Last Best News (https://montana-mint.com/lastbestnews/category/opinion/page/28/)
Thomas Edison said in 1931, “I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that.”
Three quarters of a century later, the promise of solar energy is finally being realized. The price of solar panels has dropped by more than half since 2009, and there are now more jobs in solar in this country than there are in oil and gas extraction or coal mining. (more…) Continue Reading →
Few stories I have written have been so dispiriting as my June 9 article on cable TV ads criticizing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It wasn’t that I was unable to come up with the source of the ads, which were placed by a shadowy group called Protect America’s Consumers. Reporters who have tried harder than I did to find out just who this group is also failed. What bugged me was that there seems to be no way to determine the source. In today’s political world, anything goes. Continue Reading →
Flag Day is the day we honor our nation’s symbol, Old Glory. We will face the flag, salute appropriately and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. It happens that we are also in the midst of a presidential election in which the terms “socialist” and “Muslim” are frequently heard, mostly in a disparaging way. In light of that, it’s interesting to consider the history of the Pledge and how the words “under God” were added. (more…) Continue Reading →
On Sunday morning came two pieces of bad news—first that at least 20 people (later, 49) had been shot to death in Orlando, Fla., then that my old pal Paul Barton had died. I try to be hardhearted about terrorist attacks, not because they are not tragic and horrible but because terrorists want me to panic, and I will not. So I rationalize. But my heart softens for Paul Barton, 58, who died much too young last week. (more…) Continue Reading →
As the rhetoric ramps up leading to the election and the next legislative session, so does the finger-pointing at the failure of the past legislature to pass meaningful infrastructure funding in the final form of Senate Bill 416. After passing the Senate by a vote of 47–3, SB 416 failed by one vote of the necessary two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives. The bill had the support of 51 of 88 Republicans, 62 Democrats, and Gov. Steve Bullock. Yet it failed to reach final passage. (more…) Continue Reading →
U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., really hates online sales taxes. I mean really. His April news release opposing a federal law on internet sales reinforced a similar news release in February. “Montana doesn’t have a sales tax for a reason,” Tester said in the release. “This law would supersede the rights of our state and the will of our people by forcing Montana’s small businesses to collect a tax we don’t support to benefit states we don’t live in.” (more…) Continue Reading →
Editor’s note: This piece has been updated to include several corrections. Like many baby-boomers who were raised in regions with very few African Americans, my education about the civil rights movement came in large part through the life of Muhammad Ali. (more…) Continue Reading →
By their music shall you know them. The first presidential campaign to hit Billings this month was Bernie Sanders’. Pre-speech music was by Satsang, a local group with an indie rock vibe. Perfect. Sanders showed that he is independent, unconventional, in touch with the young voters who filled the Montana Pavilion at MetraPark. Continue Reading →
If we are to judge from the supporters of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders it would appear that if there is anything that the American public agrees on is that the system—political and economic—is rigged against the little guy. And I agree. If there is anything to be learned from the recent history of corporate greed and the economic harm suffered by Americans because of that greed, whether from jobs lost through trade agreements or homes lost through mortgage fraud, it is that corporate America has the interests of corporate America at heart, and none other. (more…) Continue Reading →
I just can’t stop shaking my head at the absurdity of it all. Yesterday afternoon, a lawsuit was filed in the Northern District of Texas by the Texas attorney general and 10 other states (and several local school boards). (more…) Continue Reading →
