A view of Billings
I have some quick thoughts that take up a bit of time to read through and to get your head around.
It’s because our society is fucked up.
Oh, it works for some people…like lawyers, who we’ll discuss, as well as political hangers-on.
For that last one I’m really thinking about Eric Stern, who said he’d call me back but never did.
Oh well – why do I want to talk to him anyways?
He’s part of Montana’s past and will have nothing to do with its future.
I’m thinking about Montana’s future a lot, perhaps because I’m editing my book on her recent past.
I’ll have that new book out on Sunday.
I know you don’t care.
I mean…why buy a book, especially a history book?
It’s not like the past has anything to teach us about today, right?
Yeah, it’s because of that kind of attitude that we’re in the mess that we’re in.
No, I don’t expect anyone will read this new book, and it’s a shame – the book is quite good.
I got the proof copy in the mail yesterday and I’m reading through it and I’m quite impressed with myself.
I think people 40 years from now will be impressed as well.
That’s how long it’s been since the last Montana history book came out, Malone’s in 1976…though it was updated with about 20 new pages in 1991.
I imagine that people like Eric Stern are happy that Montana’s citizens don’t know anything about their recent past.
It makes it easier to hoodwink and bamboozle them.
That’s why I set about writing this 7-volume history more than three years ago now – to fight against people like that and their dangerous tactics.
They bank upon your ignorance, especially about your recent past in your own backyard.
It’s sad how little we know about where we live, but that’s the situation in Montana today.
Come Sunday that’ll change.
It’s because our society is fucked up.
Oh, it works for some people…like lawyers, who we’ll discuss, as well as political hangers-on.
For that last one I’m really thinking about Eric Stern, who said he’d call me back but never did.
Oh well – why do I want to talk to him anyways?
He’s part of Montana’s past and will have nothing to do with its future.
I’m thinking about Montana’s future a lot, perhaps because I’m editing my book on her recent past.
I’ll have that new book out on Sunday.
I know you don’t care.
I mean…why buy a book, especially a history book?
It’s not like the past has anything to teach us about today, right?
Yeah, it’s because of that kind of attitude that we’re in the mess that we’re in.
No, I don’t expect anyone will read this new book, and it’s a shame – the book is quite good.
I got the proof copy in the mail yesterday and I’m reading through it and I’m quite impressed with myself.
I think people 40 years from now will be impressed as well.
That’s how long it’s been since the last Montana history book came out, Malone’s in 1976…though it was updated with about 20 new pages in 1991.
I imagine that people like Eric Stern are happy that Montana’s citizens don’t know anything about their recent past.
It makes it easier to hoodwink and bamboozle them.
That’s why I set about writing this 7-volume history more than three years ago now – to fight against people like that and their dangerous tactics.
They bank upon your ignorance, especially about your recent past in your own backyard.
It’s sad how little we know about where we live, but that’s the situation in Montana today.
Come Sunday that’ll change.
From the Shadows
I’m not done talking about Stern.
It’s been more than 24 hours now and I still haven’t received that callback from him.
I don’t expect he’ll call.
That’s a pity.
I figure he’s scared.
Now, we can say that he lied to me…but not really. He asked if he could call me back, he didn’t say he would call me back.
That must be a tactic you pick up in the higher echelons of state government.
It’s just a shame, really, that a state bigwig is too afraid to call a nobody on the phone.
Well, I’m not a nobody – I have a platform to say whatever I want and there’s little anyone can do about that.
I can talk about Stern, I can talk about Bullock, I can talk about Keenan.
Nothing will be done aside from a few fake Twitter accounts and a few unreturned phone calls.
That’s the extent of their power – the ability to withhold.
It’s a pity because these folks have no problems talking about others using their fake Twitter accounts and anonymous blog.
When someone approaches them, however, they shy away.
Look ‘em in the eye, use a confident voice, stand up tall…those are all things that scare people like Stern and Bullock and Keenan.
Scares most state workers that’ve been appointed, if you ask me.
It's because they've always been given things, never had to earn them.
