Courage needed now
Is President Donald Trump only interested in increasing his own power and wealth? By replacing the chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff and the Director of National Intelligence with his chief political strategist Steven Bannon on the National Security Council, he makes us less safe. Bannon is only experienced in creating fake news for the purposes of propaganda and money and is willing to tear down whatever he deems the enemy for his own purposes. Don’t we deserve more security? How about our troops?
Are congressional Republicans only interested in increasing their own power and wealth? Sen. Mitch McConnell and Rep. Paul Ryan look like lapdogs, not leaders of the second branch of government. Instead of forcing Trump to take the time to learn what it means to “govern,” not “rule,” they appease, creating greater division and instability at home and abroad. They are ducking their legal and moral responsibility when they acquiesce in allowing Bannon to replace trusted leaders who have years of experience keeping our country safe. They join Trump’s hysteria, his dark picture of a threatened America only he can save.
A pretense of national security is no substitute for informed decision making. I hope Sen. Susan Collins and Sen. Angus King will stand up. We know they can. We’ve seen it before. Sen. Margaret Chase Smith turned the tide on McCarthyism and Sen. William Cohen voted to impeach President Richard Nixon.
We need that courage now. I do not recognize the dark America being created, and it frightens me.
Joyce Schelling
Orland
Will miss WBACH
Regarding the Feb. 20 article about WBACH’s abrupt departure, I am but one of many that deeply miss WBACH and its classical music.
Scott Hooper’s morning program was a very popular daily routine for many Mainers, and for many that station stayed on 16/7. There is hope another broadcaster will pick up that format.
Scanning the radio dial one hears station after station with the same loud formats, and that is just one reason WBACH was unique. Classical music deserves an outlet that reaches most of Maine.
The article stated that classical music was available on the Maine Public classical station, but we have been unable to find it here on the midcoast any where around the FM dial. Please inform your readers the location of that classical station. That would be much appreciated.
Barton Wood
Camden
Basketball lessons
What a wonderful time of year to watch our young men and women play their hearts out on the courts of basketball. While on the courts of Washington, all we seem to see are slam-dunks of personally autographed basketball cases by wealthy incompetent adults. President Donald Trump’s favorites have only the minor backing of the Senate’s majority popularity.
Where is the sportsmanship, fellowship and comradery that these young players exhibit in their competition game after game to be found within those who govern? Perhaps politicians at all levels should sit in the bleachers and view a few games before going back into session.
Thomas Bartlett
Bangor
One-sided column
In his Feb 18 column, “Resistant to efficiency,” Thomas Desjardin didn’t mention how much poverty stricken Millinocket is costing the taxpayers in this state. He also didn’t mention sending students from Millinocket to Schenck High School in East Millinocket, nor did he talk about the renovations done and being done at Schenck.
Joseph Farmer
Oakland
Imagine Maine
Gov. Paul LePage thinks he’s living in poverty as governor. A $70,000 salary, $35,000 expense account, free rent and utilities and food expenses and insurances covered in his benefit package. Poverty? Really? All this while more children in Maine are going hungry and living in deep poverty than ever before.
With LePage it’s just one senseless distraction after another. Imagine if he would have spent as much time trying to actually grow the economy of Maine as he has obsessing over how much soda a SNAP benefit recipient is drinking or over the elusive welfare fraud perpetrator.
Imagine if he hadn’t forced out the popular, successful president of the community college system over a petty grievance or forced Statoil to take their billion-dollar investment in offshore wind to Scotland or if he had collaborated to grow the capacity of the engineering program at the University of Maine or if he had expanded MaineCare under the Affordable Care Act, which would have bolstered our hospitals’ bottom lines and made treatment available to more victims of the opioid epidemic.
Imagine if LePage had focused on making sure everyone in Maine had broadband access, removing a barrier to small business success, or if he would have supported last year’s solar bill that was the result of months of stakeholder meetings and would have generated hundreds of good-paying jobs that couldn’t be outsourced.
Imagine Maine actually moving forward again.
Larry Larson
Portland
Cancer and the ACA
While there has been much debate about the pros and cons of the Affordable Care Act, there is no question that even in its current form the act provides critical access to cancer prevention, early screening and treatment for those diagnosed with the disease.
By covering visits to primary care providers, the ACA ensures that prevention services are provided to patients at no cost. Similarly, the ACA guarantees that cancer screening tests are covered at 100 percent. No Mainer should have to refuse a cancer screening test because of cost when earlier detection of cancer means easier and more successful treatments.
The ACA also protects cancer patients, survivors and their families by limiting the financial impact of a diagnosis. Insurance companies can no longer charge higher prices because a patient receives a cancer diagnosis, nor can they stop insuring a cancer patient because the costs of their treatment exceed an arbitrary limit.
Most importantly, the ACA has meant that thousands more Mainers have health insurance. They can visit their doctor regularly, learn about healthy lifestyle choices, get cancer screenings and, if necessary, begin early treatment when cures are still possible. Will we let our national leaders repeal the ACA and deny this lifesaving coverage to our family and friends here in Maine?
Maine has significantly higher cancer rates than the rest of the U.S., but we believe the protections offered by the ACA are changing that statistic. And we believe it is our responsibility to make sure that this coverage continues to protect our fellow Mainers as they fight for their lives.
Tara M. Hill
Executive director
Maine Cancer Foundation
Cumberland