A true Patriot
While I know that most of New England is disappointed in the outcome of the Super Bowl, I want to offer a different perspective.
Although I’m disappointed, too, I am choosing to think of the many hours of excitement and entertainment I enjoyed while watching the Patriots during the 2011 season. It was great fun, and I thank the coaches and players for their hard work. We can’t win ’em all, and a 15-win season isn’t chopped liver!
Thanks, Patriots, for a wonderful season. See you in the fall!
Pat Carrick
Belfast
Postal service fix
A recent letter to the editor in the BDN states that all that is needed to solve the U.S. Postal Service’s financial crisis is to eliminate the required payments for future retirees’ health benefits.
The truth is, the postal service has had various reprieves the last few years, and yet for the past three years, it was still in the red by $2.4 billion, $3 billion and $5.1 billion, respectively. Moreover, those losses were in addition to any prefunding payment owed whether paid or deferred.
The unfunded liability for future postal health benefits is $46.2 billion. Requiring the postal service to reduce this unfunded liability helps ensure that its promise to retired workers will be kept and that taxpayers are not on the hook for these benefits. These are very real unfunded liabilities.
Setting aside funds to pay for future obligations makes good business sense, and contrary to what the writer alleged, the postal service is hardly unique in this practice.
The bipartisan postal reform bill that I have authored would provide billions in relief from the steep payments owed under the current law’s prefunding schedule, yet it ensures that the liability is still eventually funded so that the postal service keeps its promises to retirees.
Those are real obligations. Sticking our heads in the sand won’t make this liability go away and would jeopardize the benefits of future retired postal workers.
Susan M. Collins
United States Senator
Reality beats perception
In his Feb. 7 BDN Op-Ed on Maine’s business climate, Charles Hastings begins with a personal observation that, upon graduation, more and more UMaine graduates are packing up and leaving for another state. “They move away,” he writes.
This strong claim caught my attention, for it is contradicted by the annual survey of UMaine graduates, “Life After UMaine,” which my office conducts.
In the most recent survey of our graduates, for example, roughly two-thirds of respondents were employed full time (versus, say, pursing graduate studies), and most of these full-time employed — 71 percent — stayed in Maine. Not surprisingly, the latter percentage was higher among in-state graduates (79 percent) than among out-of-state graduates (21 percent), although we do find the statistic for out-of-state graduates encouraging nonetheless. Results from Life After UMaine are generally consistent from year to year.
Survey research is an imperfect science to be sure, and it is important that one not overplay the resulting data. Further, the migration behavior of college graduates will differ according to a school’s mission, recruiting practices, and so on. That said, the data for Maine’s flagship public university paint a different picture, and an arguably more positive one, than that conveyed by the personal observation above.
Ted Coladarci
Director, Office of Institutional Studies
University of Maine
Propane, fire and water
During last Wednesday evening’s discussion on WERU-FM concerning the huge LPG tank proposed for Searsport by DCP Midstream, I contested the allegation of one of the panelists that propane fires can be extinguished with water, explaining that water acts to cool a burning solid substance below its flash point, and that propane is not a solid substance, and squirting water on a propane fire only serves to spread the fire.
The panelist then stated that he had in fact used water to put out a propane fire, and I was not given a chance to respond, hence this letter.
It is true that small propane fires can be extinguished with water, especially water mist, if the volume of water is large with respect to the volume of propane. In the case of an explosion of the proposed tank, however, there is not enough water in Penobscot Bay to suppress the resulting fire. I have calculated the energy content of the full tank, and my calculation has been confirmed by Dr. Francois Amar, chairman of the chemistry department at Orono. The figure is just over half a megaton, or at least 33 times the energy released by the atomic bomb that incinerated Hiroshima.
Given the firestorms that would certainly follow an explosion of the tank, this could well destroy all of midcoast Maine. Propane tank explosions are disturbingly common events. Do we really need something like this sitting in our backyards?
David Laing
Stockton Springs
Faith quandary
Hypothetically speaking, if a business owned by Jehovah’s Witnesses offered health insurance to its employees (some of whom were non-Witnesses), would the business owner be allowed to omit coverage for blood transfusions from the insurance policy benefits on religious grounds?
Kim McGowan
Old Town
Crisis created
Hold that tax cut! We can’t afford it.
With the continuing debate over cuts to MaineCare, any reference to last year’s $150 million dollar tax cut barely gets mentioned. But isn’t that the crux of our financial woes?
Gov. LePage pushed really hard and convinced a majority of the Legislature to put through a tax cut with no forethought of future expenses. Would he have done this for himself? Would he have spent money he didn’t have and then complained that he couldn’t pay the bills?
I think not.
He’s too smart not to have known there would be great shortfalls in funding health care. He bet on that shortfall to force the Legislature to cut the lower economic scale while the upper end divvied up much of the $150 million for themselves.
According to our governor, 70,000 people were removed from the tax rolls. Did they get a bonanza? Hardly. Someone making $30,000 a year received a tax cut of around $2 a month. Don’t you think these people would have forgone their tax cut to ensure proper health care for someone less well off? MaineCare needs to be fixed, but not under the financial gun.
I think Maine people realize that the tax cut they “bought” is too expensive, and needs to be put on hold. Nine months of no tax cut would restore $112 million dollars to be used for much better things than delivering a tax cut that pays for a monthly loaf of bread.
