Artist, writer, homemaker. Outspoken individual, politically aligned with Bernie Sanders. (INDEPENDENT - VT). Favorite authors are John Steinbeck and Charles Dickens. Also avid reader of British mysteries. Animal rights advocate.
Town leaders are not power hungry. They have banned fireworks because they are dangerous. Our fire chief knows in a town with housing and trees so close together the use of fireworks can only spell disaster. Fireworks are going to get into the hands of a bunch of yahoos who care nothing about anything except their own thrills. The laws banning the use of fireworks protects people and property from those who refuse to be considerate of others.
There is a lot of background checks. Transportation is a must. Neat, clean clothes and shoes. An attitude of a go-getter. They also look for team players, willing to sub when there is a need. Intelligent, personable and honest and dependable.
Please read the column. It explains why Zimmerman did what he did and why the liberals want to lynch him. Your right, this discussion has nothing to do with Zimmerman, but it does give reasons why there will be a coming race war (in his opinion) and hits the nail on the head. Don't for one moment think Fred is a liberal or that the column is more liberal whining.
Trivialize government, my foot! You want to drown it in a bathtub.
We should have a rich, healthy government working for the citizens, NOT the corporations who offshore jobs and pay no taxes. We need regulations that benefit working folks, not CEOs in ivory towers. Regulations that ensure we get clean food and water. Regulations that give us clean air and a healthy environment. Regulations to protect workers (and all of us) from needless injury. Regulations that give us the 40 hour workweek with overtime thereafter.
But you would have us go backwards instead of forward. You want to have every man for himself and to hell with anyone else. That's not a very enlightened attitude. It is very selfish. Typical G.O.P. bloviation.
No one is asking for the government's "power" to enforce 19th century farming. There are plenty of modern ways to grow crops that do not poison the soil, the pollinators, and the animals who eat genetically modified organisms, including us.
How easily you diminish the agonizing deaths of India's farmers. Decent family men who only wanted to improve their harvests. Men who bought the seeds and the lies of Monsanto. This is not ho-hum news. This is a national tragedy for India. Anyone who sides with the corporations is despicable.
A simple Google search will tell you Monsanto is the cause of mass suicides in India - upwards of 200,000. You see, genetically modified seeds cost 1,000 times more than conventional seeds but the farmers have been told there would be massive crops from these "magic" seeds. Farmers go into debt to buy these seeds and when the crops fail the farmers commit suicide by drinking insecticide. This is a terrible way to die.
So, you can rant all you want, but corporations like Monsanto are indeed horrible. They are selling death.
We all need to be reminded that without a clean environment we have nothing and our children and grandchildren and those that come after us will live in misery, if at all.
This goes beyond politics. We all breath the same air and drink the same water and eat the same food, basically. We cannot separate ourselves from Nature. We are part of it.
Sorry, but my B.S. meter is sounding off. You state, " ...three times the cost of a privately owned company." That's just not so. In the army, people used to get training for different jobs they could get after they got out. Now, private companies like Halliburton or Blackwater (or whatever it calls itself now) have taken over many jobs. I believe there was quite a stink raised when it was found out that Halliburton was charging the government $20.00 per meal ( or more) to feed the troops in Iraq. And look at the shoddy work done by private contractors on the barracks they built for the troops - wiring, plumbing, you name it, that had to be redone at government expense.
Despite the scare stories we hear about Canada's health care system, I can say for sure that all my relatives in Canada wouldn't want our private system run by insurance and drug companies that deny coverage to people who have paid their premiums and then get sick. Insurance companies put profit before people all the time. And the drug prices here are much higher than in most of the world. Why is that? Profit.
Overhead for private medicine runs about 35%. Medicare and Medicaid, about 3%.
When presidential hopeful, Romney was governor of Massachusetts, he put through a plan just like this Obamacare you right wingers are always whining about. It is working for them. Of course, now, he is running away from that as fast as he can, the lying s.o.b.
....the Thames in London froze over. Artists have painted the scenes of horse and sleigh, people, skaters on this frozen river. And I seem to remember seeing artwork depicting starving people eating roots and stuff, gaunt animals (if they hadn't been eaten) and street fights over scarce food.
