Last week,  the Bozeman Tea Party sent out a press release about a national movement coming to Montana.  Tea Party Express II : Countdown to Judgement Day Tour.  We will keep you up to date on the recent information.

On April 21^st I did a blog post regarding the Montana Made Firearms Bill called Montana Stands Up to the Feds!  The bill exempts firearms made and retained in Montana from all federal gun regulation.  This is a simple issue of the Tenth Amendment and the federal government unconstitutionally encroaching on state rights.

The next step in the process took place on Thursday when a lawsuit was filed.  You can find the article on the lawsuit entitled, Montana Gun Suit Challenges Federal Authority.  I support this bill; it is a vital issue for our country and will help define the county we live in.  It seems to me, not being an attorney, that this is an open and shut case.  This bill is legal under the Constitution and no laws or decisions by any court can change that.

Most legal scholars believe this law will be promptly struck down.  The line from the article that disturbed me the most was, “the case amounts to a long shot squared. Perhaps, in a slightly different universe where the Tenth Amendment were not virtually ignored by courts, the plaintiffs would stand a good chance of winning.”

The scary thing here is that the courts can just ignore an amendment.  What if the courts decided to ignore the 13^th Amendment, abolishing slavery or the 19^th Amendment giving women the right to vote?  People would rightfully go crazy, but if they can ignore one then they can ignore them all.

I cannot understand how the tenth amendment can just be disregarded, the article also states that “the Tenth Amendment seems to suggest that the federal government’s powers are limited only to what it has been “delegated,” and the U.S. Supreme Court in 1918 confirmed that the amendment “carefully reserved” some authority “to the states.” That view is echoed by statements made at the time the Constitution was adopted; New Hampshire explicitly said that states kept “all powers not expressly and particularly delegated” to the federal government.”

Why do people allow this to happen?  Not just the citizens, but our Presidents and Senators.  It seems to me the first question that should be asked to a judge by a President and in the confirmation hearings by the Senate is “what does the 10^th Amendment mean?”

I believe that if, as predicted, this law is thrown out by the courts we need to stand up and correct the problem.  We need to ACTUALLY hold our elected officials accountable.

I was reading an article on Fox News this morning that got my blood boiling.  It was about Democratic Congressman Alan Grayson, entitled Democratic Lawmaker Likens Health Care Crisis to a ‘Holocaust.‘  Rep. Grayson also said, “Republicans want Americans to “die quickly” if they get sick.”

To further complicate the matter Rep. Grayson has said that he will not apologize for what he said, “Because I said the truth.”  Now, what to guess what’s happening in our great Legislative body?

Republicans are calling for him to be punished and a “resolution of disapproval” passed.  This is what was done against Congressman Joe Wilson for his infamous “you lie” comment.  Democrats are saying, that Grayson doesn’t need to be condemned and according to an email from Pelosi, “Members of Congress should focus on the issue at hand: ensuring quality, affordable and accessible health insurance for all Americans.”

This is EXACTLY the kind of crap that makes our Congress such a complete and utter failure.  Instead of actually working on issues such as, helping taxpayers, cutting burdensome regulations, and restoring personal liberties Congress is arguing like little kids on an elementary school playground.

Honestly, can you imagine if this happening at your place of business?  Democrats and Republicans sit in DC and find little things to blow out of proportion in a pathetic attempt to score a few political points.  This is not a Republican or Democrat problem; it’s a Washington DC problem.  Both sides of the aisle excel at these types of activities.

Every day that goes by I lose more and more of what little confidence and respect I had for the politicians in Washington.

Yesterday, I attended the Montana Shrugged Group’s weekly protest in Billings, MT.   Despite the cold and rainy weather we had many proud patriots meet at the CVS Pharmacy on 24^th Street.

Our message was loud and clear: we are feed up with Obamacare and uncontrolled government spending.  There were a lot of people I met who have never been involved in political grassroots until April 15^th, the first Tea Party.  It showed me that the silent majority has woken up and people are sick and tired of the federal government.

I was reminded of the July 4^th TEA Party in Bozeman where a fellow patriot held a sign, which read as “This is Not Your Father’s Hippie Movement.”  We are not paid to protest unlike our union counterparts.  To me the phrase “Don’t Tread on Me” means a lot.  You have to love liberals who think healthcare is free, but what price do we have to pay for it??