Jane Sumner
Hiram
Jane Sumner, I agree. The problem is that Governor LePage seems to have a previous commitment to Grover Norquist. He signed an oath to never increase taxes and it seems that it is written in stone. So far his track record has shown that once he sets a course or makes a decision, there is nothing that will change his mind. Do a google search of our state legislators and you will see quite a few who have sworn fielty to Grover Norquist by signing his pledge. Too bad that the people of Maine come second to this mystereous Grover Nolrquist.
Great idea raise taxes in the highest taxed state in the union that should help bring all kinds of jobs our way .
We’ve long since given up that title, not even in the top ten anymore. Get current.
believe what you want
Gopher stated a fact, which you can look up if you are interested in factual knowledge. You appear to be the one believing what you want to believe. Tuned to VOM(it) 24/7 are you?
It depends on how you count it. In raw numbers, (dollars per taxpayer ) Maine does not rank in the top ten taxed states. Source: Forbes for 2011
However we do as a percentage of our incomes, Maine is ranked 9th highest. Source: Tax Foundation 2011.
rfr67 is both wrong and right. It all depends on how you count.
We are paying a higher percentage of our incomes in taxes than the vast majority of our fellow Americans.
But not as a %of our wealth.
From the Tax Foundation
Tax Freedom Day Arrives on April 4 in Maine Tax Freedom Day is the day when Americans finally have earned enough money to pay off their total tax bill for the year. In 2011, Maine taxpayers work until April 4 (ranked 34th highest nationally) to pay their total tax bill, 8 days before Tax Freedom Day for the nation as a whole on April 12. The Tax Freedom Days of neighboring states are: New Hampshire on April 6 (22nd nationally) and Massachusetts on April 14
But again as a percentage of income ALL TAXES not income taxes only.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/pf_article_113173.html
9. Maine
Taxes paid by residents as pct. of income: 10.1%
You seem to forget that the Federal and state governments do not tax wealth. Local and county government DO tax some wealth, in particular property tax.
I guess you are suggesting that the federal and State governments start taxing ALL wealth as well as income. are you really willing to see government start taxing your wealth? That would include everything you own you know. Homes, cars, bank accounts, investments etc.
That’s right they don’t tax wealth. You do realize what that means as far as personal wealth and amount you are taxed.
If you tax wealth that is confiscation. Whats to differ us from Zimbabwe?
The federal estate tax and the state inheritance tax each tax inherited wealth, although only at a very high threshold. Get your facts right before you speak dismissively to another.
A little ole’ arrogance showing through?
As typical,an intolerant attitude towards anybody of differing belief or opinion thanks for the thought though.
Kim Mcgowan, the answer is probably not. The protest by the Catholic church is in keeping with their centuries old policy of relegating women to second class status. The republicans have simply backed them up. Hence the reason for no complaints from the church or republican party about the mandatory coverage of viagra.
Note there are no proposals to require men to undergo heart or back tests, or to view videos of back injuries, before they can get their prescription for viagra.
If the politicians were really concerned about the health of the mother, men would be required to pay health and food expenses for women while they are pregnant. It is obvious the health of the mother is of no concern to the religious right.
Nice try but the catholic church has historically favored the dems.You do make some meteoric leaps in your posts.Big difference between a 50 cent condom and a medical procedure but keep the spin going it distracts most from the truth of whats really going on.
Gee, I can’t find where I mentioned condoms.
The rule the Catholic church has objected to has been the law in 28 states for some years, New York for the last 10. It in no way dictates how the church deals with parishioners and employees of the church. It does determine how they deal with non catholic employees and clients in church affiliated institutions. The Catholic church has not raised one objection to the use of viagra, but does seem to want to dictate what women do with their bodies.
97% of Catholic women use or have used some form of birth control. It is time for the church to move into the 21st century.
Ahhhhhh ……. the big question is where do they stand on “female”viagra ….. probably not.
The republican propagandists have painted this as an attack on religion because it gets support from their right wing base. This is in fact a ruling based on the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (google ‘eeoc contraception’, click on 3rd link). They said nothing when the ruling was made in 2000. That’s right, this ruling is 12 years old, and 28 states have laws requiring employers to conform to the ruling. If an employer offers insurance which covers prescriptions they must also cover anything which protects the health of women. Only now do the republicans complain. Not once under Bush was there a peep out of them.
A month or so ago the Pope met with American Catholic Bishops and told them it is their duty to encourage Catholic politicians to make Catholic doctrine into law. This alone begs for the revoking of the tax free status of the Catholic church. They are no longer just a religious organization. They have now become a lobbying group with a political agenda.
The Catholic hierarchy is politicising their policies and positions and are skating on very thin ice.
The Catholic Church is not and never was a religious organization. It’s a small country, now reduced from empire status. It has an elected head of state and a governmental structure. It assesses taxes and collects revenues. It has a treasury. It sends out and receives ambassadors from other countries. It makes laws, issues edicts. It used to make treaties with other countries. Today, it has a representative to the UN. And it meddles in politics big time. As a side line it produces religion.
There are critical differences between what the states are doing and what the ACA is doing. Look it up.
There are, but not many.
Only where they count.
What are these differences which are so critical you have made no effort to enumerate them?
Adenmain made the claim. He should at least know the difference if he/she is going to compare one law with another?
You never seem to be able to answer your own questions.
I can but obviously the person who makes some specious claim to begin with should be able to answer them.
jumping and jumping thanks for the laughs.
Are you Catholic?
