the High Line Rt.2, Montana

The High Line Rt.2, Montana
Route 2 starts in Houghton, Maine and goes to Everett, Washington, only cut in half by the Great Lakes, I have been on and off this road since July 24th

Leaving Williston, gaining an hour due to a time change, it’s an overcast Oregon gray day, cool too, only 5 miles till the cell phone will drop my call, this road is straight, it propels Skate to go faster & faster, at 58-60mph mileage is best, we go 65-68mph, slow down my little bronco, I swear the mile post entering Montana said 666, a gray sky ahead, needed rain for this country, drought across much of the Midwest and the Plains, as well as the SW and Texas, too much rain in the East & NW, go figure, into Culbertson, down Rt. 16S to look at the Missouri Breaks, spectacular views from the bridge, a Schwan’s’ truck passes, first one in months, delivery to your door, then back on Rt. 2, James Brown and coffee to start this day, more lighting ahead as the storm moves though, its eastward bound, we cross paths, Brockton, Home of the Warriors, what’s with the name, thought they were changing that, I wonder if being on Fort Peck Reservation has anything to do with that, Native peoples living on a reservation called after the victors, like Iraq in a couple hundred years living on land called Camp Freedom.
I meet Lenny today in Poplar, he has a Blue Insight, we chat, he is from Wisconsin following the Lewis & Clark Trail, years earlier in his life, he traveled all lower 48 states on one trip, wander we must. We talked mileage, performance, he has more stuff in his car then me, we compared notes of people, their views, we are both concerned about our country and were these rightness ones are taking us.
Lenny travel well and be safe, my brother.
Pass Wolf Point, elevation 2000 feet, slowly climbing into the western mountains, cutting into a storm from the west, on the radio, Canadian Talk Radio, I forget at times where I am, most look on the map, out of Regina, sounds like another word, too surreal, a bicycle rider heading East, just pass Hinsdale I spy a bicycle with a kayak, gal fixing a flat, I wheel back, Renata Chlumska from Sweden, her website is AroundAmericaAdventures.com, she is trying to fix a flat, another old timer there too, he sees my shirt Luckenbach, he says” population 3”, yes, he leaves, she wants to move on, small talk, she has been on the road for over three years, heading back to Seattle.
Renata travel well and be safe, my sister.
Up ahead Sleeping Buffalo, two rocks that look like the name, someone has left 5 cigarettes as a gift, not sure, I want to remove them, but I need all the help I can get.
Then there’s Natural Hot Springs, $5 for a half hour soak & sweat in this rustic, kind of old place, it’s indoors, an older fellow soaking, then some tourist look and run, hope Renata stops here.
I look back down the road willing to spot a $5 gift for a fellow traveler, no sight of her. Take care.
Pass Frazer, home of the Bear Cubs, what kind of name for a football team is that? Road Construction for miles, dirt and mud, Skate loves to baja, lots of fun, feel bad for the bikers and Renata coming down this road, over the Milk River, pass Malta, lots of great history up here, lots of Western Outlaw stories, though Dobson, three folks sitting outside the Hi-way Bar, the Cowboy Bar closed and boarded up like the rest of the town, in the Fort Belknap reservation, The Belknap Reservation is home for both the Assiniboine and Gros Ventre tribes, which have different historical backgrounds. The Assiniboine were the northern most group of the seven divisions of Yanktonai Sioux that resided in the region between the Mississippi River and Lake Superior.

