Looking to Ottawa
We have always known about the two Maines. Now it will finally be confirmed by our own Legislature if it approves the money for a study for building Route 2 across the middle of the state. And, adding insult to injury, we have to pay for it.
What more confirmation do we need? It’s like putting up our own Great Wall of China. Now we in northern Maine need to send an invitation to the powers that be in Ottawa, Canada that we are ripe (finally) for the taking. They lost in 1842; now is the time for reclamation.
We don’t have to wait for the extension of I-95 anymore — 60 years is a long enough wait. We have a great highway right across from us here in Madawaska. It is called Trans-Canada. It will take us all the way from Nova Scotia to British Columbia, no problem.
How about it northern Mainers, shall we extend that invitation to Ottawa?
Rella L. Bezanilla
Madawaska
No special rights
Michael Heath’s OpEd (BDN, March 22) condemning those who would support gay marriage is both paranoid and delusional. He starts with some sort of parable about foxes eating grapes and advances to bearing false witness, something the Bible urges us to avoid. He claims first that “marriage is needed for procreation” and that advocating for equal rights for our gay friends and neighbors somehow will destroy our own marriages.
He feels that gays are asking for “special rights.” I look around and for better or worse I see lots of procreation going on outside of marriage. I also don’t see any lack of procreation that must be overcome. And I don’t see gay couples asking for “special rights” — they are asking for the same legal rights that my wife and I have enjoyed for the past 21 years of our marriage.
And no, I don’t think our rock-solid marriage will be threatened by gay marriage unless we get into a big argument over what wedding gift to get for our gay friends.
Stephen Blythe
Jonesboro
Mural and Maine
Whatever happened to “government of the people, by the people and for the people”?
To whom is Judge Woodcock referring when he writes (of the Department of Labor mural): “The record establishes that the idea for the commissioning of the mural began with the state of Maine, that Maine established its theme, that Maine commissioned its creation, that Maine chose the artist, that Maine paid for the mural, that Maine owns the mural, that Maine displays [or not] the mural on its own property, and that Maine even has the right to destroy it.”
All the references cite “Maine,” and what is the state of Maine but its people? Why not put the fate of the mural into a referendum and let the people speak?
Dorothea Mead
Southwest Harbor
No difference
What is the difference? Whether you are killed or injured by a driver under the influence of alcohol or drugs or a driver sending or receiving text while driving, it seems there is no difference.
A $500 fine and loss of license for 90 days is the penalty for an OUI. The fine for texting while driving is only $100 and no loss of license. You have to pay a bigger fine for not wearing your seat belt. Not wearing your seat belt will not kill or injure anyone but yourself.
C. Boyd Tibbetts
Ashland
Democratic hypocrisy
What an upside-down world we live in where politicians can ignore problems they’ve created but attack the people who come along and try to fix them. Here is a little history lesson: In 2005, the Baldacci administration wasted tens of millions of dollars on a DHHS billing system that failed immediately upon installation. Then in late 2010 they replaced it with another flawed system, just as Gov. Baldacci would be leaving office.
These problems cost taxpayers tens of millions immediately, and hundreds of millions in lost reimbursements from the federal government. At the time, the Democrats in Augusta were silent. Now that Mary Mayhew and Gov. LePage are working to expose the problems and get them fixed, the Democrats want investigations and some are calling for resignations.
Is this what Augusta has become? Shift the blame and ignore reality? Play politics and attack the people who inherited the problem?
Why do the Democrats think they can get away with being silent about this debacle for years, and then turn around and blame Mary Mayhew for not fixing their mess — perfectly — in less than a year? It is way past time for a reality check here. Let’s give the Republicans a fair chance to turn Maine right side up.
Dena Worster
Palmyra
Listen up, Wal-Mart
It’s great that Maine schools will not be accepting “pink slime” beef next year and many groceries stores are listening to customer concerns and dumping pink slime, but the ammonia-treated byproduct is just the tip of an iceberg of untested, unlabeled and potentially unhealthy foods that big food corporations are feeding us just to keep profit margins high.
