Wary of park plan
I fail to understand how landowners in Maine can be so willing to give up their land to the federal government. Everywhere I look, I hear talk or see articles about how folks should consider their land for some type of conservation, preservation, protected zone, easement or federal park. Do you really think your land is safer “for future generations” under the care of the federal government than by private citizens?
In other parts of the country, some national parks are in financial distress and are closing many roads, cutting off access to the public. Other national parks (Yosemite, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Olympic, etc.) are now UN World Heritage Sites.
Additionally, our government is currently burdened under horrible debt. We have already been “downgraded” once and may be again in the near future. Remember that in Greece, assets of natural resources, national parks, beaches, ports, etc. were, and are, being sold (privatized), by order of the IMF to help pay their debt. That may never happen here in the U.S., but should we take that chance?
Perhaps we don’t need a national park feasibility study after all.
Marcia Jacobs
Calais
Autocratic Obama
I most vehemently object to President Obama’s recent appointment of Richard Cordray to lead the new bureau he has invented, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
This appointment was made without any discussion with Congress, as is required by our Constitution.
In addition to Cordray’s appointment, Obama also made three other appointments to the National Labor Relations Board, without so much as a nod to Congress. Congress was not in recess, even though Obama called them “recess appointments.”
Who are these people, and what qualifies them to serve in these important roles? The American people have never had the opportunity to “vet” them through our representatives in elected office. The NLRB appointments were clearly an example of thinly veiled pandering to Obama’s base. But this will not stand.
President Obama needs to be reminded that the U.S. is our country, and was founded upon the principle that our leader serves at the will of the people, not in spite of us. We will remember in November.
Lisa Davis
Caribou
Truth, sex and brainwashing
Regarding the BDN’s Jan. 14-15 editorial, “What is Truth in 2012?” one can’t help but wonder where the recent government teaching advisory for sex education (BDN story, “New sex education standards released”) fits into the discussion.
Teaching the proper names for body parts is one thing, but making sure students “know” that sexual orientation is the “romantic attraction of individuals (whether same gender or not)” is Orwellian in its attempt to make vague and tangential any notion that strong mating and reproductive urges are involved that correspond to purpose-built body parts.
Are testes and ovaries to be mentioned in the discussion as organs of romance? In health teaching, is “appetite” defined in terms of the attraction to eat nonfood or food items? Of course this dichotomy exists in nature, if one wants to stretch the envelope of “truth.”
It’s good the BDN sees the responsibility to weigh in on truth. Our children are born to seek truth, and to serve them anything else is to promote profound disorder. What is next? Will it be teaching a definition of marriage to children that has nothing in it referring to one man and one woman? Is the anticipated “Truth in 2012” coming in this form of brainwashing?
Don Mendell
Palmyra
Stop postal consolidation
I am a USPS employee who works at the Hampden processing facility.
The public is being misinformed regarding the closing or consolidation of this facility.
The delivery of mail will definitely be adversely impacted and may even be disrupted. Does it really make sense to transport and process the mail in Scarborough? As far as financial savings, I haven’t heard or read about any specifics. Where and what are they?
Most postal workers are decent, hardworking people trying to make a living like everyone else. Think of the detrimental impact on them — mortgages, having to move, etc.
I encourage the public to call, write or email their representatives and tell them to stop this closing or consolidation.
Donald G. Donovan
Bangor
Mr. Mendell, I believe I understand the larger point you are making, but-please forgive me-its exposition is quite confusing
He is trying to look smart! I am sure he is educated but education and ignorance mixed creates a situation where the person cannot express themselves but rather they express the person they think others want to see. If he was truly educated he would know that even the Vatican says homosexuality is natural and that even priests are gay. They just make them ignore their natural desires (their words not mine) for what they feel is the betterment of the human race. In actuality, the human race is going to extinct itself due to overpopulation. But, he isnt that smart.
If god makes people who are gay and then demands that they do not express it because he will condemn them to hell for going against natural law, what ever that is, he must be at the very least an insecure deity or just plain mean spirited. It strikes me that since homosexuality exists, it must, in fact, be natural.
Well, god has shown he/she has the human sense of humor when they told 4 republicans to run for President in this election. Most of us enjoyed the joke. So why can’t god have other human emotions like jealousy, envy, fear, hatred, etc?
