Montana legislators who benefit from demonstrable corruption and “keep the money” are by definition corrupt, don’t you think?

I have an idea to keep a scorecard of our Montana legislators this session. Not that I intend to be fair and balanced, since my admittedly-biased intent is to analyze the compromised nature of these elected beasts of burden that we insist on overloading with power using broken-down pack saddles and half-assed diamond hitches. That said, I think every multi-generational Montanan can admit that elephants are harder to pack than donkeys, but more on the elephants and half-assed diamond hitches in a minute.    

As we all know, there are more than a couple ways to analyze hypocrisy. Even those who vehemently believe Obama was born on another planet cannot deny this basic fact. But when you’re talking about 21^st century elephants and what comes out of them, it becomes harder than some are willing to work, which is probably why there’s such a vacuum of media coverage on the subject. Not that it’s hard to find examples of glaring conflict-of-interest, venality and slave-state interpretations of the Constitution in our legislators’ portfolios. What’s hard is that the examples are legion, sometimes arcane, and the vectors intersect from multiple directions emanating out of the black hole just to the Far Right of Attila, which means they come predominantly from Montana Republican legislators dutifully following their state party platform (*). From corporate media’s point of view, this means that the kind of in-depth coverage citizens need in order to know what’s going on is too confusing to fit into one pre-packaged sound bite and therefore does not sell product. It also means that, since the sordid (and sadly true) tale predominantly paints individual Republicans as the Dark Perpetrators of Naughtiness, the tale is therefore not “fair and balanced”. But as I hope the incomplete compilation below indicates, nobody to the Right of Attila is trying to hide who threw the gauntlet of corruption down anymore. So why should We The Taxpayers be shy about picking it up and accepting the challenge full on?  Therefore I’ll claim the mantle of the former torpedoman I once was several lives ago and say, “Damn the Fair and Balanced! Full speed ahead!”

This is a partial list (**), but I hope it’s a decent start. Most of this information is available on other sites; I just thought it was worth the effort to compile it all in one place and for one core reason—to foster Good Government by constantly exposing blatant corruption.

For simplicity—which I love—I calibrated my corruption-o-meter with a bat-crap decoder key to track three vectors:

·      A.L.E.C. for venality and conflict of interest.

·      Federal farm subsidies for hypocrisy.

·      Over-the-top teabaggery, in which classification I added Gun Love, for members of the Friends of Jeff Davis Club.

A.L.E.C.

I won’t go into an in-depth explanation of who A.L.E.C. (American Legislative Exchange Council) is. You can get that information here: http://alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed and you should. But consider the following baseline distillation:

·      A.L.E.C. buys elected officials. There’s no other word for it. Out of approximately 8300 state and national elected officials in the U.S., A.L.E.C. boasts of having 2000 of them in their corporate pockets, including at least 24 Montana legislators. They buy them for the price of a steak dinner and a plane ticket (what A.L.E.C. calls a junket “scholarship”). Using Montana’s official state language—English—this practice can easily be defined as accepting a “bribe”, or, if you choose not to be fair and balanced, a “kickback”.

·      A.L.E.C. is a super-funded bill-mill massively underwritten by mega-corporations who are, in Montana’s case, almost exclusively out-of-state and often out-of-country.

·      A.L.E.C.’s corporate partners, many of whom—again--are from other countries, write “model bills” and hand them to their pet legislators who, in turn, introduce them into their own state legislatures as their own ideas. Oftentimes these A.L.E.C. bills are boilerplates of corporate-written legalese that, if one wants to indulge their worst real fears, could have originated in Saudi Arabia, Israel or Dubai.

·      A.L.E.C. boasts that through this Machiavellian mechanism, which really needs to be studied to be believed, their pet legislators have introduced about 1000 A.L.E.C.-originated bills a year, legion of which are now state and federal law.

Out of 150 Montana legislators, 25 are demonstrable A.L.E.C. pets—ALL OF THEM REPUBLICAN. This does not include the many former legislators who are also rattling around in the A.L.E.C. moneybag, including two newly elected Public Service Commission (PSC) members—Bob Lake and Roger Koopman, and the Montana Supreme Court justice—Jim Rice. For context: remember that American Traditions Partnership (ATP) case that overturned 100 years of Montana anti-corruption law and allowed $500,000 to magically-appear in Rick Hill’s campaign account? Jim Rice was the swing vote on that one. As for the PSC, they’ve just announced that they will refuse to pursue alternative energy sources. Given that A.L.E.C. is predominantly funded by energy giants like Exxon and Koch Industries, this can be considered a magical event, too. N’est pas? (***)

Farm Subsidies

Thirty years of Reagan-epoch Tax Warrior doctrine now floats tepidly within the confines of the Styrofoam teacups many of our Republican legislators proudly sip from. This doctrine demands that federal government entitlements and subsidies are BAD when given to THOSE PEOPLE. Little is said by these same tea sippers about the vast amounts of sublime subsidies emanating from the same supposedly evil federal government received by THEM.

