Charlie Summers for US Senate
We are supporting Charlie Summers for Maine’s United States Senate. We have seen Summers speak at rallies and smaller venues. There was no hesitation, no political posturing, just the truth, plain and simple. He is a man with conviction who doesn’t dodge the difficult questions.
Summers does not engage in pandering for votes; there is no political-speak. Perhaps you do not agree 100 percent with him, but you will always know that he is true to his principles and will dedicate his life to faithfully serving the people of Maine as he has demonstrated time and time again.
We have been lulled into thinking of the “independent” candidate as nonpartisan, one who will reach across the aisle, the reasonable one who can stand above the fray. Nothing could be further from the truth. Candidates lean either liberal or conservative. Acknowledging that fact doesn’t mean you cannot compromise.
The independent candidate doesn’t know which party he will caucus with in Washington. Really? We’d rather vote for a candidate with the courage of his convictions who knows where he stands, who listens to the people — someone who will represent all the voices in our state to the best of his ability. That candidate is Summers.
Tom and Jinny Comiciotto
Castine
Testing is about data
Maine’s former deputy education commissioner said, “Field trips are a local matter.” They are also effective experiential learning. Data collecting, not teaching, was one local principal’s concern. Testing teaches nothing except beating bureaucrats “house odds.”
Test takers and those who test them have wasted time since the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to protect revenue and jobs.
Mid-20th century principals, before gender-bending middle school childhood captivity, knew that testing is about data. Compulsive testing is “much ado about nothing,” while wasting children’s valuable, limited time.
That’s why some 20th century principals tested all students to guarantee standardized testing as well as standardized tests in their 24/7 service to children and taxpayers. Today’s public school “leaders” must have missed literature and history in college. They didn’t learn that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” or that “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
The only ones learning anything from testing children are pedagogues learning to “go along to get along” to keep their jobs. Careers may be messed up by messing with data details. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time, however, includes being in the wrong profession for the wrong reasons.
Leonard C. Harlow, Ed.D.
Carmel
Pease for District 44
The citizens in House District 44 have a great candidate running for the Legislature. I know that because I ran against Republican Jethro Pease in a primary in 2000 for Waldo County commissioner. I knew of Pease’s dedication to fire departments throughout Waldo County before he became commissioner, but I did not realize his capabilities as an administrator for our county.
In 2002 he asked me to run for county treasurer as a write-in candidate. Working beside Pease for two years, I admired his organizational skills and professional demeanor firsthand. One example was his organization of our reserve accounts into a coherent system which helped in our audits and added transparency. These funds totaled over a million dollars.
Another example was the work on a new jail, sheriff and commissioners building in 2003. The bond was presented to the voters of Waldo County. That effort failed, but the many hours of meetings and planning was lead by County Commissioner Chairman Pease.
On Nov. 6, the best man for District 44 is Pease.
David A. Parkman
Waldo County Treasurer
Palermo
Understanding light-years
At 4.3 light-years Proxima Centauri is, after the sun, the nearest star to the Earth. Light travels at 186,280 miles per second, and this equals 670,608,000 miles per hour. So a light-year is about 5.9 trillion miles. Therefore, Proxima Centauri’s distance is about 25 trillion miles.
If a spaceship could travel at a million mph it would be 670.6 times slower than the speed of light, and this value times 4.3 light-years equals 2,883 years, the time it would take for the high-speed spaceship to travel a distance of 4.3 light-years. To further complicate matters is the theory that the faster an object moves through space, the more massive that object becomes and the more massive, the greater the energy required to change that object’s velocity.
If space aliens are to be taken seriously, it is doubtful that they could have originated from a stellar system outside our solar system, considering the great distances involved. If the Earth is the only planet in our solar system supporting intelligent life, then in one possible scenario aliens are supernatural beings from another universe, a universe that is invisible and spiritual. According to the Bible, these supernatural beings do exist, and they are called angels.
Movies that depict aliens traveling from one stellar system to another are based on science fiction and not on facts.
