Flathead Valley Commentary: Kalispell, Montana News

As I've told you here in the past, I've made it a habit to read the Declaration of Independence and Constitution at least once a year - and definitely on Independence Day.

To encourage Beacon readers to do the same, I usually post a link to read these documents. This year, however, I thought I'd give you something a little different...

I know, I know. Hot dogs are supposed to be the food of choice on Independence Day. Remember the old commercial ditty from the 60s and 70s: “Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet?”

Don’t get me wrong – I love a good hot dog. There’s nothing like the crispy snap of an all-beef hot dog casing, bathed in mustard, sprinkled with chopped onions and topped with sweet relish.

But I think America and Americans have raised hamburgers to high art. However, I hereby exclude all fast food hamburgers from the aforementioned praise, and here’s why: There isn’t anyone in any fast food establishment who can tell you, me or your brother-in-law where the meat came from and how many different sources of that meat came together to form that patty.

Shawn Beqaj, the vice president for public affairs with Bresnan Communications, toured Montana last week to discuss, among other things, “wideband,” the blazing-fast Internet service that will, in a few years, allow you to download a feature-length film in a few dozen seconds. But I was far more interested in a contract Bresnan recently won from the state to provide it with a new network and whether Beqaj agreed that Montana municipalities remain archaic in this age of information.

On that subject, Beqaj was diplomatic and said his company looks “forward to providing the bandwidth necessary so that the state can become truly leading edge in e-governance.”

Matt Himsl, long-time state senator from Kalispell, had a great influence on my political thinking. Beginning in my teen years, I spent many enriching hours exploring ideas with him. Matt presided over the Flathead County Republican Central Committee for more than a decade. He was a Goldwater delegate to the 1964 Republican National Convention, and chaired the Montana effort to nominate Governor Rockefeller in 1968. In Flathead County he was “Mr. Republican.”

A giant, mega-billion dollar corporate invasion was recently blocked on our small island. It happened when our golf course was put up for sale. The golf course is really appreciated by the people who live here and sometimes cursed by wandering tourists because most of the holes are on the side of a hill. Your ball is either below your feet or above them, almost every time you try and hit it. There is also not much rainwater for the fairways, so they have to make do with whatever rainwater collects in the three small ponds on the course.

Something happened, back on Earth Day 2009, that didn't get nearly the fanfare it deserved.

Citing the critical need to improve environmental education across the country, Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Congressman John Sarbanes (D-Md.) introduced House and Senate versions of the "historic" No Child Left Inside Act. If passed, it would mark the first environmental education legislation to pass Congress in more than 25 years.

In a room with 100 billionaires, 80 of them are just your average billionaire (whatever that is), 15 of them are high-achievers (within that group) and 5 of them can kick the crud out of the other 95 at anything laid before them.

Yet they’d all be billionaires.

I've seen this situation again and again. It's held true for photographers, welders, timber framers, people who write business columns – and many others. In other words, even in a room full of highly-successful people, 5% of them could kick the crap out of the others in business, tennis, mountain climbing or whatever they attempted.

The difference? Click that link on the right to find out.

When I decided to forsake running a restaurant kitchen for the freelance life of a personal chef, culinary instructor, consultant, and TV chef, I gave up the steady paycheck in exchange for the freedom to explore food and cooking under my own terms.

But everybody has to make a living somehow, and when the catering and personal chef business slow down, you sometimes opt for other forms of cooking for pay – like being a supermarket demonstrator for new product introductions.