The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
Sorted by date Results 145 - 169 of 393
To the Editor: It has been known since early in the COVID-19 pandemic that Ivermectin can ameliorate the disease, shorten the course and reduce deaths. If, as in other countries, it had been allowed as a preventative prior to vaccine availability, more than 100,000 US lives could have been saved. Ivermectin is not a cure but its way ahead of whatever is in second place. In my opinion, the authorities who publicly discouraged the use of Ivermectin were absent without leave....
The world is changing faster than ever before. If we want Montana to continue to be a place where you can make a living and raise a family, we must build the infrastructure we need to seize the opportunities of the modern economy. Right now, Montana ranks as the worst state for broadband Internet connectivity. That's a problem we have to fix. Reliable access to high speed Internet doesn't just matter to high tech businesses and telecommuters; nearly every piece of our economy...
Has anyone else notices the slight yet growing cost of everything lately, or is it just me? Everything from food prices and gas prices to the ridiculous cost of building materials and more. I’m one of those “track my money” folks because I live on a budget. I know how much money I bring home from my various jobs. I know what should go into savings, what I have to spend on necessities like food, clothing, gas, pet needs, etc., and how much “fun money” I have to do with as I...
Our institutions aren't what they once were. Opinion polls show overwhelmingly that trust in the government, in Congress, and in business has fallen in previous years and remains low. One exception is the military, which is consistently among our most respected institutions. This reputation has been hard-won, over decades of apolitical service to the nation. Americans recognize that service by honoring our servicemen and women, and extending our armed forces enormous respect...
Our Supreme Court justices must think they are the executive branch and the legislative branch all rolled into one! They may even believe they are the new oligarchy in charge of Montana. Whatever their problem, it is manifesting itself in executive and legislative authority being usurped by Montana's Supreme Court. The examples are legion of our judiciary overstepping their authority. Consider this: can you imagine the Supreme Court of Montana threatening the Montana Attorney...
Education has been one of the most disrupted sectors by COVID-19. The ripple effects of school closures and remote learning have further put pressure on families and our economy. The Legislature responded by giving more flexibility to students, families, and educators to engage in individualized learning. We began the session by providing local school boards with stability as they were beginning their annual budgeting process. House Bill 15 which provides an inflationary...
This past snowmobile season started out a little slowly here in Lincoln. Snow was thin but stoke was high, and as soon as the clouds started dumping, we started riding. Snowmobiling is a way of life here; it's a family-friendly activity, a way to socialize with your friends, it gives us all an opportunity to blow off some steam while benefitting from great outdoor physical activity and is a great way to experience Montana wilderness in the winter. As Lincoln and the...
Fairness is not a partisan issue. Fairness is the goal of the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act currently being considered in the United States Congress. The bill has bipartisan support in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. H.R. 1735 / S.673 is critically important to protecting the future of high-quality, local journalism in Montana and across our nation. Support is growing for the legislation, yet much more needs to be done before it can become law....
It's so easy, in the course of our day-to-day lives, to get caught up in the political preoccupations of the moment. What's the Senate going to do about the filibuster? How should infrastructure money be spent? Is the country going to come out of this year as badly divided as it started? These and many other questions matter a lot-but sometimes, it's helpful to step back and take stock of what we've learned over the course of our history. I've been thinking about this because...
18, two children in Salem; having delusions, muscle spasms and vomiting, accused women of bewitching them. Hysterical hunts found witches. Trials were held and women imprisoned and hung. 1950s, Senator Joseph McCarthy, amid the Communist Hysteria of the time, accused many people of communism. Being a Communist was not illegal, but accusations were enough to ruin personal and professional lives which was his goal. Ironically, the accused were usually liberals. Amid racism...
In September, a thirty acre piece of ground along Highway 200 just west of the MDT equipment shop at about milepost 68.5 was sold to "Lost Moose Meadows" a business partnership that proposes to build an RV campground there. Plans, which we have seen, were filed with the Montana Department of Transportation. As the land owners immediately to the west of this property, we want to bring your attention to some of the problems it poses. We're sure that many of you will agree with...
I didn't study political science in college. I'm a soil scientist. So when people sling political terms around, I have to look them up in Webster's Dictionary. Webster writes that "socialism is when government takes over the means of production". Webster's says that "crony capitalism" occurs when business thrives not because of risk, but because of a cozy nexus between the business and the political class to make money for the corrupt. Communism, like Russia, is a perfect...
One year into this pandemic, Montanans are finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Our vaccines are safe and effective, COVID cases are falling thanks to the tireless efforts of our frontline health care workers, and Spring is on the horizon. But even with this good news, we still have work to do before we get through the worst public health and economic crisis in generations. Over the past year I've had hundreds of conversations with families, workers,...