19 of our Montana legislators, ALL REPBULICANS, including 7 who are also on the A.L.E.C. pet list, received a total of $6,521,900 in farm subsidies between 1995 and 2009 (****).  Using simple (and therefore unfair) math, if we divide six million-plus by 19 we come up with about $25,000 a year per legislator who chooses the political party whose winner-take-all philosophy targets those making less than that per year for economic and corporeal extinction. I didn’t include the two Democrats, who received a combined $6,000, because it’s not a point of faith among their crowd to castigate THOSE people for taking OUR money. Again using Montana’s official state language, we can define this type of phenomenon by a couple of word choices—“hypocrisy” or “magic”. In the interest of kindness, I will use both.

Over-the-top Teabaggery

Again in the interest of kindness, I’ve only included nine in this category--so far. They made the cut for their recent demonstrations and utterings supporting pre-Civil-War concepts on states’ rights such as “coordination” and “jury nullification”, N.R.A. talking-points opposing gun control, and anti-science stances related to global warming and evolution. I know there are many more (sigh). But what I want to emphasize here is that all of the above craziness is vetted, approved and promoted by those pesky out-of-state and out-of-country mega-corporations through their A.L.E.C. ties that bind.

So-- drumroll please. The winners are—so far:

Sen. Jeff Essmann (R-Billings)        A.L.E.C. Junket participant

Rep. Mark Blasdel (R- Somers)      A.L.E.C. Education Task Force

Has introduced A.L.E.C. boilerplate bill(s) in past sessions

Sen. Elsie Arntzen (R-Billings)        A.L.E.C. Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development

Task Force

Rep. Liz Bangerter (R-Helena)       Health and Human Services Task Force

Sen. Dee Brown (R-Hungry Horse) A.L.E.C. junket participant

Rep. David Howard (R-Park City)                 A.L.E.C. Civil Justice Task Force

Opined more guns in schools right after Sandy hook http://mtcowgirl.com/2012/12/19/gop-lawmaker-wants-more-guns-in-schools/

Sen. Llew Jones (R- Conrad)           A.L.E.C. Communications and Technology Task Force

                                                                        $609,508 federal farm subsidy

Sen. Krayton Kerns (R-Laurel)       A.L.E.C. bill 2011 to Generally nullify Environmental Protection Agency directives

N.R.A. bills to legalize the use of silencers out in the woods 2011-13 and HB 228 (Castle Doctrine) 2009

Rep. Roy Hollandsworth                 A.L.E.C. Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force

(R-Brady)                                 $80,675 federal farm subsidy

Rep. Steve Lavin (R-Kalispell)        A.L.E.C. Public Safety and Elections Task Force

Rep. Mike Miller (R-Helmville)      A.L.E.C. member

Rep. Jesse O’Hara (R-Great Falls) A.L.E.C. Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force

Rep. Lee Randall (R- Broadus)      A.L.E.C. Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force

$507,674 federal farm subsidy

Rep. Wendy Warburton                  A.L.E.C. Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force

(R-Helena)

Rep. Cary Smith (R-Billings)           A.L.E.C. Junket participant

Rep. Ted Washburn                            Has introduced A.L.E.C. boilerplate bill(s) in past sessions

(R- Bozeman)

Rep. Scott Reichner                            A.L.E.C. Communications and Technology Task Force

(R- Bigfork)                                               Has introduced A.L.E.C. boilerplate bill(s) in past sessions

Sen. Jason Priest (R- Red Lodge)  A.L.E.C. Boilerplate, 2011 resolution to prevent the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases.

