Best Wishes. Or Not

So it's the end of another year. I've seen enough of these already that I don't get all that excited about it anymore. There's a lot of festivities in Missoula this weekend but I'm not going to partake. I'll do what I always do -- stay home and get a good night's sleep. I wish all the best to the rest of you though.

I'm always relieved when the holiday season is over. From Thanksgiving through the New Year's celebrations we're all kept pretty busy spreading goodwill and best wishes to everybody we meet, and I'm all for that. It's a good thing. A good thing. But after several weeks of it, all of this being nice crap starts to give me stomach cramps. I'm looking forward to a short break, and then to getting back out there to annoy somebody. Anybody. I need the practice.

On that note I'll be nice one more time and wish all of you who have given so much of yourselves to making this world of ours a better place the best of New Year's wishes. May 2007 treat you well, and may you have the strength and the energy and the inspiration to continue your good work. We all need you. And to those who are growing fat by milking our system for all it's worth, and by taking advantage of those less fortunate, well, may your ill-gotten gains stick in your throats.

That said, I'll leave you with another photo of what's really right in Montana. This is up Blodgett Canyon in the Bitterroot. Happy New Year.

Some End Of Year Reflection

These long, year-end evenings here in Montana are tailor made for reflection. Especially when you've spent several months hammering together one of these blogs. What have I accomplished with this? Have I accomplished anything besides proving to myself that I can pound out something on a fairly regular basis? That alone qualifies as some sort of accomplishment I guess. Where to from here? What do I want to do now? Now's as good a time as any to ponder that. I guess that's probably where New Year's resolutions come from. The new year may be an arbitrary marker of time, but it's one we all use, consciously or not. We look back over the past year, we review it in our minds, for better or worse, and we resolve to do better in the coming year. I don't make resolutions. Not anymore. I never kept them anyway. It's probably been about forty years since I made a New Year's resolution. Didn't keep that one either. So dear reader, don't look for any resolutions here. I'm not going to stick my head in that noose. All I know is that I'll be here at the keyboard regularly. What comes out is anybody's guess.

I will explain a little bit about what I am, and what I'm not. I'll start with what I'm not. I'm not a journalist, and I'm not a reporter. I don't dig out stories, I don't report stories, and I don't investigate stories. That's simply not my thing. Occasionally I'll spot something, generally an environmental outrage, that isn't being talked about much and I'll point it out, but that's about the extent of it. I'm not an analyst either. There are plenty of good writers around who can think through events and stories and write up good, though-provoking analyses about them. I'm not one of them, and I don't try. Several are listed over in the sidebar links. But again it's not my thing. I can't add anything that they're not able to say far better than I can. I stand in awe of their skills. Besides, I don't like to work that hard.

What I do offer up, for whatever they're worth, are my own experiences and opinions. I've lived long enough now that I've had a fair share of experience, much of it in the wilderness which is my biggest influence, but not all. I've been gainfully employed, I've been unemployed, and I've been self-employed. I've been reasonably comfortable, like I am now, but I've also been broke and homeless. I've lived in cities, and I've lived for months at a time in the mountains in little more than a tent. I've been married and I've been divorced. I've been on the losing side of battles with alcohol. And I've beaten that demon and come out of it stronger than ever. I've never been wealthy, but I've sure as hell been broke. What does all this mean to anybody? Maybe nothing, but it's where my posts come from -- my life. It's the only place I have to write from. At least the only honest place. My posts come from my experience, and always will, whether they be mellow and appreciative, or outraged and angry. There will be both.

I've come out of it all as a pretty opinionated old bird. That's what I put down in words here for the most part. One of my opinions, one that drives much of what I do, is that outrage is an important tool for change. Things seldom change until citizens get angry enough to collectively demand change, and that's what I consider to be my role here in this strange, crazy world of blogging. I'm an agitator. Call me an opinionated agitator. Or an agitated opinionator. Or an agitational opinionator. Whatever... just don't call me an analyst.

My aim isn't to write stuff that you can chew on and mull over. At least not in the political posts. Mostly I'll leave that to others. I'd prefer my posts to be more like something sharp stuck between your teeth. I'm not that good yet, and I'll be the first to admit it. I tend to be too meek and mild. I'm too soft-spoken. Too nice a guy. But I'm working on that. I'm going to come dangerously close to making a New Year's resolution, but here goes. I'll do my best to cause sleepless nights for those that I consider the enemy. I'll do my best to aggravate their ulcers. I'll do my best to see to it that they need to buy Tums by the carload. I'll do my best to be meaner. I promise.

