tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55064512009-11-23T21:44:02.729-08:00"Our aim, to swat liars and leeches, hypocrites & humbugs, demagogs & dastards" -- The Yellow Jacket Moravian Falls, N.C., 1919Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.comBlogger1570125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-34834964982550390582009-06-19T13:58:00.001-07:002009-06-19T14:04:19.211-07:00

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.

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-53864334477948708452009-06-19T11:02:00.000-07:002009-06-19T11:04:06.719-07:00

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.

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-55574219791229531212009-06-19T09:49:00.000-07:002009-06-19T09:57:01.904-07:00

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 way that societies typically curb unwelcome sexual behavior is by publicly

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-35405321839212742432009-06-17T14:30:00.000-07:002009-06-17T14:36:51.227-07:00

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.

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-10223004897307272682009-06-16T08:43:00.000-07:002009-06-16T08:54:35.765-07:00

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 covering up the photos is that releasing them could inflame anti-American

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-63322985256713595442009-06-14T17:24:00.001-07:002009-06-14T17:25:26.407-07:00

First, global warming. Now, or perhaps as a result, there's this.Great Falls is looking more habitable all the time.

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-12620485372675703032009-06-14T15:40:00.000-07:002009-06-14T16:42:38.551-07:00

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 with various local restaurants, including Jakes, and the Montana Rib and Chop

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-16903825777042416992009-06-12T14:39:00.000-07:002009-06-12T15:21:09.183-07:00

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. On this planet, they were blaming liberals.Yes, liberals. Please don't ask me

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-4637351174321745822009-06-09T13:55:00.000-07:002009-06-09T13:58:44.650-07:00

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 fourth.Consider that a plug -- or a warning.

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-63290402637718874962009-06-09T07:27:00.001-07:002009-06-09T07:29:00.175-07:00

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.

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-14759856098672744702009-06-08T07:55:00.000-07:002009-06-08T08:11:51.913-07:00

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 be better equipped to make good decisions than someone without that background.Suppose I were

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-81692400519657695372009-06-08T07:45:00.000-07:002009-06-08T07:55:48.194-07:00

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 a loss.I ran across Roger Clawson's list of the three greatest novels of the Western Hemisphere and thought: Not only is Roger right, but I've read "

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-75186941897705410582009-06-05T08:55:00.001-07:002009-06-05T09:38:20.767-07:00

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 they keep repeating the idea that a white man who said that white males would make better judges would be out of the

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-48311749566395788752009-06-05T08:52:00.000-07:002009-06-05T08:55:15.308-07:00

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. I instantly thought: Bud Light, the anti-beer.The answer was even worse than I guessed: It was

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-39481289227308523292009-06-05T08:31:00.000-07:002009-06-05T08:51:53.783-07:00

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, an ordinary journalist would have to hustle but would know the basic outlines of what he had to do: Grab a

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-76289506127125770582009-06-03T15:35:00.000-07:002009-06-03T15:47:23.977-07:00

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 their rhetoric to someone who would just ridicule it.But I have gotten a few Montana Republican e-mails lately that are far different in tone from the old

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-43918982542207150392009-06-02T11:01:00.001-07:002009-06-02T11:11:57.290-07:00

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 decency. But it occurs to me now that I have heard Bill O'Reilly launch several verbal sallies against the doctor without thinking

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-650690087038568102009-05-31T10:59:00.000-07:002009-05-31T11:30:35.080-07:00

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, from colonial slave-trading days to the election of Obama.Napolitano's basic argument is that the government (and its

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-54185466432022593282009-05-29T08:27:00.000-07:002009-05-29T09:12:42.902-07:00

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 bully and interrupt, making it hard to know for sure what the caller wanted to say. But this caller seemed to be

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-52889613829136299302009-05-26T08:13:00.000-07:002009-05-26T08:26:31.710-07:00

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 Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates." He notes that pirates were far better

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-72872243481533273392009-05-25T13:37:00.000-07:002009-05-25T14:11:36.893-07:00

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 listening to the radio, and wondering why it is that conservative talk radio, whatever its acknowledged flaws, always

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-81802382538264023722009-05-22T09:19:00.001-07:002009-05-22T09:44:18.892-07:00

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 the radio talk yesterday was about the "showdown" between Dick Cheney and Barack Obama on national security matters. Sadly,

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-21291011795346861692009-05-14T11:17:00.000-07:002009-05-14T11:28:55.709-07:00

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 color check before making observations about the kettle. I just got through two hours of Limbaugh (minus bouncing in an out of the car

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-84446727800918344042009-05-11T18:37:00.001-07:002009-05-11T18:43:01.997-07:00

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 sword-wielding thug, with the caption, "The pen IS mightier than the sword."I didn't know Addison well; he was still

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506451.post-55511440466909140862009-05-11T17:58:00.000-07:002009-05-11T18:23:56.100-07:00

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 would defend the serious point behind the joke. The open rooting of Limbaugh, Hannity and their ilk for the failure

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00372790238744903272noreply@blogger.com2