Rep. Pat Connell (R-Darby)            Has introduced A.L.E.C. boilerplate bill(s) in past sessions

Rep. Tom Berry (R-Roundup)         Has introduced A.L.E.C. boilerplate bill(s) in past sessions

                                                                        $2,819 federal farm subsidy

Rep. Jeff Welborn (R-Dillon)          Has introduced A.L.E.C. boilerplate bill(s) in past sessions

                                                                        $972 federal farm subsidy

Sen. Jon Sonju    (R-Kalispell)         Has introduced A.L.E.C. boilerplate bill(s) in past sessions

Sen. Rick Ripley                                    ALEC junket participant

(R- Wolf Creek)                                       $89,847 federal farm subsidy

Sen. Debbie Barrett (R-Dillon)      ALEC junket participant

$123,378 federal farm subsidy

Sen. Ron Arthun (R-Wilsall)           $213,800 federal farm subsidy

Sen. John Brenden (R-Scobey)      $497,291 federal farm subsidy

Sen. Taylor Brown (R- Huntley)    $473,560 federal farm subsidy

Rep. Christy Clark (R-Choteau)    $122,287 federal farm subsidy

Rep. Austin Knudsen                          $705,941 federal farm subsidy

(R- Culbertson)

Sen. Terry Murphy (R- Cardwell) $188,427 federal farm subsidy

Rep. Keith Regier (R- Kalispell)     $380,160 federal farm subsidy

Sen. Matthew Rosendale                 $1,083 federal farm subsidy

(R-Glendive)

Rep. Daniel Salomon (R- Ronan)    $223,865 federal farm subsidy

Sen. Janna Taylor (R- Dayton)      $1,017,491 federal farm subsidy

Sen. Bruce Tutveldt                             $643,063 federal farm subsidy

(R- Kalispell)

Sen. Jim Peterson (R- Buffalo)       $637,547 federal farm subsidy

                                                                        HB 549, 2011, "Code of the West"

Rep. Nancy Ballance (R-Victor)   County-supremacy/”Coordination” proponent

                                                                        Ravalli Co. Tea Party Patriots member

Citizens for Excellence in Education member http://billlacroix.blogspot.com/2012/01/is-world-flat-or-round_1016.html

Sen(!) Scott Boulanger                     County-supremacy/”Coordination” proponent

(R- Darby)                                Advocate for privatizing public game herds/lands http://billlacroix.blogspot.com/2012/12/privatized-venison-anyone.html

Rep. Clayton Fiscus (R-Billings)   Introduced Creationism bill LC 0599

Sen. Dave Lewis (R-Helena)            Introduced SJ 2 in 2011 for MT to withdraw from UN

Rep. Jesse O’Neil                                   Requested to be paid in gold while advocating for a return to

(R- Columbia Falls)            pre-1913 elections when seats were honestly bought up-front

Sen. Fred Thomas                                 Good God!!

(R- Stevensville)                                    

Rep. Champ Edmonds                   Reknowned for being to the right of Atilla (*****)
(R- Missoula)                                        Recent gun apologia letter-to-editor after Sandy Hook

Rep. Alan Doane (R- Bloomfield)   “Encourage manufacture of ammunition in Montana to ensure availability.”

Sen. Vernall Jackson         Introduced bills to allow legislators to pack heat on the house and

(R-Kalispell)          senate floor 2011/2013

ALEC junket participant

Conclusion

This is an incomplete list. It’s certain that, as the session moves forward, more will surface and make the cut. But just on this preliminary and (I feel) honestly attempted count alone, out of 150 total Montana legislators, a full 45 of them—ALL REPUBLICANS—make my list so far. That’s exactly half-of the 90 sitting Republican legislators who have demonstrably-compromised themselves. So far.

If traditional, Lincolnesque Republicans really want to clean up the mess the Tea Party has made of their organization, they know where to start. Equally, if traditional good-government Democrats really want to put the public heat on cleaning up our horribly corrupt political system to the point where it represents real, unincorporated people again, I suggest they start in the same place.

In the interest of Kindness, that’s what I would call true bi-partisanship.

(*) http://www.mtgop.org/index.php/about/party-platform.html

(**) Over a dozen state legislators owe their seats to American Traditions Partnership (ATP). I don’t have corroboration on all the names, but as I get them I will post them. For now, keep Ballance’s and Thomas’ campaigns in mind and check out Montana Cowgirl’s related post: http://mtcowgirl.com/2013/01/08/bullock-on-national-radar/

(***) http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Montana_ALEC_Politicians

http://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/a/a3/BUYING_INFLUENCE_ALEC_Scholarships_by_State.pdf

(****)http://www.thepolicyinstitute.org/web_report.pdf  http://farm.ewg.org/region.php?fips=30000

(*****) http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/01/10/1177571/-MT-Sen-Champ-Edmunds-R-So-Far-Might-Be-The-Craziest-Candidate-Of-The-2014-Election-Cycle             

