tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55064512012-01-28T10:34:27.131-08:00"Our aim, to swat liars and leeches, hypocrites & humbugs, demagogs & dastards" -- The Yellow Jacket Moravian Falls, N.C., 1919Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.comBlogger15701100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-34834964982550390582009-06-19T13:58:00.001-07:002009-06-19T14:04:19.211-07:00

At long last, this blog is moving into The Billings Outpost website, where future posts will appear. You can find it at http://billingsnews.com/davidsblog/. Please adjust your links accordingly. I will gradually get my links over there updated, so don't fret if you don't see yours right away.

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-53864334477948708452009-06-19T11:02:00.000-07:002009-06-19T11:04:06.719-07:00

The Outpost has unexpectedly acquired some tickets for tonight's concert by Glen Campbell at the Alberta Bair Theater. If you would like a couple, reply here for send me an e-mail at editor@billingsnews.com right away.

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-55574219791229531212009-06-19T09:49:00.000-07:002009-06-19T09:57:01.904-07:00

As Hannity railed on yesterday about David Letterman insulting Sarah Palin and her daughter, something occurred to me that I haven't seen anywhere else. Given how much this story has been pawed over, it probably has appeared somewhere else, but I've missed it.That's the conservative component of Letterman's joke. One way that societies typically curb unwelcome sexual behavior is by publicly

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-35405321839212742432009-06-17T14:30:00.000-07:002009-06-17T14:36:51.227-07:00

Driving to work this afternoon, after a long night at the Outpost, I heard Sean Hannity and Sen. Lindsey Graham saying that Obama was being weak on Iran unlike Reagan, who was strong on Poland. And I thought this, word for word.

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-10223004897307272682009-06-16T08:43:00.000-07:002009-06-16T08:54:35.765-07:00

While slaving my way through a blisteringly long string of e-mailed items for the Outpost's Calendar of Events, I listed to Hannity interview Sen. Joe Lieberman. Both agreed that:1. Photographs showing abuses at Abu Ghraib should not be released.2. Guantanamo should not be closed.This is a paradox. The argument for covering up the photos is that releasing them could inflame anti-American

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-63322985256713595442009-06-14T17:24:00.001-07:002009-06-14T17:25:26.407-07:00

First, global warming. Now, or perhaps as a result, there's this.Great Falls is looking more habitable all the time.

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-12620485372675703032009-06-14T15:40:00.000-07:002009-06-14T16:42:38.551-07:00

Keep an eye out: The Outpost got a call last week from somebody selling for the "Trivia Pages." Now comes this from the Better Business Bureau release:Companies in Billings, MT have reported contact by Northwest Publishing soliciting advertising in a "restaurant flyer". This company claims they have a close relationship with various local restaurants, including Jakes, and the Montana Rib and Chop

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-16903825777042416992009-06-12T14:39:00.000-07:002009-06-12T15:21:09.183-07:00

In the aftermath of the latest fatal assault by a right-wing conspiracy nut, conservative talk radio hosts this week were somber and reflective, wondering whether their relentless attacks on Barack Obama, Democrats and liberals in general might in any way be endangering the republic.No, wait, that was in Bizarro World. On this planet, they were blaming liberals.Yes, liberals. Please don't ask me

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-4637351174321745822009-06-09T13:55:00.000-07:002009-06-09T13:58:44.650-07:00

Just in case that whole Senate thing doesn't work out, Jon Tester is doing color commentary tonight on Fox Sports Northwest for a game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Seattle Mariners. The game starts at 5:05 p.m., and Tester is scheduled to come on in the bottom of the fourth.Consider that a plug -- or a warning.

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-63290402637718874962009-06-09T07:27:00.001-07:002009-06-09T07:29:00.175-07:00

Dahlia Lithwick, a wise woman whose rich experiences more often than not allow her to reach better judgments than me, has a good read on the Supreme Court controversy.

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-14759856098672744702009-06-08T07:55:00.000-07:002009-06-08T08:11:51.913-07:00

I've been arguing away on the Sotomayor choice, both below and at Electric City Weblog. Not much point to it, probably, other than as a claw-sharpening exercise, but it is striking how many apparent conservatives are professing outrage over her suggestion that a wise woman with a Latina background might be better equipped to make good decisions than someone without that background.Suppose I were

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-81692400519657695372009-06-08T07:45:00.000-07:002009-06-08T07:55:48.194-07:00

Help! I'm supposed to teach freshman comp this fall at Rocky and am really struggling with what to assign them to read. I wasn't happy with how the last comp course I taught there turned out, so I am trying to shake things up, but am at a bit of a loss.I ran across Roger Clawson's list of the three greatest novels of the Western Hemisphere and thought: Not only is Roger right, but I've read "

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-75186941897705410582009-06-05T08:55:00.001-07:002009-06-05T09:38:20.767-07:00

Some Republicans are now backing off the claim that Sonia Sotomayor was being racist when she said, "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life." But they keep repeating the idea that a white man who said that white males would make better judges would be out of the

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-48311749566395788752009-06-05T08:52:00.000-07:002009-06-05T08:55:15.308-07:00