For example, the BDN reports that Wal-Mart is going to “begin selling meat that doesn’t contain LFTB,” but on other questionable foods such as a new variety of genetically engineered sweet corn, it disregards consumer demands to keep it off shelves.
Across the country, half a million consumers have signed a petition asking Wal-Mart not to stock this corn — Monsanto’s first GE vegetable to be sold for direct human consumption (versus being an ingredient in a processed food) with this specific combination of genetically engineered traits.
When concerned customers ask, Wal-Mart tells them it will not “specifically source” GE corn, but this is meaningless. Unless Wal-Mart outright rejects this product, it will likely end up in the Wal-Mart produce section unlabeled and impossible to tell apart from non-GE corn. Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods have already agreed not to sell it. Hopefully Wal-Mart will follow suit, as it has with pink slime.
Wal-Mart may ignore the health and environmental risks posed by GE foods, but it won’t ignore the lost profits that will result from not listening to consumers’ demands for long.
Nisha Swinton
Food & Water Watch, Maine
Portland
Degrading death ritual
The March 23 front page photo and article on ecofriendly cremation sickened me.
One need only watch Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Elie Weisel at the Auschwitz death camp to recognize the evil associated with this practice. Historically, it is not the Judeo-Christian way. Even amid intense persecution, Christians took great pains and risks to properly bury their dead in the catacombs.
Be it economical or green, cremation degrades the sacredness of our humanity.
Jonathan Rice
Winterport
No way am I making the first comment on this bunch of letters….
STEPHEN,
Many of us are greatly offended by the thought of two humans of the same sex having sexual feelings towards each other. This should never be acceptable behavior, let alone thinking of bringing marriage into the picture.
C,
The law should address both equally in the event of a death. You take a life through neglegence, and your sentence should be life with no possibility of parole.
If it offends you then don’t engage in sex with someone of your own gender, problem solved!
Often it is those “in the closet” in denial of their own natural desires who claim to resent gay marriage the most. The ultimate defense mechanism. Ever see “American Beauty”? This guy reminds me so much of the Chris Cooper character in that film.
Too bad it offends you. Boo hoo. Grow up.
I think you need to stop thinking about Gay sex if it offends you! Your problem is, you only see a Gay relationship as sex while others see it as a fulfilling commitment between two adults who Love each other. There is plenty of behavior that may offend someone but being offended should never be the basis to deny people a civil right.
Makes you wonder why he is always thinking about sex.
“Many of us are greatly offended by the thought of two humans of the same sex having sexual feelings towards each other.”
Deal with it. How does that give you the right to deny others happiness? Their relationship is of no consequence to you.
Your comments hear offend me so you should stop making them!
hmm. So AMC does not have the same rights as you?
Freedom of speech apparently only applies if it is in direct agreement with you?
I never said he could not say what he wants, I said that what he says offends me. There’s big difference. He has the freedom to say whatever he wants and I have the freedom to disagree with what he says.
More delusional fear and ignorance from the cowardly and ignorant right wing. What else is new.
Many of us find your comment to Stephen offensive and would never see that comment as acceptable behavior.
so because you disagree, AMCs comment becomes “unacceptable”? Geez, talk about equal rights!
I am curious. When you are walking or driving down the street do you picture the people you see having sex? Or is it that you have been peeking through the windows? If the thought of others having sex bothers you, just don’t think about it. Surely you can control your own thoughts. Or is someone sending messages with radio waves to you?
Admittedly, at a stop light, while my mind is drifting, I have seen some straight couples on the street that the thought of seeing them doing the horizontal boogie makes me long for a pair of knitting needles to put out my own eyes.
Ha, love it.
I am offended every day by reality shows reminding me of primates and “Lord of the Flies,” people driving cars with boom boxes so loud the paint is peeling off the car, and people yammering on endlessly about a fictional spook in the sky controlling their every move that, for some reason, I will burn in Hell for all eternity if I do not agree with them. I am offended by the way most people dress in public – the average American dresses like he raided the rag bin. I wouldn’t attend a dog fight dressed the way some people show up in public. I am offended by rap music when classical is available. I am offended by the schlocky .mp3 music quality when people no longer know of the concept of music fidelity. I am offended that Americans will buy quantity over quality every time. I am offended people won’t spend 5 minutes considering the other side of an opinion. I am offended most people are mindless sheep. I am offended by many things.
