Month: March 2016

by William Skink

The popular ride-sharing service known as Uber has apparently hit a snag in Montana and that snag is insurance:

Following the licensing of ride-sharing services in Montana in December, floods of interested drivers began filing with Uber for driving permits.

Vaclav Trnka, a Billings man, worked as a taxi driver in his home country, and was very excited to learn Uber would start operating in Montana.

“Driving is kind of very comfortable for me and I’m thinking this is a good opportunity because you can drive when you want,” said Trnka.

Uber’s motto is all about convenience.

But now, Montanans like Trnka are finding that many insurance companies are putting the brakes on the ride-sharing service.

“Since my insurance company Progressive says no, I called several other insurances and they do some research and everyone has the same rules for Montana,” said Trnka. “They don’t let you drive for money basically.”

I was critical of this bipartisan effort to deregulate Montana for Uber, writing this post in May of last year.

Despite this legislation receiving bipartisan support, Don Pogreba is now trying to score some partisan points at ID after his quest to get info on this legislative effort has been thwarted:

One has to wonder just what’s in that massive collection of e-mails. Perhaps there is an explanation for why those who wrote and promoted the bill failed to see that insurance would present a problem for drivers who wasted their money on UBER inspections. Perhaps there’s some information about who influenced the legislation and how. Perhaps some member of the media can make a public records request for the spreadsheet of e-mails that was generated, because this citizen isn’t getting the information he asked for.

Maybe Don should enlist the help of Rep. Hill, a Democrat from Missoula. Rep. Hill was an enthusiastic supporter of this legislation and may be able to help Don get the information he wants, unless of course there is something there that she doesn’t want to see the light of day.

Personally, I’m not surprised those who wrote and supported this bill failed to see this insurance problem. Why? Because one of those co-sponsors didn’t anticipate how the increase in price for getting a Montana ID could impact poor people, something I also wrote about:

I found out today the Motor Vehicle Division of the Montana Department of Justice will be doubling the cost of state ID’s in July, from $8.oo to $16.oo. The reason? These new ID’s will now be 8 year ID’s instead of the measly 4 years they are now. So if you’re looking to replace a lost or stolen ID—not a rare occurrence—it’s going to cost you double.

The reason I know all this is because the information was offered, quite unsolicited, by the nice lady I happened to be talking to at Missoula’s Motor Vehicle Division.

She went on to say that this increase was not “asked for”. Apparently this decision to increase cost came from our lovely state legislature, though I haven’t verified that. I asked: would a 4 year option still be available? She replied: no.

Even more embarrassing, Rep. Hill made a comment on that post that wasn’t accurate, so I guess she isn’t even informed about the legislation she is promoting. Here is a portion of that comment:

The bill had virtually no opposition and it was an effort to create equity for individuals who purchase identification cards in lieu of driver’s licenses. I was asked to carry the bill by a Missoula constituent, the President of the Montana Federation for the Blind… a helluva nice guy.

As you pointed out, in our post-9/11 nanny-state, we need an state-issued I.D. to take a leak anymore and for people who don’t drive (like blind and disabled people), they were forced to operate by more onerous standards to obtain and maintain that I.D. than someone who is able to obtain a simple driver’s license.

In short, they were forced to go back to the DMV more often than necessary just because they can’t drive. Folks still have the option to purchase the four year I.D. if they want. The bill created options and I don’t believe it “gouges” Montana consumers whatsoever.

And here is my reply:

maybe there’s an issue with how this is being interpreted by the motor vehicle department, because I put in a call today just to make sure I have been told accurate information, and the person I talked to, after speaking with her supervisor, confirmed that, if you’re over 21, a 4-year state ID is not an option.

So, yes, it’s not surprising that sometimes legislators are short-sighted when it comes to anticipating potential problems with the bills they are turning into state law.

by William Skink

What the media reports on, and how it is reported, has been the subject of a few local posts worth looking at. Last Best News has this anecdotal story reminding LBN readers why newspapers still matter, while Intelligent Discontent’s main blogger throws another tantrum regarding the ease in which the MT GOP can exploit the media to engage in a political hit-piece against Bullock. The title of that post includes a naughty word, so you know that blogger means business.

The sorry state of our media is a very serious problem. To understand this problem it might help going back 20 years, when the Clinton regime paved the way for corporate consolidation with the telecommunication act, passed in 1996. Here is a portion of a Truthout piece examining this sad Democratic legacy:

Twenty years ago this week, President Bill Clinton signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The act, signed into law on February 8, 1996, was “essentially bought and paid for by corporate media lobbies,” as Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) described it, and radically “opened the floodgates on mergers.”

