A little smorgassbord.

Here are some links you may find enjoyable.

First, from Kissing Suzy Kolber here is  a nice bit of sarcasm from one of the guys pretending to be Jason Whitlock.  The jurty is still out for me with Whitlock.  I used to watch him on ESPN's Sports Reporters back in the day and liked him on that.  He always put Frodo Mike Lupica in his place.  His articles can be edgy but like all journalists he can fall in love with the sound of his own voice or keyboard as it were.  I'm so glad I'm not like that. Humility, it's my middle name. You can read an actual Whitlock here.  The guys at KSK are very funny but they're writing is rated "R".  You've been warned.

Marc Faber, telling it like it is.

This is Swiss economist Marc Faber.  This clip is 11 minutes long but very much worth your time.  It frightens me for our economic future.

The Great American Land Grab. Part One - The Wilderness

And so it begins.

On December 23, 2010 Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced plans "to reverse a Bush era policy and make millions of undeveloped acres of land once again eligible for federal wilderness protection." ( Bozeman Daily Chronicle 12/24/10). Secretary Salazar and Interior Department Management will review some 220 million acres to possibly designate as wilderness. This is an area larger than the entire state of Texas . However this only the beginning.

Secretary Salazar has clearly stated he will designate certain areas as "Wild Lands". The term "Wild Lands" has not been officially defined by the Interior Department or Congress. Because “Wild Lands” is not defined, it allows Secretary Salazar and BLM Director Bob Abbey to use their discretion to define areas within the 220 million acres as off-limits to any activities they disagree with. These activities will include on and off-road mechanized travel, livestock grazing, and placing any gas and oil exploration completely off-limits. The current administration's relationship with the environmental lobby certainly supports the restrictions of these types of activities.

Movie Clip Wednesday - Favorite movie from the 1940's

Welcome back to Movie Clip Wednesday.  The Boxer inspired meme where you come here to see what the theme is, find a clip of about three minutes, come back here to say "you're up" and then we'll come and visit and give you our two bits. This week's theme is "Favorite movie from the 1940's".

I was going to go a totally different direction with this.  I have lot's of movies from the 40's I love.  Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Citizen Kane and It's a Wonderful Life just to name a few.  I was really leaning towards Casablanca and knew that from the beginning when I picked the decade.  It would be an easy week for me.

Quantitative Easing

OK.  So this is the way to blog.  Find something on youtube that someone else has put a lot of time and effort into, put it up on your blog and WALA!  An awesome post.  Hey, it's what all the kids are doing.  Way less work this way too.  Why didn't I think of this before.  Wait a tic.  Stealing someone else's work and trying to take credit for it is what liberals do.  The horror!!

How win a global warming argument

MCW Favorite movie from the 1950's

Hello and welcome to the however many edition of Movie Clip Wednesday this is.  This week's theme is favorite movie from the 1950's.  MCW founder and regular participant Boxer came up with this week's theme.  Here was the reaction from the throngs of bloggers.

I didn't know how many movies from the Fifties I had seen but turns out there have been more than a couple.  High Noon was one. On the Waterfront, Shane, and Rio Bravo were some others.  All great movies. All way at the top of my favorites list but when I found the movie in this week's clip I knew it was a done deal. The Bridge on the River Kwai isn't so much a war movie as it is a study in the contrast of cultures.  The difference in not just how to lead men, but in what the cultures choose to be valuble.  William Holden is the big star in this along with Alec Guinness, who won the Oscar for Best Actor but to me the man who has always been the star of this movie, gave it the strength to be one of the best ever and had the most complex character as far as dealing with the cultural issues is Colonel Saito playe by the great Japanese born actor Sessue Hayakawa.

Hayakawa came to Hollywood in the 1910's and was one of the top paid actors of the decade, pulling in $200,000.00 in 1919.  That's twice what Will Ferrell should ever be paid.  To me, Saito was dominating in every scene, and when he was in any scene with Guinness it was pure cinema gold. 

I've picked two clips. If you only have time for one, then pick one.  The first clip shows the aforementioned contrast while the second is just Hayakawa showing the dominance of Saito. Enjoy and happy MCW.



