Latest
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Just The Numbers
Three elections, two parties, and the numbers certainly give plenty of cause to ponder has been going on: Democratic presidential popular vote totals: 2016: 65,788,5642020: 81,283,5012024: 75,019,682 Republican presidential popular vote totals: 2016: 62,984,8282020: 74,223,9752024: 77,303,568
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Today I learned that the Chevy 396 was actually a 402. The change came in 1969, with a 0.030 overbore, and continued – and I kept calling it a 396 because I didn’t know any better. For 57 years I have continued in that error. Reagan said, “The trouble with our Liberal friends is not…
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I first encountered George Custer in books in 1957 – I had barely learned to read, and the only book available at my grandmother’s for me was Joe Taylor’s Frontier and Indian Life. Taylor was my grandfather’s first employer, and wrote his memories in the style of the Western Dime novels – in short a…
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I tend to vote against incumbents unless I can see something that they have done particularly well. In state elections, that can move me to vote against two state representatives both running for state senate. I want to vote for someone who has a record of doing good, even great things. Entirely too often, I…
local
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We started the Mountain Ear (both times) because we wanted better coverage of local news. There are so many board meetings, and all of them are important. The Tobacco Valley News faces the same problem we do- not enough people and too many meetings, and their focus is on a larger area. So we started…
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An emergency meeting of the Trego school board was called again on May 4 at 4 PM to update the community on the methamphetamine contamination of the school grounds.. Although the meeting was poorly noticed, there were nearly 40 community members in attendance, these included parents, teachers, former students and teachers and interested community members.…
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Earlier this week, a meeting was held to formalize the existing long-term relationship between the TFS Community Hall and the TFS Fire Department. Tables were set to form a circle, and the meeting began with introductions. It was a joint meeting meant to prevent future problems, without any reason to expect them. The issue: an…
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An emergency school board meeting was held at the TFS Community Hall, Saturday at noon (which coincidentally is the time the Rendezvous Parade in Eureka began). The board acknowledged that they failed to provide adequate (48 hours notice) on the meeting, and cited the requisite MCA code allowing it in the event of an unforseen…
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When I went to get some repair work done, the person I was consulting advised fixing the structural issues and then putting the same ancient dilapidated siding back on the building. The rational? Property taxes. Last summer, we joked about how much the nice flowers my mother had on their porch raised their taxes. They…
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I spent most of a year away from the school after I finished my term. I attended a couple of board meetings because I was asked – on one hand, there was, at the least, the appearance of an unlawful board meeting . . . unlawful because it appeared to violate Montana’s open meeting law.…
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Historically, independent voters, and voters for minor third parties, do not get a large percentage of votes. Often, they’re considered “spoiler” candidates, who lose the election for someone by dra4wing critical support away during a close race. Or their thought of as simply “protest candidates” with no chance of winning. In Montana, for the presidential…
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Not many years ago, if you were faced with a cluster of unacceptable clowns on your ballot, you could write a name in and cast a protest vote. Hell, I guess you still can – the thing is, your write-in protest vote won’t be counted or reported. With the elimination of subsection 7 last year,…