The Call For Cebull To Step Down Gets Louder- Petition Edition

Thanks to the folks at the Montana Human Rights Network, there’s now a petition. From The Great Falls Tribune:

Seal of the United States Court of Appeals for...

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Travis McAdam, executive director of the Montana Human Rights Network, said citizens from throughout Montana and across the country are flooding the organization’s phone lines and email inbox with angry calls for Cebull to be removed from his post as the state’s top federal judge.

“People are really angry and motivated and wanting to do something,” McAdam said Thursday.

The Montana Human Rights Network and other groups are now circulating online petitions calling for Cebull to resign.

“On February 20, the chief federal judge in Montana, Richard Cebull, forwarded an email to six individuals that included racist and misogynistic content. The content of this email dehumanizes people of color and women. People of color and women appearing before Judge Cebull will have valid concerns about his ability to treat them fairly,” the network petition reads in part.

“From the time story broke online (Wednesday) to this morning we had gotten dozens of emails through our website, and phone calls from people who are really wanting some way to register their real displeasure with the email the judge sent around and also really talking about ‘how can we lend our names to something to try to get the judge to resign?’” McAdams said.

The network also plans to file a formal ethics complaint with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The MHRN petition is here.

UPDATE: CONGRESSIONAL TRI-CAUCUS CONDEMNS MONTANA JUDGE’S RACISM TOWARD OBAMA

MT Federal Judge Admits Racist Obama Email (dgsma.wordpress.com)

Racist Judge Makes The Washington Post

Mar1 by D Gregory Smith

I was worried that the bestiality-inferring racist email sent by Federal Judge Richard Cebull of Billings might go unnoticed by most of the national media- thank God I was wrong.

The Washington Post today picked up the original GF Tribune story, as did the Los Angeles Times, which added this:

The Tribune said it received the email after it had been forwarded several times in a chain that began at its original recipients. Cebull said he was “surprised” it had been passed along with his name attached to it, the newspaper said.

The Colbert Report ticket (Photo credit: eszter)

Again, he’s not sorry he did it, just sorry he got caught. And probably wondering which one of his buddies or (buddies friends) turned him in.

Dare I hope to see this story on tv tonight? -at least The Daily Show or The Colbert Report. Cross your fingers, light a candle and forward, retweet and write about this as often as you can….

In any case, this story warrants two new categories here on the site: Hypocrisy At Work and Conduct Unbecoming.

MT Federal Judge Admits Racist Obama Email (dgsma.wordpress.com)
Federal Judge Sends Disgusting, Racist Anti-Obama Email to Six of His “Old Buddies” and Acquaintances (pubcit.typepad.com)
The Sickness on the Right (The Daily Dish)

Rehberg Defends Controversial Bill

Mar1 by D Gregory Smith

From The Montana Democrats:

Already under heat from Montana sportsmen for supporting an anti-hunting bill, mutimillionaire Congressman Dennis Rehberg today doubled down on his defense of H.R. 1505, his unpopular federal land grab bill.

H.R. 1505 allows the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to override at least 36 existing laws and seize public land within 100 miles of Montana northern border in order to gain “operational control.” The legislation has been panned by critics on the right and the left. Montana sportsmen also criticized the bill because it gives the Department of Homeland Security “complete control over millions of acres of Montana public lands.”

But Rehberg defied Montana’s opposition to the bill on KECI-TV this morning:

“It has nothing to do with any kind of a land grab. It’s federal properties only and it’s just saying ‘let the border patrol and the customs agents have access to federal property you shouldn’t lock them out’.”

Rehberg is wrong. H.R. 1505 gives unprecedented authority to the federal government lock up land in Montana, and to lock Montanans out.

“Congressman Rehberg’s 35-year political career is defined by irresponsible decisions like his Homeland Security land grab and his votes for the Patriot Act and REAL ID,” said Montana Democratic Party Executive Director Ted Dick . “If Congressman Rehberg still thinks Montanans will stand for his attacks on our rights and freedoms, then he’s clearly lost touch with Montana values. And he refuses to admit when he’s wrong.”

Earlier this week, Montana hunters began running TV ads in Montana questioning Rehberg’s support of the Roadless Release Act. Rehberg’s bill (H.R. 1581) would open up millions of acres of land in Montana to roads and development, impacting some of Montana’s most prized hunting habitat. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the Montana Wildilfe Federation oppose Rehberg’s bill.

HOMELAND SECURITY LAND GRAB: Congressman Rehberg is sponsoring a bill that “would give the secretary of homeland security total operational authority over all federal lands within 100 miles of the U.S. international and maritime borders” [Great Falls Tribune,9/21/11]. Critics said the bill was “exactly the kind of big government Montanans don’t tolerate” [Missoulian, 9/28/11].

REAL ID: In 2005 Congressman Rehberg praised a plan to force all Montanans to get government ID cards saying, “something states should have been doing all along” [Rehberg Press Release, 5/6/05].

PATRIOT ACT: Congressman Rehberg has voted over and over again to re-authorize the controversial Patriot Act, something Jon Tester has consistently opposed [HR 2975, Vote 386, 10/12/01; HR 3162, Vote 398, 10/24/01; HR 3199, Vote 414, 07/21/05; HR 3199, Vote 627, 12/14/05; S 2271, Vote 20, 03/07/06, HR 514, House Roll Call Vote 29, 2/10/11].