Unreasonable spending
The Ark Animal Shelter is way out of line soliciting donations to cover the $3,500 for the Pomeranian’s special surgery (“Funds sought to cover dog’s lifesaving surgery,” BDN, Aug. 28). Perhaps the pup would have had a shortened life without it, but allocating such a large sum of money for the more specialized operation seems unreasonable.
Suzanne Foster
Bar Harbor
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Update nutrition laws
I would like to thank Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins for supporting legislation that would re-authorize and enhance the Child Nutrition Act. I would like to encourage Reps. Michaud and Pingree to do the same when the House of Representatives considers child nutrition legislation in the coming weeks. Time is of the essence, given that the current law is due to expire on Sept. 30.
Children’s health and diets are a growing national concern.
As a retired U.S. Air Force brigadier general, I am concerned to learn that every day young adults who otherwise have excellent credentials are not able to join the military because they are overweight.
Earlier this year, Mission: Readiness, a national group of retired military leaders, released a report called “Too Fat To Fight,” showing that 27 percent of Americans between the ages of 17 and 24 are too overweight to serve in the armed services, if that is indeed their career desire.
Today, children receive about 40 percent of their food intake at school and the federal standards for school breakfasts and lunches are outdated and inadequate. The Senate bill makes great strides in updating school nutrition standards, removing junk food and high-calorie drinks from schools and establishes grant programs to states to help children and parents adopt healthier lifelong eating and exercise habits.
Updating the Child Nutrition Act is a smart thing to do for all Maine children, including those who may aspire to military careers as young adults.
Ralph Leonard
Old Town
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Home-grown comics?
In light of the BDN’s recent survey of readers on their interest in comic strips, a suggestion is presented. The BDN seems to have talented enough artists who could enliven a comic strip with simple to detailed and sophisticated characters and scenes.
Why not offer something “homemade?” One comic strip would have an ongoing story line (crime detective, wilderness adventure for example) that has mystery, suspense, danger and necessary comic relief that takes place in Maine.
A second comic strip could take a lighthearted look at everyday life in Maine that has universal appeal beyond the state of Maine. Maybe they would become popular enough to be syndicated nationally.
Richard Mackin Jr.
Millinocket
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Christian principles
I know no one who objects to a separation of the institutions of church and state. What conservatives do object to is the modern invention of the Supreme Court in the 1940s which, then and now, attempts to completely remove religion from public life.
Conservatives seek to preserve and acknowledge the fact that this nation was founded upon an admixture of Judeo-Christian and Enlightenment principles. As such, they see no objection to the federal government recognizing this truth so long as it does not force people to believe a certain way, freedom of conscience being paramount.
Conservatives also do not object to faith informing politics, especially on such issues as abortion, for one’s faith is part of one’s worldview and will color his or her view of politics and policy. Even those on the left use faith to inform politics, most of the time unwittingly.
I close with a quote from Patrick Henry: “It cannot be emphasized too clearly and too often that this nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religion, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason, peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.”
Daniel Jeskey
Bangor