A caller to Hannity said he had invited friends over the previous night for beer, barbecue and a listen to Hannity's TV interview with Rush Limbaugh. He said the interview was brilliant. I gathered that beer was heavily involved in reaching that conclusion.Hannity asked what kind of beer they drank. I instantly thought: Bud Light, the anti-beer.The answer was even worse than I guessed: It was

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-39481289227308523292009-06-05T08:31:00.000-07:002009-06-05T08:51:53.783-07:00

Some days it must really suck to be Rush Limbaugh.I know he makes good money, and I suppose that he generally likes his job. But probably not every day.An example would be yesterday, when his show came on shortly after Barack Obama had concluded his Mideast speech. In similar circumstances, an ordinary journalist would have to hustle but would know the basic outlines of what he had to do: Grab a

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-76289506127125770582009-06-03T15:35:00.000-07:002009-06-03T15:47:23.977-07:00

I've made quite a bit of fun of the Montana GOP E-briefs in this space because of the comical way they distort most of what goes on in the world. Then I quit getting them for a while. I thought maybe the GOP decided it was bad business to send their rhetoric to someone who would just ridicule it.But I have gotten a few Montana Republican e-mails lately that are far different in tone from the old

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-43918982542207150392009-06-02T11:01:00.001-07:002009-06-02T11:11:57.290-07:00

I've been feeling like a bit of a chump the last couple of days, ever since the abortion doctor was gunned down as he attended church. I spend a lot of time (too much, probably) in this space attacking the talk-show morons for their various assaults on good sense and decency. But it occurs to me now that I have heard Bill O'Reilly launch several verbal sallies against the doctor without thinking

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-650690087038568102009-05-31T10:59:00.000-07:002009-05-31T11:30:35.080-07:00

I spent a fair part of Saturday reading "Dred Scott's Revenge: A Legal History of Race and Freedom in America," by Andrew Napolitano, the judicial analyst for Fox News. It's a good read but really less a legal history than a retelling of the story of racism in North America, from colonial slave-trading days to the election of Obama.Napolitano's basic argument is that the government (and its

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-54185466432022593282009-05-29T08:27:00.000-07:002009-05-29T09:12:42.902-07:00

A caller tried to make what sounded like a perfectly reasonable point on Hannity's show, but Hannity cut him off.I say that "sounded like" because it is usually hard to tell on Hannity's program. Anytime a caller starts to make an argument that he can't answer, he immediately begins to bully and interrupt, making it hard to know for sure what the caller wanted to say. But this caller seemed to be

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-52889613829136299302009-05-26T08:13:00.000-07:002009-05-26T08:26:31.710-07:00

Back in April, Rob Natelson wrote a tongue-in-cheek post arguing that Somali pirates were environmental activists and heroes who promoted social justice. I wrote in comments that there actually was some truth to the myths that romanticize piracy.Evidence for my claim comes in a book by Peter T. Leeson, "The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates." He notes that pirates were far better

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-72872243481533273392009-05-25T13:37:00.000-07:002009-05-25T14:11:36.893-07:00

Hope you are out celebrating and commemorating while I am sitting here in the office, pounding out another issue of the Outpost. Don't feel too bad for me: We did get into the mountains for a few hours yesterday, and they were lovely and inviting.Today I'm sitting here typing and listening to the radio, and wondering why it is that conservative talk radio, whatever its acknowledged flaws, always

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-81802382538264023722009-05-22T09:19:00.001-07:002009-05-22T09:44:18.892-07:00

So yes, I did take a few days off to go see my daughter graduate in Missoula, a fine and pleasurable event. Then there was the paper to catch up on, which explains why nothing has appeared in this space for a while. Please contact the subscription department for refunds.All the radio talk yesterday was about the "showdown" between Dick Cheney and Barack Obama on national security matters. Sadly,

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-21291011795346861692009-05-14T11:17:00.000-07:002009-05-14T11:28:55.709-07:00

As noted here and elsewhere, there has been whining all week by Hannity, Beck and their ilk about Wanda Sykes making fun of Rush Limbaugh, and quite a bit of criticism of Obama for appearing to find it funny.But this is clearly a case where the pot should do a color check before making observations about the kettle. I just got through two hours of Limbaugh (minus bouncing in an out of the car

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-84446727800918344042009-05-11T18:37:00.001-07:002009-05-11T18:43:01.997-07:00

Just got word of the death of longtime newsman and Gazette columnist Addison Bragg. His health had been declining for a while, enough that his family recently gave the Outpost a skillfully drawn caricature depicting him after using a bow to shoot a fountain pen into the chest of a sword-wielding thug, with the caption, "The pen IS mightier than the sword."I didn't know Addison well; he was still

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-55511440466909140862009-05-11T17:58:00.000-07:002009-05-11T18:23:56.100-07:00

Cunningham on Sunday night and then Hannity and Beck today were all beating up on Wanda Sykes for cracking wise about Rush Limbaugh and also at Barack Obama for apparently having laughed.I won't defend her sense of humor. I don't think much of jokes about people dying either. But I would defend the serious point behind the joke. The open rooting of Limbaugh, Hannity and their ilk for the failure

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-16997012406130046922009-05-11T09:45:00.000-07:002009-05-11T09:49:46.464-07:00

Tyler Gernant, the Democrat running for Denny Rehberg's seat, says that his campaign is the first in the nation that allows visitors to his site to download "policy packets" to Kindle.Packets will cost users 99 cents, with all of the receipts going toward a tree-planting campaign.

