Cell phones in cars
We must pass a law concerning talking on a cell phone while driving.
When someone has one hand on the wheel and the other on a cell phone, their focus is on the phone call.
I walk a lot and I know to stay way over on the road or sidewalk because surely these drivers’ focus isn’t on their surroundings.
We passed the seat belt law, and now the smoking in the car with children, and now it is time to pass a law against driving while talking or texting on a cell phone.
Joan M. Robertson
Eddington
···
Francis of Assisi
Eight hundred years ago, Francis of Assisi began to live a life in which he embraced poverty and selflessness to take up the cross and proclaim love as the way. He lived in a time of great violence in which his church and society were waging war against the Islamic people.
On Oct. 4, during the Feast of St. Francis, we will celebrate International Keep Space for Peace Week with a vigil at Bath Iron Works. BIW builds the Arleigh Burke class of Aegis Destroyers and has contracted to build the new Zumwalt Destroyers. These destroyers are part of our nation’s theatre missile defense or “star wars” program which places weapons and military satellites in outer space.
With fewer sailors and more weaponry, the Zumwalt destroyers are launching platforms for weapons of mass destruction. They are designed to attack the enemy and to fire missiles at targets hundreds of miles away creating a shock and awe type of terrorism in which human life and environmental degradation are considered collateral damage. These warships are a crime against humanity.
Can we realize and embrace disarmament just as Francis threw off the trappings of militarism and lived in a way that honors all of the creatures of the Earth and beauty of the heavens? Please join us on Saturday, Oct. 4, the Feast of St. Francis, from 11:30 to 12:30 at the BIW Administration Building on Washington Street in Bath, to honor the heavens, to say No! to weapons in Space, and to conspire toward a disarmed world.
George and Maureen Ostensen
Hope
···
End sleepless nights
Though I’d hoped the sleepless nights from worrying about Bush’s trashing of the country were finally over, it does seem kind of fitting that his terrorist administration should end with one final, gargantuan assault (adding further insult to countless prior injuries) against his own people.
Assuming that Bush’s finance team is as incompetent as the rest of his administration has been, it would behoove us all to call our senators and representatives as soon as is humanly possible to protest any attempt to leave future generations of everyday Americans holding the bag, (possibly trillions of dollars in bad loans and debt) so that the rich, greedy, outrageously-leveraged, investment bankers don’t have to.
As Robert Reich (Clinton’s money man) said recently, the remedy for the turmoil on Wall Street should be bankruptcy for the mismanaged companies and more (and more transparent) regulation of the banking sector into the future.
Melodie Greene
Calais
···
Refreshing story
Two things about Seamore. One, where most of the news we read these days is bad or sad, it was refreshing to have a little miniseries on the abduction and recovery of Seamore the gorilla. Cute story. Happy ending.
Two , the photo of the kids riding in the back of the pickup with Seamore… well, that’s a parade of sorts, don’t you think, with a police escort and people along the route waving and all?
With all of today’s crushing news, it was good to have a story to make some of us smile.
Nannette Romanelli
Princeton
···
Don’t be sheep
Many of you will vote for Obama because you want “change,” because he is young and speaks well to a crowd, or because for some reason you see it as a vote against Bush. Don’t be sheep. Actually listen to what the man does and doesn’t say. Pay attention to what we will get if he becomes president.
Thirty eight percent of Americans don’t pay income taxes. Obama plans to raise that number to 50 percent. That goes against my belief that all should pay their fair share. Those who don’t pay any income taxes will also see refunded tax credits for education, mortgage payments, heating costs, and other items.
You can’t pass that burden onto those that Obama classifies as “wealthy” — those who own the businesses that drive our economy. His tax and health care plans will drive us toward economic ruin. Obama will slash military spending to help cover his new welfare programs; this will put us at risk of a terrorist attack as it did immediately after the Clinton years.
Obama wants a windfall tax on “Big Oil.” ExxonMobil’s profits last quarter were reported to be $1,400 per second. It also paid $4,000 per second in taxes. The government already gets more than its fair share. His plan for oil is to drill less, consume less, and tax more.
Don’t be sheep. Look at what this candidate stands for, to what he says, and realize what he will do to our country. Jimmy Carter was a terrible president — Obama will be disastrous.
Alice M. Herrick
Blue Hill
···
Campaign distortions
On Sept. 19, “The News Hour with Jim Lehrer” showed a clip of a speech by John McCain in which he castigated Barack Obama for taking more than $100,000 in campaign contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. After the clip, the TV reporter said that actually McCain had received a much greater contribution from the companies.
Lies and deliberate distortions have been prominent in the speeches of the two Republican candidates. McCain accused Obama of advocating sex education for kindergarten children. This was blatantly false.
Sarah Palin has repeatedly said that she said “thanks but no thanks” to the bridge to nowhere, but she took the money. She rails against pork and lobbyists, but she hired a Washington lobbying firm to secure pork for her state. Alaska has the highest per capita pork allotment of any state.
It is about time we had some honest officials, not attack dogs who do nothing but viciously go after their opponents. It would be nice if we could have an honest discussion of issues.
June Stiller
Sebec