Remember that quaint little notion called usury? If you’ve ever borrowed money or used a credit card, you might want to refresh your memory. (more…) Continue Reading →
Montana Viewpoint: On usury, back to the bad old days
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Congress
Recent Posts
Dark-money riders stripped from final spending bill
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HELENA — Campaign finance watchdogs were waiting on pins and needles this week in anticipation of the final text of a massive bill to fund the federal government. That’s because earlier drafts of House and Senate appropriations bills contained a series of so-called “poison pill” riders that critics said would have reshaped campaign finance laws. (more…) Continue Reading →
Filed under: News, Budget bill, Citizens United, Congress
Montana Viewpoint: Once, patriotism trumped politics
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When I read the news that the United States government had shut down, my first thought was, “How can they tell?” Then I read that there was some worry that the national parks would be closed during the shut down, but since I thought we were going to close the national parks anyway, that hardly seemed like news. (more…) Continue Reading →
Filed under: Opinion, Congress, Dick Durbin, Government shutdown, Lindsey Graham
Baucus, Simpson to talk about fixing broken politics
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At a public forum next week, former U.S. Ambassador to China and former U.S. Sen. Max Baucus of Montana and former U.S. Sen. Al Simpson from Wyoming will discuss the current dysfunction in the U.S. Senate and the political system and the role civility may play in repairing the political process. (more…) Continue Reading →
Filed under: Montana, News, Alan Simpson, Congress, Max Baucus, MSU Billings, Yellowstone Public Radio
Montana Viewpoint: Working together, the impossible dream
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Imagine how things could play out if two political enemies, after years of stalemate and a foreseeable future of more of the same, realized that half a loaf now was better than a whole loaf never and decided to sit down together and say, “Look, let’s take half of what you want and half of what we want and call it good.” (more…) Continue Reading →
Filed under: Opinion, Congress, Donald Trump, Jeff Flake, presidency
Montana Viewpoint: Ideology versus reality
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The struggle in American government today is one between hypothetical ideology and stark reality. The ideology lives in our national and state capitols and the reality is borne by the Americans our governments are supposed to serve. (more…) Continue Reading →
Filed under: Opinion, Citizens United, Congress, health care, lobbyists
Opinion: Free market health care, anyone?
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Steve Daines, Montana’s junior U.S. senator, has voted—again—to repeal the Affordable Care Act. He’d voted for repeal on three dozen earlier occasions so I presume that he’s against the ACA. (more…) Continue Reading →
Filed under: Opinion, Affordable Care Act, Congress, Steve Daines
Special election could be good test of voter-turnout findings
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The confirmation of Ryan Zinke as secretary of the Department of the Interior has created an exceptional event in Montana: the need for a special election to determine his replacement in Congress. According to the secretary of state’s website, a special election has not been held to fill a congressional seat since at least 1912. How this special election, scheduled for May 25, will be conducted is proving to be controversial. Senate Bill 305, which would give county election officials the discretion to run the election entirely by mail, passed the state Senate only after the Republican caucus split on the question, with the Democratic members voting uniformly in favor of the bill. (more…) Continue Reading →
Filed under: Opinion, Congress, Jeff Essmann, Ryan Zinke, special election
Montana Viewpoint: Post office the soul of small towns
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The Post Office in my mother’s hometown of Barlow, N. D., closed in 1965. I know this because when I visited tiny Barlow in 1972 to see if there was anyone still there who knew my mother (she left Barlow for good in 1917 when she was 14) I ran into several who had gone to school with her. (more…) Continue Reading →
Filed under: Montana, Benjamin, Benjamin Franklin, Congress, U.S. Postal Service
David Crisp: What’s wrong with ticking people off?
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The saddest quotation in last week’s Billings Gazette came from Shonn Lehmann, a volunteer weighing names for a new West End middle school. After fellow volunteer Dana Winchell suggested the district avoid naming the school after a human being because of the politics involved, Lehmann said, “I think that’s what we need to avoid, ticking people off.” (more…) Continue Reading →
