'I can't quit you'

I have a bad habit I can’t seem to quit.

I listen to the Voices of Montana radio show at every opportunity.

Billed as conservative talk radio, the show regularly offers one-sided arguments from every right-wing nut job willing to speak to smarmy host Jon Arneson.

I seldom listen to the end of the hour. An admitted masochist, even I have my limits. I’ll stay tuned until my eye begins to twitch and I start to stutter.

“Can you bbbbbelieve what that sssstupid sssson of a ggggun just said?” I’ll ask my wife, who typically responds with “Honey, it’s time to turn off the radio.”

The show provides a platform for climate change deniers, opponents of wilderness and public land, along with proponents of every hare-brained mining and logging project that crosses the pike.

Arneson offers pseudo-journalism at its worst while relentlessly harping against the mainstream media.

He recently hosted a show featuring guests from the cleverly named group Citizens for Balanced Use, who are actually for motorized use, but then the photo of the cross-country skier on their web site wouldn’t make any sense.

And who isn’t for balanced use, and common sense, and things the way they used to be?

Forget “Make America Great Again,” Citizens for Motorized (excuse me), Balanced Use want to “Take Back Montana.”

And I didn’t even know it was gone.

Arneson eagerly agreed with a CBU talking head who pointed out that wilderness areas are not accessible to the old and the infirm. The idea that the essence of wilderness precludes easy access obviously never crosses some minds.

Another recent guest was a spokeswoman for the proposed Smith River Mine. Arneson agreed with her every word.

“Doggone it, we need the jobs,” he cackled.

And really, what could go wrong with a copper mine at the headwaters of a pristine river drainage?

Oh, sure, Montana might have had a few problems with extractive industries in the past, but hey, let bygones be bygones. After all, didn’t a couple of those geese that landed in the Berkely Pit last week survive? Heck, the flock that set down there a few years ago all died. Things are looking up.

Pandering to industry is a popular theme on the show. So is sucking up to every right wing group that could use an hour of free air time to espouse their cause.

But I‘m hooked. I listen until I begin to stew and my eye starts to twitch. It’s like that line from every right winger’s favorite movie, Brokeback Mountain.

“I can’t quit you.”

Parker Heinlein is at

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