Regarding John Wayne, please Google "John Wayne and World War II" and read the articles. They certainly expose John Wayne for the fraudulent image of macho virility that came to be associated with him. In fact, he was far from a patriot, putting his personal career ahead of service to the Nation. The Duke certainly did not "saddle up" when the country called.
Mr. McDonald, you would have been better served by using George McGovern as a symbol of bravery. Look up his biography to see what I mean.
Once again, expert analysis by Mr. Tetenman. Another question to ask about the current effort to stymie reform of our health care system is this--"Who is paying to get people to the Town Hall meetings and disrupt them so that sane discussion by opponents and proponents can be heard?" Let me speculate, probably the lobbyists for the insurance companies.
Is there anyother way to convice people like Gil that the "Death Panel" issue is a phony one? that was invented by the obstuctionists in order to play the scare card.
What she did yesterday was probably far more productive than a Town Hall meeting, because she was getting real feedback from individuals willing to be more respectful in a give-and-take discussion. Bravo to Senator Snowe.
It has been rumored by some that Governor Baldacci is not a fan of the Lewiston-Auburn area. Your analysis would lend credence to this thought.
So my question here is, where is our State legislative delegation in this matter? We have a Democratic governor, and we have seats at the Approriations Committee. Where is the political muscle to work some sort of influence on the governor. Nearly 10 percent of the State's population lives in Androscoggin county, and a rail connection between Lewiston and either Portland or Brunswick makes a lot of sense.
Did our mayor forfeit any possible influence he may have had with the governor by endosing Susan Collins in her race for the Senate last fall?
Can we overturn this oversight and bring more economic balance to this equation?
There are large elements of truth in what you both say. I disagree with what you Michael say about the Catholic cohort, because in fact it no longer represents the majority of Lewiston's population. The lock-step obedience to Church and Diocesan authority which I grew up with is long-gone. There is still a Catholic influence, but nowhere near as great as before. However, please remember that until the 1970's, the Catholic parishes educated the vast majority of our population in the parochial schools. The one great benefit there is that Lewiston did not have the large public-school funding burden then that it now bears.
Enough on this point. Your points speak to a very complicated set of events which impact upon development in any given area. My wife and I are both natives of this area, but we were away for several years while I was in the service and then attending graduate school. We returned to this area not by choice but by employment opportunity. We raised our three children here in Lewiston, and they had a wonderful upbringing through the 70's and 80's, and were educated in Catholic schools. We did encourage them to have a healthy skepticism about Church authority, and we encouraged them to look at the world through a wider prism than being restricted to Lewiston and Maine. They all attended and graduated college outside of Maine. Much to our chagrin in one sense as parents, none of them have returned to Maine. However, they do not bear any ill will toward Lewiston, and even they admit that this was a great place to grow up, but that the job opportunities are not here
And that brings me to the crux of the matter, job opportunity. The death of our textile and shoe manufacturing industries, not only here in Lewiston but throughout New England, has had a tremendous impact on the area, not all of it negative.
My point here is this. Any area has its positives and negatives. It all depends on what one is seeking. There are opportunities in certain industries in this area, industries which never existed until our mills died. Those decisions are difficult to make, but the vast majority of people who live in this area are happy, lead productive lives, have children, send them on to college in much greater numbers than before, and then never see them return to Maine except to visit. I don't detect the same bitterness that you seem to exhibit, Michael, just an acceptance of the fact that opportunities are more diverse elsewhere than here in this area.
This same story could be repeated in countless other small to medium formerly industrial areas around the country and that are now trying to build new economic futures for themselves.
Robert61:
Indeed, I have lived in Lewiston for 57 of my 63 years, having been away from Lewiston for 6 years for military service and graduate school. I am a Vietnam veteran, having served in the Air Force for 4 years. I apologize if you took offense at my first blog; it was half in jest. However, I must disagree with your assessment of the complexity of running a healthcare facility versus the complexity of running a city such as Lewiston. Do you have large public works projects to initiate, develop, and see through to completion? Do you have police and fire departments to oversee and manage? Do you have day-to-day activities such as street paving, snow removal, trash collection, etc etc etc.? Please do not insult me by your claim that running your health care facilities is more complex than running a City.
