You may not have heard much about SOPA and its counterpart in the U.S. Senate, PIPA. SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) in the U.S. House and PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act) in the Senate have a noble and necessary cause behind them: To protect the intellectual property created by U.S. citizens and businesses. What is […]

Sometime late last year, at least according to experts who estimate these sorts of things, Montana surpassed 1 million residents. The milestone was met with both delight and dejection, even if the number is largely symbolic. We have now joined 44 other states that have at least that many people. The six below that mark […]

Last October, according to CBS News, President Barack Obama described the Occupy Wall Street movement as a reflection of a “broad-based frustration about how our financial system work”’ and pledged to continue fighting to protect American consumers. CBS News went on to report that “the president, speaking at a press conference, said he had heard […]

As a Montanan who has worked near the international Border for more than 20 years, Rep. Denny Rehberg’s H.R. 1505, The National Security and Federal Lands Protection Act, leaves me scratching my head. What is he thinking? The bill, which Rehberg co-sponsored, would hand sweeping powers to the Department of Homeland Security and the Border […]

We’ve all been aware for a long time that renewable sources of energy like the sun and wind are better for our health and our planet than fossil fuels like oil and coal. But many have also assumed – and fossil fuel industries have certainly claimed – that renewable sources are more expensive. Fortunately, this […]

We almost didn’t open it, thinking it was junk mail. Why would the University of Georgia send us mail way out here in Montana? We aren’t alumni. Our kids don’t go there, nor do we have prospective students considering the school. The letter was addressed to “The Riffey Family” (printed, not hand-addressed), which may have […]

Most in Congress ignore the growing hunger for better food. Today a budding constituency is fed up with the quality of our school lunches and the laboratory modifications made to real food. Food has become a social movement. It makes sense: people make eating decisions three times a day. And eaters do not like all […]

Iowa has taken a lot of heat. Like previous presidential election years, the rest of the country wonders what makes this state so special that it always gets to cast the first votes at its caucus. The same could be said for New Hampshire, home to the first primary. The importance of these states is […]

Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s recent statements about Keystone XL display a blatant disregard for the facts about the Keystone XL pipeline and tar sands oil. In Montana the pipeline would cross significant portions of the Missouri and Yellowstone River drainages, posing an unacceptable risk to our communities, fisheries and agriculture. The risks of expanding this […]

Those hoping for a little sanity in federal public-lands policy got an early Christmas present when Sen. Jon Tester’s wilderness bill, the disingenuously named Forest Jobs and Recreation Act (FJRA), was cut from the trillion-dollar must-pass 2012 omnibus budget. Tester’s bill was quietly shuffled through one Senate committee hearing (on “miscellaneous public lands and forests […]

As timber mill owners and managers in Montana, we’re disappointed that the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act, a bill to create jobs for loggers and millworkers, was prevented from passing in Congress last month. Hundreds of workers in our mills, along with hundreds of independent contractors and vendors we work with, all supporting hundreds of […]

One of my mentors describes a person or activity that wastes your time as a “time vampire”. This might be someone who repeatedly interrupts you for information they could easily find on their own – in other words, they’re really making a social call. It might be you checking CNN or Facebook. Interruptions often happen […]

The cost of funding public education has expanded exponentially over the last 40 years. Some of the reasons for that include the American Disabilities Act, Special Education requirements, Title IX (gender equity requirements), and the new technology infrastructure. However, the simple fact remains that those escalating costs have far outstripped the inflation rate and many […]

Each new year, at least for a short time, we get to press reset and express wild optimism that might otherwise be tempered. Like many of you, I have numerous goals for 2012 and other outcomes I would like to see that I have no control over. Here are a few of the latter: I […]

For the third consecutive month, the National Federation of Independent Business’ Small Business Economic Trends report, a key economic benchmark used by Federal Reserve officials and congressional leaders, showed an increase in small-business optimism – a leading indicator of economic growth.? ? While this news gives a glimmer of economic hope, a closer look at […]