Missoula Notebook

Did Bristol Palin Get Abstinence-Only Sex Education?

First, let me make clear that I could care less about Bristol Palin’s pregnancy vis a vis the election.

However, there are some arguments going back and forth in various places on the ‘nets, concerning the case’s relevancy to ongoing debates over so-called abstinence-only sex education, and I became curious as to just what Alaska’s policy is.

Missoula Notebook

Palin’s Lack of Qualifications May Spell Doom for Obama

As I sifted through news reports about Palin this weekend, I seemed to find more and more evidence suggesting that — given the upside-down, Bizarro World that American political culture inhabits — Palin will not hurt McCain’s candidacy but might even help it and, indeed, might even find herself in the Oval Office one day. I’m already anticipating that Palin will “win” her debates with Joe Biden, not despite but because of a shaky grasp on the facts of foreign policy.

Missoula Notebook

Did You Know John McCain… is a Liar?

First in an occasional series of "fun facts" about the Senator from Arizona.

John McCain's latest ad (linked below) claims that Barack Obama says "Iran is a tiny country and doesn't pose a serious threat."

Here's what Obama actually said:
“Strong countries and strong Presidents talk to their adversaries. That’s what Kennedy did with Khrushchev. That’s what Reagan did with Gorbachev. That’s what Nixon did with Mao. I mean, think about it: Iran, Cuba, Venezuela — these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don’t pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us. And yet we were willing to talk to the Soviet Union at the time when they were saying, ‘We’re going to wipe you off the planet.’ And ultimately, that direct engagement led to a series of measures that helped prevent nuclear war and over time allowed the kind of opening that brought down the Berlin Wall.”

Now, watch John McCain's deliberate distortion of these remarks, and consider whether you really want a president who is willing to lie his way into office.




For more like this, read the rest of the Missoula Notebook.

Missoula Notebook

Yes, Missoula, They Do Steal Bikes

To all the new faces in town this week, a warm welcome. I know you are busy finding apartments, figuring out class schedules, and selecting the right chocolate lab to go with your Subaru Outback, but there is something we really need to talk about, right away.

It’s your bike.

There are some people in town who want to steal it.

They have a plan, they are already out looking, and your cable lock will barely slow them down.

Missoula Notebook

And Stop Calling Us “My Friends”!

I couldn’t at first decide what was more astounding about this week's diplomatic overtures by president-elect-in-his-mind John McCain to Georgia (the country): that he felt free to make them in the first place, or that the Georgian president — who otherwise seems to be a bright young man — actually believed that U.S. troops would come parachuting to his aid, just because men like McCain and George W. Bush have been sticking their tongues in his ear these last seven years.

Missoula Notebook

In the Dark

My mood of imminent apocalyptic doom isn't being helped by the way various members of the American lunatic class — McCain, Krauthammer, Bolton — have been reacting to recent events in Georgia by essentially falling to their knees and thanking God for the chance at another clear-cut, splendid little war between Good and Evil, now that the whole struggle against “Islamofascism” has grown some confusing gray areas and, frankly, become a little boring.

Missoula Notebook

Let the Children Drink!

Exhibit A in the argument that political-party platforms don’t have much significance in the real world: the Montana Democratic Party’s adoption of a plank endorsing reduction of the state’s drinking age from 21 to 18. It’s hard to imagine the legislature ever moving ahead with this idea, not least because it would cost the state a boatload of federal highway funds, but also because it would cause all the simple-minded moralists among the electorate — i.e., the majority — to pop their eyeballs out of their heads on long stalks and flap their tongues out of their slackened jaws while making that old Navy-ship “awooogah” alarm noise.

missoula notebook

Sweet Mother Lortab

Judging by the mental feebleness of some of the regular commenters here at New West, I’m guessing that a few of you are believers in so-called “intelligent design,” so can one of you please explain to me what is so intelligent about the human neck? I ask because I’ve apparently caused grievous injury to mine with nothing more than pillows, which seems indicative of the kind of bug that never should have made it past beta testing.

Missoula Notebook

The Fire This Time

As the little people in the television never tire of informing us, we are a deeply divided nation these days, polarized to the extreme and unable to agree on much. For example, is Barack Obama an undercover Black Panther or a brie-loving snob? (I mean, you can’t really have it both ways.) Is John McCain a doddering opportunist who’s never held a policy position he couldn’t reverse, or… well, actually, that’s clearly what John McCain is, no question about it, and I assume we can all agree on that, at least.