That said, I do not in any way deny people their civil rights to be who they are, dress the way they will, listen to whatever they call music, or practice whatever religion they so choose. If they find that slop served at an Americanized Chinese buffet palatable instead of real Chinese food – have at it.
So, amconservative, I would say “get over it.” Unless they are scaring the horses, this is a free country.
Like you, I am also offended by the cheap quality of .mp3 recordings, and am in complete agreement with your post.
Thanks. This is completely off-topic of the letters published but I am glad to see another person realizes this. It reminds me of the Beta/VHS days when more than one co-worker told me they could not tell the difference between video recorded at 2 hours vs. 6 hours.
In the case of .mp3’s this is the typical American attitude of “it’s good enough.” Well, if you are listening to what is considered today to be music, I suppose that is a fair statement. The earbuds are half the problem. People walking around like zombies listening on earbuds oblivious to the world and people around them. It’s just plain rude. I wonder how many people today have actually listened to live music in a concert hall or heard real instruments, or even listened to high-end sounds systems? And, no, I don’t mean that screechy Bose system that sounds as sterile as an operating room.
But, the overall point here is that even though I personally do not like any of this, everyone else is entitled to live, listen, and eat what they want as long as they are not impacting other people. Of course, people with cars that are falling apart from the bass speakers being so loud and who are disturbing others ought to be getting a ticket for disturbing the peace. I actually saw that one day on the streets of DC – a foot-patrol officer pulled over a guy and cited him for “excessive noise.” I have often thought I’d like to drive down the street, windows all down, with the stereo system blaring Mahler at maximum distortion. But, I would would be sinking to their level.
amconservative should realize that the world does not revolve around him. SSM has no impact on him. He should adopt a “Live and Let Live” attitude which has forever been a hallmark of the people of Maine.
And we’re supposed to care if it offends you? That’s your problem…
amcon, why are folks on the right so obsessed with sex? Most loving relationships are primarily just that — about love and relationship.
Are you offended that the biblical David, before he was king, said that his love for Jonathan was greater than his love for women? (2 Samuel 1:23-27) I don’t know, and don’t particularly care, whether their relationship was sexual. That’s something you conservatives can obsess about, as you generally do.
The point is that it’s okay to love someone. Most couples who have been together for a long time — whether opposite-sex or same-sex — have a relationship that is much more about mutual support, faithfulness, and old-fashioned love, than it is about sex.
Marriage is good for society. Why are folks on the right afraid of it? Marriage promotes fidelity, mutual support, family stability, and faithfulness. If these things are good for straight families, they are also good for gay or lesbian families. We should encourage people to marry — but the right-wingers want to stop people from getting married. How can you call yourself “conservative” and yet be opposed to the benefits of marriage?
I support the freedom to marry because I support marriage. It’s not about sex. It’s about love. Why do right-wingers obsess about sex? Please get a clue.
Oh amafraidofchange, you are so adorable with your misanthropic attitudes.
It delights me to know that you, a person whom I have never met, actually spends so much time thinking about my sex life and the idea that I want to protect my family with civil marriage rights.
Dear Mr. Conservative: My feelings towards my husband, for that is what he is in my heart, of 13 years go so far beyond sexual feelings that it makes me a bit misty-eyed thinking about what my life would be like without him. But, just so you know, even if we lose the marriage equality battle this year, my husband and I will still be here, together, supporting each other through the rest of our lives.
thank you for reading
Pretty much everything you write is offensive to multiple groups of people. Hating others isn’t acceptable behavior either.
Many people are offended by the thought of “logical” adults that believe there is a sky wizard dictating their every step…..
Creepy. Very, very creepy….
You and those who clicked “like” on your post would do well to understand that feelings are natural and behavior is the result of those feelings. It works that way in the straight world, too. What you wrote makes it more difficult than usual to take you seriously.
