Nader's quest for relevancy is lost cause

Inter Lake editorial

Ralph Nader, like Narcissus, is finding it hard to walk away from the reflections of his own faded glory that he sees shining back at him from the pond of presidential politics.

Once again, Nader has told the world it cannot live without him, and so he has jumped in as a third-party candidate even though most people see him as a slightly tarnished, well-worn 74-year-old millionaire activist crank rather than as the quixotic knight he apparently imagines himself to be.

Let's face it. Nader's main claim to fame these days is that he helped secure a victory for George W. Bush in 2000 by swinging Florida away from Al Gore. Considering how much Nader's liberal base despises George Bush, there probably isn't much good will left for Nader, especially if Barack Obama gets the Democratic nomination.

Nader knows he won't win, but is running anyway. That makes a telling contrast with Michael Bloomberg, the New York City mayor who might actually be able to wage a serious independent bid for the presidency, but announced Thursday he won't do so this year. Bloomberg understands that you can promote change without embarrassing yourself; Nader apparently doesn't.

A proposal to establish a fixed date for Montana's big game hunting season opener turned out to be a big deal, and the state's Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission handled it the right way.

Last week, the commission decided to stick with the long-running practice of having the general big game season open five Sundays before the Thanksgiving weekend rather than having a season running from Oct. 25 through Nov. 30.

The existing formula may sound a bit complicated, but it really isn't. Opening day is always on a Sunday, and after five weeks of hunting, closing day is always the Sunday after Thanksgiving. It's as simple as that.

The set-date proposal would have given us oddball openers on any day of the week, and that didn't sit well with most of the state's hunting community. People objected to the idea of youth hunters and working hunters being excluded from weekday openers.

And hunters who commented on the matter were highly protective of what has become something of a tradition - hunting through the weekend following Thanksgiving.

So be it.

Although there has been no terror attack against America's rail system yet, similar attacks have occurred in Europe. That's why Amtrak's plan to institute random screening of baggage and other security measures makes sense.

Of course, most Americans realize that this noble effort may end up with little impact. Determined killers can do their evil work no matter what we do to try to stop them. Nonetheless it is better to recognize the problem than to pretend it doesn't exist.

On a bright note, Amtrak promises that the new initiative won't delay passengers, which is important, since airport security measures actually have allowed Amtrak to attract more passengers inclined to avoid the long lines and hassles involved in air travel in the post-9/11 era.