LePage should resign
Enough is enough. Remember when Republican leaders in Congress went to President Richard Nixon and demanded he resign? Well, it is time that Senate President Mike Thibodeau, House Minority Leader Ken Fredette, Sen. Andre Cushing, Maine Republican Party Chairman Rick Bennett and any other Republican leaders go to our governor and demand his resignation. If he refuses, then he should be impeached.
He proves he has anger problems, that he is mentally unstable and that he governs by intimidation. We Mainers deserve better — a lot better — than being embarrassed by his words and behaviors week after week. Gov. Paul LePage should resign.
Perham Amsden
Brewer
Thanks for the monument
I just wanted to send a heartfelt thank you to Roxanne Quimby, the Bangor Daily News and, of course, President Barack Obama.
First, I thank Quimby for her vision and gift of more than 87,500 acres in the Katahdin region, not only to Mainers but also to all the folks who will venture up north to enjoy this pristine, beautiful land. I really can’t stop smiling just thinking about it. I want to thank Quimby, her son, Lucas St. Clair, and their entire family for this amazing and generous gift.
Second, I want to thank the BDN for the extensive coverage on both sides of this issue. It has kept me enjoying the history that has just been made right here in Maine last week.
We live in one of the most beautiful places in the world. We are blessed to have so many trees and an abundance of freshwater. I believe that our new national monument will allow the generations to come to enjoy and appreciate the wilderness right here in our state.
For me, it couldn’t get much better. I am so excited to see how we can continue to preserve the beauty of the Katahdin woods and waters. I do appreciate those folks who may not agree with the final outcome. My hope is that this new gift will inspire the local folks to come together to help make this work. It may not be perfect, but I do believe it was a step in the right direction. I am also hoping that new businesses will blossom to help the locals sustain their lives.
Let’s get out to the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument right away. Fall is coming. It should be spectacular.
Mary E. Taylor
Orono
Restore education funding
Question 2 on the November ballot will let voters restore some of the education funding that has been cut from the Maine budget in the last few years. These cuts have led to inadequate school budgets in many places and an increase in local property taxes — the worst of both worlds. Even more troubling, these sharp cuts were made despite the voters’ 2004 mandate that the state should pay 55 percent of local education costs.
Question 2 helps Maine schools by adding a small, 3 percent surtax on annual income over $200,000. This money may be used only for support of local schools and classroom instruction, not for administration.
I’m grateful that Democratic state Sen. Geoff Gratwick of Bangor took the time to explain this to me, though I wasn’t surprised given his strong support of education and the fact that he comes from a family of teachers.
Catherine Dickerson
Bangor
Poliquin works to protect Mainers
It has been more than a year since the United States, Iran and other countries agreed to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, more commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal. But what have we gained from this “historic” deal?
Well, for starters, we recently learned from a Pentagon report that Iran has vastly improved its cyber abilities and created more advanced ballistic missiles since signing the agreement last July. “The Islamic Republic now has a substantial inventory of missiles capable of reaching targets throughout the region, including U.S. military bases and Israel,” the report reads.
On top of that, the Associated Press reported that a secret document from the Iran deal showed that “key restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program will ease in slightly more than a decade, halving the time Tehran would need to build a bomb.” Iran could with 11 years replace its inefficient centrifuges with more advanced machines, merely delaying its ability to create a nuclear weapon.
This is a deal that just keeps getting worse and worse. Congressman Bruce Poliquin saw this deal for what it was — a sham. He has a proven track record of strengthening our national defense to ensure our protection.
This is just one of many reasons why I am voting for Poliquin this November. He is a man of integrity, wisdom and one of the most hardworking individuals I know. I know he works many more hours than is expected of him to protect and serve us, and he must continue in that service.
Dana Ward
Brewer
Racial bias everywhere
The two sides in the debate about our governor’s most recent meltdown seem to agree on only one thing: that “racist” is the worst insult one can fling. It is not.
The primary result of equating the “R” word with the “N” word is to stifle a crucial debate. “Racist” can mean a true bigot; a person who consciously believes that black people (or the race of their choosing) are inferior and acts on that belief. While the governor flirts with this variety of racism, the more insidious type is subconscious. It involves a mental framework about race that most of us have absorbed since childhood.
We see the world through this framework and act on what we see. In 2012, George Zimmerman thought he saw a hoodlum when he actually saw Trayvon Martin with an Arizona ice tea and Skittles going to his father’s house to watch football.
Many white people, myself included, feel some anxiety going into a black neighborhood. This does not come from my personal experience, which is quite the opposite — being welcomed into homes by family, friends and acquaintances. Instead, the anxiety comes from what I absorbed growing up in a culture with racial stereotypes.
In this context, most of us are racist. Black people are not immune. The task is to try to recognize when we are reacting to this internal framework and then self-correct.
Judd Esty-Kendall
Glenburn