Irwin Dube
Madawaska
All the people
I am increasingly concerned about the degeneration of our democratic system in the last few years. Something polarizing, extremist and destructive seems to be taking over our political discourse, leaving the uninvolved average citizen at the mercy of those with big power, big wealth and even fundamentalist fanaticism.
It is for this reason that I am speaking out to strongly encourage all of us who care about our beautiful state of Maine to speak out for those candidates who are struggling against these increasingly malignant forces to maintain a healthy voice for all of us.
In my opinion, Democrat Chuck Kruger, our current state representative from Thomaston, is a good example of a highly dedicated, intelligent, passionate, ordinary politician who works diligently on behalf of all of us. He is well informed, fair and cares deeply about Maine, but he is experiencing an increasingly uphill battle against the powerful few whose focus is wealth and control.
In the name of the preservation of the democratic process for “all the people” of Maine, I encourage concerned Mainers to get informed about what is really happening. And make sure you vote.
Polly Armstrong
South Thomaston
“Movies that depict aliens traveling from one stellar system to another are based on science fiction and not on facts.”
Who has be saying otherwise?
Yes, Mr. Dube starts off making sense about the science of space travel, then states the obvious (that science fiction is science fiction), and finally leaps into his own realm of science fiction.
He left the realm of science fiction and went straight to myth.
Re Summers for Senate: As the phrase goes, Hitler was sincere–not that Summers is in that same camp, to be sure. But sincerity in and of itself, while often nice, doesn’t exactly compel one’s political endorsement if one doesn’t approve of the candidate’s position (s). Summers led the unsuccessful effort to deny Mainers the right to register and to vote on the same day. He also pushed for voter ID. As we all know, there was no history in Maine of any serious voter fraud to warrant this Republican crusade. My State Senator, Nichi Farnum, also led these anti-democratic efforts in the hope that many persons who would likely vote Democratic–the poor, students, etc.–would be deprived of the vote and so help the GOP. I don’t want such a person as my US Senator–and neither should you.
Charlie Summers….…
“you will always know that he is true to his principles”
Yes, like the myth of global warming and the need to let businesses pollute freely, principles like the need to eliminate non-existent voter fraud and eliminate non-republicans from the polls, principles like the need to divert more money toward the wealthy and away from public services. Summers wants to eliminate all capital gains taxes.
No wonder the wealth club known as the US Chamber of Commerce endorses him so richly.
Lord help us if we elect this weasel.
Hey, don’t be so hard on weasels!
haha :-)
Weasels are both clever and quick. Neither adjective comes to mind when I think of Charlie Summers.
Weasels are kool too, but Charlie wouldn’t make the Tuna cut. Sorry Charlie!
So make sure you vote for the very non-weasely Angus King.
Leonard C. Harlow, Ed.D., if testing is of no importance, how is anyone going to know how their children or product is going to perform? Testing is a part of life. When you apply for many jobs you will be tested with oral, written and form tests. Testing students prepares them for a future where they will not be allowed to slide by wether they know the job or not. The real world demands that you actually have the ability to do the job. If you can’t you will find yourself out the door.
“Summers does not engage in pandering for votes; there is no political-speak.”
That’s right he lets the Chamber of Commerce do his pandering, smearing and nasty political speak for him. Those ads were nothing but a smear campaign against King. Charlie Summers if he really had any principles would have told the CC to stop campaigning on his behalf.
Charlie Summers is a weasel — and dumb. Angus King is a weasel — and smart. Cynthia Dill and at least one of the other three candidates seem to be decent human beings — and smart, but they probably don’t stand a chance getting ahead in this race when the first two candidates, while only honorary members of the Mustelidae family, by their very behavior besmirch its name. I’ll happily if perhaps quixotically vote for Ms. Dill but given a choice limited to just the two weasels I’d take the dumb one because the voters will eventually smarten up and get rid of him. If the wily silver-tongued Mr. King gets to the U.S. Senate I fear it will literally take an act of God — death — to see the end of him.
