By their words shall ye know them

by: Montana Cowgirl

Thu Feb 18, 2010 at 12:04:07 PM MST

In a recent email missive about her efforts, Annie Bukacek assumes the black helicopters are already circling when she writes this accusation about Montana's county elections officials:

It is a near-certainty there will be fraud in some of the county elections departments. 

Bukacek certainly knows something about fraud: she's under investigation for being a perpetrator of it.

In the same rambling email, Bukacek also mentions her efforts to recruit tea-baggers to her cause. I can see why Bukacek's minions are drawn to tea-baggers.  They seem to share a penchant for boldly displaying their cognitive limitations.  I'm not saying that's all bad--it makes it easier for the rest of us to avoid hiring them.

The fact is, Bukacek's prototypical supporter seems to be "that one guy" who, if he continues along his current trajectory, will likely spend a considerable portion of his 30s as that one local nutter in every Denny's who spends his time filling notebooks with manifestos.

Not the tea-baggers.  

This small, whiney minority of the population that is virtually impotent and have no impact on policy is the wrong target for Bukacek. Heck, they aren't even trying to have a part in any movement FOR anything - they are the "new anarchists".  They aren't the types who are going get behind a movement and volunteer.  Nor do they seem like the types that want the government to have more say in private medical decisions.  

Nevada's Proposed Abortion Ban Initiative Tossed, Proposal is Comparable to Montana's

by: Montana Cowgirl

Sat Jan 09, 2010 at 09:44:42 AM MST

Montana faces a similar ballot initiative (backed by a "doctor" accused of fraud). Montana also has a similar one subject law.

Like in Montana, the Nevada ballot initiative petition does not specifically mention abortion, but is a back door attempt to totally ban abortion in the state.

Carson City District Court Judge James Russell said the measure was too broad and general in nature to be put before voters in November.

"The issue to me is, are we adequately informing voters on what they're voting on," Russell said in a ruling from the bench after listening to about two hours of arguments.

Besides being vague, Russell said, the initiative violates a law limiting referendum questions to a single subject.

"There's no way for the voter to understand the effects of the initiative," he said.

Crackdown on Montana's Con Artists Could Save Taxpayers Millions

by: Montana Cowgirl

Mon Dec 07, 2009 at 00:24:13 AM MST

That's one reason why what Annie Bukacek is doing is so, so wrong. Bukacek is an uber-right, would-be abortion banner who is giving other Kalispell crazies a run for their money after criminal investigators rolled in to investigate her for Medicaid fraud. Bukacek not only harmed the patients she is alleged to have scammed--she's ripped-off every single one of us who have ever paid taxes in this state. Medicaid fraud puts an extra hurt on Montana taxpayers because unlike Medicare, the federally funded health care benefit program for seniors, Medicaid is a joint state-federal funded program for low-income people.

Nationwide, fraud perpetuated against both public (Medicaid) and private health plans costs between $72 and $220 billion annually.

Fun fact: that sum is enough to pay for one third of U.S. defense spending for fiscal year 2010.  It could cover the entire defense spending this year for Iraq and Afghanistan combined--and leave the U.S. with $100 million dollars to spare.

This year, New York state doubled their Medicaid fraud crackdown efforts and recovered an additional $114 million.  I wonder how much money Montana could recover if all the Bukaceks out there were stopped.

If the rash of absurd self-fellating letters to the editor and blog comments pretending that this is about praying with patients means anything, Bukacek and her minions just don't get it.  Here's an idea Bukacek: instead of rabble-rousing, how about reading the Bible now and again. There's this part about not stealing...

Top Montana Policy Institute Activist Under Investigation for Patient Abuse, Health Care Fraud

by: Montana Cowgirl

Fri Nov 13, 2009 at 18:09:37 PM MST

It was reported today that Annie Bukacek of the Montana Policy Institute's anti-health care "conferences" and demonstrations and the abortion ban ballot initiative backed by Warburton, McGee, and Butcher, among others:

...is under investigation for alleged abuse of patients or fraud with regard to Medicaid billing involving Bukacek's medical practice. Questions about praying with patients also have been raised. Bukacek said she spent an hour and a half Wednesday with an FBI agent, a criminal investigator and two health-care fraud investigators...