So it is that I can never get any of ‘em on the phone.
Once again, this is a good example of the lack of customer service in state government that Gianforte continually talks about.
I’m paying the salary of people like Stern but he won’t call me back.
This goes doubly so for all those I called in March about Bullock’s sexual transgressions.
Not a single call back, and this from state workers that are making their money from what I pay to the state in tax dollars.
Hey, if you don’t like it get your ass back to the private sector!
When you make your living off of other people’s taxes you have to expect that people paying those taxes will tell you what they think.
When you shy away from this and ignore them and don’t do your job of calling them back…should you be making those tax dollars anymore?
Oh well. We know Eric Stern is on the way out.
He’s done.
The only one that can save him is Brian Schweitzer, and honestly, I’m not sure how much Schweitzer is helping anyone anymore.
Wasn’t it Schweitzer that called up anti-marijuana pinhead Larry Jent and convinced him to run against Tim Fox?
What a fucking waste of time.
Jent is a lackluster wannabe that doesn’t have a progressive bone in his body.
It’s a shame that the Democrats don’t go after Tim Fox’s slum lord status, looking into all the rundown and decrepit apartment complexes he owns in Helena.
I'd love to get the addresses of those places so I can check them out, talk to tenants, and make some real campaign ad fodder, not whatever Jent might or might not be planning.
But Democrats like Fox, their unions do too.
So Brian Schweitzer is coming up misses these days and it’s no surprise his golden boy Stern is too.
His ass will be gone in January and he won’t be making taxpayer money anymore.
Hell, I’m thinking of voting for Stapeleton just so we know for sure that Stern will not be working in the Secretary of State’s Office anymore.
If you don’t even have the balls to call someone back on the phone, what do you have?
Well, lots of daddy’s money, that’s what.
Goodbye, Eric, and good riddance.
It’s been more than 24 hours now and I still haven’t received that callback from him.
I don’t expect he’ll call.
That’s a pity.
I figure he’s scared.
Now, we can say that he lied to me…but not really. He asked if he could call me back, he didn’t say he would call me back.
That must be a tactic you pick up in the higher echelons of state government.
It’s just a shame, really, that a state bigwig is too afraid to call a nobody on the phone.
Well, I’m not a nobody – I have a platform to say whatever I want and there’s little anyone can do about that.
I can talk about Stern, I can talk about Bullock, I can talk about Keenan.
Nothing will be done aside from a few fake Twitter accounts and a few unreturned phone calls.
That’s the extent of their power – the ability to withhold.
It’s a pity because these folks have no problems talking about others using their fake Twitter accounts and anonymous blog.
When someone approaches them, however, they shy away.
Look ‘em in the eye, use a confident voice, stand up tall…those are all things that scare people like Stern and Bullock and Keenan.
Scares most state workers that’ve been appointed, if you ask me.
It's because they've always been given things, never had to earn them.
So it is that I can never get any of ‘em on the phone.
Once again, this is a good example of the lack of customer service in state government that Gianforte continually talks about.
I’m paying the salary of people like Stern but he won’t call me back.
This goes doubly so for all those I called in March about Bullock’s sexual transgressions.
Not a single call back, and this from state workers that are making their money from what I pay to the state in tax dollars.
Hey, if you don’t like it get your ass back to the private sector!
When you make your living off of other people’s taxes you have to expect that people paying those taxes will tell you what they think.
When you shy away from this and ignore them and don’t do your job of calling them back…should you be making those tax dollars anymore?
Oh well. We know Eric Stern is on the way out.
He’s done.
The only one that can save him is Brian Schweitzer, and honestly, I’m not sure how much Schweitzer is helping anyone anymore.
Wasn’t it Schweitzer that called up anti-marijuana pinhead Larry Jent and convinced him to run against Tim Fox?
What a fucking waste of time.
Jent is a lackluster wannabe that doesn’t have a progressive bone in his body.
It’s a shame that the Democrats don’t go after Tim Fox’s slum lord status, looking into all the rundown and decrepit apartment complexes he owns in Helena.
