Memo to Legislature

When I read the Op-Ed by Rep. Richard Cleary, D-Houlton, “All men are indeed created equal” (BDN, Dec. 12), it brought a tear to my eye. Or at least it would have if it wasn’t at least eight years too late!

He whines about the slights concerning Sen. Obama and his election. Does he mean to say that by ignoring the eight years of vitriol and venom aimed at President Bush, only people of color should be considered off limits to questionable remarks?

Since 1820 when Maine was admitted to the Union the Legislature never has found it necessary to protect the feelings of any class of resident by passing a resolution denouncing suggested acts of questionable taste. By extension are we to believe that up until now all white men elected to the presidency were fair game for hate speech and calls for his assassination the way George W. Bush has been?

Thank God legislators finally have saved us from watching yet another president excoriated in public by passing a worthless resolution. Don’t they have more important details of our fellow residents’ lives to consider (heat, food, shelter, taxes, saving and employment, for example)?

I have a suggestion for Rep. Richard Cleary and the other members of the 124th Legislature: Keep your eye on the ball and spare me the patronizing way you’ve set about protecting Sen. Obama. Don’t measure him for a spot on Mount Rushmore until he actually accomplishes something.

Jerry Bono

Norridgewock

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Wise words

In a booklet prepared by the Salesian Missions for our country’s bicentennial in 1976, the following anonymous thoughts were written:

“The things that will destroy us are: politics without principle; pleasure without conscience; wealth without work; knowledge without character, business without morality; science without humanity; and, worship without sacrifice.”

Though written more than 32 years ago, these powerful words have everlasting meaning. It is not difficult to relate to the many situations we encounter on a daily basis that violate these thoughts. These principles, if neither accepted nor followed, are very likely to spell doom for our society.

Robert M. Frank Jr.

Hampden

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Business trumps labor

At the beginning of the last century, there was more oil being produced in the U.S. than they knew what to do with. It went as low as 2 cents a barrel. There were trolleys to most every city and railroads connecting the country. The solution to the “oil crisis” then was to push the automobile industry, get rid of trolleys. Road building boomed. And we had two world wars over oil and rubber and steel. To make all those cars, Ford realized he had to increase his workers’ pay so they could buy what they were making.

This still is true today.

For the last 30 years, corporate and CEO income have been growing many times more than average worker pay. Now we see the results in this glut of product and lack of money or credit for the average worker to buy it. And it has been Republican philosophies and policies that brought this, whether or not Democrats agreed, because Republicans insisted their policies and philosophy were best for everyone.

Their policy of putting business ahead of laborers’ needs brought us the Great Depression in 1929. And they have been pushing these same policies ever since. If they had their way — and apparently they’re getting it again in the Senate — business over labor will prevail yet again with the same results.

We hear Republicans don’t understand why they lost the last two elections. Here’s why: They keep doing the same thing and wonder why they don’t get different results.

In the real world we call that insanity.

Cheryl Lovely

Presque Isle

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Better prep needed

The American College of Emergency Physicians’ National Report Card on the State of Emergency Medicine ranked Maine seventh in the nation with an overall grade of C+ for its support of emergency patients. This is not bad, but we could do a lot better. In disaster preparedness, Maine ranked 46th (out of 51) in the country and earned a grade of D-. While we have strike teams in the state ready to respond to a disaster, we lack a system to check the credentials of any health professionals who might volunteer when they are most needed.

Maine also has a hospital capacity problem; the report cites a complete lack of verified burn centers, and we have low rates of intensive care unit beds (compared with the rest of the country), which would be even more vital in times of a statewide disaster. Closely tied to this problem is the significant shortage of qualified nurses in Maine.

Also, although the report suggests we do well in the number of board certified emergency physicians per capita, it is not that simple. It is extremely difficult to recruit enough board certified emergency physicians to many hospitals in the more rural parts of the state.

Emergency physicians stand ready to work with policymakers and state health agencies to do the important work of readying Maine for potential statewide emergencies. The steps we take now, in increasing hospital capacity or organizing response plans, potentially will save lives down the line. The residents of Maine deserve better than the current near failing grade.

Charles F. Pattavina

Medical Director and Chief, Department of Emergency Medicine

St. Joseph Hospital

Bangor

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The Big Oil myth

Rep. Boehlert said it best in 2003: “It is only a few thousand acres, they say. That is like saying, do not worry, the tumor is only in your lungs.

“The drilling will have impacts that will affect wildlife throughout the area.”

Just like 1,800 acres of turnpike slices all across New Jersey, Big Oil’s “2,000 acres” will sprawl across 1.5 million acres of the coastal plain, some of the most sensitive land in the Arctic Refuge. A network of drill sites, pipelines, roads, airstrips and other infrastructure effectively will destroy one of the most important wildlife sites in North America.

A tall tale from Big Oil has been floating around the media recently. Their mission is to make destroying pristine wilderness sound reasonable.

They tell us: “We’re only going to drill in 2,000 acres of the Arctic Refuge. We swear!”

And all for what? A 4-cent drop per gallon of gas that we won’t see for nearly 20 years. If we buy the myth, we’ll end up getting shortchanged.

Bill Fowlie

Harmony