The U.S. Senate passed an extension of long-term unemployment benefits that helps out-of-work workers for five months. The fate of unemployment benefits is now up to the House.

Given that the bulk of the House’s current budget cuts proposal targets programs that help people of limited means, it’s unknown if it will act any time soon on unemployment. But it is midterm elections and the GOP hungers to control the Senate. Unemployment benefits can become a political vehicle for other policy like tax cuts.

Most likely you’ve heard the saying “A poor artisan blames their tools.”

Despite the ROI of blame being zero (at best), this situation goes well beyond blame.

There’s something liberating about slipping a raft into a river in Western Montana. We are fortunate to have so many clean, free-flowing rivers nearby to enjoy with friends and family. And in my mind, few rivers can match the North Fork Flathead River. Other rivers may have more thrilling whitewater or more fish per river mile, but few match the North Fork for clean, beautiful water and stunning, wild scenery.

Montana’s congressional delegation happens to agree with me on this point. Sens. John Walsh, Jon Tester and Rep. Steve Daines are all supporters of the North Fork Watershed Protection Act. For this reason, it is especially maddening to read news that the bill is being blocked in the Senate by three senators who – in the memorable words of Tester – “can’t even find the Flathead River on a map.”

At a recent Kalispell Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Flathead Valley Community College President Jane Karas said that she’s often asked about the prospect of adding a football team, to which she responds, “We’re ready, whenever someone gives us $20 million.”

Karas was joking, but even if such a donation came through, it’s likely not enough. The school would need a new football stadium, budget for travel and scholarships and perhaps even money to pay its prospective athletes.

Rand Paul has appeal. He has energy, a flair for the dramatic, ambition, and name recognition. While occasionally seeming disarmingly foolish, he does not seem to be an actual fool, or a clone of his father, Ron Paul. Rand appears to be both smoother and more charismatic.

Rand Paul is not afraid of upsetting apple carts, though whether more for general attention or for direct results has not always been clear. His attacks on Bill Clinton, however, suggest there is more than just a bit of shrewdness to his actions. Bill’s “indiscretions” play well with Paul’s base, and conflating the two Clintons may work against Hillary later while helping Paul now, pre-primary.

A version of the North Fork Watershed Protection Act (NFPA) recently passed the U.S. House of Representatives and has been stymied by some U.S. senators refusing to vote for it. This oversight is welcome. One of the senators is the author of the apt and timely book, “The Debt Bomb” (Coburn, 2012). The senators “… have stipulated that the only way they’ll support additional land protections is if an equal amount of land is removed from federal protections” (March 19 Beacon).

Were you hoping the Confederated Salish-Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) water compact fiasco would simmer down? Well, take a look at the lawsuit the CSKT filed at the end of February – it’s an amazing document.

In a nutshell, the CSKT, represented by four tribal attorneys and experienced tribal-law advocate James Goetz of Bozeman, asked new U.S. District Court Judge Dana Christensen for an injunction prohibiting any state district or water court from settling, or adjudicating, any tribal water rights dispute.

While they vary from person to person, our values are the central driving force in our everyday lives.

These values form the context of daily decision making that drives our behavior. Quite often, these set-in-stone rules are accompanied by a set of guidelines that we adhere to, but occasionally allow ourselves to bend now and then.

When used as the lens through which we interact with clients, vendors, contractors and employees, these set-in-stone rules form operational boundaries that no situation and no person can convince our business to stray from.

While all of this is obvious, what might not be so obvious is how deep the influence of these rules can be.

As such, it’s worth considering where your rules come from and how you use them.

I wrote an opinion piece published in Montana newspapers nearly nine years ago about a visit I had just returned from to Israel. The topic of that piece is more timely now than it was then.

I was in Israel in 2005 with a delegation invited by the American Israel Friendship League. Our guide was a retired colonel in the Israeli Army with degrees in history and archeology from Hebrew University. We called him Ron. He had performed a similar function a few weeks before for former President Bill Clinton.

The U.S. Census Bureau released all sorts of statistics last week that, if you’re like me, make for fascinating reading. I pay especially close attention to population numbers across the state and try to glean trends that may predict what Montana will look like in five, or 10, years from now.

Of course, trends can reverse course, but the latest stats at least tell us a little bit about potential growth in Northwest Montana and elsewhere in the state. And reading population estimates in Flathead County, a question quickly arises: How long until we crack 100,000 residents.

It seems to me there are people towards the wings of both conservatism and liberalism that tend to fasten on some widely accepted “good” and carry it to an impractical extreme. When it is done knowingly, for one’s own benefit, it is reprehensible. Ted Cruz comes to mind. I may be wrong, but my experience has been that men that look, act, and talk like he does are generally scammers.

Putin stands as an extreme example of leadership run amok. Definitely from the fringe. Definitely willing to inflict pain. His justifying mission appears to be the restoration of the greatness of Russia. There are, have been, and will always be, others.

While deliberately dodging the public’s questions after recently leaked emails exposed a plot to hand a U.S. Senate seat to Gov. Steve Bullock’s right-hand man, John Walsh, Rep. Steve Daines is working tirelessly at his job in Washington fighting for the interests of Montana.

Congressman Steve Daines deserves credit for advancing the North Fork Watershed Protection Act, but he needs to work on being more consistent and reliable with similar Montana-made legislation.

The day Daines helped pass the North Fork legislation out of the House of Representatives he also voted to pass another local grassroots bill that protected a historic lakeshore in Michigan. This is significant because it was the first time in his career he helped pass a collaborative, solution-oriented bill that includes new wilderness area into law.

The U.S. House finally allowed the president to sign a five-year Farm Bill. Much of the agricultural weather risk policy is good news for farmers producing crops like wheat, barley, corn, or soy. Even milk producers gained access to subsidized crop insurance.

The Farm Bill is a funding mechanism for the food and farm policy of the United States. Time will tell how the USDA interprets and implements the law. Sen. Debbie Stabenow insisted her bill was reform and “not your father’s Farm Bill.”

One of the things that separates people from most machines and systems is their ability to adapt their interactions as the relationship matures.

A tough-as-nails 61 year old grandfather who supervises workers on an oil rig in North Dakota’s Bakken adapts his communication to the recipient when training a new guy to stay alive on the rig, and does so again when chatting with his three year old granddaughter about her Hello Kitty outfit via a Skype video call.

He doesn’t coo at a young buck and he doesn’t growl at his granddaughter. He adapts. It’s common sense.

Our systems, processes and communications don’t do enough of this.