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-31515788133687038462009-05-11T08:38:00.001-07:002009-05-11T08:44:17.967-07:00

For those of you who don't usually look back through old comments, you will want to check Dave Rye's response to my question about the Fairness Doctrine under the Thursday Talk Radio Update I post. It's a thorough and interesting response.I still think there is less here than meets the eye, but considering that we are still talking about a doctrine that not only doesn't exist but hasn't even

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-90005025939489431492009-05-10T15:58:00.000-07:002009-05-10T16:02:27.932-07:00

Most newspaper work is less thrilling than the climax of "State of Play" (worst movie title ever?) described below.More typical is the reaction I had during the previews, when Tom Hanks in the upcoming "Angels and Demons" said the Catholic Church had ordered a "brutal massacre." My instant thought: What's the difference between a brutal massacre and a run-of-the-mill massacre? Would it be

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-16579022985190015462009-05-10T11:28:00.001-07:002009-05-10T11:45:32.310-07:00

I turned in final grades for my two German classes on Wednesday, so I took Saturday off. Around my house, days off are rare enough to always seem like bloggable events. Not much excitement here, though. I took it easy, washed dishes, cooked a steak dinner for an early Mother's Day, hit the hot tub, lay in the hammock and read.Some of it was even work-related. I'm teaching freshmen composition

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-13364973322849795862009-05-08T15:42:00.000-07:002009-05-08T15:45:38.911-07:00

The state health department is holding a news conference in a few minutes (5 p.m.) to announce Montana's first probable case of swine flu. The patient is a Yellowstone County resident who is not hospitalized and is recovering, a news release says.People with flu symptoms are advised to stay away from school, daycare and work.

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-44526405463377696202009-05-08T12:26:00.000-07:002009-05-08T12:42:33.994-07:00

Electric City Weblog has an amusing post and comments on England's decision to ban Michael Savage from its shores. Mr. Natelson presents this largely as a free speech case, but it isn't really. Mr. Savage is free to speak as he pleases; he simply is not free to travel to England.I admit that I would find this outrageous if Mr. Savage were English and were banned from traveling to America. This is

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-18058972704702728782009-05-08T09:25:00.000-07:002009-05-08T09:46:02.175-07:00

Sean Hannity had James Dobson of Focus on the Family on to complain that Barack Obama had given short shrift to the National Day of Prayer. He quoted James Madison saying that religion was the basis of sound government.He didn't note that Madison (and Thomas Jefferson) opposed presidential proclamations calling for prayer or other religious exercises. Madison's view is worth reading in full, with

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-65036574592103179792009-05-08T09:18:00.000-07:002009-05-08T09:25:23.200-07:00

Dave Rye said on his show yesterday that if the federal government were to reimpose the Fairness Doctrine, he would simply quit his show.I'm not sure why this topic keeps coming up. I remain unaware of any serious attempt to reimpose the Fairness Doctrine. Is there one I am missing?In any case, I'm not sure why it would be of concern to Dave. He presumably has worked with the doctrine more than I

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-20379626274186898492009-05-05T12:13:00.001-07:002009-05-05T12:30:06.295-07:00

Piece of Mind takes exception on several counts to my American Fascism post below. I thought the post was clear; it still seems clear to me. But Piece of Mind has managed to find a number of things in it that I never intended to say.What I said was that a number of acts of the Bush administration came closer to my dictionary's definition of fascism than anything I have ever seen in my lifetime.

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-88469889630054627032009-05-03T20:04:00.000-07:002009-05-03T20:06:17.454-07:00

According to my usually reliable source, the Gazette's audited Sunday circulation was down just over a thousand for the six months that ended March 30. Monday through Friday circulation was down just over 900.

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-59841282386364907902009-05-03T11:51:00.000-07:002009-05-03T12:06:55.835-07:00

So one Christmas my brother thought, if he likes Simon and Garfunkel, he ought to like Dylan, right? So I got Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits, and the world changed again. There was nothing like this in Great Songs of the Church, Volume 2. People said this one was a drug song, but they always said that in those days about things they didn't understand. A few years later, after I had traveled around

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-8833410741245403352009-05-02T13:04:00.000-07:002009-05-02T13:17:03.261-07:00

My friend Robert Lubbers is reading a book about the Great Depression (and, yes, I am so dumb that I have forgotten the name and so lazy that I won't call and ask him). Last night he showed me a passage about the common habit that people had then, even in relief agencies, to claim that people who were out of work somehow deserved their fate. It should have been pretty obvious that millions of

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-50302899619346024552009-05-02T12:21:00.000-07:002009-05-02T13:02:28.065-07:00

Over at Electric City Weblog, Rob Natelson sniffs fascism in a plan for restructuring General Motors. Mr. Natelson has done a fair amount of casual name calling on that blog of late. He found a "show trial" (his weasel-like quotation marks) in the Libby trial of Grace executives; he found a Messiah in Obama's presidency; he found Obama worship in the media; he found pornography in a Kaimin sex

