Page 28 - Flathead Beacon // 6.25.14

28 | JUNE 25, 2014
LIKE I WAS SAYIN’ Kellyn Brown
OPINION FLATHEADBEACON.COM
TWO FOR THOUGHT
Same Topics, Opposing Views
The Situation in Iraq
By Joe Carbonari
We have a strong national interest in helping settle things down in Iraq. A full-blown civil war is not to our advantage. The Jihadist momentum developing, with Syria and now much of Iraq as its manifestational core, is a serious threat to U.S. and world security, both physical and economic.
There is a line of thought existent in the Mus- lim world that leads many of their dissatisfied and intellectually vulnerable to the call for beating back modernity and returning to an earlier, more rigid form of Islam – one better suited to the tech- nologies and lifestyles of years, perhaps centuries, gone by. When pursued with the aid of modern weapons, it is unacceptable.
The militant group called the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, was formed at least in part by the remnants of Al Qaeda in Iraq and has been fighting in Syria with the intention of forming a religiously centered Islamic state stretching over much of both Syria and Iraq. Militarily they are al- lied with, and provide the spear point for a coali- tion of ex-Baathists and disenfranchised Sunnis who have more local, secular concerns.
We must stop the Jihadists without undu- ly alienating the more secular Sunnis. Perhaps a loose federation of Sunni, Shiite, and Kurdish states better suits the peoples of Iraq overall. We need to help facilitate that.
By Tim Baldwin
President Barack Obama has called for Iraq- is to form a more inclusive government because “the insurgency has been fueled largely by a sense of marginalization and persecution among Iraq’s Sunnis.” Secretary of State John Kerry agreed with Obama stating that if Iraq does create a more inclusive government, the United States’ “support will be intense and sustained.”
Khamenei, leader of Iran, has opposed U.S. in- volvement, stating, “We don’t approve of it as we believe the Iraqi government, nation and religious authorities are capable of ending the sedition.” Yet, Dick Cheney states that “we’re in for big trouble ... because of [Obama’s] refusal to recognize reality and because of his continual emphasis upon get- ting the US basically to withdraw from that part of the world.”
Sen. Rand Paul stated that he doesn’t blame Obama for the current turmoil in Iraq, pointing the finger partly at those who originally supported the war. A Yahoo! report shows the logic of Paul’s statement, showing that “the need to battle the Sunni insurgency has put the United States on the same side as its enemy of 35 years, Iran, which has close ties to the Shi’ite parties that came to power in Baghdad after U.S. forces toppled Saddam.”
Rand Paul and President Obama seem to agree on this: America does not need to intermeddle needlessly here. As Paul says, “maybe there is no solution.” Why get more Americans killed in the process?
GUESTCOLUMN | BobBrown
Turning Attention to Downtown
THIS WEEK, BEACON STAFFERS GET THE opportunity to sit down with Kalispell city officials to discuss the future of downtown. We aren’t the only ones. Apparently, local planners are picking the brains of a number people who work in the core of the largest city in Northwest Montana. It’s a much-needed exercise.
Since I moved to the Flathead several years ago, a num- ber of potential plans to revitalize and reenergize down- town have been discussed to varying degrees. Some have failed to materialize, like the proposed arts and entertain- ment center. But in many ways, this is the most momentum city officials have had for improving the city’s historic area.
Take the Kalispell Core Area Revitalization Plan, which brushes up against the north end of downtown. City officials continue to compete for millions in federal fund- ing to begin the project, but the blueprint is widely sup- ported, which is a good first step. It was crafted with com- munity input and involves replacing railroad tracks that cut through the city with a series of trails and reconnects streets that presently dead-end at those tracks.
Now city officials are beginning to discuss the future of downtown, which has improved in recent years, albeit slowly. Recently, Kalispell has erected improved signage and in recent years hired someone to clean the area for the Kalispell Business Improvement District. New businesses have sprung up, including the Kalispell Brewing Co., which completely gutted a Main Street building and reopened to much fanfare last week.
Businesses like those, such as Sweet Peaks Ice Cream and Kalispell Comics, are what the city needs. It needs vendors that attract and keep people near the city center. And it still has a long way to go.
