House candidate Bill Kennedy's withdrawal from the race is unfortunate and disappointing to those who follow politics.  Although he faced a stiff uphill battle, he certainly had the credentials and likeability to mount a competitive campaign.  Regardless of political affiliation, competitive races challenge the candidate, the party, and the citizenry to look at issues that face our State.

Kennedy's withdrawal also highlights the difficulty in mounting credible statewide campaigns.  The candidates family, employment, and general well-being are affected.  The stress of political and financial support is compounded in a State where distance is such a large factor.

So thank you, Mr. Kennedy, for the effort and commitment. 

And thank you to all those seeking statewide office, republican and democrat, incumbent and challenger/s  

The legislature is certainly worried about what the Governor is going to do, not going to do, or may do.  That's a problem.  In an earlier post, MOTTO suggested the executive branch overstepped its role in an amendatory veto, clearly making a policy decision absent the legislative branch.  Now, the House is holding action on the budget, awaiting the Governor to sign tax bills.  Both branches need to do what they were sent to do, not the others job. 

The legislature has the responsibility to send legislation to the Governor, regardless of what he may or may not do.  Whether or not the executive signs a particular bill is moot, they have a responsibility to complete on behalf of the people of the state of Montana. 

The legislature can hold the executive feet to the fire following the session, whether that be politically or a special session, and visa versa. Now is the time for both to complete their respective tasks.

I have not met many of the bloggers whose sites I visit on a daily basis.  I communicate regularly with several bloggers from around the state.  With the exception of one (whom I occasionally have lunch with locally) I have no idea what they look or sound like, but I sure feel I know them, and I certainly can say I like them and enjoy their company.  While that might seem rather odd, they seem like old friends that I shoot a line of text or two a week at to see how they are.  Occasionally I'll forward an article that I might think they'll find interesting.  I worry about those I haven't seen post in a while and haven't responded to the "how are you doing?" email.

Now these folks aren't ideologically in lock step with my views.  There is some common ground, most probably wonder why the heck I am so liberal/conservative on one issue and such an asshat on another.   The commonality lies in putting thoughts on a variety of issues on line for a small group of people to read or entertain.  I can disagree with any one of my colleagues, but I certainly respect him/her.  We have all heard that "respect is earned" speech from a parent, teacher, friend or mentor.  It certainly is in this atmosphere. 

While respect is earned, it can be difficult to see when it is delivered.  One of my life lessons has been that it needed not be stated, spoken, or written.  Whether a post makes me think, or angry, or thoughtful, or sad, or enlightened, or dumbfounded, you have earned my respect. 

Butte, USA's newspaper, the Montana Standard, has certainly brought a bit of today's technology to one of Butte's most cherished celebrations, St. Patricks day.  They have streaming video from the M&M.  Now MOTTO assumes other Butte landmarks and events will also be showcased through St. Patty's day.  The paper will be scrolling web cam events under the main heading and the link can be found on the left of the home page.  Thanks to the Standard, everyone can enjoy part of the Mining city's March tradition.  Cheers!

MOTTO hasn't had a Weekend Coffee post in some time, so pour your self a cup and relax.  

Some of those in government and elected officials occasionally take ordinary folk for granted.  While not necessarily done intentionally (at least initially), it can certainly fester into a much bigger issue, ultimately causing many more problems than it was worth, as well as being downright impolite.  Take two of Montana's bloggers, for example.  Pogie at Intelligent Discontent and GeeGuy at Electric City Weblog.  One liberal, one conservative, each asking government for something and not satisfied with the response.  Pogie is asking for Congressman Rehbergs schedule, while GeeGuy is looking for public documents.  Each has run into a roadblock of some form or another, and the issue has grown to what MOTTO would characterize as fairly significant, if not very interesting and, to an extent, disturbing.

The purpose of the post is not to legitimize the issue for either blog, one can read the the various posts on the respective weblogs and determine the veracity themselves.  MOTTO is amazed, however, that neither of these issues needed to grow to the extent they did, and they only did so due to the apparent inaction, lack of action, or lack of respect by the government or individuals.    It appears that they were set aside as not important or that big of deal.