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-51562833543139143222009-05-01T14:24:00.000-07:002009-05-01T14:51:58.140-07:00

It's worth taking another look at why torture is a bad idea as a matter of public policy even if you think it's a good idea in certain circumstances.Some of this comes from watching the complete conversation between Jon Stewart and Cliff May, which can -- and should -- be seen here. May argues, in part, that the so-called torture memos are actually good because they show the limits America placed

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-3558473401758916192009-05-01T08:39:00.000-07:002009-05-01T08:56:26.466-07:00

It amazes me how many phony and irrelevant arguments about torture hold sway in the talk radio world. Dennis Miller and Dave Rye both had some yesterday, and Hannity has been a veritable fount of them. Just to keep our minds clear, let's once more shoot down a few of the more obvious errors.1. Torture is OK if it works. The Convention Against Torture, which was signed and publicly promoted by

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-47197501797381521652009-05-01T08:27:00.000-07:002009-05-01T08:35:00.836-07:00

Rush Limbaugh seemed to be in a bit of a quandary yesterday. He led with news that Chrysler had filed for bankruptcy, which he, of course, read as a sign of failure for the Obama presidency. And since Limbaugh has famously rooted for Obama to fail, then this should have been good news for him.Not so fast. Using a chain of logic that I couldn't quite follow, Limbaugh argued that Chrysler's

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-4012096194760420532009-04-28T13:02:00.000-07:002009-04-28T13:06:59.991-07:00

I find this to be extraordinarily easy advice to follow. I suppose I should worry about public health emergencies more than I do, but I don't, and I probably won't.When pigs fly, that's when you can come here and read, "Swine flu."

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-75804145195573339642009-04-26T16:36:00.000-07:002009-04-26T16:39:07.091-07:00

I missed this at the time, but I see now that Rick Foote reported in the March 18 Butte Weekly (no website) that Lee Enterprises' publishers took a 25 percent pay cut on March 1. The item came from what Foote characterized as "very reliable sources within Lee Enterprises," which publishes The Billings Gazette and four other Montana dailies.

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-53782253258400829482009-04-26T11:06:00.000-07:002009-04-26T11:21:06.721-07:00

A common theme in the April 15 TEA parties was that protests were needed to uphold and/or restore the Constitution. A typical (and typically vague) example of the type appeared in last week's Gazette.So what threats to the Constitution need protester response? Electric City Weblog suggests two: a balanced budget amendment and term limits.That's it? Pretty weak TEA.Especially since an astonishing

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-59366915244650584142009-04-25T14:37:00.000-07:002009-04-25T14:57:49.658-07:00

The lively Electric City Weblog had a post the other day under the headline "Mainstream media Obama worship." The post said that Time and Newsweek had devoted at least 30 covers (upgraded in comments to 39) to Obama between them over the past four years. The post seemed to argue that the number was not only excessive but amounted to out-and-out worship of "The Messiah."As I have often stated, I

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-75875898012928646302009-04-25T14:35:00.000-07:002009-04-25T14:37:44.341-07:00

I heard part of an interview of Dick Cheney the other night, and he was criticizing Barack Obama for, I guess, shaking hands with Hugo Chavez. Cheney said the Bush administration's hands-off policy was the right choice.And I thought: Evidence for that? Anybody want to argue that Chavez is weaker today than he was when Bush took office? Or that America is stronger? Or that our overall position in

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-8685132836297879762009-04-25T11:46:00.000-07:002009-04-25T11:48:26.472-07:00

Here is what America used to do to people who waterboarded.Not coincidentally, I was talking about this topic last night with a woman who said her husband, a World War II veteran, was moved almost to tears by revelations about what his country -- the country he defended -- has done.

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-53207070632093459142009-04-24T14:01:00.000-07:002009-04-24T14:09:29.846-07:00

Maybe it's just me, but Max Baucus' response to the idea of putting Guantanamo detainees in the vacant prison in Hardin seems unusually dumb:My number one job is to keep Montanans safe, and bringing terrorists into our state is a clear and present danger to everyone who lives here. I understand the need to create jobs, but we’re not going to bring Al-Qaeda to Big Sky Country – no way, not on my

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-45655974572732483822009-04-24T09:11:00.000-07:002009-04-24T09:27:00.286-07:00

Sean Hannity was in full pro-torture mode. His argument:1. We don't torture.2. If we do torture, it's OK because it worked.No hint that he grasped how ludicrous both arguments are. With respect to point one, Sean Hannity isn't in charge of deciding what torture is. Torture is defined by longstanding precedent, by U.S. and military law and by international treaty. We are guilty of torture by all

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-49742052443592229122009-04-24T09:07:00.000-07:002009-04-24T09:10:53.144-07:00

The Outpost is reshaping it's webpage yet again, so there isn't much there to read. But I happen to know for a fact that the editor wrote a column lamenting the state of the newspaper industry, and I have obtained a copy of it through the Freedom of Information Act:I see in The Outpost that Mike Gulledge, publisher of The Billings Gazette, is speaking to the Rotary Club on Monday on the current

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-15866072034633425652009-04-20T20:24:00.001-07:002009-04-20T20:25:27.127-07:00

Obama's overseas humiliation continues. Here he is, bowing to, and shaking hands with, a Mexican dog.

