Change your ways before preaching
I’m not sure where I stand on the issue of climate change.I believe people do add to the situation, but the Earth has gone through many changes over her life. Everything has contributed to the state owe are in. The cycles keep going round. My world changes every day.
I wonder and ponder these banshees crying “we are all doomed.” These people. How many cars do they drive? SUVs? Big trucks? Motor boats? Trailers for camping? Have they changed all their light bulbs? Are their houses all green? Do they have solar power? What about their appliances? How do they heat/cool their homes? Do they choose paper over plastic? Or do they use a cloth bag? Every time? Have they given up their cars for bicycles? Electric cars, battery driven - even bio fuels are more expensive than most people can afford.
Trudie White, Missoula
Plan would cause unnecessary damage
Revett’s proposed Rock Creek Copper Mine has no equal in bad planning.A not-needed copper mine would destroy a pristine, protected wilderness area, destroy protected ground used for high mountain wildlife (including grizzlies), destroy a protected brown trout population in Rock Creek and badly damage the water quality in one of the worst damaged rivers in the United States.
Why would Tiffany Jewelry Company reject any minerals from this mining venture? They are so serious they placed a huge ad in the Washington Post. Why? Because they are smart and they refuse any proceeds from any project that would cause so much unreasonable damage to so much we value.
The United States does not have a copper shortage. Increased metal prices have caused a frenzy of recycling. Other remaining copper reserves could be mined without causing so much destruction. Unharmed, the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness area’s pure naturalness is good for our health. Mining the best ground we have left equals failure. The Clark Fork River, because of its past horrible treatment, should be retired forever from abuse of any kind - especially mining abuse.
The proposed mine is good proof of how far from reality the 1872 Mining Law is. Butte and Anaconda mines dumped the worst toxic mine waste they had directly into the river for over 130 years. The row of dams increased the problem by containing the worst, most toxic heavy metals behind them. The Clark Fork has given enough for the wrong reasons. It deserves to be finally left alone.
Few counties are like Sanders - they have nothing that equals the magnificence of the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness area within their boundaries. Residents have an obligation to keep this area protected, which was the original intent of the Wilderness Act.
Lon LaBelle, Noxon
Let’s work to end the insanity
Our federal government is an unmitigated mess, so let’s take the action needed to straighten it out.The Founding Fathers warned us what could happen if the people did not keep a watchful eye.
The leaders in the House, Senate and White House in Washington, D.C., continually work against the best interests of the people. Special interests and corrupted money are in control.
House Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, told Republican fundraisers to raise money. Boehner, along with the rest of the leadership, must understand that their betrayal has dried up much of the money.
Republicans and the Bush administration were elected to curb government growth and stop runaway spending. Instead, they adopted the Democratic agenda to keep them quiet, and implemented their own agendas. Consequently, government grew and spent twice as much.
Democrats tax and spend and Republicans borrow and spend.
Republicans lost the last election because of corruption, spending, waste and flawed politics. They still won’t listen. The top three spenders of current earmarks are Republicans. The economic stimulus package is financed with borrowed money, probably from China.
Republicans make excuses and blame others for our failures. It’s the newscasters, it’s the Democrats, situations are too complicated. Bull! We must not continue business as usual. Use tough love; don’t aid, abet and enable harmful behavior any longer.
Fundraisers across America, unite. Withhold all donations in a “lock-box” until we get the leadership’s full attention. Draft a new, sensible, meaningful “contract with America” to get Republican leaders back on track.
If the Republican Party doesn’t have the courage or backbone to stop the Republican part of this insanity called government, then we are worthless, too. Without drastic changes, this party is deservedly dead.
“We the people” can force change if we just have the guts.
Velma Spores, Kalispell
Candidate can represent sportsmen
This is a response to the May 13 letter to the editor from Richard Williams in which he contends that Sen. Barack Obama is no friend of sportsmen.As a veteran and a person who has hunted Montana’s forests and fished its streams and rivers for more than 35 years, I’d like other sportsmen to know that I’ll have no problem voting for Obama.
Rather than list the positives of his candidate of choice, Williams takes the low road of smearing Obama. Like hate-radio, which puts forth the lie that Obama is a Muslim, Williams suggests that we’re all going to lose our guns if Obama is elected. Obama, on the other hand, has respect for people and the land that most Montanans relate to and will serve him well as he gets to know them and they see in him values that they share and cherish.
More than 80 percent of Americans now think that the country is on the wrong track and are looking for someone who can stop the poisonous, partisan bickering in Washington. When Montanans go to the polls on June 3, most of them are going to show Williams and his ilk that they are not afraid to vote for someone who is going to take their message of change back to the capitol.
