No east, no west
I see no need for an east-west highway. With controlled access and designed as in the paper, it appears to me that such a highway would only benefit Canadian trucks that haul between New Brunswick and Quebec.
I frequently travel Route 27 to Coburn Gore, and even on the busiest of holiday weekends or weekly traffic I have yet to see more than two vehicles following each other. It cannot be justified as being in need of a busy highway. Route 9 was rebuilt a few years ago, and it is my understanding that it now services the traffic found there.
Reports in the paper say to pay for the highway it would be a toll highway. Well, from what I have seen there is no way on God’s green Earth that tolls collected would ever begin to pay for it, and it would only become a tax burden.
It has come to my attention that Canadian companies have been pushing this highway as a way to reduce their trucking cost. And I have to ask myself, why is Peter Vigue of Cianbro Corp. pushing this? This project would require too much land for a project that in my opinion is not needed.
Randall Probert
Bethel
You didn’t build that
Had the Republican spin-meisters gotten hold of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg address in the same way they have ripped President Barack Obama’s “You didn’t build that” words out of context, we’d be left with this: “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men … shall … perish from earth.”
Dennis Chinoy
Bangor
Traffic fines
Does anyone know why 100 percent of the fines resulting from traffic tickets goes to the state and not the municipality where the ticket was written?
The town funds the police department and, if necessary, the town pays for the officer involved in writing the ticket to go to court. Why then shouldn’t the town benefit (at least in some share agreement) in the revenues generated. It would certainly be an incentive for local towns to enforce more vigorously Maine’s traffic laws.
Richard Barclay
Holden
Trash talk
On a recent Sunday afternoon while coming home from a trip to the store I encountered something ugly. As I was driving along Lambert Road I watched in shock as the driver of the car in front of me rolled the window down and nonchalantly threw a yellow Wendy’s soft drink and bag of garbage out the window. It flew across the street and splattered along the side of the road, landing in front of someone’s driveway.
Tell me, why don’t you have as much pride for your environment as you do for the interior of your little black Ford? You made me so angry that I wished I could stop you and make you come back to clean up your garbage. All the while I was praying that the police or a sheriff would come along so I could turn you in.
I do hope you see this letter and think about the effects of your actions on our neighbors and the environment. Maybe we should all have more respect and share in the responsibility of caring for our beautiful state.
Mary Briggs
Brewer
Gilman support
I am writing to express my support for Democrat Aaron Gilman in his run to represent District 12 in the Maine House of Representatives. As a union leader I’ve had the opportunity to work with Gilman on a variety of issues. His ability to see a problem through and provide constructive feedback along the way, are skills that will be a great benefit in Augusta.
As a steward, Gilman does his homework, and he’s not afraid to tackle tough issues head on. He will go the extra mile and work hard to get the best possible outcome. As an employee, he’s mindful of the need for balance between workers and employers and works hard to maintain that balance.
Gilman’s realistic approach to problem solving, and his common sense, are characteristics we need in the Maine House. That’s why I’m supporting Gilman for state representative, and I hope you’ll do the same.
Dick Rogers
West Gardiner
Divide and conquer
I don’t understand why anyone is so mystified by the GOP political action committee Maine Freedom supporting Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Cynthia Dill against independent Angus King. It’s the same tactic they have used over and over again, and they use this tactic in every state.
It is called “divide and conquer.” Remember two years ago: Isn’t that why today we have a Gov. Paul LePage?
If they can get Dill to pull enough votes from King, then Republican Charlie Summers walks right into the job of our senator. Heaven forbid.
Rella L. Bezanilla
Madawaska
Support Pritcher in November
As my children grow up, I see what a positive effect sports have had on their lives. They’ve learned things such as determination, teamwork, cooperation and perseverance. To give that experience, many people of the community need to be involved in supporting youth athletics.
Joel Pitcher of Jefferson, a Democrat, is the vice president of the Jefferson Sports Association. This position is one of many that provide the children of Jefferson a wonderful environment to participate in sports. From coaching youth soccer and Little League baseball to being involved with Saturday afternoon fundraisers, Pitcher has been a fantastic role model for my kids.