There are a lot of prescription drugs that, as a side effect, lower the sperm count to almost nil. The Church should refuse to pay for those as well if it wants to be consistent.
Why should someone have to buy your condoms?
What are you talking about? Where did you get this idea?
birth control =condoms cheap and easy buy your own, whats the big flip?
The Catholic parishoners may still favor Democrats even though the hierarchy obviously does not (at least not any more). They need a scapegoat to cover scandals, departures, dwindling supply of priests, etc. They need a new enemy to try to whip up the masses.
scapegoat huh
The idea that Catholics are loyal to the Democrats may no longer be true. An article that says Obama just lost Pennsylvanian working class Catholics.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/02/12/pennsylvania_still_a_tall_order_for_obama_113106.html
This is just another way for the right wing radicals to bring a ‘wedge’ issue in so that people won’t notice that the economy is picking up and on the right track. They are very, very good at dividing people.
If the Catholic church takes tax-payer funds then the Catholic church should abide by the laws. Or maybe they would prefer to pay taxes? I’d like that, all churches should pay taxes, I think and the rich and royal bishops could then talk about anything they wanted. Otherwise, they should refuse the federal funds or just be seen as hypocrites. Any religious organization that would allow, for decades, little children be victimized and then cover up those crimes…..ain’t got no respect from me.
I pretty much agree with your basic points. I do not have a problem with any religion preaching to their own members and enforcing rules with their own members. I do take issue when they attempt to force others, or in this case, deprive non members of rights. This issue is not Obama attacking religion, since he is essentially reinforcing earlier decisions. It is religion attacking women’s rights, as established under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the ruling of the EEOC in 2000. Any organization receiving federal monies should be required to follow federal law. These “affiliated” organizations are not the church itself. Their employees are not all members of their religion, and they generally serve the public, whether it is a hospital, charity, or college.
David Laing, not saying you’re wrong, but frankly I haven’t heard of a large propane storage tank blowing up. You stated that this is a common occurance. Is it so common that it isn’t news worthy? I wonder if the citizens of Saint John, N. B. know of these dangers. They have a couple of them at the Irving Refinery.
You can find examples by googling ‘natural gas explosion videos, although I think they were mostly pipelines, not tanks.
Thanks, I sometimes forget to google things. I did google and found this afer 3 items from Youtube on BBQ grill tank explosions.
http://www.propane101.com/explodingpropanetanks.htm
A good read.
My brother and I use one of those which has been responsible for several deaths from explosions. There was a recall but the manufacturer also offered a repair kit for free. We repaired it ourselves as my brother is a mechanic and welder and I have access tothe necessary material.
In regard to natural gas pipelines or tanks exploding, the question is how much of an area in Searsport (and surrounding towns) would be effected, and how fast would an explosion be controlled. In the middle of the tourist season route 1 through Searsport is bumper to bumper. I have been there when an ambulance or police/fire were trying to get through. I think it is difficult to estimate how much of a fireball would result, or how much immediate damage and the resulting panic would occur.
Judging from some of the videos of explosions I would be reluctant to support a natural gas tank .
Maybe they should be worried about the 24″ Natural Gas Pipeline that runs through Waldo County?????
Pat Carrick, you are a good and true fan. The Patriots don’t have anything to be ashamed of. They had a season that I wish my team had. As I have said almost every year for over 60 years, wait till next year. Go Eagles;)
And go Cubs!
Every piece of good luck went to the Giants and every piece of bad luck went to the Pats. And it was still a four point game. This was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Pats and they pulled off 15 wins. Wait until next year.
I hate to rain on your parade but the Patriots only beat 1 team with a winning record all year. They were 1 – 3 against teams over .500.
And yet, they made it all the way to the big show in a rebuilding year.
——————————
Jane Sumner–I agree with you that the people of the state of Maine would be much better served by rescinding LePage’s tax “cut”. I put ‘cut’ in parentheses because in actuality it is a giveaway to the wealthy. I have to disagree with your thinking that the governors intelligence, or lack thereof, has anything to do with it. LePage’s agenda is not his own in actuality but a bill of goods that he has been sold by out of state corporate interests. These interests care not a whit for the well being of the people of Maine.
SUSAN,
We don’t need middle of the road fixes. We need drastic cuts in manpower, equipment, and buildings. You get paid minimum wage for being a night clerk at a corner store, with the risk of being robbed and killed, and yet we pay high union wages and benefits for people to get their walking exercise. Get real and make the tough choices. We could train monkeys to deliver the mail at little cost.
JANE,
May I advise you to watch some news today and see Greece burning as a result of that same attitude. We either continue making drastic cuts in all government programs or we will burn as well.
I would love to see you do the routes that the people do you would be dead in a hour You better hope that UPS dose not take over the mail ect . Just to send a letter to Portland from waterville would cost you $11:35 now if you wanted them to pick it up at your house it would cost more . To send a letter to San Francisco that same letter would cost you $13:25 plus cost of picking up at your house . Plus you would half to put the letter in a large envelope because there shipping lable will not fit reg. envelopes
Like most government workers, the postal employees think that their jobs couldn’t be done by anyone else. A trained monkey would be overqualified to deliver the mail. It should be an entry level job.
Se my post to amcon. Same to you.
It’s easy to undervalue someone else’s job.
A trained monkey could stamp “deny” on a health insurance claim. Yet some people make millions doing it.
