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Thinking of Hoffenstein
Samuel Hoffenstein published ‘Poems in Praise of Practically Nothing’ in 1928. I kind of fell into his attitudes as a high school student. In it was a section titled ‘Love songs – at once tender and informative’: Breaths there a man with hide so tough, who says two sexes aren’t enough? I thought of that brief poem when I read of a 78-year-old man in British Columbia, who the BC Human Rights Tribunal fined $750,000 for the crime of insisting that there are only two sexes. Barry Neufeld is appealing his sentence – but it is worth remembering that he…
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When I was young, the Sunday paper would have a big cartoon, and Pogo was the main character. It’s probably fifty years since I read Pogo – yet this panel seemed to cover everything. A late thank you to cartoonist Walt Kelly.
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Iran moved from monarchy to theocracy nearly fifty years ago. Folks thought the old Shah’s secret police were abusing the citizenry – well, I guess subjects is the correct word in a monarchy – and Jimmy Carter thought Ayatollah Khomeini was a good successor because he was religious. Jimmy may have been a nuclear engineer,…
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GOA Senior Vice President Erich Pratt emphasized the significance in a prepared statement: “For decades, Americans have been told that the 1986 machine gun ban permanently stripped them of access to modern arms. But Congress included an explicit exemption for transfers’ to or by’ a State, and that language matters. West Virginia is demonstrating that states…
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The article in the Mountain Ear condemning the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for its February 24, 2026 decision in Wells v. BNSF Railway Company was thought-provoking. In that decision, three judges of the Ninth Circuit held Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (“BNSF”) not responsible for the deaths of two Libby residents, Thomas E. Wells…
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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,…
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I’m having trouble summarizing this one, not least because I lost my notes. In short: The meeting did discuss prayer, but did not discuss a four day week. About prayer: The discussion was specifically with regards to having prayer on the agenda as a part of each school board meeting. The result- no. Community presence…
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The proposed library district has me looking at taxation again. One of the great things about Lincoln County is that, with three high school districts, it’s easy to figure out which communities provide the funds that keep our county going. Market Value Taxable Value Percentage Libby $1,687,186,708 $21,911,499 36.42% Troy $831,354,553 $10,966,329 18.23% Eureka $1,974,407,031…
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Now it takes a single click to get the data. So what does it mean? I measured the record lows back in 1977 – this chart, from the Grave Creek site, shows how the critical snowfall that brings us up to normal or above occurs between the February measurements and April 1. I don’t know…
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The USDA has updated plant hardiness zones, and despite last winter’s impressive cold, we’ve jumped up a zone (to 5a from 4b in 2012; the average low went up by 6 degrees) Hardiness zones are a (partial) climate description that’s been in existence for a bit over a century, though the government didn’t get involved…