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Matt Singer works for Forward Montana. He also is a partner in DP Productions, a small, Montana-based T-Shirt company.


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Gary Marbut

The Duke of Helena

by: Jay Stevens

Thu Jun 11, 2009 at 16:55:52 PM MDT

Why is it that some folks think they deserve special treatment? We are a nation of laws, after all; aristocratic privileges were pretty much done away with some 300 hundred years ago...
Discuss :: (1 Comments)

Gary Marbut: Crazy, Even by Glenn Beck Standards

by: Matt Singer

Tue May 19, 2009 at 13:14:40 PM MDT

This is a really fascinating clip, where the full range of crazy conservatism is on display. Glenn Beck sounds like a voice of reason (you can't make this up).

While Gary Marbut disclaims any regulation of guns whatsoever, Glenn Beck has the audacity to say that a background check may not be such a terrible idea.

He then moves on, either because he had been playing devil's advocate or because he realized his viewers don't tune in for sanity.

Interestingly, the march rightward then continues with Judge Napolitano suggesting that Montana should have a statewide law prohibiting local and state law enforcement from enforcing federal law. It is an interesting idea, but runs counter to the other right-wing demand that local law enforcement act as border patrol agents (a terrible idea in its own right).

What most people (including conservative lawmakers) find when they start seriously considering this is that threatening to kick the federal government out of a state makes some sense, except for the sheer size of federal aid to states.

Now, there's a separate argument here, that we should truly devolve power and have higher local and state taxes, lower federal taxes, and have states pick up more of the tab themselves for things like Medicaid, Interstate Highways, etc. That might have been possible at an earlier time and in a less complicated nation. The tenets of a hard-and-fast federalist system are hard to embrace in practice for the human mind, is my best guess. Americans identify mostly as Americans first and are highly surprised at the wild variation in laws between states.

Meh...not sure where this post is going.

Discuss :: (9 Comments)

Rightwing Criminal Protection Bill Based on Meth Addict Sob Story

by: Matt Singer

Wed Mar 28, 2007 at 17:50:04 PM MDT

It turns out that the entire crazy rightwing criminal protection bill that inspired the death porn from the Montana GOP was pitched to the Montana House on a misleading third-hand story.

Sweet. And entirely unshocking.

Republican County Attorney Dennis Paxinos apparently had to set the story straight that the "innocent" woman nearly arrested for carrying a firearm was actually high on meth and threatening a maintenance worker.

By the way -- if you're pissed off about those mailers the GOP issued, you can donate to the Democrats targeted by the pieces. Doug Cordier, JP Pomnichowski, and Julie French represent swing districts. That's why they were targeted. Donate to their campaigns -- make sure that the GOP isn't rewarded for using bullshit mail pieces over half-baked issues defending meth addicts.

Discuss :: (4 Comments)
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