It is easy to correctly point out how the government monopoly protects jobs that are overcompensated. Taking a walk and stuffing mail in a box is only a career because the government made it one, not because it is a particularly valuable “skill”.
You remind me of the car owner who complained about the mechanic’s $85.00 bill. “All you did was tighten one little screw. I could have done that myself.”, he said. “Yes, you could have” mechanic replied, “And I only charged you $5.00 for tightening the screw. The $80.00 is for knowing which screw to tighten.”
Everybody else’s jobs look easy to the uninformed.
So being able to read an address is now a skill???
BTW – I do most of my own mechanic work too. It’s really quite simple.
Missing the point of the joke and of life.
So the ability to fix a car is not a skill?
Take the test an see how easy it is. Try being out in all kinds of weather . If there’s to much snow out companies close but the post office stays open no matter what the weather is . When was the last time that the post office was closed because of weather ?
No, no. You have companies confused with the public sector who pay the “workers” to stay home whenever it snows in Maine. The people who actually work for a living work even when it snows.
But the next thing is to get it to the right address when there is no numbers on the house . What about apartment buildings a,b,c,d would you know how to find them all . lots of times there are only mail boxes there an there names mite be on them or just a,b,c,d
Wow. a,b,c,d? Whatever will we do. If only I’d paid more attention in nursery school. Help public employees union, this is too hard. We need work rules here.
Bad analogy. Doesn’t it say right on the envelope which box to put it in?
Or sign foreclosure documents they don’t even read and do hundreds in a day. Yeah, a trained bank monkey, one that’s turned to the dark side, could do that, too.
Well, why not do your patriotic duty and get a postal job then?
You are so funny you would be fired the first week . The same was said at BIW by one of the higher up that any ape could weld guess what the person that made that statement is now walking the streets. I has a letter once sent by a person that had my name on it an it said by fire dept fairfield maine an guess what the carrier delivered to my house could a monkey do that ??
really? Go apply and try it.
I could easily do the “work”, but I couldn’t take the pay cut.
Spell much? Your comment is difficult to read because of the errors.
Well why don’t you rewrite it an show every one how its suppose to be done than ?
Funny my daughter a collage grad read it an she said nothing wrong with it .
Yeah funny; you know, I should have kept my mouth shut.
Not to mention all your bills would go up as well, cable, credit, electricity. If they pay higher cost due to postage, everyone else will to.
Yes that’s very true so people better think before getting rid of the post office
Amconservative, while your entry proves that we have trained monkeys to post on the BDN website, delivering the mail is a more difficult task. It requires stamina, tolerance for a wide range of weather, perseverence, organizational skills, and a dedication to the public.
I assume you have never gotten over the disappointment of doing so poorly on the Civil Service exam. Luckily for you, there is no testing requirement before one can post on this site.
The fact that you believe delivering the mail is a particularly difficult job is a perfect example of why this country is failing.
I’ve had the same letter carrier for 20 years and he’s had two surgeries for shoulder injuries because of carrying the mail. He’s had dogs come after him, he delivers cheerfully in any kind of weather, is always on time, always on top of who is moving in and moving out of my small apartment house here in Orono (so many students come and go in this neighborhood, it’s a nightmare for mail carriers here). It’s a long day and it’s six days out of seven, week in and week out. I think it’s a tough job and I’m grateful for the USPS. Thanks, Gary!
Then you have never had a really tough job.
What is your job? It sounds like you would like to tell us about it. Plus I would welcome the opportunity to evaluate its difficulty according
to my own personal, completely subjective criteria.
LMAO
I didn’t realize one could earn a living that way. Seems like something a trained monkey could do. LYAO is one of the few occupations I can think of that requires neither brains nor ball$. You’re probably really good at it.
Gary is FANTASTIC! He’s my letter carrier too and has been a good friend. He knows so much about the history of my house and the neighborhood.
I value the USPS and use mail whenever I can. I mail my bill payments, postcards, letters, thank you notes. The service of having a paper document go from my house to another place in Maine in 1 day or across the country within 3 days is very valuable to me and many others.
Actually chenard wrote that delivering the mail is more difficult than posting on the BDN website. Your post is a perfect example of our country’s illiteracy problem.
Maybe your comprehension should be improved. I did not comment on his comparison. I commented on his description of how difficult and demanding a job chenard thinks being a mail carrier is.
You need to re-read chenard’s post. What is your job? I would like an opportunity to evaluate it according to my own personal, completely subjective criteria for difficulty.
LMAO
I didn’t realize one could earn a living that way. Seems like something a trained monkey could do. LYAO is one of the few occupations I can think of that requires neither brains nor ball$. You’re probably really good at it.
As you have never walked a mile in a mailman’s shoes, I will consider the source. It is telling that after Wall Street ran this economy into the ditch you blame government for all the country’s problems. P.T. Barnum would have loved someone as gullible as you.
And I suppose you have walked in a mailman’s shoes? I have worked at an outside job 8-10 hours a day 6 days a week and in ALL weather conditions. Did it for several years. and I didn’t get to drive a vehicle part of the time or get in out of the weather.
It’s no use trying to explain economics to someone who only listens to soundbites. Read these links and maybe you would have some understanding of governments role in what happened. Then we might have an intelligent conversation.
online.wsj.com/article/SB122298982558700341.html#articleTabs%3Darticle
theweek.com/article/index/206655/the-governments-un-american-home-ownership-crusade
http://www.forbes.com/2010/08/27/ayn-rand-housing-opinions-columnists-yaron-brook-watkins_print.html
They will never see that the gov is the problem because thats who takes care of them .cradle to grave .
