GUEST COLUMN, Thad Butterworth, Ada County Republican Central Committee

Congress is weighing a proposal that would deny conservatives a powerful tool for defending their rights in court. Only it isn't Democrats who are behind the push -- it's Republicans.

Led by Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC), some GOP lawmakers are seeking to effectively ban what's known as "third-party litigation funding." For years, conservative groups have relied on that funding to challenge Democratic administrations' illegal government overreach and push back against progressive activism.

These lawmakers may not realize it, but they are handing the left a major victory -- one that could set back conservative causes for decades. It's bad policy, and even worse politics. Those lawmakers need to come to their senses before it's too late.

L&T Publisher Earl Watt

Not so long ago Steve Helm was a school board member who believed educators who went out of town for training sessions were spending too much money on food, and he set out to curb this excessive spending by creating a per diem system instead.

The result was the district spent more money on out-of-town meals, not less. It was one of the many nitpicking efforts made by Helm that did not achieve the results he claimed he would as an elected member of a board.

Helm was not re-elected to the school board.

L&T Publisher Earl Watt

Versus Signs started the Fourth of July weekend right by hanging a massive star spangled banner on a crane on Kansas Avenue Friday morning that remained flying throughout the weekend, and what a weekend it was.

John Adams said that America’s independence would be celebrated across the entire continent one day, and he was right. He wrote his wife Abigail that the day would be celebrated with “pomp and parade, with shoews, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forever more.”

How many years the celebrations will last is unknown, but they have now reached 250.

THE POSTSCRIPT, Carrie Classon

As far as I know, most of my people were farmers. On both my parents’ sides, my Scandinavian ancestors came across the ocean looking for better topsoil. I know immigrants came for many reasons — to start businesses and escape oppression and to avoid starvation. But, as far as I know, my ancestors were in search of better dirt. And they found it. A full foot of topsoil was a treasure beyond measure to these farmers who had tried to make a living on rocky soil.

Perhaps it is why I am not a gardener. I suspect I have a lot of my ancestors still in me. Perhaps I am rebelling against the work that was in my family’s life blood. But however I might feel about planting and weeding, I think there is something within me that recognizes the cycles of the seasons, the coming of summer and the pause that comes in the middle of the summer.