Montana Legislature Opens for Business Today. Praise the Lord and Pass the George Orwell

 As the nation get ready to celebrate Richard Nixon’s 100^th birthday, let’s reflect on how much our fragile democracy has devolved over these last few decades. Understandably, anybody under forty years old who depends on mainstream media for their information may not know that Richard Nixon was the only president in our history who resigned in genuine disgrace. Several of his top officials did jail time. He carpet-bombed Hanoi on Christmas, oversaw brutal, secret wars in Southeast Asia, lied about it, lied some more, then finished his political career with his classic whopper, “I am not a crook”. To be fair, he didn’t actually go to jail, but he did almost single-handedly cynicalize an entire generation of young Americans who were just beginning to realize that our planet was in grave danger from the brand of politics Tricky Dick was selling us like used cars. That alone, while not certifiably crooked, was at least a curve ball thrown to all future generations—you and I included. Many of us who watched our young friends--or our young selves--being fed into Nixon’s meatgrinder wars viscerally recall the pain of the imperialists’ sucker punch aimed at our patriotism, the gut-wrench realization sinking home that our country could not—and should not-- ever sink any lower.

Now, of course, Roosevelt is a communist and Nixon is the subject of a special exhibit entitled “RN. Patriot. President. Peacemaker”. President Obama, who during the Vietnam-War-era would have been considered a Nixon-era Republican, has sent a wreath. Military jet flyovers have been scheduled.

I guess you can call me an Old Hippy, although I actually volunteered for Nixon’s Wars(*) and came out the other end decidedly less-than-hippyish in the strictest definition of that indefinable term. That leaves me to sit here contemplating legacy vs. makeover, Nixon vs. Roosevelt, reality vs. the last decade’s worth of Montana legislative sessions, and I can still feel the sucker punch that leaves me obligingly breathless. As the thought of another tea-soaked session in Helena sinks home, the question much-asked in these post-reality days by those who yearn nostalgically for …reality (!) comes begging. How on earth, this cliché question goes, did we get to this truly-bat-crap-crazy point in our political and moral evolution where Nixon looks like up? Is there really an Old Testament God, and, if so, did we piss Him off? Or is it possible that the inventors of Democracy, the ancient Greeks, weren’t kidding when they claimed the heavens were populated by horny, sociopathic super beings with a sick sense of humor when it came to their human toys? No matter what your views on religion, given the results of forty years of for-profit revisionism where Nixon is now a peacemaker (!), we can’t rule out magic. Or could it simply be that since we don’t deal rationally with our past, we’re therefore incapable of recognizing our present? There’s more than a hot-dog bun’s worth of Greek Tragedy wrapped around that possibility, but simplicity is what I’ve come to prefer these last few decades. Maybe I’m an Old Hippy after all.

If you’re inclined to contemplate that annoying panhandler of a question of how we got here, consider just one recent aspect of the answer. In early 2009, 60% of the American people supported a Single Payer health care system. On top of that, 72% not only supported a “public option” of some kind, they thought they’d voted for it in November of 2008, and were flabbergasted and then dispirited when they didn’t get it. Conversely, the one-quarter of our population who are apparently genetically-modified to simultaneously express love for the current health insurance model while demanding an Obama birth certificate signed by Rush Limbaugh were energized to the point of, well, teabaggery for lack of a more polite phrase.

In early 2009, I was organizing in Western Montana for Single Payer, seeing and hearing nothing but support from all sides for that humane, good-government solution to our cruel, broken system. Sure, Baucus and Emmanuel told us “children” that Single Payer was off the table so run along and play, and we cursed them roundly for that. But we on the ground could see with our own eyes that an alternative to the health-insurance protection-racket everybody not richer than Marcus Daly was suffering from was not only a transcendental coalition-builder in our divided country, it was a no-brainer. A large majority of We The People voted for it, expected it, needed it. Nobody thought that Obama would be so foolish as to take the Public Option off the table, and take it off so quickly. The day he signaled that he would was when the so-called “Tea Party” movement was born. I saw it happen right here in Ravalli County, in spades. The D.N.C. cut our legs off, unilaterally, their working base, to appease a political entity so fearful to them I still have a hard time identifying what that entity really is (**). The plutocratic sharks, always on the lookout for shills to fund, smelled blood. We The 72% were the ones spilling it, the “Tea Party” movement was nurtured and energized with it and the poster child of reality’s antithesis--the last three Montana legislative sessions—were left for us in our weakened state to deal with. Alone. This, in my opinion, is why we are currently being tugged, twisted, appalled and--yes--ruled, by the bat-crap crazy and outright venal 25%. We simply are letting ‘em get away with it.

