Marriage equality
Many of the printed and online reports covering the Maine GOP convention that took place in Bangor this past weekend included a quote from my welcome speech encouraging us all to respect each other’s differing opinions and work together.
In many of those reports, that quote also was followed by a paragraph stating that the Maine GOP platform calls for defining marriage as being between one man and one woman — in essence not showing support for the marriage equality vote implemented by the voters of Maine in 2012.
I would like to state that I personally support the marriage equality efforts here in Maine and do not agree with the platform position. Nor do I or would I support any effort that works to reverse the vote of the Maine people on this issue.
It was unfortunate that the story had those two items so close together. They are not related.
I voted in favor of this issue as a Bangor city councilor and in the voting booth, and I do respect those who feel differently than I do on the issue.
It is a big world. It can be a lonely world. We are here for a fleeting moment. It is my firm belief that if you are fortunate in this world to find someone you love and who loves you back, you are indeed blessed.
Cary Weston
Bangor
Nuclear conflicts
“Who’s minding the nukes?” is a question we must ask ourselves. Our military keeps nuclear weapons ready for immediate use on presidential command, while attempting to ensure there is never an accidental or unauthorized use. Such perfection is humanly impossible, and we are asking our military to do the impossible.
Due to their diligence, we are thankful that accidents that have occurred, as described by Eric Schlosser in the book “Command and Control,” have not caused catastrophic nuclear explosions. On April 27, 60 Minutes on CBS aired a report on the recent cheating scandal and command shake-up at the Air Force base controlling our land-based nuclear missiles. It showed a command and control system built in the 1960s that’s still being used for 450 nuclear armed missiles, each of which could cause millions of deaths if launched. It documented that despite continued efforts at improvement, the potential for nuclear accidents is ongoing.
As citizens, we must ask Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King whether the United States will show the world that our security is best served by removing rather than rebuilding nuclear weapons systems. Securing nuclear weapons and the means to produce them around the world should be our goal. Nuclear weapons played no useful role in the Iraq or Afghanistan wars, do not protect us from terrorism and are not helping reduce conflict in Syria or Ukraine. It’s time to adjust our spending to meet our real needs. Nuclear weapons remain a problem to be solved, not a past to prolong.
Douglas Dransfield
Board Member, Maine Physicians for Social Responsibility
Cape Elizabeth
Racist remarks
Here we go again. Many Republicans are undergoing yet another round of embarrassment, following their rather hasty praise of the freeloading racist Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy. Bundy made headlines April 26, after “wondering” (his word) if African-Americans were “better off as slaves, picking cotton.” As with the recent case of Republican Ted Nugent’s denunciation of the president of the United States as a “ subhuman mongrel,” Republicans fell all over themselves to run away from someone they had previously embraced. Now their critics have fallen all over the Republicans.
Here’s the deal on Republicans and racism. No national Republican leader is a racist. Not Mitt Romney, not John Boehner and not Mitch McConnell. The same is true of their Democratic counterparts: President Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. So what’s the difference? The difference is that the Romneys, Boehners and McConnells need the votes of the followers of racist wingnuts like Bundy and Nugent in order to succeed politically. Obama, Pelosi and Reid (as well as most Democrats) can do just fine without them.
Lynn Parsons
Castine
USM cutbacks
It has been sad to observe the behavior of the University of Southern Maine administration. In March, they announced 20 to 30 faculty jobs would be cut, and four academic programs would be eliminated to meet system budget cutbacks. For USM, the size of their cutback was in large part due to years of fiscal mismanagement at USM, which is why their share of the total system shortfall is greater than any of the other campuses at $14 million out of the total of $36 million.
Within weeks, one of the academic program eliminations was rescinded, as were 12 initial faculty layoffs. Why? To many it would seem that the cuts were proposed on a whim. Had they been the result of careful deliberation, they would have been easily justified and explained, and they would have withstood the inevitable public outcry. But they were not, and they did not.
It seems that truly competent leadership would not engage in behavior so humiliating and so damaging to its integrity. This is especially true for an institution that relies on positive public opinion to promote student enrollment and justify continued taxpayer support. The fact that the system trustees are now willing to reward USM for its fiscal mismanagement by giving them $7 million does little to improve the public’s perception of USM or the system as a whole.
Duane Hanselman
Holden
Somewhat sacrilegious
I looked with curiosity at the photo posted from the Orlando Sentinel. A woman in Orlando, Florida, claims that her tree stump is an image of Jesus Christ. I wonder if she has a photo of Christ to compare this stump with?
The Bible clearly states “make no graven image.” Would God then allow a graven image of himself to appear on a rotting stump? To me that would seem rather against the law of God, not to mention somewhat sacrilegious.
Jo Duhaime
Hancock