The legacy of retiring Senator Max Baucus
Max Baucus Retiring: Montana Democrat Won't Seek Another Term In U.S. Senate
Goodbye Senator K St. Baucus was the true author of Obamacare
My first reaction on hearing of the Senate’s failure to get 60 votes for even modest measures to regulate the flow of guns into the hands of people who shouldn’t have them, such as background checks supported by 90 percent of Americans, was to be furious at the spinelessness of the four Senate Democrats who voted against the measure (Mark Begich, Max Baucus, Mark Pryor, and Heidi Heitkamp), as well as the Republicans. And also with Harry Reid, who wouldn’t lead the fight on changing the filibuster rule when he had the chance.
The deeper message here is that rural, older, white America occupies one land; younger, urban, increasingly non-white America lives in another — and the dividing line on social issues (not just guns, but abortion, equal marriage rights, and immigration reform) runs between the two. Begich, Baucus, Pryor, and Heitkamp may be Democrats but they’re also from rural, older, white America. That land has disproportionate political power in the Senate, and a gerrymandered House — which may not bode well for immigration reform over the next few months, and suggests continuing battles over “state’s rights” to determine who can marry and when human life begins.
Over time, though, older, rural, white America is losing ground to a nation becoming ever younger, more urban, and increasingly non-white — a fact that threatens the former so much that it’s in full backlash against the forces of change.
Missing From Valley City, North Dakota Since July 4, 2012
Amber Marcia Glatt, age 22, was reported missing by her boyfriend on July 4, 2012. She is white, stands 5’4” tall, weighs 96 pounds, has brown eyes and medium-length brown hair.
Amber suffers from recurring amnesia and her episodes can last four to six weeks. She may be driving a silver Mitsubishi Lancer with Virginia license plates XFK 1538 and the rear, driver-side window broken out.
The mother of a missing 22-year-old here who has suffered episodes of amnesia believes a note found by police indicating she lost her memory was not written by her daughter.
Amy Glatt, the mother, said Friday that she was the last person to have contact with Amber Marcia Glatt before her boyfriend, Andy Mushet, 20, reported her missing on Wednesday to the Valley City Police Department.
Mushet told police that when he returned to the home he shares with Amber at about midnight, he found a note saying she had amnesia with her name signed at the bottom, her mother told The Forum on Friday.
“The whole note was strange. I know my daughter’s handwriting, and it is messy and full of misspelled words,” she said. “You could read everything in the note, it had the proper punctuation and spellings. I think if my daughter had written it, it would have taken her two to three hours.”
After texting her about camping equipment around 2 p.m., Amy Glatt said her daughter told her she was on her way to her job at a snow-cone shop, but authorities say she never made it.
Amber Glatt has suffered from focal retrograde amnesia for two years, her mother said. Her amnesia is a result of a traumatic brain injury she suffered July 8, 2010, an incident her daughter didn’t recall occurring. Amy Glatt said all they knew was something hit her in the right front part of her head hard enough to penetrate the skull and cause swelling.
Anyone with information regarding Amber’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Valley City Police Department at (701) 845-3110.
How White Supremacists Are Trying to Make an American Town a Model for Right-Wing Extremism
A recent influx of white supremacists and Patriot group members to the town of Kalispell, Montana, is causing alarm.
Second Montana oil spill went unreported for a month
While much smaller than the Yellowstone River oil spill, a newly discovered spill is raising eyebrows because it went unreported for a month.
Keystone XL Tar Sands Opponents Occupy Office Of Montana Governor
Six activists from Earth First! and Northern Rockies Rising Tide are occupying Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s (D-MT) office to protest the planned construction of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline through the state. According to a press release, the activists “locked their arms in a mock oil pipeline made out of PVC plastic pipe.” Although Schweitzer has battled with Exxon over the Yellowstone River pipeline spill, he has continued to promote the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.
Oil giant ExxonMobil faces mounting criticism of its clean-up efforts after one of its oil pipelines ruptured on Friday and leaked 42,000 gallons of crude oil into Montana’s Yellowstone River. The company initially downplayed the incident by saying it would only effect 10 miles of the river but state officials say the oil has already stretched over 240 miles to near the North Dakota border. The spill comes as the Obama administration considers a massive new oil pipeline called the Keystone XL that would carry corrosive tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. The pipeline would cross the Yellowstone River as well as the Ogallala aquifer — the largest fresh-water aquifer in the U.S.
Tea Party groups target Senate Democrats on health care repeal
Among the targeted Democratic senators: Jon Tester of Montana, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Ben Nelson of Nebraska.
…all states with a minimum of 6% unemployment. Remember, unemployment rates are usually suppressed under-reported to make the reporting agency’s government look good.
I guess that the Tea Party (and unquestionably their benefactors) have got their’s and they assume fuck the rest.
