Reduce plastic bag use
I am appalled by the amount of plastic bags stuffed with merchandise that comes out of big-box stores. Faced by the increasing amount of plastic in landfills and even the ocean, I believe every store has a duty to do whatever it can to halt this toxic invasion — especially a popular store like Wal-Mart.
Although the company has created attractive inexpensive cloth shopping bags, nothing is done to promote their use. They are not hanging at any of the checkout stations. They are hanging at the front of the store. At the exit, not the entrance. I would like to suggest that one of their kindly greeters stand with bags in hand and hand them out to everyone who comes in.
I also suggest that one day a ban/or tax will be levied on them to discourage their use.
Anna Freeman
Athens
Islamic brutality nothing new
No weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq. So what? Saddam Hussein had to go. He was a brutal dictator who gassed his own people, ignored United Nations sanctions and enriched himself and his family by diverting funds needed for his people into building more palaces. For the BDN to blame the Iraq War for all the things in its Sept. 11 editorial, such as displaced Syrians and then drawing a straight line from the war to the birth of ISIS and their atrocities, only shows the BDN’s naivete about the history of Islam. Whether you want to call them ISIS, IS or whatever, all these groups follow the same beliefs: the destruction of anyone who does not believe as they do.
Mohammed did not write the Quran, as many believe. It was compiled after his death by men who had written down his teachings. Mohammed’s first teachings in the seventh century were conducted in Mecca. These early teachings talk of peace. When he moved to Medina — both locations are in Saudi Arabia — his teachings were more about destroying any who did not believe as he did, specifically the “people of the book” (Jews and Christians). In the study of the Quran there is a principle called “naskh,” which means the later verses negate anything said before.
This worldwide terror has nothing to do with the Iraq War. It has been around since the seventh century.
Ron McArdle
Presque Isle
Help one another
Hopefully, the Middle Eastern countries will step forward and rescue their destitute refugees from unholy turmoil and misery. There is land and there are resources and, I truly think, responsibility. But, yes, everyone needs to step up; every one of us is, after all, a member of the human race.
The terrible mystery is why governance in general makes it so easy for despots to remain in power? Why is the rule of law ineffectual? Why are human rights empty, disregarded words rattling around in the wastebaskets of leadership? Why is power used to destroy instead of build instead of help? Instead of lead?
I want to believe that all this overwhelming evil, greedy, self-serving, vindictive, heartlessness and despotic thought and action will not finally wipe out the positive power of “good and true.” Is there hope?
We need to care, share, listen, learn and love. Each voice, each cry could be our own.
Dottie Hayes
Brooklin
Vote Bernie
For years, local listeners of radio station WZON have heard Tom Hartmann regularly interview Vermont senator and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on a host of issues. His common sense, progressive views are persuasive and clearly articulated.
But it’s Sanders’ approach to foreign policy and to the use of American military power that’s especially prudent. In the leadup to the invasion of Iraq, he was among a handful of senators who voted against U.S. involvement. Assessing carefully the intelligence about Saddam Hussein’s alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction and predicting the possible consequences of his overthrow, Sanders foresaw a Middle East in chaos and the horrific loss of American and Iraqi lives.
In fact, politicians such as Hillary Clinton who vote to send other parents’ kids into harm’s way, after considering only superficially the reasons for doing so, should disqualify themselves from further elected office. Contrary to her claim during the 2008 campaign, she’s not the most competent one to take a 3 a.m. phone call from the Joint Chiefs of Staff after her failure to detect the false pretenses under which the Iraq War was fought.
Sanders stated in a recent CNN interview that the U.S. should always emphasize diplomacy in conflict situations and employ force as a last resort and then in concert with allies whenever possible. Fighting for the middle-class and working people — major sources of members of our military — has been a hallmark of Bernie’s senatorial career. I believe he deserves our vote in the upcoming Maine caucuses.
Dave Witham
Bangor