Helena detour

Why I came this way

Why Helena?

The reason I made a detour to Helena was because of a text I got from Tom Cooper:

What passed was the bill named HJ 9: Joint resolution in support of Israel.

The bill was sponsored by young Randyn Gregg.

Young Randyn looks like a well-meaning lad.

There are many reasons why I think this bill is a crock. But just to start with one that I hope any Israel-before-America readers will agree with: The State of Montana has no business playing arbiter or favorite to particular countries.

(Israel firster voice) But, but DW, this is what we’re all about, us Patriotic Montanans; we stand with our allies! And Israel is our greatest ally!

Even if they were, I’m still a Washingtonian when it comes to entangling alliances. Remember what he said? He said that it is "our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world."

I’m also with Adams here: “America... goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all.”

…and what are we doing when we spend billions hunting down terrorists in the Middle East, but going in search of monsters? (mostly for the benefit of a certain permanent ally out there- certainly not for Joe Sixpack, or you and me)

-That’s just naive, isolationist thinking, Shumway. Are you just going to let terrace run amok? Do you like Al Qaeda and Isis and Hamas? Do you like the Taliban? After all, remember 911! Remember October 7!

(I hope you’re enjoying my straw mans here.)

My answer: Non-interventionist does not mean isolationist. Look at the Chinese. They conquer the world with trade, not bombs. If a country refuses them, they move on. We bomb recalcitrants into compliance. Why can’t we do the same as the clever Chinese? (meanwhile their economic success gives them the ability to fund a military that can challenge ours) Most Americans were finally able to admit that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 911, and that the yellow cake, the WMDs, the babies in Kuwaiti hospital incubators, etc. etc. was all BS that the government and the media painstakingly put together to whip you into war fury. And we got our Iraq wars- two of them, along with a never-ending occupation. Now let’s take a deep breath and entertain the possibility that both CNN and yes, FOX too, lie to us about Al Qaeda, Isis, Hamas, 911, and yes, the beloved October 7th narrative. If you look closely and with an open mind, you will find that each of these entities and events are necessary catalysts and precursors to promote US/Israeli interventionist and expansionist aims. That is, they are part of the plan- pieces we and Israel put on the chessboard. As for the Taliban, we fought a 20-year war, spent trillions, lost thousands, killed hundreds of thousand, all to take the Taliban out of power, and then restore them to power.

And by the way, if they can lie about babies in incubators, they can lie about beheaded babies too, can’t they? Don’t be fooled twice by the same heartstring-pulling, emotionally charged lies!

So I am against an official policy of unending support for a nation that really is the definition of an entangling alliance.

There are plenty of local things to worry about. If we’re going to start being international in our state politics and start favoring or disfavoring nations for this and that, I’ve got a list of stuff Montana could start doing. If Representative Gregg wants to start getting Montana involved with international affairs, well then, let’s also:

· Issue a statement of denunciation against all countries that fail to uphold free speech and gun rights, as we do in Montana.

· Issue a statement of denunciation against Australia, for arresting and detaining citizens during the covid debacle, for their non-compliance to non-scientific pandemic protocols. We don’t do that in Montana, and neither should they.

· Issue a statement of denunciation to the German government, for taking kids away from parents who home school. This would be an outrage here in Montana and should be an outrage everywhere.

· Demand an honest, independent investigation of the attack on the Nordstream pipeline- an attack that is fueling skyrocketing energy prices for our allies in Europe.

· Demand an investigation and audit of the money spent on the war in Ukraine, so the American public may fully realize what’s happening to their tax dollars.

· Censure Ukraine and stop funding to that nation, as their president has cancelled elections and is essentially acting as dictator.

And if we’re going to issue statements of support for Israel, how about we add in some statements of condemnation:

· Censure Israel for their attack on the USS Liberty and call for boycotts and divestment of Israeli goods and companies until a full, untainted inquiry takes place and penalizing federal measures against Israel are enacted.

· Demand the US end aid to Israel in light of their war crimes in Gaza, which include direct targeting (bombing) of schools, hospitals and churches, sniper attacks specifically aimed at civilians, mostly women and children, the targeting of refugees in areas which Israel itself had designated as places of refuge from the bombing and sniper attacks.

· Etc.

