As a Constitutional Conservative, I find the Tea Party Express endorsement of Congressman Steve Daines for U.S. Senate openly hypocritical. The Tea Party Express claims “six simple principles” as part of their mission statement: • No more bailouts • Reduce the size and intrusiveness of government • Stop raising our taxes • Repeal Obamacare • […]

A recent letter to the editor from Keith Hammer in the Flathead Beacon (Dec. 11: “Lack of Objectivity from Forest Service”) chastised the Flathead National Forest. Hammer stated that comments made to the Whitefish Range Partnership (WRP) demonstrated favoritism. The WRP met over the course of a year and a half to develop a collaborative […]

When I left for work on the day before Thanksgiving in 1950 I put my skis and assorted stuff alongside my carpenter tools. I would pound nails all day Wednesday and then climb in my panel delivery truck and drive 350 miles north from Hollywood on a two-lane road to Mammoth Mountain. Dave McCoy’s ski […]

At the end of next week the daytimes get longer. The week after it’s Christmas. In my family, these times of giving, eating and wonderment can be blissfully intense. A decade ago our parents moved to Florida, fleeing the snow and cold. I routinely spend Thanksgiving with family. Unfortunately they retired to a place I […]

The Internet is full of so many lists that they have earned the nickname “listicles,” and we like to share them. Some include celebrities. Too many include cats. And perhaps the most popular are those that depict images of people acting selflessly with titles like this: “22 Random Acts of Kindness that will Restore Your […]

This past weekend, I checked off two to-do list items with one coffee stop. First, I was looking for a good place to sit, sip and write. Second, I was meeting with the founder of a @StartupWeekend-born startup to discuss how it would go forward. I got more than I expected. It started off with […]

By Joe Carbonari In his run for Montana’s lone U.S. House seat Ryan Zinke faces the classic Republican primary dilemma. Can he appear conservative enough to win the primary without destroying his chances in the general election? He ran successfully for the Montana Senate, in 2009, and has participated in two sessions of the Legislature, […]

It is truly disappointing to watch the Flathead National Forest make a mockery out of the Whitefish Range Partnership collaborative and its Forest Plan revision public involvement process. In local newspapers the past week, the Forest Service demonstrated its utter lack of objectivity and fairness when it comes to public input. The Flathead National Forest […]

The process that federal regulations go through from proposal to enactment is simply baffling. There are seemingly countless comment periods, public hearings and reviews. Keeping up with the process is simply impossible for any small business in Montana. But with 739 regulations that directly affect small businesses under consideration by various federal agencies, it’s a […]

Miles of cars are idling in front of me on the west side of Lookout Pass on Interstate 90. More than an hour has passed and people are getting antsy, exiting their vehicles and wandering around in the rain for no apparent reason – rain that turns into snow a few miles ahead and has […]

By now, most of us have mowed through our leftovers, but a fair number of central Montanans are still choking on theirs. Whether or not you noticed, several years’ worth of squabble over re-districting Montana’s state legislative seats after the 2010 U.S. Census officially ended last February. Unlike most states, which leave re-districting to shamelessly […]

Most everyone I’ve talked to who really cares about their work has that one thing that brings meaning, context and (as my kids used to say) “give-a-care” to the work they do. You might’ve heard it described as “Not on my watch”, a reference to pulling watch duty on naval ships. The best way I’ve […]

Legislators hear monthly about Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks matters from constituents. Last month’s audit of the Block Management program highlighted some needed changes. This program allows public hunting access on private land through a mutual agreement with FWP. The landowners are called cooperators in the agreement while the properties are known as BMAs. These […]

Although a democracy is the most equitable form of government ever devised, it has an inherent weakness that makes it vulnerable and short lived. This weakness is the realization by voters that they can give themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. This flaw in the design of a democracy results in its being temporary […]

Public school students in Montana under the direction of Denise Juneau, state superintendent of public instruction, are moving forward into the 21st century to implement Common Core Standards. After years of slowly slipping behind in student achievement, compared to other countries, Juneau not only worked with colleagues on this process, she also wanted to make […]