Free Republic

Scandal: Senate Democrats, including supporters of the Disclose Act, provided the names of groups they wanted targeted in a taxpayer-funded witch hunt overseen by an IRS employee and Obama campaign donor. Using the Citizens United case as a pretext, retiring Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., on July 27, 2012, wrote IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman to investigate 12 conservative groups he accused of violating their tax-exempt status and engaging in coordinated political activity. The groups Levin asked to be targeted for special scrutiny were Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies, Priorities U.S.A., Americans Elect, American Action Network, Americans for Prosperity, American Future Fund, Americans...

Democratic senator Max Baucus is retiring because he is “fed up” with the Affordable Care Act, according to his Republican colleague Chuck Grassley. Speaking at Friday night’s Lincoln Day dinner in Iowa, Grassley told the audience the Montana senator is leaving office ”because he’s so fed up with the possibility of the implementation of Obamacare being a train wreck.” Baucus, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, played a key role in writing the 2010 law. Grassley said that dissatisfaction with the health-care bill exists across party lines, describing a “bipartisan coalition in Washington” that considers the implementation of the...

"Warsaw-based Zimmer Holdings Inc. has laid off between 40 and 50 employees in the wake of “transformation initiatives,” the global medical-device manufacturer said Thursday."

The Foundation for Individual Rights In Higher Education (FIRE) is the premier non-partisan organization fighting to protect free speech and other constitutional rights on campus.  The FIRE defends everyone’s rights, regardless of political affiliation.We have cited The FIRE numerous times here and at College Insurrection, and they have submitted a few guests posts on campus issues.The FIRE is not an organization prone to hyperbole.So when I received this email late this afternoon from FIRE Senior Vice President Robert Shibley, it got my attention: THIS. IS. OUTRAGEOUS. The government has mandated speech codes on all campuses. I hoped I would never see this day, but...

"Superficial" "A source close to the Senate negotiations [says] that two senators who voted against the background check bill would vote for it after minor, superficial changes." - Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC, May 6, 2013ACTION: Senators who voted pro-gun last month are under intense pressure - by Senate Democrats and Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s hit ads - to switch their votes.  We need to keep applying the heat and let them know that gun owners are ready to help in any Senate campaign, no matter which state, to defeat ANY SENATOR who votes for gun control.LEGISLATIVE UPDATE FROM WASHINGTON, DC. It’s...

Energy companies are lining up for their shot to drill in the Dakotas and Montana after a new government report revealed that a massive geological formation stretching across the states contains twice the oil and three times the amount of natural gas than was originally believed. While the new estimate is drawing smaller companies to the game, the larger players like Schlumberger, Halliburton and Continental Resources are pushing forward with ambitious multi-year plans to stake their claim in the industry. Continental recently announced a five-year plan to triple its production by 2017. The company’s growth is based on success in...

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), and the Carbon County Sheriff's Office (CCSO) are asking for help from the public in gathering information about the theft of approximately 559 pounds of high explosives from a USFS explosives bunker located near Red Lodge. A press release from the ATF says that in April 2013, someone used forced entry to get into an explosives storage facility owned and operated by the U. S. Forest Service. The storage facility is located approximately two miles south of the City of Red Lodge.

"... A recent discovery by Dr. Mary Schweitzer, however, has given reason for all but committed evolutionists to question this assumption. Bone slices from the fossilized thigh bone (femur) of a Tyrannosaurus rex found in the Hell Creek formation of Montana were studied under the microscope by Schweitzer. To her amazement, the bone showed what appeared to be blood vessels of the type seen in bone and marrow, and these contained what appeared to be red blood cells with nuclei, typical of reptiles and birds (but not mammals). The vessels even appeared to be lined with specialized endothelial cells found...

Democratic leaders are wooing staunchly pro-gun candidates to run in pivotal Senate races at the same time they are discussing a strategy for bringing gun control legislation back up for debate. The two-pronged effort has prompted Republicans to accuse the Senate Democratic leadership of hypocrisy, but Democrats say it is simply smart politics. The question is whether two of the Democrats’ most promising potential candidates in Montana and South Dakota will pay a price for the leadership’s political maneuverings in Washington. Or will recruiting candidates who do not support President Obama’s gun control agenda have any effect on Democratic fundraising...

