My Page: Nate Schweber
Music
Drag the River Plays Missoula, Whitefish and BozemanDrag the River, from Ft. Collins, CO, is the best damned alt. country, roots-rock, Americana, band in the world.
I'm serious.
[more]
NATE SCHWEBER WRITES HOME
Missoula’s Bummer Indian SummerMissoula's mayoral race, violent crimes, and countywide subdivision woes coupled with hurricanes, supreme court vacancies and the potential mauling of the Endangered Species Act make for a toxic cocktail of gloom and doom spilled over the end of the season. Things wouldn't be this bad if Brian Schweitzer was president. [more]
Nate Schweber Writes Back
More From Nate’s Montana MailbagNate defends his UM job, queries about former UM basketball star Sam Riddle and gets an earful about the mayoral primary. [more]
Nate Schweber Writes Home
Missoula Jail is More Fun Than New York JailI’ve spent three nights in jail in my lifetime, two of which were in Missoula and one of which was in New York City last weekend. Boy howdy can I tell you, spending the night in jail in Missoula is way more fun than spending the night in jail in New York. [more]
Nate Writes Home
The Last Best Uniter: In Praise of David E. LipsonLet us now praise David E. Lipson. Huckster. Liar. Environmental regulation violator.
Bridgebuilder.
Through his quest to trademark the phrase "The Last Best Place," along with his scams, follies, fibs and cheats, Lipson has done the unthinkable. He united Montana.
[more]
Nate Writes Home
From Nate’s Montana MailbagFolks, my head has been walloped by things like guitars and drums this week, and I haven’t had the juice to churn out a wadbuster for New West on Montana’s Pressing Issues. So I thought I’d do a clearinghouse of sorts and share some of my correspondence. This may well turn into a semi-regular feature in the “Nate Writes Homeâ€? section, if it’s not too horrifying for the sensibilities of you, dear reader. When I let it be known that I AM the Missoula Blogger at Large for New West, people ask me strange questions – some even in writing. I’m no Abby Van Buren Abby Van Buren) , and I’m certainly no Advice Goddess, but with the intention expanding community dialogue, as well as entertaining, I share with you these letters and my responses. [more]
Nate Writes Home
Tough Sell: The Problem With Taking Federal Protection From Yellowstone GrizzliesIn the news this week was a plan by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to take the grizzly bears around Yellowstone Park off the endangered species list.
Proponents of the plan say delisting the grizzly would be the ultimate proof of the Endangered Species Act’s success. Grizzly populations in the Yellowstone ecosystem rebounded from less than 200 when the beast was put on the list in 1975, to more than 600 today.
While opponents didn’t disagree that the ultimate goal is to take the grizzly bear off the endangered list, they say that Fish and Wildlife’s timing is wrong. Three major threats loom down on the Yellowstone grizzlies, and taking the bears off the Endangered Species list could jeopardize their rebounded population.
[more]
Nate Schweber Writes Home
The Greed Factor: Why Montana’s People Will Not Get the PowerA $2 billion proposal by five Montana cities to buy the transmission and distribution systems that provide power and natural gas to almost half the state's population made its last stand Thursday. At the annual NorthWestern Corporation shareholder meeting in Sioux Falls, South Dakota CEO Michael J. Hanson put down Montana Public Power Inc.'s offer as both brainless and lowball. Now MPPI's only prayer of closing the deal is that NorthWestern's shareholders demand that its board of directors reconsider their position.
Considering the good price MPPI offered, and a decade of moronic decisions by NorthWestern, it doesn't make sense why the deal is dying.
Until you consider The Greed Factor.
[more]
Nate Schweber Writes Home
Air America vs. John Stokes: The Battle For Montana’s Airwaves | |
 | |
| Stokes photographed in High Country News in 2003. | |
|
I used to be a disc jockey on KBGA, the college radio station. My one regret from my “career� at KBGA is that I never got into a sparring match with John Stokes, the controversial talk-jock on KGEZ in Kalispell. For years Stokes has been the loudest and most controversial conservative voice in Montana -- highlighting the culture clash of a shifting economy. He’s infamous for calling environmentalists “Nazis,� and “communists,� railing against zoning and land planning in Kalispell and touting the free market uber alles.
A new on-air personality at the opposite end of the radio – and political – dial is coming to Missoula, and he could do more to combat Stokes’ message than anything I could’ve ever dreamed. [more]
Nate Schweber Writes Home
George McGovern: He Was Right
As President Bush tries to rally support for the war in Iraq, I can't help but think of how different the country's policies might be if Stevensville resident George McGovern beat Nixon in 1972. While the war-happy parallels between Nixon and Bush's are depressing, McGovern's ideals of peace and food for the hungry still inspire. This 4th of July McGovern will play the role of Abraham Lincoln in the 4th of July Parade in Stevensville. I think back to a conversation I had with him in May. [more]