I noticed a bull statue painted with white dollar signs.  It symbolized how Wall Street has failed us through the Federal Reserve.  It made me think that this is not the America I used to live in.  I feel my freedoms are slowly being taken away and for what – Only God knows.

Overall, we were energized for an hour.  We had people shout out of their windows and say keep up the good work and we’re proud of you.  I know we are doing the right thing.  The number of cars honking their horns was incredible.

I really like these regular protests, it encourages others to join the cause.  It would be great to have these in all five major cities in Montana.

For anyone in Billings the next protest will be held on October 14^th at 24th and King Ave West.

The President of the John Birch Society, John McManus, is in Montana for a six day tour.  The topic of his speech is Restoring State Sovereignty and Preserving Personal Freedom.

The John Birch Society is dedicated to restoring and preserving freedom under the United States Constitution.  For those who have not heard of the John Birch Society, they have a great reputation.

It’s great to see Montana becoming important in the fight for personal liberties.  This is another example of people coming to Montana because of all the work we’ve done for freedom.

I highly encourage you to attend one of his speeches listed below:

Thursday, October 1^st 7:00pm

Grace Baptist Church

3616 Broadwater Ave.

Billings, MT

Friday, October 2^nd 7:00pm

Christ’s Church

1935 Nelson Rd.

Bozeman, MT

Saturday, October 3^rd 7:00pm

Jorgenson’s Inns & Suites

1714 11th Ave.

Helena, MT

Monday, October 5^th 7:00pm

Country Kitchen at the fairgrounds

Kalispell, MT

Tuesday, October 6^th 7:00pm

Ravalli County Fairgrounds

Hamilton, MT

I recently read George Orwell’s 1984 and I’m almost finished with Watership down by Richard Adams.  I have a small queue of books coming up next including: another book in the Rich Dad Poor Dad series, Blink by Malcolm Gladwell, and my first Ayn Rand novel.  I think I’m going to read Atlas Shrugged first, though I also have The Fountainhead.

I’m looking for suggestions on other books to read, and figured my friends and readers in the Montana blogosphere would be the perfect group to ask.  I’ve been going back and reading many of the classics I didn’t read when I was younger or rereading them.  Of the classics my favorites are The Count of Monte Cristo and For Whom the Bell Tolls.

So blogosphere, I have two questions for you:

1. What are some other books I should read?
2. Should I read Atlas Shrugged or Fountainhead first?

Click here for the video:

Rush Limbaugh appeared on the new Jay Leno show last week and did something hilarious!!   He participated in the Green Car Challenge and ran into Al Gore repeatedly.  It seemed Rush didn’t mind that it added hurt his score.  To me, hitting Al Gore with an electric Ford Focus would be an honor.   I would also boast, “It was worth it! It was worth it!”

Rush also had some great things to say earlier in the show:

Tell Obama, “no, we do not want you owning car companies; no, we do not want you running banks; no we don’t want you taking over student loans and no we do not want nationalized health care!”

Thank you to 2 Helena Handbaskets and her post called I’m a Foxhound.  I was pleasantly shocked when I saw her post with the cable news show ratings.  After talking to a few friends last night about the cable stations I wanted to make sure everyone saw the ratings and make two points.

First of all, here are the numbers from the Drudge Report – ratings for September 10:

FOXNEWS O’REILLY 3,609,000
FOXNEWS BECK 3,340,000
FOXNEWS HANNITY 2,986,000
FOXNEWS GRETA 2,522,000
FOXNEWS BAIER 2,362,000
FOXNEWS SHEP 2,040,000
MSNBC OLBERMANN 1,573,000
MSNBC MADDOW 1,164,000
CNN KING 965,000
MSNBC HARDBALL 882,000
MSNBC SCHULTZ 734,000
CNN COOPER 691,000

I also looked up the numbers from September 23 at TV by the numbers:

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 1,524,000 viewers
CNN – 609,000 viewers
MSNBC –377,000 viewers
CNBC – 236,000 viewers
HLN – 375,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 2,910,000viewers
CNN— 1,017,000 viewers
MSNBC –817,000 viewers
CNBC – 441,000 viewers
HLN – 648,000viewers

I am really shocked how Fox News Channel (FNC) is CRUSHING their so-called competition.  I prefer to watch Fox News, minus a few shows I don’t like.  One fascinating thing I do is watch what Fox News is reporting on and then check to see how the other cable news stations are reporting on it.  I find many of the stories on Fox I’m most interested in are not covered on the other stations.  The best example of this would be the TEA Parties.  Fox News had almost wall-to-wall coverage on the millions of Americans who attended these events, while the other stations barely reported on them.