Every election cycle, you can count on Republican candidates promising to reduce the size and cost of government, and in general, getting government out of our businesses and out of our daily lives. Yet as every session of the legislature demonstrates, that pledge – for the majority of Republican lawmakers – has a distinctly hollow ring. Not unlike their Democratic counterparts, the GOP’s commitment to controlling government and reducing welfare dependency is highly selective. For their friends, the free money game conti...
President Abraham Lincoln once said, "America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." The question is are we destroying ourselves? To answer we need to ask, has our form of government changed? Some would say we're a democracy based on the majority vote. I say correctly we're supposed to be a Constitutional Republic based on the rule of law. But today, both are inaccurate. The truth is we are...
As the events of the past few months have unfolded, I have often found myself wondering what our Founders would have made of it all. Impossible to know, of course, but they had plenty of insight to offer. In particular, I keep returning to these lines from James Madison. He delivered them during the Virginia convention to ratify the Constitution, arguing that the surest safeguard against legislators and a government bent on malfeasance is the people themselves. "I go on this...
In an attempt to block a punt, the defender jumps toward the kicker to block the ball. Untouched, the kicker falls as if struck by lightning. Why? Fool the referee; draw a penalty; defeat the other team. Dishonest, unethical, of course; but winning trumps honesty or integrity. TV announcers cannot call this a "football move": suggestion; call it a: "Democrat move". Anyone observing even five minutes of Democrats impeaching Trump or talking about their fears of fellow...
I wanted to take a moment to write a word of thanks to our local medical folks at the Purview Clinic here in Lincoln. After several months of getting the run-around from doctors in Helena and Missoula, I reached out to the team here in Lincoln, hoping they could help me in some way. They handled things, communicated and were able to get done inside of 24 hours more than any of the "specialists" had been able to help me within six months. I had an appointment there on...
The Montana Legislature is leveling one of the most aggressive attacks on public hunters we've ever seen under the guise of protecting gun rights. HJ 5, sponsored by Rep. Brad Tschida, R-Lolo, states that taxing firearms is unconstitutional, and unenforceable. Apparently, Rep. Tschida and supporters of this measure don't like Montana's abundant wildlife, the habitat that supports it and the world-class hunting we all enjoy. That's because we've had a tax on firearms for 84 yea...
Critical Thinking is the OBJECTIVE analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgement. It is a core academic skill and arguably a core life skill as well. Unfortunately, critical thinking is too often replaced with emotional reasoning (cognitive distortion where a person concludes that their emotional reaction proves something is true, regardless of evidence proving otherwise). The current threat to our Supreme Court institution perfectly illustrates this kind of replacement thinking. Calls for ‘court p... Full story
Dear readers: I wish to express my viewpoint in light of Don Niemeir's opinion and words to me in the January 28th BVD. I appreciated his candid approach to our current national crisis as it forced me to do more research. Here are some other facts to consider: Mr. Niemeir states at the beginning of his letter that "the over-all death rate from all causes has not risen." In my study of the CDC website, I found statistics showing that on a weekly basis starting from March 28th,...
I would like to give a big shout out and thank you to all the personnel from Helena and those in Lincoln who made the drive-thru COVID-19 clinic possible on the 5th of February. You all did your jobs in an exemplary manner in difficult weather conditions. Job well done one and all! Let's hope the weather and travel conditions are better for the follow up. Again, thank you. A grateful senior, Carole Fleming...
Sportsmen Beware. SB-143 Montana voters passed I-161 in 2010 to limit guaranteed outfitter tags. The current legislature (sponsor Jason Ellsworth (R) SD 43) has introduced SB-143 which negates I-161 thus bypassing the will of Montana voters. This Bill proposes to double the number of guaranteed outfitter licenses thus reducing non-outfitted non-residents. States which provide unrestricted landowner tags like proposed in this bill have experienced significant loss of public...
Letter to the Editor: Dr. Neimeir made several good points in his letter in response to Liz's, but the one that I feel compelled to echo, endorse, and shout from the top of Dalton Mountain is "make no mistake . . . it's all about politics." My Poli-Sci 101 textbook described "politics" as the means by which power is distributed and redistributed in any society. Politics is the machinery that produces power over people and resources. At its core, politics is about who has...
Do you hunt with out of state family and friends? Do you hunt private lands without an outfitter or guide? Have you been applying for a Missouri River Breaks or Elkhorns bull tag for every single year? If so, you better pay attention. SB 143, sponsored by Sen. Jason Ellsworth, R-Hamilton, would turn the vast majority of non-resident big game licenses offered in Montana to "outfitter sponsored" tags favoring hunters with money who use outfitters. It would also create landowner...