Enjoy The Magic

Here's another one of countless reasons I'm in Montana to stay. As often as not words fail me. Or to be more accurate, I fail. I fail to fully express my feelings for the land in words -- I'm simply not eloquent enough to get across the things I really want to say. Sometimes it's far easier and more effective to show what I mean. So, enough said. Here's Avalanche Creek in Glacier National Park.

My dear daughter has quite a Christmas celebration planned for us. The menu, the decorations, the whole bit are planned in mind-boggling detail. All I have left to do is get it all ready. Shouldn't take more than a couple of days, provided I don't waste time on things like sleep. It's an important one for her though. This will be the first Christmas ever that she's not going to be with her mother, and she wants it to be special. I'll of course do what I can. I may have to hire help, but I'll do what I can. I'm a sucker for this kid, and she knows it.

On that note I'd better get busy. Here's wishing everybody out there a happy holiday season however you may celebrate it. So be safe, be well, do good, and enjoy that special excitement that shines in the eyes and glows on the faces of your kids. Enjoy that special magic that kids understand so well. Merry Christmas.

Is This How We Want History To Remember Us?

First off I want to give a quick thank you to Craig and Matt for setting this up, and I apologize for not mentioning it earlier. They have a site set up for donations to the Montana Food Bank Network, and it's certainly a worthwhile cause. It's not too late to help out and I urge everyone to do what they can. The site will be up through January if I'm not mistaken. There's still time.

Most of us are pretty comfortable and we tend to take it for granted that the holiday season is a happy time for everybody. And for most of us it is. Not everybody though -- an awful lot of people are hard-pressed to just get by. A joyous and happy holiday is out of the question for far too many. Poverty is reality for many people in our country. Roughly one in five children in the US live below the poverty line. Millions don't have access to health care. The number of people who ended up homeless for at least part of this year, 2006, is estimated at 2 to 3 million, many of them children. Of course it's hard to know with any accuracy -- I'm sure no one counts under all the bridges or checks to see how many are sleeping in their cars at Wal-Mart. This in a country that prides itself on being the wealthiest society in history. It's appalling.

Here's something else that's appalling. It seems that the Wall Street firm of Goldman Sachs made so much money this year that they are throwing a bash to give 16.5 billion in bonuses to their top performers. GS profits were up 70% from last year, and to show their appreciation they are giving some of their finest up to a hundred million dollars in bonuses. Bonuses! That's not counting their salaries for the year. Yes, there is great wealth in our society, but most Americans don't share in it. The 400 wealthiest Americans' net worth is roughly the same as that of the bottom half of our population. That's about 57 million households. Think about that for a moment. The top 400 households have as much as the lowest 57 million combined. That's truly obscene. Is this how we want history to remember us?

By all means, we all should count our blessings this holiday season. But let's not forget about those who have very little, if any to count.

I Wouldn't Have It Any Other Way

'Tis the Christmas season once again, and I had a great old time this past weekend being entertained by some of the activities that many of our kids here in Missoula are fortunate enough to be able to partake in. I want to give a big round of applause to some folks tonight.

I can't say enough about the quality of the music programs in the Missoula public schools. My daughter is in her second year of band now. She plays the baritone, and was invited to perform Friday night at a performance at the local mall called TubaChristmas. This is put on every year by the public schools, and features tuba and baritone players of all ages from 6th grade on up. My daughter was the youngest, the oldest were in their 70's, and they came from all over western Montana. She was so thrilled and proud to be a part of it that she could barely sleep that night. The training she gets from her band teachers, and the overall quality that her school band shows at their concerts just blows me away. There's been a lot of arguing back and forth lately about the direction public education is going to take with the new committee appointments. I'm not going into that argument here. I'll simply point out that it takes considerable funding to keep these school band programs alive and well. All of us who have our kids involved in them had best keep that in mind.

