Manifesto/Bio
Recent Comments
Re: “Biomass”
"People who are running around with their hands in the air just need to calm down a little bit and read the literature,” he says. The plant will pay for itself, he contends. “It’s between emotion and logic here.”
Classy! That's the quality of argument that now comes from academia. Sums up the UofM pretty well really.
Re: “City Council”
"Of course it's an effort to balance the budget," Jaffe says. "What's the issue there?"
If Jaffe cannot find within himself the moral answer to this question then he deserves to have no place on the council. He was only too willing to go along with the deceit to persuade the people of Missoula that the special districts would fund only those 'special districts', and yet he now admits that they were used to balance the shortfall in the general fund. And that he sees no problem with that?! You really couldn't make this stuff up.
What priceless arrogance.
And just wait for this year's shortfall excuse - the weather. Due to the city's constant disregard for necessary infrastructure they keep steering money toward personal projects that leave us with streets that fall apart. Where is the pre-winter prep work? Shoving a pile of tar into a wet hole during the winter in no way denotes street maintenance in the majority of cities that experience exactly the same weather as we do.
Re: “Climate change is not real”
I think this article must be an Exxon double bluff, because if I wasn't in the skeptic camp before I would be now having read this poorly constructed article that despite her assertion of facts contains none at all, just glossed over outdated generalizations that were trumped years ago. "And guess what?" If not Exxon, is this an 11-year old's summer essay that has been printed numerous times in papers around the country because daddy runs the corporate printing presses? If the Independent is not careful it will be following in the footsteps of that other pitiful paper in town, the Missoulian -- it too likes to print poorly researched, cherry-picked, regurgitated opinion pieces.
Re: “Urban forest”
- "Gaukler says it's important to see that the trees that once surrounded Geary's yard, like the invasive knap weed, had the potential to spread and, ultimately, affect the entire Missoula Valley."
The subjective part of this is "had the potential to spread." Subjective because, in their life, and given that only well-watered Norway Maples do well, have they "[affected] the entire Missoula Valley." I think not. But what is next? Forced access to private property to remove all non-native trees that any current city forester has a dislike for? -- "a moratorium, as Geary would like."
Gross exaggeration to justify an agenda is something this city does all too often, and they do it again here by comparing the Norway Maple to knap weed. It's an absurd comparison.
So nice to know that through our recently increased taxes we are now paying for healthy trees to be removed. Most non-anal-retentive communities have always enjoyed a good variety of trees, in case one or two species falls prey to disease. At some point in time everything was non-native. Trying to turn the clock back to some arbitrary date is nonsense. And Missoula hardly has the rainfall of New York City that makes these trees a problem anyway.
Personally, I would like to get rid of the non-native city council and its anal-retentive administration. They are the real blight on this town. Slashing healthy large-leaf shade trees (non of which are native to MIssoula) while countless hundreds of others -- being watered by enforcement -- are in dire need of pruning seems to be a back-asswards approach to urban forestry.
The City's Desirable Street Tree List (of which the Norway Maple is one):
http://www.ci.missoula.mt.us/DocumentView.…
This is a classic case where one person in a position of power, driven by ego, can do something to ruin what many have enjoyed for years. And then, once the mistake is realized, they are long gone.
Re: “Weekend planner: You may want to avoid West Broadway tonight”
Your papers please!
And if alles is nicht in ordnung, wir haben sie playing hopscotch in zee minefield.
Re: “Deadly choice”
A few self-righteous scientists, who, for some unearthly reason, continue to be placed upon a pedestal, practice reactionary solutions to a problem for which they cannot possibly know all the variables, or inevitable repercussions, and then play trial and error to patch a problem of their own making - which again they do no fully understand.
A child is capable of such infantile trial and error. But is thankfully less able to create such wanton destruction.
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Re: “Missoula lost driveway issue, animated”
"Few things are better time-wasters than awkwardly animated videos of real-life Missoula events."
And then you go on to report about it! That's about sums up the brilliance of the majority of Missoula 'journalism.'
If the journalists in Missoula did their jobs properly the City would never be allowed to run roughshod over the citizens of Missoula. The City only does so because no one holds them accountable - least of all the local media. The when someone does stand up against a blatant attempt to circumvent Due Process by removing private property they get slandered and vilified publicly. And you think that's okay?!