GUN LOBBY ON A ROLL

UPDATED, January 8, 10 am. See Update at end of article.

I’ve left 2009 behind, almost. Bear with me for one more look back.

Remember the insane paranoia among gun owners during the 2008 election season and throughout most of 2009?  The gun lobby whipped firearm owners into a fervor before and after the election of Barack Obama and a Democratic Congress with dire predictions about the impending demise of the Second Amendment if not all freedoms we cherish.

I wrote several commentaries saying the opposite--basically that a lot of Democrats are pro-gun, pro-2A and many others wouldn’t touch the gun issue because it’s a political poison pill.

So, what happened?

YOU MIGHT BE SURPRISED

It’s always difficult to rank the top outdoor stories. Should I pick the stories that grabbed the most headlines and created the most controversy? Or do I select stories that have more significance to the future of the earth and our ability to enjoy the great outdoors, even if that issue might have been lightly covered by the press and doesn’t come up often at the coffee shop or saloon.

LET'S HAVE AN APOLOGY

Fortunately, for Senator Jon Tester (D-MT), not many people watched the video feed from the Public Lands and Forests Subcommittee’s hearing on his Forest Jobs and Recreation Act, S. 1470, held December 17.

All testimony was excellent and expertly presented, as were most questions from subcommittee members, but not Senator Tester’s embarrassing and misinformed personal attack on a witness who dared say something he didn’t want to hear.

More significantly, this outburst serves as a “tell” as what’s really happening behind the scenes of efforts to end Montana’s Wilderness Drought.

HERE, WE CAN REALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE

During a bout of insomnia last night, I watched CNBC to see if any of the talking financial heads thought my retirement funds might stop disappearing, and there it was. Perhaps the biggest environmental, wildlife habitat and water quality problem we don't like to discuss. Yes, it's touchy, but that has never stopped me, so why start now.

We all need to stop buying fool's gold. [more]

LET'S GET OUR WORDS STRAIGHT

Have you ever heard somebody say they prefer "multiple use" over Wilderness? I have what seems like a thousand times, and every time I hear it, I say, silently, to myself, wrong!

So, it seems like a good time to say it out loud because the words, "multiple use" have been lost in the Wilderness. [more]

IT'S EASY--AND PROFITABLE--BEING GREEN

Mirror, mirror on the wall, what is the greenest company of them all?

Most people already know the answer, Patagonia, but I suspect most don’t realize how green.

CATASTROPHIC DAMAGE TO THE MISSOURI NARROWLY AVERTED

About twenty times each year, I float my drift boat under the Bridges of Cascade County, and I suspect I’m one of the few people who knows their true meaning and reason for existing. Each time I pass under them I show my age because I see them as memorials to an epic environmental victory, unknown to many, that not only saved one of the best trout fisheries in the world but many other smaller streams.

Once upon a time, back around 1961, the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) was busy building I-15 between Helena and Great Falls and was poised to start work on the Wolf Creek to Cascade section, which follows the 35-mile stretch of river that today may be the best trout fishery ever. 

DOES THE END JUSTIFY THE MEANS?

On July 17, I went to R-Y Timber Company in Townsend, Montana, to stand in the sweltering heat and watch sweat pour off Senator Jon Tester (D-MT). On such a day you’d think Montana’s Junior Senator would be talking about global warming, but no, he was talking about an equally hot subject, Wilderness, as he officially announced the introduction of his Montana Jobs and Recreation Act (S. 1470).

Since then, I’ve read the whole thing and written extensively about it, as well as posting several guest commentaries, pro and con, including one from the Senator himself. (You can read it all here.)

Now, I’m trying to decide if this bizarre, piecemeal approach to protecting roadless lands has more upside than downside and if I should support it.

FOLLOWING MY SHOTS 2

I used to play basketball, but not too much since the day my coach took me aside, patted me on the head, and said, “Bill, you’re short, but you’re slow, and you really need to follow your shots.”

Well, that was a long time ago, and I admit to never doing anything about the shortness or the slowness, but I have learned to follow my shots. And sometimes, they’re worth following. When I write my columns, I frequently hope something happens, and guess what sometimes it does. Check out these updates to past columns.

WE NEED YOUR HELP WITH BURLINGTON NORTHERN SANTA FE

Dear Mr. Buffett:

I read with interest and glee about your recent acquisition of the majority ownership in Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF). Congratulations on buying a great company--investment wise, I should clarify, because BNSF is a not-so-great company on the public relations front.

Now that you own the railroad, you can change that bad image with one phone call and instantly make your new acquisition--and yourself, of course--a corporate saint out here in Montana.