More Climate Change Evidence

Hey, somebody should tell Dear President, Sandy, while a gift from God during Obama's re-election campaign, was not even a hurricane when it made landfall. The Jersey Shore is toast when it gets a direct hit someday, global warming or no global warming. You can't build a few feet above sea level and survive a serious storm.

Tornado Trend

More of that extreme weather that the economy must be regulated to prevent.

Ousel Falls

Compare and contrast.

Midsummer.



Late Spring.

Post by KBZK TV.

House Rock in Gallatin Canyon - Montana May 29, 2014

A little snow melt action -- going topsy turvy.

Big Banks Bigger and Small Banks Fewer -- Thank You Federal Government

The lasting legacy of the federal government's response to the financial crisis in the world of Obama is that the big banks are bigger, more profitable and more powerful than ever and small banks are folding, consolidating and falling by the wayside in startling numbers. First, the question of size. 

FORTUNE -- One third of all business loans this year [in 2013] were made by Bank of America. Wells Fargo funds nearly a quarter of all mortgage loans. And held in the vaults of JPMorgan Chase is $1.3 trillion, which is 12% of our collective cash, including the payrolls of many thousands of companies, or enough to buy 47,636,496,885 of these NFL branded toaster ovens. Thanks for your business!

A lot has changed since the financial crisis. A number of large banks and Wall Street firms have disappeared. There are new regulations in the works meant to limit risky trading and bring derivatives that compounded the financial system's losses into regulated markets. Subprime lending has been coming back recently, but it's still a fraction of what it once was.

But at least one of the widely recognized causes of the financial crisis is not only still around, it has perhaps gotten worse. By every measure I can think of, and I have tried a bunch, the big banks are bigger than they were five years ago, at the dawn of the financial crisis.

The six largest banks in the nation now have 67% of all the assets in the U.S. financial system, according to bank research firm SNL Financial. That amounts to $9.6 trillion, up 37% from five years ago. And the big banks seem to be getting better at acquiring assets all the time. The overall growth of assets in the system in the same time is up just 8%.

The biggest bank in the nation, JPMorgan (JPM), has $2.4 trillion in assets alone -- the size of England's economy. And JPMorgan is seven times larger than the nation's No. 10 bank U.S. Bancorp (USB), which itself has $350 billion in assets -- along the lines of Austria -- and at this point is probably part of the TBTF club as well. Also way up: Profits. The four biggest banks in the U.S. alone, which along with JPMorgan include Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), and Wells Fargo (WFC), made collectively nearly $45 billion in the first six months of the year, nine times what those same banks made five years ago.

Assets have grown more than many other size metrics. But across the board, nearly every measure of the big banks' size is up. In terms of loans, according to FDIC data, 42% of all loans outstanding by U.S. banks come from the five largest. That's up from 38% before the financial crisis. The four biggest banks in the nation employ just over 1 million people. That's up from around 900,000 just before the financial crisis.

And those big banks have less competition. Just over 1,400 banks have disappeared in the past five years. About 485 failed. The rest were merged into other banks.

Even though small banks were not responsible for the financial crisis, they are being regulated out of existence by the Dodd Frank regulatory regime. The Obama administration adores big banks.




http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/USNUM


The explanation for the sharp and continued downward trend in the number of small banks is the impact of fixes that the Democrats installed, ostensibly, to punish big banks and to protect us from their misdeeds. Here is what is happening instead.

In a period when low interest rates are squeezing small banks, the costs of adhering to new regulations are taking a toll. Executives from at least a half-dozen small banks that have agreed to be acquired in recent months said the increasing regulatory burden was a factor in their decisions.

The executives said the new rules aren't scaled for banks of their size. While the Dodd-Frank financial-overhaul law and other new rules were aimed at reducing the problems caused by big banks, small banks must deal with many of them as well, and the costs don't necessarily get lower as the banks get smaller.

"When they created 'too big to fail,' they also created 'too small to succeed,'" said Dan Baird, chief executive of Capital Funding Group Inc., which last October sold its CFG Community Bank, a Maryland bank with $481 million in assets, to MVB Financial Corp.