More gray skies and rain, a Bob Dylan festival in the car, watching rain slowly move across the windshield, farm reports of the radio, trains of four engines and a hundred plus cars, many of these, moving down the tracks, east and west, sign says contact the US Border Patrol if you see suspicious behavior, well Dick Cheney is up at Whitefish, telling folks, its no accident that 9-11 as not happened again, not sleeping or vacationing these time, there badge, Fear, using the latest propaganda of the British arrest, let’s see how bad we can make the world seem to be. I do feel that Muslins should do a better job, if you wish to go back to the Golden times, then go back and live in the desert and quit using modern device to hurt people, the same here in this country, if you wish for the World to end, sit on the porch naked, have a cold one and wait.
Though Havre,first stoplight in 321 miles , casinos, bars and Christian radio, over the Big Sandy River, pass Blackie’s Tavern, all fishing holes need a bar close by, more liquids, please, over Sage Creek, Rudyard, into Liberty County, Sweet Grass Hills, Spud’s Café, Bootlegger road,
Joplin with a great welcome sign, a local woman stops while I take a picture, we agree, great sign, I ask the population, she says”300 or so”.
On into Shelby, crossroads town Interstate 15 runs North and South, going to Alaska, turn right!
On the roadside are small crosses, I keep a running tab, on the whole trip, some states allow them, I am going to add-up when I get home, but today, 78, some groups of 7 twice, groups of 3 also, I ask if this is for roadside deaths, I am told yes, I try to acknowledge all passing of life to the spirit world, I am concerned, what does this mean for this state and the road, it has very little shoulder to it, I can see why, going off the road would be dangerous, not driving at night out here, my other concern is if one does not believe, or is Jewish, Buddhists or Muslin, no signs for those folks?
The local paper has an article along side the article of Cheney’s visit, Mr. Anti-Christ, saying that a Federal Judge rules against the government’s warrantless wire taps, Unconstitutional, the President is not above the law, and the court has done its duty!
Time for George to go sit on the porch naked.
While in Shelby, check out he O'Haire Monor, great rates, hot tub,too!
Williston, North Dakota to Shelby, Montana
60.1 mpg/ 428.0 miles traveled


News from the Bill of Rights Defense Committee
You’ve probably seen the headlines – Warrantless Wiretapping Unconstitutional. It actually gets better than that. US District Court Judge Anna Diggs Taylor also ruled that the NSA program must stop immediately. Though, later in the day, government lawyers were able to negotiate a stay of the injunction until the appeal, set for September 7.
Judge Anna Diggs Taylor has given us a clear interpretation of the Constitution and the limits of executive power:
“We must first note that the Office of the Chief Executive has itself been created, with its powers, by the Constitution. There are no hereditary Kings in America and no powers not created by the Constitution. So all ‘inherent powers’ must derive from that Constitution.”
Upholding the importance of the Bill of Rights:
“It was never the intent of the Framers to give the president such unfettered control, particularly where his actions blatantly disregard the parameters clearly enumerated in the Bill of Rights.”
Making clear the importance of a Separation of Powers:
"Our constitution was drafted by founders and ratified by a people who still held in vivid memory the image of King George III and his General Warrants. The concept that each form of governmental power should be separated was a well-developed one. James Madison wrote that: 'The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.'"
Rejecting the interpretation that the Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) grants the President power to wiretap at will:
"The AUMF resolution, if indeed it is construed as replacing FISA, gives no support to Defendants here. Even if that Resolution superseded all other statutory law, Defendants have violated the Constitutional rights of their citizens including the First Amendment, Fourth Amendment and the Separation of Powers doctrine."
Judge Diggs Taylor makes it clear that the President has violated FISA:
"In this case, the President has acted, undisputedly, as FISA forbids. FISA is the expressed statutory policy of our Congress. The presidential power, therefore, was exercised at its lowest ebb and cannot be sustained."
She states that the President violated the First and Fourth Amendments:
"The President of the United States, a creature of the same Constitution which gave us these Amendments, has undisputedly violated the Fourth in failing to procure judicial orders as required by FISA, and accordingly has violated the First Amendment Rights of these Plaintiffs as well."
Here are some of the most complete articles I’ve seen on the Internet so far:
Judge orders stop to warrantless phone wiretapping
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/08/17/MNGCLKKD2A4.DTL
Federal Judge Rules Domestic Spying Program Unconstitutional
http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2006/08/breaking-news-federal-judge-rules.php
White House Vows Fight for Wiretaps
http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/news_theswamp/2006/08/white_house_vow.html
Here is the White House Statement:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/08/20060817-2.html
Attorney General Gonzales News Conference Transcript:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20060817/pl_usnw/remarks_of_attorney_general_gonzales_at_press_briefing_on_the_terrorist_surveillance_program_ruling311_xml
Judge Anna Diggs Taylor’s Ruling:
http://fl1.findlaw.com/news.findlaw.com/nytimes/docs/nsa/aclunsa81706opn.pdf
The Injunction:
http://www.mied.uscourts.gov/eGov/taylorpdf/06-10204Injunction.pdf
Government lawyers argued that Judge Diggs Taylor should not have heard the case at all, because national security would be at risk should they present a defense. But the judge denied that argument. It appears the reason she found that state secrets could not be invoked by the government is that the government already admitted to warrantless surveillance, so there was no state secret to protect. Similarly, she ruled that because Bush has not yet revealed the extent of the data-mining aspect of the program, that the government was able to use state secrets to stop that part of the case.