Coverage for kids a bipartisan issue
On Aug. 18, I attended my first news conference.
SEIU, the Service Employee’s Union, held a news conference to promote the citizen’s initiative, Healthy Montana Kids. I definitely did not agree with all of the views held by everyone in attendance, but I could not feel stronger on the issue of children’s health coverage. I would consider myself a Republican under normal terms, but it is so critically important to the state, and nation as a whole that we work together to ensure that we provide health coverage to our youngest and most vulnerable citizens. There are over 30,000 kids in the state of Montana who are without health insurance. I-155, the Healthy Montana Kids Initiative, would provide coverage for thousands of children whose parents currently cannot afford insurance for them.
Justin Anderson, Missoula
Help destitute in constructive ways
From my office located in a neighborhood, instead of the normal traffic of families walking their dogs, children riding their bikes on the sidewalks, etc., I get to look at panhandlers all day long.
Men are now sleeping in a field, one of them using a dog as bait, and the number of them seems to multiply overnight. What bugs me the most is the individuals in Missoula who actually stop and give them money or the lady who likes to bring them McDonald’s. This only encourages their behavior.
There are organizations that provide assistance, as well as several temp employment agencies always looking for candidates willing to work. I encourage you to please give your extra money to those really in need - the mother or father in the grocery store with children who can barely make ends meet, specifically those who do work and try to earn a living without the use of public benefits; seniors who receive a measly Social Security check or other minimal source of income on a monthly basis; those needing home repairs to provide adequate heat; ones with special needs and because of their circumstances, are not eligible for public benefits; or simply those who try to make a living and are over the resource max for public benefits eligibility. These are the individuals who are hurting the most in an economy such as ours.
There are several ways you can help families in our area: drop clothing off at the YWCA; contribute to nonprofit agencies who are dedicated to helping those in need; or provide funds to a family or individual who needs help paying for unexpected medical expenses due to illness or injury. Please help in a way that best suits our community.
Sheryll Stewart, Missoula
McCain’s 're-branding’ a surreal reality
It’s as if the last eight years didn’t happen: A trillion-dollar pre-emptive war sold with lies and a lazy media, tax breaks for the uber-rich and an historic federal debt to be paid by our children, manufacturing gleefully exported overseas and confidence men at home peddling landmine mortgages in a giant derivatives scheme, a president who does a “heck of a job” stripping out federal emergency management, justice, environmental protection, food and drug safety, and other agencies, a chief executive who condones “the Dark Side,” tortures prisoners, establishes kangaroo courts, renders opponents to secret jails, deliberately unravels of our constitutional rights, and destroys our reputation abroad.
According to John McCain, he and his party had nothing to do with this. They are “re-branding.” A Republican runs against the Republicans as a Republican. This is surreal.
Jeffrey J. Smith, Missoula
Consumers need protection from state
Re: Milk dating.
Do Montana producers have substandard processing or is it merely greed? The removal of milk from stores by the Montana milk board is totally bogus. Virtually all 49 other states have 21-day dating with zero health risks. To deny the families in Montana access to higher quality at a savings of $2 a gallon is criminal. Perhaps our governor should use his single-handedly-whipping-the-federal-government tactics to protect the citizens of Montana from his own government.
It is time for the Montana Department of Agriculture to remove their facial protrusion from between the hip pockets of the landed gentry, and serve the whole citizenship of this state.
Pat Bears, Polson
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