When we went up to Kalispell for the annual shareholders meeting of Glacier Bancorp in April the CEO said:

The wave of new regulations continues at a mind boggling pace. Banks had to interpret, implement and train on 16,000 pages of new rules just in 2013 alone. Dodd/Frank is simultaneously increasing the regulatory burden for banks while restricting revenues. We are beginning to see numerous community banks look for strategic partnerships in order to avoid the costs and constraints of complying with the new regulatory environment -- good news for us. 

But not good news for community banks, which are being gobbled up one after another by their larger, more prosperous competitors.

Carry on. Pay no attention. Concentration of power and control in a fortunate few continues to grow. Good luck to all.

Global Warming and the White House

Yesterday Dear President told West Point graduates that they will be deploying to combat the effects of global warming.  Today the White House excused the slumping economy on extremely cold and uncommonly snowy weather. To quote, "The first quarter of 2014 was marked by unusually severe winter weather, including record cold temperatures and snowstorms." Here are the Obama charts.

You trust these people using their pens and phones to control your world?  Then you are nuts!

Millions Instead of Millions

My former residence of Arlington County, Virginia has announced that it found enough accounting shenanigans and scale economies from making the same foolish expenditures again and again, and eliminated sufficient unnecessaries, to reduce the cost of additional million dollar bus stops down to an average of $600,000 each.

    The 23 successors to Columbia Pike’s “$1 million bus stop” will cost 40 percent less when they are built, Arlington County officials said Tuesday, after a year-long review and redesign of the bus-and-streetcar shelters.    County Manager Barbara Donnellan said that lowering and changing the angle of the canopy, simplifying the design and using standardized parts will drop the cost of the remaining stops from $20.9 million to $12.4 million. Donnellan, speaking at a news conference at Arlington Mill Community Center where county employees outnumbered reporters, said the county will take over construction management of the glass-and-steel transit stops, formerly known as “superstops,” from the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. (emphasis added).

Bless Barbara Donnellan's heart and all the high level federal bureaucrats and highly paid federal contractors in Arlington, Virginia. Donnellan did not report the cost of the year long consultant study that came up with the new numbers and all the fancy PowerPoints and press releases.

As for the million dollar stops' functionality, when we initially reported on the million dollar stop in my old Arlington Heights, Virginia Neighborhood, we quoted one of my former neighbors.

Million dollar bus stop at the corner of Walter Reed Drive
and Columbia Pike, Arlington, Virginia.

   The roof does not shelter people well from the elements. Rain, with a little bit of wind, wets nearly the entire covered area. Today, it appeared that the roof seams were leaking because there were small puddles on the seats about the same distance apart as the roof seams.

   The structure does not provide any protection from the wind. Its open design and angles allows wind thru every part. The windy day last week was much more uncomfortable than in the structure this replaced.

   The Next Bus display board has been wrong the majority of the 7 days I've used the stop. I understand this is a function of the data feed to Next Bus, which has been having problems described in the media recently.Nevertheless, a nice big display board doesn't help folks if it's wrong.

   The seats are stainless steel slabs - very cold and uncomfortable to sit on, especially in the colder months. I can only imagine what they are like in the direct sun in summer months. I've heard speculation that they were designed to dissuade homeless people from sleeping there. If so, I would recommend instead that the operative design principle be for people to use the seats, rather than for people not to use them.

   IMHO, the design seems to be Modernist-Ugly. The look is distinctive, but not at all appealing.

   I would sure like to know who designed this, why it was felt to be superior to other designs, and what was wrong with stops having 3 walls and a roof that seem to be so popular because they are effective.

Pre installation of the new monstrosity, in the days when I used that bus stop, I was totally okay with the benches. I carried with me this modern marvel of mechanical engineering known as an umbrella to protect from the rain. The winters were mild. And during rush hour, buses came by every five minutes. There was no inconvenience at all.

Meanwhile here in Bozeman, Montana, 2,500 miles outside the DC spending bubble, our local bus authority cut a sponsorship deal with local businesses to get new stops with a roof, walls, and solar panel powered, LCD bill board for nothing.

Riders love the new Bozeman shelters. 

