Stoopid Party Shenanigans

House Joint Resolution 7, introduced by Rep. Pat Connell (R-Hamilton) passed the Montana House of Representatives by a vote of 52-43 on Friday. This latest crazy bill would demand reparations from the federal government for the effects of climate change on Montana’s water supply.

Because federal wildfire management has caused changes in the quality, quantity and timing of streamflows in Montana, and because “federal policies threaten natural ecosystem processes and habitat, resulting in large burned-over areas that are susceptible to invasive plant species and changes in stream flow and water quality that affect native fish populations”.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF MONTANA:

     That the Governor and the Attorney General are urged to initiate legal action against the federal government to recover damages to Montana water users caused by federal land management policies, as well as wildfire suppression policies in headwater areas.

Yep, that’s right. Because the climate is warming, there are more and larger wildfires, stream runoff now occurs earlier in the spring with less water in the summer and fall, waters are warmer and the quality of the water is diminished, it must be due to the actions of Federal management policies. I don’t suppose it could be that all these things could have a common cause, like, maybe what rational people call global warming or climate change? Oh, what was I thinking. All natural processes have changed since we elected a Muslim President. It probably has something to do with Obama’s drone policy, or a screw-up in Benghazi. None of these things would be happening if we had a real one-percenter in the Whitehouse.

These guys could be done with their work and out of town in two weeks if they didn’t waste so much of their time and my tax money arguing about insane bills like paying your parking tickets with forty lashes from a cat o’ nine tails, allowing juries to make law, stopping reasonable irrigation management, nullifying federal laws, giving voting rights to embryos, etc., etc.  Take a look at the vote tally on this bill if you want to see just who the really crazy people are in the Montana House.

A touch of sanity from the Montana Legislature

If you are not following the daily video diary of Amanda Curtis, freshman legislator from Butte, you are missing out on the most intelligent and interesting thing to come out of the 63rd session. Amanda is a first-time legislator and high school math teacher from Butte. She is keeping a daily video diary of her experiences in the legislature and posting the videos on YouTube and Facebook. Amanda is not afraid to tell it like it is and to express her frustration with the way our state representatives conduct business. Below is her video from the Saturday 2/10 floor session which she calls “Weird Bill Day” due to the plethora of crazy bills voted on.

I especially liked her calling out Jerry O’Neil on his “Jury Nullification Act” (HB 290) and the “self-proclaimed constitutionalists” who don’t really have a clue about how the court system or the Constitution works. “The people who voted yes for this [HB290] maybe should not be getting their jobs back next time.” The vote for HB 290 “very clearly shows who is crazy and who is a fairly reasonable human being.” I LOVE this lady!

You can catch more on her YouTube channel and also her Facebook page. You owe it to yourself and to Montana to watch and learn about what really happens in the legislature.

Reality-Based Legislation

House Joint Resolution 10, introduced by Rep. Doug Coffin of Missoula.

Be it resolved: 

     That the 63rd Legislature:

     (1) recognizes that anthropogenic or human-made climate change is scientifically valid and represents scientific fact;

     (2) understands that anthropogenic climate change, manifesting as major changes in weather patterns in North America, including Montana, has the potential to cause major socioeconomic and demographic dislocations in Montana that can be construed as an ecological threat;

     (3) compels state government and its affiliated agencies, with due consideration of Montana’s economic heritage and preservation of employment traditions, to employ, invent, and apply new technologies commensurate with the conservation of resources in a manner that mitigates and adapts to climate change to the best of our ability; and

     (4) suggests that educators include anthropogenic climate change science in their science education curricula.

This legislation goes to a hearing at the Montana House Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday (2/13). Let’s support this bill. Yes, it’s a feel-good, do-nothing bill that likely won’t go anywhere, but let’s face it, real science doesn’t make it to the Legislature very often. I think we can send a message to climate deniers and cranks in the legislature and around the state that there are a lot of folks out here living in a reality-based world and we are pretty sick of listening to the crap that substitutes for fact among our elected representatives.

Climate change is real, climate change is happening, and it’s affecting Montana. Stand up and say so for God’s sake! If you have a local House member on the Natural Resources Committee, send them a quick email and let them know that you support real science. Using the Legislature’s Contact Page, it’s simple. If none of your local legislators are on the committee, just whip off a missive to the entire committee and tell them that this bill needs to make it to the floor for a vote putting every legislator on the record.

Still the “Stupid Party” after all.