I believe your intentions for being on the City Council are commendable. However, I totally disagree with whatever motivates you to be part of the developing effort by the City Council to change the city charter in order to give the council more power in running the day-to-day operations of city government. That would be a move "back to the future" which would harm the city of Lewiston tremendously.
Once again, I apologize for my earlier entry. I will make this commitment to you, that any future comments I make will be kept totally professional. I trust that your responses to my entries will reflect the same care and attention to the issue addressed. Thank you fro serving on the Lewiston City Council. In our society, we must be able to discuss our differences in a civil manner and somehow come to a point of resolution.
Every Tuesday evening, I spend a little time watching the 7 Stooges on Community TV. I would laugh if it were not so sad for our City. We have The Silent One, the Deer in the Headlights one, the Little Emperor wannabe, the Big Emperor wannabe, the Boss Hawg one, the Bean Counter one, and the Twins. For the most part, as a Council they are pathetic. While I do not agree with a lot of what Jim Bennett did, he was an effective City Administrator. While he may be responsible for creating a debt over the Colisee, in the long run it is the only way that dump could have been upgraded. Now it is out of the city's hands as it should be.
I am particularly dismayed at the Council for attempting to interfere with the day-to-day operations of our very dedicated staff across the spectrum. Mr. Reed has expounded on multi-tasking based on his experience with a health care management firm. The reality is that managing a City is far different than managing a single-purpose entity as does Mr. Reed. It is much more complex, and much of what city staff do is mandated by rules and regulations that are imposed upon us by the State or the Federal Government.
We hear from Mr. Theriault that we need to look at the City charter, but we did that 25 or so years ago in order to escape the very practices that Mr. Theriault would want city government to revert to. If we once again empower the City Council to be the hiring and firing authority for line staff, then we will revert to corruption and kickbacks as was so rampant in the 50's and 60's.
No thanks, folks, let's rid ourselves of this Ship of Fools in November
Recent Comments
Regarding John Wayne, please
Regarding John Wayne, please Google "John Wayne and World War II" and read the articles. They certainly expose John Wayne for the fraudulent image of macho virility that came to be associated with him. In fact, he was far from a patriot, putting his personal career ahead of service to the Nation. The Duke certainly did not "saddle up" when the country called.
Mr. McDonald, you would have been better served by using George McGovern as a symbol of bravery. Look up his biography to see what I mean.
Once again, expert analysis
Once again, expert analysis by Mr. Tetenman. Another question to ask about the current effort to stymie reform of our health care system is this--"Who is paying to get people to the Town Hall meetings and disrupt them so that sane discussion by opponents and proponents can be heard?" Let me speculate, probably the lobbyists for the insurance companies.
Is there anyother way to convice people like Gil that the "Death Panel" issue is a phony one? that was invented by the obstuctionists in order to play the scare card.
What she did yesterday was
What she did yesterday was probably far more productive than a Town Hall meeting, because she was getting real feedback from individuals willing to be more respectful in a give-and-take discussion. Bravo to Senator Snowe.
It has been rumored by some
It has been rumored by some that Governor Baldacci is not a fan of the Lewiston-Auburn area. Your analysis would lend credence to this thought.
So my question here is, where is our State legislative delegation in this matter? We have a Democratic governor, and we have seats at the Approriations Committee. Where is the political muscle to work some sort of influence on the governor. Nearly 10 percent of the State's population lives in Androscoggin county, and a rail connection between Lewiston and either Portland or Brunswick makes a lot of sense.
Did our mayor forfeit any possible influence he may have had with the governor by endosing Susan Collins in her race for the Senate last fall?
Can we overturn this oversight and bring more economic balance to this equation?
To both Michael A and
To both Michael A and LewistonNative:
There are large elements of truth in what you both say. I disagree with what you Michael say about the Catholic cohort, because in fact it no longer represents the majority of Lewiston's population. The lock-step obedience to Church and Diocesan authority which I grew up with is long-gone. There is still a Catholic influence, but nowhere near as great as before. However, please remember that until the 1970's, the Catholic parishes educated the vast majority of our population in the parochial schools. The one great benefit there is that Lewiston did not have the large public-school funding burden then that it now bears.
