Items by JC

• “This is the end…” ???

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 10
  by JC This upcoming week marks Barack Obama’s taking full ownership of the Afghan war, and escalating it to over a hundred thousand troops. To those of us who lived during the Vietnam war the similarities are eery. That war changed the history of this country–not because of the war or [...]
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  Posted: November 30, 2009, 10:14pm EST
  by JC

• Happy Thanksgiving

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 5
  by JC Consider this an open thread. [...]
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  Posted: November 26, 2009, 11:00am EST
  by JC

• Palin/Beck ‘12? “We’ll see, we’ll see!”

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 5
  by JC Happy, happy Joy, joy!!! Yeah baby. Run Sarah run!!! Update: Glenn Beck ruled out a Palin-Beck ticket today: “Beck-Palin, I’ll consider. But Palin-Beck — can you imagine, can you imagine what an administration with the two of us would be like? What? Come on! She’d be yapping or something, and I’d [...]
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  Posted: November 25, 2009, 3:22pm EST
  by JC

• “A Medical Ghetto Called Medicaid”

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 10
  by JC Well, now we know what the republicans really think about health care and the plight of the poor. Senator Lamar Alexander basically acknowledged the third world status of the less fortunate Americans among us. The plan, said the Senator from Tennessee, is “arrogant in its dumping of 15 million low-income [...]
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  Posted: November 22, 2009, 2:45pm EST
  by JC

• And now for Something Completely Different…

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 10
  by JC This open thread is dedicated to the incredible perseverance and diligence shown by goof, lizard, Mark T. and PogoPossum last week on my thread the rise of the conservative party. Have at it boys! And if anybody else has something they’d like to gab about, this thread is for [...]
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  Posted: November 07, 2009, 1:06pm EST
  by JC

• Bucking the CW, Dems Should Tack to Port

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 10
  “Give us a reason to vote for you, or we sit home” by JC Conventional wisdom already is telling us that the lesson democrats should take home (and republicans and the MSM is amplifying) is that when the base doesn’t turn out, as it didn’t in the NJ and Virginia gubernatorial races, [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 12:20pm EST
  by JC

• Rising from GOP Ashes… the Conservative Party?

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 10
  by JC It’s election day, and the thoughts on my mind, one year after Obama and democrats swept to victory and republicans went down in defeat, are thus: Will the conservative uprising in elections back east amount to anything more than a squabble in the GOP, and progressive democrats will succeed in [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 12:40pm EST
  by JC

• Why do Republicans Hate America so?

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 10
  Inquiring minds want to know… by JC Update: The Button Valley Bugle beat me to ‘tubes on this theme, with a post from friday From Venom is not a strategy: “Republicans celebrate every time America fails and cheer and applaud for more failures in the future. Republicans have moved well beyond political opposition [...]
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  Posted: October 10, 2009, 9:25pm EDT
  by JC

• CBO: Baucus Faux Universal Health Care Bill to Leave 25 Million Uninsured

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 5
  “Sen. Max Baucus… is, not surprisingly, one of the biggest beneficiaries of this one-two punch from the lobbyists and their clients” by JC Nothing like spending $829 billion dollars and still having 25 million people, all legal citizens under the age of 65, left out of the health care insurance system under [...]
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  Posted: October 08, 2009, 1:46am EDT
  by JC

• Montana Rep Race gets Interesting with Two New Entrants!

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 8
  Could it be Gopher vs. Otjen for Congress? by JC This last week has seen two newcomers to Montana politics throw their hats into the ring to unseat republican congressman Denny Rehberg. First up, Melinda Gopher–daughter of Robert Gopher, a long time native activist, cultural leader, and petitioner of the 1972 Montana Constitutional [...]
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  Posted: October 03, 2009, 2:00pm EDT
  by JC

• The Big Payoff: Sunlight Foundation Exposes Baucus’ Bundlers

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 10
  by JC Click on the graphic for a larger version. Print it out, it’ll make a great dart board target! Thanks to the work of the good folks at the Sunlight Foundation, we’re able to see how bundling works its magic on Congress in general, and Max Baucus specifically. The Foundation took a [...]
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  Posted: October 01, 2009, 1:14pm EDT
  by JC

• “Republican Health Care Plan: Don’t get sick, and if you do get sick, die quickly”

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 10
  by JC Now just where is that Republican health care plan that Cantor and Boehner promised the country months ago? Last night, in a controversial speech on the House floor, Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) announced that the Republican alternative health care proposals would force sick Americans to “die quickly”: It’s my duty and [...]
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  Posted: September 30, 2009, 11:11am EDT
  by JC

• Looney tUNes

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 10
  by JC Thought for day: aren’t the leaders of the Republican Party just as looney as the leaders of Libya, Iran and Venezuela? [...]
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  Posted: September 27, 2009, 12:18pm EDT
  by JC

