Knowledge

"Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives . . . . "



James Madison

Burr under saddle

Phillip Hamilton was killed in a duel after he confronted a man who spoke ill of his father.
His father Alexander Hamilton was killed in a duel three years later by Aaron Burr over political disputes.

Good Cents

As an experiment I went to the bank and asked for four rolls of pennies. It came as no surprise to me that all two hundred were cheap and shiny, minted in 2010.

Up until 1982 pennies were copper. Now copper is worth more than a penny so the government is doing what governments usually do, substitute cheap currency for the real thing.

I placed a pre-1982 penny on top of this pile zinc pennies coated with copper.

I would guess that fifteen percent of the pennies in circulation are copper. They will all be gone soon.

In The Hole

Not Another Cabinet Post

I just read about a push by progressives in Congress to pass Bill # HR 808.
It would create the office of "U.S. Office of Peace"

Read the bill; better yet, read between the lines

Larry Belitz

The man on the right is Mr. Larry Belitz. He has been involved in Native American culture since he was a kid. His buffalo skin teepees are in several museums across the country. He sews them with sinew from animal ligaments. Larry makes a lot of different "authentic" pieces, that is, there are no shortcuts or man made parts or ingredients in the shirts, robes, bows, buffalo coats, toys, bladder water bottles etc. The work is quality. Larry made the breast plate and other pieces for Kevin Kostner in the movie "Dances With Wolves"

My buddy Robert and I spent the day with Larry helping him with a teepee.

If you have someone who is difficult to buy presents for, look this guy up on line and see his work.

Car of my youth

Boy this brings back memories. 1956 Chevy

Bel air Mine was red and white. Saturday night at the drag strip. If you've never matched up with another driver and watched the Christmas tree lights blink down, you've missed something. What a rush. I was too poor to drive a really hopped up car.

Dragon Fly

Chopper drops cold Missouri water on a fire

HayU

Montana Mist

Moccasin Montana

Moccasin is named for the low mountains in the area. The word moccasin is from the Algonquian

word mockasin.

Located in Judith Basin County Montana, the town of Moccasin was built on the Great Northern Railroad long ago. A great fire devastated the town in 1919. It never recovered.

Located on U.S. Hy 87 between Stanford and Lewiston:

Sixteenth Amendment

In 1895 the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the income tax on individuals passed by Congress was unconstitutional. (Article 1 Sec. 2 - Taxes shall be apportioned among the States) Article 1 Sec. 9 - Taxes must be apportioned by the States.

Not to be deterred, Congress passed the Sixteenth Amendment. These parts of Article 1, Sec. 2 and Sec. 9 were destroyed. Ratified 1913

Almost forty years earlier Abe Lincoln and Congress passed the Revenue Act. This was the first income tax (August 1861) a graduated income tax -------- War costs.

In 1848 Karl Marx and Frederick Engels wrote the "Communist Manifesto"
For Communism to replace Capitalism, Marx and Engels proposed ten points.
One of them--------- A heavy progressive or graduated income tax

The NPCA website states that the top 1% of income earners pay 35% of the taxes
The bottom 50% of income earners pay 4% of the income taxes in the U.S.

Milwaukee Road

Milwaukee Road----steamed up 1847 as the Milwaukee and Waukesha RR. then became the Milwaukee and Mississippi. In 1874 the name was changed to Milwaukee and St. Paul. The long version became Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad or CMStP&P.

It merged with the Soo Line in 1986. Interestingly it was never headquartered in Milwaukee but Chicago.

Today there is a 14.5 mile section in the Bitterroot Mountains between Loop Creek Idaho and East Portal Montana called the "Route of the Hiawatha" bike trail.

Hiawathas were passenger trains of days gone by on the Milwaukee Road.

This picture was taken in one of the towns between Great Falls and Roundup Montana.

Fishing

I believe this is the N. Fork of the Blackfoot River

Cabin-et

Fixer-upper, one room 1/4 bath - close to house

Our First Czar

1889

"Thomas B. Reed, of Maine, the new Speaker (U.S. House), who so extended the functions of his office as to earn the title of Czar. He practically destroyed the power of the minority to delay progress either by the usual motions or by refusing to vote. Moreover, he consolidated in his own hands the power thus gained for the majority. He controlled the calendar which provided for bringing bills before the House, and arranged long in advance the speakers who should be recognized. Under his leadership, Congress was able to pass an extraordinarily heavy program."

The Development of American Nationality by Carl Russell Fish

Your Cold Dead Hands

Until today I was happily ignorant of an organization called IANSA, and Rebecca Peters.
(this is a world organization bent on depriving Americans of their Second Amendment Rights)
The donors to this group are numerous with deep pockets.

I didn't know how determined the U.N. was to do the same.




Maybe it's better to be ignorant.

Two Four Count

Jamie headed for a fishing hole.

"Poets talk about "spots of time," but it is really fishermen who experience eternity compressed into a moment."

Norman Maclean

Rogers Pass

Hy 200, Rogers Pass near Lincoln Montana.

Elevation 5,610 ft.