Montana Jones

Choose irony

Anyone else see the irony in the Snyder Drug conflagration?

greatfallstribune.com
greaterfalls.com

Snyder drug is using a pro choice argument to support their limiting the choices of others. Counts as ironic don't you think?

My understanding is that the law allows Snyder Drug to make the choice that they have. It makes an interesting thought exercise to ponder what if licensed pharmacies were required to sell all legal medications. In that scenario the pro-choice groups would be limiting Snyder Drugs choices. That would be even more ironic.

The saving graces here are the choices available to everyone in the community. Currently everyone is free to choose their own morals. As it should be. Patients now get to choose other pharmacies and those pharmacies are allowed to choose their own product line. Everyone still has their freedom. The danger is on the slippery slope. It is within the realm of possibility that every pharmacy in town could choose to not sell oral contraceptives. I think this is unlikely, but it is possible and it would create a serious issue whereby the morals and choices of all would be controlled by a few. But defending against this particular slippery slope involves removing freedom of choice from the pharmacy. An equally dangerous slippery slope in the other direction. Let's not go there either, okay.

I think the status quo is about right on this issue. All parties still have all their choices available to them. Snyder Drug has publicly come out as part of the anti-women crowd and their customer demographic will change accordingly. The pro choice group has done the appropriate red flag waving and noise making about the dangerous slippery slope in the community. We all have had an interesting issue to take sides on and enjoy bickering over. And I got a chuckle about some irony.

Labels: choice, Great Falls, irony, issue, links, morality, news, oral contraceptives, slippery slope, Snyder Drug

Posted by: Montana Jones / 8:52 PM 0 comments

Voting is a waste of time

Why should we even bother casting a vote if the initiative we vote for is altered after the fact?

Labels: links, missoulian.com, news, politics, voting

Posted by: Montana Jones / 9:32 AM 0 comments

Whither goes the Montana Blogger?

There is a mysterious trend afoot. Bloggers are dissapearing.

I was a little worried about Dave Budge and Sarpy Sam, but it turns out they were each having their respective technical troubles. Welcome back guys, glad all is well.

But a couple others have up and kicked the blog without saying goodbye. The Chad over at BAH WEEP GRAHNA WEEP NINNY BON And One Crue Girl.

The optimist in me says that change is good and these people are getting on with life away from the keyboard.

The pessimist in me is saying DISASTER! BIRD FLU!! ZOMBIES!!! EVERYBODY PANIC!!!

Edit: The missing blogs mentioned above have been replaced with spam and pornography. I have removed my links.

Labels: blog, change, dissapear, links, Montana, panic

Posted by: Montana Jones / 12:31 PM 1 comments

Antiques

Who would like to join me in some good old fashioned outrage? Check out this story about an antiques dealer in Whitefish:

http://www.dailyinterlake.com/articles/2007/02/09/news/news01.txt
http://whitefishpilot.com/articles/2007/02/08/news/news01.txt

The gist of it is that an antiques dealer was raided for having antique gambling equipment. I guess that the Montana Department of Justice's Gambling Investigation Division doesn't have anything better to do or any more pressing crimes to solve. So this is what passes for law enforcement and protecting the citizens; confiscating old furniture that no longer has use as a gaming device, harassing a small business owner, interfering in the livelihoods of the citizenry. I would like the Gambling Investigation Division to do some explaining and justify their existence in some way.

Noteworthy from the Interlake story was this particular bit.

Ron Turner phoned his son-in-law, Clint Walker, for advice. Walker called the Whitefish police to ask that officers check up on the state agents to make sure they were genuine and not con artists.

Two Whitefish officers showed up at the Cowboy Cabin, asking the agents to verify their identities.

One agent got mad and yelled at the police officers, who remained calm, Turner said. Whitefish Assistant police Chief Mike Ferda verified that one state agent was rude and "went a little over the top to our officers."

After checking the state agents' identities, the Whitefish officers backed off.

It strikes me that asking the state agents to confirm they are who they say they are is reasonable. And correct me if I am wrong, but isn't a law enforcement officer required to produce identification as such any time it is requested in the course of his duties? For these agents to get belligerent to the local police is about as unprofessional an act as misidentifying antiques as gambling devices.

Labels: antique, asinine, crime, Department of Justice, gambling, harrasment, law enforcement, links, news, small business

Posted by: Montana Jones / 10:03 AM 0 comments

In the Email

From: D_
Subject: Women Propose Marriage and Men can't refuse

To me this seems like a good way to go. Let's promote change in this society.

>
> To have refused, explained the old man remembering the day half a
> century ago, would have dishonored his family -- and in any case,
> why would he want to choose his own wife?
>
> "Love comes first into the heart of the woman," explained Nananghe.
> "Once it's in the woman, only then can it jump into the man."
>
> "The choice of a woman is much more stable," explains Okrane.
> "Rarely were there divorces before. Now, with men choosing, divorce
> has become common."
>
> http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/africa/02/01/guinea.marriage.ap/index.html
>

From: M_
Subject: Re: Women Propose Marriage and Men can't refuse

You sure do wrestle with some interesting demons...