As far as warmer temperatures being fine here in Maine during the winter, not so fast. Our climate has kept many unwanted nasties away, like poisonous snakes and bugs. Our state has many ski resorts that would go bust. The maple syrup business would go bust. Our apple growers would go bust. And who knows what kind of plant diseases would become rampant or what a warmer winter would do to the forests. Then there are the human diseases that flourish more in warm, moist climates.
We may not like to shovel the stuff but snow is a needed groundcover for many bulbs and perennials.
I love the winter. It is Nature's fumigator. Just think of black flies and mosquitoes year round. Yikes!
I have lived in some crappy apartments in my lifetime. As soon as I had kids I would wash everything down and seal the paint. Especially anything they could reach. There are good booklets to help renters be lead free. It takes a little work but the benefits were worth it. Both kids always tested lead free. And I had nice fresh woodwork.
I am amazed, sometimes by the lack of gumption some tenants have to just fix a problem themselves. No pride and looking for someone else to do the work - free.
The picture you see here is my best friend, Queenie. She is a lot older now than in that picture and over the years we have had many a conversation about lots of stuff. She doesn't talk much except to say "Mama" and "Out" (which sounds more like owl.) She doesn't go out, really, just on to the screened deck where we watch the birds.
A while back I had really high blood pressure. My doctor was worried. About the same time, we had an infestation of fleas. Determined to rid Queenie of fleas, and not wanting to use poisons, I groomed her every day, sometimes 2 or 3 times a day. She would roll over and let me tackle her belly. We got rid of every flea, never had any back and my blood pressure dropped back to normal. When my doctor asked what I did to bring my BP down I told him I groomed my Queenie and he said he had heard of that happening before.
Never underestimate the healing power of pets. It is the strength of love and devotion. It is a friendship like no other.
You are so right, Frank. That friendship never falters.
Way back when, lots of people were against interracial marriage and there were laws against it. Time has a way of changing society. Those who cannot accept change are the ones who must grow up.
.......well, politicians lie. Obama may be the latest example, but for many of us, after 8 agonizing years of Bubba, we wanted to believe that someone would get us back to sanity.
Didn't happen. We still torture. War by drones has escalated. Still no Habeas Corpus. Still in the pocket of big agro and pharma. I could go on and on.
My point being that your slogan is in error. How is a voter supposed to know beforehand what kind of a government they elect will turn out once elected?
By whose standards? We never had a governor who said "Kiss my butt" before and acted like a teenager. We did not have an onslaught against the neediest while benefiting the greediest. We did not have a government run by people who wanted to disenfranchise voters and erode public education. And we had jobs.
You got that right, Doug. But I know your kind. Flim flammers. Snake oil salesmen. Rainmakers. Con artists. All as phoney as a three dollar bill.
You can't have it both ways. You can't "hear the cry of the children" and then propose bombing them off the face of the planet. Or "wooping" them as you call it. How spiritual is that?
Just what is my kind of thinking? You don't even give specifics. And you never dared to address me directly. You would lose this argument and you know it. You are a phoney warmonger who preys on the ignorant for money.
That is disgusting.
You do not dare to say the word kill. Woop them? Just what the hell does that mean if not kill them, huh? You are no man of God, that's for sure. And, you can't even spell -- "their" should be there as in over there. You are a phoney, Dougie boy. A phoney who preys on the ignorant. Jesus Party indeed. Jesus would kick you in the butt for using His name to troll for $$$$$$. And He would also kick you again for being a warmonger.
But the food served at one of these "meetings", sooner or later, is going to be crow. You can pander to the gullible and ignorant and rake in the $$$$$ but most of us know out here in reality land that anyone can call themselves a preacher. And I'm calling you out, coward. You don't dare to reply to me. Have I struck a nerve?
Pure revisionist history. John McCain was not trying to make the "enemy" like us when he got up on the stage and sang, "Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran." I suppose he can plead senility. And do you think President Obama thinks the "enemy" will like us by using torture?
What both parties are doing is making generations of people who hate us. Just like we would hate anyone who killed our folks in their homes. All the Pentagon is doing is making more "nasty folks" and eventually they will strike back. If my daughter bled to death in my arms I would be justified in seeking revenge from her murderer(s). Thousands of parents, civilians leading peaceful lives, have seen the horrible ways their children have died in their arms, bleeding to death, burnt by white phosphorous, raped, mutilated or struck by shrapnel. And children have witnessed their parents being gunned down while shopping in the markets or attending religious services or just trying to lead a normal life.
