Posted: February 16, 2013 at 11:33 am
by Cowgirl
One of Montana’s leading Tea Party figures has posted a photo for a device she says can lure the President. Here it is–a Tea Party animal trap for a black person.
Here’s Olsen’s post, courtesy of the Montanafesto blog.
Jennifer Olsen is the leader of Montana’s largest TEA Party faction, the Yellowstone County Republican party in Billings. She also leads the Yellowstone County Montana Shrugged TEA Party.
Posted: February 12, 2013 at 5:03 pm
by Lash
2012 was a solid year for the North American Logic Shark. They got to rest from the stunt jumping the 2011 Legislature put them through, but as they say, there’s no rest for the delirious. Our logic shark sighting today comes from the House Judiciary Committee as they made a daring attempt at jumping yet another one (surprised face goes here).
Our daredevil o’the day is Rep Cary Smith, R-Billings, whose bill, HB 240, which seeks to allow guns on college campuses.
But wait, I hear you say, can’t you already carry guns on college campus in Montana? Well, in the strictest interpretation of your question – no, you can’t just carry them around everywhere on campuses. But in the real world, sensible spirit of your question – yeah, yeah you can. Continue reading
Posted: February 12, 2013 at 7:32 am
by Cowgirl
Most TEA Partiers claim to hold the Constitution sacred. But a Montana TEA Party legislator is now arguing that constitutionality is not relevant. Popular sentiment, he says, is all that matters.
Rep. Gerald Bennett (R-Libby) has introduced a bill which he acknowledges is unconstitutional. The bill would strip young women of their privacy rights and force them to seek parental consent before terminating a pregnancy. But Bennett believes that popular will is with him, and that
“The will of the people should never be held subservient to their own constitution.”
Posted: February 6, 2013 at 5:15 pm
by Cowgirl
…does not, alas, emanate from the Montana Legislature. It comes from Idaho, our neighbor. The Idaho Statesman reports that the chair of the education committee in the Idaho state Senate has introduced a bill to require school children to read “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand.
Posted: January 31, 2013 at 7:30 am
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal called on GOPers to “stop being the stupid party” at a national Republican Party last week. He said some Republicans have damaged the brand with “offensive and bizarre comments” and an “obsession” with the federal budget and government bookkeeping instead of connecting with voters.
Jindal’s tough love didn’t go over well with some – including the American Family Association. Montanans know this group as the folks who helped Denny Rehberg gin up a fake campaign to “save” a cement Big Mountain Jesus statue that the Forrest Service had already committed leave in place.
Posted: January 15, 2013 at 6:55 am
A new TEA Party commune will soon be launched in Idaho. A visit to the compound’s website shows what life will be like in “The III Citadel,” a new, heavily armed commune for like minded TEA Party patriots:
The Citadel is a developing community of Patriots in the mountains of Idaho who believe in Jefferson’s Rightful Liberty and have chosen to live amongst one another, and have sworn our lives, our fortunes and our Sacred Honor to defend one another and Liberty.
The Citadel is planned for northern Benewah County, about an hour south of Coure d’Alene. It will feature gun/archery ranges, a stockade/jail, a media center and a retirement facility.
But while the website touts freedom from homeowners associations “recycling police” and “local ordinance enforcers from City Hall,” the commune’s charter does include some rather unique requirements. Occupants are required to have a years supply of food on hand at all times. (So if you like fresh fruit and veg, this might not be for you.)
While liberals are explicitly banned from the compound, guns are a strict requirement. All acolytes must maintain a stockpile of guns and ammo. Also, residents “shall agree to remain armed with a loaded sidearm whenever visiting the Citadel Town Center. Firearm shall be on-the-person and under the control of the Resident, not merely stored in a vehicle.”
Each family member must demonstrate shooting proficiency at age 13. But it doesn’t stop there. Each family must donate a member over the age of 13 to serve in the local militia.
The Citadel isn’t just about guns. It’s also about jobs. The commune is focused on “eliminating unemployment and reducing the existing double-digit poverty level to zero.” How, you ask? Compound residents will be put to work in a combination gun factory/tourist attraction. This is expected to become:
a premiere tourist destination for Americans from sea-to-sea and border-to-border. Not only will tourists travel to see the only real fortified castle & town in America, we intend to offer numerous attractions including a firearms museum where enthusiasts actually get to fire their favorite arms from history!
The Citadel’s organizers would probably tell you that this is definitely not communism, it’s patriotism. Even though the website explains that:
the revenue generated by selling our First-Class Fighting Arms does not line the pockets of corporate fat cats. III Arms was created by Patriots to help finance our own community in the beautiful mountains of Idaho, where we can build firearms and live with neighbors who think as do we.
Whether this thing will actually be built is yet to be seen. Other such “patriot communities” have been planned in Idaho but have failed to get off the ground. Recently, a white supremacist compound planned for Bonner County Idaho hit financial troubles after the group’s leader lost his job when his views became public. KTVB Idaho reports that the group insists it isn’t going to let the foreclosure of their compound stop them.
Posted: January 3, 2013 at 9:09 pm
A hard-core, conservative Republican, religious city council member, who was caught doing business with an erotic massage parlor, will represent Montana’s largest town at the National League of Cities, KTVQ is reporting.
