Questions not asked
According to Eric Russell’s article in the Dec. 30 issue, Sen. Susan Collins “blast[ed]” and “rail[ed] against” the health care bill recently passed by the U.S. Senate in her address at the Bangor Rotary Club’s weekly luncheon. I am assuming, since it wasn’t mentioned in the article, that she was not asked any hard questions.
Did anyone ask her why the Republicans, during the eight- year Bush presidency with congressional majorities for much of that time, never even attempted to pass reform to expand coverage or lower costs?
Did anyone ask her why six months of committee meetings, negotiations and debate represent a “rushed” process? Did anyone ask her what the Republican health care reforms are, or how she would improve the bill?
It is obvious that the Republican plan is to oppose and delay any Democratic health reform initiative. I’ll take my cue from the polite Rotarians and just say that Sen. Collins was being – what’s the right word? – disingenuous, maybe.
Jim Aucoin
Bangor
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Shelter after sandwiches
The Coffee Pot closing is an end to one era, but could be the beginning of another wonderful era if Mr. Rist would consider donating the building to the state instead of having it bulldozed.
The state could convert this building into apartments for the homeless.
It is cheaper for the state to find suitable housing for the homeless and get them off the streets than to open and service more shelters. Some of these poor souls only need a helping hand to get back on their feet and get jobs to move on with their lives.
I have never been homeless but over the years have been down on my luck, backed up on bills, threatened with foreclosure and the cabinets empty. One must feel helpless not to have a place to call their own or to lay down their head on a cold winter night.
Phyllis Clark
Greenbush
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Pollution bias
As an engineer aboard US flag ships, I would like to state my opposing views to the EPA limits enacted upon these vessels. (“Rules target diesel exhaust from ships,” BDN, Dec. 24).
Engines do not “idle” as stated by Ed Miller. They perform various sorts of work for shipboard operations. Costs absorbed by the shipping industry will come from the greater amount of more costly diesel fuels the engines will have to burn to attain the same heating value as heavier fuel oil. Also, new and existing ships are being installed with stack scrubbers and separators to precipitate byproducts of combustion so they can be properly disposed.
Shipping companies will be forced to charge more for products being transported which will trickle down to the consumers, or they’ll reflag vessels under a foreign country to bypass the law and put me out of work. Taxes will increase to transport cargo to our military.
It’s biased reports like this which fuel groups of people and anger others. We need to make ourselves aware of all the facts to make bilateral decisions. That cruise ship in Portland harbor “belching black smoke” was most likely foreign-flagged and ultimately void of the new limits. Many times over are the number of railcars and aircraft that one ship can carry. How’s that for pollution?
Leon Nason
Skowhegan
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Imperfect health bill
The health care reform bill that could be agreed upon, apparently, prevents denial of insurance, prevents medical costs resulting in bankruptcy and results in a large increase of the population to be insured against excessive costs of care.
Issues surrounding other possible inclusion in the bill that all in Congress know can and will confound agreement and stall reform should not prevent the bill that is possible of becoming law for the advantage of all of us.
President Obama has always favored incremental progress: A direction correction of a few degrees for the ship of State. He also has observed that the perfect should not prevent the possible. We all know that what is perfect for me may (will) not be perfect for anyone else.
So let’s do what we know can be done that is beneficial for all, imperfect as we all know it is.
John Lyman
Orono
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See wind for yourself
Once again someone has renewed my belief in the ability of people to believe anything as long as it agrees with their ideals. Mr. Gagnon’s comments about the wind turbines being run by engines when there is not enough wind is a prime example of falling for anything because it serves a purpose (“Not-so-green power,” BDN letters, Jan. 2).
When the windmills were installed at the Mars Hill wind farm, I worked with the GE receiver, inspecting the components when they arrived. Amazingly enough, the only things in those nacelles are a gearbox, a hydraulic brake, a generator, some electronics and a whole lot of wire. There wasn’t an auxiliary engine among them.
Yes, they are greasy and dirty inside; moving equipment gets that way as lubrication is part of good preventive maintenance. I would suggest, though, that the cleaning of these windmills is more in line with DEP regulations than probably most average household cleanings or changing of oil in your lawn mower.
You all might want to see if you can visit a wind farm in Maine sometime to see what is actually lying around under these things. It may surprise you how clean this energy is.
Michael Brown
Mars Hill
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Radiation is real threat
Routine security measures may include full body scans in all airports in the near future. There has been much criticism of this tactic as an invasion of privacy. More alarming to me are the potential radiation hazards produced by these devices.
Some early reports in the scientific literature indicate that there may be significant risk. I think further investigation of the radiation levels of airport full body scanners is certainly warranted, particularly for frequent fliers, pilots and flight attendants.
In the 1930s, shoe stores provided X-rays of children’s feet to determine if shoes were properly fitted and allowed enough room for growth.
This practice was soon dropped when it was discovered that undesirable radiation levels were occurring. If scanning feet is a health risk, what are we to think of full body scans?
Marjorie Dole
Trenton
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Correction
The Jan. 2-3 editorial “The System Didn’t Work” mistakenly said the plane that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to blow up was bound for New York. It, of course, was headed for Detroit.