Rounds, Daugaard administrations routinely broke federal law; Swiftboater expected to attack Sen. Johnson

A failed former South Dakota governor has announced a long-shot run for the US Senate seat held by solid civil servant, Tim Johnson. Meanwhile, it has come to light that the Rounds and Daugaard administrations repeatedly broke federal law.

A new report says South Dakota has violated federal law by removing too many American Indian children from their homes and placing them in foster care with non-Indian families. The report is in response to a National Public Radio series last year that said the state routinely broke the Indian Child Welfare Act. Federal law requires that Native American children removed from homes be placed with relatives or put in foster care with other Native American families except in unusual circumstances. [KSOO Radio]

Talking Points Memo:

Freedom Fund North America spent $990,000 on advertisements opposing Democrats Sen. Jon Tester in Montana and Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota as well as an ad in support of Heitkamp’s opponent, Rep. Rick Berg (R). Both Tester and Heitkamp won their races.

Whatever it takes, right, earth haters?

Sedaris elicits hysterics at Lensic

KANW is New Mexico Public Radio: they hosted author David Sedaris at The Lensic for some readings from his collections of stories and essays.

Lorena Bobbit and Monica Lewinsky were enjoying lunch together at an outdoor cafe' when a man walked up to them and exposed the most enormous schlong either had ever seen.

Lewinsky whispered to Lorena, "do you have your knife with you?"

Bobbit nodded.

"Quick," Monica said, pointing to the corners of her perfect mouth, "cut me here and here."

A set from The Nutcracker served as a backdrop on that luscious stage. No one left the packed theater with dry trousers...or panty hose.

MO River dams starving Gulf delta

Some sections of the Missouri River have already been labeled, "The Living Dead" because the main stem dams are limiting the sediment reaching the Gulf of Mexico to only 10 to 20 percent of what it would be historically from the Missouri today.

David Rookhuyzen writes in the second of a series in the Capital Journal:

Sediment plays an integral part in the ecosystem of the river. But the erection of dams, levies and bank stabilizations have disrupted the nature movement of that sediment, and is changing the nature of the river itself and causing ecological disruptions that reach as far as the Gulf of Mexico. Tim Cowman, Director of the Missouri River Institute at the University of South Dakota, said one of the clear effects of this deepening is the free-flowing sections of the river have become isolated from its flood plain and unable to carry out a vital exchange of nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon. The National Research Council study says more than half of the materials that formed the multi-lobed delta of the Mississippi River in the past 6,000 to 7,000 years were ultimately from the Missouri River Basin.

US Army Corps of Engineers has cut flows as it stores even more silt and causing consternation downstream.

President Obama:

Tourism is the number one service we export. Every year, tens of millions of tourists come from all over the world to visit America. They stay in our hotels, eat at our restaurants, and see all the sights America has to offer. That’s good for local businesses. That’s good for local economies. And the more folks who visit America, the more Americans we get back to work. It’s that simple.

Tear out the Missouri River dams, Mr. President: rewild the West.

Giago loathes South Dakota...too

South Dakota has failed its people: now ex-pat, Tim Giago tells readers that he hates what his former home has become:

If the majority of Indian voters would become registered as Independents neither the Democrats nor the Republicans would take their votes for granted. For too long the Indian vote was presumed to be in the pocket of the Democrats. As a result the Republican Party never made a real effort to court that vote. --Tim Giago, Huffington Post.

Author Sherman Alexie appeared with host Kerri Miller on Minnesota Public Radio. Alexie is considered a pariah by most in Indian Country, as is Giago.

Statehood for the tribes and Mexico. Rewild the West.

South Dakota's decline inward, self-imposed

It came as a shock that State Senator Stan Adelstein appeared with hate-monger, Gordon Howie on his fake teevee show the other day. So much so that it compelled some further study.

Richard Boyden's birthday is on the same day as political prisoner, Leonard Peltier. He links early Jewish settlement in western South Dakota to the subjugation of American Indians at the time of statehood and the massacre at Wounded Knee. Boyden writes:

And on Indian Reservations here in South Dakota, H. R. Block (Bloch), a Jewish owned tax service, is engaged in racist "predatory lending" and making hundreds of thousands of dollars off of unsuspecting Indians by offering "quick high interest loans" in the name of "getting your refund sooner". Block was sued for doing the same among poor Blacks but has a "green light" from the government to exploit American Indians. The highest prices for food and groceries are found in two Jewish owned stores on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations…20-30 % higher as compared to off reservation stores. Single Indian mothers needing pampers and wipes for their babies have to pay $2 to $4 more per package.

