how easy it was to live in China compared to the US. Most of the time those saying that America is the greatest country in the world have never lived in another country, so they don’t know it’s a lie. When prices are less everywhere else, and taxes too, how could that not be better? I get all the same stuff online, and I get all the same stuff in the stores.

Most Americans are hardheaded and will tell you if you don’t like it, leave. What do you say to that? And what do you do when you see someone digging their own grave? I guess you just let ‘em, because they’re so hardheaded that they can’t be convinced otherwise. Or is America not charting high on all the bad lists and falling below on all the good ones?

The Boston Globe tells us we suck at math.

Pew Research tells us that 72% of Americans think the economy is fair or poor.

The Horrace Mann League tells us despite our wealth, we’re falling more through the cracks than ever:

Despite high educational levels, the United States also reflects high levels of economic inequity and social stress compared to the other nations. All are related to student performance. Measures included rates of childhood poverty, income inequality and violence. For example, in American public schools today, the rate of childhood poverty is five times greater than it is in Finland. Rates of violent death are 13 times greater than the average for the other nations, with children in some communities reporting they have witnessed shootings, knifings, and beatings as “ordinary, everyday events.

This country really is becoming a joke, and the sad part is that we don’t seem to care.

But then you get tarred and feathered for saying something like that, and that’s a symptom of not only a lack of leadership, but dangerous leadership. That’s mob rule there. And when you have that, there can be no civil discourse and all sides will never be presented.

Montanans are stubborn people, but you have to be to put up with this land and weather. I’m afraid that stubbornness has created a pathos or mental condition that’s quite obstinate and if not impossible to deal with, damn close.

What do you do when someone insists on driving down the freeway the wrong way, saying they’re right and you’re wrong? In Montana we’d pull them over and give them a DUI, but what do you do when your country is doing that? How do you put a state or a country in the drunk tank to sleep it off? Who can do that?

I don’t see anyone, and it’s incredibly frustrating. And what’s more, instead of trying to allow those people to come forth, we stifle anyone that may try to challenge whichever heir apparents may or may not be out there.

Money, everything’s always about money. I think about money all the time myself, and the fact that America’s business is business doesn’t help that. Right now that business is wildly corrupt, with rich billionaires buying politicians and subverting the infrastructure of the social and economic institutions of justice we built up over the greatest part of the 20th-century. Now those accomplishments are about to lie as rubble at our feet.

You’re damn right I’m pissed, and I hope more people get pissed too. Its tough living in Montana, always has been, but for a century we offered people a helping hand so they could get ahead. Now we shun them. These are not Montana values and they're not America values and that must change. I hope you'll take that message to heart and do something in your own small way.

Should You Go to the Mansfield/Metcalf Dinner?

2/20/2015

Do you want to hang out with a bunch of Democrats on a Saturday night?

That’s the question you need to ask yourself when it comes to the Mansfield/Metcalf Dinner that’s taking place in Helena on March 7. I’m tempted to go…except for the cost.

$60 is a lot of money.

Alright, I know it’s not a lot of money for any of the people sitting in the positions of honor, or giving speeches or holding office. But $60 is a lot of money for all those voters we wanted to reach last fall, you know…the ones we didn’t reach?

I figure when I go out to eat it’ll be $20, if I’m lucky. Some of you older folks might remember when a $10 spot got you by, but I’m afraid those days are gone, much like our manufacturing jobs, free TV and respect for government.

But what am I blathering about? The $60 tickets are the cheapest, and probably the ones they want to sell the least of. After all, if they can get rid of the $5,000 tickets they can have more money for…what?

What is the Mansfield/Metcalf money used for? What is any of the Montana Democrats’ money used for?

I probably shouldn’t ask these questions, after all, I’m expected to pay for this dinner. I guess it’s only the dozen or so people that aren’t paying that are allowed to ask those questions.

Perhaps what I’m getting at is the level of privilege that events like the Mansfield/Metcalf Dinner engender. Most people in the state would never think of going, and I’m not even talking about Republicans. Most people in Montana just don’t identify with these dinners.

