Vote Doug Thomas
Doug Thomas is running for state Senate. Please, let’s vote for Doug. He has served in the state House of Representatives, where he honestly represented the people of his district.
He could not prevent the passage of the same sex marriage law or the tax increase because he was out voted by the opposing party. He did, however, vote for us in Legislature and then voted with the people as we repealed both these laws.
He believes in reining in the size of government and in relieving us of the tax and regulation burden that is scaring jobs away from Maine.
The Democratic Party in Maine has been in control for a long time and has gotten us into a pretty bad mess. Let’s turn things around in Augusta. Vote for Doug Thomas and give common sense a chance.
Lucille Atwater
Palmyra
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We hear you
What a cultural celebration that occurred on the Bangor waterfront last weekend! Seventeen performers represented 13 ethnic traditions of music, dance and storytelling. My sincere thanks go to our wonderful staff and board of directors.
Thank you, festival-goers for your generosity. We hear you! Thank you to the over 800 volunteers who made this event happen and happen so smoothly. Thank you to all our corporate and individual sponsors. Thank you to all our vendors. We hear you. We heard your message of support through your attendance, your generous donations, your applause and your smiling faces.
Your message was joyously loud and clear; you want the American Festival to be woven into our summer calendar. The staff and board will spend the next 12 months processing your feedback in order to plan the 2011 American Folk Festival. Mark August 26, 27 and 28 on your 2011 calendar and we will gather again on the beautiful Bangor waterfront.
Maria Baeza
chairwoman
American Folk Festival Board
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Rejoicing subdued
When I was a young sailor serving on a submarine in New London, Conn., the people of that state elected a man named Abraham Ribicoff as governor.
Since Ribicoff was Jewish, I rejoiced and proclaimed, “This shows that in our country a person’s ethnic or religious background doesn’t prevent him from being elected to public office.” A shipmate responded, “I’ll believe that when we elect a person of the Catholic faith president!”
A few years later we elected a Catholic of Irish descent to be our president. I rejoiced and proclaimed, “Now we have shown everyone that in our country no matter his ethnic or religious background he can be elected to high office!” A shipmate replied, “I’ll believe that when a person of African descent is elected president!”
Years later we elected an African American of the Baptist faith to be our president.
Before I could rejoice and make a proclamation, my right-wing conservative friends began questioning his background and religion. I’m beginning to wonder if we will ever get to that wonderful point that I have been mistakenly proclaiming.
Robert Tambling
Hermon
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Christian ideals
An Aug. 31 letter to the editor calls the separation of church and state “a mechanism, explicitly articulated in the Constitution.” That’s quite a leap based on the Establishment Clause, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” The writer also asserts “the real myth is that this country was formed on Christian ideals.”
Perhaps so, but my understanding is that the basic purpose of the clause was to prohibit the federal government from ever establishing a nationally imposed denomination, as was done in many European countries and led to many leaving there. In short, it was a mandate to the feds to stay out of religion, period.
It also strikes me as odd that a country not formed on Christian ideals has so many of them inscribed on national buildings, monuments, and other property — even the Supreme Court Building. How is it, for example, that prayer was prevalent in public schools for over 150 years after the adoption of a Constitution that supposedly intended to keep religion out of the public domain?
I submit that Judeo-Christian principles (values, ideals) were thoroughly embedded in our culture from the earliest settlers (imperfectly practiced, to be sure). It is only as the culture has drifted more and more toward secularism that these values have come under attack.
One can legitimately desire to see the ideals of the culture change, but it is disingenuous to proclaim their early influence a myth and that the Constitution, without any amendment to that end, changed its meaning after 100-200 years.
David W. Anderson
Stockholm
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Grateful for our heroes
Congratulations on your Sept. 2 World War II editorial, the 65th anniversary of V-J Day (“The Last Warriors”). You captured in a few short words the essence of how our “greatest generation” embraced the challenge and call to duty. Your words raised the hairs on my neck.
I rode the troop train carrying hundreds of WWII veterans and their families from Portland to Washington, D.C. for the dedication of their memorial in 2004 and overheard fragments of the stories that poured out as they recognized and identified each other by their caps or T-shirts, stories held private for so long.
They cried, laughed and hugged. I was overwhelmed as were the families who had never heard what Dad or Grandpa had done back then. The stories continued as if a giant catharsis was wrapping them in its arms. I was humbled and felt privileged to be a witness.
I vividly remember this day in 1945 as a 7-year-old at my grandparents’ farm house in New Hampshire. The family was gathered for dinner and the phone rang — the war was over. The excitement was electric but first my grandmother sat us down and we thanked God for the end and for my several aunts and uncles serving who were now safe.
I serve as a bugler with military honor guards playing taps for these old guys and occasional woman veteran of that war. I breathe a tiny prayer for each as I stand apart (as bugler) from the funeral party and watch another hero laid to rest.
Peter Duston
Cherryfield