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Articles written by jim buterbaugh


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  • Dear Editor: Election Laws vs Jim Crowe Laws

    JIM BUTERBAUGH|Nov 3, 2021

    Dear Editor, In last week’s paper, I read with sadness a letter to the editor comparing election laws to Jim Crowe laws. I say sadness because this person has absolutely no idea what the Jim Crowe laws were. She was just parroting a political talking point. A talking point that is a lie and meant to do nothing more than divide the citizens of this country. Montana election laws, new and old, do nothing to stop anybody from voting. Need an ID? You can not do anything without an ID; voting should be the one thing that you have to prove who you a...

  • Dear Editor: Ask and Get the Facts

    Jim Buterbaugh|Aug 11, 2021

    Dear Editor, Years ago, there was a battle about water meters, I remember it like it was yesterday. It helped to push me into the world of politics (damn it!) Lots of people were upset because water meters were being installed and they didn’t have a say. They didn’t know it was coming. I went to many council meetings arguing against the meters. Then one of the members told me I should check out the history of ‘meter meetings’. I found out that the meters had been discussed for more than 2 YEARS. I found out that notices about meters were se...

  • Dear Editor: Researching Senate and House Bills

    Jim Buterbaugh|Apr 28, 2021

    I read with interest last week’s letter to the Editor about the Senate and House bills that will endanger public lands. I have been watching what goes on in Helena and for the life of me, I didn’t remember any of those bills on the agenda. So, I decided to look them up; I will do this in the order of their claims. Let’s start with HB320. The claim was “a bill to pave the way to transfer public lands out of public hands.” When I looked HB320 up, I found that it was actually “AN ACT PROHIBITING FUTURE SALES OF LAND GRANTED OR TRANSFERRED...

  • Let's Talk...Election Integrity Act of 2021

    Jim Buterbaugh, Contributing Writer|Apr 7, 2021

    By now I am sure that anyone who watches the news has seen the spat about the revamping of Georgia’s voting laws. I listened as the President stood at the podium and made many claims about the bill – calling it Jim Crow on steroids. That is anti-American. I see now that the MLB has pulled the “All Star Game” because of it. It that warranted? Major companies are squawking. Warranted? I heard a lot from both sides, so I decided to look at the bill for myself. All 94 boring, word salad pages. Let’s look at the questions one at a time. CLAIM: Po...

  • Let's Talk...The Southern Border

    Jim Buterbaugh, Contributing Writer|Mar 24, 2021

    Picture yourself standing on a scenic overlook, overlooking the Rio Grande at four in the morning in the Texas town of Roma. Next to you is a Counterterrorism Specialist. Across the river is the town of Miguel Aleman, Mexico and you can hear the rapid fire of automatic weapons, the boom of grenades and smaller caliber weapons mixed in. It is a war zone. It sounds intense and long lasting. This a is a battle for control between two rival cartels, The Gulf Cartel and the Las Zeta Cartel. This is not the scene from a movie. This is a segment from...

  • The "Woke Cancel Culture" Racism, and Me

    Jim Buterbaugh, Op-Ed Writer|Mar 10, 2021

    This is not going to be sugar coated for the sake of the "woke". Growing up through the 60s and 70s, I have seen the struggles of what being a different color means. I witnessed what being of a different sexual orientation created. This was a time when real 'woke' people were working to rid our nation of the ugliness of racism. A time where people realized that being female didn't solely mean that you had to get married, have kids and meet the hubby at the door with his pipe, a drink, and his...

  • Let's Talk...Human Trafficking

    Jim Buterbaugh, Whitehall Ledger Contributing Writer|Mar 3, 2021

    Human trafficking, considered to be Modern Slavery, is defined as the illegal smuggling and trading of people for forced labor and sexual exploitation. The long official definition is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons by means of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, or abuse of power. It is reported that there are more victims of slavery today than at any other time in history. Human trafficking in the United States usually takes place along...

  • Let's Talk ... National Debt

    Jim Buterbaugh, Whitehall Ledger Contributing Writer|Jan 20, 2021

    For a few years I have watched our National Debt as it soared at a frightening rate, much like watching a teenager with a credit card. A basic description of our nation’s debt is what money our government has borrowed from sources, such as private investors, different federal agencies, and other nations. The ability to pay that back is a comparison of our gross domestic product (GDP) to debt ratio. Financial experts start to worry when a country’s debt reaches 77% of that country’s GDP. As they worry about that country’s ability to repay that d...

  • Letter to the Editor: Tell the Senate not to bail out the states

    Jim Buterbaugh|Jun 10, 2020

    Lawmakers in Washington are back at it again. As we speak, they’re debating whether they should send bailout money to the states. This is not the best path forward. Why? Because many states have mismanaged their budgets for years (well before this pandemic). When the first paycheck stimulus was created in the senate, the total bill was less than a trillion dollars, then the house got ahold of it and it ballooned to 2 trillion dollars. The latest stimulus plan will give 2 more trillion to states, states that have spent their citizen provided r...