• 6% Solution? Mandate Scofflaws Face Penalties, Fines and Imprisonment

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 10
  by JC I’ve known that it would eventually come to this. Us single payer advocates liked the simplicity of the system: auto enrollment for all citizens. You get sick, or have an accident and need health care, you just go to the doctor or ER and get it. If you hadn’t [...]
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  Posted: September 25, 2009, 7:04pm EDT
  by JC

• “Uniquely” American Death Panels: Lack of Health Insurance Associated with 45,000 Premature Deaths/year

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 10
  by JC A new study published online yesterday by the American Journal of Public Health brings to the fore the stark reality of undertaking underwriting in America. Modern insurance corporation underwriting has become the de novo death panel of the 21st century. While tea baggers spent the month of August crying about [...]
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  Posted: September 18, 2009, 1:56am EDT
  by JC

• Baucus/Wellpoint Bill Fails; Health Insurer Stocks Rally 3% in Response

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 3
  by JC It was only a matter of time till Baucus heeded the deadlines that President Obama and Majority Leader Harry Reed set out, and dumped his bill into the Finance Committee. In an 18 page press release (didn’t anybody ever teach these guys PR 101), Max outlined the framework of [...]
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  Posted: September 16, 2009, 9:56pm EDT
  by JC

• Which is Worse: Racism? Or Unveiling Racism?

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 10
  by JC Now that the silly season is over–as August has come to be called in political circles–with Obama giving yet another speech, and the 9/12 tea bagger march on D.C. is over, we can look back and begin to reflect on what is happening in America. The examples are too numerous [...]
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  Posted: September 15, 2009, 1:20pm EDT
  by JC

• Flight of the Blackbird

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Enclosure: [download]

  by JC “Oud Improvisation” by Naseer Shamma, from the album The Fire This Time. ———- For this weekend’s Blackbirdabilia #5, we are going to journey back, way back to Baghdad, northern Africa and medieval Spain to explore the story of Ziryab, “Blackbird.” Here is the intro from the story “Flight of the Blackbird” [...]
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  Posted: September 13, 2009, 2:20am EDT
  by JC

• 9/11 – A National Day of Service and Remembrance

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 4
  by JC 9/11 is an event burned into the memories of all Americans old enough to have watched the events of that day. While we all may have different ways we looked at that moment of terror, and the actions that swept our nation to war, today is a good day [...]
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  Posted: September 11, 2009, 11:52pm EDT
  by JC

• Is it Baucus’ “Wellpoint Plan”? or is it Wellpoint’s “Baucus Plan”?

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 1
  by JC Consumer Watchdog calls the Baucus/Wellpoint Plan “Deregulation of State Consumer Protection Laws” It seems that Senator Max Baucus’ “Wellpoint Plan” has hit a snag as his framework was released yesterday, in a last ditch effort to recapture the limelight and lead on health care reform. Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake moved this [...]
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  Posted: September 09, 2009, 3:59pm EDT
  by JC

• More Baucusonian Gobbledygook

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 6
  by JC In case you don’t understand what Max is saying, here is a transcript. Read along!: “I’m just hopeful that when the president gives his statement tomorrow night that that’s going to help move the ball forward, and very expeditiously. Because we, the rubber is starting to meet the road here. [...]
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  Posted: September 08, 2009, 9:55pm EDT
  by JC

• ex-Wellpoint VP Author of Baucus’ “Framework for Comprehensive Health Reform”

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 8
  by JC “The reason that I have a lot of friends is ’cause I got to give away money.” Taxpayer money, that is. Well, it was only a matter of time until the truth outs. The above quote is from Liz Fowler, one time Baucus staffer, then Wellpoint VP, whom Baucus hired [...]
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  Posted: September 08, 2009, 5:42pm EDT
  by JC

• ‘Bearing the Fruits of their Labor’

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 2
  by JC “We are human beings and we should be treated with dignity” Here is an excerpt from “Bearing the fruits of their labor,” from the Institute for Southern Studies. Some not-so-light reading on worker justice for your Labor Day’s relaxation and BBQ: Bearing the fruits of their labor “We used to own our [...]
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  Posted: September 07, 2009, 12:01am EDT
  by JC

• Paranoiacs Declare Obama Indoctrination the End of Free Elections, and Other Fantasies

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 10
  by JC Update: Here is the full text of Obama’s speech to schoolchildren. From The Orlando Weekly BloggyTown: Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer today released the following statement condemning President Obama’s use of taxpayer dollars to indoctrinate America’s children to his socialist agenda. “As the father of four children, I am absolutely [...]
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  Posted: September 06, 2009, 12:15am EDT
  by JC

• #4: Bye Bye Blackbird

  —4&20 blackbirds

  by JC For your weekend viewing pleasure, we bring you another oddity from the archives. Because life is too short… Remember: Hope Springs Eternal! [...]
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  Posted: September 05, 2009, 12:18am EDT
  by JC

• “You Have to Lose Sometimes, in Order to Win”

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 10
  by JC Last week on Bill Maher’s Real Time, Bill Moyers, in a special “The Conscience of a Nation” edition, laid out a beautiful progressive’s analysis of the Obama administration’s struggling efforts to reconcile its legislative health care efforts with the progressive base’s demands. I think that Moyers’ words speak for [...]
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  Posted: September 04, 2009, 10:00am EDT
  by JC

• Just Whose Country is it, Anyways?