I dont think God has emotions or gender for that matter. Gender is determined through chemical release during gestation. God wasnt gestated. I think God is a beautiful loving energy. I think men wrote a book to control and people use it to do the same.
I dont know who makes people who are gay really. I do know that homosexuality exists in nature. It actually exists in nature a lot. So the argument that it isnt natural is dumb. my point is that even the Vatican agrees that people have natural homosexual tendencies. Back in the beginning of mankind the drive to grow as individual groups was on, unfortunately we have grown so much that we are now killing ourselves. Homosexuality was condemned by man for the sole purpose of wanting to make more children. And that great. i have children because I suffered as a heterosexual for years. I am happy now, and so are my children.
Don Mendell–Why do you call the dichotomy of same sex attraction in nature stretching truth? It either is or it is not. In this case, it is. It is an aberration that so many people such as yourself cannot accept this simple truth. It is. Accept it or suffer the consequences of cognitive dissonance. Truth shall prevail.
I think the thought is that man belongs with woman and not man-man or woman to woman.
According to who?
History would disagree with him. Great nations celebrated homosexual marriage. Many still do but they are the ones we dont hear about because they arent falling a part.
please name these nations….
Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, China, New Guinea.
Currently: The Netherlands, Canada, Belgium, Spain, S. Africa, Norway, Sweden.
In Addition: Statistics show that in The netherlands and also in Massachusetts, divorce rates and sexually transmitted disease rates dropped significantly after Same Sex marriage was allowed.
Okay, that’s pushing it. I want to be able to marry MY man, not Sam!!!!
or maybe people are getting smarter with regard to transmitting sexual diseases in these places and also marrying later in life which may have alot to do with falling divorce rates…..
It is just a statistic thats all. They say the drop in VD was because gay men were more careful because they held their relationships to a higher standard. I wasnt trying to make you angry I was just reiterating facts. As a gay woman I just want people to understand that deviates exist in all societies, all genders, races, and sexualities but so do intelligent and functional healthy people. The divorce rate in Mass. declined within a year of the marriage rule. It could be because the stait people didnt want to be made to look bad. IDK
I think we’ve had this debate 1000 times before. How about this: “purpose-built” requires a builder (with a purpose!), which requires a deity. Deities are for church, science is for school. So it is indeed entirely appropriate for sex ed to address issues of romantic attraction and all the emotional baggage teens need to deal with separately from the nuts and bolts (so to speak) of biological reproduction.
By they way, even if our parts were “built”, how do you (Don Mendell) know the purpose? Please don’t tell me you read it in a Book…
Lisa–The Republican party refused to allow a vote on R. Cordray, not because he was not qualified but because they didn’t like the law that he was going to inforce. Perhaps if you were one of the people that the banks took advantage of and were having foreclosure on your home you might understand why this country needs such laws. The fact that Pres. Bush commissioned 7 NLRB during recesses might have some bearing on the appointment of 3 NLRB members by Pres. Obama. If you can’t get the Senate to act do it yourself and it seems both Presidents did that.
How does that saying go “whats good for the goose is good for the gander”.
According to the Congressional Research Service, President Clinton made 139 recess appointments, President Bush made 171 and President Obama has made 32 so far. This is something that’s done all the time. If our politicians were doing their jobs, instead of playing politics, each appointment would be debated and then voted up or down.
Lisa Davis — maybe if Republicans would allow debate and an up or down vote we could figure these things out. Blocking any nominees merely for the sake of it kind of prevents you from maintaining a moral highground.
How many months was the Assassin in Chief wait for this appointment. Was it months that this was blocked or was it measured in days? 18 days
The republicans had blocked Obama’s previous choice for so many months that she withdrew herself from consideration. The republicans have refused an up or down vote on so many judicial appointments and other departments that some courts cannot function properly. The republicans in this congress are rightly called obstructionist because they are stopping any attempt to carry on normal functions of the government.
Relevant slander? Not.
Marcia Jacobs: Do you know that big gov is the panacea for all problems?
Big government is most certainly not a panacea for all problems any more than mindlessly despising all government. Both are idiotic approaches to governing in the modern world. Your outlook on government and civilization might be more rational if you deemed to join us in the 21st century instead of yearning for a return to the 18th century.