There’s something really sick and perverted about how the gay-haters on here are so obsessed with what “feelings” people have for one another that they feel compelled to constantly talk about how very offended they are.
Nobody cares that you’re offended, go ahead and be offended. Just butt the heck out of our lives and mind your own darn business.
Stephen Blythe–Your letter speaks with a logical argument. The equal marriage foes speak with a language of fear. One would think that a sense of fairness would overcome the irrational. It did not two years ago but, as with previous battles for equal rights, the logical view sometimes takes a while to prevail. Hopefully this will be the year.
kcjonez, do you have your terms mixed up? You praise Stephen Blythe, who is for marriage equality. Then in the next sentence you say “the equal marriage folks speak with a language of fear.” Then you switch again, praising the “sense of fairness” that would allow all people equal access to marriage. You speak for equality, but against the equality of the “equal marriage” position that all people, regardless of their sexual orientation, should have the equal opportunity to marry — and 12 people liked this mish-mash! Which side are you on? Are you for the rights of gays and lesbians to have “equal marriage,” or against those equal rights?
Please reread, my friend, with particular attention to foes(folks). What a difference a small misunderstanding can make, eh?
Dena, Your letter is spot on and completely accurate. The problems were first created under the failed Baldacci administration. Where was the Democratic outrage then? Now that LePage and Mary Mayhew want to fix the prior administrations mistakes that have cost the Maine taxpayers millions of dollars, the Democrats are all up in arms. Hypocrisy indeed and it’s outright disgusting! I too fully support giving the Republicans a chance to clean the swamp, left over from years of failed Democratic leadership.
LePage and his cronies have done almost nothing to improve our state, but it seems they’ve been working diligently to ruin everything they can get their hands on.
Frankly, I’d have more respect for them if they just came out and admitted they don’t give a flying flip about the well-being of the people of Maine. Stupid, arrogant, incompetent and reckless – maybe it’s just a matter of personal taste, but that’s not the sort of man I want sitting behind the governor’s desk.
the reason why GE corn will be indistiguishable from non GE corn on Wal-Mart shelves is because it is absolutely identical. There are none, and have never been, adverse health effects from GE crops. GE crops makes food more affordable and helps the environment by increasing yields. What’s the problem with that?
right–no difference–except one of them has pesticide in it and the other doesn’t.
Right, and I recall a link being made between that pesticide-infused corn and the decline of the bee population.
GE corn has a gene for the corn to produce the natural insecticide, BT (Bacillus thuringus). GE corn has been established not to be hazardous to lepidoptera (butterflies, etc.). I’m not sure about the bee studies, can you cite the research?
Actually, it doesn’t increase yields. It increases the laziness of farmers in extracting those yields. You know, they don’t actually have to go out and weed, until of course we create new super weeds through evolution (already happening). Allow consumers to be informed and label products that may be grown in a manner according to their desires.
You’re volunteering to hand weed? Even machine weeding can only be done until a certain hieght of corn and then it doesn’t get the weeds between the plants. Listen to you howl about food prices if they were limited to machine weeding. Also, cite the yield data.
I do hand weed constantly. Now in terms of volunteering on a factory farm? Not a chance. Maybe if they paid me. In terms of food prices, I already pay enough for it. The people I buy my food from actually hand weed and machine weed. They have small farms with hundreds of varieties of plants on them. We can feed just as many people this way as we can with monocropping, we just can’t do it as cheaply (pretty close though since we don’t need to purchase a new half a million dollar combine to do it).
Yield data as requested: http://www.pnas.org/content/104/27/11192.full?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=Diversity+enhances+agricultural+productivity&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIT
I don’t understand how cremation could be offensive to a christian, doesn’t their book say ashes to ashes and dust to dust?
I always thought the rituals in Louisiana are kind of interesting, many families have a mausoleum where family members are interred. Once the next family member goes, the door is opened and the previous remains swept to the inner end, which is open to a larger pit below. If the interred has been in the crypt less than a year, the next one is put in a holding vault until 1 year has passed. All in all not a bad system, doesn’t take up much space, you just keep piling them in.
