Legalize marijuana now
I am writing this letter in support of the legalization and taxing of marijuana. It is time for all of us to be tolerant instead of intolerant. We have enough problems in our world caused by intolerance. People have the right to smoke cancer-causing cigarettes or go and buy themselves some alcohol.
Why are we marijuana users treated like criminals? We have rights. We pay taxes and have jobs. Please help all of us out and end the prohibition.
Jordan Kratz
Portland
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Pension cuts to help rich
I am a public school teacher. I grew up in Ellsworth, got my college education in California and taught on the West Coast for many years. Despite opportunities for advancement out of state, I felt compelled to return to Maine and give back to our students in small towns.
While Maine’s educational system ranks 15th in the nation, our teacher salaries are ranked 44th. Our median salary is $6,000 less than the median private sector worker’s salary in Maine. I make nearly half of what my former teaching colleagues in California now earn.
Increasing our pension contribution to nearly 10 percent of our paycheck while the state reduces its contribution will not even be applied to balancing the budget or even applied to the Maine Public Employee Retirement System. Rather, it’s earmarked to help provide most of the $200 million in tax breaks for the 10 percent making up the wealthiest people in Maine.
Legislative reviews have routinely found MePERS to be actuarially sound. A 2010 bipartisan legislative study committee recommended staying the course with the current system.
I know a different Maine, one where our political differences mean less than our shared heritage. The proposed pension cuts go back on promises and ask teachers to contribute more of our modest paychecks toward a diminished retirement system in order to fund other so-called higher priority programs and provide tax breaks to the rich. This is simply not the Maine way. We must work together to find a more reasonable solution to budget problems.
John F. McDonald
Bangor
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Can’t we get along?
It surprised me to read in Saturday’s letters to the editor a commentary about transgender people and the use of bathrooms.
If we were to climb aboard a time ship and go back to the 1960s, what would we find? African-Americans denied the right to vote because of their color; not being able to sit at a lunch counter to have a meal; not being able to drink from a simple water fountain.
These things did take place then, but what about now? Well, transgendered people are often laughed at, ridiculed, tormented. We’re called queer, homo, pedophile and other obnoxious names. We have objects thrown at us, we are pushed around, pointed at like some piece of dust.
Have you even considered that most of us live right in your neighborhood? We’re your doctors, dentists, pharmacists, police officers and firefighters. Some of us lay down our lives every day to protect your rights. So, how about it, can we at least progress to the point where we can all get along?
Mellanie Michaels
Garland
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Failed war on drugs
I am writing to express my support for LD 1453.
I believe that our “war on drugs” has been, and continues to be, a very expensive failure. Why not take marijuana out of the hands of the criminals? It could be a revenue-producing product, and with education and proper regulation, probably less of a burden on society than alcohol.
Stephen Berry
Rockland
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LePage is a hero
Heroes are few and far between. Not many people have held that position in my personal estimation. However, in these times of social decadence, financial instability, overwhelming government control of our lives and general political unrest, such a man rises in our midst.
He says what he means and means what he says. He is true to his core principles and you can “go to the bank” with whatever he tells you. He cannot be bought. He does not aspire to higher office or lust for more money or adulation. He is a true servant of the people and has personally sacrificed much to serve as our governor.
We will disagree, from time to time, on things that are outside the core principles that I share with him, but I will always come away with admiration and respect for his political courage and his “hard as steel” resolve to do the right thing for our state. Paul LePage is a hero to me, and I believe his appearance on the Maine political scene at this time in history is not by chance. I can’t think of a person that I would rather have leading us in these perilous times.
Remember, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan all had their detractors, even within their own parties, and yet, without their service our country would be a vastly different place. Thank God for Paul LePage and his unflinching willingness to face down any and all opposition to the betterment of our state.
Gordon Colby
Waldoboro
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Send in the clowns
These are indeed the times that try men’s souls. While corporate America and the wealthiest of the wealthy continue to operate with unregulated abandon, they have thoughtfully “sent in the clowns” to distract the masses from their unfettered greed.
First out of the clown car is Mr. Trump and his birth certificate rant, which has mesmerized every conspiracy theorist far and wide. When the president deigns to shut up the Donald and his tinfoil-lined followers by producing indisputable proof of Hawaiian birth, Trump takes credit for wasting the president’s time and then targets college transcripts and GPAs.
Next is Sarah Palin and the tea partiers who propose to cut the deficit at the expense of the elderly, the infirm and the indigent while holding tax loopholes open to big business like it’s a bottomless sack of Halloween candy. What they propose will undermine every reform the United States has undertaken to “promote the general welfare” of this country for its citizens, but dang it, they’re doing something and it looks gosh darn important, so let ’em have at it.
This much is true: Obama never had a chance of succeeding. In this climate, I doubt anyone could. The presidency has become a figurehead position much like England’s monarchy. The real action is happening behind the corporate curtain. But why bother to look when we are being so well entertained by clowns?
Lori Wingo
Bangor