Very likely a return to the 18 century would find you yearning for a return to feudalism.
and i suppose you are the poster person for rationality?
Yup! I always advocate for rationality over irrationality.
You may advocate for rationality, but most of your posts are very irrational, or at least have a mistaken assumption that the rationality is based on.
Larry, maybe you can’t follow rational thought?
LOL
That’s true. Like big gov to enforce anti-abortion laws, big gov to enforce anti-gay laws, big gov to enforce anti-poor laws.
Ms. Davis, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was created by an act of Congress, not “invented” by President Obama. Mr. Cordray’s nomination was made some time ago, but a minority of the Senate refused to allow an up or down vote on that nomination, demanding that the legislation Congress had passed in 2010 be amended, at which point they would consent to considering and approving Cordray. A minority of any legislative body has no power to create and pass legislation.
As for Congress not being in recess, here is what the Senate did: every three days one Senator would appear in the Senate chamber, declare the Senate open for business and, three minutes later, gavel the empty Senate session to a close. The Senate clearly invented its recess and, sadly, you are inventing facts.
George W Bush pushed through 56 nominations while Congress wasn’t in session…President Obama has made 23…maybe Ms. Davis should stop watching FAUX News and change to a news organization that “fact checks” on a daily basis.
It is so much easier to be told what to think.
Unfortunately, both sides are guilty of fostering groupthink.
Donald Donovan: good letter, I concur.
Lisa Davis: others have commented better than I on your misguided and even false perceptions. Unwarranted political recalcitrance was the resason for the appointments being made during a ficticious “recess”.
Don Mendell: your meandering post never does define truth but it would seem that your definitions of truth are not necesaarily valid.
How stupid does one have to be to believe the United Nations now owns Yosemite, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Olympic, etc. because they are UN Heritage Sites. Ms Jacobs please tell us that this was a semantic error.
I have heard this concern before. While that may or may not be true, I don’t think that such designations are as simple as they seem.
The way I read it is that our Country is burdened by huge debt, “Additionally, our government is currently burdened under horrible debt.” Then, if you look at other countries they have had to sell off some assets, I did not read where she said that the UN owned our parks.
“We have already been “downgraded” once and may be again in the near future. Remember that in Greece, assets of ”
She is right in respect, we do not need a study.
“We have already been “downgraded” once….
Thanks to t-beggers doing their masters bidding. If they are allowed to continue, the future looks like a huge fire sale.
And tell me when we were downgraded? When did the deficit triple, under your Obama’s administration.
Of course! Everything was just PEACHY until Obama and his Obamaites took over! Then, boy, that was the end of the good times, baby!
Most everyone who isn’t watching and drueling over foqued up news knows who did what to whom by now.
It’s just a matter of can we stop the bleeding before it’s to late. The true t- believers would see the country collapse to get their way.
Good letter Lisa. The non-leader Obama has been bringing in these “czars” on and off thru his whole 3 years. They all fit into a specific communist/socialist agenda. The media lets it fly cause the Obamaites say everything is going great. Meanwhile our economy loses $3 billion dollars a day. If Obama is reelected we will become a third world country, saying “I didn’t see that coming.”
Typical hyperbolic propaganda.
Why do you post here? I’ll admit your anti-American propaganda is amusing, but do you really think anyone is so dumb they would believe anything you post?
So, disagreeing with a President is anti-American? I remember just a few years ago when disagreeing with the President was the height of patriotism and democracy.
Is this just a case of who’s ox is being gored?
No, using hyperbole and lies to demonize the President and criticize the country is anti-American. Peddling falsehoods is not a matter of simple disagreement.
The hyperbole and lies are used by both sides and even this post could be accused of it.
Larry, as you are a beneficiary of socialized roads, fire departments, police departments, and military, I am surprised at your apparent support of someone who incorrectly calls the President who has enlarged the private health insurance market a communist. Let’s get our terms straight. I still want to buy that stretch of Route 1 that passes by your home and charge you and others a toll.
That is the type of hyperbole that I am talking about.
Our government was created to provide for the common welfare, not provide for individuals.
Anyone that is either stupid enough or blind enough to be unable to understand this should have no voice in our government’s decisions.
Larry, you obviously have forgotten our exchange last year in which I gently explained that “socialism” is defined in any dictionary as ownership by the government of the means of production.