I'd love to get the addresses of those places so I can check them out, talk to tenants, and make some real campaign ad fodder, not whatever Jent might or might not be planning.
But Democrats like Fox, their unions do too.
So Brian Schweitzer is coming up misses these days and it’s no surprise his golden boy Stern is too.
His ass will be gone in January and he won’t be making taxpayer money anymore.
Hell, I’m thinking of voting for Stapeleton just so we know for sure that Stern will not be working in the Secretary of State’s Office anymore.
If you don’t even have the balls to call someone back on the phone, what do you have?
Well, lots of daddy’s money, that’s what.
Goodbye, Eric, and good riddance.
Our Kooky Justice System
I saw one of our Missoula legislators make a comment on Facebook this week to the effect of, how can we make the Montana justice system better for low-income people?
Please, don’t make me laugh.
Make it better? I’m sorry, but is it not working now?
Because the way I look at it, our justice system is working very well.
It takes poor people that have nothing and runs them through the ringer of courts and lawyers, and when it spits them out they have hundreds if not thousands of dollars in debt.
That’s our justice system – meant to enrich lawyers, kick lawyers up to judge status, and take as much of your tax dollars as possible for jails and police and bureaucrats to run it all.
Or is that not how it works?
Because when I see posts like the one I saw yesterday on Facebook from a low-income, low-skilled, low-educated single mother in Missoula, I have to wonder.
Seems this young woman doesn’t have a driver’s license because it was suspended at some point.
Despite that, she’s driving anyways…perhaps because she has a young son that she needs to take around to places.
Now, she could take the bus but she chooses not to.
So it should come as no surprise that she gets pulled over and gets a driving with a suspended license ticket.
Now she’s got $550 in fines and no real skills to get the kind of job that will allow her to continue to pay her bills while taking on this huge new debt load.
But the justice system doesn’t care, and neither do those lawyers that act as our representatives and sometimes get to posting on Facebook.
You see, lawyers make about $300 an hour.
You think they give a fuck about someone that can’t pay $500 in a month or two?
They only care about themselves and how they can become a judge.
That’s why our justice system is broken.
It cares nothing about the common citizens that have nothing, it only cares about taking what little they do have and then putting a hold on any future earnings they might attain.
This benefits our rich ruling class immensely, and I don’t see it changing anytime soon.
Please, don’t make me laugh.
Make it better? I’m sorry, but is it not working now?
Because the way I look at it, our justice system is working very well.
It takes poor people that have nothing and runs them through the ringer of courts and lawyers, and when it spits them out they have hundreds if not thousands of dollars in debt.
That’s our justice system – meant to enrich lawyers, kick lawyers up to judge status, and take as much of your tax dollars as possible for jails and police and bureaucrats to run it all.
Or is that not how it works?
Because when I see posts like the one I saw yesterday on Facebook from a low-income, low-skilled, low-educated single mother in Missoula, I have to wonder.
Seems this young woman doesn’t have a driver’s license because it was suspended at some point.
Despite that, she’s driving anyways…perhaps because she has a young son that she needs to take around to places.
Now, she could take the bus but she chooses not to.
So it should come as no surprise that she gets pulled over and gets a driving with a suspended license ticket.
Now she’s got $550 in fines and no real skills to get the kind of job that will allow her to continue to pay her bills while taking on this huge new debt load.
But the justice system doesn’t care, and neither do those lawyers that act as our representatives and sometimes get to posting on Facebook.
You see, lawyers make about $300 an hour.
You think they give a fuck about someone that can’t pay $500 in a month or two?
They only care about themselves and how they can become a judge.
That’s why our justice system is broken.
It cares nothing about the common citizens that have nothing, it only cares about taking what little they do have and then putting a hold on any future earnings they might attain.
This benefits our rich ruling class immensely, and I don’t see it changing anytime soon.
Pat Noonan’s Money
I took a look at Pat Noonan’s June 27 C-5 campaign finance report today.
I would have looked at Caron Cooper’s as well but she hasn’t filed one, meaning she hasn’t raised or spent any money yet.