The negative impact of the law cannot be overstated. The law, which was the first major reform of telecommunications policy since 1934, according to media scholar Robert McChesney, “is widely considered to be one of the three or four most important federal laws of this generation.” The act dramatically reduced important Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations on cross ownership, and allowed giant corporations to buy up thousands of media outlets across the country, increasing their monopoly on the flow of information in the United States and around the world.

“Never have so many been held incommunicado by so few,” said Eduardo Galeano, the Latin American journalist, in response to the act.

Twenty years later the devastating impact of the legislation is undeniable: About 90 percent of the country’s major media companies are owned by six corporations. Bill Clinton’s legacy in empowering the consolidation of corporate media is right up there with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and welfare reform, as being among the most tragic and destructive policies of his administration.

Yep, and despite the persistent tantrums from a partisan blogger who doesn’t like how his candidate is being treated by corporate media, candidates like Hillary Clinton do benefit from this corrupted media landscape:

Hillary Clinton’s supporters often argue that mainstream political reporters are incapable of covering her positively—or even fairly. While it may be true that the political press doesn’t always write exactly what Clinton would like, emails recently obtained by Gawker offer a case study in how her prodigious and sophisticated press operation manipulates reporters into amplifying her desired message—in this case, down to the very word that The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder used to describe an important policy speech.

The emails in question, which were exchanged by Ambinder, then serving as The Atlantic’s politics editor, and Philippe Reines, Clinton’s notoriously combative spokesman and consigliere, turned up thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request we filed in 2012 (and which we are currently suing the State Department over). The same request previously revealed that Politico’s chief White House correspondent, Mike Allen, promised to deliver positive coverage of Chelsea Clinton, and, in a separate exchange, permitted Reines to ghost-write an item about the State Department for Politico’s Playbook newsletter. Ambinder’s emails with Reines demonstrate the same kind of transactional reporting, albeit to a much more legible degree: In them, you can see Reines “blackmailing” Ambinder into describing a Clinton speech as “muscular” in exchange for early access to the transcript. In other words, Ambinder outsourced his editorial judgment about the speech to a member of Clinton’s own staff.

While bashing Lee Newspapers is a perennial endeavor for some partisan bloggers, the broader implications of media corruption are not given the proper context. Instead, those of us who value alternative media have been the subject of ridicule from those same bloggers who throw tantrums when they feel their candidate is being treated unfairly.

Counterpunch is one of those media outlets that I have come to rely on, and that reliance has been a point of contention with a few commenters in past posts (on past sites). But Counterpunch has been incredibly important for me when it comes to understanding what is happening in the world.

When you understand how corrupt our corporate media landscape has become, relying on it would be irresponsible, because it might lead you to make wild claims, like the one made five years ago by Don Pogreba regarding the intervention in Libya being another example of rational humanitarian foreign policy. No, it was not, and five years later we can assess how wrong this statement now appears, in hindsight:

In the end, the US and NATO did an admirable job. They used a relatively inexpensive mission which gave the rebels breathing room in which they could defend themselves against a despot. And then the people of Libya did the rest. We can’t know what kind of government or future Libya will have, but I think we can be sure that it will be better than the past two generations.

Geez, who could have anticipated that regime change in Libya would create a vacuum of power that jihadists and extremists would exploit, necessitating more military scheming from the Pentagon and more American tax dollars used to intervene, again? Certainly not some lowly blogger relying on alternative media sources for his information, right?

Well, thanks again to Counterpunch, those of us who claimed back then that humanitarianism had nothing to do with enacting regime change in Libya can now point to conclusive evidence from Hillary Clinton’s emails that this sociopathic architect of Libya’s destruction knew what motivated France to join the destructive melee in Libya, which we now know unleashed chaos and created a safe haven for ISIS. Here is Ellen Brown exposing the Libyan agenda with a closer look at Hillary’s emails:

Of the 3,000 emails released from Hillary Clinton’s private email server in late December 2015, about a third were from her close confidante Sidney Blumenthal, the attorney who defended her husband in the Monica Lewinsky case. One of these emails, dated April 2, 2011, reads in part:

Qaddafi’s government holds 143 tons of gold, and a similar amount in silver . . . . This gold was accumulated prior to the current rebellion and was intended to be used to establish a pan-African currency based on the Libyan golden Dinar. This plan was designed to provide the Francophone African Countries with an alternative to the French franc (CFA).

