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  • Making the move

    Number of comments: 0
    At long last, this blog is moving into The Billings Outpost website, where future posts will appear. You can find it at http://billingsnews.com/davidsblog/. Please adjust your links accordingly. I will gradually get my links over there updated, so don't fret if you don't see yours right away. [...]
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    Posted: June 19, 2009, 2:58pm EDT
    by David

  • Glen Campbell

    Number of comments: 0
    The Outpost has unexpectedly acquired some tickets for tonight's concert by Glen Campbell at the Alberta Bair Theater. If you would like a couple, reply here for send me an e-mail at editor@billingsnews.com right away. [...]
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    Posted: June 19, 2009, 12:02pm EDT
    by David

  • The shame of it

    Number of comments: 2
    As Hannity railed on yesterday about David Letterman insulting Sarah Palin and her daughter, something occurred to me that I haven't seen anywhere else. Given how much this story has been pawed over, it probably has appeared somewhere else, but I've missed it.That's the conservative component of Letterman's joke. One [...]
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    Posted: June 19, 2009, 10:49am EDT
    by David

  • Wednesday talk radio update

    Number of comments: 3
    Driving to work this afternoon, after a long night at the Outpost, I heard Sean Hannity and Sen. Lindsey Graham saying that Obama was being weak on Iran unlike Reagan, who was strong on Poland. And I thought this, word for word. [...]
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    Posted: June 17, 2009, 3:30pm EDT
    by David

  • Monday talk radio update

    Number of comments: 0
    While slaving my way through a blisteringly long string of e-mailed items for the Outpost's Calendar of Events, I listed to Hannity interview Sen. Joe Lieberman. Both agreed that:1. Photographs showing abuses at Abu Ghraib should not be released.2. Guantanamo should not be closed.This is a paradox. The argument for [...]
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    Posted: June 16, 2009, 9:43am EDT
    by David

  • Answer no longer blows in wind

    Number of comments: 0
    First, global warming. Now, or perhaps as a result, there's this.Great Falls is looking more habitable all the time. [...]
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    Posted: June 14, 2009, 6:24pm EDT
    by David

  • BBB warning

    Number of comments: 0
    Keep an eye out: The Outpost got a call last week from somebody selling for the "Trivia Pages." Now comes this from the Better Business Bureau release:Companies in Billings, MT have reported contact by Northwest Publishing soliciting advertising in a "restaurant flyer". This company claims they have a close relationship [...]
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    Posted: June 14, 2009, 4:40pm EDT
    by David

  • Thursday talk radio update

    Number of comments: 6
    In the aftermath of the latest fatal assault by a right-wing conspiracy nut, conservative talk radio hosts this week were somber and reflective, wondering whether their relentless attacks on Barack Obama, Democrats and liberals in general might in any way be endangering the republic.No, wait, that was in Bizarro World. [...]
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    Posted: June 12, 2009, 3:39pm EDT
    by David

  • 'Red' Tester

    Number of comments: 3
    Just in case that whole Senate thing doesn't work out, Jon Tester is doing color commentary tonight on Fox Sports Northwest for a game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Seattle Mariners. The game starts at 5:05 p.m., and Tester is scheduled to come on in the bottom of the' [...]
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    Posted: June 09, 2009, 2:55pm EDT
    by David

  • Sotomayor revisited

    Number of comments: 1
    Dahlia Lithwick, a wise woman whose rich experiences more often than not allow her to reach better judgments than me, has a good read on the Supreme Court controversy. [...]
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    Posted: June 09, 2009, 8:27am EDT
    by David

  • Politically correct

    Number of comments: 6
    I've been arguing away on the Sotomayor choice, both below and at Electric City Weblog. Not much point to it, probably, other than as a claw-sharpening exercise, but it is striking how many apparent conservatives are professing outrage over her suggestion that a wise woman with a Latina background might' [...]
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    Posted: June 08, 2009, 8:55am EDT
    by David

  • Comp

    Number of comments: 18
    Help! I'm supposed to teach freshman comp this fall at Rocky and am really struggling with what to assign them to read. I wasn't happy with how the last comp course I taught there turned out, so I am trying to shake things up, but am at a bit of [...]
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    Posted: June 08, 2009, 8:45am EDT
    by David

  • Racism?

