Search Articles:

 

Breaking News......... Body found near Rainbow Dam is missing Great Falls man......... Street cleaning ahead for southern part of Missoula......... Two teenagers injured in ATV accident......... Osprey fall to Billings, 8-7......... Local News......... 8-year-old Missoula girl electrocuted on 4th; Man dies in Flathead boating accident........Departing doctors: State faces shortage of primary-care physicians........Departing doctors: Physicians may face legal hurdles if they leave hospitals........Primary-care physician losses minimal in Billings........Dancing with honor: Ronan teen proudly accepts responsibility as Arlee Celebration's Young Warrior........Montana Meth Project's claims under scrutiny........

Fuel costs

Stop oil companies' price manipulation

Record third-quarter sales of $100 billion and resulting profits of almost $10 billion were announced for Exxon Mobil Corp., according to a recent news article. This same article went on to state that the other big oil companies posted similar sales and profits. No big surprise here. Before the winds of Katrina stopped blowing, the price of oil started going up. The American public felt these increases even further at the gas pump.

Consumers have been conditioned by the oil companies to believe in a false need to raise fuel costs before the event. This allows an increase in fuel prices before major holiday travel periods and any other perceived potential shortages. Publicity releases about expected fuel demands from summer travel to cold weather abound. These are really profit-building announcements. We haven't seen a genuine shortage of fuel like in 1973. There seems to be plenty of higher-profit fuel - not a true shortage. The prices went up with the possibility of Hurricane Rita coming in. Rumors of possible damage to drill rigs and refineries resulted in more daily increases. How are these price increases decided? It would be impossible to determine the actual degree of shortage in the different areas of the United States. Windfall profit potential seems to determine retail pricing not a true market demand.

The majority of the public was angered by the looting of retail businesses during the aftermath of Katrina. The American public is facing a much greater "looting" by the manipulation of fuel profits. The higher cost of delivering all the products that we buy each day will have all of us paying more at each cash register we visit.

We need to remind our elected officials that we will no longer vote for anyone in office that cannot find a way to regulate this kind of abuse.

Rod Dietz, Missoula

Intelligent design

Evolution fails the tests of science

Objections to intelligent design in public schools are based on its being unscientific. Unscientific because it's not falsifiable - i.e., cannot be tested and so, found false, if false. Certainly, creation by God, a one-time event, is not falsifiable. So, creation must remain a faith. One based on strong evidence, but still a faith. To be fair, though, no theory on origins is scientific for the same reason: none is falsifiable. So, evolution is no more scientific than creation, as a statement of how life came into existence.

But isn't evolution scientific in its accounting for present life forms? Here we must define terms. Evolution has been used to describe nearly every kind of genetic change and variation observed in life forms - all the way from hybridization to inter-species change. The problem here is unjustifiable extrapolation. Evolutionists point to observable genetic variation, then extrapolate from that to unobservable and unsupported change. They point to observable population shifts of the peppered moth to prove unobservable evolution from reptile to bird.

But doesn't paleontology prove evolution? Actually, no. It exposes many species and varieties that no longer exist - but fully formed, nonetheless. No transitional forms. No nascent (in the process of becoming) body structures. Ancient apes and ancient humans, but no in-betweens.

More obvious yet, evolution isn't evidenced in present life forms. No limbs, organs or other body parts mutating into existence. No complex animal instincts in the process of developing (worthless and even detrimental until fully developed).

So, general evolution fails the tests of science. But who's ready to admit there's an elephant in the living room?

Don Partain, Missoula

Bush makes good case against theory

I would suggest that George W. Bush stands as the best argument against intelligent design.

Gus Edlund, Missoula

MPPI

Kadas is out of touch

Mayor Mike Kadas' response to the recent Missoulian editorial shows how out of touch he is. It is not whether there is a conflict but rather whether there is an appearance of a conflict. How dumb does he think we are? When he is the chairman of Montana Public Power Inc. and states he has no conflict on a fiscal or other matter, who will believe him?

Joseph D. Vinso, Missoula

Bush administration

President should face consequences

The U.S. House of Representatives impeached President Clinton for lying to Congress and moral improprieties.

George Bush has committed our country to war under false pretenses thereby causing the deaths and maiming of thousands of young men and women. Why is he not facing any consequences?

Larry Stahl, Missoula

Letters policy: The Missoulian welcomes and encourages letters to the editor on topics of general interest. Letters should be about 300 words or fewer. The Missoulian reserves the right to reject or edit letters for content and length. Letters must contain the writer's name, address and telephone number (phone numbers and addresses are for verification, not publication).

Mail letters to: Missoulian Letters, P.O. Box 8029, Missoula, MT 59807-8029. Fax: (406) 523-5294. E-mail: oped@missoulian.com.

---

---

Add your comment now! Write your comment in the form below.
(Email address is for verification only. If you'd like to email a story, look for the link above)

---