Taking up precious earth space for burial should not be an option anymore.
Some people should see how many relatives are in tombs we’d consider for one person down in latin america.
I believe that Louisiana is for the most part swamp land and not suitable for deep holes. Their water table is pretty high. Much like Florida, you don’t see too many homes with basements.
Right,
And still a relatively small box above gound, uses less square footage per head than individual burial plots.
I specifically remember hearing all about the computer problems during the Baldacci Admn. Several stories in fact. I don’t seem to recall them ‘hiding’ it.
Do you recall them making any effort to fix it? Just sayin……..
The story I remember very clearly spoke of the mess of it all and I remember being shocked. But they didn’t try to hide it.
Actually began during the first term of John McKernan when the Feds told that administration they could not bill medicaid for children confined at the Maine Youth Center. Things went downhill from there.
They have to call it “special rights” in order to demonize our gay neighbors. They’re not asking to be treated as special, they’re asking to be treated as equals.
Correct. My marriage is not threatened if another couple gets the same freedom to marry that I already have.
Stephen Blythe, Thank you for a beautiful letter that sums up what I think most people believe in their hearts. Fear and deceit will never be more powerful than Love.
DOROTHY MEAD AND THE MURAL: Sorry, but I don’t know about this mural which was displayed in the State House in Augusta nor its past or recent history, now made somewhat a local controversy by the new Governor, LePage. But, what’s in a painting, anyway? It would be a good beginning to have it displayed no matter where it could be displayed, but nevertheless, you can remove a painting completely, but in the minds, hearts and active employment culture of Maine, the ideology of labor still lives. Union or non-union live and work together no matter if a painting is displayed or not.
It wasn’t displayed in the state house. It was displayed at the Department of Labor.
I would venture that 98% of the citizens of Maine didn’t know of it’s existance and probably only a few of the 2% that knew of it had actually seen it on display.
Thanks to Governor LePage, the mural has gained national fame. He made it a cause and perhaps one more straw that will add to the others that will break his administrations back.
I know if I were a leader of the opposition, I would replicas of the mural plastered in every corner of the state on every place available.
Thanks for the comeback. Even if I were opposition or not, I would also run this mural up Lepages’ nose if I could. Sometimes people poo and fall right back into it; and this is a prime example of what the governor did. I do appreciate the correction of where the mural was situated. I visited the Capitol in Augusta, and some of the adjacent buildings and saw the mural. Just did not know where it was hung.
Rella–I have certainly felt we could give Maine and Vermont to the Canadians in exchange for a caribou and a dozen or so mosquitoes.
Stephen– I agree and hope to be invited to lots and lots of weddings next December.
Dorothea–You won’t be any happier with letting the people decide. I’ve seen that mural. It ain’t pretty. If people want to hold that up as “history” then I can certainly understand why students find history a dull subject. Bye mural–happy trails!
C. Boyd–if you kill someone while OUI or texting behind the wheel, you are guilty of manslaughter. I agree that fines should be heavier for texting while driving.
Dena– you are, of course, completely correct.
Nisha– (great name btw) I find Walmart’s produce to be very poor quality. I don’t buy it anymore, and, just in case I think I might try it again, I’ll remember your words and steer clear.
Jonathan–really?? Sickened you were? Interesting. We all end up ashes eventually. I don’t think it really matters how fast the process is. Personally, I think the present practice of embalming with nasty fluids in sickening. I hope to be able to just rot naturally with a shovelful of lime.
Wal-mart can sell any legal food products they desire. People have the right to buy it or leave it on the shelf. LTFB is a 100% safe, 100% beef product that has been common in all ground beef for over 10 years. Nobody has ever been harmed by the product that is extracted from fat using heat and a centerfuge. The ammonia is a gas that kills bacteria. Three facilities have been closed and hundreds, maybe thousands of jobs lost because this product has been “slimed”.
If people new what goes into hot dogs they would treat LTFB like filet mignon.
Are you trying to bring facts into the conversation? They wouldn’t believe that 2+2 equaled 4 if you told them.
