Left in the West - Recent Comments

good lord...

Jay Stevens — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:10:40 GMT

your obsequious (and inaccurate) apologies for the Bushies are truly revolting.

Aren't conservatives the ones supposedly repelled by moral relativism? Seriously, if you have no respect for human life or the rule of law...what's left?

You're just not thinking clearly, Tokarski

jed — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:24:32 GMT

Can't you remember?--"Government regulation is not the solution. Government regulation is the problem!"
Or words to that effect are responsible for the past quarter century of economic miracles...

For the record ...

Mark Tokarski — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:11:49 GMT

I did not think the sellout to BBI was a good thing - I thought rates would go up, but objected to knee-jerk demonization. They were just smart people playing the market - ordinary people are often hurt by people like that, but they are not devils. Just people. That's why markets often need regulation - people being people.

squeals

Jay Stevens — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 05:36:28 GMT

Mark Racicot! Oh man! I'm somebody! Mark Racicot posted here!

Hey there Mr. Wulfgar...

Mark Racicot — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 04:57:39 GMT

Hi Mark Racicot here,

Wulfgar, I really have to object to the way you've characterized my relationship with Fred Thomas.

You've hurt my feelings Mr. Wulfgar.

Me totally selling out the people that I grew up with so a bunch of industrialist tycoons could poison them to make money is something of the past. Making such criticisms of my selling-out all the working class people of this state for energy profiteers and even just a chance to someday taste GW's Balls is equally unreasonable.

Seriously, wouldn't you sell your mother for a bunch of money and political power? C'mon.

In any event, why is everyone so negative towards the Forest Service? Their job is to keep the forests pumping out big old trees for good old local jobs, and that's good the economy. Gas prices are really hitting us you know. So jobs could be good.

Digging up examples like Fred Thomas and connecting them with these complicated streams of logic is really just a bunch of sillieness don't you think?

seems like a fun post to jump in on...

msu-11 — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:51:27 GMT

So a new Gallup poll has congressional approval at 14%, and yet the controlling party still is held in pretty high regards. Its like the Presidents approval rating being at an all time low but with the American people still thinking that the party in power is doing well.

Also, "disasters of the Bush administration." Inflation, that is a multi-layered measure of an aspect of the economy that depends a lot on the devaluation of the American dollar in relation to other currencies...hardly a disaster that the President alone can be blamed for. Economic stagnation, on this occasion...appears to have stemmed from a lack of consumer confidence, spending, and investment. Rising gas prices, take a look at the laws of supply and demand...worldwide demand for oil is at about 86 billion barrels and production is about at 83 billion barrels. But yeah, cronies and corporations and the President are to blame for high gas prices world wide. Define "lost" in the context of this war. War started on false pretenses..."The removal of 550 metric tons of "yellowcake" - the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment - was a significant step toward closing the books on Saddam's nuclear legacy (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080706/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_yellowcake_mission)."

Torture...has been around a lot longer than George Bush.

Suspension of Habeus Corpus...The Constitution says (I.9): "The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it." A privilege...not a right...and it was suspended for those in rebellion and since public safety deemed in necessary. Thus, not a disaster.

Loss of a major American city. I assume you mean New Orleans with this one. Too easy.

POUT

Wulfgar — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:18:04 GMT

Quite messing with Mittens!!!

We needs our Mittens ...

My sympathies n/t

Wulfgar — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:15:25 GMT

Um, I don't know who the "Clark Fork" boys are,

JC — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:49:49 GMT

but I do know who the Clark Fork Coalition's 5-woman staff is. And a very fine staff they are.

And global warming is not synonymous with climate change. Climate change is observed on a local and regional level, and isn't necessarily tied in with global warming. Hence, all the hoopla from the Okie Senator and his group of yes-boy deny-ers is really meaningless.

But then again, I think you have a big ole tongue in cheek italics thing going here.

Where do the Clark Fork boys keep coming up with all of their experts?

jed — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:01:22 GMT

I've been reading almost everywhere that most of the real scientists agree with that Oklahoma Senator who claims global warming is just about the biggest con ever perpetrated on the people of this earth..?

Licentiousness of any type is difficult to prosecute when your jury pool

jed — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:53:10 GMT

is composed of good ol' boys who admire Sagebrush Rebels a whole lot more than feds.

The business of America is business

jed — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:34:55 GMT

according to Cal Coolidge.
Paul Tsongas, Bill Clinton, and Joe Lieberman seemed to agree with Silent Cal in 1989--as still does Romney--most Republicans--and Brian Schweitzer--along with (apparently) a majority of the activist progressives of Left in the West...

ugh

Jay Stevens — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:44:22 GMT

Romney???

In what way is Romney at all associated with any value a progressive could get behind? Still that was a mild comment, and obviously, knowing the Good Guv, some gamesmanship.

a pretty mild statement in 2006

Duncan Idaho — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:28:50 GMT

It was a NYT interview in which he said he was "intrigued" by Romney's run and "If he gets the nomination, I might support him." Not exactly an endorsement, and I'd say in Fall 2006 Romney already looked like quite a long shot; who knows whether Schweitzer gave much thought to this comment, but if he did he might have been weighing Romney against the then-presumptive Democratic nominee :-), who was known to have high negatives in Montana.

So no, I don't think this should disqualify Schweitzer, but I still think there are better choices for Obama.

The diabolical reality is

jed — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 05:48:36 GMT

that Eisenhower and company were still militant in an essentially defensive way. Our efforts to express militancy outwardly began with Kennedy and company's mistaken fear that USSR was taking advantage of our preoccupation with middle eastern oil to out-missile us.
Since then we have been unabashedly an aggressor nation...

There's nothing incidental about it ...

Mark Tokarski — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 04:15:16 GMT

So....

squid — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:59:37 GMT

what do you want from me, Mark? Am I supposed to be comfortable with a commander in chief who is best known for organizing Easter egg and scavenger hunts and thinks there are 57 states and that fallen soldiers come to hear him speak?
This Obama rama ding dong guy is the worst of the best the democrats have to offer, bar none. An arrogant lying SOB who more than epitomizes what the majority of our politicians are noted for.

And boy do I regret

JC — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:57:39 GMT

all those checks I wrote to Siphers-Thomas for property insurance before I realized just who the Thomas in Siphers-Thomas was.

I'd just like to say

Wulfgar — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:45:10 GMT

I grew up with Fred Thomas. He became one of the biggest suck-ups to authority it's been my displeasure to cope with. When Racicot needed a front man for his profiteering in energy deregulation, he couldn't have turned to a slimier worm then the one he chose, little Freddy Thomas. Coward, good ole boy (coward), even loathed among his 'peers'. A bigger prick dildo-ing the state you will likely never find.

A few tid-bits

ariss13 — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:23:22 GMT

A quick tid-bit when I was chasing this incident:

- When asked about the trail damage or if the agency was going to close the trail, a Bitterroot Law Enforcement Officer replied, "why is this incident such a big deal, this happens all over. If we were to close every damaged trail we would have to shut down the forest" (paraphrased). So much for the "few bad apples" myth.

The real story here is-

- the agency cannot adequately enforce their own trail protections;

- eye-witnesses do not feel secure enough in their own communities to talk with reporters;

- if you are a former Montana State Senator then you can verbally assault a federal official and only get a citation. What would happen if that were you or I? For an answer see the Missoula Independent's story, "Speech rights cut own" at

http://www.missoulanews.com/in...