There are too many vacancies in the core area and many of the buildings need to be renovated before poten- tial businesses can move in. If a business owner doesn’t have the money to invest, it’s hard to argue it’s worth mov- ing to the city. There are already a few great restaurants, retailers and galleries here, but we should attract more.
Also, the traffic noise in downtown can be unbearably loud – the city is an echo chamber and it’s difficult for pe- destrians to carry on conversations when tractor-trailers are rumbling by. That should improve once the U.S. 93 by- pass is completed.
The public campaign to first gather feedback and then crafting a vision is called “THE Downtown Plan,” in which city officials first hope to identify and then begin exploring solutions for myriad issues in Kalispell.
The city has already mailed newsletters to residences and businesses in the downtown area explaining the proj- ect and is going to begin taking inventory of how many buildings are vacant and in disrepair. Other needs, such as ample parking, are likely to surface.
Kalispell has its advantages. Its housing is relatively affordable. It is located in the heart of the valley. It is the county seat and employs, by far, the most people in the area. And regarding downtown, it still has the bones of an attractive, historical city. But it could use a facelift, even if it’s just minor.
The public and private sectors are beginning to dis- cuss downtown’s future and at just the right time. While growth on the north side of Kalispell will continue for years to come, as it should, the core of the city can comple- ment and even foster that growth.
A city’s identity is gleaned from its downtown area. And right now Kalispell is deciding what it wants to look like. So, if you live or work in this area, make sure you pro- vide some constructive feedback. The city is taking notes.
Let’s at Least Know Where the Money Comes From
The venerable Barry Goldwater warned that, “Unlimited campaign spending eats at the heart of the democratic process. It feeds the growth of spe- cial interest groups created solely to channel money into political campaigns. It creates an impression that every candidate is bought and owned by the biggest givers. And it causes elected officials to de- vote more time to raising money than to their public duties.”
Goldwater’s foresight was right. Congress will be in session only 123 days this year. They’ll have a lot more time, on the public dime, to raise reelection money than they’ve scheduled for the duties they were elected to perform. And they are the creators of the 501-C4 corporation through which torrents of anonymous money continually flow into political coffers.
Without question, the constitutional right to freely express our views about our government is fundamental to our existence as free people. Gold- water strongly affirmed this, but argued that lim- its were necessary, and that “we should try again to convince the Supreme Court that what is at stake is the integrity of the entire political process.”
Well, we know now that that’s not going to hap- pen. Instead of changing course as Goldwater hoped, the court has affirmed and extended the rationale that money is speech. We saw massive evidence of this in Montana in the 2012 Tester-Rehberg U.S. Senate race. Together the Tester and Rehberg cam- paigns spent a record $18 million. But money spent on their race by outside sources totaled nearly $30 million. About $14 million of that was “dark money” contributed by anonymous donors.
Organized as nonprofit corporations, the dark money mongers run ads attacking candidates, but don’t actually ask voters to vote for or against a can- didate. This ruse allows the groups to identify as “social welfare” organizations that only “educate” the public about the candidates. The law allows the use of this fiction to shield the identity of their do- nors.
Defenders of the secret money use the excuse that subjecting their mysterious donors to a disclo- sure requirement would have the “chilling effect,” of discouraging them from exercising their consti- tutional right to free speech. What then about the millions of individual Americans who openly con- tribute to causes and candidates? Why does the law allow contributors to the so-called nonprofits to re- main faceless, while all others must face the “chill?”
The dark donors don’t want their names con- nected with the negative poison they are paying for in order to influence us to vote for the candi- dates who are best for them. That’s the “chilling ef- fect” they and perhaps their favorite candidates are afraid of. Would we even have a country with free- dom of speech, and a Bill of Rights guaranteeing our other fundamental freedoms, if our founders had been afraid to openly sign their names to the Decla- ration of Independence?
If we can’t limit the flow of money, let’s at least shine the light on where it’s coming from. As the candidates campaign around the state leading up to November, put them on the spot. Ask them to com- mit to bringing the dark donors into the sunlight with the rest of us.
Bob Brown is the former Montana secretary of state.