These people were not our enemies. We are making them so.
Whatever happened to "Blessed are the peacemakers." ? Sounds to me you are saying what you know will be popular with the knuckledraggers. Sort of like trolling for dollars for the collection plate. Hmmmmm?
Hardly. There are plenty of "events" that prove you wrong. You can watch our "courageous" troops sniper people and even dogs on the streets on U Tube. Just for "fun". And while you are doing research, read a book or two by Chalmers Johnson and what our brave boys are doing to the people in the Phillipines - rape of girls, hit and run while boozed up. They are terrorizing those people. Most of these stories never get reported in the mainstream media because, like you, people refuse to look honestly at what we, as a nation, have done and are doing to the civilian populations in so many places, not just Iraq and Afghanistan.
And when a story breaks like the latest rampage by that deranged Army Sgt., Robert Bales, who killed, took a break, went out again to kill some more children and adults, you would stifle the press from reporting. You seem to think we should not learn the truth.
Not all of us have blinders on. We see American Imperialism as a threat to all of us, here and abroad. Blowback will be horrendous when it comes.
Bush was wrong, you know, when he said, "They hate us for our freedoms." On the contrary, they hate us for invading them for oil as in Iraq, or for trying to force our way of life on them and destroying their civilizations. Our cowboy mentality is not welcomed. We are not liberators from oppression. We are the oppressors. We support dictators until they stand in the way of our aggression. Then we destroy their nation, causing millions to flee and live their lives in misery and suffering. We use white phosphorous on these people. And depleted uranium causing untold numbers of stillborn and malformed children and rendering the ground unsuitable for life.
But you would censor the press and call them irresponsible. Nothing to see here, move along. That is the act of a coward who is afraid of the truth.
My husband is retired Army. He could tell you about the horror of what we did and are doing much better than I. He served this country believing the lies. He does not believe them any more.
Sunoco chair until May, Lynn Laverty Elsenhans tried to kill off a Shell refinery in Bakersfield, CA when she was the chair of Shell Oil Products. She did succeed in snuffing out Marcus Hook refinery in PA in December and she will close the massive Sunoco refinery in Philly in June if she is not stopped.
Conoco Phillips and Hovensa have closed the Trainer refinery near Philly and the St. Croix refinery that provided fuel to the Northeast.
As fuel prices rise, these companies are closing refineries essential for producing fuels. Why? The cost to the Northeast will be appalling. 36,000 job loses and 560 million in lost tax revenue that goes to cities, schools and states.
The Dept. of Energy has warned that if the Philly Sunoco refinery closes as planned in June, the Northeast will have gasoline and fuel oil shortfalls and price hikes.
So, again, why? Companies are closing refineries in the nation's most lucrative fuel market so they can jack the price up even more. They supply 40% of gasoline, 60% of diesel, 45% of home heating oil.
Higher prices = huge profits.
And higher prices for everything that depends on these fuels for delivery, like food for example.
How many more people will go hungry, go without needed prescriptions, or simply freeze to death just to feed the greed of these companies? This is murder!
And since the Supreme Court has ruled that corporations are people, and there are laws against murder, these companies must be stopped from shutting down the refineries for the sake of more and more profit.
I gave you a disagree, not because we do not need to change the way Washington does business - we do. But if you think old Angus is "independent" in the true sense, he is not.
In this case, old Angus is only independent in the sense that he only looks out for himself. He is a millionaire, not that there is anything wrong with that, but he soaks the taxpayers for a scam and has been on the government tit for as long as I have known him.
He feathers his own nest just like the rest of the politicians in D.C. How "independent" is that?
What gives you the right to tell a stranger how to manage their life? Because that is just what you are doing.
It is none of your damned business. You may think just because you are male that gives you the right to be paternalistic and domineering over women, but that thinking went out with the hoop skirt.
Unless it is your family, you have no right to decide for anyone in any matter whatsoever if it does no harm to you.
It used to be only little old ladies stuck their noses in where it was not wanted. Now it is men like you who seem to be the busybodies at a hen party. Cluck clucking and tsk tsking over someone else's business.
So stick to your own knitting and let other families make their own decisions about what is best for them.
