Recent comments

I hope Coburn is able to get this done. I live in an area surrounded by National Parks and it in inconvenient and I think dangerous to the citizenry to ban firearms. As shown by the fact that state concealed carry laws have not resulted in mayhem as the Fraternal Order of Police and other anti-gun groups warned, the law abiding public can be trusted. Laws against guns should only be aimed at criminals and criminal behavior.

Criminals are going to break the law no matter what law is put in place. If poachers are wanting to poach they will poach. If armed robbers want to threaten people at gun point to rob them, guess what they are going to use? They don't give a flying flip about what gun control law they are breaking, because they know the law abiding citizens are stuck obeying the laws and are defense-less which make them the easy victim. If everyone carried a gun, you would be amazed on how much crime would not exist. Who's dumb enough to try and rob the liquor store that the owner keeps a shotgun under the counter and a .45 on their hip? What criminal with a deathwish would try to mug and rape a woman that has a 9mm under her jacket? If poaching in National parks is that big of a problem, do what the game wardens in africa do, Carry AK-47's and if you see them do it, shoot first and ask questions later. Problem solved. Alot can be accomplished from a kind word and a gun, than a kind word alone.

Thank you Senator Coburn for introducing common sense legislation concerning firearms for the National Parks. I applaud you.

Only a crazy man would introduce that kind of law.

It's because I haven't given up hope that I don't accept the false dilemma. It's the deepest form of cynicism to believe that other people (even those who claim they want to work from the ground up) need to be champions for us to give us a voice in the process. The sheer physics of this system, that one person represents 300,000,000 is enough to know that people cannot truly be represented by such a system. Each member of Congress represents how many people? Of course, snowmobile decisions are made by the few, and the many are reduced to signing canned petitions.

Hope has to lie somewhere else, and transparency is more than being televised by C-SPAN.

Political capitalism (by that, I mean a lot more than the cost of elections; I mean the use of "the people" as a commodity on which to wage large scale power) is just as dangerous as economic capitalism. If we really care about places we love, and I love Yellowstone unlike any place I have ever loved, then we must not give in to Obama v. Hillary or Obama v. McCain or this sense that our vote actually makes a difference.

Just look at what happens in Cody. People voted for a lot of those people; others are there as a byproduct of others who were voted for. Freudenthal's people are there, Bush's people are there, elected Wyoming officials are there. They are the "representatives." But, we know that they are not. They only represent people at the most abstract level; they only represent people because we have cynically given them this power.

It doesn't have to be this way; we can do better. One of the first steps is recognizing that the choice given to us is a false choice. We have other options available. We have more hope than most right now will permit us to believe.

Jim Macdonald
The Magic of Yellowstone
Yellowstone Newspaper
Jim's Eclectic World

Jim, it's your generation that shouldn't give up hope for change. With Obama there is hope for change. Don't give up so easily!

And, the choice that Anonymous provides us is the false dilemma that so many people content with themselves.

That false dilemma is why the closed door meetings about Sylvan Pass, wars in far off places, and health care - decisions on which affect how you and I live are lives - happen without our input.

Jim Macdonald
The Magic of Yellowstone
Yellowstone Newspaper
Jim's Eclectic World

Why do you believe that the vote in November could possibly make a difference on this particular issue?

The power brokers here are from both parties. The system keeps people out of it. Why support that system in hopes for a few bread crumbs and the hope that these things aren't decided behind closed doors? Tonight, Obama's solution was to broadcast health care discussions on C-SPAN. Give me a break.

We need to insist on a voice; now how does that happen? That's the question; the November vote is not an exercise in voice, it's the system's pacifier to keep us quiet every couple of years while people like this make the real policy decisions behind closed doors.

Jim Macdonald
The Magic of Yellowstone
Yellowstone Newspaper
Jim's Eclectic World

Being the co-owner of a four wheeled vehicle that can and often does off road when ever possible in designated park areas, I feel that if my vehicle was polluting the very same places that I enjoy visiting (as much as possible year round), then I don't need my vehicle anymore. It's just that easy. If people want to continue enjoying what little land and air quality we have left we need to make some severe changes in how we live and commute. In Washington state some counties have different laws about whether vehicles are mandated to have emission tests done on their vehicles. A prime example of this is King County will fine any car that does not pass an emission test prior to licensing, where as Kitsap County does not. Trust me when I say there are a lot of non-diesel operating vehicles up here that should not be on the roads at all let alone in the national parks.

So do I think that we should have our national park systems be associated with a lobbyist whose paycheck comes from one of the direct reasons for our parks pollution issues. No. But try to find a lobbyist who isn't lining his/her pockets with funds from the major pollution contributors, and align the NPS with them.

Excellent suggestion!

Along with Voyageurs, other parks that don't draw the heavy crowds include Isle Royale, Arches, Bryce Canyon, Kings Canyon, North Cascades, and Petrified Forest. And don't forget the national lakeshores, such as Apostle Islands, Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes, Pictured Rocks and Indiana Dunes.

Of course, trips to some of these parks involve different experiences, such as a vacation revolving around paddling (Voyageurs, Isle Royale, the lakeshores) or backpacking (North Cascades, Kings Canyon). But that's part of the fun of visiting different units of the park system.

Beyond that, visiting parks -- big or small -- outside the traditional summer vacation period will almost always reward you with smaller crowds and better pricing for lodging.

kurt- i find it slightly amusing that the exact next post after the ARC questioning is one telling people to get booking with xanterra. it's not "backcountry permits reservations open" or "slough creek is going to book" it's support the bigger businesses in the park! however, i am just giving you a hard time, keep up the good work.