What is your job? It sounds like you would really like to tell us about it.
Plus I would welcome the opportunity to evaluate its difficulty
according to my own personal, completely subjective criteria.
LMAO
I didn’t realize one could earn a living that way. Seems like something a trained monkey could do. LYAO is one of the few occupations I can think of that requires neither brains nor ball$. You’re probably really good at it.
You are obviously unaware of the proverb that one should not criticize another until he has walked a mile in his shoes.
I suggest that you are gullible to have blamed government for Wall Street’s excesses and you respond by referring me to three posts: an opinion piece in the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal, a post copied from Forbes (a conservative Wall Street publication run by a very conservative family) and a piece from Forbes, itself.
Your post has me laughing: it is like a man defending John Dillinger by quoting from Dillinger’s autobiography. Do you really think that either Forbes or the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal would take an honest look at their own role in the 2008 crash?
P.T. Barnum was right: “There’s a sucker born every minute.”
I could explain collateral debt obligations and credit default swaps to you and the toxic role each played in the 2008 crash, but I sense you have been drinking the Wall Street Kool-Aid for too long. I suggest you read the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Report issued in January of 2011. Once you have, we can have an intelligent discussion.
And what do you consider unbiased sources of information? Huffington post? Media matters?
I probably understand collateral debt obligations and credit default swaps at least as well as you do. What you fail to look at is why were so many of these created in the first place. Answer: In response to unacceptable risk. Why was there unacceptable risk. Answer: Changes in government rules, regulations, and mandates. Why wasn’t the risk recognized earlier and preventative action taken to prevent the crash. Answer: Government again. In particular the desire of progressive politicians to promote a policy of home ownership even among people who could not afford the homes. Why? Answer: a combination of good intentions and outright pandering for votes.
It was called a housing bubble for good reasons. Or don’t you understand the basic nature of economic bubbles and how and why they ALWAYS eventually collapse. How everyone ignores the building risk and most get caught up in the false promise of unending increases in value and the money they can skim off the top. But eventually a bubble bursts and those holding the bag at the end are the losers. Not much different than a ponzi scheme, only legal.
Who created the original conditions that created the bubble? Government.
It all started out as mostly good intentions. But then politicians like Frank and Dodd saw it as a path to power. There was plenty of greed to go around. Individual homeowners thinking they were going to make the big score. Bankers making big bucks. The mortgage brokers were probably the worst. And politicians, although their greed was as much for power as for money.
The collateral debt obligations and credit default swaps were a kind of insurance for the big banks and investment houses. By selling off the debt to investors Wall Street was able to free up more capitol so they could make even more loans. And should I mention that government encouraged this activity because it supported the progressive goal of promoting home ownership for everyone. The shear volume of them, (many still out there like a waiting economic time bomb), made the crash much worse than it ever should have been. But don’t blame bankers for doing what was in their own best interest at the time. And made legal and even encouraged by changes in government rules, regulations, and mandates for the purpose of social engineering.
The collateral debt obligations and credit default swaps made the crash much worse. But they did not trigger the crash. Failed mortgages did. Nor did they create the conditions that created the bubble in the first place. Government did that.
Your opinion is a joke. You give no sources and you cannot back your assertions with any facts. So you simply disparage and discount any one and any source that disagrees with your opinion.
Even now government refuses to institute rules and regulations that would prevent this from happening again.
For example:
In a bid to stem
taxpayer losses for bad loans guaranteed by
federal housing agencies Fanny Mae and Freddy
Mac, Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) proposed that
borrowers be required to make a minimum 5% down
payment in order to qualify. His proposal was
rejected 57-42 on a Senate party-line vote
because, as Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn)
explained, “Passage of such a
requirement would restrict home ownership to
only those who can afford
it.”
And that is only one example. The fact is that the buying and selling of mortgages should have strict rules and encourage banks to hold on to those they write.
Why should I even bother to respond to someone who did not counter even one thing I wrote previously? You are just another lost cause who has drank too much liberal Kool-Aid. But maybe someone else out there will be educated enough to look at the issue themselves in DEPTH. Not just to the sound bites from either side.
As posted elsewhere, I’m the son of an excellent letter carrier (urban, foot only) and was a Holiday extra one season in a climate considerably colder than this. Dad was a carrier for 35 years, amzing physical specimen.
or a point for lower min wages
Reread your post. It’s an outright personal attack on the poster trying to make the point that much more than a simple fix is required to save the Postal Service. Do yourself a favor by redoing or taking back your nasty your personal attack. I’ll withdraw this comment after you have done so.
And “We could train monkeys to deliver the mail at little cost.” is an intelligent, thoughtful assessment of the problems of the USPS that doesn’t deserve criticism or snide laughter??????? Amcon made a stupid comment that was in his own inimitable way meant to be ugly and people replied in kind. How is this an attack?
The ground rules for posting is this: No personal attacks. The attack against the USPS is not personal. And besides, it is clearly intended to be exaggerated for effect. That said, you don’t have to agree with amconservative’s suggestion that it doesn’t require a lot of skill and technical know-how to work as a mail sorter or deliverer. He didn’t get a thumbs-up or a “like” from me for that comment.
Ah, but amcons attack was on letter carriers not the USPS. Personal attack to the extreme.