He is a committed member of the community who is truly looking out for families in our area. I am glad to know he is running for the House of Representatives. I hope you will join me in supporting him this November so he can serve our district (Waldoboro, part of Jefferson, Bremen and Nobleboro) in Augusta.
Jim Hall
Jefferson
Randall Probert, Dennis Chinoy, Mary Briggs, Rella Bezamilla: good letters.
Richard: news to me. I just assumed that,for example, fines paid for the Veazie speed traps stayed in Veazie.
Oh come on Dennis… If Democrats had their way in the new secular dominated America.. They would have left out…”- that this nation, UNDER GOD, shall
have a new birth of freedom” from the Gettysburg address.
Have a good Labor day weekend all!! :)
As opposed to Republicans who add it where it doesn’t belong, as in the Pledge of Allegiance (changed in 1954 to include “under God”).
All people of the earth are under God, whether they accept it or not. Some people just won’t get to know him until after they die.
Won’t you be in for a surprise to discover that actually SHE is the one. Don’t worry though–my Goddess is a lot more forgiving than your god is.
What’s the proof of HER existence? My God came to earth in the form of a human being, and performed thousands of miracles. My God has performed millions of miracles through the hands of a number of Catholics whom he has specially blessed over the past 2000 years. One of those miracles was an instantaneous healing performed on me, Oct. 27, 2007, in Sherman, ME. That day, I saw my God perform healing miracles on 20 other people, some minor, and some very major. How many miracles has your goddess performed? How has she revealed herself to you and the rest of humanity? It would be interesting to hear your story about why we should believe in her.
The Goddess accepts everyone, atheists, agnostics, pastafarians, even catholics…….even people with no sense of humor. It’s your lucky day–a blue moon.
Dodging on this one, aren’t you?
“My God has performed millions of miracles through the hands of a number of Catholics… “And millions of travesties (think Spanish inquisition and burning folks at the stake, or if you prefer something more recent, priests abusing children). No, I doubt that Catholics have any particular special status with God.
My goddess even accepts movie directors!
And yet, there is no documented case of healing by miracle.
Oh yes, in your world the only inheritors of Christ’s message are Catholics, and Roman Catholics at that. I don’t doubt that you believe were healed 5 years ago. However, was Oral Roberts a Catholic? I believe that every act of healing is a personal miracle, whether the healer (usually a doctor) was a person of faith 9any faith) or not.
How about Kristen Stewart?
Which God? Yours or the other guy’s?
Speak for your self your god scares the hell out of me, and that goes for Mohamed as well, but what do i know i am just a non violent Buddhist. No Jihad, no crusades and I don’t think we should burn people for being suspected witches . I must admit however the thought of burning republicans sometimes appeals to me but I’m not even a good Buddhist.
:eyeroll:
The US Senate reaffirmed the “under God” phrase unanimously by a 99-0 vote on June 27th 2002. The congress almost unanimously, by a vote of 401 to 5, confirmed the “under God” phrase in the pledge of Allegiance on October 8 2002.
I imagine unless there were fewer than 5 totals Democrat Congressman and Senators the bill had Democratic Party support.
Obviously a vast majority of our elected officials and presumably our people disagree with you.
Who’s God?
My post was intended as a mere good-natured humorous poke, nothing more. Sort of how I took Dennis’s letter.
I wonder if pastafarians use a meat sauce. I could join that church.
As for your question about whose God. You would have to ask President Lincoln I suppose.
Dennis Chinoy–You forgot the part about “Conceived in a government protected uterus and dedicated to the proposition that all rich people are job creators and all poor people are welfare bums…….”
Mr. Chinoy: well put! Of course, the Ds never do such things.
All these wonderful letters about wonderful people to vote for. What happens to them when they enter legislative chambers?
