This FREE Insight is a warm recommendation of a book by WWII veteran Warren R. Higgins, The Wednesday Pen. His daughter, Ris Higgins, is a Bozeman friend. She lovingly edited this volume and it was just published by Brown books of Dallas, Texas. This is a most unusual book. It’s a collection of letters, one […]
Read MoreI’m writing this on Groundhogs Day, February 2. Ramona and I are seven miles east of Ashton, Idaho near the Yellowstone Park border. YNP is an excellent place to explore parables of environmental stewardship so FREE’s work naturally features Yellowstone. Our July 15-19 conference, “Harmonizing Ecology, Prosperity, and Liberty”, will include a day in Yellowstone […]
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“Happy New Year” may seem an inappropriate cry as America balances on the edge of governments’ financial cliffs. We’ve been edging toward this danger for two generations. The reason is simple; politicians have strong incentives to provide current benefits and promise payments in some distant future. That future is ever closer. The politics of this […]
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Introduction by John Baden: Ramona and I often are out of town on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, Election Day. Since we are likely to be gone, we are registered to receive “absentee ballots.” How easy they are; mark, sign, stuff into envelopes, put on a stamp, and we’ve done a small portion of […]
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Pete Geddes is the General Director of the American Prairie Reserve. This is an entrepreneurial foundation dedicated to restoring 3,000,000 acres of grassland and its wildlife and ranches. It’s their “American Serengeti”. Pete came to Bozeman from Missoula nearly 17 years ago after earning his graduate degree in forestry from the U of M. One […]
Read MoreI’m writing this column on the night before the presidential election of 2012. Surely the attention of readers will be on the election tomorrow—and probably for some time thereafter. I’m praying for an early and decisive ending of this grotesque demonstration of avarice, deception, and manipulation of fears. In the weeks prior to the election, […]
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Beginning to Map the DNA of Policy Reform: Dr. Flaherty’s “Beyond DNA: Lessons from the Born” Dr. Bob Flaherty, MD, of Montana State University is the author of this week’s FREE Insights. Bob has lectured at several FREE seminars, and he and his wife Carol (retired from MSU) are long and deeply trusted friends. They […]
Read MoreBozeman, Montana was the birthplace of The New Resource Economics, aka “Free Market Environmentalism.” Having lived in its midst for decades, I recently began thinking of the historical context of this movement, and the causes of its unlikely success. The take-home message is clear; over the long run ideas have consequences. A victory implies contesting […]
Read MoreAllen Johnson is founder and leader of Christians for the Mountains. This group is devoted to fighting mountain top removal mining in West Virginia and adjacent areas. Christians for the Mountains helps the people and environment that suffer from this destructive but politically powerful abuse. I’ve known and worked with Allen for several years and […]
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I saw Dave in my medical office last week. He is a pretty typical 46 year old American. He was laid off and now makes a little money with odd jobs. He has no health insurance and doesn’t qualify for the various government health programs. Also typically, he has high blood pressure, high cholesterol and […]
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