“We must stop being the stupid party,” said Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal in remarks this week to the Republican National Committee. I guess it takes a while for the sensibilities and moderation of party leaders to filter down to Montana. Our own crackpot GOP legislator, Jerry O’neil (R-Columbia Falls) plans to introduce his bill to revive the cat o’ nine tails into the Montana justice system.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MONTANA:

NEW SECTION.  Section 1.  Corporal punishment in lieu of incarceration. (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, a person convicted of any offense by a court in this state, whether a misdemeanor or felony, may during a sentencing hearing as provided in 46-18-115 bargain with the court for the imposition of corporal punishment in lieu of or to reduce the term of any sentence of incarceration available to the court for imposition.

(2) The court and the person convicted of an offense shall negotiate the exact nature of the corporal punishment to be imposed, which must be commensurate with the severity, nature, and degree of the harm caused by the offender. If the court and the offender cannot agree on the exact nature of the corporal punishment to be imposed, the court shall impose a sentence as provided in 46-18-201.

(3) The imposition of a sentence under this section must be carried out by the sheriff of the county in which the crime occurred if the sentence for corporal punishment reduced or eliminated the term of incarceration in the county jail or by the department of corrections if the sentence reduced or eliminated the term of incarceration in the state prison. Any imposition of sentence pursuant to this section must be carried out within a reasonable time.

(4) For purposes of this section, “corporal punishment” means the infliction of physical pain on a defendant to carry out the sentence negotiated between the judge and the defendant.

Representative O’neil began taking heat even before the legislature convened for his demand that the state pay him in gold coin, because the U.S. Treasury is controlled by a Muslin extremist who will destroy the value of paper money. He has also introduced a resolution to force the U.S. to modify the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution because he has found “the current allotment of power to the United States Congress that allows the Congress to regulate intrastate commerce to be overly broad and overreaching.”

On the moderate side, his new bill actually does actually allow defendants to “negotiate” for the severity of their punishment and even though the last incident of lawful corporal punishment in the U.S. occurred in 1952, it’s not like spanking as punishment is unheard of;

Corporal punishment remains a common form of criminal punishment in several countries including Singapore, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen and Nigeria. For example, media reported on Monday that the Iranian state amputated the fingers on the right hand of a convicted thief. Corporal punishment remains on the books in several other countries including Barbados, Botswana, Brunei, Swaziland, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, and Zimbabwe.

I’m not sure if amputation as punishment is covered in Mr. O’neil’s bill.

Water Wacky

State Senator Verdell Jackson (R – HD 5) has never been one to let facts stand in the way of good legislation. A couple of years ago, Verdell said, “he’s spent four years reading about climate change but hasn’t come across “an experiment using the scientific method” that demonstrates that carbon dioxide contributes to it.”

Now, Verdell has bewilderingly taken offense with the Reserved Water Rights Compact between the Salish and Kootenai Tribes and the State of Montana. For a dozen years, the CSKT, the State of Montana and Federal regulators have been working on an agreement to protect the rights of existing water rights holders and address water rights and adjudication on the Flathead Indian Reservation. Since 1996, water rights on the reservation have been tied up due to uncertainties in the existing law. Since that time, there has been no legal way to obtain water rights inside reservation boundaries. Through a series of grueling negotiations over many years, the Compact Commission has worked out a provisional agreement that is fair to all parties. At the last minute, Verdell wants to step in and extend the argument for several more years for no perceptible reason.

In an op-ed in the Kalispell Daily Inter Lake on Jan. 20, Jackson makes several claims that are based entirely on fiction.

To put it simply, this compact will likely make it impossible to obtain any new surface water rights and will restrict wells located close to surface water in Western Montana along with limiting many existing water rights of irrigators. New home sites and large building projects may not get a viable amount of water.

Put simply, this entire claim is bunk. The compact does not affect any water rights claims in Western Montana outside the boundaries of the Flathead Reservation. The Compact does not restrict anybody’s wells or surface water rights off the Reservation. On the Flathead Reservation, the Compact would establish a Water Management Board to administer water rights on the Reservation and end the roadblock for new claims that has existed since 1996. The claim that new building projects may not be able to get a “viable amount of water” is just flat-out wrong. In fact, the Compact provides more local control and avoids costly litigation. The Compact provides for additional water from Hungry Horse Reservoir that would be available to the Tribes to lease for future development both on and off the Reservation.