   Carrie Fabiano knows the routine of waiting for the bus as a regular rider. 

   "Well the bus was running a little late and that 10 minutes felt like a lot. I mean I started getting frostbite," she said.
Fabiano says, "I just think it's a matter of life and death sometimes. I've seen elderly people waiting out in the freezing temperatures and you just worry." 

Bozeman, MT bus stop

   That is part of the reason why Chandler Communication, out of Kalispell, is building bus shelters. They will be taking care of all the construction and maintenance at no cost to taxpayers.The shelters in Bozeman are unique - they are the first to have solar panels and LED billboards. Only two of these shelters have been built so far. Six more are in the works, including two more on Huffine, three in Bozeman and one in Belgrade. 

   Transportation Director with the HRDC, Lee Hazelbaker said, "This is a huge step forward. This has been in the works for years and to finally see it come to fruition is just a great feeling."

   Riders agree.

If the residents of Arlington, Virginia, who have the highest per capita family incomes nationwide, were paying for their own bus stops that might be one thing.  But they wouldn't be caught dead financing their own profligacy.  The majority of the funds come from you the federal taxpayer. That is something else and that is the way it is. Good luck to all.

Bozeman, Montana bus system map.

Memorial Day Parade

Shot a few photos at today's Memorial Day parade on Main.

Disabled veteran escorted by his comrades.

Female cavalry sitting tall and smart with American flags.

National Guard let out its jeeps to the vets.

WW II WAC, in uniform, waves.

Manhattan American Legion post came on down.

Bozeman High School Hawks marching band.

If you get stranded, lost, beached, buried (as in an avalanche), injured in the back country or otherwise require rescue or extraction, the volunteer search and rescue team is ready to assist. 

Saturday Pictures

Saturday Pictures

May 24, 2014

(click to enlarge)

We celebrate Memorial Day by flying the American Flag and remembering those who gave their lives to protect our country and secure our freedoms.

We frequently publish a photo of the neighboring white barn in the winter with white foreground and background. It's only fair that we should show it in green.

Looking over the white barn to the Story Hills, leading up to the Bridger Range, we see two homes on the other side of the valley. Daytime they blend into the scenery. At night they stand out by their lights.

Looking across to Mt. Baldy, 8914 ft., we see the peak is still checkered with fields of snow.  With warm weather forecast the rest of this week the white will disappear. But Bozeman weather being what it is, we will not be the least bit surprised to wake up some morning or mornings in June and see the peak coated in white yet again.

Tate Tatom Wins a Third State Title

In March, 2013 we played our first round of golf for the year with a young man from Big Sky by the name of Tate Tatom.  Big Sky is known for its skiing. The New York Times refers to Big Sky as "the biggest place you've never skied." Big Sky refers to Big Sky as the "Biggest Skiing in America," period. They even trademarked it.

Welcome to the Biggest Skiing in America® 5,500 acres of unforgettable ski terrain,

400 inches of annual snowfall sweeping panoramic mountain views, no lift lines, one ski pass. Combine that with Lone Mountain Ranch, the number one Nordic Center in North America with over 80 kilometers of groomed ski trails, and you have a ski mecca.

If Tate Tatom was grooming himself to compete for a slot on the U.S. Ski Team that would be notable, but no great surprise. But that Tate is breaking out as the best young golfer in Montana, that is really something.

Yesterday, Tatom led the Lone Peak High School golf team to its second consecutive Montana Class C state championship and won his third consecutive individual title as a junior.

The Big Horns vaulted from runners-up in 2012 to state champions last spring in just their second season as a varsity program. Their stay at the top is assured for at least another year: The Big Horns shaved 13 strokes off their Day 1 tally at Seeley Swan’s Double Arrow Golf Course, and on the strength of three All-State individual performances coasted to another title.

Steady Tate Tatom led the way once more. The talented junior, who won every event he entered during the regular season, was two shots off the pace Tuesday but shook off some reservations on the greens to climb the leaderboard with a tournament-best, 1-under-par 71. He clinched medalist honors for the third consecutive season with a two-day total of 145, nine better than Seeley Swan’s Micah Nicholas and Chinook’s Lane Seymour.

