When I was growing up the National Rifle Association was gun safety and hunting organization. Now it's nothing more than to try to divide people.

The opportunity I had growing up in Montana isn't the opportunities for a whole lot of people.

I remember a humorous episode from Bill Clinton's presidency in which his advisers prevailed upon him, one summer before his re-election campaign, to spend his vacation in Montana and Wyoming instead of the usual Martha's Vineyard. The theory was that he'd benefit from hanging out someplace a little more down to earth.

If you're not geographically diverse, it's hard to even speak a language that makes sense to folks in faraway places. That's especially a problem in the West, where voters have always mistrusted the federal government.

Several studies, and a number of public statements by senior military and political personalities, testify that - except for disputes between the present nuclear states - all military conflicts, as well as threats to peace, can be dealt with using conventional weapons.

In a way, the debate about Margaret Thatcher in Britain has just gotten fossilized in this notion that she is either this she-devil who wrecked the industrial base of the country and ruined the lives of millions, or she is the blessed Margaret who saved the nation and rescued us from our post-war decline.

The World War broke out with such elemental violence, and with such resort to all means for leading or misleading public opinion, that no time was available for reflection and consideration.

All I need for a perfect holiday is sun and some peace and quiet. Those make for perfect book-writing conditions.