Western Politics

Our tour of the Big Rock Things in the Black Hills continued as we left Sturgis and headed for Mount Rushmore. We'd stopped at a coffee stand so I could snag a double Americano for the road, and Rusty perked up from the back seat when he saw a tip jar on the lip of the drive-through window. We explained how a lot of service-oriented jobs use tips to supplement their base pay. This, to him, was fascinating. At the tender age of 11, he's already a capitalist at heart. We drove through Rapid City and onto Highway 16, approaching the Rushmore complex. This particular stretch of blacktop contains the highest concentration of tourist traps on the face of the earth. We kept up a steady stream of no as the kids, predictably, begged us to stop at water slides, souvenir stores, putt-putts, rock & fossil shops, you name it. Some of the come-ons were clever, like the Reptile Gardens: a billboard with a cartoon of a boy with his arm in a sling, and the slogan, This Ain't No Petting Zoo!

Sen. Barack Obama chose to celebrate the Fourth of July in Butte with his wife, Michelle, and daughters, Malia and Sasha. The Obama family attended the Independence Day Parade and hosted a "family picnic" at Montana Tech where Obama gave a brief speech, cooked hamburgers and chatted casually to fans. Photos by Alexia Beckerling

Sen. Barack Obama celebrated July 4 in Butte, MT, honoring a spirited working-class town rich in history and signaling his seriousness about contesting the state in the general election. Jonathan Weisman of the Washington Post has a thorough analysis of the political dynamics of the Butte visit and the Democrat's New West strategy. Gov. Brian Schweitzer had nice things to say, which has not always been the case in the past. It was also a family occasion for the presumptive Democratic nominee. The Montana Standard has full local coverage and New West's Alexia Beckerling photographed the event.

Happy Fourth of July! Celebrate by raising a little patriotic hell.

On Fourth of July some years back my dad caught six rattlesnakes, played with them, tossed one at my feet and let them go. It was his way of celebrating independence. He said, Happy Fourth of July. I said, What the hell? Like other holidays in my family, Independence Day wasn't traditional. Sure, there were cookouts and fireworks, but those outings were far from normal as well.

On Fourth of July some years back my dad caught six rattlesnakes, played with them, tossed one at my feet and let them go. It was his way of celebrating independence. He said, Happy Fourth of July. I said, What the hell? Like other holidays in my family, Independence Day wasn't traditional. Sure, there were cookouts and fireworks, but those outings were far from normal as well.

Canadian David Thompson is considered by some to be one of the shrewdest explorer-mapmakers to ever chart or trek a course. Following quickly on the heels of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, Thompson is widely credited as being the first person to set up a commercial trading post in Montana, a northwestern business venture called Saleesh House. Several opinions have always existed relating to the post's precise location. Shunning foregone historical conclusions, Carl Haywood, author of Sometimes Only Horses to Eat ($24.95, Stoneydale Press), has not only raised serious questions about Thompson's travels in northwestern Montana, but he has offered new interpretations of his own that certainly command confutation. Carl Haywood will discuss his book at David Thompson Days in Thompson Falls, Mont. on July 4-5, at the Libby Public Library in Libby, Mont. on July 14 (7 p.m.), at The Corner Bookstore in Sandpoint, Idaho on July 19 (1 p.m.), and information on his other regional appearances is available on his website.

Canadian David Thompson is considered by some to be one of the shrewdest explorer-mapmakers to ever chart or trek a course. Following quickly on the heels of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, Thompson is widely credited as being the first person to set up a commercial trading post in Montana, a northwestern business venture called Saleesh House. Several opinions have always existed relating to the post's precise location. Shunning foregone historical conclusions, Carl Haywood, author of Sometimes Only Horses to Eat ($24.95, Stoneydale Press), has not only raised serious questions about Thompson's travels in northwestern Montana, but he has offered new interpretations of his own that certainly command confutation. Carl Haywood will discuss his book at David Thompson Days in Thompson Falls, Mont. on July 4-5, at the Libby Public Library in Libby, Mont. on July 14 (7 p.m.), at The Corner Bookstore in Sandpoint, Idaho on July 19 (1 p.m.), and information on his other regional appearances is available on his website.

A young moose in Big Cottonwood Canyon, Utah. Photo by Patrick Nelson

someone at the missoula animal shelter recently told me that Animeals does not provide food for them or for the Humane society and they turn poor people away who need food to feed their animals. what is going on here? if anyone knows anything about what Animeals is or isn't doing please comment. http://problembear.wordpress.com

On this 4th of July, let us ponder America’s former energy independence and our current addiction to imported oil. Before 1950 America was an oil exporting country. Imagine the strength of our economy and our leadership position in the world...