“Tuesday was fresh in their memory, and they were very prepared to go out and try to take care of business,” King said. “Fortunately, it worked out.“This is such a source of pride for the school, a young school. The team is really proud of the fact that they can kind of step up and be the athletic leader for not only other teams, but for kids coming up; they want to create a legacy for golf even though it is in a very unlikely place to have a good team.”

Just how unlikely is it?  Look at today's early evening webcam picture of Mountain Village at the base of Lone Peak mountain in Big Sky. 

That white stuff down the mountain and across the rooftops -- that's snow.

Big Sky golf course, home of Tate Tatom's Lone Peak High School golf team, is located a few miles further down the mountain.  It boasts:

Combine classic links-style golf and the stunning natural beauty of Big Sky country to witness a golf experience like no other: the award winning, scenic 18 hole par 72 golf course at Big Sky Resort. The Arnold Palmer course is 6,500 feet above sea level, offering longer drives and spectacular views.

Winding along the wildlife-rich banks of the West Fork of the scenic Gallatin River, you tee up with beaver, deer and moose as your gallery. 

Big Sky golf course is opening the season for play tomorrow (May 23, 2014), two days after the high school golf season came to an end.

No course, no problem -- they have a barn.

April 3, 2014 Posted by TALLEN in LOCAL, SPORTS, YOUTH

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Big Horn golf swinging for another successful season

By Tyler Allen Explore Big Sky Associate Editor

BIG SKY – Snow may still blanket its home course fairways, but the Lone Peak High School boys’ golf team has begun its title defense in earnest. The Big Horns won last year’s Class C state championship in the program’s second year of existence, while the girls hope to improve on last season’s encouraging results.

Without a single outdoor practice, the team traveled to Missoula for their first competition April 3-4 at the Loyola Sacred Heart Invitational, after EBS went to press April 2. Formal preparation for the season began March 19 as the team began hitting balls into the net and practicing their putts on AstroTurf, in a barn in Beaver Creek West.

“We’d love to be outside but it’s just not an option,” Head Coach Mike King said of the wintry conditions in Big Sky. “[It’ll] probably be a month until we see grass on our course. It’s a challenge, typically we’re ending the season about the time our course is opening.”

Tate Tatom won in Townsend and Missoula.

LPHS golfers off to promising start

By Tyler Allen Explore Big Sky Associate Editor

TOWNSEND, MISSOULA – Last year’s Class C individual state champ Tate Tatom is off to a hot start to the 2014 golf season.

The Lone Peak High School junior finished first at the Old Baldy Golf Course in Townsend on April 15, shooting a 3-over-par 75. This was his second win in as many events, taking the individual title at the Loyola Sacred Heart Invitational April 3 and 4.

The LPHS boys didn't have enough players to compete as a team in Townsend, but the girls took home their second third-place finish of the season, behind Townsend and Three Forks. The boys’ teams from Townsend, Manhattan and Three Forks finished first through third, respectively.

“The golf course was playing very difficult due to the greens being very dry and fast,” LPHS Head Coach Mike King said of the conditions at Old Baldy. “Combined with the fact that the greens are all really small and crowned at the edges, it made hitting [them] difficult. Throw in temps in the mid-40s with clouds and 25-mph winds… scoring conditions were quite challenging.”

At the Loyola Sacred Heart Invitational in Missoula – played at Larchmont Golf Course and Missoula Country Club – the Big Horn boys finished in second place out of 10 teams, 17 shots ahead of third place Thompson Falls.

Lone Peak was sitting atop the leaderboard after the first round, three strokes ahead of perennial powerhouse and host Loyola Sacred Heart. But Loyola took advantage of their home course and charged back in the second round, cruising to a 30-shot team win.

Tatom shot a 4-under-par 68 to take a sizeable 10-shot lead after day one. He followed that up with an even-par 71 second round to win the individual title by 14 shots. Tatom was joined by Trevor House, Griffin House and Charlie Johnson in the second-place team effort.

Tatom waited out a morning snowfall to rout the field at my home course Cottonwood Hills.

