Sops for the subjects

We have been informed that there will not be a COLA (cost of living adjustment) increase in our Social Security pension next year or the next. We have heard no great outcry from AARP or anyone else. Obama recently assured us that AARP was on board with his health care-socialized medicine plan and I surmise that they must be in the tank on COLA also.

I can’t help wondering what the political climate would be if Bush or any other Republican were in office; I would bet that the uproar and protest would be deafening. Today we witness folks who speak up in public forums, verbally abused by the likes of Barney Frank and Henry Waxman, no big fuss made by the biased, mainstream media.

We will become acclimated to no COLA this year, then next, then ultimately to whatever reductions the government inflicts on us. Be it Social Security or health care, until that time we the citizens, not subjects, insist that all our elected officials come under the same pension and health care as we do, we will be thrown sops instead of real correction.

William Duddy

Dedham

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Apples and oranges

We recently learned in the BDN that SAT scores for Maine’s high school class of 2009 are “far below the national average.” Unfortunately, the AP story did not help us understand why.

In fact, Maine’s poor showing relative to the nation largely reflects the Maine Department of Education’s decision several years ago to adopt the SAT as its high school test (the only state to do so). Thus, Maine’s SAT scores now portray high school students in general, rather than college-bound students in particular. As a consequence, a comparison with the national average is difficult to interpret.

Consider data from the present decade. During the first seven years, before MDOE’s new testing policy took effect, Maine fell below the nation by 14 to 22 points (combining the reading and math tests). In the three years since the new policy was enacted, however, Maine has fallen below the nation 81 to 86 points.

True, Maine is below the national average in either case. But the Maine-nation disparity after the new policy is almost five times greater than it was before. With the SAT now the state test, taken by many more than just the college-bound, the Maine-nation comparison invites images of apples and oranges.

My comments by no means are a criticism of MDOE policy. Rather, the news media simply should clarify in their reporting that Maine’s SAT averages are not what they appear to be. Their meaning is unique to Maine, and they should be considered accordingly.

Ted Coladarci

Bangor

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Cushy Maine jails

I read the article in the Aug. 24 BDN about the moves jails are having to make with the shortage of personnel and how it is affecting the lives of inmates. While I understand the concern of the inmates’ relatives, don’t they realize that these people are incarcerated for a reason? They are paying for their errors and jail is supposed to be a punishment, and not meant to be halfway house or anything akin to home.

Inmates in Maine actually have it made in these jails. They have gyms, TV, visits, etc. Where is the punishment for these guys?

Jails should be more like the ones in the South, where inmates have to do real work and they don’t get the benefits these guys do in Maine.

When you do a crime, do the time, but the real one and not the play time the jails in Maine offer. So when relatives cry because their loved ones are being moved about, it’s for a reason and they are truly lucky it’s only to another facility in Maine and not out of state.

Kathleen Holloway

Ellsworth

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Health care wreck

I would like to express my dismay with our congressional delegation at their failure to openly engage the general electorate in a “town hall” type setting. If support for the health care bill is as high as they would have us believe, there would be no reason for them to fear the people who would show up to voice their opposition to this bill.

To hide behind closed door “discussion panels” of hand picked, invitation only participants who undoubtedly agree with them, suggests that our representatives and senators are only interested in preserving their cloistered, Utopian world, insulated from the real lives of most Mainers.

While I’m sure there is misinformation spewing from both sides of the health care issue, I can’t help but wonder if our congressional delegation has even read, let alone understands, what’s in this 1,000-page bill and what the real costs will be to future generations of Mainers.

I would be much less fearful if our leaders would promise to ditch their current medical plans and sign up for this health care train wreck themselves. Better yet, I would like to see Reps. Michaud and Pingree, as well as Sens. Collins and Snowe, create a plan that gives Maine residents access to the same health care coverage that they receive, compliments of the hardworking Maine taxpayers.

David Witherell

Topsfield

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Don’t blame the GOP

I see that the BDN’s editorial page is adopting Obama’s “blame the Republicans” attitude for why health care “reform” hasn’t flown through the U.S. Senate (“Health Care Politics,” Aug. 27).

Please explain why the Republicans are to blame. Until Kennedy’s widely anticipated death on Aug. 26, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had 60 votes on his side of the aisle. To end filibuster it takes 60 or more votes. Reid had all that he needed. He didn’t need a single Republican vote.

Granted, until Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is granted the power to override a law Kennedy had pushed, there will be only 59 Democrats in the Senate. News reports on Wednesday indicated the Massachusetts Legislature would give Patrick the needed authority to appoint another Democrat to the Senate. When that happens, Reid will have his magic number again.

So, the problem isn’t with the Republicans standing up to the blatant attempt to give government control of a sixth of the U.S. economy. The problem is that more and more Democrats are finding that ObamaCare isn’t what they were told it was (those are the ones who actually have read the legislation).

Quit blaming the Republicans for the flawed legislation. If this is so great, as the BDN is claiming, then the Democrats should have no problem killing any filibuster and getting this passed. What’s surprising is that they haven’t already done so.

William Chapman

Rockport