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Actually, as I wrote the above, I started to ask myself, why shouldn’t Montana be involved in world affairs? I would guess that Montana, like other states, has contracts with foreign governments and corporations. If so why shouldn’t our representatives make official proclamations regarding foreign countries? And to the extent that the citizens of every state are involved in world affairs due to their tax support of the federal regime, and to the extent that the federal government wastes our money, blood and resources in foreign wars that neither protect us nor help us, why not use the state government to voice grievances (and agreement) with foreign governments? I’m actually in favor of my proposals above becoming Montana state resolutions. So maybe I’m an Adams/Washingtonian in terms of foreign military adventurism, but also believe that states should have a say in international affairs, especially when the federal government is using our tax dollars for wasteful, unwise and destructive international agendas.

I’m saying that this new resolution in support of Israel (HJ9) is wrong because

1. It recognizes for Israel a status that we should apply to all nations.

2. It completely ignores what is actually happening now in Gaza.

3. It ignores the true history of our ‘friendship’ with ‘our greatest ally ™

Let’s look at the text of the bill:

RESOLUTION NO. 9 INTRODUCED BY R. GREGG, (et al)

A JOINT RESOLUTION OF THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF MONTANA SUPPORTING ISRAEL'S RIGHT TO EXIST; CONDEMNING ALL FORMS OF ANTISEMITISM; AND CONDEMNING TERRORIST ATTACKS ON THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL. WHEREAS, throughout history and across the reign of multiple kingdoms, the Jewish people were persecuted and expelled from the Land of Israel and forced to live as minority diaspora communities in other lands; and WHEREAS, Jewish diaspora communities were historically violently persecuted in, and in some cases expelled from, other countries throughout the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and Asia due to their religion; and WHEREAS, the Nazis attempted to annihilate the entire Jewish population of Europe during the Holocaust, murdering 6 million Jewish people during this time; and WHEREAS, this genocide provided new urgency to reestablish a Jewish homeland for the Jewish people following the Holocaust where they would not be a vulnerable minority, where they could freely practice their faith, and where something like the Holocaust could never happen again; and WHEREAS, the modern State of Israel was established on May 14, 1948; and WHEREAS, even after the establishment of the State of Israel, other countries and terrorist entities continued to attack Israel, reject its right to exist, and call for its destruction.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF MONTANA:

(1) That the 69th Legislature of the State of Montana condemns all forms of antisemitism.- 1 - Authorized Print Version – HJ 9 69th Legislature 2025 HJ 9.1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 (2) That the 69th Legislature of the State of Montana condemns all terrorist attacks on the people of Israel and the State of Israel, including all terrorist attacks from Hamas, Hezbollah, and the nation of Iran. (3) (4) elimination. That the 69th Legislature of the State of Montana reaffirms the State of Israel's right to exist. That the 69th Legislature of the State of Montana rejects all calls for Israel's destruction and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Secretary of State send a copy of this resolution to President Donald J. Trump and the Montana Congressional Delegation.- END

OK, so nothing in this bill constitutes a new law or statute. Nothing is binding. Nobody is going to jail for disagreeing. And it’s one of those gimme resolutions that pretty much everyone has to vote yea on; you can’t look like an antisemite if you want a political career. There were some other gimme bills being debated on the house floor when I attended session. One was on naming a stretch of highway after a beloved old Indian man. Who is going to vote no on that?

But the problem I have, and I think I speak for Tom Cooper too here, is that it gives the Montana legislature a foot in the door to propose stronger bills, like the Anti-AntiSemitism law they signed in South Dakota that dangerously stands in opposition to our first amendment right.

When I asked the nice information lady at the capitol about the current standing of HJ9, she said it had only been approved in committee and was waiting on something called transfer. That seems to mean that the bill will have to be debated and voted on on the floor of the House by a certain date. That date is some time in March. Maybe some of my Bitterroot Posse can find out when debate is to take place. I’d like to get a note to my local rep and possibly attend that debate too (though, like I say, I assume the bill will pass after a couple reps on both sides of the aisle stand to give a heartfelt endorsement of the bill, congratulate each other on the bipartisan nature of the support for the bill, and pass it 97 to 3.)

So that’s why I went to Helena. I wanted to speak to someone about the bill and attend debate on it, if my timing was lucky. I did neither, but my time in Helena, both at the capitol and in town, was interesting, but that is for another post. For now, I have to get out of my motel and see another capitol, in Madison!

PS: My motel in Madison is called the Aloha. They make a very threadbare attempt at a tropical theme. An old green carpet. A couple plastic plants. A fake neon-style sign that says, Aloha. Nothing in the rooms to suggest the South Pacific. I could help them here- what an easy theme to create! At the very least, how about a soundtrack playing tropical rhythms, ever so softly in the lobby?