Is there any untruth in the ads FOR Dill? It strikes me as ironically strange that Democrats say that Republicans are waging a war against women when a majority of Democrats are going to vote for an “independent” MAN running against a Democratic WOMAN candidate. They did the same thing in supporting Cutler against LePage rather than supporting Libby Mitchell, the Democratic woman nominee. What? Do Democrats just give lip service to supporting their women nominees?
It’s only ironic if you think women are single issue voters. Perhaps you haven’t noticed but a woman can have more than issue that’s of importance to them … just like men. Amazing how that works.
It would tickle me no end if the vote turned out Dill first, King second and Summers third. We don’t need another Grover Norquist puppet in the Senate.
If Democrats would support their nominee, Dill, it’s likely that would happen.
Summers = Norquist/ALEC puppet.
Gopher40= Progressive States Mouthpiece
In case you didn’t know much Progressive Left wing legislation gets written by these folks.
http://www.progressivestates.org/
Cheesecake=Bloviator
HonkytonkBob has struggles with his own bigotry.
What bigotry would that be, Herr Bloviator?
No potty mouth tonight? Vulgar names maybe?
Vulgar names, V as in Vern.
Confused are we?
I am not confused.
How are things with the Seals?
Good since we got bin Laden.
The other Seal but that’s ok.
good one !
I’m not a mouthpiece for anyone excpet myself and those that I have good reason to agree with. Care to document how much legislation is ghost written by ALEC, Norquist, etc.?
I know. Along with Governor LePage, 4 state senators and about 35 republican representatives. Charlie Summers bragged that he signed Norquists Pledge twice.
Dill shot herself in her too-too when she kept doing everything she could to literally swear allegiance to RQ and the Park project at the expense of everything else. Pie in the sky is the last thing we need as a State and RQ is seemingly addicted to to it. Cindy Dill needs to go on ‘detox’ from RQ and get her priorities straight. And the State Dem’s need to start getting their vetting process straightened out before they do this again.
Maybe Democrats think for themselves and vote for whom they want instead of doing as they are told by their so called superiors. Some even vote for Republicans on the rare occurrence one is found with any thing other than a facade.
My wife and I saw the movie “2016” at Spotlight Cinema in Orono tonight. I’d recommend it.
As a fictional hit piece for the RW.
No. As the truth. Can you handle it? I bet not.
A movie pretending to know the future is not the truth, it is fiction.
This is D’Souza’s idea of what the future will hold and holds as much water as any other ficion movie. It will appeal to Obama detractors as the “truth” but to the rest of America, it will be seen as it is, a work of fiction.
But, it’s not about the future. It’s about the past and how Obama was raised, the people that influenced him, his core beliefs, and how the combination of all of that COULD effect the country if he’s re-elected. Everything in the documentary about Obama’s upbringing is true.
You’re still afraid of finding out that BHO isn’t as he has been advertised.
the key word is “COULD”, EJ not “WILL”, and the word “COULD”, make the movie fiction. Plain ans simple.
OK. If Obama gets another 4 years, the United States WILL not survive.
Better?
Here’s another: Neither you nor pbmann nor wolfndeer nor any other hard left commenter on here will go see this documentary because you’re all afraid your fears about Obama might come to fruition. But, you’ll all put it down because you think you know what it’s all about.
EJ, I’m way more afraid of the Mormon in the room, than the black man in the White House. Romney is going to go back to the same way of doing business that failed under Bush. You can’t cut revenue, as in taxes, we have to pay our bills. We all need to step up to the plate, and take cuts, not just the poor.
Sort of like Michael Moore was for the left?
Not really, Moore’s documentary’s were based on past actions/instances and his interpretation of them.
D’Souza is creating a fictional interpretation of what the future may, but mostly likely not, be and trying to affect the 2012 election cycle.
“…D’Souza is determined to make sure that “2016” reaches as many Americans as possible ahead of the November election…”
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2012/08/31/conservative-documentary-film-2016-obama-america-poised-to-surpass-al-gore/
That’s right. There is a push to get this out before the election in an effort to show the American people the real Obama. It’s a warning that should be heeded. Go see it. Then you’ll be able to comment on it.
