I meant to be more organized about this post. I meant to write it FIRST THING this morning. Alas, I’m apparently overdrawn at the omen bank because instead of getting it together today, I began by screwing up and have played catch up ALL damn day. What’s really said is it’s 5 in the evening and I’m already like so tired that it should be midnight.

I had a phone date today so I wanted to be sure I was awake for it; no big deal. Stu gets up, I reset the alarm just in case. I don’t tend to sleep a huge amount but some days I get up, I go back to sleep. I wanted to be awake with coffee and Vicodin working by the time I had my 11 o’clock phone call. So the alarm gets reset for 9:15. That’s a long time before 11 but while it used to take me, say, an hour to be fully awake and coherent, now it closer to two. It’s much better if, say like today, I don’t actually have to do anything that resembles moving. I wake up pre-alarm, put on glasses, take drugs, coffee gets started, newspaper gets snagged, start reading paper, go get coffee, play with alarm clock button.

Heh. About one newspaper later (I currently get two – it was a cheap deal and I like it but I won’t do it again. I won’t pay what they want me to pay and every time I go for the cheap deal (ok it’s been twice so far) they have screwed up my account SO DAMN badly. This last time it took three, count ‘em THREE phone calls to clear up why I was getting too many newspapers. Rocket science.)

But I know how long it takes me to read a paper – unless it’s Friday which takes longer or Sunday, etc. And I got get the coffee one newspaper alter and… hey, it’s STILL 9:15. Wait that can’t be….oh, shit. Pushed the button one too many notches.

It’ was 10:37 and that set the pattern for the day. The hurrieder I go, the behinder I got. I got lots done – made some phone calls I really needed to make – which led to other calls, which led to other calls but still. So wheeze, wheeze wheeze, here’s what I meant to write about like 8, 9 hours ago.

This was gonna be two-part – some happy political news and some personal stuff – but man I am just mashed potatoes at the moment.

So - this from today’s paper. I like this story. I like it because a) it’s a story about apologies – which are far too fucking rare in today’s world and it’s an apology b) righting a political wrong.

Back in 1918, 79 people were convicted of “sedition” in Montana. The law, according to the story written by Jim Robbins of the New York Times, was one of the harshest in the country, and punished folks for such crimes as, oh, say “speaking out in ways deemed crucial of the United States”. An example he offers was a man sentenced to between 7 and 20 years for calling wartime food regulations a “big joke”. Chilling, isn’t it?

Today Governor Brian Schweitzer (the first Democrat elected governor of Montana since 1988) pardoned 78 of these people (one had been pardoned already). Forty-one of these people including one woman, served prison time (from 1 to 20 years) and paid fines ranging from $20 to $20,000.

The story says “Dozens of relatives of the convicted seditionists will be at the state Capitol to witness the signing of the pardons.” These relatives include the daughter of one of those people – a woman who, like her 11 siblings, was put up for adoptions when her father was imprisoned and the family farm failed. Jesus Christ.

People were found suspect if they wouldn’t buy bonds. Neighbors were encouraged to inform on each other and “one person’s accusation was often enough for an arrest.”

It’s not enough, but we can’t go back in time, so for now, it’ll do. It’ll have to do.

In checking on this story, I went to a website for “Montana’s News Station” (apparently they only have one…with branches or something” and here’s the thing. The slogan on the site reads
Fair. Accurate. To the Point.”

What I read was “Fair. Accurate. To a point.”

Ahem. I’m going to have to call a halt to sitting here and do the rest of my planned blogging tomorrow. When my head has caught up and I’m not wondering how long before I can take another Vicodin. Sleep tight.