Liberals not helping state, country
Is there going to be just one liberal here in Missoula who is ever going to ask why our economy, which was (under Republican leadership in the U.S. House) robust and growing for the past four years, is now tanking after one year of liberal Democrat control in the House? Is there ever going to be an article in any form of local media which asks the question as to why the current House, again under liberal Democrat control, has the lowest approval ratings of any House in American history? How can this be, since of course last year we heard that all the problems humanity faces worldwide were going to be solved with liberals controlling the House and Senate? Yet, since liberals took control of two-thirds of our government one year ago, our economy has been driven into near recession.Here in Montana, where liberals Gov. Brian Schweitzer, Sen. John Tester and Sen. Max Baucus control our state government, unemployment has now risen for two consecutive years. How can this be? When is Schweitzer going to fulfill his campaign promises that were supposed to usher in an “era of prosperity” for all Montanans?
Take an objective look at what the Democrat-controlled U.S. Congress has done for the last year with the economy.
After you do, and you can still say with all honesty and sincerity that you believe the media are unbiased and objective, then truly too far gone a sheep are you.
Daniel Shevlin, Missoula
Company’s stalling is disgusting
I read the article in the Missoulian on Feb. 26 about W. R. Grace getting more time to file an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court with total disgust.How long do the high-priced attorneys need to respond to the charges and go to trial? The only thing I can think of is that they want to drag this out long enough so that everyone who ever lived in the town of Libby is dead; they are doing a good job of it with how they are treating the people whose health has been affected by exposure to vermiculite.
Al Kolata, Lolo
Survey shows real feelings on issue
Streamside setback. Currently a hot issue in Ravalli County (Missoulian, “Streamside setbacks debated,” Feb. 7).The small vocal minority continues to pack hearings at the commissioners’ room in an attempt to influence those officials. They maintain they speak for the majority of the residents of Ravalli County.
However, they do not speak for the majority, as evidenced by results of an independent survey done by a resident of the West Fork, Chris Daniel.
Last fall, Daniel mailed out nearly 500 questionnaires to individuals living along Bitterroot waterways. Of the 165 returned responses, 159 opposed setbacks, while only six were in favor.
That 96 percent rejection of setbacks is a very significant statistic and needs to be taken seriously in deliberations by the commissioners. Unsubstantiated rhetoric, which is regularly offered, and often applauded, by the stacked gallery at commissioner meetings amounts to nothing more than individual opinion. In our free society, citizen comment is welcome, but responsible elected officials must sort the wheat from the chaff, and make decisions based on substantiated evidence, not emotion.
Daniel’s survey provided overwhelming documented evidence from the public. The local newspaper failed to give adequate coverage to the survey, which is unfortunate, for both that publication and the readers. Accurate, unbiased reporting is a must.
David S. Hurtt, Florence
Spend energy on people, not predators
This letter is for Dale Terrillion (Letters, Feb. 1). Who in the heck said all of nature was peaceful and beautiful? Wolves are wild animals acting like wild animals.As for a bounty on wolves - I can think of hundreds of different reasons and people to help instead. How about:
1. Missoula Public Schools. They need funding for after-school programs and upgrades in computers to supply the demand of new technology for our kids that go there.
2. The homeless. Are we to ignore there are people sleeping under the bridges in the cold?
3. The elderly, to help buy food or medical services and pay the ever-rising price of transportation.
4. Habitat for Humanity, helping thousands and thousands buy houses when they normally couldn’t.
5. How about feeding the homeless, the hungry, the poor, the needy and everyone else in our area in need before we worry about wild animals acting as nature intended.
Bounty! Ha! That was a joke, right?
Aleathea Standing Rock, Missoula
Man who gave the finger in the wrong
The man who gave me the finger today because I had to force myself into his lane is no gentleman.Just because he is 80-plus doesn’t mean he knows the laws of the highway. He had better read the drivers manual in case he never has. According to the law, when someone signals to move over into another lane they have to let them in. I didn’t have my signals on just for the fun of it. And I don’t make the rules.
But he isn’t the first nor will he be the last one who does that. Missoula drivers are very discourteous.
Helen Wylie, Missoula
Columnist left out important information
On Feb. 27, on the editorial page of the Missoulian, there was a piece by Anthony Cordesman, who is affiliated with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.This is a “think” tank whose livelihood depends on the U.S. being involved in perpetual war. Cordesman’s essay could be considered a justification of John McCain’s “100 Year War.” Nowhere in it did I see any hint of how the war has destroyed Iraq and its people, to say nothing of the lives that led to that senseless invasion.
On the same day, the paper carried a four-page special dealing with severely injured Iraqi children who had to be sent to Jordan for special medical treatment. Most of the photos were horrible to look at, but were probably typical of the hundreds of thousands or more similarly afflicted.
Cordesman, to have omitted such information was a moral outrage, unworthy of any thinking person.
Meyer Chessin, Missoula
Organization trying to force policies
I am amazed that the story continues to be about the possibility of Mark Rey going to jail.It seems to me the real story is embedded in the final paragraphs of the latest articles (Missoulian, Feb. 25, 26 and 27) - that Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics doesn’t care a bit about the effects of retardant on wildlife. They simply want to find one federal judge willing to stop the use of effective wildfire-fighting tools so FSEEE’s one-size-fits-all approach to wildfire management is forced upon the nation’s public lands.
If Andy Stahl, director of FSEEE, could see past his own deeply embedded prejudices, he would see that the Forest Service is already emphasizing fire protection around communities and allowing fires to burn if they pose minimal threat. Those wildfire management strategies have been in place for many years, and are becoming more common as adaptive management and monitoring show the Forest Service what works and what doesn’t.
FSEEE’s lawsuit does nothing to hasten the implementation of what Stahl claims to be his organization’s goal. If anything, the lawsuit reveals FSEEE’s real objectives - circumventing public concerns and public land managers’ wildfire response options in favor of a de facto policy of letting our forests burn up no matter what the cost in resource damage and property loss.
Bruce Erickson, Frenchtown
Help poor children through donations
In response to David C. Terry's letter (Feb. 6) expressing concern for starving Haitians who are eating mud cookies to survive:Donating the dollar equivalent of our lunch cost every day during Lent to Haitian food relief programs would really help. A lunch of rice and beans for a Haitian school child can be provided for about 23 cents. Often this is the only real food they child will have that day.
Our church, Superior Methodist, is initiating a program based on the lunch per day concept. Clearly, only those able to donate in this way are being asked to participate, but even a dollar equals four lunches for a child. If you do not have an outlet for your donations, please contact and I will do my best to get you in contact with the overseas Methodist mission handling school lunch programs for Haitian kids.
A blessed Lent to you all.
Ed Chaberek, Superior
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