In a “source comment,” the original declassified email adds:

According to knowledgeable individuals this quantity of gold and silver is valued at more than $7 billion. French intelligence officers discovered this plan shortly after the current rebellion began, and this was one of the factors that influenced President Nicolas Sarkozy’s decision to commit France to the attack on Libya. According to these individuals Sarkozy’s plans are driven by the following issues:

1 A desire to gain a greater share of Libya oil production,

2 Increase French influence in North Africa,

3 Improve his internal political situation in France,

4 Provide the French military with an opportunity to reassert its position in the world,

5 Address the concern of his advisors over Qaddafi’s long term plans to supplant France as the dominant power in Francophone Africa

Conspicuously absent is any mention of humanitarian concerns. The objectives are money, power and oil.

When it comes to media corruption, what is more damaging, a local story that criticizes the Governor of Montana or a corporate media campaign to mislead the American people into thinking that monsters like Hillary Clinton have humanitarian reasons for destroying sovereign nations like Libya?

I think the answer can be found in the fact that Hillary Clinton is running for president instead of standing trial at the Hague.

by William Skink

Yesterday the University of Montana hosted an afternoon of panelists talking about writing at work. Though the event was geared to young English majors wondering how they will start digging out from the mountain of debt with their humanities degree, it was also open to the public, making it an ideal way for this aging writer who quit his non-profit job to spend the afternoon.

To get to campus I first had to run the gauntlet of chain-link fencing under the Madison Street bridge, hastily put up because the bridge is literally crumbling apart. After surviving my brush with Montana’s decrepit transportation infrastructure, I bee-lined for the UC on campus.

The first panel consisted of free lance writers, including Dan Brooks, who did in fact resemble Val Kilmer in Tombstone by the end of the day (Dan was gracious enough to withhold physical contact when I introduced myself to keep the pestilence from spreading). The panelists offered good, practical advice for aspiring writers who want to free lance their writing skills, like don’t turn down any work as you’re getting established and be weary of the personal essay, unless you want to become hairball girl.

As the second panel started I felt something dark stir the air, like maybe I was in the presence of evil. Then the panelists from the business world were introduced, and the slick guy on the far end was introduced as Tim O’Leary, the co-founder of R2C, an advertising company. Exhibiting an impressive degree of self-awareness, O’Leary did acknowledge that some see the business of advertising as a wicked field of capitalist deceit (he didn’t put it quite that way), but also some apparently study it like literature, especially after the popularity of Mad Men. Gross.

Time ran out at the end of the Q&A, so I didn’t get a chance to ask my question about whether any of the business panelists were concerned about the attack on the humanities happening at UM and across the nation, but that was probably a good thing. No need to bring controversy into the mix, right? Just let those youngsters believe the business world wants critical thinkers with the historical context to understand what has happened to every single empire throughout history.

Overall it was a nice afternoon. I handed out a few of my poetry books (hot off the vanity press) to friends I ran into on campus, then I registered to vote, chatting up the young co-ed about politics (I was encouraged that sharing lady parts didn’t translate into fealty for Hillary for this particular college student). It was almost possible to feel like maybe the world isn’t totally going to shit.

by William Skink

Yesterday I took my dogs out to one of my favorite spots, but the parking lot was full. In the 15 years I’ve lived in Missoula, I never had problems parking at this spot (the location will remain undisclosed), but in the past year this has become a somewhat frequent occurrence. I have also noticed signs in the neighborhood going up to discourage the overflow traffic from parking on side streets.

I’m not relating this story because I think anyone in Missoula cares about whether or not it’s convenient for me to find parking so I can enjoy the outdoors with my pups. What I do suspect Missoulians care about, though, is how growth occurs in a valley where the land for growth is finite.

Two days ago Stockman Bank broke ground on its flagship bank located on the corner of Broadway and Orange Street. In a piece at Missoula Current, Mayor Engen made a concise statement regarding growth in Missoula, one he might regret saying so bluntly:

Missoula Mayor John Engen joined bank officials in the ceremonial groundbreaking. He said the project will enhance one of the city’s major gateways. It’s the first of several projects planned for downtown Missoula over the next two years.

The projects include student housing and a $30 million Marriott Hotel on Front Street, and the $150 million redevelopment of the Riverfront Triangle – a project that includes a conference center, retail, housing and office space.

“The fact that Stockman Bank has elected to not only invest in Missoula but to invest in the heart of Missoula – that is on this particular corner – is a big deal,” Engen said. “I firmly believe that over the course of the next 10 years, we’re not going to recognize downtown Missoula, but that will be in a good way.”