As a member of the committee, Councilman Pitman will play a key role in shaping NLC’s policy positions, while advocating on behalf of America’s cities and towns on Capitol Hill, with the Administration, and at home.
The Billings Gazette revealed last year that Billings city councilman Denis Pitman made a tidy living as a commercial landlord, by renting space to the Fuji Spa.
On its website, Fuji Spa described itself as a massage parlor, spa and “escort business,” which offers “table showers” and “beautiful asian massage girls”, is open 24 hours, and accepts cash only. Patrons who visit the premises are also advised to please enter through the rear entrance of the establishment, and note that there is an ATM on site.
The screenshot below depicts the current Fuji Spa ad. It shows the “spa” is still located at the same address and is dated December of 2012.
There are, in fact, many such establishments in Billings, as you can see from the Billings Gazette’s special advertising section devoted to them. Such massage parlors are legally okay. It’s not like these places are brothels, after all.
And this must have been Pitman’s line of reasoning, because Pitman, by all appearances, is your basic religious conservative piece of work. He brags about his conservative street cred (says he is “the most conservative member of the city council,”), is a big-time Tea Partier, went to seminaries for his schooling, and is actually a man of the cloth. (He calls himself Reverend Pitman.)
He advertises his services as a theologist and “non-denominational Christian minister” who, according to his own website, will perform religious ceremonies and rites for a small fee.
And he is all family values, all the time. Check out his website. He’s a family man for sure. On his Facebook page he posts family-oriented advice to his public–messages such as “Little Fockers is not appropriate viewing for anyone in my family except me and my wife.”
To be clear, there is nothing at all to suggest that he has ever collected rent in the form of a table shower or massage. And also, it must be noted that he once rented space to a medical marijuana provider, and took heat for it, and defended himself by saying that as long as the activities on the premises are legal, he would rent it to the tenant.
Perhaps Pitman will represent Billings at the national league as a libertarian and not as a conservative, who believes drugs and sex, even if proferred as goods for sale, must be off limits to government regulation or religious judgment. Probably not.
Posted: January 1, 2013 at 8:46 am
Happy New Year Cowgirl readers! Here are some of the highlights and lowlights that made 2012 so memorable–and these Cowgirl posts the year’s most read.
Best book by a GOP candidate:
When Republican gubernatorial hopeful Neil Livingstone admitted to the Associated Press this year that he was once “a guest on a yacht full of hookers in Monte Carlo,” few people realized that Livingstone is actually a leading authority on such matters.
Indeed, it turns out that Livingstone actually published a detailed instructional manual in 1997, which provides candid advice for world business travelers on how to solicit a high-quality prostitute.
This is not a joke. This valuable handbook appears as a chapter within a greater literary work by Livingstone, a book entitled “Protect Yourself in an Uncertain World” (Amazon, $3.39 used). You can read the Cowgirl Blog’s review of Livinstone’s masterpiece here.
Worst TEA Party call to action:
As a child I learned that empty vessels make the most noise. That rings especially true this year after a Montana TEA Party leader called for a boycott of all news. The TEA Party leader said the boycott was needed because news agencies in Billings and elsewhere “are complicit in the destruction of America.”
Most hypocritical speech of 2012:
The award for this year’s Most Hypocritical Speech goes to Congressman Steve Daines. The congressman’s speech at the RNC lionized his ancestor as not being “Saved by Government” when that ancestor received a huge government handout in the form of a homestead under a federal program called the Homestead Act.
Best way to dispose of a TEA Party imbecile, for good:
Part of what has made Governor Brian Schweitzer one of the most popular governors in America is his ability to stand up to the TEA Party. This made How to Dispose of a Tea Party Imbecile, For Good one of 2012′s most popular posts.
Montana’s stalest political cliches:
Two hackneyed phrases sucked the last shred meaning out of Montana political pablum this year more than any others.
The phrase “double down” became so overused in Montana politics that anyone who hears or reads it now doubles over. Enough already.
And any time you hear a politician propose, “a uniquely Montana solution,” notice that the cliche is never followed by an actual example of what that solution might be. Everyone knows that the people spewing this nonsense are doing so to disguise the fact they they have no actual solutions to offer. Offenders, you know who you are.
Best example of ridiculous Fox News lies:
Fox News this week called the Westboro Baptist Church a “left-wing cult” in their story about the group’s protests of the Newtown shooting victims’ funerals. As the Atlantic Wire asks, “if these people are “left-wing,” just how far “right” is Fox News?
Most outlandish conspiracy theories:
A Montana legislator is behind both of 2012′s dumbest conspiracy theories. Chair of the House Judiciary Committee Rep. Krayton Kerns (R-Laurel) this year authored the conspiratorial screed on how birth control is the “death nail in the coffin of our Republic”. He also made national headlines after the Cowgirl blog uncovered his belief that the relocation of 60 bison — which he blamed on Walt Disney’s movie “Bambi” — could lead to $25 a gallon gas prices as part of a liberal government plot.
Worst movie of the year:
Kalispell movie producer Gerald Molen can’t figure out why the Academy overlooked this high quality of this piece of fine art. Perhaps because is is actually one of the single most oppressively embarrassing movies ever made, reaching levels of galling unwatchability. Meanwhile, the director and writer of the movie, and the author of the book on which it is based, has been caught with his pants down.