I’ll put this movie up with the DVD that was made to discredit Clinton by the RW hit squads
I didn’t see that movie. Don’t have a clue which one you’re talking about.
And how can you classify a movie that you haven’t seen, and probably won’t because you’re scared of the truth?
How can a work of fiction be the truth, but then you take the Bible literally,so what should we expect.
The DVD put out by the RW linking Clinton to the deaths of two teens in Arkansas by drug dealers. I’m sure others on here remember it.
Here is a link to the madness
http://www.arkancide.com/
A work of fiction about what “could” happen is not the truth, it is a political act of fiction.
There is nothing written today or in the past that could be considered true if it told about things yet to happen. PERIOD.
Dennis Chinoy, according to Neil Newhouse, a Republican campaign strategist “We’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers”. Expect more of the same.
Do you know that the so-called fact checkers now have fact checker that say when they are wrong?
And that checker might be you? Credentials please.
Fact Checking the fact checkers. This is not the only article I’ve seen. Check around. Or just accept the first story you see.
http://hotair.com/archives/2012/08/30/fact-checking-the-factcheckers-on-ryans-speech/
Spinning and exaggeration are a part of campaign speech, much as I dislike it, however, there’s a limit to what we as Americans should accept and fact checkers are one way of pushing back against all parties. I subscribe to multiple fact check emails/websites and when I see the same item come up over and over again as false, both Democrat & Republican, I tend to believe it just might truly be a lie. Certainly I’m not going to dismiss the fact checker as the liar rather than the politician.
What if one fact checker group disputes the other fact checker group? That is where we find ourselves when we fact check gray areas and opinions.
Mary,to generalize litterbugs,they are lazy people with half a brain.When it comes to comprehending things,it is all about”me”. If it doesn’t fit in their realm it does not belong.Low life’s with half a brain….
Richard Barclay, just a guess, but I believe that if you had the funds going directly to the towns you would have speed traps set up all over the place. It was common practice by small towns in the south many years ago. They had local Justices of the Peace that got a cut of the fines. Very questionable practices.
Mary Briggs, why didn’t you write the license number down and turn it over to the police? There are littering laws.
Randall Probert, I suppose you voted against the casino proposals in Washington County too. A quick look at the map shows that Bethel is far removed from any proposed E/W highway.
Mary- Some pigs are actually capable of driving cars these days. You would think that it would be hard to grip the wheel with hooves, but they somehow manage. We have 500′ of frontage on a state highway and every time I go to mow it I find empty McDonald’s bags, beer cans, and other assorted gifts from the pigs who can now drive. There are times when the pigs are very, very generous. I could fill a contractor’s bag with their “gifts”. Who says charity is dead?
Dennis Chinoy – Nothing was taken out of context. Obama was just repeating what Elizabeth Warren has been saying. And both actually believe this tripe.
Nothing was taken out of context. This is how the man thinks and believes. He is a big government socialist, and he will be a one term president.
EJ it was taken out of context and to say it wasn’t is nothing but a bald face lie.
Here’s the full context of what he said:
We’ve already made a trillion dollars’ worth of cuts. We can make some more cuts in programs that don’t work, and make government work more efficiently…We can make another trillion or trillion-two, and what we then do is ask for the wealthy to pay a little bit more …There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me, because they want to give something back. They know they didn’t -look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something – there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business. you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together. There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don’t do on our own. I mean, imagine if everybody had their own fire service. That would be a hard way to organize fighting fires.So we say to ourselves, ever since the founding of this country, you know what, there are some things we do better together. That’s how we funded the GI Bill. That’s how we created the middle class. That’s how we built the Golden Gate Bridge or the Hoover Dam. That’s how we invented the Internet. That’s how we sent a man to the moon. We rise or fall together as one nation and as one people, and that’s the reason I’m running for president – because I still believe in that idea. You’re not on your own, we’re in this together.”