People also have the right to petition their stores to stock items grown and produced in a manner they find desirable. If enough do it, it can change.
Nothing intrinsically wrong with the process.
You eat it then! It has only been around since Bush deregulated the industry in 2008 BTW so eat it raw.
Worked in a New London (Conn) packing house. If people knew what was in all their meat, there would be far fewer meat-eaters. Slime may be safe, but it is not healthy. It can contribute to heart problems, and has been found to cause excess body weight. It is used soley to increase profits
How does that happen since there’s less fat in the product? Cite tests and data, please.
Dena, “turn Maine right side up”? Oh please. By trying to jam the state with nothing more than carbon copy national right wing agenda legislation written by a bunch of greedy corrupt corporatists at ALEC and the Heritage Foundation? That is what your TeaWhacko Party has brought us. Trying to destroy worker rights, to destroy voting rights. to destroy our natural environment, to destroy what we Mainers have long valued so we can turn Maine into something from the dark ages of the Robber Barrons. Baldacci has more intelligence and more class in one pinky than that fool Mister “Kiss My Butt” LeBUFFOON has in his entire rotund body. We’ll see you at the voting booth in November and when we return some reason to this state as we send your TeaNut Party packing.
Let’s review the “accomplishments” of the Baldacci administration, who’s idea of balancing a budget was to just not pay the bills. Try that at home sometime and see how it works out for you.
Here are the highlights of the Baldacci regime.
* – The failed Mainecare computer billing system that cost us $100 million in direct
costs (and probably twice that in real costs) for absolutely nothing as it NEVER worked.
* – A former prominent Dem legislator stealing the MTA blind while no one in the Baldacci administration had a clue what was going on.
* – Another former prominent Dem legislator at MSHA who wasted over a million dollars in a failed attempt to put green energy in subsidized housing. They ended up using MORE energy when the “green” systems were running. We’d have been better served by turning the million dollars into piles of dollar bills and burning it. At least we’d have gotten SOME energy out of it that way.
* – More questionable spending at MSHA for political contributions completely unrelated to their mission.
* – The sale of the state liquor business to politically connected Dem insiders at a fire sale price (we’ll be paying for that one every year for years to come).
* – The “loss” of a hundred million from DHHS without a trace. The clueless Baldacci administration didn’t even seem to care where it went.
* – The sale of prison system property to connected public employee in a no-bid deal that once again the clueless Baldacci administration was unaware of at best.
* – The failure that is Dirigo health that was going to… Insure ALL of the uninsured in 5 years (FAIL), Lower premiums for everyone (FAIL), be self supporting and NEVER require any tax money (EPIC FAIL).
Compared to the previous administration LePage is a freaking genius. At least he’s looking into the problem.
The Democrats will not like your post…LOL….
If anyone feels strongly enough about buying Monsanto’s GE corn they can research what products contain it and avoid them. A store is going to stock what ever it thinks it can make profit on it’s shelves. That’s business, I won’t buy the corn, but I will take the time to research what products it is in to avoid it, the other option is to push for full disclosure by having companies label their products, which should be done. It wouldn’t take a whole lot of effort where all of today’s labeling is done by machine, pretty simple to add a little symbol on packaging.You can’t always rely on someone else to do what you want to happen.
The problem is that the laws in the US for labeling food are so lax that there is no way you can know what is actually IN the stuff you buy from the label.
There is no disclosure as to what’s in what you buy at the supermarket.
The US has THE most adulterated food in the world.
And manufacturers LIKE it that way.
Many “foods” you buy at the supermarket, if ALL the crap that’s IN it was listed, there would be no room on the packaging for anything else.
Wake up, America. You’re fat, sick, lazy, and stupid because your food is contaminated.
What’s “wrong” with GE corn? Citations, please.
