Opinion

Uncommon Ground

March to Label Engineered Food

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. […]

By Mike Jopek
Guest Column

A Convenient Distraction 



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 […]

By Champ Edmunds
Business Is Personal

When Is $5,000 Like $100,000?

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 – […]

By Mark Riffey
Letter

LETTER: Whitefish Council Outlaws Competition

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. […]

By Rick Blake
Letter

LETTER: FWP Must Respond to Illegal Fish Introductions

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 Chris Schustrom
Opinion

Austerity vs. Spending

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 […]

By John Fuller | Joe Carbonari
Guest Column

New Ports Important for Montana Agriculture

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 […]

By Bruce Wright
Like I Was Saying

Further Explanation Needed

It’s difficult to understand the actions of the Flathead County commissioners in regard to the Agency on Aging, which also makes it easy to speculate. And that speculation has run rampant following two recent tense commission meetings. At the first, Commissioners Pam Holmquist and Gary Krueger voted to halt a grant process for a new […]

By Kellyn Brown
Closing Range

Contemplating the ‘Aftermax’

With Max Baucus announcing his retirement from the United States Senate, it’ll be nice to see the end of all those lame press releases bragging how Max was “fighting for Montana,” to “boost the economy” with “good-paying jobs” funded by his seniority-based position atop the “powerful Senate Finance Committee.” While Max certainly could score infrastructure […]

By Dave Skinner
Letter

LETTER: Not Another Wilderness Bill

An article in the newsletter “Quarterly” was shown to me that highlights yet another wilderness bill. This one is HR 1187, introduced in 1992 and presently sponsored by New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney. The bill (Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act) calls for an additional 24 million acres of federal land in Montana, Wyoming, Oregon and […]

By Bill Payne
Letter

LETTER: Politics Always Trumps Science

Looking around at the audience of the National Geographic Magazine global warming film documentary showing of “Chasing Ice” in Whitefish, one could see the usual crowd of environmentalists and Democrats, but not a Republican or Tea Party member was to be seen as they must have done their typical covering of eyes and ears, along […]

By Bill Baum
Like I Was Saying

Accidents Happen a Lot

It should be a lawmaker’s easiest task, pressing the correct button that indicates which way they want to vote on a procedure or piece of legislation, “yea” or “nay.” But that’s not always the case as evidenced by Great Falls Democrat Rep. Tom Jacobson’s vote that may have sunk Medicaid expansion in Montana and which […]

By Kellyn Brown
Opinion

63rd Montana Legislature

By John Fuller As the 63rd Montana Legislature wound down, the difference between Democrats and Republicans remained stark. Gov. Steve Bullock and Democrats wanted to continue to extort money from hard-working Montanans so they could give it to their allies in the form of free health care and higher pay for government employees (which have […]

By John Fuller | Joe Carbonari
Uncommon Ground

Tin Men Have No Hearts

The 63rd Montana Legislature is over. The assembly of elected servants passed a state budget, gave public servants a small raise, funded public education, shored up public pensions, invested in public infrastructure, and conducted themselves more-or-less with the respect that service warrants. In the closing days, politicians passed a lopsided $150 million income tax cut […]

By Mike Jopek