Let’s start doing better, shall we?

Notes:

(*)Through dumb luck, certainly through no fault of my own naïve trying, I ended up in Spain rather than Nam. Lucky me.

(**)My best sad guess is that they were afraid of the N.R.A. and all those assault weapons with 30+ round clips we’ve allowed our society to be infested with. If so, it should be clear by now that appeasing that faction has been ineffective, to say the least.

Privatized Venison Revisited

When considering how much damage a well-funded, plutocratic front-group like Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife (SFW) can do to the lands and animals that we cherish, it’s critical to reflect on what exactly it is that we have the luxury of cherishing, and why we have it.

Stewart Brandborg (Brandy) published the following commentary in the Christian Science Monitor last month. His subject was the Sportsmen’s Heritage Act (H.R. 4089), a bill that has already passed the House and is awaiting action in the Senate. H.R. 4089 would evicserate the Wilderness Act, as Brandy so eloquently describes. He is eloquent about the Wilderness Act and the wild lands that we cherish because he was one of the principle architects of the Wilderness Act. We take wilderness—and giants of conservation like Brandy-- for granted now. But think—please. If it weren’t for people like Brandy and his dad, Guy (Bitterroot Forest Superviser, 1935-55; the original "Brandy"), those lands that provide us with our pure water and pure experiences we would literally trade our lives for would have long been carved up and sold off to the highest bidder, just as the uberrich who support Trojan-Horse outfits like SWF would do today if we don't pay attention.  http://www.thewildlifenews.com/2012/06/24/new-sportsmens-group-enters-wolf-fray-but-what-is-their-real-agenda/#comments

They have already made great inroads in that direction, state by state. Look at the joke of our rogue commissioners appointing a rogue Boulanger to the state senate, just for tiny instance. 

Pay attention: the same crowd that fills our rogue commissioners' meetings now spouting "2nd Amendment" nonsense while simultaneously taking advantage of the unmatched wild amenities (often with snowmobiles!) that Brandy and his dad helped preserve for Ravalli County are the ones who have vilified, threatened and even stalked him over the last couple decades. This same unacceptable behavior has accelerated these last few tea-soaked years--for him as well as for all the rest of us to the left of Attila--because we collectively turned the other way when it was being perpetrated on giants like Brandy previous to this current teabaggery. Now we're all feeling his pain, and we should learn from it. The N.R.A. , as well as the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation have signed on as supporters for H.R. 4089. If you are a member of either organization, or any other organization listed as supporters, call them up and give them hell.

http://www.ussportsmen.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/4-17-12-HR-4089-Supporters.pdf

And give folks like Brandy thanks for being so tireless and passionate in protecting what everyone—including those who would bite their 2^nd Amendment-blabbing toungue before admitting it—depends on for their very spiritual and corporeal lives.

For crying out loud. Let’s activate once and for all against this crap.

Note: For one more quick read on SFW, I recommend the following: http://www.hcn.org/blogs/range/sportsmen-stab-theodore-roosevelt-in-the-back . Inform yourself and get mad.

Commentary

Conservationists: Mobilize in defense of American Wilderness Act

Stewart Brandborg | The Christian Science Monitor | Nov, 30 2012

Conservationists and wilderness enthusiasts across America are mobilizing to defeat a bill passed by the House of Representatives in April that would eviscerate the 1964 Wilderness Act. Deceptively entitled the Sportsmen’s Heritage Act, the bill (H.R. 4089) purports to protect hunting, fishing, and recreational shooting. The bill is being pushed by powerful groups like the National Rifle Association and Safari Club International and supported by some of the most anti-wilderness Republicans in Congress. And it would effectively gut the Wilderness Act and protections for every wilderness in America's 110-million-acre National Wilderness Preservation System – everywhere from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota to the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness along the Montana-Idaho border that I can see from my home.

The House bill's provisions could still become law during the current lame-duck session of Congress. Though the Senate is considering a different sportsmen’s bill that does not include the harmful elements, the Senate bill could eventually be merged with the devastating House bill in order to pass both chambers.

The Wilderness Act eloquently defines wilderness as “an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain." The statute further designates wilderness as an area that retains “its primeval character and influence, without permanent improvements or human habitation” and is “protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions.”

