By John Fuller FDR’s Vice President John Nance Garner allegedly said, “The office of the vice president isn’t worth a bucket of warm spit.” And John Adams, the first vice president, said, “As vice president, I am nothing; but I could be everything.” In the uniquely American system of choosing our chief executive, we also […]

As hard as it is to believe, the leisurely days of summer are drawing to a close as schools across the country are opening their doors for the first day of school. Students in Flathead County will return to classes on Aug. 29, and this year’s group of kindergarten students will be the graduating class […]

I read with interest the about the battle between homeowners needing shoreline protection and speedboats pulling skiers on Echo Lake (Aug. 22 Beacon: “Flooded Again, Echo Lake Residents Call for No-Wake Zone”). For 18 years I’ve owned a home on the lake. Watching my shoreline erode is painful. This is the second high-water summer that […]

If you live in Montana, chances are you know someone who has headed to the Bakken in search of it.? ? Thanks to that large source rock formation, and the technology that makes it accessible, North Dakota has now vaulted to the No. 2 position among oil producers in the United States, following only Texas. […]

The Montana Supreme Court ruled that Legislative Referendum 123 was unconstitutional and could not be placed on the ballot. The Montana Legislature improperly delegated its constitutional authority to allocate taxpayer money for public services like education, fire protection or foster care, and enact tax cuts. The Tea Partiers of the last Legislature put the question […]

Recently, I spoke at a national organization’s regional trade show here in Kalispell. As you might expect, we talked about personalizing their businesses – in their very narrow market context. What always makes me wonder about these events is why they aren’t standing room only. Why aren’t people lined up at the door, so to […]

The other day at the gym my teacher forewarned the class in front of him that the next exercise made a previous student puke from exhaustion. So goes the slog to get and maintain the physique to keep up with many of my colleagues, specifically my friend and second-in-command in the newsroom Myers Reece. Reece […]

I am very concerned about our entire political system, Democrats and Republicans alike. And I realize the tremendous frustration in America today with unemployment, deficits, health care problems, family financial problems, and the great desire for all this to be solved, and that possibly a change in presidential leadership is the answer. Well, before we […]

It’s no secret that President Barack Obama thinks that businesses should pay more in taxes. However in Roanoke, Va. he recently made some sorely misguided statements about business success when he said: “If you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people […]

By John Fuller President Barack Obama’s recent remark that “You didn’t build that,” is the “Joe the Plumber” remark of this campaign. In his attempt to exalt the government, he insulted the individual and turned upside down the historical relationship between Americans and their government. The idea that no one can be successful unless they […]

Montana is a composite; its identity defined by the beholder. The journalist Joe Howard saw it as “high, wide, and handsome;” the historian Harry Fritz as “a land of contrast;” and K. Ross Tootle described “an uncommon land.” East to west, Montana’s landforms vary from an occasional saline, wind-whipped desert to lush wheat fields to […]

Today was yet another one of those days that come far too often. A day when someone tells me their computer crashed and they have no backups. This isn’t a computer at home that’s used for recipes, photos, genealogy, Google searches, email, Facebook and maybe an occasional game. This computer is used to manage their […]

The news is that the American Civil Liberties Union wants state Judge Jeffrey Sherlock in Great Falls to declare lethal injection unconstitutional. Capital punishment foe and attorney Ron Waterman, who has run for election in 2008 to the Montana Supreme Court and tried for an appointment in 2009, is arguing on behalf of Ronald Allen […]

Montana has a unique problem on its hands. It is flush with money, at least according to the governor’s office, which is touting a $453 million surplus for the fiscal year ending June 30. That’s the state’s second-largest surplus on record, just behind 2007’s mark. Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer, with a knack for the theatrical, […]

By John Fuller Scandalous incidents at Penn State University and the University of Montana have brought attention once again to the insidious relationship between college administrations and the necessity of winning. The simple fact remains that the football programs at many major universities treat their athletes and athletic staff like pampered movie stars, which perpetuates […]