If Obama’s made a trillion dollars in cuts, then why has the debt gone up nearly 6 trillion since he took office? You see, cuts mean nothing if the government isn’t willing to quit over spending. And, I have yet to read anywhere, other than in the left wing media, about this mysterious trillion in cuts that have caused the debt to rise.
By the way, you can cut and paste transcripts all day long. It proves nothing. Obama insulted all Americans that have worked hard to make something for themselves when he said we didn’t build that. Both Obama and Elizabeth Warren are socialists that believe the individual is nothing without the government, and the government is the answer to everything.
So I take it you are standing by your lie are you EJ. You said it was not taken out of context but what I posted most certainly proves it was. And yes I did cut and paste. Would it have changed anything if I had typed it instead? Keep up the half truths and total lies EJ it is what we have come to expect from you.
There is no one so blind as those who refuse to see. You can bring a horse to water but you can’t make him drink. The Republican Spin Machine is in full swing and there are some folks who just refuse to read and listen critically.
“If you’ve got a business. you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”
This is a direct insult to many that DID build their own businesses without the help of others and in spite of the government restrictions put on them. But, since you want to defend Obama, you can’t see the insult withing these two sentences.
Also, you’ve neglected the point about the trillion in cuts. If he had made a trillion in cuts, then how does he explain the 6 trillion HE has added to the debt? If he did make a trillion in cuts, then that means he actually spend 7 trillion over budget.
I have not lied. You’re letting yourself be fooled.
Words out of context. Typical RR poly.
Beyond the pale.
Abraham Lincoln was a Republican.
Yes, Abe was a Republican. You may not realize, however, that the vast majority of black voters switched from the GOP to the Dems. in the 1920s and 1930s as the GOP became, first, the party of big business linked to Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover, and then the party of the racist South under Nixon and his successors. True, there are some black Republicans–for whatever reasons–just as there are Log Cabin Reps. (gays) for similarly unfathomable reasons. But most Americans nowadays know that the GOP has long been against civil rights. Clint Eastwood’s obscene comments about Pres. Obama brought this to a new low level.
Did you know that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was supported by 80% of the Republicans and only 65% of the Democrats? Did you know that a group of Democrats filibustered the bill? Yeah, the Republicans are so against Civil Rights.
And Clint Eastwood was funny. But, it’s a good thing he showed up, because the liberal media was having a hard time finding things to use to deflect from the success and diversity of the RNC.
I daresay that I know my American history. Yes, a majority of Republicans helped pass the 1964 Civil Rights Act while the Dems. you chastise were, of course, the Southerners then largely in charge of Congress. Having just finished Robert Caro’s magisterial fourth volume of The Years of Lyndon Johnson, I do have a very good idea about how this came about. LBJ threatened many of those Republicans with lambasting them in the upcoming Lincoln’s Birthday celebration to get them to go along. Few were truly supportive of civil rights but for political purposes they went along. Do you seriously think that today’s GOP members of Congress have any support for civil rights?
As for Clint Eastwood, he was funny in the eyes of those who hate having a black man in the White House. If the situation had been reversed, and one of your extreme right-wing heroes–like the Great Senator Jim Demint–had been treated in similar fashion, you and your crowd would have been up in arms–metaphorically if not literally. Of course it’s OK to make obscene remarks to the “Invisible Man,” to use Ralph Ellison’s book title.
Put the race card back in the deck. It’s getting lame, because it’s all the left’s got.
Re the race card you typically want it both ways: demonize Pres. Obama in tones that would not be allowed for a white President and then condemn those who support the President despite his disappointing leadership in some areas–thanks in part to the GOP. I guess that Mitt’s bringing up the birth cert. issue just before he went to Tampa doesn’t count.And you’ve already said how much you enjoyed Clint’s comments to the empty seat occupied by a black man he clearly hates.
One hundred eighty degrees removed from most current Republicans. Reread your history.
That’s all right. Historically speaking, he was closer to a Libertarian. But, historically speaking, today’s Republican party is closer to what the Democratic Party was in the 40s and 50s. The modern day Democratic Party has left traditional Democrats in the dust.