LPHS boys’ golf win Cottonwood event, girls finish fourth

By Tyler Allen Explore Big Sky Associate Editor

FOUR CORNERS – The Lone Peak High School boys’ golf team battled through cold and wind on April 29 during the Manhattan Christian Invitational at Cottonwood Hills Golf Course to finish with an overall victory. The LPHS girls had the best Class C team score and ended up fourth overall.

“The [weather] made for tough scoring conditions,” head coach Mike King said. “Everyone was wearing several layers of clothing.”

The Big Horns are getting used to tough golfing conditions this season. Their home turf – Big Sky Resort’s golf course – has been unplayable so far, but they’ve excelled in the cold.

Junior Tate Tatom continues to roll, with a third consecutive individual first place finish to start the season. Tatom shot a 1-over-par 73 to win by four shots, while Junior Trevor House shot a 79 to end up fourth.

Tatom won again at Ennis and Three Forks.

May 16, 2014 Posted by TALLEN in LOCAL, SPORTS, YOUTH

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LPHS golfers streaking into state tourney

By Tyler Allen Explore Big Sky Associate Editor

The Lone Peak High School golf teams hope to ride the momentum of a strong season into the state championships May 21-22 at Double Arrow Golf Course in Seeley Lake. The tournament is a chance for the boys to defend last year’s Class C title, and an opportunity for the girls to make a splash on the big stage.

Aside from a second-place finish at the Loyola Sacred Heart Invitational, the boys have won every official event at which they’ve had a full squad in 2014. Tate Tatom continued his torrid pace with individual victories at Ennis on May 3 and the Three Forks Invitational on May 8.

The LPHS girls notched a fourth-place finish at Three Forks, and head coach Mike King thinks they’re playing well enough to be in the top flight at states.

On Monday, May 12 the teams had a chance to scout Double Arrow after a scheduled event was cancelled there May 6. Having been hammered by heavy winter and spring snow, it’s playing a lot like the links in Big Sky, according to King.

Going into the season, the Long Peak High School golf coach was prescient. He nailed it.

Posted: Wednesday, April 2, 2014 11:54 pm

A word of caution for the rest of the state: King is convinced Tatom, who is already being courted by colleges across the country — Air Force, Michigan and Harvard, among others — has substantially improved his game.

“He added 15 pounds of muscle; he’s bigger, stronger, and is hitting the ball straighter and farther,” King said. “I watched him inside hitting balls and on a simulator — it’s really about as close as you can get to seeing what balls are doing — and his consistency right now is much better than it was last year. I have to keep reminding myself he’s just a junior, … but I would be very surprised if he didn’t finish first in every event that he played in and repeated as state champion.

We will continue to watch this golfer grow, though I have heard a rumor that he may be headed down to Texas to refine his game and solidify an opportunity to play in a Division 1 college program.  Time will tell.






The Class C State Champion Big Horns last year in Ennis. From left to right: Trevor House, Griffin House, individual champ Tate Tatom, Quinn House and Charlie Johnson. PHOTO BY MIKE KING, explorebig\sky.

Abraham Lincoln Lives On

At a New York press club dinner,

[New York Times television reporter] Carter asked if [CNN}, which has been criticized for its oversight of climate change, might devote more live airtime to the subject. 

"Climate change is one of those stories that deserves more attention, that we all talk about," [CNN President] Zucker said, "but we haven't figured out how to engage the audience in that story in a meaningful way. When we do do those stories, there does tend to be a tremendous amount of lack of interest on the audience's part."

Which proves Abraham Lincoln right once again.

You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.

It is good that some things never change.

We the Workers!

There was a time, twenty years or so back, that I thought the soon to be Democratic dean of the House of Representatives, Charlie Rangel, was a reasonable fellow. Forgive me if I cannot remember why. But then I came across the following information.

Defending himself from primary challengers attacking his pro-union credentials, Congressman Rangel has put some interesting spin on the origins of the United States Constitution.