And don't give me the B.S. about dragging the good old USA down the path of sin and moral turpitude. We reached the end of that path years ago when we decided it was ok to kill millions for oil or other natural resources. We are a country that runs on killing for profit. We make war machines and weaponry but little else. We support huge armies of mercenaries at an astronomical cost to all taxpayers who cannot even afford to send their kids to decent schools.
And yet you and your kind despise anyone who goes on welfare or food stamps because two or three jobs don't earn enough to pay for food, fuel, medicine, shelter and other needs. You know what? When the Navy was stationed here, many were on food stamps just to get by. And the wounded troops left to languish and suffer in horrible conditions after their service because they have been used and spit out by the good old USA.
Why aren't you out on the streets and writing letters to the editor about the millions of young men and women used like so much cannon fodder? Or isn't that sexy enough for you? 'Cause that's all it boils down to. Sex. And by taking away a woman's right to make her own decisions or by calling her a murderer or a slut and worse and demeaning her for her own personal choices is your way to impose your morality on a stranger. Think of it. You have no right to walk into a stranger's house and demand that they live as you do. No right at all. And yet you think you do. How crazy is that?
Keep your thoughts about other people's lives to yourself. And get a life of your own.
With all due respect, repeating GOP talking points doesn't cut it, truth-wise. The American Civil Liberties is as much a terrorist group as the Taliban? Surely you jest. They don't take away rights, they ensure ALL people's rights are not trampled on by a few boneheads who want to take us back to the 1950's and 1960's when lynching was a popular sport. Can you spell KKK? Now THAT was a terrorist group.
We live in a multicultural world. We all must respect each other and get along. Of course, if you WANT to go back to the "good old days" feel free to do so. But don't hide your prejudice and hate under a white sheet of ignorant drivel.
Answer this one question: Who took away Habeas Corpus besides Lincoln during the Civil War?
The type of windmill Angus is schlepping are 45 stories high! 450 feet high! Have you seen them? They seem like monsters from "War of the Worlds".
Have you ever felt, not heard but FELT the oncoming arrival of a vehicle with deep bass speakers? A sound so low and powerful that it interrupts heart rhythm? It's called ultrasound. It has been used as a form of torture because it can drive a person insane. Think what it does to the birds and animals that used to live in these places where windmills have been built. Doe have given stillbirth. And the herbicides used to keep back any growth near these towers have poisoned all life, including human life from well water. Mudslides and erosion have polluted streams, rivers and lakes with silt and herbicide runoff.
Angus King, among others, is causing huge "dead zones" to form in our state so that he can enrich himself. He won't be here in 20-25 years when these monstrosities begin to rot and buckle, burn out and simply shatter. Who will clean up his mess?
You know what? I don't think he gives a good goddamn.
Cell towers have harmful affects on the health of those living near them. Especially children. Any wireless technology, cell phones, smart meters, wireless game boxes, etc. disrupt the normal cells in living things.
I wonder how many people use these things that are complaining about the tower and do not know the dangers of wireless technology. It isn't anything manufacturers or companies that sell this crap are willing to divulge to the public. They would never admit their products do harm.
The Otisfield planning board should be tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail. Shame on them!
..... to the word of Dale McCormick over anyone at the Maine Heritage Policy Center, a right-wing think tank, and Bruce Poliquin who would like a little less light shed on his affairs.
But mostly I would take Dale at her word before our lying Gov. LePage, who, in the style of Pontius Pilate, keeps his hands clean while Jon Courtney get his bill passed this summer which will change the statute that only the Gov. can fire her.
Friends of Dale know the real reasons why the "Bubba Patrol" want her out and it has nothing to do with management "style".
We need more people like Dale, who cares about the the people she serves and less like LePage, Poliquin, and other assorted wackos who serve the one percenters with tax giveaways and nepotism.
If you get diarrhea, replenish the good bacteria in your gut with yogurt. It works.
And if you must take an antibacterial drug, do not stop taking it until it is all used up. Otherwise you just increase the chances of producing drug resistant nasty bacteria - the kind that kills.
Wash your hands. Every time after you go shopping or anywhere outside the home, wash your hands with plenty of HOT water and soap. And wash your hands after you blow your nose or sneeze into a tissue. Or after going to the bathroom.
Demand that any children wash their hands immediately when they arrive for a visit.
Keep the handle of the toilet bowl clean.
These things work for our family. I am 70, my husband is 76 and we are never sick.
