2 Helena Handbaskets

I won’t even pretend I know or understand the rationale or the politics behind the new proposal to locate a $35 million Montana Heritage Center in a new building cum parking garage across the street from the current museum.At first blush it seemed a bit strange – after the 2005 Legislature agreed to provide the seed funding to locate the new museum in the space now occupied by the Capitol Hill Mall. Upon further review, strange doesn’t even begin to describe the new proposal – it’s downright bizarre!  The architects who presented the new plan are the ones hired to develop the 20 year plan for the capitol complex (Wait! Do I hear a conflict of interest?). The proposed new museum would be built on an existing parking lot – of which there is a prodigious lack thereof already – at the corner of 6th and Sanders – a currently overly congested intersection. The building as designed will only be large enough to satisfy the projected demands of the museum for less than ten years and the parking garage would only have about 59 more spaces than the existing lot.  Not much room for many museum visitors there.  Of the more than 50 people attending the public hearing last week only one spoke in favor of the plan!!!!! Doesn’t this sound like a government plan – too little, too late, for too much, with complete disregard for previously agreed upon proposal?It’s time to derail this train and get the original plan back on track.  We need a place to showcase Montana’s history.  A place that’s easy to find, easy to get to, with lots of parking and plenty of room to grow as our future becomes our history.  We need to “Mall the Museum”!!! If you agree – post your thoughts here and then copy and paste them and send them to: Sheryl Olson

For the past couple of years, the liberal left has tried to tell us that their opposition to the wars in Afganistan and Iraq did not mean they didn’t support the troops.  Many of us had a problem believing that, but until last week we were lacking that one piece of evidence that conclusively established the hypocrisy.  Well, now we know for sure.  MoveOn.org has tipped their hand.  The left has no respect for the well-being of our troops – they would just as soon spit on them and revile them ala VietNam as not.  You cannot “support” the troops while attacking their leaders in the blatantly despicable manner of the New York Times and MoveOn. It’s time to wake up and smell the coffee, folks.  The Progressive Democrats and their supporters hate the war, hate the military, and above all they hate America.  We have to call ‘em like we see ‘em.  No more sugar-coating the stark raving reality.   There is a contingent of American Society that cannot be tolerated by those of us who understand what this country is truly about.  It’s time to pick sides.  

Even now – six years later – the horror of that morning is still too great to truly comprehend.  May God be with the families who lost loved ones, and may we all learn the most important lessons of that day:  Treasure every day and be sure to say I love you every time you can to everyone you love; Pray – in supplication, sorrow, gratitude, and thanksgiving – for the blessings of the Almighty; and always –  Remember. 

I’ve been watching the verbal gymnastics over at LeftintheWest.com about the Larry Craig situation and I feel it is incumbent upon me to help Matt out of his mental angst. In today’s post he posed the following moral conundrum: “I’m asking because I don’t understand how the outrage meter on the right really works. A President getting a blowjob from an intern? Impeachable. A Senator allegedly attempting to solicit gay sex in a bathroom? Kill him and/or make him resign.”

The reason that you don’t get it, Matt, is because the outrage on the Right with Clinton was not about a blowjob. The whole basis for the impeachment of Bill Clinton was his perjury, witness tampering, and obstruction of justice – not his adultery. You’ve heard about perjury – lying under oath – in an official court proceeding? Think Scooter Libby – it will help you get a feel for the underlying concept. The Left finally got a bit twitterpated about perjury last year. But I digress. During the Clinton/Lewinsky mess you were probably focused on the salacious details of the incident, given that you were probably a sex-starved young stud back then. However, for those of us who could get beyond the the diversionary tactics of the Democrats and the Main Street Media and actually watch the House proceedings on CSPAN, we had to come to grips with the idea of the President of the United States of America doing something incredibly stupid and then making it worse by committing one or more felonies in an attempt to get away without being caught. Thus the outrage meter hit the bell.

Now let us look at the Craig thing. Almost ten years and a couple of other Congressional imbroglios (Can we say “learning experiences”???) later, we have a United States Senator who is evidently dumber than a friggin’ box of rocks. Once more the outrage on the Right is NOT about the sex – there was none! – but about how a supposedly intelligent person in a position of power and leadership can be so arrogantly, unrealistically stupid as to: 1.) argue with a cop, 2.) plead guilty, and 3.) think he could make it go away without anybody finding out.

What planet has this ding-dong been living on for the past decade?

Anyone who has watched even one episode of Law & Order knows that when confronted by a police officer who is about to arrest you – you request a lawyer. And then you shut the hell up!!!!!!! It’s that whole Miranda thing (I’m pretty sure they had something about it in the newspapers in Washington DC and even Idaho.). And then – if you have even two brain cells to rub together – you listen to the advice of your lawyer, who will probably suggest that pleading guilty is generally not a great strategy. And next – if you were even a tiny bit conscious during the past few years you would go buy yourself a copy of Lanny Davis’ book about dealing with an impending crisis and follow his excellent suggestions.

But no. Not this lugnut. He thinks nobody will notice the lump in the rug. The outrage on the Right is because after Clinton, after Foley, after Jefferson, Libby, and all the other Washington headliners over the last ten years, this jerk hasn’t gotten the message: If you f**k up, it WILL bite you in the butt! And we are all fed up with watching these prima donnas act as if the rules don’t apply to them! So the outrage meter hits the bell again.

What you need to understand Matt – it isn’t so much about the sin. We’re totally outraged at the stupidity, arrogance, and hypocrisy of these sinners!

Off with their heads!