While growth in Missoula moves full steam ahead, problems at the University are festering, problems downtown are festering, the jail is full and housing is getting more and more unaffordable with every new bond passed.

Will there be students to fill the new student housing when student safety is still an open question, especially after UM paid off Jordan Johnson 245,000? Will tourists feel safe in Missoula when downtown is littered with broken people suffering from addictions and mental health problems? Who will be able to afford to live here as the cost of living goes up, but shitty service sector jobs maintain stagnant wages–East Coasters and Californians?

Personally, I don’t think the Mayor’s vision will come to fruition. Why? The economy, stupid. Thanks to the total corruption of our political system, the next economic crash is guaranteed–a matter of when, not if.

If you haven’t heard about NIRP, and if you don’t understand why Larry Summers is the latest economist to call for scrapping the hundred dollar bill, then the coming crash will probably catch you by surprise.

Investors can build all the banks and student housing they want, but if the fundamentals are fucked, then it’s all being built on a foundation of sand.

by William Skink

The resurgence of meth has received so much media attention in the past week that even Pete Talbot at Intelligent Discontent felt obliged to acknowledge this harsh reality:

Lots of meth news in the last few days. Use of this nastiest of drugs is on the increase despite an anti-meth campaign costing millions of dollars.

The Billings Gazette quotes Police Chief Rich St. John on the near record number of murders in the Magic City, “There’s a common denominator, and it’s usually methamphetamine.” Meth-related crime is up in Missoula, too, according to KECI-TV.

Last Best News, Reptile Dysfunction and the Missoula Independent are asking the question, could the Montana Meth Project money be better spent?

Missing from this acknowledgment is the inconvenient fact that the Governor’s wife sits on the board of the failure known as the Montana Meth Project. It would be nice if the Governor spoke out on what he will do if reelected to address this crisis, but this cynic isn’t holding his breath.

While the meth crisis simmers beneath the surface of this election season in Montana, alcohol abuse gets the partisan treatment from Montana Cowgirl with this ominously titled post: A Troubling Political Anniversary Looms. From the link:

Remember back when people told us Uber would help reduce drunk driving? CBS News is reporting that this time its guy who is in court for driving while impaired after his car struck a party bus in San Diego.

California doesn’t have a monopoly on this problem, to be sure. Our Montana GOP lawmakers believe drunk driving is a way of life in Montana (literally.)

This problem is widespread. Generally, Republicans have had a long and difficult romance with alcohol in Montana— what with the heavy-drinking Congressman and his many drinking escapades, the Secretary of State who ran for office from rehab in 2010.

Next week marks the anniversary of the day Rep. Scott Boggio, a GOP legislator from Red Lodge, on March 17, 2007 ran up on a curb while driving around with another repub, Elsie Arntzen, and got pulled over, and turned out to be massively drunk – with a blood alcohol content of 0.14 percent.

I’m not sure it’s smart for the online mouthpiece of Montana Democrats to be making alcohol abuse a partisan issue right now. To bring a little equity to this issue, I certainly don’t have to go back to 2007 to find an example of dangerously drunken behavior from an elected Democrat in Montana:

Augare, who is a member of the governing Blackfeet Tribal Business Council, was pulled over May 26 on U.S. Highway 2 on the Blackfeet reservation after the Glacier County Sheriff’s Office received calls of an erratic driver.

Augare had been drinking in a Cut Bank bar earlier in the evening with his family and left the bar with his mother, an FBI affidavit filed with the charging documents said.

During the traffic stop, Augare identified himself, said the deputy had no jurisdiction and that he was going to leave.

State and county officials generally don’t have jurisdiction to arrest an enrolled tribal member within the boundaries of a reservation.

The deputy ordered Augare to turn off the ignition, and the officer reached in and placed the gear shift into park, according to the FBI affidavit.

The deputy tried to grab the keys and told Augare, “You are highly intoxicated,” the affidavit said.

Augare revved his engine in response and a second deputy pulled the first officer back as Augare sped off, the affidavit said.

This is despicable behavior for an elected official, but he’s a Democrat, so don’t expect any of the partisan blogs to remind their readers of this, or the other alcohol-related run-in Shannon Augare had with tribal police.

In Missoula, city council member Pam Walzer was arrested in 2010 for driving under the influence. That was news only because Pam was caught. From what I have heard, there are other Missoula politicians who are lucky they haven’t been caught yet.

Alcohol and drug abuse is not a partisan issue, but if partisans want to try and make it one, they better check the glass walls in their house before throwing stones at others.