No, the attack is not personal. Rather it is general with no identities involved. Calling someone by name a liar or a thief is a direct attack on the person. Calling a group of unidentified people such names is an attack, although not nearly as personal. Amcons did neither. He simply implied the type of work mail carriers do is not worthy of the compensation they get. Not attempt was done to lower their personal dignity. By the way, as I pointed out, his is an opinion I don’t fully share.
Harry Truman would say this to both you and Amconservative: “If you can’t stand the heat get out of the kitchen.” I will defend a hard-working American worker any time, any day, by turning the accuser’s words on himself.
Re your comment on letter carriers, that is one the ultimate insults, even for you. As a son of a letter carrier and as one who was a holiday assitant carrier one year, I take particular offense on behalf of letter carriers everywhere. Try it sometime, you wouldn’t last on hour at most. Does these outrageous, unkowing insults say something about your aptitudes? I’ll leave that for others to judge.
If you decided you were all set with your education after high school and you didn’t continue or join the military then life is going to be very difficult. You will be competing with illegals the rest of your life. Our parents were the last generation that could have got away with it otherwise.
Couldn’t tell if you are adressing me specifically or young people in general. I got married after my junior year in college and my wife was working 1 full time job and 3 part time to keep us afloat my senior year. I had a lab job but we decided I could make more as a holiday postal extra for two weeks before Christmas. I did. I graduated with honors and have advanced degrees in my field.
My Dad had an 8th grade education, was a sub carrier, part time, through most of the Depression and finally made full time. As I said, one of the best I’ve seen.
I took the Postal test after I retired from the military and passed it the first time. Then I waited for nearly a year for an offer. I got one over a hundred miles away from where I lived for a part-time, on-call weekend carrier. I had to turn it down. 6 months later I got another offer for another part-time, on-call position 150 miles from where I lived. Again, I had to turn it down. Meanwhile, there were 20 Postal jobs filled within 30 miles of where I lived by mostly minorities and women, some of which I knew personally, and none of them had passed the Postal test the first time. It was the quota system in action.
Same goes for the TSA. Their quota system is unfair as they come. But that’s a subject for another comment thread.
Quota systems are unconstitutional actually. You’re just talking out of your behind.
Actually, government quotas are alive and well, and have been for decades. They are part of the government’s EEO policies, and are at each department head’s discretion. Next time you fly, just note the diversity in the TSA. It’s the same with the Postal Service.
You, and not fwteagles, know what you are talking about. Quotas in government hiring practices are still very much in use. I only wish this form of hiring practice was unconstitutional!
Here is a hiring quota requirement I was unaware of:
http://www.businessinsurance.com/article/20120101/NEWS07/301019980
Just another reason, beyond their bureaucratic billing process, to turn down government contracts.
Why? Because you might have to actually have a diverse work force? If your entire work force is white, you’re going to pretend like there wasn’t discrimination involved somewhere along the line?
The point is, whether purposeful or not, if your work force isn’t even close to be proportional to the general population, there is a chance something fishy is going on.
The Supreme Court has found that in the 14th Amendment there is an affirmative duty to do away with past instances of systematic government discrimination and oppression. That means that removing those discriminatory laws isn’t enough.
As I’ve said before, pure quota requirements are not constitutional, but allotting points to minorities is. The reason there are quota percentages here is because of that affirmative duty (in government) and because it is a marker of a fair employer (in contracting).
So 7% of a workforce must be disabled? That is going to be tough to find with 4.7% of the population on social security disability income.
Just because the words are the same, doesn’t mean that they have the same definition in different instances. The sets of criteria are different. You need to have a severe and prohibiting disability to receive SS income. That’s different from someone, who let’s say only has one arm.
“A severe and prohibiting disability” ?? Really. You can’t be serious. You are completely out of touch with the way things really work.
Regardless, the definition and criteria for disability in these two instances are different.
What you are saying is there should be special treatment for you as a retired, white, male with a really good military pension over anybody that really needs a job. You may have passed the postal test with flying colors but you are failing badly some of the other tests by which we take the measure of a man.
Special treatment? No. Equal treatment would suffice.
Really good military pension? Apparently you have no clue what enlisted people get for retirement.
And who are you to say that I don’t “really” need a job?
You have no clue about how to measure anyone.
An E-6 with 20 years gets a retirement package of about $22,000 a year. I believe full health care comes with that.
In order for an E-6 to make 22k per year in retirement, he has to have spent over 23 years in uniform, not 20. Even so, 22k isn’t a “really good” pension.
Full health care comes with that, but on a stand-by basis. In order to get an assigned doctor, we have to pay for a plan through Tricare.
$22K with full health coverage isn’t good???????????? Tell that to people working 2 part-time jobs making less than that and with out health insurance.
They should have joined the military.
EJParson’s retirement is not excessive. The retirement package was an inducement for making a career in the military in the service of country. That, however, should not be held against him or anyone else in his position applying for a government civilian job.
delet
Funny that you take something from a Book that you don’t believe in. Are you wishing me assassinated?
Mene, Mene, Tekel u-Pharsin …..LOL
In fairness to EJParsons, he didn’t indicate there should be special treatment for military retirees even though I believe there is one in effect. Rather, he argued in favor of placing qualifications over quotas for hiring purposes. Undoubtedly quotas were in effect when those 20 positions he referred to were filled. That practice might have contributed to the USPS’s current budget woes.