The emergence of blogs and ultimate viral ability for stories to gain traction and importance is evident, whether it be  Britney Spears or the Iraq war.  Issues important at a local level can spread just as quickly, and perhaps have a more fervent audience, as evidenced at ECB. 

What is all too clear in both of these examples, is that it more than likely wasn't necessary.  Simply responding with the information, or a more clear explanation of why something wasn't available, would have likely ended the issue before it started.

Earlier this week, 41 people completed our process to become citizens of our country.  Congratulations to all, and a special "way to go" to Robert, a valued employee; we are all very proud of you!

 usually, federal courts deal with "human tragedy of all kinds," Anderson said. "Then comes along naturalization, which changes everything. It's uplifting to me to have the honor to be here today."

The judge noted the sacrifices each new citizen made to come to the United States and to earn citizenship. "This is still, despite all our troubles, a good place to be. And, of course, Montana is the best," he said. "It's an honor to have you here."

Following this years initiative fiasco, the Missoulian suggests making the process easier.   Wonderful, lets reward those who deliberately set out to connive, cheat, and cloud important issues by making it easier.  Why don't we also shorten the Tour De France not to tempt cheaters to cheat. Lets remove the mountain passes along with banning doping.

To be fair, they also suggest barring paid signature gathering, which MOTTO supports (MOTTO also strongly advocates for stringent financial reporting).   The problem with the Missoulian editorial, however, is how quickly they seem to point to the courts as the culprit in these issues rather than those who deliberately hijacked our initiative system. 

 But direct democracy doesn't exactly work if it's left to the courts to decide what people can vote for and what they cannot. We need an initiative process that limits the potential for control by the courts.

The courts did not decide what people could vote for, but rather upheld the integrity of the system.   Common sense changes regarding gathering and financial transparency will provide a level of integrity, particularly for those who are ethically challenged.  The courts will always be (and should remain) a line of defense for those who continue to attempt to circumvent our precious system.

Last weekend, this segment highlighted the article in the Daily Inter Lake in which neighbors peacefully protested hate. Later in the week, major newspapers and other blogs picked up the story as well.  Good for Montana, our media, and fellow bloggers.  However, we were not the only ones to track the story.  MOTTO's admin stat package provides search engine hit information, and the brave Montanan who lead the neighborhood walkthrough (and named in the Daily Inter Lake and media reports) is apparently a search engine topic.  Weekend Coffee has been hit several times a day thanks to a search for the ladies name.  Her name & the article coverage now appears in several hate and racist blogs covering what they see as an "anti-white" story.

Politically, we know a position may not be popular with folks from differing political viewpoints, while others worry that blogging may affect employment, etc. Now, we also have to worry about hate mongers tracking anti-hate.  It is to be expected in the internet age that certain stories will be tracked by kooks. 

But the scary thing is that an ordinary citizen doing the right thing for her, her family, and her community is the subject in a search engine, most likely from the hatemongers. Now there is not much MOTTO can do about the the kooks searching for courageous Montanans like the Kalispell neighbors, however, MOTTO will be posting the "stop hate" image on our sidebar.  Should a hatemonger find this site from any search, they will see the image.  I quietly call on my fellow bloggers to do the same, with this image or any other. 

The image is from PBS and their "not in our town" segment. 

Every now and then a story comes along which makes one feel better about the human condition.  The Kalispell Daily Inter Lake highlights such a story as neighbors come together to confront racism and bigotry.

 He and other neighborhoods researched the family and were troubled by what they found.

On Thursday night, they took action in a peaceful way.

“The last thing we need to do is to get aggressive and hateful,” neighbor Rebecca Kushner-Matteer said.

They printed information sheets about the family and knocked on doors to pass them out.

“This letter is not written as a means to harass the family or to begin a witch hunt,” the sheet says. “We wish the family no harm. Our goal is to peacefully communicate that this kind of hate and ignorance will not be accepted here in our neighborhood where we live and raise our families.”

“No hate here” is printed on one side of the brightly colored fliers. The eight or so adults and as many children who went door-to-door Thursday asked residents to display the sign in their windows. Many did.

Please take a moment and read the article.  Enjoy the Holiday weekend.