Last night I got to watch her perform her other passion. She skated in a Christmas show put on by the Missoula Figure Skating Club. She's been taking skating lessons for about three years now, and here too the skill and dedication the coaches and teachers give to our kids is overwhelming. The first few times I took her skating a few years ago she could barely stand up on the ice. Now she's performing in choreographed shows. These folks in the skating club give our kids so much. They are truly awesome. To watch my child blossom under the guidance of these teachers, both in her music and in her skating just makes me too proud for words. She's getting really good. Am I indulging in a little bit of parental bragging here? You're damn right I am, but it's also a great big thank you to everybody who is involved in these music and skating programs. My daughter may have the raw talent, but these people are very good at bringing it out of her and developing it.

It's hard to believe that this young woman is the same person as that fragile little newborn who used to be able to lay in the palms of my hands. That seems like it was just last week. You know, I've gotten to be kind of a crusty old bird over the years. I've grown a hide like a rhino, and some would say the temperament of a crocodile. But watching my daughter perform on her instrument, or watching her out on the ice, admiring the grace and elegance she is learning to develop, about all I can do is sit there with a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye, blowing my nose and proudly blubbering like I did on the day, almost twelve years ago, when she was born. And you know something else? I wouldn't have it any other way.

Born To Be Wild

Missoula's not bad for a town. I can kick back in my old recliner, look out my window to the north, and watch the late afternoon winter sun light up the Rattlesnake Range. They give off a glow this time of year that I never tire of watching. I make a point of doing it every day. Somebody's got to do it, somebody has to watch this stuff. I'll gladly accept the job.

I've been hearing it said for years here in Montana, and it probably is said elsewhere too though I wouldn't know, that you can't eat the scenery. No doubt you've heard that one. I always have to shake my head in sorrow for the poor saps who feel that way. What a foolish, impoverished way to look at this great, big, beautiful wild world of ours. At least what's left of it. Have we become that conditioned to a throwaway gas-powered electrified computerized pasteurized homogenized and otherwise technified and consumerized culture that we are numb to the natural world around us? Gawd I hope not -- I'll fight that until my dying breath. And yes I'm making up my own words here as I go and having a hell of a good time doing it.

I've lived a lucky life so far, though I know it's only partly luck. A good bit of it has been of my own choosing. I've never had much in the way of money, and I've never worried about it much. I know how to get by. What I have had, what I feel very lucky for, is the time to wander wilderness trails both here in western Montana, and before that in the canoe country of northern Minnesota and Canada. I wouldn't trade places with anybody for any amount of money in the world. I've come face to face with bears and moose and mountain goats and mountain lions. I've been chased off of mountains by sudden lightning storms. I've been caught in sudden squalls while paddling a canoe across a big lake that suddenly seemed to have gotten a whole lot bigger. I've slept in a tent at thirty-five below. I've also witnessed some mighty sunsets, some of the most magnificent country on the face of the earth, and stumbled onto canyons and lakes and creeks and waterfalls that are so gut-wrenchingly perfect that it hurts. And these are the times, all of them, when I've felt the most alive. And the most grateful to be alive. No, I wouldn't trade any of it away, and I'll fight to make sure that the generations that follow me have the same opportunities. It's the least I can do for them.

So, I guess the point of this rambling is that no, you can't eat the scenery. But it can feed you in ways that mere money can't even come close to doing.

What Should The Dems Do Now?

Montana will have two Democratic senators for the first time in almost twenty years. Max Baucus and Jon Tester will be sitting with the majority when the new Congress convenes in January. Now the big question seems to be what the Dems will do for 2008, who's going to be the Presidential nominee. We hear the names of Obama and Clinton thrown around, as well as Edwards and Vilsack and even Kucinich and Gore. Who's going to carry the torch for the Democrats? Who's going to be the candidate? I really don't care yet -- I think it's the wrong question to be asking. It's putting the cart before the horse. The Democrats first need to hammer together a program that stands in opposition to the corporate powers that be, a program that works for the people of this country instead of for the benefit of multi-national corporations, a program that the people can firmly get behind. Then choose the candidate who can best carry it forward. Few, if any, of those being considered fit the bill. All are part of the corporatist camp to one degree or another. None represent any real change. Except Kucinich maybe, but we know what his chances are. In short, no one who's currently in the running is good enough. So who is then? Beats me.