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-72898279881947144522009-04-20T07:32:00.000-07:002009-04-20T07:34:34.387-07:00

I was trying to think of something pithy to say about the torture memos released last week. Then I realized that Bob Dylan already had said it:Well, John the Baptist, after torturing a thief,Looks up at his hero, the commander-in-chief,Saying, "Tell me great hero, but please make it briefIs there a hole for me to get sick in?"The commander-in-chief answers him while chasing a flySaying, "Death to

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-31737403270999552222009-04-19T11:09:00.000-07:002009-04-19T11:30:21.929-07:00

In the spring of 1965, a friend named Ruben Garcia told me he listened to Houston Astros baseball games on the radio. I didn't like baseball and didn't listen much to the radio, but for some reason what he told me caused me to tune in. Almost immediately, I got hooked, and my brother Joe soon got hooked, too. For several years, Astros' radio broadcasts were the soundtrack to our summers. Every

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-14966303663419738502009-04-18T14:00:00.000-07:002009-04-18T14:58:03.881-07:00

Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck were crowing about the success of TEA parties across the country and attacking the "MSM" (as if they weren't part of it) for failing to cover the protests with as much enthusiasm as FOX news did. With my schedule, I don't have much time to consume MSM, so I don't know whether they had a legitimate gripe. Their MSM complaints included a clip of a CNN reporter badgering

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-22976843492372421712009-04-18T13:55:00.000-07:002009-04-18T14:00:07.775-07:00

More evidence of how tough things are in the newspaper business:1. Just got a letter from a Montana newspaper with which we have traded papers for 11 years. No more. After May 1, exchange subscriptions will be cut off as a cost-cutting measure.2. Got a letter from a major newspaper vendor addressed to the Outpost "legal department." That's me, I think. We had owed that company quite a bit of

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-11549457428672181122009-04-12T19:42:00.000-07:002009-04-12T19:46:22.779-07:00

John Young sends along the above photo of Socialist Hall in Butte with this note: "In light of all the Socialists reported in Congress, here's where they hang out."And Marvin Granger sends a reminder that there are things worse than socialism:The word "socialism" has been floating around the U.S. commentariat lately. To keep this in perspective, read this quote from a New York Herald editorial,

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-28655623867098857552009-04-12T10:24:00.000-07:002009-04-12T10:42:22.649-07:00

We played bridge with some friends on Friday night, and they had a copy of the new Vanity Fair, which has an article about Rush Limbaugh. Amazing statistic: The average age of conservative talk radio listeners is 67, and rising. So amazing, in fact, that I find it hard to believe.But if it's true, then Limbaugh may be in even more trouble than the "liberal media" he excoriates.By the way, if you

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-22091616599164971832009-04-12T10:11:00.000-07:002009-04-12T10:22:44.610-07:00

Before Simon and Garfunkel came along, songs that stuck in my head were mostly ones like this, which I tried to learn to play on our Sears Silvertone guitar:Come listen, you fellows, so young and so fine,And seek not your fortunes in the dark, dreary mine.It'll start as a habit and seep in your soulTill the blood in your veins runs as black as the coal.(Chorus)Where it's dark as a dungeon, damp

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-59992275962390109532009-04-10T08:52:00.001-07:002009-04-10T10:27:15.108-07:00

Tough day. With MSU Billings out for "mini-break," I didn't have German class to interrupt my weekly talk show dose. So I decided to inhale a couple of hours of Rush Limbaugh, something I have not done for a good long while.I barely made it this time. At one point, in desperation, I flipped over to Fred Thompson, but he was even worse. Just a couple of things from Rush:The first actually came

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-50698002514892841182009-04-05T10:52:00.000-07:002009-04-05T10:58:33.910-07:00

So when I started to buy records, it was pretty much Simon and Garfunkel for a while (even at $2.60 a pop at Gibson's Discount, I couldn't afford to buy many records). There must be another S&G song stuck somewhere in my head. Lessee:I'm sitting in a railway station,Got a ticket for my destination.On a tour of one-night stands,My suitcase and guitar in hand,And every stop is neatly plannedFor a

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-20717008210436122332009-04-04T18:10:00.000-07:002009-04-04T18:13:54.293-07:00

This item from Intelligent Discontent reminded me of my boss when I was editor of the Palestine Herald-Press in Texas. When I presented him with an idea for an on-the-one-hand, on-the-other-hand editorial, he liked to quote an old editor's saw: "Well, let's not go pissing down both legs."

