I have decided to start this new blog to provide a separate space for me to muse and comment about the current state of the country and the world without polluting my other blog, bikingwithmike.com, which I will use to chronicle the ups and downs of Barb and my decision to move overseas and of our various travels and adventures.
It has taken me a little while to get to the point where I was ready to take this new blog live. I guess I should have hired a couple of twelve-year-olds to get the blog site up and running sooner. I once felt quite comfortable dealing with ‘computer stuff’ but my facility and comfort level have taken a real hit over the last few years. I think there is little danger of me becoming an ‘influencer’ or starting my own YouTube channel any time soon.
I have been busy trying to get my house ready for Barb and her two dogs who will be arriving Sunday from Arizona, and to get ready to put my home on the market in July. I’m sure now that the real estate frenzy that hit Bozeman during the pandemic has cooled off some, I will not get the price I could have gotten for my house a year or two ago. That said, I still think it is time to move on. The political situation here in Montana continues to deteriorate and I suspect Montana will continue to look more and more like Hungary under Viktor Orban than the place where I grew up (or wish to continue to live).
There are certainly some things I will miss. Season passes just went on sale for Bridger Bowl ski area for this winter and I will miss having a ski area 16 miles from my front door. That said, it provides an excuse and opportunity to explore ski areas elsewhere! In any case, I think it is time to move on and start the next chapter.
I have written several letters to the editor of the Bozeman Chronicle over my time here in Bozeman. To kick off the launch of this blog, I will include the latest letter I submitted. I don’t know yet if it will be published but we shall see. Here it is:
The headline reads, “MT files appeals notices in abortion measures.” Frankly, I am sick and tired of this never-ending onslaught and waste of taxpayer dollars against women’s rights, freedom, and personal responsibility by the same people who constantly rail against ‘government overreach’. What they really mean by that, is when they are in control of the government, whatever they wish to do is perfectly OK, popular opinion be damned, but when someone else is in control of the government, anything that happens they disagree with is ‘government overreach.’ With that clarification out of the way, I’d like to offer a solution, or at least a partial solution to this abortion issue. Since the governor, the Republican super majority and all the members of the ‘Pro-Life’ movement (which is really the ‘Pro-Birth’ movement!) seem hell bent to force women to carry pregnancies to term regardless of each woman’s individual circumstance, I believe the legislature should pass a law that would force every single member of these groups to adopt a baby that they force a woman to have. Since they don’t seem to have any qualms about the government forcing women to carry all pregnancies to term, they really shouldn’t have any qualms about the government forcing all the people who so vocally support such legislation to adopt babies. Oh, would that be government overreach? I’m so confused! Get the damned government out of people’s bedrooms and medical lives!! Period.