.......his/her phone, tablet or other gizmo and pick up a shovel is the day my dog has kittens in the oven and we call them biscuits. Impossible.
Every ordinary snowstorm is now call an EVENT. As in, "We are having a weather EVENT". 3 inches of light powder is made out to be an earth shattering EVENT. Local weather forecasting should be illegal.
Sample: "It's really coming down out there, Bob." Camera cuts to a downtown street corner, "It sure is, Ray! Looks like it might last all night!!" Every storm. Same chuckling, idiotic banter.Same "end of the world" music in the background. As if we didn't know it was winter and it sometimes snows.
Thanks for the letter, Rolande. It brought back some great memories of Maine before the yuppies took over.
You need to go to U Tube and listen to some of the speeches by Bernie Sanders, senator from Vermont, independent. I think you will find someone who does care about the working folks.
Old Grover Norquist who said, "I just want to cut government down to a size where we can drown it in a bathtub." Nice. And so patriotic. NOT. He is an enemy of all Americans - unless you are in the top one percent income bracket.
The loss of BNAS will be felt for decades, if not longer. 6,000 jobs gone up in smoke. And the loss of the commissary as well. Many retired depended on it to stretch their budgets. Our senators and our representatives just rolled over and played dead. THEY don't need to work for a living nor do they have a budget to worry about. Elitist bunch of bast**ds, all.
....as the "sensible center" is like me promoting myself as Cleopatra.
And, as old Cleo used to say, De Nial is not just a river in Egypt.
Pompous, arrogant, lying, self-serving neo-liberal in the same mold as Clinton without the hormones.
A detestable and thoroughly unlikeable Virginian who is convinced Mainers are stupid. He is destroying thousands of acres of Maine and convincing people like Jason that wind power is "green". The only green is the green lining his pockets.
If your kids went to a Madrasas, would you still be asking for a hand out in the form of a tax break? Because if you get help that way, then expect other religions to follow suit.
.... in this sweet building! How I loved going to school there. I can still smell the chalk, clay and crayons.
There was a back door and at recess we played in the shadows of the Gingerbread House. There was a swing set and I think I remember a see saw. Our teacher(Miss(Mrs?) Morrison, I think) would ring a school bell and we would all come back in, eager to resume our schooling.
I wish all kids could experience a one-room school house for their first days. Whatever Norway can do to preserve this building, I say do it! The Arts Center has done it proud and those of us who can still remember when say thank you!
.......on this one. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a complete Luddite when it comes to technology, I am, after all, typing this on my computer.
BUT when former Gov. King had this brainstorm about laptops I remember thinking and I still think it is just another neo-liberal wet dream - full steam ahead and don't stop to think of the consequences. Allowing kids to bring home a laptop instead of using a computer lab setting is just asking for trouble. It benefits no one, especially the kids, to think that there is a shortcut to knowledge and wisdom. There isn't.
A computer is nothing more than a tool. It shouldn't become a crutch. It takes hard work and years of study to feel the joy of accomplishment. I think computers shortchange the kids, and many adults in this sense. And it gets people of all ages to rely on technology to solve all our problems. It can't.
When did chastity and dignity disappear from our language? When pornography and Viagra were accepted as mainstream, no big deal, ways of achieving an erection. It used to be that gentlemen did not discuss their sexual accomplishments, or lack thereof, in public. And those same men, unless they are homosexual, need a woman partner. Imagine that! So half of all those hamsters running around copulating are men! And many of them are devious (date rape pill) in their attempts to be "pro-creative". Unable to bear children, men can impregnate hundreds of lucky women in a year if his stamina holds up. (pun intended.)
The question about chastity and dignity should apply to both sexes. Unfortunately, the onus of birth control has been on the woman. That's just a fact of life. Rapists rarely take the time to don a condom, and yet without their semen, a woman couldn't "get herself pregnant".
Maybe if men started to act like they are responsible in sexual matters, women wouldn't have to shoulder all the blame and shame you guys like to get away with. Until then, and before you start hanging the Scarlet Letter around the necks of women, try a little chastity yourselves, guys.
Kids graduating from high school nowadays have far, far less of an education than we had way back in the 1950s. Colleges have to teach remedial reading among other subjects because kids are "graduating" as dummies. No language skills, reading or writing skills, no hard science, geometry, trig and calculus. No Latin. And no civics. History is a joke as a subject in today's schools. I have grandchildren. I have seen the textbooks.