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-56014638043831390482009-04-04T16:33:00.000-07:002009-04-04T16:52:57.778-07:00

Glenn Beck admitted he has been wrong: Obama isn't out to make us all socialists, after all. Well, not exactly wrong, just shortsighted. Obama is making us all socialists, but that's just a way station: The real goal is fascism.Evidence for this amazing claim? Hard to say exactly because Beck, like Mark Twain, has enormous respect for the truth and therefore uses it sparingly. I think the hardest

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-66566329240897252432009-04-04T16:02:00.000-07:002009-04-04T16:22:16.287-07:00

The Montana Family Foundation, headed by Jeff Laszloffy of Laurel, takes exception to the Iowa Supreme Court ruling permitting gay marriage. In a news release, Laszloffy wrote: "An issue as large as the redefinition of marriage properly belongs to the people. In Montana, we believe marriage should be defined by folks who wear blue jeans not those who wear black robes."Defining words isn't

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-34176666003240296242009-04-04T15:52:00.000-07:002009-04-04T16:02:05.058-07:00

I grew up on gospel music and whatever country leaked into my ears from the radio or from passing by the living room when my father was watching "Louisiana Hayride," Porter Wagoner or Red Foley on television. Then I went to see "The Graduate" and things started to change. Still not sure what it all meant, but it sure was different:Hello, darkness, my old friend,I've come to talk with you

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-33696710962850567912009-03-28T14:27:00.000-07:002009-03-28T14:44:22.989-07:00

If, as seems likely (see post below), Americans are willing to tolerate just about any conceivable level of animal cruelty as long as it makes pork chops cheaper, let's consider another species: human beings.I've had Charles Fishman's "The Wal-Mart Effect" around for a couple of years, and for some reason I never read quite all of it. Not sure why. It's an extremely well written and enlightening

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-26134035470824619452009-03-25T17:09:00.000-07:002009-03-25T17:28:28.553-07:00

Wandering through the Intertubes the other day, I ran across someone who said, approximately, that the thing that may strike future generations as most barbaric about early 21st century America is our wanton cruelty to farm animals.I forgot who said that, but it came back to my mind when I was watching a documentary on HBO the other night about a corporate pig farm. An undercover activist took a

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-81987414013525375962009-03-25T16:59:00.000-07:002009-03-25T17:09:28.570-07:00

Time for a little Jimmie Rodgers, eh, Ed?I've ranged, I've roamed and I've traveled.I've been a no-good, they say.Many years of my life I have wasted,But I stopped leading that life today.I had a dear old mother,A dad and a sister, too.But I was the youngest, and spoiled, some say,By Mother, as mothers will do.I left when a kid for the city;I craved the Great White Way.But it is a place without

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-56856607905610575082009-03-23T14:12:00.001-07:002009-03-23T14:14:13.631-07:00

Just wondering: If Hannity, Limbaugh and their ilk had spent, say, 10 percent as much energy over the previous eight years attacking the Bush administration -- going after torture, deficits, undeclared wars, civil liberties violations -- as they already have spent going after Obama, would the country be better off?

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-16300305599103310512009-03-22T21:01:00.001-07:002009-03-28T15:14:20.657-07:00

The Missoulian whines about losing county legal notices to the Missoula Independent (h/t Matt Singer. As you may recall, the Outpost lost out on Yellowstone County legals last year, despite submitting the low bid, based on similar concerns raised by Yellowstone County commissioners.Our argument remains:1. People who read legals will go where the legals are.2. No. 1 is especially true when they

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-5558647115261090592009-03-22T12:02:00.000-07:002009-03-22T12:20:16.673-07:00

After listening to the usual daylong attacks on Obama, I finally arrived home after a 13-hour delivery day and watched Barack Obama hold a town meeting on C-SPAN.I felt one of those weird disconnects. Could this guy on TV, who sounded so reasonable and intelligent, actually be the same guy I had just heard all day was an incompetent, dishonest socialist? Hard to reconcile the two.To give just one

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-18412772449694949052009-03-22T11:55:00.001-07:002009-03-22T12:02:27.558-07:00

My first-year German students are learning the dative case, which prompted me to teach them this dative-rich song:Du, du liegst mir im Herzen,Du, du liegst mir im Sinn.Du, du machst mir viel Schmerzen,Weisst nicht wie gut ich dir bin.Ja, ja, ja, ja, weisst nich wie gut ich dir bin.Wenn, wenn, wenn in der Ferne,Mir, mir dein Bild erscheint.Dann, dann, wuenschte ich so gerne,Dass uns die Liebe

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-3409950414560111722009-03-22T11:44:00.000-07:002009-03-22T11:55:15.593-07:00

For months, Sean Hannity has been defending America's healthcare system by pointing out that medical providers are obligated by law to provide emergency help. Every time he says this, my internal Hannity Rebuttal Machine responds, "That's not an example of free-market success. That's an example of free-market failure." When laws are passed requiring McDonald's to give a free Big Mac to every

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-34502023130726243582009-03-21T14:07:00.000-07:002009-03-21T14:09:16.327-07:00

The Helena Independent Record laid off Bill Skidmore not long ago. Now it has written a profile of him. Just so you'll know what you're missing, I guess (h/t Queen City News).