Does it occur to anyone that the written test may be only one of several qualifications for obtaining a position? Perhaps there are personality and compatibility requirements, driving and sorting abilities, ability to carry heavy loads for long periods of time, or perhaps there is a requirement that people working for a government agency respect the government or at least concede there is a useful purpose for government. Maybe there is a double dipping prohibition especially for those denigrating the value of government in a society. And last but not least, maybe there is a cheerfulness test for being a postal carrier.
Life is seldom determined by the “written test”.
Positions everywhere, in government or without, are subject to quotas. Unfortunately, white males are at a disadvantage. You can’t just fault the USPS and TSA.
So the postal service turned you down as a carrier, eh, Amcon?
Nice tip of the hat to the hard working men and women at the USPS amcon. The next time someone delivers your mail in a driving rain storm, get out there and tell them that they are over paid. Tell them that a monkey could do their job. There is nothing like a compliment to speed your day along. Not that you would know a compliment if it jumped up and slapped you in the kisser.
AMCON, as an outspoken fiscal conservative I would like to ask you to please reconsider your comments about the US Postal Service. A couple of things you should know about the USPS, and keep in mind, I often criticize unions, big government etc., but here I think you’re barking up the wrong tree:
1. The USPS is mandated to exist by the U.S. Constitution, part of their solvency problem is delivering (as mandated) to even the most remote parts of the country.
2. The USPS has a mandate to “pre-fund” their pension fund in a fashion unlike virtually any other enterprise in America.
Certainly, their are worthy conversations to have about pay and benefit rates, collective bargaining, pre-funding of pensions and the number of post offices currently in operation, but calling USPS employees no better than monkeys is A) Not helpful in the conversation. B) Indicative of a lack of understanding of both what the USPS is required to do by law and of the actual workings of the USPS.
FYI – I’m not an employee or retiree of, nor do I know any employees or retirees of the postal service.
C) Indicative of a lack of common decency and respect for other people and the jobs they do.
Amcon is the arbiter of right and wrong, good and bad. He passes judgement on everyone or every issues with the same reckless abandon. His judgements are final. There is no chance for appeal, no chance of redemption and no empathy or mercy. The USPS is in good company if they have indured the insult of amcon. Private union membership is down to 7% in America, but amcon still checks for the scary union monster hiding under his bed every night before he goes to bed. He thinks everyone in the state is “juking” DHHS except him, of course. Then he would have to pass judgement on himself. His comparison of a USPS worker to a monkey comes as no surprise to me, or most others on this forum. Like my father used to say, consider the source.
——————————
Expert judge–in his own mind.
Don’t be too hard on Sen. Collins. She’s just touting the Progressive Party line. The Progressives (which include the RINOs) are all for protecting union members at all costs. They’d rather see the Postal Service go belly up and have the taxpayers pay their out-of-work, union employees for life. Sounds kind of like the way they take care of those in Congress. Imagine that.
Try prefunding the health care an retirement of the workers thats the downfall of the post office
Natural gas is being pushed as the best for everyone, but there have been many “unexplained” explosions and many that have been because of natural gas.
So what is your solution for energy independence?
Oil?
Coal?
Tidal?
Wind?
Nuclear?
Solar?
My answer: Nuclear, but properly and safely placed, of like 93 million miles away, on the surface of the sun…you know, Solar Power!
BTW, tidal is solar and lunar too. Let’s work on that too.
David Lang response,
Where did you get your degree in physics? To equate Propane with a nuclear detonation is like comparing a woods fire to C4 by weight of material consumed. While the amount of potential in the volume of propane is large, it is a liquid and MUST be vaporized prior to combustion. And, it is combustion not detonation. BIG difference. Probably unlike you, I have been involved with suppressing a large propane fire. It’s not fun but it’s not Armageddon as your post would have the readers believe. And contrary to your misguided information, water IS used to suppress and extinguish propane fires. The part you conveniently omit is that part where water is turned to steam thereby chilling and cooling the material which lessens its ability to vaporize but also displaces the oxygen and replacing it with gaseous H2O thereby extinguishing the material. In a large fire the material is usually allowed to burn itself out albeit at a slower rate. Firefighters merely protect adjacent structures by applying water to cool and protect surrounding areas until the material is consumed while at the same time cooling the burning liquid.
If you would please post where an equal number of people lost their lives to a propane fire as lost them in Hiroshima or Nagasaki then I might reconsider my opinion. But until then you should apply for a refund for your science education.
Good response. Unfortunately most of the fear-mongers have a public school education and do not understand either logic or science.
It is truly amazing to see the number of people who lack even a basic understanding of physics. Yes, the amount of propane in a tank that size would have great explosive potential under some very particular circumstances. It would have to be vaporized and mixed in the right quantity with air (oxygen) and then ignited, usually in a closed space like a home or other building.
Propane has a very good safety record and has very good regulations regarding its handling, plus most everyone handling it has special training. My brother in law, had to pass a training course in order to get a “propane” endorsement on his CDL. A small number of the home delivery trucks have been involved in accidents on Maine roads over the years yet we have not seen Hirohsima yet!
Many homes in this state have had propane cyliinders next to them for 60 yrs now and you never hear of any bad things going on with them. If the house burns the safety valve releases the gas to burn harmlessly long before it could get hot enough to burst the cylinder.
These wild arguments do a disservice to the propane industry which has a good safety record.