Maybe it was different in 1978 when this dinner got started. I’m not sure what numbers were like that year, but I expect just a hundred or so people attended. I do know that about 1,000 attended the 2013 Mansfield/Metcalf dinner, when Max Baucus spoke.

So what will it be like this year, and will I be there?

I don’t know. Maybe if I can kick up $60 I’ll head on over to Helena for the weekend and leave my son Paul with his grandma.

I wonder what table I’d be put at and how many people I’d offend. That’s one of the reasons I’m thinking of not going – I don’t really want to offend anyone.

But perhaps that’s the “rousing” part they’re talking about in the mailing. We’ll see – I’m still on the fence.

5 Ways to Get Rid of Jennifer Fielder

2/19/2015

Considering that my post 5 Ways to Get Rid of Art Wittich was so popular, I figure I’d throw up on one on Jennifer Fielder.

Maybe this woman is terribly nice and gives wonderful gifts at Christmastime, but when you try to sell off federal lands to Koch-backed groups, we know you aren’t a true Montanan and have to go.

So how do Democrats go about getting rid of this woman? Here are five ideas.

Run Mark Sheets Against Her

Who is Mark Sheets? I have no idea, but he ran against this woman in 2012. I wrote about it on February 16 on the post Ochenski put up on the Missoulian called Silly season in full swing at legislative session. There were only three comments on the post:

You can see that I lay out the down-low on Fielder’s successful Montana Senate race from 2012. Mark Sheets did indeed run, and he did get beat good, 56% to 36%. It’s a helluva lot better than I did in my Montana House race, and it’s important to remember that he took more than 3,600 votes. What’s more, Fielder got just over 5,700. Move those nearly 800 Libertarian votes to the Democrats and you’ve got about 1,300 votes separating the two.

Shit.

How the hell are you going to get another 1,300 people in Thompson Falls, or even 2,100? How are you going to get any of these areas that went red in 2012?

I don’t know. But there has to be a way. There has to be a way to get candidates that people can believe in and get out for and create those 2,000 votes. Is Mark Sheets the one to do that? I don’t know any Democrat that’s done any better in that district lately.

Run a Woman Against Her

You were angry that I suggested we run a man against Art Wittich, weren’t you? Well let’s flip that coin and throw a woman at a woman. And I’m not talking just any woman, I’m talking about an unapologetic New Deal-style Democrat that’s ready to throw all of Fielder’s silly assertions back in her face.

Find Groups that Don’t Really Like Her

You know how sometimes you can piss people off, often through no fault of your own? I think Fielder has done that a bit, and perhaps we can use that against her.

How about a 69% approval rating from the Montana Contractor’s Association? Couldn’t we take that endorsement…and what the hell does that endorsement mean, anyways? It means companies and businesses that build things aren’t exactly as pleased with Fielder as they could be. Use that against her.

I’m sure someone at the Montana Human Rights Network knows that Fielder is no good, what with their 15% approval of her. The same goes for Montana Conservation Voters (13%), NARAL Pro-Choice Montana (0%), Montana Rural Education Association (0%), and the Montana Environmental Information Center (0%).

The Northern Plains Resource Council gives her 27%. Surely there are some votes here…right?

Run a Forester or Logger Against Her

How about someone that really loses out because of the actions of Fielder and her land transfer nonsense? Why not get a longtime Forest Service worker, someone in the Wood Products Industry, or someone involved in tourism? These are all ideas, and I think planning should start now on how to get rid of her in 2016.

Run a Kid Against Her

What the hell do I mean, run a kid against her? I mean, why not find some son or daughter of an old-time Thompson Falls Democrat, or Democrat from the general area of Senate District 7, which used to be 26 - it's Sanders County, that's what's important.

In 1982 William “Bill” Riddle lost the race there by about 400 votes. In the House there was Housh and Kennerly in that area. Actually…I think I might be in the wrong part of the state (District 7 mix-up)

In 1984 we see Sanders County is in Senate District 26, and that year Democrat David Colyer lost to Republican George McCallum by more than 2,000 votes.

