Don't deny that more funding is needed
Here is a suggestion that should help the Forest Service deal with the recent budget cuts.They should take the same approach to fire-fighting costs that deniers are insisting we take toward global warming. Yes, we have had several bad fire years, and there is evidence that next year will be another dry one. But there is no proof that it will be another bad fire year - in fact, it takes a lot of faith to feel certain that it will be. For every scientist predicting that it will be a dry year there must be one saying that the snowpack is at, or above, normal in many areas.
Forest fires do cause many millions of dollars in property damage and lots of injuries and deaths, but still, it would not be fiscally prudent for the government to spend lots of taxpayer dollars on an unproven theory. The wisest coarse of action would be for the government to wait until fires actually start to happen before they spend a lot or do a lot of planning for them.
Stephen Schombel, Missoula
War is sapping livelihoods
It's interesting that people have begun to make the economy their highest priority lately, and the war is not as high on their radar.Why, is the question. Perhaps most important is that President Bush continues to separate the war budget (we're borrowing
$343 billion every day to finance the Iraq war) from our regular budget. This keeps the average citizen from realizing that this war is going to force our states to cut back their budgets, that our citizens are going without pay for it and that our children's children will be paying for it well into the future.
We need to stop listening to platitudes that appeal to our patriotism and start being fiscally responsible. That does not mean cutting domestic spending - it means getting out of a foreign war that we are running on credit.
Please contact your representatives in Congress and tell them it's time to stop charging billions over our limit.
Elise Crull, Missoula
Abolish Federal Reserve, stimulus plan
I wanted to take a minute to share my thoughts on Congress' welfare “stimulus” plan.Although it would be nice to receive a check for $600, this will not solve any problems in the economy. There are several underlying factors: We are fighting two wars costing U.S. taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars each year and we maintain a military presence in more than 120 countries.
For those hoping the Fed will come to the rescue, I have bad news. They are the reason we are in this financial mess. The Fed has been inflating the U.S. money supply since it was founded in 1913, resulting devalued currency. It only makes sense and one needs only a basic understanding of economics to figure this out. When there is more supply of any one thing, its value drops. The loose credit policies under Alan Greenspan did nothing to help, either (i.e. the current housing bubble). By lowering the Fed funds rate, it gave huge amounts of money to banks to loan out.
I have no sympathy for those who took loans with no reasonable way to pay them back, only hoping their home values would continue to rise so they could cash out their equity and refinance. The whole housing market was built on this belief. The only way to fix our economy now is to let it run its course and correct. The smart solution would be to abolish the Fed. They have done nothing positive for our economy in the past 94 years. Why think they can start now?
Wake up and realize that easy money policies are not the answer to living the American dream and a check for $600 will not bail out the economy.
Chad Krahn, Lewistown
Sure, restaurant a family venue
Yeah, parents who bring their kids to Hooters!Spending quality time with your kids is commendable. Having a little fun with them is even better. I mean, it's not like we live in an area where you can go on nice picnics or hikes as a family. Going to Hooters is the next best thing.
And the good part about taking your daughter there is that it might instill in her the dream of becoming a Hooters Girl herself one day. When that dream finally comes true, I know you'll be wearing a proud smile, perhaps silently reminiscing about all the fun you had at Hooters over the years, while your daughter waits on you, her parents, the table of businessmen next to you and the table of raucous college boys next to them (who are all there for the wings), in her tight Hooters T-shirt that you bought for her when she was 10 and finally grew into.
Kris B. Smith, Missoula
No protests of adult video stores?
I see a lot of protest letters about the incoming Hooters restaurant.How come there are none about the sexually oriented businesses - Adult Avenue, Fred's Lounge, Fantasy for Adults Only and the “adult” room at Showcase Video?
Aren't people worried about how those places portray women?
Larry Roland, Missoula
Three candidates, no good options
Regarding the election:So now it's down to three. One who can't win because she's a woman and too polarizing. One who can't win because he's black and too inexperienced. One who can't win because he's too old and too ill-tempered.
For a while, I hoped Al Gore would run. Then, for a while I was excited about Obama. But the stark realities are beginning to coalesce. The Illinois senator could win - and many of his change-craving supporters would be crushed to discover that he is a cautious, moderate Democrat. He would be attempting to forge consensus in bitterly divided Washington, a city filled with establishment insiders (who just watched an upstart vault into the top office).
Hillary, the most unabashedly corporate candidate of all, who fundraises with media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, doesn't hold much appeal for me. And I can't vote for McCain, who (literally) sings about bombing Iran and says he would be fine with us staying in Iraq for another 100 years.
And while it's hard to imagine any one of the three heading an administration as purposefully divisive as Bush's, the question remains: How could any leader succeed in bringing unity to a country where so many people have such emotion invested in perpetuating the divisions?
This bodes to be the most entertaining election imaginable. Whether that is quite what our country needs, as a storm of constitutional, military, economic and environmental problems gathers, is another question.
David Miller, Missoula
Defibrillators in schools could save lives
On behalf of American Red Cross of Montana, I encourage Rep. Denny Rehberg to cosponsor HR 4926.This legislation establishes a federal grant program to help increase the number of automated external defibrillators in elementary and secondary schools. For every minute defibrillation is delayed, there is a 10 percent decrease in the likelihood of resuscitation. Having an AED nearby will help ensure a quick and immediate response to an urgent situation. An AED in Montana's schools and properly trained citizens in every community would help shave life-saving seconds off response time in rural areas of Montana.
Nearly 11 million people enrolled in American Red Cross health and safety courses last year. Over 29,000 Montanans are trained in Red Cross classes, but too many lack proper access to AEDs to save lives.
Please join me in encouraging Rehberg to cosponsor H.R. 4926 and support creating a federal grant program for AEDs in our schools.
Dawn Skerritt
public support director, American Red Cross of Montana, Great Falls
Back farms with coal trust fund
I can't believe that a landowner and conservation folks are holding up a company that wants to build a wind farm in eastern Montana.Political correctness leaves out drilling for oil anywhere, nuclear power and coal plants. The best option is wind, so let's get with it.
What we should do, if our popular governor will push, is to use some of the big coal trust fund to build the wind farm for Montanans - tie the power into a grid to reduce the electric bills for Montana people and industries, and not outsiders. That would draw companies to cheaper power, save residents money and get a better return than the maybe 3 percent we get investing the coal trust fund in very safe stocks or bonds.
E. Campbell, Lolo
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