Tom and Jinny Comiciotto: Unfortunately Charlie will follow anything ALEX, US CHAMBER OF COMMERCE or GROVER NORQUEST wants done whether it is good for Maine or not. He is just like the switch hitter running for President,one reversible Mittens Romney, he is owned by the rich and big business and would do anything they ask. As far as Charlie Summers is concerned NO THANK YOU!
Leonard C. Harlow: what are you actually saying? What point are you making? I’ve 3 degrees and I cannot understand your thoughts. Is English your second language? . Again, what is the point you are making?
Irvin,
Remember today’s science fiction is tomorrows science fact. Jules Verne’s stories of underwater ship’s, and moon rockets were considered flights of fancy not too long ago.
I agree that conventional space travel between solar systems is not probable unless the ship is living habitat designed to support generations of inhabitants.
However, wormhole, tesseract, and numerous other phenomena that we are just starting to understand, could provide an array of possibilities for “Faster than Light Travel”
Dr. Harlow: good letter. However, I think we’d agree that some testing is necessary. It’s when, as you say, that it becomes the sole mission for teachers or worse yet, for administrators.
Irwin Dube: interesting spin on the identity of non-terrestrial alien visitors (angels) but I agree that space travel is only humanly possible in science fiction. That said, there’s still a lot of good science fiction that once you accept the premise of space travel, makes for good reading. The best considers what human culture would be like under different circumstances, triumph of the human spirit, good dialog, etc. of course, a lot of good science fiction takes place right here on Earth, no aliens involved.
I’ve been fan of science fiction since I was a teen, before the dawn of the Space Age.
Mr. Dube,
Thank you for your thought provoking, timely letter. In these troubled times, it is refreshing to see that someone is brining to the forefront these important issues. Tell me, should this fall under foreign or domestic issues during the next presidential debate?
Tom and Ginny, Summers won’t be elected dog catcher nor should he be. His is a SLIME and a LIAR of the very worst order. He stood there alongside his buddy the goofball OTHER Charlie, Webster, and LIED again and again to the people of Maine about same-day voter registration and non-existent fraud inlcluding a non-existent “risk” of fraud. SHAMEFUL. Just SHAMEFUL. It was really all about being a toadie for ALEC and the Heritage Foundation and the Koch Brothers and their corporate masters, and trying to suppress certain voting blocks. That is ALL it was, and that alone is enough to NEVER, EVER allow that LIAR to hold an elective office. (Not to mention that is a LeBUFFOON appointee and a LeBUFFOON stooge.)
So which of the other buffoons will you vote for?
The one that doesnot give a darn what the Constitutions of Maine or the US say.
the self absorbed millionare or the other two?
Irwin Dube- Thank you for putting things in perspective. I worked as an engineer on a seismograph ship where we towed a 2 mile long cable full of microphones and kerosene at 2 knots, or roughly 2.2 miles per hour. I called it the speed of dark! lol. Hope this helps in any future figuring.
Mr. Dube makes some valid points, and then leaps off into Never-never-land.
Today I heard on the radio that the space shuttles, now retired, traveled at 17,000 m.p.h., and incredibly fast speed. Mr. Dube suggests that even if we could travel at one million m.p.h., it would take more that 2,800 years to reach the nearest solar system.
Up to that point he’s making sense.
Then he leaps to the conclusion that because a) it is highly unlikely that our planet has been visited by natural beings — aliens — from outer space, then b) we probably have been visited by supernatural beings. Huh?
He starts by describing what is scientifically likely and unlikely, and then postulates a miracle. I don’t see how b) follows from a).
I read somewhere that if you accelerate at 1 G per second you will reach the sped of light in one year. Who knows of we humans will figure out how to do that but it does not mean that other intelligent life in the past 15 billion years did not.
Irwin, Jesus said in Matthew 19:26 that all things are possible with God .
Anyone know why the Sat. letters still aren’t online at 2:55 PM? Or a lot of other articles? Weekend off at BDN?