What is a proper government function is still debated. Some towns in the south have no public fire departments: it is by private subscription only, and, if you didn’t pay, the fire department will let your house burn down. Similarly, governments can hire mercenary forces rather than have a standing army. The Brits fought the American Revolution with both their army and a mercenary force. During the early years of our Republic, there was opposition to the government raising taxes to help build roads and canals: the Whigs supported this, the Democrats opposed this.
What was an unquestioned function of government at the time of the Revolution was taking care of the poor. The British Parliament under Elizabeth I had enacted Poor Laws in 1603 and the notion of raising taxes for the “general welfare” stated in the Constitution reflected that understanding of one of the roles of government. Under John Adams, Congress passed a bill providing for the building of hospitals for ailing merchant seamen, the first public health care system in America.
Do not make the mistake of thinking that your definition of what is properly a government function was the Founders’ view.
You might think me “stupid” or “blind”, but the readers of our posts will decide who is better informed or more clearly sees the true history of our nation. An ad hominem attack diminishes the attacker.
I have not forgotten past exchanges. I still disagree with what you assert.
Our Constitution was written to lay out what the Federal government had to do and limited the Federal government to what the Constitution says it is responsible for. In the Bill of Rights the State governments were given the Federal government’s permission to do anything the citizens of that state wanted their government, unless the Constitution said that the Federal government was responsible for it.
The fact that the British monarchy passed a law about ANYTHING has absolutely no bearing on US law, The US declared total independence from the monarchial government of Great Brittan. Their laws were no longer in force.
You are free to believe what you want, and you also have the right to find someplace that you would be happier in and go there, but please don’t try to force the rest of us live under the type of government that you want.
If I recall correctly, you once confused the Ninth Amendment with the Tenth.
Tell me how the language of Article I, section 8, paragraph 1, empowering Congress to “pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States” would render unconstitutional the Social Security, SNAP or TANF programs, all of which involve payments to individuals. One of the first Congresses created a public health system for the merchant marines and a tax to support that system. The Elizabethan Poor Laws were an act of the British Parliament and part of the legal fabric under which the Colonies operated; every member of the Constitutional Convention understood that aiding the poor was a government function, the only debate being whether it was for the local, state, or national government.
I am quite happy to live in the United States as even conservative courts understand that the Constitution grants broad powers to the federal government and sets limits, implicity and explicitly, on what the states can do. Read the first three words of the Constitution. The Founders expressly chose not to reference the individual states as the source of the nation’s legitimacy, but drew their authority from the “People of the United States.”
The limited government you long for can be found in the Articles of Confederation which proved unworkable. The type of government I want is the type we have. It is you who wishes to go back to the time of the Articles of Confederation.
So if an individual benefits from a law, that promotes the “common welfare” the law should be repealed?
Let’s say that the law is universal health care. This law that creates a healthy population is a bad law if Mr. Smith, an individual, uses this law to get his cancer cured?
I do not contend that laws are “bad” but unconstitutional.
Obamacare may be a well intentioned law, but the Federal government has no authority to make such a law and is therefore unconstitutional.
The Vietnam War was not to defend the US so it was unconstitutional. The GCA ’34 interfered with the 2nd Amendment rights of citizens of the US and unconstitutional. The DOMA is outside federal jurisdiction so unconstitutional. Many Federal laws are
not allowed by the US Constitution even if their justification was for good and therefore unconstitutional and should have been struck down by the Supreme Court but…
If Congress wants to make laws that are not allowed under the US Constitution then the US Constitution has to be amended to allow them to pass such laws, simple.
Nice try at spinning. It is not that Bonnie disagreed with Obama. It is that Bonnie compliments a letter which is an absolute lie. It was under Bush that the term for agency heads became called czars. Presidents have the authority to appoint heads of federal agencies. The letter ignores the fact most Presidents do recess appointments when Congress refuses to bring an appointment to a vote. That authority is in the US Constitution. Disagreeing with that authority is anti-American, as are most of the posts here by Bonnie_in MS.
The term czars was first used to disparage Bush’s cabinet officers, so using the term for those that Obama has appointed is no less valid.
Also under Bush those that agreed with him were labled anti-freedom, anti-democracy, NAZIs, and so forth, so fair is fair..
