Letters to the editor from this week's Chronicle:

Redneck Review
No. 18 8/24/15
Recent headlines bombarding us from newspapers, TV, radio, and an occasional analytical newsletter, all point to one big question... Just who is in charge here??? It was my intention this week to delve into this question, maybe proposing a possible answer or two, and even soliciting reader input on the matter! But first, the headlines!
Fire, out of control throughout central Idaho, and the entire northwest for that matter, raising questions, demanding answers from our own friends and neighbors, and from people in rural areas and urban alike!
How to cope with lost hay crops, pasture, and cattle herds in some cases... posing critical questions for northwest cattle men? What about the farmer who now must deal with a much reduced harvest, down to 50% in many cases? And to fall work problems linked to hard and baked ground, with no rain in sight?
Still more significant are the drastic life changes associated with families whose homes have been burned to the ground, leaving them in many cases with no place to live? Or businesses and schools impacted severely by the disasters in their area?
Who could have imagined this a month or six weeks ago? And what has happened? Or one might ask, "Just who is in charge here?"
Or consider the stock market, blaring out about a 900 drop in the Dow average over two days ago? Or China, suddenly in its own free fall, with a stock market near collapse that has its rosy future now badly dimmed? Or Greece, still struggling to survive?
Ouch! What about the recent news release that Planned Parenthood is dealing in baby parts, harvested from aborted babies, now numbering in excess of 50 million since the Roe-Wade decision in 1973. Who in my Red Neck age group could possibly have seen this coming back in the 1950's and '60's?
I submit that one fundamental and critical cause lies in humanity's conviction that we are in charge, that our overall genius, especially that of our experts in the areas of politics, and economics, and social affairs, can solve every problem related to poverty, poor health, racial tension..., you name it, there is a man-made or invented solution! 
Take economics for example! The world economies are awash in the theories of John Maynard Keynes, who blantantly taught that coordinated efforts of governments and central banks can cure any and all economic problems. The theory is quite simple, really, and very enticing! In a nutshell, governments and their central banks, (here our Federal Reserve System), can use "monetary and fiscal policies" to avoid recessions or depressions on the one hand, or excessive inflation on the other. Just cool off excessive good times by "applying the economic brakes" and "stepping on the accelerator" to stop potential recessions or depressions.
As former FED chairman Ben Bernanke said in Nov., 2002, in Wash D.C. at a meeting of the National Economic Club: "We conclude that, under our paper money system, our government can always generate higher spending..." So we have..., $19 trillion dollars of debt worth!! So... we are in charge!!! Or are we??? (Concluded next week).
Jake Wren


To the Editor
Thank you Idaho Rivers United and organizations like yours for protecting our environment and our way of life. Thank you all for suing the Forest Service and the BLM and creating the conditions on our national forest and range lands that allow for catastrophic wildfires.
Thank you for caring so much that policies like yours are destroying critical species habitat and millions of our wildlife perish every year because you think you know better how to manage these lands through litigation rather than the agencies and their trained personnel.
Thank you for caring so much for our children. Your actions to prevent the Idaho Department of lands from managing our timber has led to the reduction in funding Idaho’s school children by 1.6 million dollars. 
Maybe you can make up the difference with the proceeds you collect through the American taxpayer using the Equal Access to Justice Act. Out of the goodness of your heart you can help rebuild the lives for those who have lost loved ones, those who were left homeless and help fund our children’s education. 
This might help us to understand that your actions are really for our benefit.
Thank you,
Jim Chmelik 
Idaho County Commissioner

Cottonwood, Idaho 83522
 

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