Read each party’s platform, then decide
The basis for joining a political party should be based on the organization’s tenets. Read their platforms for polarizing differences.
The 2008 Democratic Party platform supports abortion on demand and amnesty for illegal immigrants. It honors faith (not God or Judeo-Christianity) and supports gun rights but the wording emphasizes gun regulation and protection against religion. It promotes health insurance for all at enormous expense to taxpayers.
The media says the Republican Party is the champion of business and the wealthy, while the Democratic Party is the champion of the working class. Clever, since most voters are working class ... but what a lie. There is a difference between the Republican conservative policy of individual self-reliance, restraint in government growth and control versus affirmative action, big taxes/big government of the Democratic policies. Since when have welfare recipients been the working class?
A Democrat goes against his party if he values God in government, self-reliance and independence, the inherent rights and dignity of every person and if he opposes abortion, more taxes to support big government, and amnesty for illegal immigrants. If your party’s platform doesn’t fit you anymore, break with tradition and leave. Make a statement, take a stand.
Roland Horst, Bigfork
McCain’s abortion position belittles women
As a woman, I was astonished to hear Sen. John McCain say during the last debate, “Just again, the example of the eloquence of Senator Obama. He’s 'health’ for the mother. You know, that’s been stretched by the pro-abortion movement in America to mean almost anything. That’s the extreme pro-abortion position, quote, 'health.’ ” Since when did women’s health become extreme?
What McCain said was belittling to women and shockingly uninformed of the health consequences many women face when pregnant. He not only mocked Barack Obama for supporting women’s health, he mocked women across the country who endure high-risk pregnancies and devastating complications. The simple fact is that we need a president who wants to protect and promote women’s health, not ridicule it. McCain has shown time and again that he is out of touch on women’s health and women’s rights:
• He voted 125 times against women’s health.
• He wants to overturn Roe v. Wade.
• He opposes funding to prevent unintended and teen pregnancies.
• He opposes requiring health care plans to cover birth control.
• He opposes equal pay legislation.
• He’s proposed a health care plan that will be worse for women.
Obama, on the other hand, gets it. Obama talked about common-sense proposals to prevent unintended pregnancy. He talked about a woman, along with her family and her doctor, deciding what is best for her health care. As president, he will improve access to quality health care for women, support and protect a woman’s right to privacy, support comprehensive sex education to keep our young people healthy, and invest in prevention programs, including family planning services and breast cancer screenings.
Trecia Campbell, Missoula
Palin athletic, articulate, but lacks knowledge
David Hurtt’s Oct. 16 letter to the editor deserves a response! I, too, am impressed with Sarah Palin. She is attractive, articulate and smart. She has a husband and family who appear to be loving and I assume she is athletic given her terrific figure. Having never shot wolves from a plane I don’t know how athletic you have to be to do that, but one has to be darn strong to lug around a dead moose, and being able to shoot one requires some skill.
Perhaps I am envious? I wouldn’t mind looking better, having a good figure, being more athletic and even a little younger. But I too have a loving family, a good career and some modicum of accomplishment. Just recently, a Republican friend told me, quite unsolicited, that I was just as smart as Palin! So I actually feel pretty good about myself and I will not concede, not for one moment, that my concern about Palin’s qualifications is just envy of the attributes she has. It’s the attributes that she does not appear to have that concern me.
In her interviews and speeches she has not displayed even rudimentary knowledge or understanding of economic issues, foreign affairs, trade policies, the Constitution, separation of church and state, or what is going on in Pakistan and Afghanistan. One does not need to be a “Washington insider” for that. She may well be capable of learning these things, but this vice presidency cannot be an internship.
I accept that she is a Maverick, with a capital “M.” A maverick in the Congress can be a good thing. A Maverick as head of state is not what this country needs.
My frustration, however, is not really with Palin - it’s with the man who has placed her and this country in this situation.
Mae Nan Ellingson, Missoula
AFL-CIO throws its support behind Bullock
It becomes terribly important in these times of financial and economic catastrophe that citizens elect political leaders that are highly ethical and efficiently competent. We need to choose leaders that also possess a deeply ingrained sense of justice and a gut understanding of the ordinary person.
Montana is fortunate to have such a candidate for attorney general. Steve Bullock has demonstrated his competence through his nearly four years of service in the Montana attorney general’s office and in his wide-ranging private practice.
Steve time and again has shown his commitment to justice by standing up for working families, small businesses, consumers, children, and low-income Montanans. Steve led the successful effort to raise Montana’s minimum wage in 2006. And Steve has run a highly ethical campaign, unlike his opponent who is currently misleading voters about Steve.
Steve Bullock has the enthusiastic endorsement of the Montana AFL-CIO and many other unions. As attorney general, Steve will effectively help meet the challenges we’re faced with in these hard times right alongside Montana’s working men and women. Please join me and vote for Steve Bullock for attorney general.
Mark Anderlik, President,
Missoula Area Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, Missoula
New emergency services facility is clearly needed
Missoula County citizens have an important decision to make. County Commissioners are asking voters to authorize a $16 million general obligation bond that would finance 70 percent of the cost of a new Emergency Operations Center to be located on county-owned land adjacent to the detention facility on Mullan Road. The board of directors of the Missoula Area Economic Development Corporation supports this request for several reasons.
A new facility is clearly needed. The quality of 9-1-1 dispatch and emergency services, which are vital to any community, is jeopardized by overcrowding and the challenge of technology upgrades. Co-location of the Sheriff’s Office with other first responders and law enforcement agencies will enhance services and improve efficiency. There are many other benefits that the county has identified.
Communities that neglect essential infrastructure will not achieve economic development success. The proposed new EOC is an investment in infrastructure that will serve Missoula and the region for many years.
Missoula County voters will make their decision soon. Economic concerns may make passage of the bond difficult. But, defeat of the proposal does not eliminate the need for an improved facility. We commend County Commissioners for working hard to control cost and bring forward a reasonable proposal. Investment in infrastructure is an investment in our future.
Dick King, President/CEO,
Missoula Area Economic Development Corporation, Missoula
Small group of activists taking over Ravalli Co.
Why am I voting to repeal the Ravalli County Growth Policy? Because a small, well-funded minority group of activists - the so-called “Friends of the Bitterroot” (350 members) and Bitterrooters for Planning (the same people) have taken over our county for the purpose of micro-managing and regulating this county to the extreme.
The growth policy allows the implementation of the following that have been adopted or will be. Find out the details of all of this and the Documents on the Ravalli County Web site, www.ravallicounty.mt.gov/planning.
More than 400 pages of different regulatory documents are allowed under the current growth policy. Zoning is one of them but there are more.
Pay particular attention to page 8 and page 15 of the policy. Also, notice that the countywide goals are expanded from the Growth Policy into a separate Document Draft, the Implementation Tools. Read page 15 of this document to see how businesses will be affected. Also, page 30 of Draft C says that, “Any person who violates these Zoning Regulations or fails to comply with any of the requirements herein shall, upon conviction, be fined not more than $500 for each offense or imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both and in addition shall pay all costs and expenses involved in the case. Each day the violation continues shall be a separate punishable offense.” Read the rest of this draft for more restrictions!
This all means layers and layers of government, higher and higher taxes, regulations upon regulations. It means loss of liberty and property rights, devaluation of property values, control and micro-managing the citizens of Ravalli County.
Stop the busy bodies! Our property, freedom and liberty are in danger!
Vote to repeal the growth policy Nov. 4.
Vicki Greathouse, Florence
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