Links

by: Rob Kailey

Tue Feb 01, 2011 at 16:28:25 PM MST

Jay's link posts are deeply missed (at least by me.)  So let me offer my humble replacement.  It's true and certain that the doings in Egypt and the Storm-That-Shall-Destroy-Us-All are dominating the news cycle, but the human mind can multi-task. Allow these tidbits of distraction from the BIG NEWS, and a few things about the big news too.

The big news to those of us in Montana is that Dennis Rehberg will challenge Jon Tester for his Senate seat. Dennis already has one resounding endorsement from a Montana ex-pat, who apparently thinks we need our comeuppance.  

My brief take.  Dennis Rehberg is a coward.  He sees the current political environment as one favorable to his manner of 'hide and campaign', allowing name and party to do his work for him.  I agree with Pogie that this is a different horse for him to drunkenly fall off of.  A Senate seat is not an easy pick up, despite what the Republicans are crowing.  Dennis is going to have to work for it, something he's shown a poor aptitude for.  He would never have the courage to challenge Baucus or Schweitzer, so this is his best opportunity to be a wined, and more wined, and a little more wine, please, and dined politician-for-life sucking at the teats of the taxpayer.  Tying himself to Michelle Crazed Bachman won't likely help him in his quest to avoid doing anything useful and calling it 'public service'.  I have faith that Montanans aren't quite as stupid as Dennis Rehberg thinks we are.

So what of wonder boy, Steve Daines?  I had desperately hoped that he would opt to primary Rehberg for the Senate seat he has declared himself fit for.  But no.  He shows no more political courage than Rehberg.  The current scuttlebutt is that he will step aside and run for Denny's vacant seat. He is scheduled to be scheduled for making an announcement, on schedule, come this Thursday.  I will respect him more if he decides to run for Governor, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.  Either way, it appears that Franke Wilmer will be running for the US House on the Democratic ticket.  I do not speak for Left in the West, or any other poster here, when I say that she has my full hearted endorsement.

On to other things.  The Chronicle of Higher Education has an interactive map of adults with college eductaion by county in the US.  Now, which county in Montana has the highest percentage?  Huh?  Come on, Give it up for Gallatin County!  The good:  many counties in Montana show equal numbers of degree attainment by gender, including Gallatin.  The bad, even Gallatin county has less than half of all adults as college educated.  The badder:  Many counties in Montana are below the national average.  The worst:  the national average is only 27.5%.  Obama wasn't kidding in his SOTU address that America is falling behind.

Here's a handy guide to not being a complete douche when discussing Egypt.  For the record, most discussions in the Montana InterTubes have avoided these pitfalls, no matter how heated they've gotten.  Polish Wolf makes a good point about bread and the ones who butter it.  Lizard calls out the US Government for ... what, I'm not exactly certain.  Hatin' on Democracy or some such. 

The Missoula Children's  Theater hates Sarah Palin and wants her dead.  Funny how this isn't an "isolated incident" like all the others.

Jon Huntsman resigns as US ambassador to China in hopes of a run for the Presidency.  John Cole thinks he might be able to win.  BooMan is not all that convinced.

Republicans despise women.  Is that an incendiary statement?  The evidence is with me.   In poker parlance, the tell is this:  pregnancy turns women into "pregnant females", even if they are raped.