Fun at 7500 feet

L to R, your humble host, friend Scott and his nephew Casey.

Just some pictures BG took this past Saturday.  It was the first time we've all been out riding.  There were places where the wind was blowing 40 MPH but mostly the weather was great.  The snow was like riding in pure sugar.  Very soft and lots of work.  I was a little sore for a couple of days afterwards but no where near as sore if I hadn't been going to the gym. That really saved me. 

Fortunately BG never took any pictures of the couple of times I got stuck.  One was epic!  Climbing a little hill with about 5 feet of powder and got kicked out of the trail, fought it back and was ready to give myself a high five and fist bump when my foot slipped off the rail while switching sides and I dumped it big time.  You kind of had to be there.

Pictures didn't turn out to bad considering BG took them with her HTC Incredible.  Then she posted them to her FB page from where these were taken.  The 21st century is so awesome.

L to R, Casey stuck as he went to help Aunt Mary who was stuck.

This actually put both of them tied with me for being the stuck the most.  That was before the hill incident.  And *ahem, another time right after that. The last one really made me angry.  Pure stupidity and not listening to Scott. "When in doubt, THROTTLE OUT!" It's good advice. I ended up getting stuck the most.  It's not a title I relish and one I've claimed more than my fair share since I started riding.  I think I need new skis on the front.  Yeah, that's it.  New skis will solve my problems. Sure enough.

 

MRM taking a break and getting ready for a snack.

Happy hour will start a little earlier today.

I spent the last two days in Helena at the state contractors convention.  Ate a lot of food and had a Crown or too.  Listened to some speaker for three hours yesterday about how to "Lead without yelling" and then yelled at one of my guys today who didn't listen to a word I said yesterday when I checked in. I shouldn't have yelled but my frustration level is way up with not being listened to especially when it costs the company money. It's over now and I'll try to learn from it.

I get to go back to Helena on Monday to testify at the legislature about the proposed national monument that I mentioned here back in December.

I'm trying to catch up on what everyone has been doing the last couple of days.  I haven't made all of my MCW rounds yet and will finish them up tonight.  I did read a couple of great posts so far today.  The first was Fishy's market dilema , another was Chickory's adventure  I also had to see how the lovely Roses foray into internet dating was going.

Three wonderful thought out posts that make me just love the ol' blogosphere. 

So I came here to post something and this is what I came up with: I will SHOOT down all liberal arguments whenenever possible.  I will TARGET their causes and ARM myself with knowledge in an effort to DESTROY said causes. I will BLOW UP their reasoning with facts and common sense.  

What a steaming pile of dung! I mean honestly!  How much more lazy can I be?  I swear to God that coming to this site is like being Charlie Brown at Halloween.  It doesn't matter how many times you pop in, all you're ever gonna get is a rock!

MCW "Favorite Fantasy Movie"

Welcome to another edition of Movie Clip Wednesday.  This is where you read the theme posted under the banner, find a clip of about three minutes long that somewhat resembles said theme and then post it on your blog.  Come here and tell all of us you are up and rolling and we'll come and give it a look. PNW native and resident sparring expert Boxer came up with this and now we just roll with it.  This week's theme is favorite fantasy movie.

I guess I think of fantasy movies as movies set in some past time before guns and electricity.  In the land of dragons, wild beasts and dare I say it, trolls. I could have taken some easy choice here like The Princess Bride, which I love, but I wanted to think outside the box a little

Is this commerical offensive?

.........or just funny?

Where's my abacus?

Let me see if I have this straight.  Adding a trillion dollar entitlement program to the national coifers will lower the national debt while repealing it will add to the national debt.  Repealing health care will make Medicare costs increase even though part of the money to fund health care was supposed to come from Medicare waste.  So how will it go into debt if there is all of this waste?  How can not funding a government entitlement program that isn't in existence yet add to the debt?  Why is this the only bill in the last 50 years for which we were going to be taxed for two years before it goes into effect?

Strange times indeed.