I know the Wilderness Act. I worked alongside my mentor, Howard Zahniser of the Wilderness Society (the bill’s chief author and proponent), from 1956-1964 to gain its passage by Congress. After Zahniser’s untimely passing in 1964, I directed the Wilderness Society for the next 12 years in implementing the new law and in adding new areas to the National Wilderness Preservation System. Congress responded to requests from the American people by adding tens of millions of acres to the wilderness system. Today, that system has grown from the original 9 million acres in 1964 to nearly 110 million acres. The Wilderness Act provides the best and most protective standards of all types of federal public land protection.

But this great legacy of American Wilderness is essentially destroyed by H.R. 4089 in several key ways.

First, H.R. 4089 elevates hunting, fishing, shooting, and wildlife management above wilderness protection within designated wilderness areas. Visitors or wildlife managers could drive motor vehicles and build roads, cabins, dams, hunting blinds, aircraft landing strips, and much more in wildernesses if any of these activities could be rationalized as facilitating opportunities for hunting, fishing, shooting, or managing fish and wildlife.

The only limitation in H.R. 4089 on motor vehicles or development is that the activity must be related to hunting, fishing, shooting, or wildlife management, though that need not be its only or even primary use. In reality, almost any recreational or management activity could be shoehorned into one of these exceptions and thereby exempted from Wilderness Act safeguards.

Perhaps even more troubling, H.R. 4089 would waive protections imposed by the Wilderness Act for anything undertaken in the name of wildlife management or for providing recreational opportunities related to wildlife. This would allow endless manipulations of wildlife and habitat.

This could include logging, if done to stimulate new forest growth on which deer might graze. Similarly, bulldozing new dams and reservoirs could be validated as a way to enhance fishing habitats. Poisoning lakes and streams to kill native fish and then planting exotic fish might be allowed under the guise of increasing fishing opportunities. And predator control (including aerial gunning and poisoning) could be defended for boosting the numbers of popular hunted species like elk or bighorn sheep that predators also eat.

There is no limit to what managers could do in designated wilderness areas all in the name of wildlife management or providing opportunities for recreational hunting, fishing, and shooting. These provisions strike at the heart of the Wilderness Act and its foundational underpinnings to preserve wilderness untrammeled and native wildlife in its natural environment.

Sportsmen and sportswomen – those who hunt and fish – were, and continue to be among the strongest supporters of the original wilderness law, of designating wilderness lands, and of the special quality of fishing and hunting experiences that wild and undeveloped lands provide. Many of these folks are fighting to prevent eviscerating the law and its wilderness preservation safeguards.

For nearly a half-century, the Wilderness Act has protected the finest of America’s wild lands and created a National Wilderness Preservation System that is the envy of much of the world. H.R. 4089 would negate all that we have preserved. In my 60 years of work for wilderness preservation and management, our nation has never been threatened by a more serious attack on this irreplaceable publicly owned resource. Citizens must demand that the US Senate do nothing to advance the House provisions of the so-called Sportsmen’s Heritage Act and instead protect our grand wilderness legacy for future generations.

Stewart Brandborg is a wildlife biologist, former executive director of the Wilderness Society, and a long-time board member of and now senior adviser to Wilderness Watch.

Did you know: the 223-caliber Bushmaster Assault Rifle is a "Pro-life" weapon?

Please look at the main weapon Adam Lanza pointed at little children--and fired into the faces of.

Now please read how Bushmaster clinically-describes such weapons, designed soley for combat, as the one used at Sandy Hook that capably fired up to six rounds a second into a crowded classroom of little children:

“With a Bushmaster for security and home defense, you can sleep tight knowing that your loved ones are protected. Bushmaster offers everything you need to ensure the safety of you and your family. Our high-quality pistols, carbines, and rifles are extremely reliable, easy to shoot, and include lightweight carbon models that are perfect for women. And with their intimidating looks, all Bushmasters make a serious impression.”  http://www.bushmaster.com/world/our_world.asp

Next, please check out all the local dealerships listed on Bushmaster’s own website where you can easily obtain this weapon. This list does not include gun shows or parents’ closets:

http://www.bushmaster.com/extra/dealerlookup.asp?ZipCode=598&Submit=Submit&offset=10

Finally, please consider all the ranting, railing and law-passing that’s been done in our Montana legislature by so-called “pro-lifers” these past 20 years or so to make such weapons so easily accessable in the name of their pro-life “freedom”.

It’s the flu season. If you throw up, it might be that. But it might be time to reclaim our very own official state language--English--and redefine some terms for the sake of sanity.

“Pro-life” indeed.