The last thing the Democrats need to do is to trot out another cardboard cut-out candidate and parade him or her back and forth in front of the TV cameras to blandly and meekly respond to the idiotic charges thrown out by the right-wing loudmouths lurking out there. We've all seen enough of that. We've also seen how successful that's been. Bury that strategy already and give us the real thing. Survey after survey has shown that the American people want real, meaningful change. The past election showed that the American people have had enough of this gang that's currently in charge. We weren't overly thrilled with the Democratic contenders in many cases, but we were fed up with the Republican incumbents and many of them were sent packing. Not enough of them, but quite a few.

People want health care for every citizen of this country. People want a sane energy policy. People want meaningful and effective action on global warming. People want a healthy environment for their kids and grandkids. And people don't want our world ruled by corporate greed. We're sick and tired of being lied to and treated like we exist for nothing more than to go to places like Wal-Mart and fill shopping carts with useless objects. Yeah, maybe I'm assuming too much, but I know a lot of people who feel this way. If the Democratic Party won't stand up, look around, grow a spine, and start addressing these concerns we'll look elsewhere. We've done it before.

The Democratic Party has lost the loyalty of many of us. If they want our votes they need to earn them back. If the Democrats will move in a bold new direction they stand a good chance of winning, and winning big. The best part of that is that the rest of us will win too.

My First Photo Post -- Yellowstone Falls

Well, I was right. A bit of cursing and swearing goes a long way when you're learning to post photographs on one of these blogs. I hollered for a while, tore a few clumps of hair out of my head, and voila -- here's my first photo post. Nothing to it.

Here in Missoula we are located between two of this country's finest national parks, Yellowstone and Glacier. I've made several trips to both over the years, and I dearly love both. Some folks consider them to be national treasures, others consider them to be national sacrifice areas. Some of us see it both ways -- as special places that are facing some serious threats, both from lack of funds to maintain them and from the sheer volumes of traffic that they see every year. Either way they are incredible places that were set aside for a reason, and those reasons still exist. You don't have to get far off the roads and parking lots to find country that's basically the same as it was when it was first set aside.

The Lower Falls of the Yellowstone are pretty much a national icon. Just about everybody has seen photos of them somewhere or other. Other than Old Faithful, the falls are probably the most photographed feature in all of Yellowstone. Here's my version of one of the most spectacular places in the mountain west --the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone.

Thanks Max

Could it be? Will there finally be permanent protection for the Rocky Mountain front here in Montana? Senator Baucus added language to a Senate tax bill that would do just that, and end years of wrangling over whether or not to drill for gas and oil along the front. In spite of what Denny Rehberg might think sanity may indeed prevail here.

The Rocky Mountain front is truly one of the special places in this entire country. Who hasn't experienced that first glimpse of the front after traveling across what seems like endless prairie and plains? The gut-clenching heart-stopping power and majesty of those mountains strikes you speechless. There's simply nothing you can say. They touch something basic and elemental in all of us, and about all we can do, at least all I could do when I first saw them, is to sit and stare in wide-eyed wonder. That was almost forty years ago when I was on a trip to Glacier with my family, and I've never forgotten it. I knew then and there that I would have to move to Montana someday.

It's where the great Rocky Mountains meet the plains, where grizzly bears and wolves and lions and other fine folks have wandered for ages. It's too great a treasure to squander for a questionable supply, or for that matter need, of resources. I'll sleep better knowing there are still those who will stand up for doing the right thing, who will still make the right choices. Not the easy choices, not the choices that the gas and oil industries want to see, but the right choices. Thanks Max.

Returning To Photography

I know I've mentioned it a number of times here, but it was the wilderness that drew me to Montana. I moved here to wander the mountains, and to photograph them. I arrived in the Bitterroot Valley in the fall of 1983 with a couple of changes of clothes, a few bucks in my pocket, a sack full of camera equipment, and a strange notion that photography would be a fun and easy way to make a living. I was soon proven wrong on both counts. It wasn't an easy way to make a living, and it never will be. I ended up doing a lot of photo work that I didn't really want to do just to survive, and it wasn't long before it wasn't any fun anymore either. When I would find some time to do my own work I would also find that I didn't have the energy and patience to do it well. I felt I was going stale, that I was simply going through the motions and repeating myself, and I needed to stop for a while. This was about ten or twelve years ago. I've been feeling the urge to return to photography again for the last couple of years now. It won't let me rest.

