A bison in high school, when he had that haircut

My father’s whirlwind tour of western Montana continues today with a trip to the National Bison Range. The best time to view animals is early in the morning, say a bunch of park rangers who have to get up early anyway, so there will be no Combat! blog today. Fortunately, the best time to view the internet is also early in the morning, while the trolls are asleep. While I shoot buffalo from a train, how about you read this article about Japanese boredom rooms sent to me by Ben al-Fowlkes. That tactic would not work on Americans.

The woods

There is no Combat! blog today, because I am taking my dad up to Seeley to run him around in the woods. You have to tucker him out or he’ll bark at raccoons all night. While I misidentify wildflowers, how about you read Andrew Sullivan’s bitterly disillusioned blog post about surveillance, abuse and the War on Terror. He’s referring to Glenn Greenwald, principal journalist in the Edward Snowden leaks, whose partner was detained at Heathrow for the legally maximum nine hours. It’s only a lucky coincidence that his name is Miranda. We’ll be back tomorrow with actual content and/or a story about a bear.

Soup kitchens notwithstanding, the most allegorically significant debate in Missoula politics is sidewalk funding. It’s boring on the surface, but once you peel back the layers you find several fundamental questions about this town’s identity, along with some guy’s sprinkler system. My column in the Indy today is about Robert Hubble and his federal lawsuit, in which he alleges that by using its “police powers” to force him to repair his sidewalk, the city of Missoula has violated his constitutional rights. He’s maybe saying that for rhetorical effect, but he raises an important issue: how much do we want to live as a community, and how much do we want to live as people who leave one another alone? In theory I am 100% in favor of both, which produces no end of problems in practice. Give it a read and shake your head at the sad truth that the social contract is not a binary mechanism. We’ll be back tomorrow with Friday links.