Opinion / Column
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 1861
Congress should show courage on high-capacity clips
The president has frequently repeated the NRA talking point that more extensive background checks on gun sales would not have prevented the recent rash of mass murders. Maybe so. It's hard to...
By View from the North 40: Another edition of barnyards gone wild
The internet is full of farm animals that have gone wild in the past two weeks, and I’m not talking about Youtube videos of farm cats being all crazy cute and stuff. I am talking about the livestock participating in shenanigans that could get...
Looking out my Backdoor: Dear Havre Daily News
I have turned into my father and I don’t like it. When I lived in Washington, I used to almost dread Dad’s phone calls because they too frequently meant that somebody we knew, in the family or in...
Archery elk permit process takes millions from Breaks communities
With small Montana communities, especially in the eastern part of the state, struggling to sustain themselves, we don’t need the state government to make their struggle harder. Unfortunately, that is exactly what the Department of Fish, Wildlife,...
The Postscript: Marriage stew
I told my husband, Peter, that our marriage was like stew — and that’s a good thing. This is a second marriage for both Peter and me. We were both married for a long time and then divorced for...
View from the North 40: A tale of too many rocks
Once upon a time in Montana we all would’ve been swimming with the fishes, but times change. The ice ages melt. The inland sea recedes. The Missouri River settles into a drainage 60 miles south. And the Milk River is left to meander through a...
Looking out my Backdoor: Sitting in my corn field
Used to be, if I had a serious deadline, I would work all day, work all night, work until the project was finished, ready to deliver. Ah, well, that was then. “Used to be” is like paint, it...
The Postscript: Blessings in disguise
They say that blessings come in disguise. If so, my blessings are poorly disguised. They show up wearing false noses and funny eyeglasses and are instantly recognizable unless I am being completely th...
Politics is slow but harvest is underway
August has been a slow month as far as politics goes. Some jockeying for who is going to run for what office, is interesting to watch. But it is a busy time for the agricultural folks. The crops have been better than expected, the cooler spring and s...
View from the North 40: Barely functional, even when functioning
We had that weird dry spring, so I scheduled a week off to get some work done outside — I even booked a rental tractor to help with the work — and then the skies opened up and it rained all that week. I canceled the tractor, but kept the...
Olszewski, not Gianforte, is the pro-life candidate for governor
As a pro-life Montanan, mother of six (biological and adoptive), I am frustrated with the Susan B. Anthony List Candidate Fund’s endorsement of Greg Gianforte for governor of Montana. He is currently running against two pro-life candidates in the...
Looking out my Backdoor: Missed my calling
Today I bring you the banal, the mundane, my trite self-discovery in household hints. Soap-pads Ohso Special. Also known as SOS or, in Español, “fibra metalica.” Can you believe I could not find...
The PostScript: Not popular
I was not popular in high school. Everyone says this. I now realize that no one — not even the most popular person in high school — self-identifies as popular. Lately I’ve been getting a lot of...
View from the North 40: History 101: Wassup with Greenland
I don’t know what you’ve heard about Greenland, but it’s a strong, independent, saucy country that don’t take no nonsense off of any countries, even Denmark, which it is married to but not necessarily living with. If you know what I mean....
Looking out my Backdoor: The quality of light
My backyard pulls me out of the house. I take a book with me, as always, but cannot focus when surrounded by such magical glory. This is the same yard, the same beauty, the same powerful stillness...
The Postscript: Second sunset
I spent the last couple weeks visiting my parents. I’ve been lucky in the parent department. It’s fashionable to recall some pivotal incident that occurred when we were eight and extrapolate how...
Deadline approaching on new infrastructure grant program
Homeowners know that when a leaky roof is spotted, it’s important to act quickly to find and fix the leak. If left unattended, that slow drip overhead can turn into a ceiling that collapses — costing far more to repair and threatening the...
View from the North 40: Thoughts from my pretty little brain
I was going to start this column with the eye-catching phrase: I am tired of being a woman. But that’s not true. I’m just tired of all the falderal around the status of womanhood as a whole. Are we objects like doormats or arm candy? Are we...
Don't be fooled about big pharmacy
Don’t be fooled by the current Washington rhetoric about “reforming” the pharmaceutical industry. Most recently, Sen. Chuck Grassley has been promoting his bill which would place inflation-based caps on Medicare drug prices. There are also...
Looking out my Backdoor: Confessions of an unknown poet
Times Were Simpler We like to imagine Times were simpler then. We brag to grandchildren, Honey, when I was your age I walked a mile To school every day, Barefoot, through the snow, Uphill both ways. They laugh. We romanticize the past, Ignore ugly pa...
The Postscript: Made to last
She wore it for one day in 1919 and it looked as if it was sewn with this in mind. My grandma’s wedding dress was more than a little worse for wear. It had been folded up in a small box and kept saf...
View from the North 40: Consider the modern miracle of the 1260 spin
Professional skateboarder Mitchell “Mitchie” Brusco, 22, competing Saturday in Skateboard Big Air at the X Games Minneapolis 2019, became the first skateboarder in history of the world to land a 1260 in the competition. That’s a spin of 3.5...
Out my Backdoor: Strange days and strange ways
Do you ever wonder if the big ol’ sun up there looks down and thinks, “Those are some mighty strange beings down on that little ball of mud, especially that one there, standing by the mango tree,...
Conservation con job: Why won't Daines fully fund the LWCF?
There’s a simple principle savvy citizens use when evaluating politicians: to understand their priorities, don’t pay attention to what they say or how they vote during the re-election cycle. Focus on the voting record from earlier in their term....
The Postscript: Dusty surprises
The surprises just kept coming. When I moved in with Peter a few years back, I brought my clothes, a few books, and some artwork. I rented out my house, gave away my furniture, and everything else...