The U.S. Forest Service turned down the Bitterroot Resort's third request for a special-use permit to use national forest lands for Nordic and alpine skiing and mountain biking, Perry Backus of the Ravalli Republic reports. Resort officials said Wednesday they are reworking their request and will likely resubmit it within a few weeks. The new federal conservation regulations for Canadian Lynx put into place this spring made Lolo Forest's lynx habitat the number one concern for the Forest Service during the reviewing process. Also, ski trail maintenance could disturb elk wintering habitat, and clearing trees for alpine skiing in the Bitterroot Forest could ruin the view from the Maple Creek area, Bitterroot National Forest Supervisor Dave Bull told Backus.

Shortly after the 2006 primary election, the Republican Party of New Mexico's central committee entered a closed-door meeting with J.R. Damron as its gubernatorial candidate and emerged with John Dendahl as its candidate. Damron's withdrawal from the race, which allowed the party to place Dendahl on the ballot, was a surprise move that didn't help the party at all: Dendahl was steamrolled by the Bill Richardson re-election train later that year. The switcheroo earned the GOP some criticism. What happened in that private meeting? Was Damron pressured to drop out? Who orchestrated the change? Rank-and-file Republicans had no opportunity to vote in the primary for or against the man who represented their party at the top of the ticket that year -- a controversial, fire-breathing politico many Republicans loved but others were embarrassed to call their own.

Politicians on both teams are so busy hollering at each other and issuing dueling blame-game press releases about the price of gas and energy policy, other issues are drowning in the noise. An inexhaustible supply of put-down quotes are standard fare at the Senate Republican website as well as the Senate Democrats', not to mention in media reports worldwide.

Sen. Barack Obama is leading Sen. John McCain by five percentage points, gaining ground with younger voters in Montana, according to a new poll from Rasmussen Reports. Forty-eight percent of voters polled by telephone said they would vote for Obama while 43 percent said they would vote for McCain. The last time Rasmussen polled Montana voters, in April, it was just the opposite. McCain was leading with 48 percent to Obama's 43 percent. The poll shows Obama is most popular with voters under the age of 30, where he has a 27-point lead. McCain was more popular than Obama with voters older than 50. Party loyalty is strong for both candidates, with 89 percent of Democrats going for Obama and 85 percent of Republicans going for McCain.

The ranchers I know are an independent lot. They do not form groups, organize, or launch campaigns. They like open spaces, devoid of people. Informing the public on what it takes to ranch or its importance is not on an activity they relish or perform with any regularity. That a group of ranchers with ties to the local business community managed to overcome their natural inclinations to broadcast their message and form a large coalition of supporters may herald a new day in land conservation.

Allan, one of our favorite guys at Worden's Market in Missoula, was fishing this week on Monture Creek near the Blackfoot River when he spotted this snake having a (big) bite to eat and snapped the photo. Allan says when he arrived a the scene, the snake must have just caught the sculpin and the fish was still alive (but looking very sad). The snake swallowed the fish a "short while later."

On June 18, finally, Congress started seriously looking into the runaway recreational fee charging policy of federal agencies, primarily the U.S. Forest Service (FS), but it's still just talk. We've had enough of that, so let's just spike this pay-for-play policy, which is at best an extreme stretch of the legal authority given agencies by Congress--"given," sort of, I should say, since our elected leaders never even debated it or voted on it. Even though it's moving at glacier speed, we at least have the Baucus-Crapo Bill, S. 2438, introduced in the Senate to spike the Recreation Access Tax. This is clearly a bipartisan issue, ripe for election-year politics. Now, we need a sponsor for a similar bill in the House.

As far as I can tell, Eckhart Tolle is a yogior at least he's talking the same talk. And, as illustrated in his two bestselling books The Power of Now and A New Earth, walking the same walk. Clearly, he's awake. He sees beyond the veil of illusion that keeps most of us believing that we are not all connected; that we are not all, inherently, made of love; that we are not each particular articulations of divine consciousness (of God, Buddha, or whatever it is that you choose to call the spiritual thread that connects and enlivens all beings).

For thousands of years, Native Americans have revered the healing powers of the Black Hills in general, and Devils Tower in particular. It is a sacred area. Of course the first white man to discover it said let's conquer that son of a bitch. It has since become one of the holy grails of the climbing fraternity, and now is riddled with anchors and bolts driven into it by idiots whose only focus was the personal accomplishment of vanquishing this rock. The Park Service, in a magnanimous gesture, has asked that climbers voluntarily refrain from scaling Devils Tower during the month of June, out of respect for Native tradition. Wow. A whole month. How very generous. I wonder how the Park Service would feel if 4,000 Native Americans a year were scaling the Statue of Liberty.