2014 retirements: Dems heading for the hills By: Alexander Burns April 23, 2013 04:49 PM EDT Doesn’t anyone want to run for Senate in 2014? Midway through candidate recruitment season, the bad news for Democrats is this: They are watching a generation of talent leave the Senate and head for retirement. The less-bad news: So far, few marquee-name Republicans are interested in these seats either. When Montana Sen. Max Baucus called it quits on Tuesday, he became the latest in a long series of senior legislators to announce that they’ve had quite enough of life on the Hill. National Democrats...

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) is retiring rather than seek re-election in 2014, according to two senior Democratic strategists familiar with his plans. First elected in 1978, Baucus has been the top Democrat on the powerful committee since 2001. The likely Democratic candidate to succeed him would be former governor Brian Schweitzer, sources said.

Montana --(Ammoland.com)-On Sunday, April 21st 2013, “progressives” (euphemism for statist liberals) ran large display ads apparently in all major Montana newspapers claiming that 79% of Montanans want more federal gun control. This humorous number becomes even funnier when it is attributed IN THE AD to “Mayors for Illegal Guns” (Yes, “FOR.” Check your copy). A curious person might ask, why would any mayors be FOR illegal guns in the first place? And, which specific Montana mayors are FOR illegal guns? Another curious person might ask why a group pushing more gun control would cite a “poll” from another group that...

President Barack Obama delivered an impassioned speech Thursday at the memorial service for victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. But that was to be expected. We all know Obama can give a stem-winder. What wasn’t expected was that this would be by far the toughest week of the Obama presidency—the first time I can remember the president being dealt an unequivocal policy defeat. Only the “shellacking” of the 2010 midterm comes close, and even there a case can be made that achieving the decades-old progressive dream of universal health care was worth losing the House of Representatives and a filibuster-proof...

Montana has been a little slow to decriminalize gay sex—but a law banning it was finally wiped from the books after Gov. Steve Bullock signed a bill yesterday. Activists had been fighting the ban for decades; the state Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional 16 years ago, the AP notes, and it hadn't been enforced for years. Bullock's signature prompted cheers. "I am not going to speak too long because, frankly, the longer I talk, the longer this embarrassing and unconstitutional law stays on the books," he said. Gay rights advocates hoped the move was a step forward. "As more and...

An obsolete law deeming gay sex as deviant — akin to bestiality — was stricken from Montana code Thursday, prompting gay rights activists to say they hope that full legal equality may be close at hand. When Montana Gov. Steve Bullock signed Senate Bill 107 decriminalizing gay sex, cheers erupted in the Capitol's Rotunda. It had been 16 years after the state Supreme Court ruled the law unconstitutional and 24 years after gay rights activists began their fight to take government out of the bedroom. "I am not going to speak too long because, frankly, the longer I talk, the...

HELENA, Mont. (AP) -- Montana Gov. Steve Bullock will sign into law a bill that decriminalizes gay sex, 16 years after the state supreme court ruled the law unconstitutional. The bill's passage received an emotional response from gay-rights activists, who have struggled for 20 years to remove the obsolete law.

Prosecutors say a Billings woman used a gun to fend off an intruder who forced his way inside her home through a back door. The man was later arrested and is being held in the Yellowstone County jail on a $100,000 bond. Travis Bridger Soderberg, 38, has been charged with felony burglary and misdemeanor criminal mischief. He is expected to be arraigned on the charges in District Court next week. According to charging documents, a woman called police shortly after 8 p.m. on April 6 to report an intruder at her home. The woman, identified only by her initials in...

The woman who led the court battle to strike down a Montana law that made gay sex illegal knows that having the unconstitutional law struck from the books is a symbolic act. All the same, Linda Gryczan began to cry when the state House finally brought the issue to the floor on Monday. … Senate Bill 107, the measure that strikes from the state code the obsolete language criminalizing gay sex as deviate sexual conduct, passed its final legislative hurdle Wednesday with a 65-34 vote in the House. … Gryczan was the lead plaintiff in a 1995 lawsuit that led...

A plan to drop a recognizable logo in this part of the country — the Forest Service’s iconic shield — generated so much outrage among the agency’s retirees that the idea has been dropped. In early January, the U.S. Department of Agriculture quietly introduced a policy to phase out all of its sub-agencies’ logos, including the Forest Service’s, and replace them with the USDA symbol. But that policy was kept so under wraps that not even Pacific Northwest forest supervisors were told. Some of them only heard about it in retrospect late last week — after the USDA had decided,...