Jackson also claims that the Compact will “give senior water rights to all of Western Montana’s major lakes and rivers to the tribes.” Again, this is complete and utter hokum invented by the Senator. As part of the agreement, the Tribes get a shared interest in a few in-stream flow water rights in Western Montana that already exist and are currently administered by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. The agreement establishes NO new surface water rights either on or off the Reservation.

Senator Jackson either doesn’t understand current law, or is trying to be willfully ignorant. Under current law, established by the Hellgate Treaty of 1855 and upheld by numerous courts, the Tribes hold water rights on nearly every stream in Western Montana. They have rarely exercised these rights because of the litigation it would entail, but the courts have consistently recognized that the rights exist. Under this compact, the Tribes are giving up nearly all of those existing rights off of the Reservation in exchange for a more stable system of water rights both for them and for the residents of Montana both on and off of the Reservation.

I’m not sure what agenda Senator Jackson thinks will be furthered by delaying or corrupting this good agreement. I can only speculate that since Jackson has been tied to ultra-right-wing groups like American Tradition Partnership and the American Legislative Exchange Council and likes to push knee-jerk crackpot bills like allowing legislators to carry guns in the Capitol, there is a game plan here that hasn’t yet come to light. The only constituency for this change this late is the game would be trial lawyers who would greatly profit from the resulting flurry of litigation while water-rights holders and water users in Western Montana would take it in the shorts and Montana taxpayers, once again, pony up to foot the bill for another of Verdell’s cockeyed schemes.

“Agenda Control”

Ahh, the Montana Legislature is back in session. Bloggers rejoice! From all sides we hear that the 2013 version of our lawmakers will be much less contentious than what we saw in 2011. These are the guys that know how to get things done. How to work together in political harmony. Less than a month ago we heard:

“We’d like a modest, workmanlike session that’s focused on the things important to Montanans,” Senate President Jeff Essmann, R-Billings, said. “We’d like to see bills that move the needle for our economy.”

That’s what we want to hear. Now we can get our economy back on track and solve the important problems. Not like the last legislature that spent its valuable time, and our tax money, working on stuff like;

• Allowing legislators to carry guns in the capital.
• Creating an 11 person panel with authority to nullify all federal laws.
• Removing Barack Obama’s name from the 2012, ballot because his father was born outside of America.
• Making it legal to hunt with spears and stones.
• Requiring the federal government to prove in court that the National Parks were lawfully acquired.

Already this year we have important and sensible bills like:

• Ending same-day voter registration. (HB30)
• Opening the medical records of pregnant women to the courts. (HB104)
• Amendments to the U.S. Constitution to nullify federal firearms laws.
• Paying lawmakers in gold, silver, monopoly money or coal.

Now we learn from emails among the leadership, their primary interest lies in “Agenda Control” whatever the Hell that is. In comments exchanged between Jeff Essmann, Senate Majority Leader Art Wittich of Bozeman, Sen. Jason Priest of Red Lodge, Majority Whip Eric Moore of Miles City, Sen. Ed Walker of Billings and Sen. Dave Lewis of Helena we find an extremely paranoid Essmann saying in September;

“How do we show progress on advancing the conservative policies so that we can engage in the long game strategy that involves changing the face of the Montana Supreme Court so that it does not find a constitutional block to every conservative policy initiative and will give us a better shot a redistricting in 10 years?

“But what do we do now? Is it better to force the moderates to be transparent in the cooperation with the Dems to block our objectives, so that we can use that to raise money and win primaries, or is it better to negotiate a deal (subject to be broken) to advance conservative policies?”

How do we keep those sleazy moderate Republicans from working for compromise and undermining the agenda of the minority? Art Wittich replies; “No, I do not trust them.”

“The session is a biennial docu drama. Let’s make it a good show, from day 1. We want the people watching to know there is a legitimate battle of ideas in the country and state, and at least some of us “get it”. That will help with the logistics, and frankly recruiting reinforcements. . . Appeasement is not the answer. . . We must help the purge along. Hopefully, a new phoenix will rise from the ashes.”

They seem to be at war with people in their own party with whom they disagree. Ah, compromise. The basis of all civil government. And  “docu drama”, and purging everybody who doesn’t agree with you. There is quite a bit of just “inside baseball” in these emails. They show some of the planning and strategy that occurs each time the Legislature meets. Mostly they just show neurotic people who are more interested in how the game is played than in what the result may be. No matter how much we hear from Teabirther legislators who control how we spend our money, about compromise and moving forward the “needle of our economy”, the important thing to these folks is winning the rhetorical game and furthering the far-right agenda no matter the effect on the state of Montana.