In 1988 Senate District 26 went to Democrat Paul Rapp-Svrcek, 4,669 votes to the 2,680 of Republican Mary Naegeli. Remember, Bush was elected that year on Reagan’s coattails – and a Democrat took that race. Jim Elliot also prevailed as a Democrat in the House in Sanders County that year.

In 1992 Democrat Barry “Spook” Stang took the race easily – he was unopposed! That same year had Democrat “Jody” Bird best Republican Brett Hardy, showing a woman can win there…although in that instance House District 52 wasn’t made up much of Sanders County.

In 1994 Jim Elliot did dam well in House District 72 in Sanders County and Lincoln County. Kenneth Wennamar was another Democrat that had no Republican opponent in that county with HD 71 that year.

In 2000 the Republicans took HD 71 when Bob Culp ran. Sylvia Bookout-Relnicke beat him 56% to 44%. Democrat Paul Clark took HD72, with more than 2,000 votes in Sanders County, the bulk of the total. Senate District 36 was tight that year, with Jim Elliot squeaking out at 50.5% to 49.5%, with just 87 votes separating him from Republican Greg Hinkle. The district had gotten tighter.

In 2004 Jim Elliot easily beat out Republican Fred Carl, but then in 2008 Greg Hinkle came back and bested Paul Clark as the Democrat tried to jump from the House, 5,555 votes to 4,581 votes, or 55% to 45%.

And then it was 2012 and Fielder.

Surely we can find a Riddle, Colyer, Rapp-Svrcek, Elliot, Stang, Bird, Wennamar, Culp, or Clark to run against her…right?

Will the Dow Tumble and Fall?

2/17/2015

Is a crash coming?

A better question might be, for whom is a crash coming? I mean, we know if you’re rich and on Wall Street, you’re untouchable.

Much of our current economic nightmare can be traced back through a tangled web of subsidiaries, utilities, holding companies and railroads. It truly is a game of monopoly, but for those looking to find the truth it’s anything but easy. Still, sometimes we’re dropped crumbs, crumbs most others ignore.

One such crumb was the news on February 5 that former SAC Capital LP portfolio manager Noah Freeman wouldn’t be going to prison.

Freeman was directly responsible for outing SAC Capital founder Steven A. Cohen, a billionaire with a sense of entitlement almost as large as his bank account. In numerous reports the question is asked as to whether Cohen bought off the government or not. Cohen was supposed to pay the SEC $616 million in fines in March 2013 so he wouldn’t have to suffer any ill effects of insider trading charges.

His ego and his wallet kept him out of prison in 2013, though he was slapped with a $1.8 billion penalty that November. Still, when your company can write most of that off, what’s the damage?

Freeman won’t go to jail because he helped get Cohen, but what did we really get? It seems like a lot of bureaucratic rigmarole, lawyer bills for 18 months and a lot of smiles and nods between those in the know. And when I say in the know, I mean those that know this is a complete sham.

Or do we just put Martha Stewarts in jail for this crap?

Both of these clowns deserve to be in prison for helping to bring about the Wall Street Crash of 2008, as do many of those with ties to Montana’s banking industry. But instead of trying to clean this mess up, we’re just allowing an even bigger mess to come down the pike. The only good point I can see is that much like the 1920s, Montana has been in a recession for a good 6 years now anyways – once things really go south it won’t seem that bad.

And go south they will. Most agree that Wall Street is just a house of cards and a correction of 10% to 25% is coming, and both Money News and Profit Confidential allude to this. Another word for a correction of that magnitude is a depression.

You and I both know we’ve been in a depression for years, however, so if a few more rich folks lose a chunk of their portfolio, what’s it to us? Our wages have been stagnant for years anyways, and we’ve been working two jobs on top of it. When you’re already scraping the bottom, there’s not much further you can go.

The folks on the top are worried, however. Montana’s financial industry employees will probably take a hit. I’ll never forget a woman I knew in China that couldn’t stop complaining about Leman Brothers going bye-bye in 2008 – many in Montana will be just like that, wondering what the hell happened and what the hell they can do now.