Disagreeing with someone’s interperation of the Constitution is no more anti-American for those on either side. What is anti-American is the deliberate twisting of the words in the Constitution to suit their attempt to bring down the country.
US Constitution, Article II, section 2, authorizes the President to make recess appointments. It is in pretty simple english so misinterpreting it would be difficult. What is anti-American from Bonny is the repeated lies about what the President can and cannot do, his motives, religion, and political beliefs. Bonnie has yet to post a factual statement and has never to my knowledge replied when asked to supply a source of their information. In other words, they do nothing except spread lies. They do not contribute to the discussion. They are a toady for right wing fascist propaganda.
By the way, I personally dislike the term ‘czar’ as related to US officials. I thought it was a term coined by the news media during Bush’s term. According to wikipedia it was used as early as Woodrow Wilson’s term during WWI. I am not sure how reliable that is.
While I agree that the Constitution allows for appointing cabinet members during Congressional recess it was meant to allow the President to appoint people in an emergency, not to get around Congressional oversight.
Did you defend the practice of recess appointments when it was done by Bush? If you did not your defense of Obama’s recess appointment is just partisan crap.
Another issue I have with many of your, and others on both sides of these “debates”, posts is the inflammatory use of terms like Fascist, NAZI, un-American, anti-American, Communist and so forth when deriding other’s opinions. Doing so only alienates, it does not bolster your argument.
I actually didn’t pay much attention to any President’s recess appointmants since I have considered it just one of their many duties/powers. I do not agree that it is for emergency situations only based on the way it has been used for decades at least, if not longer. But again that is not as important a point as the fact it is a right of the President, no matter which party he/she is in.
What I object to is the attempt to cite Obama’s use as some sort of grand plan based on his supposed communist/socialist/ muslim/ amti-American/ white hating, etc.,etc, etc. plans.
In regard to the use of the word fascist, I have decided to lower myself to the level of the ignorant who have claimed Obama isn’t an American citizen (there are STILL people who make this claim), that he is not a Christian, even though that is not a requirement for the office, that he is a communist or socialist, and on and on. In the particular case of Bonnie_in_MS, it is an instance of someone who only posts derogatory comments and lies, and never, I repeat, never, has replied when asked for their source of information. That is a clear case of fascism.
Compare that to you and I. We may strongly disagree, but at least we are having a civil discussion and bringing facts into the posts.
ok bye
Wow. Amazing. SO many holes in this comment it’s difficult to start. But I’ll start with the point about the media letting if fly because the Obamaites say everything is going great. Really? They are duped that well? Can you point to any examples of the media ignoring “the truth” because they’ve simply been told that “everything is going great”?
Also, can you tell us where you learned about the three BILLION dollars a day that are lost? Where are they going? How much was lost a day when Bush was president?
I like to hear other sides of a story, but gheeze, this is just silly!
Mr. Mendell’s letter talks about children seeking the truth. Does this include gay kids?
What’s their “truth”?
Often, it is something that has to be hidden away, due to a very narrow-minded society. Or rigid, zealous parents who can’t begin to comprehend their child’s sexual orientation.
In far too many cases, the “truth” eludes these kids and suicide becomes the only solution to the torment they endure, from within and without.
It’s sometimes shocking to see how antiquated so many people still are on the subject of homosexuality. We can be such an enlightened society on so many levels, and yet so backward about this.
Why is that?
Because it is in “the book”…….right in between the part about caring for the least among us and the part about loving everyone…….or was that a rhetorical question?
The same book that says to poke your eyes out and stone people who work on Sunday? The same book where a man in Sodom offered up his 3 virgin daughters to the crowd so they wouldn’t rape a stranger? Ahhh I know that book and I also know that there is no God that would write such garbage. God is Love.
Well, the truth is simple! Gay kids just haven’t been taught the truth yet!
Once gay kids are taught that the way they’ve chosen is wrong and bad, then they can be set on course for a lifetime of misery and despair, forced into a loveless marriage by those who know best!
It’s good for the kids, good for society, and BEST for our country!
EVERYBODY wins!!!!
