CrimeSentences aren't protecting residents
In the March 27 Missoulian is a listing of court convictions in Missoula - 18 DUI convictions and 15 felony convictions. Of these, only four will actually serve time in prison. Also listed are the addresses of four sexual offenders and six violent offenders who are not restrained at these address.How do these sentences make the residents of Missoula safer?
Axel Sorensen, Missoula
GovernmentAll Americans deserve better than this
Testimony from the Katrina disaster has revealed the underlying danger in the far-right vision of government. Victims repeatedly expressed concerns about the competence of FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security. Why did FEMA spend over $300 million to buy trailer homes that don't meet its own regulations? And why are they still sitting in a field in Hope, Ark., rather than being placed where they are desperately needed?Our president's response? "I've asked Chertoff (Homeland Security) to find out. What are you going to do with them? I mean, the taxpayers aren't interested in 11,000 trailers just sitting there. Do something with them. And so I share that sense of frustration when a big government is unable to, you know - sends wrong signals to taxpayers. But our people are good, hardworking people."
News flash: Hey, Dubya, you are big government! Been that way for over five years. But why be accountable? Just blame big government while praising those in charge. Can you say oxymoron?
Bush's base, the far-right corporatists, has a goal "to cut government in half in 25 years ... to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub," according to Grover Norquist. If that statement of intent isn't treasonous, it certainly reeks of anarchy. After all, this is a government of the people, not of market forces.
To achieve their goal, they either starve select programs/agencies of funds or manage these programs/agencies so poorly (with unqualified cronies or anti-government advocates) that they fail. Interesting. Mismanage select agencies so poorly that they ultimately succumb to the "drowning" prophecy. So when government fails, they (conservatives) use their own incompetence as the argument that government can never work anyway, so you might as well keep electing them (conservatives) to have less government. The Katrina victims deserve better. America deserves better.
Jerry Straka, Kalispell
Pat WilliamsColumns address important concerns
The comments about columnist Pat Williams in the letters to the editor concern me. Most are negative. I judge that Williams is astute enough to brush off the barbs.Thank you, Pat. Your columns are right on about the concerns that we should care about.
Hilmer P. Hansen, Libby
ReligionDifferences in opinion take backseat
I've been reading and re-reading the opinion of the Rev. Fred Emery, under the headline, "Red states vs. blue states in the church?" in the Missoulian of April 1. He writes, "The very definition of Christianity is being debated in our churches in America. And no compromise is possible." Why did my throat constrict when I read Emery's words, "No compromise is possible"? Well, it reminded me of the terrible fear I felt as a kid in the part of "Alice in Wonderland" where the Queen of Hearts yells over and over and over at Alice and her friends, "Off with their heads! Off with their heads!"At about the same time that I first heard "Alice in Wonderland," Mrs. Hurwitz was my Sunday school teacher. She was kind and gentle and had beautiful hair and told us wonderful stories about Jesus and about the amazing Old Testament people. But the best thing about her was she told us every week that God is love and that Jesus loves us - not just me and the rest of the kids sitting in the circle, but all the other kids in Billings, and (she said) all the children everywhere in all the world. I was able to believe that God could love us all because there was no question that Mrs. Hurwitz loved us.
I now attend a progressive mainline Protestant church because I've finally come to an adult understanding of what Mrs. Hurwitz kept telling us. I see that the Bible does show us that each and every one of us is a beloved creature in the limitless and mysterious work of God. I see that our struggles with one another over beliefs and opinions and compromises are mere specks in comparison.
Marylor Wilson, Missoula
American jobsIt's time to stop selling out
Our president is trying to make foreign deals that will cost us more jobs and create more taxes.He is in Mexico praising the North American Free Trade Agreement. Congress now seems to want the Central America Free Trade Agreement.
In 13 years, NAFTA has increased our deficit in trade with Mexico from $3 billion to $27 billion and has cost us 3 million jobs as our corporations have simply crossed the river and set up plants hiring cheap Mexican labor and hauling the manufactured products back to the United States.