Yes, another bust is coming, and we’ll see how well we can gird ourselves. Perhaps that’s the $67 million or more in interest payments we’ll be making to the banks with these bonds for infrastructure in 2015. That’s a nice hunk of free money for the Montana banks over twenty years, or should a say a nice hunk for their overseers Back East.

Who are those suckers on the East Coast that are pulling all of our profits away? They’re tied up in the Ponzi scheme we’ve got over there right now, the Dow and its ever upward moving inch to the top.

All Towers of Babel fall, and it will be no different. The thing you need to think about is, where do you want to be standing when those pieces start to rain down upon you?

I’m not convinced another war in the Middle East will save us this time. I’m not so sure the Chinese economy can continue to prop us up. The piper is coming to call and we have to pay, but with what? He doesn’t want our children, and since we’ve got no money we might just have to give him our future wellbeing.

But let’s not think about this. Let’s pick up the flyers and beat the drums – Hillary is getting ready to run!

She’ll do well this time, she has to, and then everything will be alright. I’m glad she’ll be in the White House at 3 AM when that phone call comes in. And I’m glad she’s got a lot of banker friends she can talk off the ledge. I’m just not convinced that’s going to do one bit of good for me back here in Montana. No, I think when our Eastern overseers are too concerned with their own fragile footing, we’ll be left to our own devices. And then what?

Best not to think on it.

Why is Montana Internet So Slow?

2/15/2015

My internet is slow and it drives me crazy sometimes.

What’s more, my Charter bill just went up because I’ve been getting service for more than a year.

Wow...thanks.

I’m not happy with internet service in Montana, and I feel you aren’t either. In fact, I bet you’d do just about anything to really stick it to Charter and their crappy service.

One interesting post was on Reddit and was called How to keep my Charter bill from going up after the promotional 12 month period.

How to lower your Charter internet bill in Montana

There are 47 comments on that thread and most people agree, it works. All you need to do is wear down the already overworked and underpaid Charter sales reps. That’s not too hard to do – I’m positive most don’t give a damn about the company they work for.

That’s the problem with this industry, and monopolies in general. When there’s no competition, there’s no reason to get excited or to even try anymore. Apathy and resentment sets in and most people in the enterprise just go through the motions for as long as they can before the CEO deploys the golden parachute and the Wall Street goons come in and chop the sucker up and sell it off. That’s just business.

Unfortunately for you and me in Montana, this sucks. We get terrible internet service, amazingly slow speeds, and no alternatives. Our only option is to get frustrated and go outside and yell obscenities…which I find is much cheaper and faster than waiting on hold for the Charter representative.

The good news is that there are a few choices (alright, one). Century Link gives you the following option for internet without phone:

Internet speeds in Montana

I think $29.95 a month is pretty good, especially compared to my $59.99 Charter internet bill.

But wait a minute, what’s this 1.5 Mbps…what does that mean? Mbps stands for millions of bits per second and in Montana we just don’t get that many. The reason? Our broadband networks are very 20th-century.

“When it comes to data transmission in the United States,” the Great Falls Tribune’s Marc Stergionis said in July 2014, “Montana download speeds average a Model T rate of 15.61 Mbps compared with the nationwide family-sedan cruising at 24.87 and New Jersey's Corvette rate of 36.07.”

Gosh, if I choose Century Link for my Montana internet then I’ll be getting internet that’s about 15 times slower than Charter. Why would I do that…and perhaps a better question is, how does Century Link continue to operate as a going business concern? I mean, their service sucks, why would I buy it?

And why are we letting them get away with false advertising? It says 1.5 Mbps is “perfect for email, surfing the internet, social networking.”

Who are they trying to kid? Surfing the internet at 1.5 Mbps? Old people make love faster than my pages load at that speed!

That’s the thing with a lot of these internet service providers (ISPs), they rely on an uneducated and ignorant consumer base, one that doesn’t know what fast internet is and therefore can’t complain when they’re paying for fast internet, but not getting it. If you don’t know what you’ve got, how can you know when it’s gone?

According to data tests, Montana got less than 7.3 Mbps during the first part of 2013. In the rest of the country they were averaging 18.2 Mbps.