Jack Abramoff is linked to the bilking of tribal casinos.

Sen. Adelstein's ancestors owned a store in Kadoka, adjacent to the Pine Ridge Reservation: he is vested in many mining interests from gold to gravel on disputed treaty lands.

Senator Dan Lederman is a bail bondsman allied with catholics in a state where The New Jim Crow has been applied to American Indians and disproportionate mass incarceration rates.

Co-inkydink?

Peltier statement on National Day of Mourning

Today, the anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, might just might be the beginning of the end for fear and loathing in Indian Country.

Dana Lone Hill's essay is consistent with the parallels of Israel's war crimes against Palestine and the the screwing of Native America by US.

The statement from Leonard Peltier on this National Day of Mourning is posted here.

The White House petition to pardon Mr. Peltier is linked here.

Break the chain.

RT @NoahPollak:

Happy Native American Nakba Day, imperialists

Break Walmart now, buy Native

The defeat of corporate greed and wage slavery in recent elections has propelled workers to blockade the intersections leading to the world's largest retailer. Clinton Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich believes it's about time:

Consumer spending is 70 percent of economic activity, but consumers are also workers. And as income and wealth continue to concentrate at the top, and the median wage continues to drop – it’s now 8 percent lower than it was in 2000 – a growing portion of the American workforce lacks the purchasing power to get the economy back to speed. Without a vibrant and growing middle class, Walmart itself won’t have the customers it needs.

It's time to try and execute Walmart for its murder of Main Street.

BUY NATIVE: a list of businesses selling American Indian, Native Alaskan and First Nations' products is posted at Beyond Buckskin.

Religionists control 113th Congress; orgasms good for health

Think red state legislatures like South Dakota's and Montana's are terrifying?

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has compiled some scary findings on trends toward Christofascism in Congress. Here's a snip from the #longread:

Protestants, Catholics and Jews each make up a greater percentage of the members of Congress than of all U.S. adults. The same is true for some sub-groups of Protestants, such as Episcopalians and Presbyterians. By contrast, Pentecostals are a much smaller percentage of Congress than of the general public. Due in part to electoral gains in recent years, Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus now are represented in Congress in closer proportion to their numbers in the U.S. adult population. But some small religious groups, such as Jehovah’s Witnesses, are not represented at all in Congress.

More terrorism from the earth hater party is noted by Justin Sink in a piece at The Hill:

Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said Tuesday a letter from nearly 100 House Republicans urging President Obama not to appoint Susan Rice as Secretary of State employed racially-charged "code words" to make its case.

The white Christofascists are scared: their numbers are falling and see cultural diversity as a threat. It’s their version of climate change: the faster you try to stem it, the faster it accelerates.

An Oregon State University professor believes domestic livestock should be banned from public ground.

Surprise! Orgasms are good for you:

Talk to your doctor to ensure that you are physically healthy to engage in sexual activity with the one you love.

Old growth, fuel treatments at odds

Update, 21 November, 06:00 MST: Mike Garrity, executive director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies:

The Tribune’s article on Nov. 18 about the Lewis and Clark National Forest left out some important details and readers deserve to know why the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Native Ecosystems Council went to court to protect the Little Belt Mountains from the proposed “Hazardous Trees Reduction Project.”

---

Update, 19 November, 12:49 MST: The Missoulian editorial board holds its collective nose and urges cooperation on the passage of Sen. Tester's bill.

---

Senator Jon Tester's reelection in Montana is fanning the wildfire between those believing that tree thinning would stop major conflagrations and those protecting the oldest forests from the Anthropocene.

Karl Puckett of the Great Falls Tribune met with the combatants, compiled the results and composed a #longread. Here is a splice:

Native Ecosystems Council and Alliance for the Wild Rockies, frequent foes of the vegetation treatment projects, say the plans to reduce the threats threaten wildlife that live in the old-growth forest, such as goshawk, a bird of prey. There are 30 active lawsuits in the region — 18 filed in fiscal year 2012 — involving agency decisions, including two cases in the Great Falls-based Lewis and Clark National Forest that don’t include appeals occurring at the administrative level.

