“I love Montana. I want to be here,” said former Gov. Brian Schweitzer, declining a run for the U.S. Senate. Schweitzer will enjoy private life after running three consecutive statewide campaigns. In his last election, the Democrat won reelection with nearly two-thirds majority. Needless to say, Schweitzer is popular in Montana. After three terms of […]

Hotels often provide fuel for writing and a recent trip I took was no exception. I noticed there were some Goldfish crackers crushed on the floor as I got off the elevator at six this morning. At the time, I figured that the staff hadn’t seen the mess yet. Six hours later as we headed […]

Benjamin Franklin said, “Anyone who trades liberty for security deserves neither liberty nor security.” I find these words most apropos today. Our society as a whole has become so risk adverse every calamity requires an insurance policy or legislation to ensure “ it can’t happen again.” In an effort to make our workplace safe, we’ve […]

By John Fuller Egypt’s deposed President Morsi, a member of the Arab Brotherhood (an Islamic jihadist organization) was democratically elected only a year ago. After millions of Egyptians demonstrated in the streets rebelling against Morsi’s increasingly intolerant policies, the military staged a military coup d’etat. That would be a step towards liberty, but as usual, […]

Republican Congressman Steve Daines has introduced HR 2259, a North Fork Watershed Protection Act, and he deserves much credit for doing so. Democratic Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester had earlier introduced virtually identical legislation (Senate Bill 255). It passed out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on June 18 of this year. […]

For those of us who call the Flathead home year-round, it’s easy to be selfish in the summer. Every day off is already accounted for. There are rivers to float, mountains to hike and festivals to attend. The season speeds by and when obligations arise, they tend to rain on our precious sunny days. How […]

We’ve all heard the flapdoodle over conservative groups being targeted by the Internal Revenue Service, while liberal groups were not. But nearly lost in the clutter was a recent national Fox Business News segment about two previously unknown federal “nonprofits” that Fox’s David Asman declared were a “political vehicle for Brian Schweitzer.” One was the […]

Donald Trump has repeatedly been quoted as saying “It’s not personal, it’s just business.” It’s easy to read his comment as cold words from a billionaire bent on grinding through another interchangeable cog in his machine, but I think it means something different altogether. I think it means that his decisions aren’t driven by emotion. […]

For good reason, generations of Americans have called Montana “high, wide and handsome.” Our accessible public lands, big skies and clean water make our state a world-famous place to play. And that’s what makes it one of the best places on Earth to do business. That’s our shared belief at Business for Montana’s Outdoors: that […]

Lake Koocanusa is a large lake over 70 miles long, stretching from near Libby past Eureka to the north into Canada. It is a beautiful lake with much promise, but currently it seems to be a failed fishery forgotten by the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. There are primarily three type fish in Koocanusa. There’s […]

Over 50 years ago I heard that our great country was divided by “Us” versus “Them.” At that time Us was 90 percent and Them was 10 percent. About 20 years ago it shifted to where Us was 95 percent and Them was 5 percent. In the past year or two it has become Us […]

When I’m on the road, I always take a look at tourism brochure racks. Take a look at this rack in the Havre Amtrak station. Click to view the entire image or see flatheadbeacon.com/images/uploads/tourismbrochurerack.jpg. It’s a typical floor-standing tourism brochure rack that you might see around your town or at the local chamber of commerce […]

By John Fuller The Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives is being criticized for implying that he would invoke the “Hastert Rule” before allowing a vote on the universal illegal-immigrant amnesty bill that Democrats are so anxious to pass. The Hastert Rule, named after former Speaker Dennis Hastert, requires that a “majority of the […]

Montana is ready, able, and eager to accept the challenges put forth by President Barack Obama in his recent speech at Georgetown University in which he announced aggressive new standards and goals for the reform and renewal of America’s energy production and consumption. Montana and states throughout the Rockies now have enormous opportunities to dramatically […]

Eighty-six-hundred bucks! That was the news a couple weeks ago, that fully 24 percent of Flathead County’s per capita income of $35,546 is thanks to 1.3 million acres of “protected public lands” – Glacier National Park and the wildernesses. Yay! We CAN eat the scenery! Um, where’s my check? This was all according to a […]