Immigration Symposium: 3/13/08 at 7:00 PM at The Beanery
February 25, 2008 | Filed Under Events, Seriously | Leave a Comment
PRESS RELEASE From Montana Women For:
Immigration: Myths, Facts and Policy Considerations
An informative symposium will be presented by Montana Women For at 7 PM on March 13th, 2008, at the Northern Pacific Beanery in Livingston.
“Immigration: Myths, Facts and Policy Considerations,” will feature Judy Ancel, the Director of The Institute for Labor Studies in Kansas City, Mo. Ms. Ancel currently coordinates The Heartland Labor Forum, a weekly one hour radio show on labor issues, and is president of the Board of Directors of The Cross Border Network for Justice and Solidarity, a non-profit organization which develops ties and mutual understanding between working people in the Kansas City area and maquiladora workers in Mexico.
“Immigration is a subject that people have passionate opinions about,” said Traci Isaly, co-chair of Montana Women For. “Oftentimes, we are not as well informed as we could be on differing viewpoints on this subject. This presentation and the panel afterwards will give us all a chance to listen, learn and ask important questions.”
Also participating in the symposium will be Jennifer Magic, local representative of Senator Jon Tester, Kim Abbott of Montana Human Rights Network and Bob Brown, senior fellow at the Center for the Rocky Mountain West, former legislator and secretary of state. The panel will be moderated by local activist Margot Kidder, an immigrant from Canada.
“This will be a lively evening, with many viewpoints,” Isaly said. “We want to invite the public to participate in this evening. I know we’re called Montana Women For, but we welcome men to our meetings!”
The monthly Montana Women For meeting will be held at 6:30 PM, followed immediately by the 7 pm symposium. Donations are requested to help offset travel expenses for the panelists.
For further information, please check the website at www.montanawomenfor.org or call 406/222-7040.
Livingston turns out to support RuPaul for president
February 23, 2008 | Filed Under LOL Feature Stories (satire) | 2 Comments
Everyone running for president is selling hope this year, but only one candidate has dared to make it fabulous. And she has broad support in Livingston.
Dozens of Livingstonians turned out on a recent wintry day for a rally to show their support for RuPaul for president. RuPaul (born Andre Charles on November 17, 1960) is an American drag performer, dance music singer, actor, and songwriter who gained fame in the 1990s, appearing in a wide variety of television programs, films, and musical albums.
Though a catty attitude is often associated with both politics and drag queens, RuPaul has brought an element of “love one another” to the campaign, and that sets her apart from the likes of that cranky John McCain, Hillary Clinton, and even the charming Barack Obama.
Not even the latest flap in which the verbose and seemingly unfiltered Bill Clinton accidentally referred to RuPaul as a “dark horse in this race,” would deter the outgoing African-American performer from her message of hope. “No doubt moments like this reinforce the feeling among voters that politics can be a drag. But I, alone among those running this year, can make drag fun. It’s my specialty.”
Nor has her lack of political experience dampened her hope or the enthusiasm of his fans her supporters.
Said one ardent supporter at the Livingston rally, “How many of these other guys. .women. . .er. . .other candidates can say they carried the full weight of the lead role in ‘StarrBooty’? You want to talk about pressure.” To another, a sense of history mattered more than experience. “This is our moment to elect both a woman and an African-American man with the same vote.”
A recent poll suggests that many voters are taking the message of a change in Washington to heart. To that constituency, RuPaul represents change more than anyone else. After all, this candidate can change faster than you can say “curtain call,” and do it eight or nine times in one evening.
While that is a positive to some, opposing candidates find it distracting when the debate has to be interrupted for a RuPaul trip to the dressing room. “No one, honey, and I mean no one,” says RuPaul, “can talk about Iraq in the same outfit she’s wearing to discuss health care.”
Equally frustrating for all of the presidential candidates is that RuPaul’s Libertarian streak, 
not to mention her identity, means she gets to have it both ways; she is debating both Republicans and Democrats in what promises to be a long-running election year performance.
[At right, John McCain shows a flicker of impatience after RuPaul resumes the debate in the gown she had made specially for answering questions on national security and terrorism.]
On this day in downtown Livingston, it doesn’t matter what the polls, the pundits, or the rest of America will have to say. Livingstonians are ready to stand by their man, their woman, and the Fabulosity of Hope.
The Livingston Weekly has revamped its Web site
February 23, 2008 | Filed Under Seriously, Around town | Leave a Comment
The Livingston Weekly has completely revamped its Web site, and you are going to love it. Feature articles are posted as blog entries, making it possible for you to add comments. This week’s feature on the Yellowstone Gateway Museum’s Whithorn Collection of historic photographs is posted, and you can click on the article’s images to see them in a larger size. This format does justice to images. Regular columns, event listings, the dining guide, and classifieds are all there, too. Kudos to the LW crew. This is good work, and now you can view the paper from anywhere, even when you are out of town: livingstonweekly.com