What kids today receive in school is a watered down version so as not to challenge the slow learners. The "feel good" and "politically correct" crowd have turned education in this country into a joke.
70 years of wisdom here. (give or take a couple of years in the 1960s.)
Most of my friends are into social rot. No more behaving. Let it all hang out. They are a fun bunch.
On the other hand, those who think we are all going to hell in a handbasket are a bunch of bores. They are so preoccupied with telling others how to live that they have no time for fun. Party poopers.
And let me tell ya something. At my age it isn't just the God gap that is growing wider. Pass the brownies, will ya?
The Angus King that takes subsidies (taxpayer dollars)for his windmill scam? A scam that privatizes profit and socializes the costs. THAT Angus King? Hasn't he got his hands full destroying Maine's environment?
What's his plan? Turn Maine into a parking lot for Massachusetts?
Tourism is Maine's biggest industry. Windmills as far as the eye can see will cause thousands to lose jobs as businesses close because people from away come here for our pristine beauty, not to see just another industrialized and polluted vista. If he can't understand that simple fact, if he cares more about promoting himself and his wacko scam and not about the unique place we are and the people who live here, then he does not deserve to be a senator. We have enough people from both sides of the aisle with their hands out for our tax dollars who do not give a damn about us. Why add another?
I signed in so that I might comment on this excellent article but found you have said it much better than I ever could. "...gaggle of rear-bussing supporters..." Love it.
Private health insurance takes about one third, 33 cents, off the top of every dollar spent. Wouldn't it make more sense to have a one payer system that only takes about 6 cents off every dollar spent? We have that system already set up, it's called Medicare.
But don't mandate it. Let people enroll if they wish, and let those who are opposed to government run programs continue to enrich the insurance companies (with their history of denying coverage) and Big Pharma.
There are way too many people on the planet now. Natural family planning is a hit and miss remedy to limit the population explosion in many parts of the world with the dire consequences being malnutrition, starvation and disease as basic needs like clean water are being exhausted.
And, on a local level, when people have children they cannot afford, welfare roles go up and we all pay. And children born into a poor family have much less chance of making it to being productive adults.
If the pope wanted to relieve human suffering he should promote the rule, "two for two".
...the futures market, I guess. Meanwhile Detroit keeps building those 8 cylinder gas guzzlers, so you can blame it on demand. There's lots of that, too.
But I'm still going to drive my truck when I need to. I'll be damned if I get a bicycle and one of those funny pointed-headed helmets just to go shopping. And I wouldn't look too fetchin' in Lycra, I can tell you. Talk about your "split ends"!
Maybe if demand for gas goes down the price will follow. But then we've got the summer coming up before you know it and the price always goes up then..... and they say it's only going to get worse. $5.00 a gallon in a year or so.
LD 1830 is nothing more than a backdoor attempt to dismantle any and all environmental regulations protecting our fair state. It is a give away to big agribusiness and logging outfits, notorious for hiring migrant, temporary workers. It is a bad deal for the tourist industry, who rely on our clean environment that vacationers love. There will be no cost savings. The one commissioners job will be replaced by two deputy commissioners. And the cost to our environment will be tremendous.
Another rape of our state by those who see no worth, no intrinsic value in anything unless there is a profit to be made. Typical, small-minded, short-sighted and tragic.
Mr. Theriault. You state that, "The Catholic Churches role is not to adopt its moral beliefs to current cultural mores....."
You are forgetting your own history. On July 20th, 1933, Cardinal Secretary of State, Eugenio Pacelli (later to become Pope Pius Xll) signed a document, The Concordat between the Vatican and the Nazis.
In fact, if white collar criminals actually did the time for the crime we just might be able to clean up the gov'mint. Both sides of the aisle, of course.
Why should the color of a man's shirt make him immune to punishment?
to make us all smarter. Gee, but then we wouldn't be here, would we.
But you are right about the seniors. I am one, so I should know. Most of my friends (all 2 of them, in fact) drive while barely being able to see over the steering wheel. You've seen them I'm sure. Looks like the car is being driven by a fluffy white dog hanging on for dear life. Just the top of its head showing. And then you get four of them in the same beige sedan and they are all yacking it up and then they wonder where the hell they are and why are they there and why that rude man with the smashed in rear end is yelling at them.