Huh. Baucus won't commit to not filibustering gun bill debate: "That's to be determined."

Mandatory registration coming to state’s largest wilderness area . Visitors to the Weminuche Wilderness are going to be required to register before entering the almost 500,000 acres that stretch from Silverton to Wolf Creek Pass. Use and abuse of the pristine mountains, valleys and waterways through the years now require switching from voluntary to mandatory registration at trailheads, the San Juan National Forest said in a news release. “During the first two to three years of the new requirement, we’re going to educate the public on the reasons,” Forest Service spokeswoman Ann Bond said Saturday. “After that, rangers can issue...

Do you hear all the talk about the “inevitability” of same-sex marriage? Are you watching the second round of “war on women” ads aimed at opponents of the HHS mandate? President Obama insists that even employers who are opposed to abortion and contraception must provide insurance offering these options to their workers — and employers of religious organizations (even at family-run, long-established, morally oriented businesses) will receive no relief. We need to take a deep breath and consider how these radical changes might affect our freedom. On a secular campus in a major city — George Washington University in Washington,...

Montana legalises cooking and eating roadkill Montana has become the first US state to allow drivers to cook and serve carrion picked up from road accidents under a 'you kill it, you grill it' law. By Philip Sherwell, New York 7:10PM BST 07 Apr 2013 Lawmakers in the US state have overwhelmingly passed a bill allowing locals to salvage meat from the carcasses of wild animals killed in road accidents. When signed into law by the governor, Montana could become "the ultimate drive-through destination for adventurous foodies", the website Huffington Post noted. Steve Lavin, the legislator who introduced the bill,...

Senate votes on climate change and the Keystone XL oil pipeline laid bare divisions among Democrats — and underscored why the White House, not Congress, will be where the critical climate decisions reside in President Obama’s second term.Several votes during the freewheeling debate over a nonbinding budget plan provided a political barometer of where the chamber, including vulnerable Democrats, stand on the topics. Advocates of the proposed pipeline scored a symbolic victory Friday when 62 lawmakers voted for an amendment backing the project to bring oil from Canadian tar sands projects to Gulf Coast refineries. Seventeen Democrats supported Sen....

In 2011, the Billings Police Department made 25.1 arrests per 1,000 people and handled 8,604 criminal incidents relative to a 105,095 population. The Wolf Point Police Department made 170.2 arrests per 1,000 people and handled 506 criminal incidents relative to a 2,644 population in that same amount of time. Proportionately, Wolf Point had a 19 percent incident rate compared to Billings’ 8 percent. It’s difficult to understand how a tiny little town in northeast Montana can beat the state’s biggest city when comparing certain elements of crime rates. But Billings is just one simple resource for comparison’s sake. Wolf Point...

Here’s a surprise for you; some Governors have absolutely zero understanding of the Constitution. None, whatsoever. Montana Governor Steve Bullock seems to fit that description quite nicely. Yesterday, he vetoed Montana House Bill 302 (HB302). The bill would require the state to refuse to enforce or assist the enforcement of any federal bans on semiautomatic weapons or large capacity magazines. The bill states, in part: A peace officer, state employee, or employee of any political subdivision is prohibited from enforcing, assisting in the enforcement of, or otherwise cooperating in the enforcement of a federal ban on semiautomatic weapons or large...

House Bill 304 eliminates the need for a concealed weapon permit within city limits, which is already the law outside city limits. HB 304 would only apply to individuals who are “eligible to possess a handgun under state or federal law.” HB 304 passed in the state House by a 58 to 41 vote on February 22 and passed in the state Senate by a 30 to 19 vote on March 23. Please call AND e-mail Governor Steve Bullock (D) today and respectfully urge him to sign House Bill 304 into law. Contact information for Governor Bullock is provided below....

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has released a plan to guide management of more than 434,000 acres of public land for the next 20 years. The planning area is outside Billings in Big Horn, Carbon, Golden Valley, Musselshell, Stillwater, Sweet Grass, Wheatland and Yellowstone counties. The BLM Billings office also oversees management of the 51-acre Pompey’s Pillar National Monument, as well as 4,298 acres of public land in Big Horn County, Wyoming — a portion of the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range. To view this plan please click here. The draft plan contains four management alternatives. Alternative D is...