It’s not just corn it’s any GE crop. Many crops are designed so the seed is not viable after X generations, that puts undue burden on the farmer in keeping them from being able to save their own seed. In other countries it devastates the little guy. Also as a GE crop the corporation retains rights to it even if you buy it, and wouldn’t be allowed to plant it without buying seed from the company each subsequent crop or after a certain number of crops. It’s also not always the most effective way to increase yield despite what people tell you, it depends on the specific crop. With different varieties you may end up actually using more resources int he form of water, pesticides, herbicides, fertilizer, etc… so a farmers net gain wouldn’t even be worth the price of the product, they would of done as well with crops that aren’t GE. Than there is the environmental aspect, creating crops that are resistant to herbicides you can pass those traits onto other plants given the right circumstances, then you end up having to use a multitude of herbicides on a crop. Creating disease/viral resistant crops also has a hidden danger. By doing that you can end up with a stronger variety of the disease, just like with humans, viruses and diseases can become stronger and resistant to the medications.
Let’s not forget the inherent danger of transferring genes from one plant into another for advantageous traits. What if someone is fatally allergic to peanuts or strawberries, and there is a trait in those plants that they want in another plant? Do you think that maybe we could see an accident of some sort where an allergic reaction could come out, or should we rely on the companies to only select and transfer genetics from plants that won’t trigger responses. that’s what human test trials are for though right?
That is all from reading environmental and science journals in college and it’s not even new information in fact it’s been going on for sometime. There have also been films made about them, though some of them are admittedly boring, but they do get the message across. Then there is the nutritional value per weight, at one point in time it was found in some crops that there were less nutrients per weight of the plant vs. un-engineered. You can make a tomato grow bigger but at some point it’s only water. You know what the kicker is, due to genetic drift even an organic farm or even your own garden can contain genetics from GE crops, if you use seeds that you save your self, so it is a losing battle for sure because in all likely hood even if you avoid produce or products from GE crops it’s already in there. For me it’s more about how a company like Monsanto can screw over a farmer over seed, they get stuck in this cycle where they sell them a high yield seed and then the only way for others to compete is to buy the more expensive high yield seed, and by the time they realize all the effort and money spent didn’t get them any more than if they’d never switched their crops over. Then you have to like how a company can sue someone if their crop has the genetics of their patented plants in it, even though the guy who planted it never bought from the company, just because his neighbors had the GE crops and the genetics passed over. They may not win that lawsuit but to fight it costs big bucks. So we really are pretty much screwed when we go to the store, you may not want to buy the stuff but the choice might not be there. You should read some environmental, conservation and science journals, most of the reading can be dry and confusing if you don’t know the terminology or have any background in the stuff, but some of it is easy to understand and there are a multitude of topics in them. But having to write, read, be part of, and watch papers, discussions, and documentaries, you pick up information along the way. Before any one goes off about how it’s all liberal garbage from college, I had to do my own research and reading, and am not very liberal at all.
Oh if you want to read up on some of it, try google scholar and search it. Pretty easy to do, even if all you get is an abstract you can get an idea of what it’s about.
Stephen Blythe, Dorothea Mead: good letters.
Nisha Swinton: I haven’t personally rfesearch “pink slime”, so I don’t have an opinion as yet. As for GE corn, I don’t see a problem. We’ve been eating hybrid corn for probably a century so what’s the problem?
Outside of the increased rates of organ failure, bad business practices of the manufacturers, over reliance on a few seed produces creating a monopoly of food supply, and monocropping destroying the local environment I see few problems as well.
Cite the organ failure data. Seed variety restriction is a problem and has been going on for decades. Monoculture is also a problem, more the casue of illogical addition of ethanol to motor fuels and not necessarily the fault of GE crops.
http://www.nongmoproject.org/2012/01/09/worth-a-second-look-monsantos-gmo-corn-linked-to-organ-failure-study-reveals/
Monoculture predates widespread use in ethanol.
Cremation is evil? Are you joking? I’m neither Judeo or Christian so don’t tell me what to do with my body when I die. Works for 800 million Hindus….
Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, and all other brands of non-“Judeo Christians” do not exist in Mr. Rice’s world. (There is no such thing as a Judeo-Christian.)
Yes — I’ve met a lot of different people in my lifetime, but I’ve never met a Judeo-Christian.
My dad, a Methodist pastor, was cremated at his request (and my Methodist mother’s wishes as well). Many, many Christians choose cremation. I’m not aware of any Christian teaching that forbids it.