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 10
  by JC [...]
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  Posted: September 02, 2009, 5:06pm EDT
  by JC

• Rehberg Legally Drunk at Time of Accident?

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 10
  They’re “Stonewalling” says Trib Reporter Update 2:30pm: John Adams, reporter for the Great Falls Tribune, tweeted this a bit ago: “the stonewalling on this is highly unusual–will be part of my story tomorrow. No one is returning calls.” Update 9:30pm: MTLowdown has posted Rehberg’s blood alcohol report for us. It shows him at [...]
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  Posted: August 31, 2009, 1:04pm EDT
  by JC

• Backslappers at their Worst: “No Developments Sunday” in Boating Accident

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 10
  by JC Update 8/31, 10:30am: Seems that Barkus found a need to hire an attorney. He is directing all questions to Todd Glazier. And John Adams is tweeting that a press conference is currently underway. He reports: “Not much new to report from today’s [8/31] press conference. Rehberg, Smith to be released [...]
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  Posted: August 30, 2009, 6:11pm EDT
  by JC

• Greenest? When the AP and HelenaIR get it this wrong…

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 3
  …name recognition has become a problem. by JC From the HelenaIR: “McDonald and Missoula attorney Tyler Greenest are both vying to unseat Denny Rehberg.” Methinks Tyler Gernant has some work to do. Is there an editor in the house? [...]
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  Posted: August 30, 2009, 12:53am EDT
  by JC

• How not to Park your Boat in the Dark

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 10
  by JC Yes, this is the Rehberg crash scene. Click on the photo for a larger version. Didn’t anybody give those guys parking lessons? — Update: Doug points us to an update at the Flathead Beacon. It appears that some of the injuries are more serious than initially reported. I took an early “stable” [...]
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  Posted: August 28, 2009, 3:10pm EDT
  by JC

• Tester Waffles on Public Option: ‘I Don’t Need it’

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 10
  by JC “If the votes aren’t there, you’ll have to say you did the best you could and then you move on,” said Tester. Just move on, huh. What a leader. If you have half the Senate looking at each other, saying the votes aren’t there, expecting the next guy to stand [...]
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  Posted: August 27, 2009, 1:44pm EDT
  by JC

• Unabashedly Liberal

  —4&20 blackbirds

  by JC lib⋅er⋅al  [lib-er-uhl, lib-ruhl] –adjective 1. favorable to progress or reform, as in political or religious affairs. 2. (often initial capital letter) noting or pertaining to a political party advocating measures of progressive political reform. 3. of, pertaining to, based on, or advocating liberalism. 4. favorable to or in accord with concepts of maximum individual [...]
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  Posted: August 27, 2009, 12:29am EDT
  by JC

• The Lion that Roared

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 10
  by JC On the Future of the Democratic Party At the National Press Club, 1-12-05 … In the face of their tactics, we cannot move our party or our nation forward under the pale colors and timid voices. We cannot play Republican clones. If we do, we will lose again, and deserve to lose. As [...]
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  Posted: August 26, 2009, 2:57am EDT
  by JC

• Montana Dems Confront Max; Baucus says: “I Want a Public Option too!”

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 3
  by JC After last week’s tepid performance by Montana Senator Max Baucus during and after President Obama’s town hall in Belgrade, it seems that Montana Democrats have had it with his waffling ways. According to Montana Maven: It has been one week since 8 Montana Democratic Central Committees delivered their resolutions for single [...]
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  Posted: August 23, 2009, 4:45pm EDT
  by JC

• Opinion: ‘We the Corporation’ or ‘We the People’ … ???

