New West Network Topics News

Religion and Society

Ayann Hirsi Ali is on a crusade against her former religion, claiming that Islam is inherently violent and is particularly destructive of the lives of women. In 2004 her anti-Islamic activism led to the murder of a Dutch filmmaker and resulted in death threats against her. Five years later as a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, Hirsi Ali still requires full-time bodyguards. See full version with Ali's picture and an image from film at www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/HirsiAli.htm [more]

Guest opinion: presidential race

Since the early 1980s profits from the financial service industry rose from 10 percent of total corporate profits to 40 percent today. It's high time to close America's financial casinos, and I for one would not trust a McCain/Palin administration, recent converts to regulation, to stop this disastrous game of making money out of money without sufficient regulation. Read the full version.

All year long John McCain has repeated, at least 17 times, George Bush's mantra: "The fundamentals of the American economy are strong."

The last time he said it was September 15, right after Lehman Brothers folded, Merrill Lynch was bought by Bank of America, and American International Group, the world's largest financial insurer, was on the edge of collapse.

McCain has admitted that he knows very little about economics, and this gaffe proved that in spades. McCain thought that as president he could fire the chairman of the Security and Exchange Commission (no way, Senator), and his running mate Sarah Palin was blithely unaware that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were semi-private companies.

McCain once said that there has been "great economic progress" under Bush, but, less than 24 hours later, he stated that "Americans are not better off than they were eight years ago." As far as America's working people are concerned, the economy tanked long ago.
[more]

NEW WEST UNFILTERED: presidential election

John Edwards has an affair and his political career is finished, but John McCain sleeps with Cindy and his political career takes off with a bang.

Former Senator John Tower tells of carousing with McCain while he was still married to his first wife, describing him as "turning forty and wanting to be twenty-five again."

Edwards is criticized for running a campaign on the huge gap between the rich and poor, but John "Teflon" McCain unleashes his "pit bull with lipstick" (Palin's own words) to wage cultural warfare on America.

[more]

NewWest.Net Conferences

The Designing the New West: Architecture and Landscape in the Mountain West Conference is wrapping up here in Bozeman at the historic Gallatin Gateway Inn. Put on by NewWest.Net and sponsored by the Sonoran Institute, the conference brought together designers from all over the country to explore innovative design ideas, identify best practices, and better understand how to bridge the gap between good architectural theory and sometimes-messy building practices in the fastest growing region in the nation.

A mix of presentations and engaging panel discussions tackled pressing Western issues like sustainable development, land design and the special challenges of urban, rural and resort design, historic preservation and affordable housing.

Click on the photo or here for a slideshow of the days' events. Click "more" for a recap of the conference. [more]

NEW WEST BOOK REVIEW & INTERVIEW

Skier Chris Davenport set out on an epic adventure. An Aspen, Colo., resident, Davenport dedicated himself to skiing all of Colorado’s Fourteeners – the 54 peaks topping out at over 14,000 feet – within a year. He would do it from their summits, or close to it, with free-skiing style.

For many, just climbing the Fourteeners in the comparatively balmy summer months is a long-term commitment. Others have skied them, but only one other has skied them all. Davenport did it in a year, and with aplomb.

He documents his journey photographically in his striking book Ski the 14ers. Just as Davenport pushed backcountry skiing to a new level, his work takes coffee table books dedicated to Colorado’s peaks to a new extreme. As he notes in his introduction, there’s nothing new about beautiful picture books of mountain landscapes. Davenport’s book, filled with photos shot by himself and his backcountry companions, exposes the mountains in their winter glory, or fury. [more]

Introducing...

The best way to check out The New West magazine is to subscribe. We want to know who’s interested in The New West, so we have made the magazine available free to qualified subscribers who answer a short questionnaire.

• Click here for the questionnaire for a free subscription.
• You can also subscribe for $9.95 a year by clicking here.

In the Spring Issue and online here:

• Montana’s Cash Cowboy
• Real Ranch Living: Not Everyone is Selling Out
• Essay: The Family Farm, Version 2.0
• Essay: Tracks Across A Landscape
• Have Your Ranch & Develop It, Too
• Design Showcase: The Big and Little of Western Building
• Stuff It: Can Wolf Hunting Help Conserve the Species?
• Traffic Perplexes New Western Communities
• Boise in Its Own Little Bubble
• Revenge of the Resource Economy
• Spotlight North Idaho: On the Agenda: Youth, Growth & Silver
• Spotlight North Idaho: Players of the Panhandle
• Spotlight North Idaho: Coeur d’Alene Tribe Rides the Idaho Boom

[more]

By Robert Struckman, 2-01-08 | comments (23) | email story | print story

WARNING: Attending a Bioneers conference may cause an uncontrollable desire to seek innovative and practical solutions to restore the earth and its people. [more]

At Moscow's Farmers Market on September 29, the Latah Human Rights Task Force will sponsor "Building Bridges with Our Muslim Neighbors." There will be Islamic designs and regional maps for kids to color, a slide show on Morocco, a video on Muslim Spain, and music. There will also be a poster board of seven distinguished Muslims of the Palouse. The column speaks to some of these topics. [more]

unfiltered commentary

Democratic Presidential hopeful Bill Richardson has a long-list of accomplishments and is possibly the most qualified nominee of the entire field of candidates-- in both parties. He remains the only Democratic contender with executive experience. However, his resume to this point has not translated to an overriding support in the polls. Why? Well…there are a number of reasons for that-- John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama. Sure, he’s got an impressive resume. But outside of his credentials, voters what to know what he stands for? What is his vision for this country? [more]

wildfire

After several years of planning and coordination, efforts to establish a statewide FireSafe organization in Montana became a reality on May 18 during a signing ceremony at Carroll College in Helena. FireSafe Montana will offer a very important service for the citizens of Montana – statewide coordination of efforts supporting FireSafe programs and firewise activities. [more]