Warburton Finds it Hard to Stay on Message Over Lack of Support for Abortion Ban

by: Montana Cowgirl

Mon Nov 02, 2009 at 19:52:39 PM MST

But after a whistle-stop tour from out-of-state activists failed to bring out local support, Wendy Warburton, R-Havre, and the rag-tag group of misfits who refuse to see the writing on the wall are also having trouble putting on a happy face today.

"They have a lot more money than we do," she said of local Montana-based organizations who oppose the constitutional amendment.  

The amendment also failed to qualify for the ballot last election cycle.

Local Montana groups don't seem surprised at the lack of support the initiative idea is getting.

"We raise all of our money from the grassroots in Montana," [Allyson Hagen, Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Montana] said, "If we have more money, it's because we have more support."

Even those who Warburton thought would be on her side aren't supporting the amendment:

"the Montana Catholic Conference, a mainstay in the pro-life movement, is not supporting the proposal. It questions the strategy of an all-out challenge to Roe v. Wade at this time."

National Anti-Birth Control Activist Touring Montana to Hawk Constitutional Amendment

by: Montana Cowgirl

Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 05:14:42 AM MST

The Pill Kills project is among the more extreme and dangerous of the American Life League's activities.   The campaign spreads lies such as telling women that birth inherently dangerous and may lead to "shrinking of the womb"  and even death.

These "Bury Obamacare with Kennedy" signs, first seen at the 9/12 march in Washington DC, were the brainchild of  Judie Brown, director of the American Life League and denounced by the Catholics she claimed to work to support as

"an outrage and an embarrassment to the Catholic community [that] scor[es] cheap political points at the expense of common good solutions to the current crisis in the health care system."

This campaign marks the fourth attempt in two years (two initiatives, two legislative referenda) in Montana to redefine personhood and interfere in Montana's constitutionally protected right to privacy.  Anti-choice groups fell nearly 20,000 signatures short of qualifying for the 2008 ballot.  In order to qualify for the 2010 ballot, proponents will have to collect 48,674 signatures, including 10 percent of the voters in each of 40 legislative house districts.  

Out-of-State Extremists Coming Our Way - Along with One Out-of-Touch Democratic State Senator

by: Montana Cowgirl

Mon Oct 12, 2009 at 16:33:26 PM MST

Why us? National groups are focusing their attention on the states because Congress wants no part of something this extreme. They are coming to Montana because our low population and cheap media rates make us the perfect target to force their extremist experiment on the nation without spending a lot of money.  Also, we actually elected a member of the Constitution party to our state legislature who backed previous failed bans.

The thing is, they don't have local support - the Montana Right to Life, Montana Catholic Conference, and the Montana Family Foundation have all said in the press that they want no part of this.

Even Republicans are starting to come out against these efforts to force their big government extremist agenda on the rest of us though state ballot initiatives.

Women in Montana (and especially Native women) don't want to give the government control over whether and when we have children. In addition to the out-of-staters, it will be interesting to see if any local officials actually show up.  The personhood conference website touts Senator Jonathan Windy Boy (D-Box Elder) as supposedly attending.

Why would Windy Boy attend?  He may be confused.  When asked what the reason is for his anti-abortion rights votes in the legislature Windy Boy has said "my uncle had 23 children and he told me to go forth and multiply."

I love kids as much as the next gal. However, 23 kids! That's five more kids than the Duggars.  What if each of those kids all had 23 kids, how much is 23 x 23? 529 I think. And 529 x23 = 12, 167. In just three generations this family could be 12,000 strong. Two hundred eighty thousand strong in four generations.

The conference website lists Senator Windy Boy's phone number--give him a call and tell him that if he's against abortion, he should vote to increase access to affordable birth control and medically accurate sex education in his district to prevent unintended pregnancy in the first place instead of aligning himself with wing-nuts.