Krayton Kerns, DVM

I started working on a ranch in south Phillips County when I was 12.  It's a long story of how I ended up there and maybe someday I'll tell it. I spent every summer there from that time until I graduated from high school.  I've since been "adpoted" by them as their third son.  It's how they introduce me to people I don't know and I do the same for them.  They are my parents and I call them Pop and Mother.  Pop and my own Dad were the best of friends so the history is long and happy.

Anyway, Pop and Mother's youngest daughter is currently renting a spare room from me.  She was in need of a place and though I didn't particularly care to have a roommate, there was no way I was going to turn her out.  Her mom and dad are happy that one of her big brother's is around to take care of her.
When I go to Malta, I almost always spend all or part of a day at the ranch.  It is my home. It's where I want to be buried. The folks get a publication called the Western Ag Reporter.  I will usually give it quick read and go back to talking politics and baseball with Pop. 

This year, I've asked mother on a couple of occasions to make me copies or send me articles from the Western Ag that I read when I was home and wanted to keep on file as I begin my assault on the environmental movement.  She must have tired of it because she bought me a subscription for Christmas.

This week's issue had a great article by a guy named Krayton Kerns. It was a great read so I linked it here for you.  Check out his home page as well.  He seems very malconted and would fit in well.

MCW "Favorite movie set in winter"

Happy New Year my gaggle of readers.  I  trust everyone woke up Saturday morning bright eyed and bushy tailed and ready to tackle 2011.  It's the first Movie Clip Wednesday of the New Year. Ulitmate party host Boxer is the birth giver of this meme and we are its caretakers.  Here's the gist if you may be new.  I come up with a theme and post it under the MCW banner the Thursday previous (usually, anyway).  You find a clip around three minutes long, come here and let us know you're up and running.  We'll all stop by and have us a look see.

This week's theme is "Favorite movie set in winter".  I thought I'd start us off easy.  I'm sure there was more than one blogger who couldn't post every clip they wanted under "favorite Christmas movie" so here's a chance to get that clip here.  Or you could be like me and have some none Christmas movies set in winter that you just love.

I could actually post a bunch here. It was really hard not to post the Cusack classic "Better off Dead" but just couldn't do it. Figured it will be there somewhere from someone. If not, well, so be it.

My first pick is "Hot Dog, the movie" as opposed I guess to hot dog the-ground-up-beef-lip-tailgate-favorite. This movie from the 1984 is flippin awesome.  The classic small town boy trying to make it big on the ski circuit going against the sleezy European bad guy (no offense to my European readers, this guy is sleazy not all of you. There are sleazy Americans as well.  See DC, Washington)  Anyway here's the intro.  No helmets. No baggy clothes. Just some good tight hot dog skiing.  This movie starred David Naughton who also starred in An American Werewolf in London and was Elaine's recovering alcoholic boyfriend in the Seinfeld episode where George buys the sweater with the red dot on it. George!  What a guy!   It also starred 1982 Playboy Playmate of the Year Shannon Tweed who went on to do such classics as Gene Simmons from KISS.



The other movie that I love that's set in the winter is John Carpenter's The Thing.  In space no one can hear you scream.  Not to many people can hear you in Antartica either.  I think Kurt Russell is better in this than in Escape from New York.  Just my humble opinion.   This is a great take on a classic.  You won't find me saying that hardly ever.  Especially as I haven't seen the new True Grit yet.

Happy MCW.

A New Year, a new mission.

Well, I missed most of the New Year's Party at Boxer's. I read lots of comments and looks like it was a great time. I was having a hell of a time trying to post. I'm assuming it was the the amount of traffic and blogger couldn't handle it as the rest of the net seemed to be working fine on my end.  Great job to all and it looks like Boxer raised some awesome money for her charity. I had a great year and need to fulfill my New Year's pledges as well. 

Meanwhile in the real world.  Montana's own 300 pound ball of lard Senator Jon Tester is trying to introduce a bill entitled "The Forest Jobs and Recreation Act".  Senator Tester ran as a moderate but was largely backed with out of state (read "California") money and is now trying to pay back the envrironmental lobby for their efforts.  In a nutshell, this bill will close thousands of acres of public land currently being used by a number of different recreationists and designate it wilderness.  Much of it will not even be able to be accessed by horseback.