I am a capitalist and I’m happy to see that the marketplace has it right this time.  Fox News does a far better job reporting what is important to the public and the ratings show this overwhelmingly.

The other thing that surprised me was how close Glenn Beck has come to catching O’Reilly, in a relative short amount of time.  I am personally happy to see this.  I prefer Glenn Beck to O’Reilly.  O’Reilly rants much more without backing up his viewpoints.  I prefer Beck’s style; he names the names, his charts, and his overall demeanor.  I also believe that having Beck on O’Reilly’s tail may force O’Reilly to step up his game.

Only time will tell, but one thing for sure: you cannot call it a ratings war; it has to be called a slaughter.

An article in the Great Falls Tribune, mentions a key component missing in Senator Baucus’s revised health care package tort reform.  There’s also a piece in the Electric City Weblog on Tort Reform.  Over the years, malpractice insurance has increased for doctors nationally.   Many people believe that the “sky is the limit” when suing your doctor, and they’re just looking to get rich quick.  The rate of frivolous lawsuits nationally is ridiculous.

When are people going to stop with these kinds of frivolous lawsuits?  Montana is one of thirty-six states which has a “pain and suffering” cap, set at $250,000 and limits punitive damages.  Is this enough?

According to the article- “James Jarrett, a retired Missoula doctor and state delegate to the American Medical Association, calls the Capitol Hill debate on health care “disingenuous” because he believes the bills being discussed don’t properly address tort reform.   If enough safeguards were in place to block frivolous lawsuits, he said, malpractice premiums would cost less and billions of dollars would no longer be spent on unnecessary medical tests and procedures ordered simply out of fear that patients would sue if they weren’t done.”

Senator Tester doesn’t believe the caps will help.  Rep. Rehberg understands that we need tort reform.  He said, “it’s time to listen to the American people.  It’s time to put the people’s interests of the special interests.”  The current Congress doesn’t want to comply.  They need to listen to the people.

Right now, Montana has important role in reform.  Baucus could set the bar by making our state a model for the nation.  Instead he’d rather punish the uninsured as mentioned in my previous post.  He’d rather lie about interactions he has with constituents who oppose his viewpoint.

Obama wants to rush his health care package through Congress.  He needs to focus on the future and the negative impacts this legislation will have on our county.  We can only hope that America will exist as we know it in the future.

Anyone who hasn’t had their head under a rock over the past few years knows what many politicians, Republican and Democrat, have been up to.  When you look at the list of national political sex scandals in recent years it’s sad and pathetic.  There is this year’s Governor Sanford and Senator Ensign’s affairs or former Senator Craig, Representative Foley, Governor Spitzer, or Governor McGreevey’s scandals.

The list seems to be growing almost every month and after reading an article the other day in the New York Times, it seems that they’ve hit a new low.  Former Presidential candidate, Vice Presidential Candidate, and Senator John Edwards has now has stolen the mantle of biggest slimeball.

A section of from the New York Times article stated that, “Mr. Edwards once calmed an anxious Ms. Hunter by promising her that after his wife died, he would marry her in a rooftop ceremony in New York with an appearance by the Dave Matthews Band.”  It is almost unimaginable for me to believe promising to marry a person you are having an affair with a romantic wedding ceremony, when your wife of more than 30 years whom you have two kids with is dying.

I have three main problems with politicians and these kinds of scandals, separate from the actual sexual indiscretions.  First of all, if they cannot keep their vows to their spouse why should we expect them to keep true to their oath of office?  They have no problem breaking their personal vows so it is easy to assume they would have no problem breaking their work vows.

Another problem is that politicians believe they will get away with these actions, and I’m sure many do.  It makes me wonder what else they are doing because they believe they will not be caught and won’t be held responsible.  One can only imagine what other abuses are taking place.

My biggest concern with their actions, is what would happen if an enemy got a hold of the information.  These scandals have ruined the careers of all these politicians, but what could be done if someone else got this information?  This was my chief concern with President Clinton’s actions.  These types of activities could compromise the politician and the country if it got into the wrong hands.

Edwards has taken the cake – he’s the lead slimeball.  I guess congratulations are in order for Senator Edwards; he’s lowered the bar even further than I thought possible.