I’m offering my “two cents” on the controversy over “earmarking” by members of Congress of domestic project funds, as a former federal political appointee (at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in the Clinton Administration). Unelected and unknown like hundreds of others like me, for six years I was part of a small group annually able […]

Gov. Brian Schweitzer released his state budget last week, and during its public unveiling he preempted many Republican ideas and chided them for others he didn’t agree with. The performance left one GOP lawmaker complaining that the governor had already “started waging war between the legislative and executive branches.” If a political “war” is coming […]

In San Francisco, a city board of supervisors voted 8-3 to prohibit fast food restaurants from including toys in “happy meals” that have more than 600 calories. Well, the price of a happy meal is decent and some families can’t afford a $7 hamburger. When a state allows a group of health food nuts to […]

A recent opinion has been making the rounds in Montana newspapers, claiming that wind energy is too expensive and would somehow result in higher energy prices in our state. That’s what I call junk science. You don’t have to look very far to see the jobs and economic development that come with a renewable energy […]

Jobs. Politicians talk about them. Some own businesses that created jobs. The trouble is, it’s not just any-old-job that needs creating. According to author Richard Florida, 45% of US jobs today are service-sector jobs. In other words, often low-paying jobs as retail sales clerks, customer service staff, food prep workers, personal health aides, and so […]

With the election guttersniping over (for a few days anyhow) I took some time to read and ponder an item from the library: “Rules for Radicals, A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals,” written by Saul David Alinsky, published in 1971 by Random House. Now, why would I, an upstanding capitalist pig, read an old book […]

America isn’t necessarily a place, but an idea that each one of us should have the freedom of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These liberties are what have drawn countless immigrants to our shores for 200 years. Each passing day these liberties are under siege by an over-reaching federal government. The founders understood […]

Montana Congressman Denny Rehberg held a conference call with reporters last week in what was billed as an opportunity to discuss priorities in the upcoming lame-duck session. The Republican, who trounced his Democratic opponent Dennis McDonald with more than 60 percent of the vote, mostly stuck to three main issues: budgets, taxes and wolves. Meanwhile, […]

The Bush administration inherited a budget surplus from the Clinton Administration. What happened? Costly and unfunded programs, such as the prescription drug bill, post 9/11 security spending and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were undertaken at the same time tax cuts were implemented. Congress knew those tax cuts were unaffordable at the time and so […]

The snowballing national debt which is now over $13 trillion pencils out to over $31,000 for every living American; but as things stand now Americans not yet living will end up paying for most of it. Outrage over the debt and its burden on our children and grandchildren was a leading cause of the Republican […]

Recently, the NY Times published a story about the turmoil over prices for printed books compared to their electronic counterparts. In some cases, the electronic version is priced higher. In particular, the story focused on comparison pricing occurring at Amazon.com for books published both in paperback and for the Amazon Kindle electronic book reader. The […]

Election night in Flathead County is a singular experience. As a reporter and political nerd tasked with covering election results – and by my rough calculations I’ve covered six in the valley so far – it has the vaguely exciting feel of childhood holidays: You’re excited about something; you’re not sure why, but at the […]

First of all, allow me to introduce myself. I am an avid hunter and sportsman from the state of Michigan. I have had the opportunity to hunt your great state for the last eight years as a nonresident – each time with Upper Canyon Outfitters in Alder. I was able to hunt for the first […]

I read publications, punditry and blogs from many different industries. Reading only the trade publications from your industry is dangerous, dangerous, dangerous. An awesome blog post by Ken Doctor based on comments made by Netflix founder Reed Hastings is a fine example. I don’t have a digital business As you read “Savor the economics of […]

Our latest election had millions of Americans voting at least partly because of worries over our national debt. Government runs deficits because too many politicians are willing and happy to rob Peter (and Peter’s grandchildren) to pay Paul. To score Paul’s vote, they approve objectively stupid expenditures (on Peter’s dime) for projects and programs that […]