Why do business in Montana today, in this thing we call the 21st-century? It’s simple, you don’t. And you know what, this doesn’t bother Ryan Zinke, it doesn’t bother Steve Daines, and it doesn’t bother Jon Tester.

Why are we paying them $175,000 a year? What are they doing for us?

Internet is something we use each day, numerous times each day. And yet our elected representatives parade around before us and tell us they’re working for us. That’s a bald-faced lie. Our internet speed isn’t even half of what the rest of the country enjoys.

I wouldn’t ask Zinke or Daines or Tester to fix this – you’d be wasting your time. The internet service providers and other telecom giants give too much to their campaigns. These companies are more important than you and your family, it’s as simple as that.

Here’s the people that have given money to Senator Tester:

Largest political donors to Jon Tester

The main one you want to look at there is the Blackstone Group, which successfully restructured the Williams Companies in 2002. This is just one thread of the tangled telecom and utility web that we’ll begin to unwind in my next book of Montana history. Suffice it to say, this industry was where the old holding companies got their foothold, allowing many of the modern giant corporations and banking firms to rise up. It’s very difficult to understand how it all works and who profits, and that’s the point. Don’t worry, we’ll get to the bottom of it.

For now, just know that the Williams Companies spun off World Com and MCI in the mid-1990s and two of Blackstone’s leading men, Michael S. Chae and Michael Genereux specialize in telecoms. In other words, Blackstone profits from your slow Montana internet, and they pay Jon Tester to keep it that way.

On the Republican side, this is what Steve Daines’ major campaign donors look like:

Largest political donors to Steve Daines

The main one is Elliott Management, which made a killing with the Portuguese telecom industry last August. They gave Steve Daines $118,200, and since Elliott Management just had another big deal in France just a few days ago with mobile internet, you know nothing will change.

Wait a minute, what does all this European telecom investing have to do with us here in Montana? Well, in Europe it’s profitable to have fast internet, but here in America it’s not. Here it’s profitable to keep the internet slow. And it’s just an added bonus that this also leads to less information being disseminated, fewer critical reports about politicians, and many more people inclined to sit in front of the TV instead of surfing the internet. That works great for keeping an electorate uninformed, something that works great for keeping apathetic and useless politicians in office, politicians that will gladly take dark money to work against the very people they were elected to represent.

Yes, America is broken, and nothing tells us that more than our slow internet speeds.

We’re right about back where we started.

(What about Zinke, you ask? Ha, Zinke was a huge mistake and once we realize he’s not capable of bringing home money from Washington – as has been the Montana model for a good 70 years – we’ll shit-can his ass right back to California).

In the meantime, I still have to pay my $59.99 internet bill this month, for service that’s subpar to say the least. And gosh, because I’ve now been a loyal customer for more than 12 months, I’m rewarded with a higher bill than everyone else:

Why wouldn’t I want to try and game the system and call the reps and get that bill down? It’d same me $20 a month, or $240 a year.

But let’s get back to that false advertising. That Charter speed of 60 Mbps isn’t quite accurate – I have to enter my exact address to figure out what my speed is. This is what I get after doing that:

Wow, the company that I pay $59.99 month, or around $600 a year, won’t even tell me how fast my internet is unless I call them up on the phone. I’m important to them, aren’t I?

What can we do to fix this problem? What can we do to make internet in Montana faster? These are some suggestions from the Great Falls Tribune article:

Pumping throughput to 100 Mbps would take infrastructure work — more fiber-optic lines buried across the state and into neighborhoods, plus the addition of fiber-connection ports in the residential and business buildings.

Without a fiber connection, cable Internet providers can't scale up or down when traffic is high, so speed drops, she said. Fiber's much higher capacity vastly increases reliability.

When the Bitter Root Economic Development District started a $50,000 study of broadband capability in its three-county Western Montana region, said Marcy Allen, executive director, "we really set out to look at broadband as an essential piece of infrastructure like roads, water and sewer. What should government's role be," as well as what is the effect on the economic-development community, health care and education.

And he said Great Falls businesses and businesses that located here may see productivity suffer with slow connections and could just end up expanding elsewhere.