Williams concludes his rant with the out-of-left-field comment about the United Nations. I’m not sure how the U.N. fits in with a piece on sportsmen, but I would like to note that many Americans have seen where the hubris of acting unilaterally has gotten us in Iraq, and they have rejected that policy.
Paul Lynn, Missoula
Drilling at home will stop terror funding
Do you like the price of gasoline today? How about when it gets to $4 or $5 per gallon?If you don’t, you need to ask, who funds terrorism? Some would say the Saudis. They take a percentage of their huge oil revenue and fund the Madroses. Some would say Iran. They fund Hamas and Hezbollah. There are others, but you get my point.
I say that the Saudis, Iran and others are not the big contributors. I say that our own government, especially the Democrats funded by the environmentalists, raise more money for the terrorists then all the other countries and organizations combined. How, you ask? The U.S. has enough oil reserves to serve this country. Let our oil companies drill and you will find that the price of gasoline will be cut in half and the countries and organizations presently funding the terrorists will reduce their involvement because they will not have the funds. Just look up on any of the search engines and you will find the amount of money this country spends on foreign oil. If the Democrats had not blocked the Energy Bill of 1995 (Bill Clinton veto) we would already be receiving U.S. oil from Barrow, Alaska.
Continuing to not demand your lawmakers to allow our oil companies to drill will not reduce the price of gasoline. All of us together are what politicians are afraid of so let’s make them act. Write and/or call them today and demand that we the American people want the end to them funding terrorism.
Bobby W. Newland, Hamilton
Recent service less than stellar
I consider myself a conscientious citizen because, among other things, I shop locally for everything I can. I have given up the “box stores” and big corporate chains. Although I feel good about those choices and habits, I have been very disappointed lately. I am a small business owner myself, which heightens the disappointment.Recently, I have had a couple of very bad experiences at local businesses. At one local business, I went in wanting to buy a specific product. They did not have it in my size. They did not offer to order it, or help me find another style, they simply turned me away in a brusque manner. At another business, I inquired about buying a product that they had available for sale, and they told me to buy it elsewhere, in a very rude way.
I am not aware of anything offensive about me that bothered these businesses. I am a normal, clean, well-dressed, polite individual who uses “please,” and “thank you,” and says it with a genuine smile. I am glad these businesses are doing so well in this economy that they don’t seem to need my money, but I still don’t like to be treated in a negative manner.
To be fair, I’ve had many good experiences at local businesses. Most recently, Betty’s Divine and the Bike Doctor offered exemplary service. I just wish all local businesses offered the same great service, and would make purchasing their products easy. It would make shopping locally a lot more fun, in addition to being a positive social choice.
Andrea Utick, Missoula
Deal with Forest Service is logical
Sterling Miller (guest column, May 7) and Sen. Jon Tester (Missoulian, April 27) seem unduly agitated over Plum Creek Timber Co. and Forest Service negotiations concerning road use cost-share agreements. Tester apparently sees it as a “public subsidy of the biggest landowner in Montana.”Given the checkerboard ownership pattern of parts of western Montana, the road-sharing agreements worked out between the Forest Service and Plum Creek are a logical outgrowth of an informed management policy. Without it, both ownerships are landlocked and unable to properly access their lands. When these cost/share agreements were initially negotiated, the Forest Service often paid a premium to allow for recreational use of the roads to access the federal lands and for environmental considerations.
I’m sure that the agriculture undersecretary is negotiating for a continuation of these federal rights and a new arrangement to fund future costs. While Plum Creek surely gains a benefit with an ongoing use agreement, they also gain encumbrances that will preserve the public’s right of use across the private land as well as the preservation of other rights and concerns. There would be no end in sight if the public were allowed to “participate” in the negotiations.
On concerns about paving the Petty Creek and Little Joe roads, I can say that I have used both and they are far from low-use roads and paving them reduces the cost of maintenance. I suspect that animals that can manage to find their way across the gravel will be able to do so as well in crossing pavement.
The use of arcane federal laws to obtain an unlawful restriction on the use of private property is a cynical and dishonest attempt to restrict private rights. It smacks of the abuse of eminent domain laws we have seen recently across the country.
Dennis Elliott, Lolo
There are still four candidates left
Ron Paul is getting closer to the finish line all the time, thanks largely to ongoing fallout.I think it is time to get the big story out that he is very much in the “running,” his name is on the ballot, he is the keynote speaker at the Montana State Republican Convention in Missoula (June 19-21) and he is still living and practicing by the same characteristic high principles he has always followed.
Too many people are unaware that he is still very much a candidate for the presidency of the United States. They do not have to agonize over deciding between the other “three” each with individual shortcomings. There are four choices.
Clarice Ryan, Bigfork
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