Things change. Some for the better, and some for the worse. The Democratic Party is traveling down the road to their own extinction.
Ej I think it would have been better worded the Dems are leading America down the path to extinction.
Once again you show an appalling misunderstanding of American history. How the current anti-govt. GOP today resembles the New Deal and Fair Deal Dem. party of the mid-century escapes me, as it would all American historians save perhaps Newt Gingrich (denied tenure at West Georgia for lack of pubs. and for poor teaching). The hope that the Dem. Party is on the road to extinction is a familiar refrain from “experts” over many years, applied to both parties after being defeated decisively in presidential administrations. Such apocalyptic predictions may generate mindless cheers, but that’s not the same as serious analysis.
I predict a big victory for Pres. Obama as he and his fellow Dems. reveal the lies repeatedly made by both Mitt and Ryan and the truth about what would happen to the 99% of us if those folks got into the White House.
And of course you and your fellow right-wingers simply ignore the deficits created by your beloved George W. Bush after coming into office with the surplus provided him by Bill Clinton. I guess that are trivialities.
The last one!!
The essential decision we each need to make in November is this: which candidates will effectively reduce the size and scope of federal and state governments. The word “tax” means “burden” and our super-sized govt is an extreme burden on businesses and individuals.
For years, we have had a front-row seat while socialist Europe sinks ever deeper into debt and economic malaise. Yet the Dems still seem to think that this approach is best for our own country. The US is the brokest country on the planet, yet they see no need to enact changes that will list the burden from our children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc.
We need serious approaches to entitlement reform and budget reduction, and these are all but non-existent from the left side of the aisle.
While not necessarily in your same boat, you do make some good points. There is a serious need for reform’s thru the review and actual proof of some of these older program’s, some that date back to the 1910’s, actually being needed and effective. The crop insurance program’s, orignally designed to support the small and family farmer, has now been turned into an annual cash cow for the corporate farming companies like Archer-Daniels Midlands. One can imagine just how ADM is licking their chops this year. And to give the devil credit where it’s due, even LePage has seen that need given his recent statement’s about the funding percentage’s regarding the State Workforce Board’s. Only 20% of the Board’s funding is actually reaching the workforce that it’s intended to isin’t sad. It ‘s a sick joke and cause for some serious ‘woodshedding’ by both Party’s Chairman. Maine can’t afford this nonsense and LePage should be credited (Yes, that was an atta-boy so go pick youselves up off the floor !) for publicly smacking both Party’s for letting this nonsense get so out of hand for so long. The same can be said of both the current Social Security Trust Fund AND the Federal Highway Trust Fund. Both have been raided, by both Party’s, to such an extent that they are all but a ‘strawman’ mechanism. Given the state of Maine’s road’s, the MTA notwithstanding, the FHTF is the most public example of this abuse. And I won’t even go near the SSTF issue.
No, the Government as it is right now needs serious reform. Does it mean a wholesale gutting, like a moose at the ‘dresser’s’ ? No, but it does requires that the Government itself be subject to somekind of ‘Sunshine Law’ provision that requires, by law, the Government to justify, with evidence, that these program’s are still both needed and effective every 10 year’s. Any number of State’s use this type of Statute to review their law’s. The precedent is there. The need is obvious. The question now is who has the gut’s to make the arguement public, in both the House and the Senate, and see it thru ?
Randy Probert, thanks. Nothing beats paper estimates like on-the-scene collected information and observation’s.
Divide and con cor Republicans will stoop to any level to win an election except for serving the people and doing the job which they are pitching for. Voter suppression does exist but it is rampant in the GOP constantly trying to cheat by gerrymandering,rigging voting machines, hiding vans, phone jamming praying on the religious peoples judgment biases, biggots and racists etc. . Try being honest, working like those you complain about for not working so they can. This would probably be easier and might actually get you elected. Just think you cold skip confession or tell the truth at confession.