Noonan has raised a lot and has $8,300 in the bank right now.
Five individuals have given him money over this last reporting period, including legislator Janet Ellis in Helena ($170) and perennial Twitter poster Ben Lamb ($40) and legislator Ray Shaw ($100).
I looked at his other two C-5s but didn’t see any PAC contributions at all.
I was looking because I wanted to dig up some dirt on Noonan like the anonymous posters at Cowturd did yesterday on Cooper.
Seems there’s not much on Noonan, however, other than a career politician that doesn’t really have spectacular skills when it comes to fundraising.
To my way of thinking, the Cowturd post yesterday really backfired and will cost Noonan votes while giving more to Cooper.
Koopman will of course take the majority of votes and he’ll likely win.
That wouldn’t be the case if people would vote for Cooper, as many in the Cowturd comments are suggesting.
Even Caron Cooper herself entered the fray. “The two-party system is freaking out,” she said. “Because they’re threatened by a viable, popular, qualified third-party candidate.”
Yes, Caron, nothing scares the hell out of them more.
The reason is simple – they could lose the lofty perch that profits them so.
That’s what politics is – a way to profit yourself at the expense of those you claim to represent – and no one plays that game better in Montana than our Democrats.
Boy I hope Cooper wins this race!
I would have looked at Caron Cooper’s as well but she hasn’t filed one, meaning she hasn’t raised or spent any money yet.
Noonan has raised a lot and has $8,300 in the bank right now.
Five individuals have given him money over this last reporting period, including legislator Janet Ellis in Helena ($170) and perennial Twitter poster Ben Lamb ($40) and legislator Ray Shaw ($100).
I looked at his other two C-5s but didn’t see any PAC contributions at all.
I was looking because I wanted to dig up some dirt on Noonan like the anonymous posters at Cowturd did yesterday on Cooper.
Seems there’s not much on Noonan, however, other than a career politician that doesn’t really have spectacular skills when it comes to fundraising.
To my way of thinking, the Cowturd post yesterday really backfired and will cost Noonan votes while giving more to Cooper.
Koopman will of course take the majority of votes and he’ll likely win.
That wouldn’t be the case if people would vote for Cooper, as many in the Cowturd comments are suggesting.
- “She is the candidate that every Democrat and quite a few Republicans should be voting for,” Laura Bray says.
- “Some more posts like this, and I will likely unsubscribe,” Jeffrey Renz said.
- “I’m befuddled by MtCowgirl’s poor reporting on Caron Cooper,” John Byorth says.
- “Give Cooper a serious look instead of running of these hit jobs that have nothing to do with her qualifications or proposals,” Andrea Peacock said.
Even Caron Cooper herself entered the fray. “The two-party system is freaking out,” she said. “Because they’re threatened by a viable, popular, qualified third-party candidate.”
Yes, Caron, nothing scares the hell out of them more.
The reason is simple – they could lose the lofty perch that profits them so.
That’s what politics is – a way to profit yourself at the expense of those you claim to represent – and no one plays that game better in Montana than our Democrats.
Boy I hope Cooper wins this race!
Zinke’s Folly
Today around 7:30 AM Zinke sent out a tweet suggesting that America go to war in Libya.
Have you lost your fucking mind?
“Its time for Congress to issue new #AUMF for Libya,” he said “I don’t want to go to war but we gotta make sure our troops are safe and supplied.”
I had to look up what the hell AUMF meant and it stands for the Authorization of Use of Military Force.
God, that’s the last thing we need.
Currently our nation is $22 trillion in debt, we have 22 veterans a day killing themselves, our VA can’t even meet the most basic of medical needs that our current veterans have, and we’re already in a war in Afghanistan and another in Iraq.
Why the hell would anyone be thinking of sending troops to Libya?
If making sure “our troops are safe and supplied” was so important to Zinke, why doesn’t he help Tester fix the VA?
Because it’s not really about our troops or even the wars that we should never have fought.
It’s about Ryan, and his quest for that second term.