This sellout of American jobs is the result of corporations running our government and paying the re-election bills for these senators and congressmen.
These corporations continue to grow through mergers and buyouts and should be stopped.
In 1909 in the United States, there were 290 different makes of cars made in 145 cities in two dozen states, of which Detroit itself boasted of 25 makes. Chicago had 14 makes, Indianapolis had 12 and Cleveland had 10. Michigan led the states with 45 makes but Indiana was close behind with 44. By 1927, 182 makes were left. We lost 108 makes of cars in 18 years, mostly through mergers and buyouts. Today we have three left here, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. Chrysler is now owned by Mercedes-Benz of Germany.
Ford recently announced that it was negotiating spending $3 billion building cars in China. Not a word of complaint from Washington. Our government should have told Ford that it was their money and they could spend it as they wanted, but that no vehicle built in China could be imported and sold in the United States.
What will it take to awaken the American voter to demand sensible laws here and stop this predatory raid on our pocketbooks?
Elbert E. Stallcop, Hamilton
Parking etiquettePeople have forgetton to obey laws
"Times they are a changing."I can remember back when "No Parking" signs meant "No Parking" - now we have a class of people who are above the law or they cannot read.
Lately, I see Starbucks being talked about, but we must have some competition here in Missoula, as I see lots of people in their idling, gas-guzzling vehicles parked right on top of "No Parking" in front of the Albertsons at 3800 Russell while they send their kid or passenger into purchase a cup of coffee that runs from $1.40 to $4.10 per cup.
I can remember back in the old days when you saw a police car parked in front of a Buttrey's, Albertsons or Skaggs store and it meant they were picking up a shoplifter. But not any more.
At that same Albertsons on Russell, I saw a cop car parked in a "No Parking" area, and before I reached the front door, out walked one of Missoula's officers with a large cup of coffee. He got into his squad car and drove off.
Yes, times they are a changing!
Leroy Donovan, Missoula
Conrad BurnsSenator, we smell your B.S.
Yes Conrad Burns, we can tell B.S. when we smell it, and I think that it is on your boots. As the senator knows, when a pig squeals too loud, it is generally scared of something. I guess our country bumpkin got too close to the big D.C. cookie jar.Doug McClelland, Missoula
Yellowstone Bison Restoration must begin with a free herd
It's interesting that eastern Montana hopes to expand a bison population, while western Montana partners with the federal government in the wholesale slaughter, harassment and quarantine ofIt's America's last wild herd. Nearly 1,000 of America's last wild bison have been removed from the population since January.
Restoration efforts aiming to restore bison to Montana's grasslands are commendable, but they should begin with the protection of the Yellowstone bison, not in spite of them. These efforts ignore the management scheme put forth by the Interagency Bison Management Plan - which is destroying a genetic gold mine - and sets a dangerous precedent of attempting to make the wild Yellowstone bison obsolete.
The Yellowstone bison are the only ones to have continuously occupied their native range; they are the sole wild survivors of the 19th-century slaughter. They are not transplants; they have lived in this region since buffalo time began. They are genetically strong and the last ones to follow the natural instinct to migrate. These factors set the Yellowstone bison apart from every other bison herd in the country and are the very reason they deserve lasting protection.
While a small percentage carries brucellosis, it's not harming the bison population (the government is doing that!) or domestic livestock (there has never been a documented transmission from wild bison to cattle). Brucellosis is a conveniently exaggerated excuse to control public land.
The last wild herd continues to suffer mismanagement and slaughter, while other restoration projects, however well intended, overshadow this latest shameful chapter in America's bison slaughter history.
Bison restoration must begin with the Yellowstone herd - wild, free-roaming bison - not products of quarantine or overzealous management. Efforts to protect migration corridors and contiguous habitat, a focus on cattle-based risk management, and a shredding of the IBMP are the keys to true bison restoration with integrity.
Stephany Seay, Arlee
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