Here's the link.

A study by the Society of Actuaries estimates that the new federal health care law will raise medical claims costs in South Dakota by 29 percent. Medical claims costs are the main driver of health insurance premiums. The study estimates that President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act will raise claims costs nationally by an average of 32 percent per person in the individual health insurance market by 2017. That's partly due to sicker people joining the pool.

Missoula, MT --(Ammoland.com)- A lot of action is happening on MSSA bills right now. The full rundown is below, so I’ll only cite bill numbers for the ones which need your action. Contacting the Governor: You can email Governor Bullock at mailto:governor@mt.gov, or use the message form at http://governor.mt.gov/contact.aspx If emailing, put the requested action in the shortest possible Subject line, such as “Please approve SB 145.” With either email or Webform, BE NICE. You may say you feel strongly, but do not threaten or browbeat. Keep your email or Webform body to three short sentences (one short sentence would...

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A bill that would allow concealed carry without a permit is shooting toward passage after receiving the Senate's initial endorsement.

Despite all of the doom and gloom about the future of the Republican Party following the 2012 election, the reality is that Republicans actually have a chance of retaking the Senate in 2014. Those hopes improved on Wednesday as Maine GOP Sen. Susan Collins said that barring a serious illness or another catastrophe, she plans to run for reelection. In 2014, Democrats will be defending a total of 21 seats, including seven states Mitt Romney carried — Montana, South Dakota, West Virginia, Alaska, Arkansas, Louisiana and North Carolina. In contrast, Republicans will be defending 14 seats. All of those seats...

A TransCanada Corp. executive says opponents to the Keystone XL pipeline should consider one consequence of delays in building the oil pipeline — an increase in dirtier and more dangerous rail transport. Alex Pourbaix, president of energy and oil pipelines at the Calgary-based pipeline and utility company, says although rail has an important role to play in moving oilsands crude to market, there are downsides to consider. "For every mile you move a barrel of oil by rail, you emit three times the (greenhouse gases) that you do by moving it by pipeline and you have an order of magnitude...

HELENA, Mont. (AP) -- U.S. Sen. Max Baucus has been here before. Back during the Clinton era, the Democrat faced a choice: support an assault weapons ban urged by a president from his own party and risk angering constituents who cherish their gun rights, or buck his party. He chose the ban, and nearly lost his Senate seat.

HELENA – A pair of pro-gun measures approved by the Montana House hit the Senate on Wednesday, including one that would prohibit local authorities from enforcing any federal ban on semi-automatic weapons. That bill and another to allow hunters to use silencers or sound suppressors on firearms received a favorable reception among members of the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee, though the panel did not take immediate action on either bill.

EIA thinks technology will continue to drive production in 2013, but peak by ’14 - - - - - The current boom in unconventional oil will eventually become a powerful echo, but only after technological improvements have run their course, according to a U.S. Energy Information Administration analysis of the drivers behind domestic crude oil production. When that “inflection point” occurs will depend on many factors, but the report from the statistical arm of the U.S. Department of Energy suggests it could be felt as soon as 2014. Between 2011 and 2012, domestic oil production increased by 790,000 barrels per...

CODY, Wyo. - Two teenage boys charged in a triple homicide in a small Wyoming town told investigators they stole handguns from a gun store and wanted to steal a black Audi SUV so they could escape to Denver. Stephen Hammer, 19, and 18-year-old Tanner Vanpelt made their first court appearance Tuesday morning in a case that rattled residents of the small town of Clark, near the Wyoming-Montana border. Each teen is charged with 11 felony counts, including premeditated murder, use of a deadly weapon and robbery. Some of the charges could carry the death penalty. Circuit Court Judge Bruce...

US Sens. John Hoeven (R-ND) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.) were joined by 18 other senators from both parties as they urged newly confirmed Secretary of State John F. Kerry to approve the proposed Keystone XL crude oil pipeline during this year’s first quarter. “The State Department received the new route approved by the state of Nebraska on Jan. 22…but [it] has yet to inform the public and stakeholders of a definitive process for the final decision,” the 10 Democrats and 10 Republicans said in their Feb. 22 letter. “We urge you as Secretary of State to ensure that this decision...

