Page 34 - Flathead Beacon // 4.8.15

34 | APRIL 8, 2015
LIKE I WAS SAYIN’ Kellyn Brown
Superheroes Everywhere
THIS IS THE SECOND YEAR IN A ROW WE published our Amazing Issue, and for the second year in a row we found it easy to find people, feats and facts that amaze us. This is an impressive valley, and so are the residents who call it home.
From neighbors who are exceptional moms and elite athletes, to a landscape that features enormous lakes and a pristine national park, most of us who live here acknowl- edge how lucky we are and do what we can to stay.
Again, this year, we tapped our part-time designer, who is also a full-time comic book artist, Dwayne Harris, to il- lustrate the cover of the newspaper. To us, nothing conveys amazing like a superhero and Dwayne is amazing in his own right.
Along with writing and illustrating traditional comics, he writes graphic novels, my favorite of which still sits on my bookshelf and is titled “Amnesia.” It is a fascinating sto- ry about the consequences of everyone on Earth suddenly losing their memory. I grew up on comics, love science fic- tion and read the short novel in one sitting. The next day I told Dwayne how impressed I was by the book. I had dis- covered something new and amazing about someone I had known for years.
It’s always fun when that happens. And it happens a lot.
I remember sitting in the crowd at an open mic night with a friend of mine when I first saw his high school daughter take the stage, an impressive feat even if her per- formance wasn’t amazing. It was.
I know amazing skiers and snowboarders who some- how log hundreds of thousands of vertical feet every year while holding down jobs as engineers and designers.
I know amazing volunteers who serve as Big Brothers and Sisters or give their spare time to the homeless shelter or a number of other worthy nonprofits based in the Flat- head.
Again, it’s always rewarding to discover something new about someone you already know – something that may amaze you more than others. In the case of Dwayne, since he gave me that graphic novel years ago, I’ve followed his work as he has continued to make his mark on the competi- tive comic book industry.
You may have seen his work in series such as “Black Powder” and “John Henry,” but if you haven’t, you really should. I’ve watched as he has made inroads with art direc- tors at Comic-Con, the annual comic convention featuring the business’ heavyweights. His graphic novel, “Amnesia,” has especially drawn attention and has been optioned for a movie.
I’ve long appreciated the stories and art featured in the pages of comics and the idea of a hero at the heart of it. As a kid, my mother would take me to the comic book store to buy my favorite issues and to the theater to watch movie adaptations of my favorite characters. I still have a box of comic books in my storage shed.
When my family would take me on camping trips, I would wander through the woods with makeshift weapons pretending to save mankind from a fictional threat. Even- tually, I thought at the time, I would certainly use these skills to fight crime. Instead, I grew up and became an edi- tor and mostly sit in front of a computer all day.
Superheroes aren’t real in the sense that I imagined as a kid. And what I consider amazing today is far differ- ent than what I thought then. Now, when I wander into the woods – or, in our case, a national park – I’m amazed by the landscape without having to fight a villain.
And those who I consider heroes no longer wear cos- tumes. They’re local artists, community volunteers and exceptional athletes. They truly belong in comic books.
OPINION FLATHEADBEACON.COM
TWO FOR THOUGHT
Same Topics, Different Views
‘Separate but Equal’
By Tim Baldwin
Years ago in America, the majority discriminated against people based on sex, religion and race. Until 1920 (19th amendment, USC) women could not vote. Until the 13th and 14th amendments, black people were property. Until 1967, states criminalized white and black people marrying each other. Those who support- ed these discriminations used either religion or natu- ral law for justification. Liberal thinking people fought these discriminations successfully, and most conserva- tives today praise this fact.
With federal courts ruling that Equal Protection prohibits states from denying marriage licenses to homosexuals, anti-homosexual folks are barricading themselves from further federal court decisions — a new kind of “separate but equal” attempt. The most notable attempt is Indiana’s “Religious Freedom Pro- tection Act.” RFPA states that churches, federal tax-ex- empt groups, etc. can discriminate against homosexu- als based on religion. This is foreseeably problematic.