I've recently picked up some more equipment, some good used stuff that was made back in the mid 60's when they still knew how to make a good camera, and have been itching to do some new work. What amazes me the most is how hard it is to start over again. I'll go to great pains to avoid getting involved in any kind of commercial photography again, but what I am doing is taking a few of the best of the old stuff and having them made into display prints. A friend at work has set himself up with a drum scanner and a high end ink-jet printer. It's the process that the sophisticated artsy crowd calls giclee. Not being particularly sophisticated, or artsy, I just call them ink-jets. That's good enough for me. They're pretty impressive when made by someone who knows what they're doing. As I do new work that I like I'll add it too.

We all need ways to express ourselves. It's one of the things that makes us human. We can howl about politics and issues and all that, we can work for justice and for a clean healthy future for our kids, but that's only a part of what we are. We all need a creative outlet, whether it be drawing or painting or writing or photography or music or whatever. It's our way of communicating what we are as individuals, our way of communicating to others what makes us tick. And it's important. Just as important as eating or sleeping. It's the natural world, what we call the wilderness, that makes me tick. Photography is my way of communicating my experience. Of course I'll write some, and do my best to change the world, but that's only a hobby. Photography is my real work, and I'm sure that's why I had such an violent reaction to allowing myself to get sidetracked by commercial photography. Well -- no more. I won't do that anymore.

What I will do though is post them here at buzztail occasionally as I get them scanned and converted to digital images. I'm no computer wizard. I do all of this on an ancient old beast that was given to me by the same guy who scans and prints my photos. It has some goodies like photoshop in it, but I'm clueless about how to use it. I'll work on it though, and I'm sure that after a suitable period of cursing and swearing have passed I'll be able to figure it out. Then dear readers I can inflict them on you. Cheers.

It's Time To Tame The Corporate Beast

One thing I want to see from Montana's senators is some meaningful work on regulating and restricting the power and influence giant global corporations have assumed in our world. Corporations have grown to dominate the entire planet. Governments are fighting resource wars on their behalf, are relaxing environmental standards on their behalf, and are hammering working people and their families on their behalf. The effects on everyday people and on our common environment are devastating to say the least. It's time -- no it's past time -- to tame the corporate beast.

The free marketers and the right-wing loudmouths who have their own radio and TV shows like to blather on about how regulation is un-American, socialistic and anti-capitalist, and would put undue restrictions on all of us. In short, it's big government telling us what we can and can't do. Do these guys really believe that we're all on a level playing field here, that what's good or bad for the corporations is equally good or bad for all of us? Apparently so.

Ever since it was ruled that corporations had the same rights as citizens in the 1880's they have been building their power. There's been little done to slow them down. Anti-trust laws under Teddy Roosevelt did for a while. The New Deal under FDR put the most meaningful restrictions on runaway corporate power in place that we've seen in the last century. Not much of that is in effect anymore and once again unregulated corporate power is running rampant to the detriment of the entire planet. FDR was no flaming liberal. He was essentially a middle-of-the-roader from New York who was smart enough to have people around him who could see what was happening. They knew that the only thing that would ultimately save capitalism from it's own excesses was to regulate industry. They also feared a revolution from America's workers -- everyone was still watching the effects of the Russian Revolution and were afraid of it spreading over here. The New Deal did much to eliminate that perceived threat.

But that was seventy years ago. Corporations have once again grown to be the dominant force in our world. They have their own shadow government in the WTO. They have aggressively pushed through free trade agreements that only increase their power. More and more they operate outside of the laws and regulations of any country, and indeed they influence the decision making of governments around the world. One thing we need to realize as citizens is that regulating these global beasts is not the same thing as regulating individual freedoms and liberties. The opposite is true. Our country was founded on principles of liberty and justice for all. We'll have neither if we allow ourselves to become any more enslaved by a global corporate empire.

We also need to realize that we the people still have the power to grant corporations the right to operate. They exist because the people grant them the right to exist. They are chartered by the people, and the people have the right to revoke their charters. A touchy difficult process to be sure, but it's still the case. The threats to our environment, our climate, our liberties and our livelihoods are real and growing. We need to work on constructive and meaningful changes as individuals, as communities, and as a society while we still can. And we need to push our elected leaders in the right direction.

Here's a site with some good information.

Here's another.