Visit: A Tale of Two Movies

Wildlife: The ducks are paired-up and beginning to nest by Middle Foy's Lake. The Canadian Geese are doing the same by Firehouse Pond.

Weather: I'm not complaining about a mild sunny April day, but we still need more rain.

Charity Alert: Click to help: The Animal Rescue Site (and five others)

Media Watch: A biography of America's Sweetheart: Mary Pickford on PBS' American Experience. How did Kenneth Anger describe it? "...the evil star system"
From PBS.com: Legacy of a Superstar
Pickford was the world's first international superstar. Her performances could be seen and admired anywhere, thanks to a new, portable, mechanically reproduceable art form. Pickford was the first to experience the glamour and excitement of enormous and extravagant fame -- and the first to pay the price for its loss. In 1915, statisticians calculated that she was seen globally by 12 million people every day. At the height of her success, she was the richest woman in America -- and she enjoyed a long career in front of the camera. By the late 1930s, her star had waned. Still, Pickford's contributions to the development of film -- the major artistic invention of the twentieth century -- make her one of the most important cultural figures in American history.
Multi-Media PBS Website about Mary Pickford and early movies

In the Community: Honors Symposium tonight -- Harry Zeeve from "The Concord Coalition," located in Arlington, Virginia, speaking on: Social Security and the Federal Budget.
From http://www.concordcoalition.org ...Unfortunately, the President’s only concrete proposal — a debt-financed personal accounts “carve out” — would do nothing to solve the problem... Indeed,it might even make the problem worse.
Senator Conrad Burns had a pretty restive crowd last Saturday morning for his "listening session" on Social Security. To his credit, he was able to keep everyone who spoke on-topic, which wasn't that easy, considering the anger of some of the participants. Another thing I was impressed with was his instructions to his staff afterward to follow-up on certain issues brought to his attention in the meeting.
There were only three jackasses out of over two dozen speakers, which was remarkable.
Members of the audience made some noise if they were offended, or clapped in agreement sometimes, but they were generally polite.
NOBODY spoke in favor of Bush's "privitazation" of Social Security, and several spoke against it.
More than once Sen. Burns promised that he would "vote the way his constituents wanted," and even declared, "(President) Bush doesn't vote for me."
However -- Karl Rove had been in Helena with Burns the day before. The subject never came up, but the Bush Adminastration is infamous for retaliation against those who stray from their plans, and Burns depends on GOP money to be re-elected.
Honors Symposium Reviews:
Bob Brown, a long-time state legislator gave the only lecture held at FVCC. All but a dozen went to the Kalispell Mall, including Brown, and had to be informed of their mistake there before finding the right place.
His topic was The Role of Public Education in a Free Society, and he quoted Benjamin Rush, Thomas Jefferson, Noah Webster, and Horace Mann. Democracy doesn't work at all without literacy and education. (It just barely works now in our country, but Brown didn't get into that.)
Brown used his limited experience in the dangerous, beleagured state of Angola as an example of how lack of basic education and common language allows no foundations for modern institutions, like free elections, in some parts of the world. His point may have been a bit too anecdotal, but his capsule description of that sad ex-colony's history was more accurate than most I have heard.
The Q&A session was mostly about how the Montana State Land Board works. Even though it was off-topic, its very worthwhile to know these things.
Dr. Tom Powers from the Economics Dept. of the U of M in Missoula was terrific.
I wish ALL presenters were prepared, organized, brought facts to support their assertions, and pointed out existing exceptions and "weaknesses" of their arguements themselves. The best thing he brought was a sense of humor, about himself, and everything he said.
Dr. Powers' topic was: What Does Landscape Protection Cost Us? He showed that qualities such as clean air, water, natural beauty, and mild weather were significant factors in attracting skilled and wealthier people to given areas. They weren't sufficient in themselves for establishing thriving local economies, but they significantly helped. He also had the figures to demonstrate that heavily extraction-related, "boom and bust" localities tended to stay busted and depopulated once they'd gutted their natural resources.