A third lawsuit in the local forest is being considered. In September, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals handed the Lewis and Clark forest a victory, upholding a previous ruling by U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy that a fuels-reduction project south of Stanford called Ettien Ridge would have no significant impact on wildlife. In the Ettien Ridge decision, a three-judge panel in Seattle ruled the Forest Service completed the required “hard look” at the environmental impact of the burning and logging on elk hiding cover and goshawk populations as required by the National Environmental Policy Act.

Under “categorical exclusion,” certain categories of work can be excluded from more in-depth environmental review. The work, a combination of prescribed fire and mechanical thinning of the forest, is meant to reduce the fire risk to cabins, forest in-holdings and a missile site and also improve the diversity of tree species and age classes.

Support your favorite environmental lawyers with a donation today.

Cached Twinkies, HoHos to power First Contact

An investment group has begun a drive to store products formerly manufactured by ITT Continental Baking Company as fuel for Zefram Cochrane's Phoenix, the craft that will lead to First Contact with a post-warp society.

A time capsule in Gallatin County near Bozeman, Montana is expected to be buried before the ground freezes.

In other news, a Palestinian source reports that Israel has opened the Gates of Hell.

RT @AndyShirtliff @larry_kurtz ding-dong and prosper.

SD legislators who laughed at hurricane victims now want drought relief; AG Jackley aiding and abetting human trafficking

As commenter, "Dave," asked at South Dakota Politics:

"What would be the reaction to letting a Muslim group use an alternate oath, develop collectivist farms or businesses, and compete vigorously against family agriculture?"

Not Hutterites, but FLDS. From the Rapid City Journal:

A secretive religious group linked to national cases of polygamy and the marriage of underage girls may be expanding to the Edgemont area, and there may be little Fall River County officials can do. The property in question was part of the estate of Buddy Heck and was left to Doris Seabeck and to Carolyn Fines. Seabeck is Heck’s sister and is the personal representative of his estate. Seabeck signed the purchase agreement, which is being contested by Fines in the courts. The commissioners said that as Carolyn Fines is state’s attorney Lance Russell’s mother, there may be some conflict of interest on the county’s part.

Just wow....

Fort Pierre could host plastics into fuel

Another report from Ecotrope prompted today's intersection:

The facility would be able to produce roughly 2.6 million gallons of oil a year from 23 million pounds of plastic. It would gasify the plastic material and re-condense it into the oil-like product that would be sold to a refinery. --Cassandra Profita

"Switching from coal to natural gas like switching from cigarettes to chewing tobacco" --Trey Pollard, Sierra Club.

All plastics are made with oil, all industrial fertilizers are made with oil, there are seven gallons of oil in every tire and every car we build requires thousands of gallons of oil to manufacture. Ink, bubble gum, dishwashing detergent, deodorant, hand lotion, shoes, sweaters, lipstick, toothbrushes and toothpaste are made with oil. Nearly everything you and I use in our day-to-day routines is brought to us courtesy of the thick, black condensation—formed by the millions of years of pressurization of dead organisms—that we call oil.--Aaron Abel, Indiana Statesman

One Lakota oyate has declared war on the corporations of the United States.

Lake Oahe, laden with toxic silt: victim of a century of mining and industrial agriculture (because burning diesel fuel to make ethanol makes so much sense) is subject of a pending water war.

South Dakota's designation as failed state could be reassigned to "recovering" in Fort Pierre, at the junction of rail and Missouri River, if the stupid fuckers that run South Dakota would build facilities to produce fuel for locomotives from waste plastics with technology that is otherwise water-intensive.




Plastic shredding in China. We the People owe the Peoples' Republic some money. They sell us useless plastic items that kill us.

EPA warns Iowa on livestock runoff, SD next

Mentally ill Sioux Falls ALEC legislator, Lora Hubbel is calling for the secession from the US after her party has participated in the gang rape of South Dakota aquifers and watersheds.