    Number of comments: 13
    Some Republicans are now backing off the claim that Sonia Sotomayor was being racist when she said, "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life." But' [...]
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    Posted: June 05, 2009, 9:55am EDT
    by David

  • Thursday talk radio update II

    Number of comments: 1
    A caller to Hannity said he had invited friends over the previous night for beer, barbecue and a listen to Hannity's TV interview with Rush Limbaugh. He said the interview was brilliant. I gathered that beer was heavily involved in reaching that conclusion.Hannity asked what kind of beer they drank. [...]
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    Posted: June 05, 2009, 9:52am EDT
    by David

  • Thursday talk radio update I

    Number of comments: 0
    Some days it must really suck to be Rush Limbaugh.I know he makes good money, and I suppose that he generally likes his job. But probably not every day.An example would be yesterday, when his show came on shortly after Barack Obama had concluded his Mideast speech. In similar circumstances, [...]
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    Posted: June 05, 2009, 9:31am EDT
    by David

  • Good example?

    Number of comments: 1
    I've made quite a bit of fun of the Montana GOP E-briefs in this space because of the comical way they distort most of what goes on in the world. Then I quit getting them for a while. I thought maybe the GOP decided it was bad business to send' [...]
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    Posted: June 03, 2009, 4:35pm EDT
    by David

  • Mea culpa

    Number of comments: 1
    I've been feeling like a bit of a chump the last couple of days, ever since the abortion doctor was gunned down as he attended church. I spend a lot of time (too much, probably) in this space attacking the talk-show morons for their various assaults on good sense and' [...]
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    Posted: June 02, 2009, 12:01pm EDT
    by David

  • Dred Scott's Revenge

    Number of comments: 4
    I spent a fair part of Saturday reading "Dred Scott's Revenge: A Legal History of Race and Freedom in America," by Andrew Napolitano, the judicial analyst for Fox News. It's a good read but really less a legal history than a retelling of the story of racism in North America, [...]
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    Posted: May 31, 2009, 11:59am EDT
    by David

  • Thursday talk radio update

    Number of comments: 2
    A caller tried to make what sounded like a perfectly reasonable point on Hannity's show, but Hannity cut him off.I say that "sounded like" because it is usually hard to tell on Hannity's program. Anytime a caller starts to make an argument that he can't answer, he immediately begins to' [...]
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    Posted: May 29, 2009, 9:27am EDT
    by David

  • Pirates and democracy

    Number of comments: 2
    Back in April, Rob Natelson wrote a tongue-in-cheek post arguing that Somali pirates were environmental activists and heroes who promoted social justice. I wrote in comments that there actually was some truth to the myths that romanticize piracy.Evidence for my claim comes in a book by Peter T. Leeson, "The" [...]
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    Posted: May 26, 2009, 9:13am EDT
    by David

  • Memorial Day talk radio update

    Number of comments: 1
    Hope you are out celebrating and commemorating while I am sitting here in the office, pounding out another issue of the Outpost. Don't feel too bad for me: We did get into the mountains for a few hours yesterday, and they were lovely and inviting.Today I'm sitting here typing and [...]
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    Posted: May 25, 2009, 2:37pm EDT
    by David

  • Thursday talk radio update

    Number of comments: 2
    So yes, I did take a few days off to go see my daughter graduate in Missoula, a fine and pleasurable event. Then there was the paper to catch up on, which explains why nothing has appeared in this space for a while. Please contact the subscription department for refunds.All [...]
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    Posted: May 22, 2009, 10:19am EDT
    by David

  • Thursday talk radio update

    Number of comments: 3
    As noted here and elsewhere, there has been whining all week by Hannity, Beck and their ilk about Wanda Sykes making fun of Rush Limbaugh, and quite a bit of criticism of Obama for appearing to find it funny.But this is clearly a case where the pot should do a [...]
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    Posted: May 14, 2009, 12:17pm EDT
    by David

  • Addison Bragg

    Number of comments: 7
    Just got word of the death of longtime newsman and Gazette columnist Addison Bragg. His health had been declining for a while, enough that his family recently gave the Outpost a skillfully drawn caricature depicting him after using a bow to shoot a fountain pen into the chest of a [...]
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    Posted: May 11, 2009, 7:37pm EDT
    by David

  • Monday talk radio update

    Number of comments: 2
    Cunningham on Sunday night and then Hannity and Beck today were all beating up on Wanda Sykes for cracking wise about Rush Limbaugh and also at Barack Obama for apparently having laughed.I won't defend her sense of humor. I don't think much of jokes about people dying either. But I [...]
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    Posted: May 11, 2009, 6:58pm EDT
    by David

