Gov. Brian Schweitzer made an East Coast swing last week to stump for a pair of gubernatorial candidates, including failed Democratic primary hopeful Terry McAuliffe in Virginia. Inside the Beltway of Washington, D.C., the endorsement was considered a gamble and, when it didn’t pay off, Schweitzer was mildly panned. Why would Schweitzer endorse McAuliffe for […]

As we honored our veterans on Memorial Day, I stood troubled at our Commander-in-Chief’s position regarding Guantanamo Bay, a.k.a. Gitmo. As much as I respect our President, I fundamentally disagree with his assessment that moving the detainees to U.S. territory is in our nation’s best interest. His argument to close Gitmo is based on three […]

By now the series is probably over, but as of a couple days prior to my writing this, the Lakers appear a little vulnerable against the Magic. In the Lakers’ game three loss, the Magic seemed to focus a little more and work a little harder on fundamentals than the Lakers. As a result, their […]

I first met Sen. Max Baucus five years ago in a Bozeman cafeteria. He was eating a hamburger while talking trade (one of his favorite topics) and boasting about the potential of RightNow Technologies, a burgeoning company in which he had volunteered his time during one of his trademark “workdays.” Employees there were well aware […]

Sunday, May 31, a friend and colleague was murdered in his house of worship while he was handing out church bulletins. His name was Dr. George Tiller, and he was murdered because he cared about women. Here is an except from a speech he gave at the Feminist Majority Foundation last year: “I personally see […]

In February of 1949 after two months of teaching snowplow turns on Half Dollar in Sun Valley, Idaho, I was still very excited about my job. I was always given the absolute beginners. They were people that had never had a pair of seven-foot, stiff, wooden skis in their lives. Otto Lang, who ran the […]

Imagine you’re talking with a prospect or client on the phone and right before the critical word or phrase that almost always closes the deal, you suddenly hang up. You’d never do that, would you? I mean, you’d think that might make it a tad difficult to close a sale. What if I told you […]

With all the junk on television these days, sometimes I like to score some live entertainment. So, on June 1, at 7:10 p.m., I plunked down in the hallowed chambers of the Whitefish City Council. Oh, for a couch, a beer, and some pizza. There was one item on the public agenda. Property management entrepreneurette […]

On a 4-3 vote, the Montana Board of Regents voted last week to raise tuition at Montana’s flagship campuses. Regent Todd Buchanan, who opposed the increase, said it best when he told his colleagues prior to their decision that “we better prepare ourselves for one heck of a conversation in our communities because one is […]

Just like Montana families, the state of Montana has to live within its means. We have to look carefully at all expenditures we make in tough economic times. We weren’t surprised to read that Republican leaders – Sens. Bob Story, John Esp and Dan McGee – wanted to spend more money. After all, it was […]

If you’ve ever coached a kids’ baseball team, you probably remember reminding players to take the bat off of their shoulder, at least during the early going. Leaving it on your shoulder requires too much adjustment to hit a pitched ball. Most young players can’t adjust fast enough at that age. Not asking the right […]

Summer tourists began arriving in droves over Memorial Day weekend. And with them, we heard the first gripes from locals who complain that the sightseers are overcrowding our roads and a few of those same visitors (the humanity!) may opt to stay permanently. But this year, perhaps more than the previous, just as many Montanans […]

Earlier this month, Gov. Brian Schweitzer used his line item veto power to cancel several programs in House Bill 645, the Montana stimulus bill. The programs eliminated by the stroke of his pen were important to many people. One helped out first-time home buyers, one provided funds to purchase much-needed equipment for our Experiment Stations, […]

As promised last week, we’re going to discuss a few easy-to-make social media mistakes that small businesses should avoid. Mistake # 1 – Where’s the fire? This one is the easiest to commit so of course it’s one of the mistakes that can make your social media efforts far less effective – and perhaps a […]

This week I planned to write about Henry Waxman’s crazy “energy bill.” But then the news hit that the U.S. Senate passed credit card “reform” legislation by a vote of 90-5. Turns out conservative Senator Tom “Earmark Killer” Coburn of Oklahoma (R), with help from Senator Jim Webb (D-Virginia), managed to weld an amendment applying […]