On the heels of research that overwhelmingly proves that antibiotics in cattle waste are destroying ecosystems,

the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has threatened to take over protection of Iowa's waterways from the state. A federal investigation shows the state has been lax in requiring that livestock operations follow rules to keep manure out of Iowa's creeks and rivers, ponds and lakes. --AP report posted at KSFY.

South Dakota's GOP-owned Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is next to be exposed.

Workers' rights seminar scheduled for Gillette: Wyofile.

Killer drones nearly operational from EAFB

Update, 0900 MST, 14 November: Drone pilots bored out their minds.

South Dakota's junior senator, earth hater John Thune, trumpeted success after prostituting stolen Lakota ground by bringing the current heavens-based smart-executor of civilian death, the Predator drone, to Ellsworth Air Force Base, cementing the continued commitment of South Dakotans to rain white phosphorus and dismemberment on children, women, and men of color for decades to come.

Ellsworth’s new mission of remotely piloting unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, will be under way by the end of the year, Weatherington said. Ellsworth airmen will control the MQ-9 Reaper from South Dakota as it flies reconnaissance or tactical strikes overseas. --Holly Meyer, Rapid City Journal.

Rapid City sez: fuck you, Mr. President; but, thanks for the dough.

Smoking gun: antibiotics in cattle waste creating superbugs and stunting fungal communities essential to forest health.

Tribes offer hope for South Dakota Democrats in occupied Great Sioux Nation

While most in America are celebrating elections in a post-racial society, South Dakota earth haters are gloating over its white supremacist victories.

President Obama won overwhelmingly in tribal nations trapped inside occupied territory. The only white county voting for the President was Clay at 56.5%: it's home to a diverse population associated with the University of South Dakota.

Posted at Politico:

Buffalo (Mdewakanton, Ihanktonwan): B. Obama 73.6%  472

Corson (Hunkpapa): B. Obama 54.0%  647

Day (Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate) B. Obama 52.1%  1,497

Dewey (Cheyenne River Lakota Oyate): B. Obama 63.7%  1,207

Marshall (Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate): B. Obama 53.4%  1,061

Roberts (Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate): B. Obama 54.1%   2,302

Shannon (Oglala Lakota Oyate): B. Obama 93.4%   2,922

Todd (Sicangu Lakota Oyate): B. Obama 79.1%  1,976

Ziebach (Cheyenne River Lakota Oyate, Hunkpapa): B. Obama 57.7%  439

If there is any consolation for Democrats in South Dakota, Oklahoma had not a single county go for President Obama even though tribal nations within that state wield significant economic power there.

WA county dismisses all misdemeanor cannabis cases

Update, 0725 MST, 11 November h/t Frank Elk, Cannabis Care Montana.

Governor Daugaard: pardon Bob Newland now and order AG Jackley to end the repression!

Cannabis Science (CBIS) is a Colorado Springs researcher. Stock in the firm has surged this week strengthening interested party's bottom line.

From a piece penned by Levi Pulkkinen, Seattle PI online:

King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg has dismissed all misdemeanor marijuana possession cases currently pending in Washington’s largest county. Taking action following Tuesday’s landmark vote on marijuana legalization, Satterberg said there would be “no point” in continuing to prosecute the 175 people currently facing misdemeanor charges of marijuana possession.

NPR's travel guru, Rick Steves:

Schoenbeck, Lederman bend over for bishops

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Legal cannabis: nullifying federal law?

Hey, Governor Daugaard: it's time to pardon Bob Newland.

President Obama is elected to his second term, Washington and Colorado have sent strong messages; and, California is led by Governor Moonbeam with a Democratic super-majority.

Imagine that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius announces in the coming days that cannabis has been removed from Schedule 1:

The HHS Secretary can even unilaterally legalize cannabis: "[I]f the Secretary recommends that a drug or other substance not be controlled, the Attorney General shall not control the drug or other substance."

a federal tax rate is adopted; and, she proposes that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives become the lead agency in enforcement provided that states can craft law to cultivate and distribute.

Montana has already trained a generation of growers. The state enjoys numerous brewery pubs and wine tasting venues for local product.

I've proposed that Deadwood get out ahead and draft legislation to make it a cannabis friendly zone in its quest to become an adult destination.

Assuming that home growing law looks like home brewing and wine making, what would state law need to include about liability insurance requirements for commercial resale and how would law enforcement be guided by probable cause?