  • Going Kindle

    Number of comments: 2
    Tyler Gernant, the Democrat running for Denny Rehberg's seat, says that his campaign is the first in the nation that allows visitors to his site to download "policy packets" to Kindle.Packets will cost users 99 cents, with all of the receipts going toward a tree-planting campaign. [...]
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    Posted: May 11, 2009, 10:45am EDT
    by David

  • Rye responds

    Number of comments: 3
    For those of you who don't usually look back through old comments, you will want to check Dave Rye's response to my question about the Fairness Doctrine under the Thursday Talk Radio Update I post. It's a thorough and interesting response.I still think there is less here than meets the' [...]
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    Posted: May 11, 2009, 9:38am EDT
    by David

  • What real newspapers do

    Number of comments: 2
    Most newspaper work is less thrilling than the climax of "State of Play" (worst movie title ever?) described below.More typical is the reaction I had during the previews, when Tom Hanks in the upcoming "Angels and Demons" said the Catholic Church had ordered a "brutal massacre." My instant thought: What's' [...]
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    Posted: May 10, 2009, 4:58pm EDT
    by David

  • The dying news

    Number of comments: 2
    I turned in final grades for my two German classes on Wednesday, so I took Saturday off. Around my house, days off are rare enough to always seem like bloggable events. Not much excitement here, though. I took it easy, washed dishes, cooked a steak dinner for an early Mother's' [...]
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    Posted: May 10, 2009, 12:28pm EDT
    by David

  • Swine flu here

    Number of comments: 1
    The state health department is holding a news conference in a few minutes (5 p.m.) to announce Montana's first probable case of swine flu. The patient is a Yellowstone County resident who is not hospitalized and is recovering, a news release says.People with flu symptoms are advised to stay away [...]
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    Posted: May 08, 2009, 4:42pm EDT
    by David

  • Savage banned

    Number of comments: 0
    Electric City Weblog has an amusing post and comments on England's decision to ban Michael Savage from its shores. Mr. Natelson presents this largely as a free speech case, but it isn't really. Mr. Savage is free to speak as he pleases; he simply is not free to travel to' [...]
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    Posted: May 08, 2009, 1:26pm EDT
    by David

  • Thursday talk radio update II

    Number of comments: 2
    Sean Hannity had James Dobson of Focus on the Family on to complain that Barack Obama had given short shrift to the National Day of Prayer. He quoted James Madison saying that religion was the basis of sound government.He didn't note that Madison (and Thomas Jefferson) opposed presidential proclamations calling' [...]
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    Posted: May 08, 2009, 10:25am EDT
    by David

  • Thursday talk radio update I

    Number of comments: 4
    Dave Rye said on his show yesterday that if the federal government were to reimpose the Fairness Doctrine, he would simply quit his show.I'm not sure why this topic keeps coming up. I remain unaware of any serious attempt to reimpose the Fairness Doctrine. Is there one I am missing?In' [...]
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    Posted: May 08, 2009, 10:18am EDT
    by David

  • More American fascism

    Number of comments: 4
    Piece of Mind takes exception on several counts to my American Fascism post below. I thought the post was clear; it still seems clear to me. But Piece of Mind has managed to find a number of things in it that I never intended to say.What I said was that [...]
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    Posted: May 05, 2009, 1:13pm EDT
    by David

  • Gazette circ down

    Number of comments: 4
    According to my usually reliable source, the Gazette's audited Sunday circulation was down just over a thousand for the six months that ended March 30. Monday through Friday circulation was down just over 900. [...]
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    Posted: May 03, 2009, 9:04pm EDT
    by David

  • Out of my head

    Number of comments: 0
    So one Christmas my brother thought, if he likes Simon and Garfunkel, he ought to like Dylan, right? So I got Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits, and the world changed again. There was nothing like this in Great Songs of the Church, Volume 2. People said this one was a drug [...]
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    Posted: May 03, 2009, 12:51pm EDT
    by David

  • The Messiah, 1932

    Number of comments: 1
    My friend Robert Lubbers is reading a book about the Great Depression (and, yes, I am so dumb that I have forgotten the name and so lazy that I won't call and ask him). Last night he showed me a passage about the common habit that people had then, even' [...]
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    Posted: May 02, 2009, 2:04pm EDT
    by David

  • American fascism

    Number of comments: 7
    Over at Electric City Weblog, Rob Natelson sniffs fascism in a plan for restructuring General Motors. Mr. Natelson has done a fair amount of casual name calling on that blog of late. He found a "show trial" (his weasel-like quotation marks) in the Libby trial of Grace executives; he found [...]
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    Posted: May 02, 2009, 1:21pm EDT
    by David