Enough on this point. Your points speak to a very complicated set of events which impact upon development in any given area. My wife and I are both natives of this area, but we were away for several years while I was in the service and then attending graduate school. We returned to this area not by choice but by employment opportunity. We raised our three children here in Lewiston, and they had a wonderful upbringing through the 70's and 80's, and were educated in Catholic schools. We did encourage them to have a healthy skepticism about Church authority, and we encouraged them to look at the world through a wider prism than being restricted to Lewiston and Maine. They all attended and graduated college outside of Maine. Much to our chagrin in one sense as parents, none of them have returned to Maine. However, they do not bear any ill will toward Lewiston, and even they admit that this was a great place to grow up, but that the job opportunities are not here
And that brings me to the crux of the matter, job opportunity. The death of our textile and shoe manufacturing industries, not only here in Lewiston but throughout New England, has had a tremendous impact on the area, not all of it negative.
My point here is this. Any area has its positives and negatives. It all depends on what one is seeking. There are opportunities in certain industries in this area, industries which never existed until our mills died. Those decisions are difficult to make, but the vast majority of people who live in this area are happy, lead productive lives, have children, send them on to college in much greater numbers than before, and then never see them return to Maine except to visit. I don't detect the same bitterness that you seem to exhibit, Michael, just an acceptance of the fact that opportunities are more diverse elsewhere than here in this area.
This same story could be repeated in countless other small to medium formerly industrial areas around the country and that are now trying to build new economic futures for themselves.
Can you give some specific
Can you give some specific examples? As an outside observer, I have not seen what you allude to.
Robert61: Indeed, I have
Robert61:
Indeed, I have lived in Lewiston for 57 of my 63 years, having been away from Lewiston for 6 years for military service and graduate school. I am a Vietnam veteran, having served in the Air Force for 4 years. I apologize if you took offense at my first blog; it was half in jest. However, I must disagree with your assessment of the complexity of running a healthcare facility versus the complexity of running a city such as Lewiston. Do you have large public works projects to initiate, develop, and see through to completion? Do you have police and fire departments to oversee and manage? Do you have day-to-day activities such as street paving, snow removal, trash collection, etc etc etc.? Please do not insult me by your claim that running your health care facilities is more complex than running a City.
I believe your intentions for being on the City Council are commendable. However, I totally disagree with whatever motivates you to be part of the developing effort by the City Council to change the city charter in order to give the council more power in running the day-to-day operations of city government. That would be a move "back to the future" which would harm the city of Lewiston tremendously.
Once again, I apologize for my earlier entry. I will make this commitment to you, that any future comments I make will be kept totally professional. I trust that your responses to my entries will reflect the same care and attention to the issue addressed. Thank you fro serving on the Lewiston City Council. In our society, we must be able to discuss our differences in a civil manner and somehow come to a point of resolution.
Every Tuesday evening, I
Every Tuesday evening, I spend a little time watching the 7 Stooges on Community TV. I would laugh if it were not so sad for our City. We have The Silent One, the Deer in the Headlights one, the Little Emperor wannabe, the Big Emperor wannabe, the Boss Hawg one, the Bean Counter one, and the Twins. For the most part, as a Council they are pathetic. While I do not agree with a lot of what Jim Bennett did, he was an effective City Administrator. While he may be responsible for creating a debt over the Colisee, in the long run it is the only way that dump could have been upgraded. Now it is out of the city's hands as it should be.
I am particularly dismayed at the Council for attempting to interfere with the day-to-day operations of our very dedicated staff across the spectrum. Mr. Reed has expounded on multi-tasking based on his experience with a health care management firm. The reality is that managing a City is far different than managing a single-purpose entity as does Mr. Reed. It is much more complex, and much of what city staff do is mandated by rules and regulations that are imposed upon us by the State or the Federal Government.
We hear from Mr. Theriault that we need to look at the City charter, but we did that 25 or so years ago in order to escape the very practices that Mr. Theriault would want city government to revert to. If we once again empower the City Council to be the hiring and firing authority for line staff, then we will revert to corruption and kickbacks as was so rampant in the 50's and 60's.
No thanks, folks, let's rid ourselves of this Ship of Fools in November