She said businesses scouting for locations may skip Montana as a potential site just from perception of a rural area, which is not helped by spotty cell-phone service in mountainous regions.

Montana will always be a joke, as will America. In Sweden they have 50 Mbps right now. Pretty impressive, but other countries are getting up to 80 Mbps.

How can we compete globally in Montana and even in America? I saw this firsthand when I lived in China – internet was at least twice as fast and cost me about $200 for the year. Yes, the year.

That would sure lose those telecom giants money here in America, wouldn’t it? And that means Jon Tester and Steve Daines would have less money being donated to them, fewer bigshots telling them what to do.

We just can’t have that, you and I…the regular voter…now can we?

Ask yourself what these two men have done for you, ask it each time you get online.

A Hard Look at Corporate and Individual Income Taxes in Montana

2/15/2015

A month ago we really took a hard look at Montana’s budget, and we’ll continue that look today. Here’s the complete list of Montana budget topics so you can stay caught-up with the hundreds of other Montanans reading this:

What are the Tax Options in Montana?

What is Montana Spending its Money On?

Looking at Montana’s Proposed Budget for 2016-17

Deciphering Montana’s State Special Revenue and General Fund

Digging Into the Components of Montana's General Fund

Looking at Montana’s Federal Funding for 2015-2017

Exploring Montana’s Projected Statistics for 2015-2018

Looking at Vehicle Taxes in Montana for 2015-2017

Infrastructure Spending vs. Bonding in Montana

Digging Into the City of Missoula’s Budget

Comparing Missoula County with Petroleum County

Corporate Income Taxes in Montana

Montana gets 6.8% of its General Fund revenue from corporate income taxes, and that breaks down like so:

Obviously corporate income taxes have gone up or we’re just making more money from them because corporations are doing better. For instance, in 2015 we were getting just $167.4 million from them, but in 2016 we’ll be getting $204 million. Still, that’s what the governor thinks. If you give it to the legislature, they expect our corporate tax income to actually go down each of the next two years. Why is that?

I’m not sure, but while you’re thinking about it, here’s a graph to look at that has a different breakdown. As you can see, corporate taxes have gone up mightily since 2002.

Individual Income Taxes in Montana

We already talked a lot about income taxes in Montana in a previous post called Digging Into the Components of Montana's General Fund so you can get a lot of detailed graphs there. Here we’ll take a look at these revenue charts:

Gosh, we’ve got problems. By 2017 the estimates are off by 5.4%, or $66 million! That’s almost like two Early Edge childhood education programs in one! It has to be fixed.

For the life of me, I can’t understand why we allow Tea Party Republicans to continue cutting taxes, creating huge and preventable problems down the road. We know the global situation is changing in regards to war, and this will affect commodity prices and everything else that Montana relies upon. Personally, I don’t feel as though we’ll come out good when this happens, not this time. A federal debt of $18 trillion assures this.

Let’s switch gears and look at the income growth rates that those Montana income taxes are based upon:

Our interest income is going way up, something that probably pisses off the rich California transplants. Dividend income, however, has gone way down.

Capital Gains Taxes in Montana

The most alarming trend is how we’ve eliminated capital gains taxes, from 22% in 2014 to -2.5% in 2017. We’re actually giving those rich folks money instead of taxing them. Why isn’t this being discussed in the newspapers?

This is what the Montana Budget & Policy Center had to say about it in March 2013:

In 2003, the Montana Legislature passed a capital gains tax credit that benefits a very narrow portion of our population at the great expense of our collective ability to adequately invest in public programs, from education to health care. Currently, Montana is one of just nine states offering a significant tax break for capital gains income. Since 2003, this tax break has proven to be unaffordable, unfair to working-class Montanans, and has not helped the economy. In fact, the tax credit costs the state tens of millions of dollars in state revenue each year. This reduction in revenue jeopardizes our collective ability to invest in schools, families, and communities all across this state. It’s time to take a hard look at the usefulness of this costly tax break that predominantly benefits the wealthiest Montanans.