  • Torture revisited

    Number of comments: 2
    It's worth taking another look at why torture is a bad idea as a matter of public policy even if you think it's a good idea in certain circumstances.Some of this comes from watching the complete conversation between Jon Stewart and Cliff May, which can -- and should -- be [...]
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    Posted: May 01, 2009, 3:24pm EDT
    by David

  • Thursday talk radio update II

    Number of comments: 3
    It amazes me how many phony and irrelevant arguments about torture hold sway in the talk radio world. Dennis Miller and Dave Rye both had some yesterday, and Hannity has been a veritable fount of them. Just to keep our minds clear, let's once more shoot down a few of [...]
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    Posted: May 01, 2009, 9:39am EDT
    by David

  • Thursday talk radio update I

    Number of comments: 0
    Rush Limbaugh seemed to be in a bit of a quandary yesterday. He led with news that Chrysler had filed for bankruptcy, which he, of course, read as a sign of failure for the Obama presidency. And since Limbaugh has famously rooted for Obama to fail, then this should have [...]
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    Posted: May 01, 2009, 9:27am EDT
    by David

  • Swine flu

    Number of comments: 5
    I find this to be extraordinarily easy advice to follow. I suppose I should worry about public health emergencies more than I do, but I don't, and I probably won't.When pigs fly, that's when you can come here and read, "Swine flu." [...]
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    Posted: April 28, 2009, 2:02pm EDT
    by David

  • Pay cuts

    Number of comments: 0
    I missed this at the time, but I see now that Rick Foote reported in the March 18 Butte Weekly (no website) that Lee Enterprises' publishers took a 25 percent pay cut on March 1. The item came from what Foote characterized as "very reliable sources within Lee Enterprises," which' [...]
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    Posted: April 26, 2009, 5:36pm EDT
    by David

  • Preserving the Constitution

    Number of comments: 3
    A common theme in the April 15 TEA parties was that protests were needed to uphold and/or restore the Constitution. A typical (and typically vague) example of the type appeared in last week's Gazette.So what threats to the Constitution need protester response? Electric City Weblog suggests two: a balanced budget [...]
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    Posted: April 26, 2009, 12:06pm EDT
    by David

  • The messiah

    Number of comments: 3
    The lively Electric City Weblog had a post the other day under the headline "Mainstream media Obama worship." The post said that Time and Newsweek had devoted at least 30 covers (upgraded in comments to 39) to Obama between them over the past four years. The post seemed to argue [...]
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    Posted: April 25, 2009, 3:37pm EDT
    by David

  • Cheney vs. Chavez

    Number of comments: 1
    I heard part of an interview of Dick Cheney the other night, and he was criticizing Barack Obama for, I guess, shaking hands with Hugo Chavez. Cheney said the Bush administration's hands-off policy was the right choice.And I thought: Evidence for that? Anybody want to argue that Chavez is weaker [...]
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    Posted: April 25, 2009, 3:35pm EDT
    by David

  • Death to waterboarders

    Number of comments: 0
    Here is what America used to do to people who waterboarded.Not coincidentally, I was talking about this topic last night with a woman who said her husband, a World War II veteran, was moved almost to tears by revelations about what his country -- the country he defended -- has [...]
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    Posted: April 25, 2009, 12:46pm EDT
    by David

  • Not doing our bit

    Number of comments: 6
    Maybe it's just me, but Max Baucus' response to the idea of putting Guantanamo detainees in the vacant prison in Hardin seems unusually dumb:My number one job is to keep Montanans safe, and bringing terrorists into our state is a clear and present danger to everyone who lives here. I' [...]
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    Posted: April 24, 2009, 3:01pm EDT
    by David

  • Thursday talk radio update

    Number of comments: 2
    Sean Hannity was in full pro-torture mode. His argument:1. We don't torture.2. If we do torture, it's OK because it worked.No hint that he grasped how ludicrous both arguments are. With respect to point one, Sean Hannity isn't in charge of deciding what torture is. Torture is defined by longstanding [...]
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    Posted: April 24, 2009, 10:11am EDT
    by David

  • Woe is us

    Number of comments: 3
    The Outpost is reshaping it's webpage yet again, so there isn't much there to read. But I happen to know for a fact that the editor wrote a column lamenting the state of the newspaper industry, and I have obtained a copy of it through the Freedom of Information Act:I' [...]
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    Posted: April 24, 2009, 10:07am EDT
    by David
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