leifw

A number of times in this election cycle, I've heard news commentators saying that Republican candidates will be focusing on local issues because things aren't going so well at the national level between an unpopular foreign policy and a slowing economy. Apparently, that memo didn't make it Montana, where a seemingly-satirical, Onion-worthy letter to the editor appeared in the Billings Gazette, ranting that:

If [Sen. Burns] and a very few others are defeated, the Democrats will, of course, control the Senate... This will put great power in the hands of people who will, judging from past performance, use their positions to do all they can to destroy what remains of our constitutional republic.

Could this be our last chance to save our freedoms? The guns, for example, will come under heavy assault; and if the guns go, so will our remaining freedoms.

We had better re-elect Conrad Burns and, at least, help delay the disaster that would be inevitable otherwise. We could, at least, hope in the meantime for a God-given miracle, giving us a reprieve from the downfall of our once great and wonderful nation.

With tongue firmly in cheek I say, "It's America-haters like him who think we're no longer a 'great and wonderful nation.'"

Senate races in Montana are particularly fun because my piddly little vote counts the same as roughly 33 Californians' votes on federal government. On Saturday, the candidates for Montana's open seat debated in Butte.

Burns: [Tester] wants to weaken the Patriot Act.

Tester: I don't want to weaken the Patriot Act; I want to repeal it... It takes away your freedom... and when you take away our freedoms, the terrorists have won.

Tester has received some attention for this statement:

• Praise from Daily Kos, one of liberal blogs with the largest audience.
• Condemnation from former Homeland Security chief, Tom Ridge.

This post is far overdue. All the way back at the end of August, Candorville ran the following marvelous episode. (That link will be dead in a few days.)

Nararator: In an alterate universe, the events of 1774 happen instead in 2004...

Ted Koppel: The British Parliament passed the Coercive Acts today. The acts streamline government and give the king's troops the tools they need to root out terrorists. Benjamin Franklin said that those who surrender their liberties to gain a little safety deserve neither. Tories in Parliament responded by asking why "Liberals like Franklin hate the Americas."

On the other hand, waiting to post this has serendipitously allowed the news to demonstrate that Franklin was correct; despite Americans allowing their government to take away their liberties, the threat of terrorism has increased.

I used to be skeptical of global warming, but now I'm absolutely convinced that the world is spiraling out of control. CO2 is like a bushfire that gets bigger and bigger every year.

Sir Richard Branson recently pledged $3,000,000,000 to fighting global warming.

You know all those work at home scams? Yeah, there's nothing new there. This ad from 70 years ago slayed me. Notice how emphatic it is that the book is free.