RT ‏@ACLUSD

Between 2000 and 2012 prison admission for drug offenses grew 55%

Anti-concurrent causation clause: expect to hear that phrase in state legislatures.

South Dakota sending a whore back to the House

Update, 1145 MST: Heitkamp wins!

Update, 0900 MST: AP calls Montana Senate race for Tester!

Update, 7 November, 0700 MST: Heidi Heitkamp is leading in North Dakota: still too close to call, earth hater Berg has not conceded.

Montana's Senate race has been altered by Libertarian Dan Cox: absentee ballots are still being counted.

RT @GFTrib_KCates:

OPI race is still within 1 percentage point, @denisejuneau having the slight edge. And, Dem. @BullockWalshMT is ahead of @RickHill2012 by 2%

South Dakota's At-really-large representative Krusti Noem and Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota are running identical campaigns. The only difference is the Noem MILF factor: a trait Heitkamp lacks. White men on Viagra: the voting of the little heads.

South Dakota and Montana helped lead the way to the repeal of Prohibition: imagine that happening today's failed red states.

420 alert! Know your enemy.

From a paper presented to the Geological Society of America:

The largest flood since dam regulation occurred in early summer of 2011 following an abnormally high snow pack season and a week-long rain event in the headwaters. This flood has highlighted the critical need for quantifying the complex interaction between the river geomorphology and anthropogenic impacts. It is necessary to understand and quantify the human alterations of the river planform, morphology, and sediment dynamics in order to determine the impact of the 2011 controlled flood releases from the dam. We have created a conceptual model of the new governing fluvial and deltaic processes for the reach.

Grants of up to $100,000 available:

This funding opportunity is open to state, Indian tribe, irrigation district, water district, or other organization with state recognized and documented water delivery authority and are located within the geographic area of the Bureau of Reclamation's Dakotas Area Office.

You stupid fuckers.

Markets watching coal in collapse

The Center for Coalfield Justice is taking on the industry, now the market is selling on the news.

Justin Loiseau reports in the online edition of The Motley Fool:

Alpha Natural Resources – A 2010 mine explosion at subsidiary Massey killed 29 workers. Families of the miners and angry shareholders alike responded with a barrage of lawsuits. Many are pending, but some have been settled via levies, improved safety measures, restitution, and the establishment of a mine safety charity. Natural Resource Partners (NYSE: NRP ) is in the fight, too, as 22% of its revenue originates from Alpha. 

Arch Coal (NYSE: ACI ) – Engaging in mountaintop removal is a fast track to make enemies of environmentalists. With lawsuits bouncing back and forth between the EPA, Corps of Engineers, and Arch, the core issue of most battles is water contamination. Rulings are mixed, and many are pending.

Cliffs Natural Resources (NYSE: CLF ) – Partners can be pricey. A Rio Tinto (NYSE: RIO ) mine in Nevada has been cleaning up its river-polluting act since 2001. As of 2012, Rio has agreed to pay $25 million to clean up the old mine and river, and Cliffs will foot about half of that.

Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU ) – Superfund sites are rarely fun. Its Gold Fields subsidiary is the not-so-proud owner of 11 sites damaged from pre-1950's mining. Clean-up-related costs are currently estimated at just under $50 million, but Peabody expects liability to drop to $8 million over time.

View this movie at cultureunplugged.com

Union-busting killing workers; Jesus dies in ND oil field

A UW history professor told listeners of Wyoming Public Radio that billionaire greed is killing his state's workers in part by marginalizing Democrats. In Montana, a GOP PAC illegally used a union letterhead to assail pro-worker candidates.

Dustin Bleizeffer of WyoFile brings this report in the Billings Gazette:

Wyoming’s workplace fatality rate improved from the worst in the nation — 17 fatalities per 100,000 workers in 2007 — to fourth worst in 2009, according to an AFL-CIO report, passing the “worst” distinction to Montana, Louisiana and North Dakota, where many drilling rigs migrated during the same period. But before Wyoming leaders and employers claim victory over such a poor past performance, safety officials are warning that workplace fatalities could spike again when drilling and construction activity returns to Wyoming. Last week, an iWatch investigative report, “'Model Workplaces’ Not Always Safe,” found that many companies across the nation that are enrolled in state-level Voluntary Protection Programs enjoy the benefit of fewer inspections but still were guilty of serious safety violations — many resulting in the death of workers..

