Today, Feb. 20, there was an editorial in the Dispatch that tried to tie our economic success, or lack of it, to having military troops and equipment deployed here and around the world. The long and the short of it, when we are at war, we are creating jobs. I have long wondered when this argument would come out and now it shows how desperate that we are becoming. But it does bring out a truth we never could talk about before. That truth being that war is big business.

I fully recognize that we must stay strong with a military that is ready to protects us, here and around the world, but the misuse of our military lately has far out weighed the good it was intended for. To all of you that have suffered the loss of a loved one, I am sure that you take no solace in the fact that fighting that war gave somebody back here a job.

There are numerous countries in this world whose focus is on keeping their country safe and strong. They stay out of skirmishes and wars that don’t directly threaten them and for the most part are in better financial shape then we are. In other words their military is not big business. Right now cuts are being made in military spending but it will not be because we want to, but because we have to. Let’s hope the day comes when it will be because we want to and we will have money to build new roads and bridges here and not in some country that we just bombed.

Mike Holst

Crosslake

If 100 clergymen said you need to pray to get to heaven, would you say, I‘ll get there without praying. If the fire department said get out of the building. It’s on fire. Would you tell them, No, I don’t think so. Yet people deny the world’s top 2,500 climate scientist’s (IPCC) models that have been accurate for decades showing fossil fuel use is causing climate change”. Their models all predict the same life-ending catastrophe and can accurately duplicate the major climate changes of the past 20,000 years.

A few recent dates should be noted. The dates all climate science deniers claims were completely debunked: (Aug. 2011, Climate gate investigation by National Science Foundation found no falsified data or misconduct); (Nov. 2011, UC Berkley Climate Science investigation found all data questioned by deniers to be fundamentally correct and trustworthy):

Two future dates to look forward to: The date all humans realize the scientists they ignored were right all along and panic sets in; the date that Earth tips beyond the point of no return. 394 ppm atmospheric CO2 is getting way too close.

People continue the ultimate experiment by simply: not remembering there is impending doom; saying it sucks for our kids, but it’s all God’s plan: choosing the consolation prize of — oil grows the economy and creates jobs; and not giving the 7 billion born and living the same importance as the unborn. This planet is really important to all of us. We need a 6 percent reduction in fossil fuels every year starting in 2012 (Jim Hanson, NASA, Jan. 2012) or we’ll have to pay even more, later.

Neal Lesmeister

Baxter