Letters to the editor

March 12

Clarity is in the Bible

Babylon has fallen. A “Babel” of confusion reigns worldwide. In this 21st century, every type of policy is being loudly promoted to solve problems that cannot even be identified accurately. Solutions of every sort are being proposed.

 There is truly worldwide war going on. The nature of which is as old as history. The identity is denied by most politicians and scholars, but that cannot cancel its reality.

 The modern beachhead was planted by a scientist, Charles Darwin in the 19th Century. He rebelled against the creator by inventing a theory of evolution from a simple cell to a complex creature. Evolution and atheism spawned communism and fascism, which endeavored to change the world to, enforced socialism. In the USA, Dewey took over education early in the 20th Century with scientific theory replacing basic fundamental truth in all levels of education. Nazism and Communism apparently were eliminated when the Soviet Union fell in the Reagan years.

 However, those of us who knew what was going on in America realized that communism was cast out the back door but was already in control in the front door, in our courts, schools and foreign policy. The liberal thinkers had quietly taken over the unions, colleges, the United Nations and various Christian movements. Today this is manifest by the student riots in our colleges promoting socialism under socialist teachers.

 What is the problem? American and world rulers are in total rebellion against their Creator. In Psalm 2:1, 2 God’s word asks, “Why?”  “Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? The rulers set themselves against the Lord and against His anointed saying, ‘Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us.’” The final stage of rebellions is at hand, which will end with seven years of destruction to the rebels.

 Is there any solution to the problem? Individuals can carefully consider the Word of God and discover it’s absolute veracity. The Bible truly states, “The fool hath said in his heart ‘There is no God’.” The Bible is written for such fools. The Bible records a great trial taking place in the Supreme Court of Rome. It was the Jews against Christians. The documents presented are the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts. The Apostle Paul described it in II Timothy that at his first answer, no man stood with him. They thought it was a bunch of myths. But the myriad of eyewitnesses that were called proved the virgin birth of Christ, His death and resurrection and the miracles were absolutely true and Paul was exonerated as having the true extension of the religion of Jehovah. The Jews were shortly destroyed with their city, priesthood and religion and the 100,000 survivors were made slaves to build the amphitheater in Rome.

 The atheist and agnostic have imagined a host of supposed proofs contrary to these verifiable facts and represent the “raging heathen” in Psalm 2. The Psalm ends with an invitation to embrace the Son of God who is Jesus Christ. Personal, eternal victory is the result. Meanwhile “Babel” reigns. Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Communists and Muslims all make a raucous Babel.

Ernest Seablom, Ronan

Watch where you point the finger

On Wednesday, Feb. 25, while driving from Polson to Seattle, I listened to Rush Limbaugh for his entire three hour radio broadcast. It was most interesting and revealing to me. I was sort of captivated by him. It was almost a seduction. I really wanted to hear everything he said, not that I agreed with much of it, but there was a certain “something” to the whole thing that intrigued me.

This was the day after President Obama gave his speech before the joint session of Congress. Rush castigated Obama right down the line, of course, saying you can’t believe him, whatever he says he means the opposite, the ranting went on and on.

Angry? Rush seemed very angry. Me? No, not really. The accusations were so far off track that I found myself very curious about what he might say next. He claims to espouse a deeply held “conservative viewpoint.” I have always wondered just what that label really means. With Rush and his listeners who call in, it seems to mean anger, frustration and total rejection of any idea of working with the present administration to heal our nation’s wounds.

By the end of the third hour, I had finally figured out why this performance was enticing and captivating for me. With conditions in this country being as bad as they are I sometimes get upset and frustrated. This surely must happen with most people. Rush Limbaugh feeds these extreme negative emotions of mine. He always points to “all those liberals out there” who are to blame. The finger is always pointing to someone else. And my ego just love this! Someone to blame for my frustrations. It is never me. It is someone else! I’m off the hook!

When I listen to the people who call into his show, I can feel their anger and frustration, their love for Rush, and their delight in pointing the finger of blame at someone else!

Perhaps we need the Rush Limbaugh’s of the world, just as we need the seemingly sudden national crisis, to wake us up to our own responsibilities, and to be  more sensitive to how our own feelings, thoughts, words and actions contribute to our personal, community, country and world problems.

 Bob McClellan, Polson

Tax, spending clarification

It’s time for the state of Montana to tighten it’s belt. I never said that individuals should do so. And property tax payers in Lake County should be very concerned about state spending.