He’ll win it easily against the candidate that Democrats for some reason put up (remember, it was her turn).
You know how I feel – Zinke will go against Tester in ’18 unless Gianforte chooses to.
Tester will either resign in 2017 or he’ll raise record amounts of dark money to stay in power.
Tester yearns for Mansfield’s old position, as if this will somehow make him someone that shines in the history books.
I personally cannot wait to dive into Mansfield’s time working for Goldman Sachs to show Montanans that their golden boy was not that golden.
So for Tester to fill his shoes, my, it gives me pause.
I guess it’d be better than Zinke, though…although at this point I don’t really care.
Tester…Zinke…ain’t nothin’ gonna change in my life.
And we know damn well that another 22 veterans will kill themselves tomorrow.
Perhaps that’s why Zinke wants to create more – so we’ll always have enough to ensure our 22-a-day-veteran-suicide quota is met.
Zinke’s no leader, and the only thing I can see him commanding is ignorance and incompetence.
Montana will be better when he’s done ‘serving’ us.
Have you lost your fucking mind?
“Its time for Congress to issue new #AUMF for Libya,” he said “I don’t want to go to war but we gotta make sure our troops are safe and supplied.”
I had to look up what the hell AUMF meant and it stands for the Authorization of Use of Military Force.
God, that’s the last thing we need.
Currently our nation is $22 trillion in debt, we have 22 veterans a day killing themselves, our VA can’t even meet the most basic of medical needs that our current veterans have, and we’re already in a war in Afghanistan and another in Iraq.
Why the hell would anyone be thinking of sending troops to Libya?
If making sure “our troops are safe and supplied” was so important to Zinke, why doesn’t he help Tester fix the VA?
Because it’s not really about our troops or even the wars that we should never have fought.
It’s about Ryan, and his quest for that second term.
He’ll win it easily against the candidate that Democrats for some reason put up (remember, it was her turn).
You know how I feel – Zinke will go against Tester in ’18 unless Gianforte chooses to.
Tester will either resign in 2017 or he’ll raise record amounts of dark money to stay in power.
Tester yearns for Mansfield’s old position, as if this will somehow make him someone that shines in the history books.
I personally cannot wait to dive into Mansfield’s time working for Goldman Sachs to show Montanans that their golden boy was not that golden.
So for Tester to fill his shoes, my, it gives me pause.
I guess it’d be better than Zinke, though…although at this point I don’t really care.
Tester…Zinke…ain’t nothin’ gonna change in my life.
And we know damn well that another 22 veterans will kill themselves tomorrow.
Perhaps that’s why Zinke wants to create more – so we’ll always have enough to ensure our 22-a-day-veteran-suicide quota is met.
Zinke’s no leader, and the only thing I can see him commanding is ignorance and incompetence.
Montana will be better when he’s done ‘serving’ us.
SD 25’s New Candidate
On a file note I’ll mention that Jen Gross, the manager of field operations for Planned Parenthood of Montana, was chosen to replace Robyn Driscoll as the Democratic candidate for SD 25 in Billings.
Jen Gross making her case to the near-capacity crowd of Yellowstone County Democrats in Billings on August 18
My oh my.
- What’s with Dems and abortion groups?
- How will Billings voters feel about this?
- And what the hell’s the history of Jen Gross?
I’ve never heard of her and I can’t find much on her. Was she heavily involved with the Yellowstone County Democrats?
I do know that she was a student back in 2009.
The Billings Gazette tells us that "Gross was born and raised in Billings and is a graduate of Senior High and MSU Billings."
I guess the Montana Democrats will put out some kind of press release on her later…right?
Other choices for the seat included Mary Hernandez, Jennifer Merecki, Kate Olp, and Sandy Wong.
Something tells me it was decided days ago that a woman would be chosen as Driscoll’s replacement.
We’ll see how it goes in November. Remember, the race was tight before, with 233 votes separating the Dems and GOP in the primary.
As with most races this year, anything could happen.
Now, back to editing my next volume of Montana history.
Thanks for reading.