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 1
  by JC Nothing like the dog days of summer (and a couple of cracked ribs) to stir one into stitching some ideas together about the state of our fledgling Obama presidency, the mood of the country, and some policy points. First off, the cracked ribs. Lesson learned: never turn your back on [...]
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  Posted: August 23, 2009, 3:02pm EDT
  by JC

• Blackbirdabilia #3: Barack meets ‘The Birds’

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 2
  by JC For this week’s viewing pleasure, I bring you “Barack Meets The Birds“, a slightly anachronistic, out-of-time mashup of Hitchcock’s thrilling masterpiece. Enjoy! [...]
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  Posted: August 23, 2009, 10:29pm EDT
  by JC

• Obama’s ‘Universal’ Insurance Mandate Exempts Hardships, Creates Doughnut Hole for the “Quite Poor”

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 10
  by JC Yesterday, at Obama’s Organizing For America town hall, he let slip a valuable piece of policy information. In what to-date has been mostly a specifics-free push for reform that meets whatever set of goals that satisfy this week’s polling needs, Obama let loose in an hour and almost 20 [...]
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  Posted: August 21, 2009, 3:58pm EDT
  by JC

• Some People Never Learn…

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 6
  by JC JUST PICK UP THE DAMN BALL AND RUN WITH IT!!! [...]
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  Posted: August 21, 2009, 12:00am EDT
  by JC

• Ah, to get away from it all…

  —4&20 blackbirds

  by JC [...]
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  Posted: August 19, 2009, 1:46am EDT
  by JC

• ($7,290-2,992)*3.15=$13,538 Savings PER FAMILY! PER YEAR!!

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 8
  by JC That’s how much money the average family would save PER YEAR in America if we had a system of health care that resembled Britain’s! The equation above represents the cost differential per person in America ($7,290) vs. Britain ($2,992) times the average size of the American family (3.15). And if [...]
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  Posted: August 17, 2009, 4:53pm EDT
  by JC

• 4 + 20, Stephen Stills at Big Sur

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 5
  by JC Next up in our ongoing series is Blackbirdabilia #2: Stephen Stills at the Big Sur Folk Festival, September 14th, 1969. This clip is taken from the documentary, Celebration at Big Sur. This was one month after Woodstock, and in honor of its 40th anniversary, I thought you might enjoy [...]
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  Posted: August 16, 2009, 2:03am EDT
  by JC

• “Nothing Criminal” about Dying in Jail from Alcohol Withdrawal Seizure Neglect

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 10
  by JC RIP, Heather Wasson. Ok, sure. Whatever. So the inquest coroner’s jury found that “there was nothing criminal about the June death of a female inmate at the Missoula County.” Nothing criminal about letting people with treatable illnesses die needlessly in jail? Then I daresay that our City Council’s attempts to outlaw [...]
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  Posted: August 15, 2009, 1:09pm EDT
  by JC

• When .01% = 6%

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 3
  by JC “Another means of silently lessening the inequality of property is to exempt all from taxation below a certain point, and to tax the higher portions of property in geometric progression as they rise” — Thomas Jefferson Update: The HufPo has a writeup today about Saez’s study: Income inequality in the United [...]
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  Posted: August 14, 2009, 2:57am EDT
  by JC

• Needin’ a Fresh Coat of Paint: Morton Quits MBIA

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 10
  by JC Well, it seems that Ryan Morton decided after “the birds at 4&20 paint[ed] me as some frivolous, MBIA automaton,” that he needed to shake up his campaign for City Council from Ward 1. So he up and quit his job (hat tip to Keila over at Montana Red Tape!). [...]
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  Posted: August 13, 2009, 11:07pm EDT
  by JC

• Down Home Montana Style BBQ?

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 10
  by JC [...]
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  Posted: August 12, 2009, 12:33pm EDT
  by JC

• Public Invited to Obama Townhall in Bozeman this Friday!

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 1
  by JC Via the Billings Gazette, details about Obama’s Montana trip are clearing up: President Barack Obama will be holding a “town hall” meeting in Bozeman Friday to discuss his proposed health-insurance reforms, and the general public can attend by getting tickets, likely through some type of lottery system, White House officials [...]
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  Posted: August 11, 2009, 10:55am EDT
  by JC

• A Deal with the Devil

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 1
  by JC Robert Reich said all that needs to be said about the negotiations between the White House and PhRMA: It’s bad enough when industry lobbyists extract concessions from members of Congress, which happens all the time. But when an industry gets secret concessions out of the White House in return for [...]
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  Posted: August 10, 2009, 12:26pm EDT
  by JC

• Blackbirdabilia #1: Paul McCartney live in Australia, ‘75

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 1
  by JC Here to start your week off bright and early, we bring you our first edition of Blackbirdabilia, Paul McCartney singing his song “Blackbird.” Enjoy! [...]
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  Posted: August 10, 2009, 2:43am EDT
  by JC

• Jake Eaton Leads MT Republicans TeaBaggers to Protest Obama’s Visit

  —4&20 blackbirds

  Number of comments: 10
  by JC So little Jakie got all growed up and went to work for an astroturf manufacturing company, Americans for Prosperity, and its “grassroots” front group, Patients United Now (no PUN intended). Been wondering what he’s been doing since he got runned out of town with his tail between his legs [...]
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  Posted: August 08, 2009, 11:35am EDT
  by JC