A coal mine in Campbell County, Wyoming is a defendant in a case led by an underwriter of Wyoming Public Radio:

The Spence Law Firm, working in association with the Michaels and Michaels law firm in Gillette, Wyoming, has filed a complaint against Wyoming corporation Western Fuels-Wyoming, Inc., (owner and operator of the Dry Fork Mine) and two of its employees. Negligence claims and other counts are also being brought against the mine employer, which fired Shawn Cunningham the day after he filed for Wyoming workers compensation benefits, in violation of public policy.

From WyoFile:

Unlike Wyoming’s coal mining industry, oil and gas companies work without borders and they do it without a clear set of safety ground-rules or certifications that are transferable from one drilling location to the next. “You can build all the policies you want, but if you don’t hold employees accountable for their actions,” the policies have little effect, said Denny Gladwin of Halliburton Services. “The legislature is very much a part of the Tea Party movement, and that’s good,” said Dallas Scholes of Williams Production RMT, who serves on WOGISA’s legislative committee.

Montana's rate for worker fatalities (10.8/100,000 workers) is more than three times the national average of 3.3/100,000, said a press release printed in the Montana Standard.

Lauren Donovan in the Bismarck Tribune:

Jesus Castillo, 60, of Santa Fe, N.M., died Monday at an oil well site near Mandaree from burns sustained while repairing a leak at the well.

Judge under investigation for racism blocks tribal polling access; Montana elections get even weirder

A federal judge under investigation in Montana and forced into early retirement for sending an email laced with racist attacks on President Obama's mother and ancestry has blocked easy access to early polling in remote parts of the state.

Richard Cebull, a Bush appointee, has forced tribes to sue Democratic Secretary of State Linda McCullough who is running for re-election. From a piece by Jordy Yager in the Hill:

“I'm not arguing that the opportunity is equal for Indian persons as it is to non-Indians," Cebull said, according to the Associated Press. "Because of poverty, because of the lack of vehicles and that sort of thing, it's probably not equal. However, you have to prove ... that they can't elect candidates of their choice."

From news aggregator rt.com

Fifteen Native American plaintiffs insisted to the court that they were being discriminated against because they did not have fair and equal access to ballots, needing in some cases to travel 120 miles round-trip in order to vote at sanctioned polling places. Judge Cebull, however, implied that their case was not strong enough to warrant emergency action.

Again, Yager in The Hill:

“The judge was wrong on the law and the defendants are on the wrong side of history,” said Tom Rodgers, a member of Montana’s Blackfeet Indian tribe, and a lobbyist with the Carlyle Consulting group, in a phone interview with The Hill Wednesday night.“They have a fear of Native Americans’ political power and a fear of their own budgets coming under stress,” said Rodgers, who blew the whistle on former lobbyist Jack Abramoff for charging Native American tribes exorbitant fees.

It was announced in early October that the misogynistic judge would assume senior status with reduced case loads according to Clair Johnson of the Billings Gazette and published in the Helena Independent Record:

At least two organizations, including the Montana Human Rights Network and Common Cause, also filed formal complaints against Cebull. The incident drew national attention and calls by other groups, elected officials and the media to resign. The Ninth Circuit has not issued a decision in the case.

Pitting tribes against a Democratic secretary of state in a tight election between Senator Jon Tester and earth hater Dennybriated Rehberg, whose drunken antics contributed to a near-fatal 2010 boat crash, is a desperate move by the Montana Republican Party after another GOP judge reluctantly released a heavily redacted version of the incident.

In cooperation with ProPublica, PBS has exposed more GOP wrongdoing.

The state's contentious election season has been punctuated with a controversial activist judiciary with jurists even pitted against one another.

The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports this morning that one cable provider apparently refused to air the PBS report, Big Sky, Big Money.

The Helena Independent Record has reported that a break-in occurred at the office of the Commission of Political Practices: the former director having resigned in an imbroglio in yet another twist in the saga.

The US House race in Montana finds the earth hater party spending double the money in its efforts to defeat Kim Gillan.
Billings Gazette file photo.