Bravo Dorthea. I want to vote on that one.
JR: only thing to say here is that you are certifiable. How dare you compare what countless numbers of people here in America deciding to do after they have died(AFTER THEY HAVE DIED), to the millions slaughtered by the Nazi’s during WWII. Holy crap you are offensive.
It’s only ignorance. “Not the Judeo-Christian way.” There is no such thing as a Judeo-Christian.
Jonathan Rice, I would prefer that my remains were taken to a mountain top and left for the eagles, buzzards, ravens, crows, fly’s, etc. to feast on. I know that there are parts of this world where that happens but since that doesn’t seem to be available here, my dead carcass will be cremated and the ashes spread where ever my heirs deem best. If money is to spent to mark my passing, let it be a party and anyone interested sit around the campfire and have a few laughs. Hopefully on me:)
Stephen Blythe, great letter. Like you I don’t beleive my marriage will be effected by the marriage of anyone else. No matter if they are same sex or not.
Dena Worster—“Is this what Augusta has become? Shift the blame and ignore reality? Play politics and attack the people who inherited the problem?”
Umm, Isn’t that what the Republicans have been doing ever since President Obama was elected?
So that makes it OK for the Maine Dems to do the same thing? If everyone else jumped off a bridge I guess you’d be right behind them.
LOL, trust me, if you ever hear of me jumping off a bridge call the cops because it was a forced jump.
No it’s not OK. It just amuses me whenever someone makes that claim of innocence:)
The Dems ignored the problem and in fact made it significantly worse under the failed Baldacci administration. Now that someone is trying to address the problem they’re throwing rocks from the sidelines. Where were these morons when the whole DHHS ship was just about sinking daily? Probably busy getting free massages at MSHA or picking up gift cards at MTA headquarters.
What is the chance that they’ll pitch in and actually help get things straightened out? I’ll believe that they’re serious when they propose a complete audit of every department in state government. The audit would pay for itself in one year. You and I both know it.
Stay focused. The issue at hand is Maine state politics, not national politics.
Same church, different pew:)
You are correct.
Be better than them.
buy corn from your local farmers … that was easy
Rella L. Bezanilla
Augusta is southern Maine looking out for southern Maine’s interests. The East and the North need to try something new…. I hesitate to suggest the formation of N.E. Maine.
Stephen Blythe
I’m old enough to remember when all marriages were gay.
Dorothea Mead
When we allowed media to refer to our elected employees as “leaders” We The People lost the title “boss” and so it goes.
C. Boyd Tibbetts
If we created a law to govern every person’s behavior throughout their working day we would be a far safer society…. I have a feeling we would be a far smaller society also as people searched for something with a bit more freedom.
Dena Worster
Every administration from John McKernan on has had trouble with the DHHS billing system. Although this should be a bipaartisan issue, I don’t see ANYONE Democrat, Republican or Indipendent who worked very hard to fix it. I sincerely hope LePage does better….
Nisha Swinton
There is much to do on that front. Walmart. Hannaford, Shaws % I.G.A all sell chicken treated with hormones, and vaccinated wwith unnecessary antbiotics. Tidemill Farms (in Edmonds) sells chicken naturaly grown and grain fed. It tastes better too!
Jonathan Rice
Your religion your opinion. When I die they can put the body in a green plastic garbage bag and haul it to the dump for all I care. My best wish would be to make it as easy as possible for those still living.
Jonathan Rice, I’m stunned.
The crazy is strong in you.
Dena Worster – I see you’re only interested in playing the blame game instead of trying to fix the problem.
Test 1 2 3..LOL..
Jonathan Rice: I too read but the “cremation” article and thought the idea of having my body digested in a chamber and flushed away was icky.
But need I remind you, the Nazis were shoving living human beings into the chambers at Auschwitz and other camps. What kind of comparison is that?
You gotta take your meds, man!
Those against gay marriage… THESE are the people pulling your strings.
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/27/politics/marriage-group-memos/
Agree with you totally, Jonathan Rice.