“I challenge any union member, if they have to ask: Who doesn’t just vote right? Who has fought with unions on picket lines in Alabama and Mississippi? Who has been there not because I love unions and living wages–I can say in my heart if it wasn’t for labor unions there would be no damn Constitution, they built the middle class, they built America,” he railed.
Read more at http://observer.com/2014/05/charlie-rangel-reflects-on-a-race-not-going-his-way/#ixzz32DAinPPL

No damn Constitution? 

That made me reflect back on James Madison, father of the Constitution and, now we learn, architect of the United States labor movement. That has a nice ring to it. So I looked it up, using family photos from an excursion to James Madison's Montpelier estate -- sure enough I found proof all around.

There we found the bronze statutes of James and Dolly Madison, gazing on their copy of the Manifesto.

At the high point on the grounds, there was Montpelier mansion -- the house that labor built.

And down the path there was the garden gazebo, where Labor Day picnics have been held the first Monday in September in remembrance ever since Jim and Dolly passed on.

To preserve historic Montpelier for posterity, and the role it played in the labor union movement, it was purchased by labor leader William duPont in 1901, and then transferred to the National Trust for Historic Preservation by his daughter Marion duPont Scott.

To support Congressman Rangel and contribute to the preservation and restoration of this iconic labor union history resource click here.

Thanks to everybody and good luck to all.

US Constitution -- James Madison's paean to "We the Workers"

Saturday Pictures

Saturday Pictures

May 17, 2014

(Click to enlarge)

Local scenes on Saturday May 17, 2014.

Smokey the Bear beseeches "Help Prevent Wildfires" looking up Bridger Canyon.

The Gallitan Range in the distance looking down Bridger Canyon.

Almost wondering why Bridger Bowl is closed for the season.

Snowpack is still in down to the base.

Looking across Bridger Canyon.

Looking up Bridger Bowl.

Looking across the parking lot at Cottonwood Hills.

NASA Loses It

Now that NASA is losing funding and support to do what it was originally created to do, i.e., send people into space, and is re-purposing itself to justify its continued existence, the bureaucracy is getting our attention by warning us that glaciers flow!  That's startling news. Here I always thought those moraines and glacial deposits were created by Martians. So you all are inevitably gonna drown in 5, 10 or 20 feet of water. Pick a number, any number. It's in the fix. 

As a next step, NASA investigators will report
on the role glaciers play in carving mountain valleys. 

These guys keep on making one discovery on top of another. Just to think, it was only a few years ago that they concentrated their intellectual firepower into a 14 person commission which figured out that rubber becomes brittle at low temperatures. NASA has tremendous insight and powers of observation. Whenever I plan anything I say, "What would NASA do?"

But the dire deed is not going to happen to us up here in Bozeman. We are a safe, dry 4,820 feet above sea level (4,984 feet at the end of the valley, here at Along the Gradyent). And from our perspective, east, west, north and south it's not water, water everywhere. No, whichever way you look there is snow up the mountains all around. We got the Bridgers, the Gallitans, the Madisons, the Tobacco Roots, the Elkhorns and the Big Belts. Our glaciers have already retreated. Move off the barrier islands, and away from sea, pond and lake shores and river banks. Abandon the Pacific and Atlantic, the Great Lakes, the Mississppi and the Missouri rivers and leave that wretched city along the Potomac. Dump Florida, forget about Louisiana, the Carolinas and Manhattan. LA, you are toast. Come on up! Our Chamber of Commerce welcomes you. Avoid Armageddon -- now!

Timber!!!!

The rimrock formation above Billings has couple less rocks after today.

Post by Billings Police Department.

Graduation Speak

Man, it is a good thing the Rutgers University pseudo intelligentsia prevented Condeleezza Rice from speaking to its graduates. Looking at her record, range of commitment and accomplishment and advisory service, it is unimaginable that Dr. Rice would have had anything useful to say to the young men and women receiving their diplomas. There is no way she could have topped Snooki or your standard Democratic political hack who is welcome at universities everywhere. Note:  When I graduated from the University of Wisconsin thirty-nine years previous, the commencement speaker was Democratic Lieutenant Governor Martin Schreiber, who continues to this day his very long and distinguished career as a corporate lobbyist. Good luck to all.

Lila Barton with her mentor and academic advisor, Condoleezza Rice.