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-65158200200797160292009-03-18T17:45:00.000-07:002009-03-18T18:09:57.301-07:00

Over at Electric City Weblog, Rob Natelson asked if I would have published the Kaimin sex column in the Outpost. I replied:I probably wouldn’t publish that column because I don’t think that Billings has a typical audience for an alternative weekly. Our readers, I think, are generally older and more conservative than the typical alternative audience (and far more so than the Kaimin audience), so I

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-5859304726498749762009-03-17T18:40:00.000-07:002009-03-17T18:42:25.169-07:00

Print may be dying, but it ain't dead.At the Missoula Independent, Matt Gibson is launching Headwall, an outdoor recreation magazine.

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-63409290757411064602009-03-16T16:19:00.000-07:002009-03-16T22:28:26.234-07:00

I have largely stayed out of the exhaustive discussion at Electric City Weblog over the Kaimin's sex column (numerous links; just check my blogroll, where my longstanding broken link to that site has now been fixed). I jumped in only to ask Rob Natelson whether the sex column was truly pornographic. He assured me that it was; I was dubious but didn't want to make the argument without having read

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-5109071192889446632009-03-14T11:51:00.001-07:002009-03-14T11:59:35.229-07:00

I wonder if these are still in my head: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I Samuel, II Samuel, I Kings, II Kings, I Chronicles, II Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zachariah and

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-34232125826487373022009-03-13T08:35:00.000-07:002009-03-13T08:52:36.218-07:00

Sean Hannity has been criticizing Barack Obama for saying that he doesn't pay much attention to day-to-day fluctuations of the stock market. This is, of course, a perfectly reasonable thing for Obama to say, and it is what even Hannity would want the president to say if the president were a Republican. Nobody wants a president who changes his economic policies every day based on how many points

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-78793040428045443732009-03-12T05:33:00.000-07:002009-03-12T05:35:44.663-07:00

I don't know why this is in my head, but it has been there for a long time, at least since high school:I give you now Professor Twist,The conscientious scientist.Trustees exclaimed, "He never bungles,"And sent him off to distant jungles.Camped on a tropic riverside,One day he missed his loving bride.She had, the guide informed him later,Been eaten by an alligator.Professor Twist could not but

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-17337818935473485172009-03-10T11:25:00.000-07:002009-03-10T11:38:07.845-07:00

Wandering through the Intertubes yesterday, I ran across yet another defense of conservative talk radio as the refuge of reason and logic (sorry, I forget where, and no time to look it up, but it was from somebody who ought to know).I thought: Have I gone mad? Am I so blinded by my own liberal media bias that I can't recognize logic when I hear it? So driving to work this morning after class I

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-1941115672886410542009-03-09T19:56:00.000-07:002009-03-09T20:01:32.421-07:00

Let's see. If I got out of the Army 36 years ago yesterday, then I must have gone into the Army 39 years ago today. Guess I'll have another gin and tonic.The most vivid thing I remember about the induction center was walking through the line in our underwear and hearing a doctor giving physical examinations say, "Here we are, keeping the world safe from democracy."A few hours later, I was on a

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-47119968630934510572009-03-08T20:50:00.000-07:002009-03-08T20:52:11.859-07:00

Montana to Congress: You can have my gun when you pry it out of my cold, rebel hands.

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-59575807314220054902009-03-08T17:24:00.000-07:002009-03-08T17:40:29.720-07:00

Just so you know, I got out of the Army 36 years ago today. Traditionally, I get drunk on this anniversary, but I probably will settle for a gin and tonic sometime tonight. And I will pull my favorite beer-drinking song out of my head:Da wo the blaue Isar fliesst,Wo man mit "Gruess Gott" dich gruesst,Liegt meine schoene Muenchner Stadt,die ihres gleichen nicht hat.In Muenchen steht ein

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-64853663799840963142009-03-08T11:46:00.000-07:002009-03-08T11:59:55.577-07:00

Intelligent Discontent takes a shot at Bob Story's opinion piece about the CHIP program.Story's position seems to be that if voters had known then what they do now about how bad the economy would be, they would never have supported expansion of that health insurance program. He's guessing about that, and he may be guessing wrong. Arguably, shoring up health insurance is more important during hard

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-70428654075221235602009-03-07T17:45:00.000-08:002009-03-07T17:47:58.763-08:00

The title indicates the way that Bruce Pearson pronounced "doomed" in "Bang the Drum Slowly." And it's the way this news makes me feel: Even Reader's Digest may be going into bankruptcy. How bad can it get?

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-16358740121936176102009-03-07T17:31:00.000-08:002009-03-07T17:42:42.403-08:00

When I was a kid, my father preached on Sundays in La Grange (yes, that La Grange: home of the Best Little Whorehouse in Texas). La Grange was about 75 miles north of our home in Victoria, so we drove up every Sunday morning. The church was a converted house and still had a kitchen and a couple of rooms. We stayed there during the day, and left after the evening service.For the closing song, we

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-63651271871783729052009-03-06T13:54:00.000-08:002009-03-06T13:59:14.818-08:00

Gov. Brian Schweitzer has posted details of plans for spending Montana's $800 million share of the federal government's stimulus package. The bill to make it happen is being carried by Rep. Jon Sesso, D-Butte.Bottom line, according to the gov: 11,000 new jobs in Montana and tax savings for 97 percent of Montanans. Happy days.

