My piece in The American Spectator on the Montana Senate race

I was asked by my editor at TAS to share my thoughts on the Montana Senate race, especially in light of former Governor Brian Schweitzer's announcement not to run.

For those who have been following events in Montana closely, there won't be much "news" in my piece, but it does have what I like to think of as the "Montana Headlines" touch, when it comes to setting the race in historical context (both recent and more remote).

For those who don't have occasion to follow Montana politics, it is a good place to start when it comes to this race.

Here is the link: Enjoy!

My article on Hilton Kramer in Touchstone Magazine

I haven't had time to blog here at Montana Headlines for a long time due to a sudden and dramatic increase in workload in my day job, but I haven't been completely idle on the writing front.

Last year, after his passing, I wrote a fair amount here on MH about Hilton Kramer and his legacy at The New Criterion. I distilled a summation of my thoughts into a major feature article that I wrote about Kramer for Touchstone magazine. It recently was published, and I was happy not only to see that the editors chose it as their front cover article, but also used it as their lead online article from the current print issue (they generally only provide electronic access to a couple of articles each time).

Here is the link -- enjoy.

More in The American Spectator: this time my thoughts on an aspect of Obamacare

This morning, The American Spectator is publishing my web article about the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). I specifically touch on that body's findings last year about prostate cancer screening.

As readers of this website know, I am a mild-mannered urologic surgeon by day and an occasional intrepid blogger and free-lance writer by night. Here in Montana, as is true in most parts of the country, we urologists are in short supply and have more work than we can handle, so I don't view the USPSTF's findings as an existential threat to my profession in the way that some of my more counterparts in saturated urban markets do. Any doctor who doesn't want to find that certain tests and treatments are unnecessary -- well, let's just say that is someone I wouldn't want to be my doctor. I disagree that prostate cancer screening is unnecessary, but I do believe that treatment should be done more selectively.

The larger point, and the reason I chose to write about it, is that this is an example of a government agency having some correct information but drawing the kind of wrong conclusion that only an impersonal committee can. Anyway, welcome to medical care dictated by impersonal committees. With Obamacare we will only get more of the same -- unless, of course, "we" are elites (like the President) who will be exempt from its strictures.

Here is the link -- enjoy!

My piece in The American Spectator about bison, national monuments, and Montana

This morning, The American Spectator published a web article with my musings on last fall's sale of the Etchart Ranch to an environmentalist group, a subject I wrote about here at Montana Headlines at the time it first happened.

The good editors were interested in the subject matter, but we were in the middle of a heated election season at the time that was using up all available oxygen.

Now that the voting is over and President Obama is firmly entrenched for another 4 years, there is more room for other subjects. When asked recently about the piece, I offered my opinion that this particular topic is a timeless one, and the editors apparently agreed. My opinions are, as the piece makes clear, colored by my own experiences -- I don't pretend to be an unbiased observer by any means.

Anyway, the reader can be the judge -- here's the link. Enjoy!

My review of Peace, They Say in Touchstone

As I mentioned when I reviewed Jay Nordlinger's fine book Peace, They Say here on Montana Headlines, that review was essentially half of the original draft of my review. I pared that draft down for submission to Touchstone magazine, and used the cuttings in the above-mentioned Montana Headlines review.

I have written a number of times over the years for Touchstone, a fine serious magazine that deals with the nexus between Christianity and culture from a traditional perspective. It includes a balance of Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant writers and editors, and for those who are interested in both Christianity and modern culture, its pages contain some thoughtful gems.

As a side-note, it is a little scary to realize that it has now been more than 20 years since my first piece appeared in its pages.

Anyway, my review was just published, and here is the link -- enjoy!

My recent piece in The American Conservative

I have mentioned before that The American Conservative is worth reading because it contains elements of an old-fashioned conservatism that one doesn't find anymore in the "mainstream" conservative media outlets. Love it or hate it, it can never be accused of taking any kind of a party line.

I hadn't been on its website for awhile over the holidays, and I had lost track of a review that I had submitted to that magazine last fall. It was only when the check arrived in the mail from The American Conservative that I realized it had been published.

It is a review of Roger Scruton's latest book, How to Think Seriously About the Planet.

Here's the link -- enjoy.

My American Spectator piece on Gov. Schweitzer's "two-step"

Update: When Aaron Flint and I chatted about this article on his Voices of Montana radio show, he asked me whether I thought this story "had legs" or if it was a one-day news story. My immediate response, without thinking about it, was to say that I thought it was a one-day story, mainly because I didn't think the governor himself believed what he said.

The fact that no-one in the Montana mainstream press has picked up this story backs me up in my assessment that nothing would come of his comments. Upon reflection, I should have thrown in a caveat: if the governor makes the unlikely move to challenge Sen. Baucus in the 2014 U.S. Senate race, we will suddenly learn from a barrage of Baucus ads that Schweitzer committed a sin without pardon, and the story will have to be examined carefully by the Montana Press.

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This morning, I have a web article at The American Spectator on Governor Schweitzer's recent comments in Ohio.

Like Dave Budge over at Electric City, I am disinclined to get overly worked up about the comments themselves, since we unfortunately have a few folks here in Montana who live up to the governor's words. We've all heard them.

I don't think the governor really believes that in any given Montana public setting it is just a matter of time before something "outrageously racist" is said about Native Americans. He couldn't -- he lives here. And yet, that is what he said.

What interests me is not defending Montana's honor on the point of racism -- the vast majority of Montanans aren't bigots and don't need defending. The ones who are, no one should defend. I'm sure that on reflection, the governor would probably word things differently and throw in an extra qualifier or two if he had it to do over again. I feel that way about lots of things I've written, and I get plenty of time to think before I press "send."

What interests me more is the "two-step" that red-state Democrats have to do if they want to play with the big boys on the national stage in their party. In this particular address, the governor pushed the buttons of race and immigration repeatedly, and the crowd of Democratic faithful in Ohio ate it up. In a sense, you can't blame him for getting carried away while playing to the crowd -- but it's too bad it has to be that way.

My piece in The American Spectator

My recent web article at The American Spectator on Montana and the Bakken can be found here. I’ll be chatting with the redoubtable Aaron Flint about it this morning on Voices of Montana.

Thanks to everyone who patiently answered my background questions and who gave useful critiques on the piece while it was in preparation -- you know who you are.

I’ll be returning to my usual Friday series of book reviews, movie reviews, and other cultural offerings next week. And of course, please tune in again Monday for more on energy development in Montana and on Wednesday for commentary on Montana politics.