Labels: banter, email, inbox, links, marriage, men, news, women

Posted by: Montana Jones / 5:32 PM 1 comments

Tell it like it is Sarpy

Ever since the Missoulian posted their uninformed editorials about how higher wages are the magic bullet solution to employment problems, immigration, free trade and whatever else ails you, I have been hot under the collar about this issue.

Sarpy Sam calls it like it is with an excellent write-up and analysis of some current legislation being worked on. Bottom line, it's anti business and bad for Montana.

Kudos also to the Montana Main Street Blog.
More Ways to Sue Employers
Legislative Attacks on Business

Labels: business, Employment, legislation, links, opinion, work, workers

Posted by: Montana Jones / 5:32 PM 0 comments

What I learned voting in the Montana Weblog Awards

You know the drill, go see Wulfgar, carefully consider the ballot and then vote. Reading all those blogs will probably take a while so you better get started.

The cool part of the MWA for me is the linky goodness. Exposing me to some blogs I don't usually read or sometimes have not even heard of before. Better people than I have said it best: Montana is a small town with really long streets. The MWA is a good way for us Montanans to meet our neighbors.

In the politics section I learned that my perception of Republicans as radical talking points mouthpieces that put party before country is not entierly accurate. Craig at MTPolitics has long been a voice of reason. My other pleasant surprise was Electric City Weblog. Not just shouting talking points and republican right or wrong rhetoric, the posts I read there, more than any other right leaning blog, were actually reasoned and thought out. Well done.

I also learned that my perception of Democrats as whiners and complainers is, well, okay that perception got reinforced on this last trip through the blogosphere. I don't know what to do about it though. My observation of politics over the past couple decades is that this nation desperately needs division of powers. When one party, either party, has too much power things start going to hell in a handbasket. So Dems, as much as I hate your whining I will tolerate you because we need you. You will know when you have gone too far when you see me rooting for the Republicans again.

In the independent aisle I discovered this great post from Moorcat at Pragmatic revolt. One of my single most important issues in the political sphere today and I see precious few people talking about it much less doing anything about it. Thanks for the writeup Moorcat.

Now if there is any one thing that you independent and Libertarian bloggers could do to make your voice better heard I would suggest grow a personality already. It is okay to express your passions in life. Follow Budge's lead and let some of that shine through okay.

Enough of politics. Politics tends to make me angry and I don't enjoy being angry. Forgive me if I don't stop by these blogs all that often.

On the creative and social front my most glaring observation is that no one really knows what the definition of popular culture is. But that is okay, I couldn't define it either. On the one hand it could be representative of all things pop. Pop star musicians, hot teevee shows, latest greatest movies, what the hip people are doing. On the other hand it is fairly popular with me and many people I know to downplay pop and find our own pieces of culture to emphasize. This appears to be the case with Montanans in general so the popular culture blogs tend to be all over the map.

Same could be said of the Montana lifestyle. Talk about a difficult thing to nail down. There is a common idea that the rancher/cowboy/hardworking/independent thing is defining of the Montana lifestyle. Sorta like how Sarpy Sam and Karbon Kounty Moos live. And that is okay because it comes from a powerful western mythos. Many people, myself included, like to soak up some of that myth with the Montana air we breath, even though we will never come closer to cattle than the steak we have for dinner. The crazy truth of it is that the Montana lifestyle is equally embodied by the outdoorsmanship of Out there with Tom or the urban living of Patia Stevens or even myself. I would like to think that I live a Montana lifestyle.

As far as most creative, best writing, best photography, most humorous goes. These things are subjective and I was incredibly impressed will all the nominees. My suggestion is go read all the nominated blogs because they are all good.

I think you should take the time to go read all the best post nominees too. All this reading takes time, I know because I did it myself, but these are our neighbors here. Go visit.

Because I think the best thing about the MWA is the linking and finding new blogs I want to shout out my own personal addendum. Some unofficial categories and the blogs that deserve some linking.

Best Montana blogger new in the past year:
Cece-in-MT
Took her a little while to find her voice and when she did is was about politics. I will forgive her for that because she did some very thoughtful research and writing. I admit, I looked up her ballot initiative analysis when trying to figure out how to cast my vote this year. I'm looking forward to hearing what she has to say in a non election year.

Most unsung Montana blogger:
OneCrueGirl
Just go read her. She has a girly/mommy blog, a Montana lifestyle blog and can crack me up all under one roof.

Single best overall Montana blogger that I go out of my way to read every single day:
Thoughts from the Middle of Nowhere
Sarpy Sam has a lot going for him. His quotations from famous persons alone are a good reason to visit every day but there is more to it than that. Sarpy writes with a simple eloquence and conviction that make him easy to read and very persuasive. He has managed to get me impassioned about the issue of animal id's and I have not been near a cow in over ten years. Add to that his excellent photography and, well, I go out of my way to read his blog every single day. It's that good.

And of course a special shout of thanks goes to Wulfgar for doing the work making these awards possible.

Labels: awards, blog, links, Montana weblog awards, opinion

Posted by: Montana Jones / 10:00 AM 5 comments