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-64940778026917574412009-03-06T13:50:00.000-08:002009-03-06T13:54:08.441-08:00

I went to church three times a week for the first 19 years of my life, so a verse or two of a lot of gospel songs are stuck in my head. Here's one you know:Rock of Ages, cleft for me,Let me hide myself in Thee.Let the water and the blood,From Thy crimson side which flowed,Be of sin the double cure,Heal me by Thy grace and power.Not the labor of my handsCan fulfill the law's demands.Could my tears

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-44790690442514117402009-03-06T13:24:00.000-08:002009-03-06T13:36:09.123-08:00

While Hannity is only hinting that Obama is a traitor, others on the right are already there.Sometimes on the talk show update I forget to mention that the most important update is what isn't said. This week, for instance, I heard many callers and commentators complain that Obama is destroying freedom. Not one word did I hear about George Bush's wholesale repudiation of the Constitution.

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-53657819822097076682009-03-06T09:19:00.000-08:002009-03-06T09:21:52.035-08:00

The Butte Weekly (not available online) is reporting that USA Today has pulled out of Butte, Helena and Dillon, citing high distribution costs out of Salt Lake City. The story said USA Today in Billings is distributed out of Denver, so it wasn't clear whether delivery here would be suspended, too. Anybody heard anything?

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-57381104041542460562009-03-06T08:15:00.000-08:002009-03-06T08:52:11.208-08:00

KBLG's replacement for Bill O'Reilly turns out to be Fred Thompson, whose entry into the presidential race did so much to liven up the 2008 campaign. Not just Thompson, as it turns out, but also his wife and his brother.It's sort of like Hannity RFD: all the usual right-wing blather without the noise and passion. Thompson always comes across as a guy who doesn't think very much or work very hard,

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-59272284850183035682009-03-05T11:11:00.000-08:002009-03-05T11:18:09.266-08:00

I don't remember what the first song was I learned by heart. But I'm pretty sure that if they unplug all of my memory circuits, as they did to Hal in "2001: A Space Odyssey," the last coherent words out of my mouth would be the lyrics to one of the following three songs (punctuation shamelessly improvised):Rock-a-bye baby,In the tree top.When the wind blows,The cradle will rock.When the bough

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-2019541254389207852009-03-04T15:16:00.000-08:002009-03-04T15:17:05.758-08:00

Some more pretty grim news about the recession and about newspapers.

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-79974471090945841872009-03-04T12:24:00.001-08:002009-03-04T12:52:17.769-08:00

A semester or two ago, I was telling my German students that in order to be proficient they would have to memorize all of the definite and indefinite article forms, plus corresponding adjective endings, for all four grammatical cases and all three genders, plus the plural. The obvious pain in their faces led me to say something like, "It's not that bad. You've memorized a lot harder things than

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-67444372206050792842009-03-03T12:40:00.000-08:002009-03-03T18:42:44.800-08:00

Dang, I get baseball fever on a day like this. Somebody throw me a glove.UPDATE: MSU Billings plays its first home game on March 31. Sounds a million years away.

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-21841879941526589822009-03-02T16:41:00.000-08:002009-03-02T16:44:33.269-08:00

In praise of Rush Limbaugh, Andrew Breitbart writes: "Only talk radio with its emphasis on Socratic debate over raw emotionalism and with Mr. Limbaugh in the driver's seat has escaped the left's clutches of pure media dominance."I think Socrates just ordered a double shot of hemlock.

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-39601829947933195352009-03-02T09:12:00.000-08:002009-03-02T09:21:19.097-08:00

I was listening to Bill Cunningham last night while doing the monthly billing. Part of his show was a tribute to Paul Harvey, which wasn't handled particularly well but was at least worthy. I listened to Paul Harvey growing up a kid and figured he must have been a million years old then. I haven't heard him much in recent years but always sort of figured he would be around long after I'm gone. He

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-80191462516643774962009-03-01T15:58:00.000-08:002009-03-01T16:06:59.441-08:00

Ronnie Crocker, one of my beer-drinking friends from Texas, has started a beer blog for the Houston Chronicle. He and I worked together at the Bryan-College Station Eagle many eons ago.There are many Ronnie Crocker stories, mostly drawn from the late mad rush for a couple of pitchers of beer at the Chicken Oil, which closed a half-hour after the paper's final deadline. A high degree of both

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-39625344422203926562009-02-28T20:14:00.000-08:002009-02-28T20:27:06.924-08:00

When I wrote below that the Senate had voted for legislation prohibiting reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine, I hadn't yet seen this quote from Denny Rehberg:Anyone who thinks that talk radio only tells one side of the story doesn’t spend much time in front of a radio. The fact is, talk show hosts regularly accept calls from listeners that disagree with them, and the debates are lively and

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-48340885266139775172009-02-28T19:41:00.000-08:002009-02-28T19:45:16.577-08:00

Isis on her perch.My wife thought her (the cat's) facial markings resembled the yin and yang symbol, which started her on a search of oriental symbolism and imagery. Somehow she wound up at Isis, which I also liked because it is short, is the title of a Bob Dylan song, and sounds like a word a cat might use if cats were slightly more language oriented.

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com1