Lisa, that would be why….. Congress has not been working with him on anything lately. He needs to get some work done. Maybe this way something that works for consumers will be put in place instead of only what works for businesses. It is time the people became the focus of government. And, he listened on Tar Sands, and will probably do the same with SOPA and PIPA. And, your representatives in Washington have no real interest in you. Haven’t you learned that yet.
Obama did not create that agency. Congress did. Do you ever get tired of spouting anti-American propaganda?
Lisa: You have no clue…learn more about “your” country and “your” government before posting again.
Donald: The mail was delivered prior to the construction of the Hampden facility. It will be delivered after it is closed as well.
But it is a shame that it was built in the first place considering the end result. Now the federal Government has another piece of real estate to maintain with no use.
and how long will we wait for letters sent to Bangor, from Bangor, when they have to head down to the southern part of the state and then sent back here???
Lisa Davis . .all Presidents make “recess appointments” . .. Teddy R. did over 160 in one day.
If you don’t like the recess appointment process then make your argument. All I see is your utter hatred for our President.
I think I get it now!
Ovaries = love for a man.
Testes = love for a woman.
Gay marriage = bad!
I wish I’d been taught that earlier-I would have been spared decades of happiness!
What about those, like myself, who have much higher levels of testosterone? What about the 1 in 600 babies born every year with unidentified genitals? What about the fact that even the Vatican states that homosexuality is natural but that we have to turn away from it so we can reproduce and continue our species? Because there are nt 7 billion people in the world with over half of them starving? I was taught all the gay is bad stuff too and am now so glad to be happy and more educated now.
Hmmm….I guess this master plan of teaching “the truth” needs to be reexamined…
LOL I think so also. Mendell is tripping himself up i wish we could find his old letters saying that gay marriage would be taught in schools if the vote went our way. Now he is saying it will be taught anyway. He is a liar and it is in print.
jersey, just a note…did you read the articles he was referring to? If not, look up the Education section of the BDN and read that article about “romantic” inclinations…I believe that is what Mendell is referring to
Thank you, i will check them out.
jersey, I believe the article is saying this will be taught in schools….
What does “taught in schools” really mean?
That the kids will be told that they must now entertain the idea of marrying someone of the same gender?
Or will it sometimes be discussed in schools, depending on the situation?
While canvassing, I heard that concern a lot and I never really understood it.
But something I DO understand is that the curricula are set by the towns. If people are really concerned about what the children are taught, they need to take it up with the town, not with me and my want of marriage to the man I love.
The curriculum is normally set by the State. It is a book that we follow. I think the towns have some input but, in reality, we dont discuss marriage except for what makes a healthy relationship in Health class and that doesnt include gender just abuse issues.
Ah Mr. Mendell you have tripped yourself up finally. You stated, during the last vote, that gay marriage would be taught in schools. Now you say it is “whats next” and yet the law didnt even pass. Oh the lies. p.s. Your BIG WORDS is not proper for the audience you are seeking. Perhaps you should speak to your English teachers down there in Nokmis about how to appeal to the proper audience.
Conservative posters constantly complain that the BDN seldom prints letters supporting their right wing view point. Today the BDN gave three conservatives a chance. They blew it. All three letters are breathtakingly ignorant.
Don Mendell: If the purpose of sex is to make children, then heterosexual sex is the only way to go. However, many couples indulge in more than vaginal sex. They might indulge in anal, oral, frottage…whatever. If heterosexual couple do engage in such ‘unatural’ sexual practices, meaning the sexual acts described do not result in the birth of a child, then why can’t any combination of male/male or female/female adults indulge in the same sexual practices? Why is it natural for heterosexuals to engage in sexual practices that do not result in a child but unatural for gay or lesbian folk to do the same? Anal sex is anal sex, no matter who does it. Oral sex is oral sex, no matter who does it.
You have a valid point, but at one time all of those acts were condemned by religious organizations. Some probably still are. Reality and religious beliefs are seldom in tune.
Uh, oh…there you go. Now you’re venturing into the realm of the Society for Tradition, Family, and Property (http://www.tfp.org/). Check them out. They’ve got plans for the heathens you’re referring to…
I think the world, would be a much better place, if we cared less for religion, and more for our fellow man. Both the new and old testament, were written to control, people with fear. Then we start fighting over whom god loves more, who’s religion is right, and who the real god is. Not one of us knows this, and fighting over the unknown, seem amazingly stupid to me.