let us do justice to one of the greatest scammers in american political history and recognize that reagan spoke fluff for general consumption.
in fact, as illustrated by commie/socialist organizations such as bloomberg and kiplinger, reagan hammered the average man in social cuts and increased taxes. look it up before you react.
as has been the habit since reagan daze, bush, bush and obamma have handed the peoples' wealth to corporations and the richest few percent.(top marginal tax rate cut from 70 to 28% and calling for more, ie bush "refunds") talk about socialist, no better example.
doesn't seem like patera fits the mold.
patera mentions the berkely pit, a sterling example of corporate socialism/welfare if there ever was one.
the pit cost $2.4 million per year to "maintain" a decade ago, which of course has magnified over the years, and researchers have estimated it will be cleaned up ....NEVER.
a great return for the people of america after anaconda and asarco pulled a cool $3 billion in profits and then handed the liability to joe plumber via bankruptcy...
ditto zortman and hundreds of others.
these represent but a few of the scams the corporate/socialist state hands you behind your flag, mom and apple pie (apples from chile).
add in the jobs shipped abroad and you are justified in developing an attitude toward any member of the washington organized crime operation
that continues to bad-mouth human services and to hail the murder of destitute third-worlders as heroic (oh, wait, that's another pricey corporate freebee altogether off topic.)
so...
let us roll in any of OUR dollars the feds stoop to distribute this way.
which would be a fraction of a cent on every give-away dollar to the corporations bent on destroying our republic behind globalization and the orange threat piped in the airport.

I didn't think there was much between your ears. Anyone holding up Ronnie Raygun as an example of any kind is suspect. I think he was really kind of a coward for what he did in the fifties and he was totally out of it while he was in office. I think you wouldn't know a socialist of communist from ice cream. I think Jesus was either a socialist or a commie. I didn't read any such thing in Bruce's recent letter to the editor, but I did see that he said he leaned toward the IWW's philosophy involving a couple of bozos that were commenting in his responses online. It is just as I thought, guys like you wouldn't know what the term nuance meant if you were slapped in the face with it. It is funny, you come in and try to make a clever little remark, but it is POX news doing all your talking. Get a mind and maybe I might listen.

@Gazer fact> Bruce admitted he was an old time iww wobblie in the comment section of his recent letter to the editor. Glad to see that you know Reagan quotes. My favorite Reagan quote>

"My fellow Americans. I'm pleased to announce that I've signed legislation outlawing the Soviet Union. We begin bombing in five minutes." -joking during a mike check before his Saturday radio broadcast

Just a wild guess Wheat, but I would venture to say that you probably live by this maxim: "Facts are stupid things." Ronald Reagan

Councilman Dow befor you respond to Brucc read Provers 26:4. Don't waste your time. Bruce is a socialist commie wobblie. He admitted it.

Dow isnt a good politician. He doesnt sugar coat the bad decisions that are being made around here. What happens when federal spending gets reduced? Vote Democratic and vote to stay dependent Is that Jon's new slogan?

I appreciate that Mr. Dow sees fit to respond to my letter to the editor. I certainly don’t see what it is that is so confusing to Mr. Dow in his letter published on July 2nd. Concerning my previous letter to the editor, it seems clear enough, I addressed the fact that he voted against the opportunity to acquire resources that benefit the people of the third ward and the City of Havre. I feel that I also made it very clear that I was asking for an end to the affected partisan behavior in the city council like that takes place on the state and national stage.
Mr. Dow attempts to discount my suggestion that partisan politics be put aside for the sake of our community’s wellbeing. He also justifies his actions in refusing the Vibrant Futures request by turning the discussion to one based on U.N. Agenda 21 as a rationale for not accepting federal funding that could allow the people of Havre and our region to benefit by growing in a spirit of cooperation, not to mention the fact that there are dollars at stake that will go somewhere else if refused. It (the money for Vibrant Futures Funding) is budgeted money as referenced in Article 1 of the Constitution—it cannot be spent unless it has been budgeted by the House of Representatives. A very simple concept, yet Dow considers it part of a conspiracy called U.N. Agenda 21.
In the last several years, conspiracy theorists have attacked an obscure United Nations accord called Agenda 21 and it has emerged as something of a unified field theory for the antigovernment movement. On its face, Agenda 21 does nothing but provide countries and communities with a set of principles to grow smartly — a plan in short, to address concerns with overpopulation, pollution, poverty, and resource depletion.
U.N. Agenda 21 has been used as a reason by this faction to resist any attempts by anyone or any entity that advocates for the smart growth of communities. Mr. Dow appears to be following the lead of Glenn Beck, who in his final days with FOX News, argued that by agreeing to follow Agenda 21, the U.S. government had colluded with internationalists to undermine its own sovereignty and turn the nation into an environmental refuge where nature would take precedence over people.
The state of Montana has not been starved by the financial resources of extreme environmentalism, but by a lack of regulation on extractive industry. But really Mr. Dow, what does that have to do with the issues I have raised? The opposite could be argued that we have subsidized large extractive industries that have not adequately reimbursed the citizens of Montana while at the same time leaving messes such as Zortman-Landusky to be cared for by the taxpayer in perpetuity and the Berkley Pit; these issues are forever. There are over 75 Superfund sites in Montana at last count. The profits of the majority of these have gone to private interests at a cost to public interests; would that be known as reasonable "commerce?” By the way, the 1972 State Constitution guaranteed the people of Montana a clean, safe environment—it is our right to expect that our elected officials insure those principles. “Extreme environmentalism” is just another of the talking points Mr. Dow likes to parrot to take our minds off the real issues.
As for the issue of ideology, I don’t believe Mr. Dow is on the city council to argue constitutional law, but to represent the best interests of his constituents and their best interests at this local level involve the abatement of increased taxes and that can be accomplished by accepting federal grants in this case. Mr. Dow do you base your statement about the government being broke on more FOX News information?
However Mr. Dow, that is not what we are concerned with in this discussion. The issue is that you are denying the taxpayers of your ward and the city a way to keep our costs contained. City taxes will be increased if we return Federal funds; we have to make up that shortfall somewhere. We received an increase in Federal allocations not because they are handouts, but because we are a border state and because we have vast federal land holdings here. It seems foolish to sell our products (read extractive resources) below market value. Realistically, there are strings attached to everything because we are interdependent on each other, not independent or dependent.