Environmentalists are flogging Montana Congressman Denny Rehberg’s co-sponsorship of Utah fellow-Republican Rob Bishop’s National Security and Federal Lands Protection Act, HR 1505. Bishop’s bill, which passed out of committee 26-17 on Oct. 5, is aimed at enabling Homeland Security to reach “operational control” defined in section 2(b) of the Secure Fence Act of 2006: “the […]

Don’t compare the Tea Party to Occupy Wall Street protesters. Don’t do it. They are nothing alike. That’s what I’m told, although the effort of one to distance itself from the other seems strange as it persists anyway. For one, we’re told, the Tea Party supports capitalism and Occupy Wall Street supports anarchism. The Tea […]

The Missoula County Commission and the National Wildlife Federation made a big political statement with their lawsuit to halt construction modules from being transported on Montana highways en route to the Kearl oil sands in Alberta. Now that the litigation has about run its course, let’s evaluate exactly what they accomplished. When it’s all said […]

Not long ago, we talked about reviewing the recent performance of your business and making adjustments based on what you find. We ended that conversation like this… Beyond the bumps, there’s something missing here. Reacting after the fact. Assessment and adjustment after the bleeding starts. Evaluating what’s going on because the calendar says so. Does […]

Hey townies, please vote for a change. Municipal turnout is typically very low with most locals not voting. But local races offer townies a big vote on the type of community they want fostered. When it all boils down, the deciding factor for most votes is still trust. Who do you trust as advocates for […]

There’s nothing worse than being labeled a land-grabber. Just ask President Barack Obama’s administration. When a Department of the Interior memo surfaced that listed 14 sites, including 2.5 million acres in Montana, under consideration for new national monuments, the outcry was immediate. Land-grabber! Interior Secretary Ken Salazar tried to squash the controversy. He said nothing […]

It is said that “facts are stubborn things.” So are the figures on which facts are based. The following example didn’t originate with me, but in revising and verifying it, I consulted the highly respected, bipartisan Concord Coalition. It is headed up by former Republican Sen. Warren Rudman of New Hampshire and former Democratic Sen. […]

A little more than seventy-five percent of the calendar year is behind you. Can the same be said for the year’s goals, income expectations, etc? Will you wait until the end of the year to plan your next six, twelve, eighteen months or are you doing it now? How often do you review the results […]

Some in our firearms paradise of Montana are upset about a memo from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), reminding dealers that pot users can’t own guns. Users of federal “Schedule One” controlled substances, with no “currently accepted medical use” in the U.S., are prima facie felons. While angel-dusters, meth-heads, and legal […]

The federal government says it will deny Second Amendment rights to about 26,000 Montanans. Some people are upset about it, but that probably won’t last long. After all, these lost freedoms only apply to medical marijuana cardholders. Last week, one of our readers, a volunteer on several local boards, stopped by our office in Kalispell. […]

In a recent column (Sept. 21 Beacon: “Revenue Shell Game Hurts Schools”), leaders of two Montana education associations questioned the accuracy of statements by Department of Natural Resources and Conservations officials regarding how state trust revenues support K-12 education. While it may serve their purpose to vilify a state agency in an attempt to provide […]

Last week I was talking with a friend who was celebrating, or at the very least – remembering, the fact that a certain day that week marked his 10th year on the job. A decade or two ago, it was commonplace to have the same job for 10 years. In the decades of my parents’ […]

There were political lessons that Montana voters learned after watching legislators debate laws in Helena during the first part of this year. In five weeks the Flathead will see how that debacle translates for city voters on Election Day. Most of us get the “taxed enough already” motto preached during the campaigns. But the balance […]

When GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, campaigning in Iowa last month, was pressed by a heckler to raise corporate tax rates, he responded that “corporations are people, my friend.” The crowd of supporters cheered. Whether you agree with him, the high court already essentially did. In early 2010, a sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled […]

Ever walk out of a store or ended a phone call with a business and thought “Man, what a hassle. Why do they make it so hard for me to give them my money?” For example, I mostly read the news online but I like an old school Sunday paper. Problem is, I can’t get […]