In reaction to release of the emails, former Senate president Jim Peterson said,

“I think the politics of power is trumping good policy,” “If you can’t have good debate and then vote and then move on, if politics continues to be the driving force of the Legislature, then it’s going to be hard to do what the Montana voters want us to do.”

You can expect that this session will be different. You can hope that legislators will finally be less combative, work together and honestly try to solve the problems of the Treasure State but, if it turns out otherwise, you shouldn’t be too surprised or disappointed.

The Walls of Liberty

Ah, winter. Time to cozy up to a blazing fire, reflect on events of the past year and let your imagination run wild. Will you better off in the new year than you are today? If not, you might consider joining a cadre of like-minded friends to build a better world. Take Glenn Beck for example. In the new year, Glenn plans to unveil his latest big-picture dreamscape Glennbeckistan Independence USA. Built to honor the memories of Walt Disney and Ayn Rand, the new project will become a safe haven. “A retreat from the world where entrepreneurs, artists, and creators could come to put their ideas to work. A place for families to bring their children to be inspired.” And, a theme park honoring  that great American, and carnival barker, Glenn Beck. “Beck estimates the city-theme-park will cost about $2 billion to build, or roughly .002 trillion-dollar platinum coins,”

Across the lake, there would be a church modeled after The Alamo which would act as a multi-denominational mission center. The town will also have a working ranch where visitors can learn how to farm and work the land. [and listen to Glenn 24/7 on loudspeakers?]

Yes, winter is a time to let your imagination take you to those wonderful, fanciful places that never existed and with your help, never will. Over in Idaho, zealots dream the impossible dream of returning to those glorious days of yore behind the impregnable stone walls of their own Camelot;

The Citadel Community will house between 3,500 and 7,000 patriotic American families who agree that being prepared for the emergencies of life and being proficient with the American icon of Liberty — the Rifle — are prudent measures.

World not going just the way you thought it would when you were in high school? Apply today. Join a fun team of liberty-loving, gun-toting, families just like you,

Marxists, Socialists, Liberals and Establishment Republicans will likely find that life in our community is incompatible with their existing ideology and preferred lifestyles.

Yes, these will be your kind of people. Behind the protective walls of The Citadel, the horrific world, filled with those “other” people, will pass you by. Here, you will be completely safe from the impending Zombie Apocalypse or Islamofascist takeover. You will feel ultimately secure knowing that every neighbor will be heavily armed, and living in a state of constant fear of everyone else. For your safety, and within your new safe haven,

• “Every able-bodied Patriot of age within the Citadel will maintain one AR15 variant in 5.56mm NATO, at least 5 magazines and 1,000 rounds of ammunition.”
• “All Patriots, who are of age and are not legally restricted from bearing firearms, shall agree to remain armed with a loaded sidearm whenever visiting the Citadel Town Center.”
• “Every able-bodied Patriot aged 13 and older governed by this Agreement shall annually demonstrate proficiency with the rifle of his/her choice by hitting a man-sized steel target at 100 yards with open sights at the Citadel range. Each Resident shall have 10 shots and must hit the target at least 7 times.”

In this sacred new year of 613, “We the People come together in this covenant of our free will and do pledge our Lives, our Fortunes and our Sacred Honor to defend one another and Jefferson’s Rightful Liberty, defined as unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others.“

Behind our fortified towers and “curtain wall” you can finally find peace, marching to rousing martial music on the “Captain John Parker Green”, shooting ducks in the reflecting pool, touring the Firearms Museum, or visiting the local arms factory where you can procure your own AR-15, safe from prying eyes of government intervention;

“Your heart will never be satisfied until you own one, because it’s the only firearm in America that is designed by Patriots, built for Patriots, with the sole purpose of defending Liberty.” [and killing zombies, one would assume]

Firearms built by skilled, patriotic artisans, just like you. Since this is rural Idaho, with few employment opportunities, you will likely have a great job at the arms factory, unencumbered by silly things like a unions, a decent health or retirement plan, or a minimum wage. And, you will remain secure in the knowledge that everyone on the factory floor, including your supervisor, is packing heat.

But then, nobody ever said that liberty doesn’t come without cost. At last you can be completely free to live as you wish, behind high stone walls guarded by heavily-armed patriot fanatics with many, many guns, likely pointed in both directions.