People don’t easily forget a breach of trust. Recent reports from Wall Street and the world of high finance regarding Enron, WorldCom, and Arthur Anderson have generated a huge amount of talk, news, and indictments. Those of us resolutely residing in the bucolic simplicity of the Northwest aren’t much affected by big-league shenanigans, except perhaps […]
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President Bush has just proposed a “healthy forests initiative” aimed at reducing the fire hazard on national forest lands. This calls for thinning 2.5 million acres of national forests a year for the next ten years. The total cost could exceed $100 billion. Mr. Bush proposes to expedite this process by exempting it from environmental […]
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I’ve always appreciated wind power. While growing up, both Ramona and I had windmills on our home places; Ramona’s pumped water and generated electricity. And we recently installed a small wind-powered pump on our ranch. Now I see an important educational opportunity. It compellingly demonstrates the importance and ubiquity of trade-offs. No honest, responsible Green […]
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Montana’s state seal proclaims “oro y plata,” gold and silver. This reflects our past. The Treasure State historically exported these commodities. Sadly, in the new economy our most valuable exports are well-educated people with strong character and high IQs. While it made sense to export precious metals and minerals, wood and wool, it’s definitely a […]
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Happy birthday, Uncle Milty! Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman turns 90 at the end of the month. Since he¹s done so much for me, I¹m proposing a special birthday present for him: canonization as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church. Here¹s a great opportunity. The Catholic Church is in a huge crisis for its […]
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Here’s a book describing 20,000+ hippies, New Agers, and camp followers descending on an isolated rural community. Imagine a conservative federal district judge conducting a “jury view” of the site to settle conflicts between state public health rules and First Amendment constitutional rights to peacefully assemble in a national forest. “Judge Dave and the Rainbow […]
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Social movements, like ecosystems, evolve. Although many challenges remain, there is little doubt that Americans have changed the way they think about the environment. In some cases, the results are dramatic. For example, in the 1960s the U.S. Navy occasionally used whales for target practice. A quarter century later, the Navy spent over a million […]
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MSU’s President’s Advisory Council met last week. Here’s some good news. We can be prudently optimistic about Montana’s universities. We’ll never be Berkeley, Cal Tech, or Chicago, but we can find highly productive niches that make sense for our region. The suggestion I offered at the meeting follows, but first I’ll provide some context. I […]
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When I was in college, average income in Montana ranked in the top 10 of American states. Now we’re in the bottom 10, along with Mississippi and Arkansas. The reasons are clear. Our once prosperous basic industries–ag, forestry, and mining–are, and have been, in hard times. This is most unlikely to change. That’s the reality. […]
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Since 9/11 there has been an understandable resurgence in support for government. While there are good security reasons for this, there is also a huge potential for damage. Both the steel tariff and the farm bill are excellent examples of the dangers and injustice inherent to activist government. Nearly all environmentalists, conservatives, and libertarians are […]
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