Philanthropy considered, RFPA will foster disre- spect for fellow American citizens. Consistency con- sidered, anti-homosexual organizations will prove hypocritical because they will certainly transact busi- ness with people whose lifestyles the Bible condemns. Politics considered, if sectarian religion becomes the benchmark of what laws should be, reason will suffer. What distinguishes homosexual discrimination from prior discriminations in the name of religion?
So, does our constitution prevent certain discrimi- nation so that the majority cannot oppress the minor- ity? Or is there a new “separate but equal” movement?
By Joe Carbonari
There’s a burden to carry when you are born different. You attract attention. You are judged on that difference.
Humankind has a range of sexuality. Limits on behavior are necessary to main- tain order. This leads to “good” and “bad” sex. Heterosexuality seems to be the most productive arrangement, with monogamy preferable – a more stable family unit. It has worked over time. It has advantages.
If I were gay, I’d probably think it unfor- tunate that many of the people who I was attracted to didn’t share the feeling. It sure would feel good when I came across some- one with similar feelings, who liked me for who I was.
Marriage is society’s way of saying, “that works for us.” The union makes each of you more stable and productive. This is good.
A person who thinks differently may hold to that thought and advance it, but not in a way that unduly injures others. At base, discrimination laws deal with injuries to others, most often psychological injuries. It does not serve society to pass laws that encourage discrimination, even with a reli- gious cloak.
No acceptable interpretation of “God’s will” commands bigotry, or beheadings. It could not be; it would not serve. Think it through.
GUESTCOLUMN | JonTester
Refocusing on Montana’s Middle Class
Seems like every time I turn on the TV, I see an- other pundit or politician calling for greater Ameri- can military intervention in response to ISIS, or heading to war with Iran, or cleaning up after some other conflict around the world.
While these threats are real and must be taken seriously, America can no longer afford to go it alone. We spend billions overseas every year and put thousands of young American men and women in harm’s way. And we pay for it by taking out new loans – mostly from foreign countries like China
and Japan.
In the meantime, our allies are free to invest sig-
nificantly more in public education, in health care, in infrastructure, in research and development, and in lower taxes.
We should be making those investments. But the budgets passed by the majority in Congress don’t.
Under the Republicans’ plan, Medicare would be privatized, our public lands would be sold off, work- ing families’ access to the Earned Income Tax Cred- it and the Child Tax Credit would be reduced, Pell Grants would be cut by a third and millions would lose access to affordable health care.
Instead of balancing the budget on the backs of middle class families, seniors, students and our na- tion’s most vulnerable, we need to fully invest in our roads and bridges, in our outdoor economy, in early childhood and higher education.
That’s the only way we’ll be able to compete in the global economy.
it somewhere.
So I suggest we look at what we’re spending
overseas because it prevents us from investing here at home.
Right now, we use an account called the Over- seas Contingency Operations Fund to fund interna- tional conflicts, but it’s become a slush fund for the Defense Department. It’s all off the books.
The United States spends more on defense than the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, Sau- di Arabia, Russia and China combined.
Two serious international threats – ISIS and Russian aggression in Ukraine – pose just as grave a threat to our allies in the Middle East and Europe as they do to us.
And yet, we’re the ones paying an overwhelming majority of the costs.
The price is far too high.
It’s not just dollars and cents. It’s the lives of our kids. It’s the wounds they face when they return from war, if they return at all. We must always bear the cost of supporting veterans. But we must be cer- tain that the battles they fight are worth it and that other countries share the burden.
But if we refocus our efforts back home, we can invest in public education, in health care, in infra- structure, in sound forest management. And in cut- ting down the deficit.
These are the investments we must make. Not another war.
But these things cost money and we need to find
Jon Tester is Montana’s senior U.S. senator.