Senator Collins, you are being disingenuous. No other entity, government or business, is required to fund health care costs and retirement costs this far into the future. Indeed, the federal government is not required to set aside a penny to cover the future costs of the lavish retirement and health care benefits Senators such as you will begin claiming upon their retirement. Why the double standard? Are you hoping that the USPS will have to outsource its more profitable lines?
Reverse this foolish mandate and expand the type of business the USPS can carry on. Let each post office act as part of a branch bank, as is done in so many European countries. Rural Mainers will love you for bringing a bank so close to home. Of course, the monied interests that finance your campaigns would hate the competition.
In case you missed it, the average age for a postal employee is mid-fifties. Technology is going to continue to replace employees. That means fewer people supporting more retirees, not in some distant future, but within the next decade. Moreover the Post office is loosing money even before the retirement payments are due. I understand that math may not be your strong suit but even a monkey can be trained to realize you cannot continue to operate at a loss.
A “golden girl” may not have realized how much the world has changed but even the smallest business is drastically reducing its postal usage. Three years ago I ran $2k per month through my mail metering machine. In January I ran $250.
Bishop Cheesecake, I am happy to test our relative skills at solving differential equations. I doubt you could even tell me what the derivative of any function was. Your English needs some sprucing up, as you seem to think “losing” is spelled “loosing”. Allowing the post office to branch out into banking would be step one in the right direction. Relieving it of a burden that no other entity pays would be another.
That doesn’t relieve you of your math issue.
Even if the USPS was relieved of its obligations to its employees it would still be losing money.
The USPS as a bank? You must be kidding me !! Federal Reserve Accounts?? That has to be about the silliest idea since you said you were in business. Golden Pond Time for Chenard.
time past
The pre-funding of retiree’s health care costs the USPS $5.5 billion. Over the last four years, the USPS has lost $20 billion. What is $5.5 billion times four? Do the math.
European post offices serve as banks and do a wonderful job at it. Are you saying that Europeans are more capable than Americans.
My business had a banner year last year. Judging by your angry demeanor, I assume yours did not. So sad.
The truth is, the postal service has had various reprieves the last few
years, and yet for the past three years, it was still in the red by $2.4
billion, $3 billion and $5.1 billion, respectively. Moreover, those
losses were in addition to any prefunding payment owed whether paid or
deferred. ~~~~~~~Susan Collins.
Note those losses were prior to any funding liability.
You expect Susan Collins, the co-sponsor of the bill which requires pre-funding of future retiree’s medical costs, to give you a straight explanation? Is this another chapter in Gullible’s Travels?
I see, so you believe she lied.
If I were you and knew Susan Collins was telling such a blatant lie I would go ahead and write an op-ed piece right away correcting her error and calling her out on it.
I expect you won’t because of your cowardly nature as it would expose you as the one most misinformed. (There is another word for it.)
Tsk. Very unladylike behavior on your part.
Besides.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obamas-truth-team-aims-to-network-its-way-to-a-reelection-win/2012/02/10/gIQAGs5u9Q_story.html
Same old spit………different day!
Good letters except for David Liang’s. The energy is there but the rate at which the energy is released is significant. A propane fire from any source would not be an instantaeous release and the temperatures from an A-Bomb are incredibly higher. The energy released is all over the electromagnetic spectrum and incredible shock waves are also involved.
As for fire fighting, see the posts of experts and other resources. Explosions and fires of other hydrocarbons and hydrogen have occured and the damage, although tragically significant, in no way comes close to resembling an A-bomb blast.
Kim, separation of church and state. The church does not have to offer the insurance but, the insurance company has to offer the service. The church can decide to not offer the insurance. When I look for a job one of the parts of the package was, What does your insurance offer?” Then it becomes up to me if I want the job.
Great point, Ms. McGowan. Where would it end? If one’s personal religious beliefs prevent recognizing certain issues and practices and the law states that that person can use those beliefs to discriminate in the area of health care, then this country will be more polarized and fractured. A bad precedent.
Jane Sumner, You said “received” in regard to the tax cut. It has not been received, the majority of the tax cuts do not take effect until 2013. There is a $120million gap this year & delaying the cuts will do nothing for this year. A person making $30,000 will receive more than a $2 month cut. The first $5,000 of taxable income will no longer be taxed for a $100 cut and the personal exemption amount will increase to the federal amount for another $43 cut. A person making $30,000 will also have a small amount of cut due to the cut in the top rate from 8.5% to 7.95% which is possibly how you came up with your estimated cut. I think you will hear a lot more about the tax cuts when they get to next year’s budget with 1/2 year cuts in it.
If EJP is unhappy with the makeup of todays workforce, he will definately not like the future makeup of the workforce. On a positive note, he can take pride in the fact that his color will be the new minority in a few short years. Maybe that will up his percentage in the “quota system”.
Comment removed. System is posting in the wrong place.
happens
Response to Wollydevil – In addition, the Postal Service failed to modernize and diversify to meet the demands of the consumer and to remain competitive. Add that to their expensive benefits and over-paid employees, and that’s a formula for disaster.
Susan: Stop being a shill…The USPS needs real substantive change….not just skipping out on pension payments.
Jane: C’mon…the tea party crew who screamed for this is tantamount to poor white Southerners of the 1840s who supported a slave system which kept the South backward just because it benefitted the super wealthy planters…because someday they hoped and dreamed to someday themselves be planters.
Thank you Jane. My point all along. I cannot help anyone much with my tax cut, but put mine together with everyone else and a lot of folks can be helped.