Looking at this chart here, it’s clear we have an issue here:

What was the 2003 Montana Legislature thinking? We had 29 Republicans in the Senate and 21 Democrats while in the Montana House it was Republicans 53 and Democrats 47. This is what happens when you focus on pet issue of urban minority groups, ignoring the pressing concerns of our state and the overwhelming number of voters that now choose the GOP party each November. It’s a failure of leadership from Montana Democrats, pure and simple. My son will pay for this, if we can afford to stay in Montana.

Our past political leaders have sold our future in Montana, and these government and nonprofit budget reports make that clear. An overwhelmingly Baby Boomer legislature eliminated the gains of their parents and pissed away the hopes of their kids. And for what? So some rich guy on Flathead Lake can make a few more bucks when he sells that vacation home?

What have we become in Montana? I shake my head at us.

Other Detrimental Tax Cuts in Montana

IRA taxes have nearly been cut in half, from 12.7% to 7.6%. Why is this? So more rich ranchers can give more to their kids when they die? My grandpa did that and now my mom’s got a shit-ton of money that she squirrels away and doesn’t spend. Doesn’t help me one damn bit – tax it.

We used to get 5.4% from rents and royalties but now we’re giving a tax credit of 1.4%. Just like capital gains, instead of getting money we’re now giving money. This makes no long-term sense. I pay taxes on royalties on my book sales. It’s income, isn’t it? Tax it.

We used to tax farm income at 5% but now we don’t tax it at all. Why is that? Isn’t that money those farmers earned? And don’t we have two certainties for people in America – death and taxes? Tax that income.

When did people in Montana become so stupid? Was it when we decided our fat asses were better for us in front of that TV, watching 20 minutes of commercials each hour? We’re a joke!

But when you’re a joke it’s a lot easier for the rightwing nutjobs to come in and tear things apart. If the state has no money, the state gets desperate. That’s what Koch outfits like, and they’re already here. We see this with carpetbagger Jennifer Fielder and her attempt to sell off our federal lands. We’ll see a lot more in the years to come, things we can’t even imagine yet (how about tolls on the highway again? Yeah, it’s been awhile since the territorial days).

State inflation rates are also going up so it’s just going to get harder and harder for people living in poverty in Montana, and that’s a lot of people. They’re angry right now, and that anger needs to be channeled against those fools in the legislature.

They did this to us, don’t you ever forget it.

Who is PERC in Montana?

2/15/2015

Who is PERC?

Depending on who you ask, the organization based out of Bozeman could be the Property and Environment Research Center or the Political Economy Research Center.

With names like that, you know you’re gonna get screwed.

You can see the main PERC website here.

This organization sounds mighty shady. And like I said, PERC has even gone by different names to make things even harder to figure out:

In South Dakota they know PERC is a sham, but here we don’t even know anything about this organization. Or were you reading about them in the media? I sure wasn’t. Why is that?

It’s clear when you look at the money trail that this organization cares not at all about Montana. Here’s some funding for PERC, listed on Wild Wilderness:

Here’s some info on PERC’s founder and how they got started:

You really get a lot of information on PERC’s funding when you head to Wikispooks:

Wikileaks also lets you know that PERC’s board is made up of people from the Hoover Institute, the Reason Foundation, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Cato Institute, the Institute for Humane Studies, the Heritage Foundation, and some other shady, right-wing and Koch-backed hack-firms. Some of you will remember that the Hoover Institute was directly responsible for those shady political mailers that tried to get carpetbagger Van Dyke elected to Montana’s Supreme Court.

These groups are scum and Montanans need to treat them like that. Democrats need to go to war with them.

Or is destroying our environment and ruining our kids’ future acceptable to you? It’s not to me, and that’s why I go after these groups tooth and nail.

But Montana Democrats don’t, and that’s why the fight is just a waste of time. Honestly, I think Montana Democrats are in bed with these folks, although they try to make it appear they offer some resistance. I’m sure at the top, however, the bigwigs profit just as much as those rightwing nutcases.

How does that make you feel?

Here’s what the outspoken Larry Kralj had to say about PERC:

It’d be nice if Montana was taken out of the dark when it comes to this Koch-backed organization. Let’s talk about them…let’s talk about them a lot.

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