Bills shut out citizens

The Feb. 24 BDN included an article regarding LD 1690, 1692, and 1730 — pending bills in the Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee. These bills are an affront to Mainers who value democratic and free speech principals. That all three were introduced by Democrats in the House, after more than 62,000 certified signatures were quickly gathered to repeal the so-called tax reform act passed last year by the Legislature, should not be lost by any Mainer. Fortunately, according to MPBN, LD 1690 was defeated in committee last week. The other two should be as well.

LD 1692 places an onerous burden on citizen groups not shared by the Legislature when it enacts new bills. Although the Legislature has access to all of the information needed to determine how new programs are paid for, it does not provide the information this bill requires for citizen initiatives.

Then the Legislature takes approved citizen initiatives and “reworks” them, which undermines the very requirement this bill proposes.

LD 1730 places registration requirements on citizen initiative groups that members of the Legislature or candidates for government office are not required to fulfill.

These bills are (and were) clearly meant to shut down or significantly hamper citizen initiatives including those intended to repeal actions by the Legislature that taxpayers find unacceptable. The Legislature is supposed to be accountable to the people who elect them. It should not try to stifle their voices.

Rusty Gagnon

Eddington

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Transgender facts

Renee Ordway’s recent column on transgender students states, “It is a relatively small population.” Actually, the total number of transgendered students in the whole state who might want to join gender-specific sports teams is probably closer to seven. Not exactly a horde, and their only desire would be to access activities that help them reach their full potential while feeling comfortable and safe in doing so.

Boys and girls could never end up undressing together. The guidelines state: “With respect to locker rooms and shower facilities that involve undressing in front of others, transgender students must be provided with accommodations that meet their needs and that take into account the legitimate privacy concerns of all students involved.”

Each school still has flexibility to decide how that would happen, but transgender students could no longer be forced into harassing or violent situations.

Non-transgendered students, claiming to be transgendered to gain access to gender-segregated activities, would also be prevented by the guidelines: “if a school has an objective basis to question whether a student’s gender identity or expression is bona fide, it may ask for information to show that the gender identity or expression is sincerely held.”

That is the same standard that is used when a student asks for accommodations for religious reasons.

These guidelines ensure full inclusion in school life and the best possible education for all gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students while maintaining everyone’s privacy and safety. They deserve our support.

Jean Vermette

Maine Gender Resource And Support Service

Bangor

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War mindset needed

The BDN’s editorial “Marjah as a Test Case” (March 1) misses the point.

Both Gens. Petraeus and McChrystal are honorable men, with impeccable academic credentials, chests full of medals and long service to the country.

However, both men lack the one accoutrement needed for generals commanding forces in Afghanistan — the Combat Infantryman’s Badge and the warrior mindset that comes with it.

Comments like “the shot you don’t fire is more important than the one you did” shows little understanding of the rigors of fighting a guerrilla war. The view of the battlefield from CENTCOM in Tampa needs be tempered by the boots on ground reality. No matter how Gens. McChrystal and Petraeus try to sell it, until they are soundly defeated militarily, we will never “win the hearts and minds” of Taliban. Attempts to win the “hearts and minds” of both the Taliban and al-Qaeda neglect one inextricable truth: “War is hell.”

It is death and destruction that make grown men weep. Current COIN plans and operations are a Sisyphean exercise designed to placate the American public; they do little to ensure the capitulation of the enemy .

War is won, as Patton said, “by making the other guy die for his country.” Until the Obama administration is ready to implement policies that will leave dead Taliban fighters stacked like cord wood and reluctantly accept the concomitant collateral damage that unfortunately is a byproduct of war, we will continue to be stuck in the quagmire that is Afghanistan.

John H. Booth

CDR, USN, retired

Orono

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There is no dungeon

Solitary confinement at Maine’s prison has been the topic of a number of news articles over the last couple of months, some even referring to it as torture. One article imagined that stamping solitary confinement out in Maine would lead to its elimination across the country due to the “Dirigo” effect. This dialogue has rightfully caused loved ones to be concerned for those incarcerated at the prison out of fear they’ll be lost in Maine’s recently discovered “dungeon.”

Yet, when the Maine Civil Liberties Union formally questioned the Department of Corrections concerning the Prison’s Special Management Unit they made no inquiry into the number of inmates in solitary confinement. Was this an error? No! You see, there is no dungeon to be discovered! Our new prison has no provision for solitary confinement. Only by the wildest contortions of thought and language could the bizarre idea be presented that solitary confinement exists in Maine.

All this rhetoric coincides with LD 1611, “An Act To Ensure Humane Treatment for Special Management Prisoners.” The bill doesn’t allege any mistreatment of prisoners under the current determination process. Yet this bill does propose creating a new tribunal to conduct a hearing into whether the prisoner should remain in the unit and it allows wealthy prisoners to secure and pay for an attorney to assist him. The indigent prisoners are not provided for in this bill. Does that “Ensure Humane Treatment for Special Management Prisoners”?

Who pays for it all!

Edward Courtenay

Warren