"The President’s part of the sequester – the White House recommended it, frankly, back in August 2011, so now we’re feeling the effects of it..."

KALISPELL — Police in Whitefish continue to investigate a weekend shooting death while the woman who reportedly told neighbors she shot her boyfriend has been released from custody.

Canadians worried US president won’t honor Nebraska governor’s decision The Canadian government has suddenly turned edgy about hopes of seeing TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline clearing its final regulatory hurdle and spreading fresh optimism among Alberta oil sands and Bakken producers. Now that Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman has sent a letter to President Barack Obama endorsing TransCanada’s proposed rerouting of the pipeline to avoid the state’s ecologically sensitive Sandhills region, the final verdict rests with the U.S. State Department which must issue a Presidential Permit for any pipeline crossing the Canada-U.S. border. At the same time a letter signed by 53...

Vote. Do You Support a Path to Citizenship for Illegal Immigrants? http://www.flatheadbeacon.com/

The Hage family last Thursday filed a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court, appealing a claims court judgment that stripped away part of their $14 million award in a suit against the U.S. Forest Service over grazing rights in Monitor Valley. Nye County Commissioner Lorinda Wichman said Tuesday she’s afraid the ruling by a court of appeals for the federal circuit overturning part of the judgment in the Wayne Hage case — that only hand tools are allowed to be used to maintain roads in the national forest — could jeopardize the $250,000 the county spent on the...

Canadian provincial premier, 10 state governors, seek Keystone pipeline decision The sense of urgency among Canadian governments and oil producers facing a crude transportation bottleneck and the looming prospect of shut-ins has prompted one provincial premier to join 10 U.S. state governors in urging President Barack Obama to end procrastination and approve TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline. “The energy relationship between the United States and Canada is vital to both our countries. It is an interest we share, transcending political lines and geographic boundaries,” the leaders said in a letter to Obama, hoping to gain the president’s attention as he embarks...

WASHINGTON — As the Senate prepares to begin debating new gun control measures, some of President Barack Obama's fellow Democrats are poised to frustrate his efforts to enact the most sweeping limits on weapons in decades. These Democrats from largely rural states with strong gun cultures view Obama's proposals warily and have not committed to supporting them. The lawmakers' concerns could stand in the way of strong legislation before a single Republican gets a chance to vote "no." There's a core group of Democratic senators, most but not all from the West, who represent states with a higher-than-average rate of...

GEICO Insurance Cultural Marxist Hypocrisy – Gun Manufacturer Auto Policy Cancelled Because He Is In Firearm Business…. Because he makes gun parts for a living this policy holder received a letter from GEICO cancelling his auto insurance. The letter says his auto insurance is being cancelled because he owns a company that manufactures parts for firearms:(fyi, to insure the authenticity I have submitted a copy along with a request for verification to GEICO via email – we’ll see their response)“The reason for cancellation is your vehicle [...] does not meet our underwriting guidelines because it is used in conjunction with a...

More than half the Senate on Wednesday urged quick approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, ramping up pressure on President Barack Obama to move ahead with the project just days after he promised in his inaugural address to respond vigorously to the threat of climate change. A letter signed by 53 senators said Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman’s approval of a revised route through his state puts the long-delayed project squarely in the president's hands. “We urge you to choose jobs, economic development and American energy security,” the letter said, adding that the pipeline “has gone through the most exhaustive...

“I think you need to put everything on the table,” Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D, told ABC News‘ George Stephanopoulos this past Sunday, “but what I hear from the administration – and if the Washington Post is to be believed – that’s way, way in extreme of what I think is necessary or even should be talked about. And it’s not going to pass.” The Washington Post article Heitkamp was referring to, reported that President Obama would soon seek to pass legislation “that would require universal background checks for firearm buyers, track the movement and sale of weapons through a national...

Editor’s note: The following was sent to Montana’s congressional delegation on behalf of the Montana Shooting Sports Association. Because there is much discussion among gun owners of Montana about proposals by Sen. Diane Feinstein and others for Congress to enact various types of gun control, I though you would appreciate knowing what I hear from Montanans about this. I speak to you as a person intimately familiar with firearms, with public policy about firearms, as a person accepted in state and federal courts as an expert on firearms, firearms safety and use of force, and as the president of the...