By John Fuller Which shallow, cold-hearted person issued the orders to abandon the brave Americans fighting for their lives at Benghazi? When an official representative of the sovereignty of the United States is brutally murdered and the brave warriors attempting to save him are abandoned by their government, why did the highest levels of that […]

In April, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and cooperating government entities released their 148-page “Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem [NCDE] Grizzly Bear Conservation Strategy” draft for public comments. Your comments will be due Aug. 1. Why bother? Two reasons: Officially, a “strategy” (like that for wolves) needs to be approved prior to “de-listing” grizzly bears […]

Congress is set to debate the Farm Bill, which defines and funds U.S. agricultural policy. The bill will get marked up in the Senate Agricultural Committee and will see floor action this summer. This time, Congress – especially Sen. Max Baucus – a senior Senate Agriculture Committee member, should implement real reforms to the Farm […]

How we talk, write, stand, sit or hold our hands and arms plays a huge part in how effective we are in helping others understand what we have to say, much less keep their attention long enough to finish the message. If they don’t get it all, at best you may as well have said […]

Thanks to the Flathead Beacon for the excellent reporting of the Flathead County Commission meeting at which the Agency on Aging Director Lisa Sheppard’s position was discussed (May 8 Beacon: “Commission Keeps AOA Director as Employee”). It is apparent Commissioner Gary Krueger did not take in account the vital support the AOA provides to the […]

There are presently 2 million incarcerated in U.S. prisons. This is 1/4 of the entire world’s incarcerated. Most of the incarcerated in the U.S. are serving terms for crimes that are drug related. It is odd that laws prohibiting the use and sale of “illegal” drugs were enacted considering the utter failure of the prohibition […]

By John Fuller Republicans in Congress are trying to pass legislation that would permit the private sector to allow employers to grant comp time instead of paying overtime as the public sector has done for many years. Just think about that statement for a minute. How ludicrous is the concept that private sector employers are […]

There’s a story I like to tell about my colleague Myers Reece. It involves how I “discovered” him after he had spent months backpacking through the jungles of South America. How I set him on the straight and narrow by making him my first hire at the Flathead Beacon. Of course, this story is largely […]

Young moms like Sylvia Malaga of Whitefish are organizing an educational day of action called the “March against Monsanto.” These events are planned in 200 places worldwide. One hundred and sixty are in the U.S with four rallies in Montana. The Kalispell event is Saturday, May 25 from noon to 5 p.m. at Depot Park. […]

Gun control ads are hitting Montana’s airwaves and Vice President Joe Biden is lobbying around the country for gun control. As a U.S. Senate candidate, I feel compelled to respond. The Second Amendment is not about hunting, period. I believe most Montanans realize that more restrictions on our right to bear arms will do nothing […]

One of the first questions I ask business owners when we start working on their company is “What will it take to transform your business?” I’m asking for several reasons – each of which are critical to knowing where you are with your business. I want to find out what is top of mind – […]

Last month the City of Whitefish formally asked Flathead County to participate in a joint corridor plan for doughnut property along U.S. Highway 93 south of the city limits. Seriously? This is the same Whitefish that has sued Flathead County twice to tie up our doughnut properties for the past five years in ongoing litigation. […]

Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks has met with public opposition over their plan to suppress illegal walleye in Noxon Reservoir. In response, Region 1 said they “will most likely respond by drafting a new EA and providing more public inclusion.” Let’s make one thing perfectly clear; the population of invasive walleye in Noxon Reservoir is […]

By John Fuller Ever since John Maynard Keynes published his “General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money,” liberals have been enamored with the concept that governments can deficit-spend to stimulate aggregate demand and thus spend an economy into prosperity. FDR used Keynes’ theory to justify most of the New Deal, spending in the name of […]

Montana exports had a record year in 2012. Led by grain, Montana exported over $2.48 billion in high-value grain last year. We’re producing products and commodities that the world wants, and all our communities benefit from the resulting jobs, economic growth and tax revenue.?But to continue to thrive in the highly competitive global marketplace, Montana’s […]