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Give Montanans the right to choose ‘None of the Above’
On Election Day, assuming you can still bring yourself to vote, you go down to the polls, or more likely, the mailbox and look at the selection of candidates for various offices. Some are OK, some are not, so you pick your favorite and then you come to a race where both candidates are, in […]
Brad Tschida’s anatomy lesson
Behold state Rep. Brad Tschida bringing national attention to Montana by announcing that a woman’s uterus serves no real purpose for a woman, that it is a “sanctuary” for the pre-born. Sort of a condo leased out to a fertilized human egg. I’m not sure what Tschida’s stand is on ovaries and fallopian tubes and […]
Who will guard the guards?
Whenever I hear someone talk about how honest they are, I instinctively put my hands in my pockets to see that everything that should be there is still there. So, pardon me my skepticism when I read this blurb from a large accounting firm’s website: “Our Global Code of Conduct is a clear set of […]
Trip to Italy exposed silly little secret
On the same day that the 50th anniversary of the Montana Constitution was being celebrated in the Chambers of the Montana House of Representatives as producing the most open government of all the 50 states, it was revealed that the Governor of Montana was keeping a secret from the public, his location. He was, his […]
Excess profits tax will not solve inflation problems
Inflation has settled in for the American consumer and it’s nowhere more obvious than at the gas pump. Not so coincidentally, the only ones who are able to stay ahead of inflation are those companies which are causing the inflation itself, the oil companies whose profits have skyrocketed at the expense of the American consumer. […]
The importance of continuity in local politics
The Montana Primary election is coming up and I have been thinking about the choices I face in my rural Montana county. I don’t ask a lot of county government, just the basics — roads plowed in winter, graded in the spring, a sensible budget, a deputy sheriff within reasonable distance, and most importantly, a […]
More conversations, not fewer necessary for a solution to abortion
As if Americans weren’t divided enough, the recent leak of the U.S. Supreme Court’s apparent decision on the fate of Roe vs. Wade has added even more fuel to the fire, burning whatever political bridges still remain among us. Briefly, it appears that the Supreme Court will overturn the decision that ensured that women would […]
Hypocrites on the left, right
In San Francisco and other cities there is a big homeless issue. It is due to many factors both economic and drug related, but in this most liberal city solutions such as building high density housing are rejected because those neighborhoods fear that the projects would (take your pick): Increase crime, lower property values, ruin […]
Putin’s arrogance is shown by his disregard for the lives of children
In 1999 I traveled to China as a member of a bipartisan group of state legislators belonging to an international educational program. One of my most memorable moments was a visit to a school for the children of migrant workers in Shanghai. Unlike in America at the time, the migrant workers in China came from […]
Rosendale’s vote ignores what should never be forgotten
On September 13, 2001, two days after the incredibly horrific destruction at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the loss of thousands of lives taken by aircraft commandeered by Muslim terrorists, President George W. Bush met with Congressional leaders and Cabinet members to discuss the situation and how to return air travel, which had […]
Freedom from fear
There was an old Scrooge McDuck (world’s richest duck!) comic book story called “Christmas in Shacktown” which opened with McDuck’s three grand-nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie taking a shortcut home from school just before Christmas by going through Shacktown. The people and kids of Shacktown are dressed in patched rags, the children tote firewood in […]
Courage is what most of us want, but few of us have
Courage is a virtue that Americans value in our culture. An act of courage transcends ideology, it is a personal characteristic that belongs to the individual or group and to call it bravery without thought of personal consequences is as good a definition as any. We award medals for it. It is the soldier who […]