Anybody watchong PBS's "P.O.V." about political arguments in a small town?

[SmileyBoy]

The thing is about political controversy in Kalispell, Montana. The right-wing idiots are really making themselves out to look like complete idiots when they speak about anything, while the left-wing and environmentalists sound very reasonable and human.

It's on PBS 22 in Brainerd, Minnesota, but not on in the Twin Cities (TPT 2), so you have to have DirecTV in the Mpls./St. Paul area to see it. I also don't know what other stations have it on.

[intheflow]

1. I saw the promo a couple days ago.

But don't rememer what time it was supposed to air. Here on Denver's two PBS stations right now we have Bobby Darrin/Pledge Drive (Channel 12) and something about the new WTC building plans (Channel 6).

I noted the show b/c I have a job interview coming up in Kalispell. The P.O.V. web site has some intersting backup/background info on this show.

[SmileyBoy]

3. I would say that it's a pretty bitter split there.

I don't think that more than half of those people are right-wing goofballs, but I think that the other half are firmly on the left/environmentalist side. There seems to be no moderation in politics there. I live in Fargo, North Dakota most of the year, and everyone in the city seems to be clumped into the middle 30 percent of the political spectrum. There's almost no extreme-right or extreme-left in Fargo. Everyone's either a moderate Democrat or a moderate Republican. I kind of thought of Kalispell as the Anti-Fargo.

[intheflow]

6. I just saw the promo again.

It's on here on Thursday at 8pm.

I'll bet most people are moderate Dems or Republicans. The point of this POV episode seems to be focused on conflict, but no matter how many people they showed, it was probably only a small part of the population.

So... do you recommend I watch the episode?

[dweller]

2. We have on Bill Moyer's Wide Angle

on the Beslan children's school takeover by Chechyan terrorists. . . heartbreaking footage.

dp

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

4. Sorry, but I have to ask: Is there a statue of Paul Bunyan in Brainerd?

[SmileyBoy]

5. Last time I went there, I saw it.

I was there about 2 weeks ago.

[skids]

7. Just finished watching it.

Odd mix there. You have the far-right radio DJ who is just an opportunist looking to stir up trouble, but in the same camp you have some relatively reasonable conservatives who's main dispute is over things like the how's and why's of managing land resources and development, which they do not think the "environmentalists" are doing a good job of, though frankly they hold some very environmentalist beliefs themselves.

Then you have the seriously leftie (and I mean "trust excercise" leftie) who's bought a bunch of handguns for self-defence and is teaching her kids to use them despite herself. And the self-described "conservative republican" who is more or less on the side of the left, but who's trying to focus on getting dialogue back up between the factions. Oh, and the leftie who goes game hunting.

Add to that the dumb righties who buy into any conspiracy theory they are fed, and the "knowitall" type of lefties who are new arrivals, relatively speaking, to the area, and are pro-development and really don't seem to care when they tread on the toes of long-time community residents who don't want the texture of their town to be changed.

It's a recipe for disaster. Remove the lying sack of shit DJ and replace him with a true conservative with a few ounces of integrity, and maybe the conservatives would have enough patience to slowly talk some manners into the progressives. Of course, removing that guy, despite the fact that he's probably violated the law by stepping way over the bounds of the first amendment, is not possible at this point since his followers would view that as an attack on them and their platform and it would just generate acrimony.