Why? The average income in Lake County is 44th out of the 56 counties. Still, our residential property value has increased the most.

I wonder if Maureen Theiler knows that the farm bill comes from Washington, not Helena. If you do not like it, contact U.S. Senators Max Baucus and John Tester. They not only vote for the farm bill their families benefit from the programs.

I never forget that I work for the citizens of House District 11. Now I’ll go back to reviewing the property tax mitigation plans proposed by the Taxation Sub-committee.

Rep. Janna Taylor, House District 11

Thanks for the horse help

I would like to take this opportunity to offer my heartfelt thanks to all the wonderful people who helped us rescue our horses the day they fell through the ice. What a blessing to live in a community where passersby will risk their own safety to help a neighbor in need.

We are also so very fortunate to have such a great volunteer fire department. Their expert training and quick response is a vital part of our community safety. Thank you RVFD and Ronan Ambulance crews for coming to our rescue that day.

I would also like to offer a special thanks to the wonderful gentleman who saw the horse from the highway and stopped to help. I am sure things would have turned out differently if you would not have acted so quickly in getting a rope around the neck of our little mare.

I also offer my sincere gratitude to Josh Castor and Rocky Cote. You guys are the greatest. I don’t have the words to thank you enough for all you do for us. Where would we be without you?

To everyone in the community who has expressed their concerns, the horses are all doing just fine. I am hopeful that this accident and the great article in the paper will help to educate others of the dangers of the melting ice. 

Beverly Luedtke, Ronan

Global warning is serious

The Leader’s publisher asks in the March 5 issue, “Why can’t global warming wait a few years?” The reason is simply that global warming is the biggest crisis to ever face our species and disaster is imminent. 

It is necessary to understand two simple concepts to appreciate the mess we are facing. First, is the greenhouse effect. If it weren’t for certain gasses in the atmosphere holding in heat we would all freeze to death. It works just like a physical greenhouse. Too much of these gasses, however, and the atmosphere becomes too hot. 

The second concept is tipping point. Think of a child’s teeter-totter. You can walk up one side and your footing is solid, but if you pass the mid-point you will quickly fall and your weight becomes a problem. With climate change the tipping point is where the heating of the atmosphere causes the release of additional greenhouse gasses now stored under ice and on the ocean floor which causes more heating and release of more gasses which leads to more heating. The consequences would be disastrous. Most of the world’s cities would be under water, much of the world’s arable land would be flooded and most of the world’s population would starve.

According to studies by the Goddard Institute For Space Studies at Columbia University, we have passed the tipping point. Fortunately, the metaphor of  the teeter-totter has a second similarity to atmospheric heating and that is if you shift your weight back over the tipping point very quickly you can avoid disaster. It is now possible to bring the heat forcing gasses back to below the tipping point, but it must be done quickly and single-mindedly. Half measures, green washing, etc. won’t do it.  Whatever is necessary to accomplish the goal must be done. One way or another the future will be very different from the present. It’s our choice whether it will be better or much worse.

Harold Young, St. Ignatius

Domestic help resources excluded

I was happy to see an article regarding theft and domestic violence in the newspaper (last week). Awareness is especially important if we are to prevent future occurrences of such crimes. It was disappointing, however, to see important resources excluded from the “To Get Help” box. Both SAFE Harbor, which can be contact at 676-0800 and the CSKT Victim Assistance Program, which can be contacted at 675-2700, ext. 1194, offer help to victims of domestic violence in Lake County.

While I realize space is limited, I think it is important to include all of the resources available to those who may need help, because each

organization offers different services.

Lindsay Dietz, SAFE Harbor

Salary says it all

The electors of Polson should give the mayor a pat on the back for only taking a $1 a year salary, but with his failure to negotiate a contract seven times with seven different applicants I think Polson is getting their moneys worth.

 Allan Marcus, Polson

Democrats missed the boat

Recently Rep. Pat Ingraham of Thompson Fall introduced House Bill 28 that would exempt military retired from state income tax. The bill was sent to the House Taxation Committee for consideration. The bill never made it out of the committee. Ten republican members, including Rep. Jana Taylor, voted for the bill and ten democrats voted against the bill. This was a great opportunity for the state of Montana to express their gratitude to the military for their extreme sacrifices and long and often family separations by passing this bill. It is a sad state of affairs when our state legislature fails to do what is right for our brave men and women in uniform who have sacrificed so much for all of us. So much for bi-partisanship.

Jim Seals, Polson