Half of them are blind. Half are clueless. I used to belong to both halves until I had my cataract operation.
They are called public servants.HA! What a joke. They do not serve the majority, only the ones who can afford to give big bucks to their re-election.
It's time we did a little "spring cleaning" and stop the hand outs to the vermin lurking in dark corners who do nothing but suck at the gov'mint tit.
You had better bone up (pun intended) on birth control pills. They can be very useful in controlling hormonal imbalances. And I did not say Dole used Viagra. I said if old geezers like him
On a much larger scale than LePage ever dreamed of.
I'm talking about tens of thousands of Iraqi families killed by drones. (A cowards weapon.)
I'm talking about spying on citizens who use first amendment rights to protest. Who else but a bully would treat fellow countrymen and women as if their views were suspect?
I,m talking about his stand against medical marijuana. And against gay marriage.
like Bob Dole, who did advertisements for Viagra, didn't use it, there would be less need for contraceptives.
And, who's to say that an unplanned pregnancy isn't a medical problem?
Just ask the birds, including eagles, and bats that fly into these spinning blades. Just ask the fish that die from the runoff of all the herbicides used to maintain the cleared sites. Ask deer and other large game who are poisoned by the herbicides when they browse. Ask all the small critters blown up by dynamite when the blasting of ridges and mountaintops begins. Ask people who get sick from poisoned well water. And, ask the trees, who give us oxygen in return for CO2s. They are living, breathing life forms, too.
"The Wind Farm Scam" by John Etherington. You can get a copy on Amazon. Or, a library might have a copy.
The bottom line in my own words: Wind power was sold to the public on the promise that it would replace other, dirtier forms of energy. And that it would reduce global CO2 levels.But, because wind can't generate steady output it necessitates back up power. Power that must be kept running at the ready to switch over to on a seconds notice. (You can't power up a coal fired plant to produce electricity within moments.) This negates any savings of greenhouse gas emissions.
Wind can't replace coal, gas, oil or nuclear - it depends on them to guarantee supply when needed. The people who work the grid, those people at the switches, must be ready at a moments notice to switch over to conventional power supplies, which must be run constantly to be able to give us constant power. And yet they are mandated to use wind power when available, which makes for much switching, back and forth, constantly. Their job must be like air traffic control on a larger scale.
Look at it this way -- it is a hot August afternoon. Not a flicker of breeze anywhere. You settle in the couch in your air conditioned room to watch TV. But there is no TV and there is no air conditioning. Why? Because there is no wind. So, without the constant backup (remember, wind power can't be stored to be used later) we would have brownouts and blackouts just when more power is needed most.
I, along with others on both sides of this issue debated Angus King in a public hearing. Let me just say that no matter how charming the man may be, no matter how pat he has his spiel, how glib he assures the public, the man is running scared. And that is because he knows the moment people get really educated to the scam, he is toast. And he and his subsidy sucking buddies will be left in the dust. This is precisely why Gov. Baldacci et al fast-tracked the legislation that allowed this to happen. The public was left blind-sided and out of any consideration. It became fact before the facts were known.
....if he didn't see this coming. The bible thumpers have been salivating at the chance to get hold of tax dollars to fund their schools as far back as I can remember.... the Constitution be damned.
I grew up in Norway. Went to kindergarten through high school there and graduated in 1960. I go back now and then. Boy! Has it changed! I miss the old Rex theater on Cottage street. Us kids sure had fun going to movies back then. Ten cents and then twelve cents. Those were the days. I read the Norway Advertiser once a week just to keep up with some of the news.
You're right! Shame on the Brunswick Times Record.
...Christians, may I remind you what Christ said? Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers you do also unto me.
And, If a man be hungry, feed him. If he be thirsty, give him drink. If he is cold, give him your cloak. If he is tired, give him a bed.
I did not quote verbatim as these lessons I learned years ago and my memory ain't what it used to be. But you get my meaning, I hope.
If, as so many on this site have said, we are a Christian Nation, then why is it so evil in the eyes of many for this country to actually follow the words of Christ Himself?
As you can verify, I am from Brunswick. You may ask what I am doing, commenting in a Lewiston newspaper. I have been here awhile because you have a great newspaper. I make it a habit to stop here at least once a day. I found the verification process fair and easy to sign up for.
My local paper, The Times Record, charges about $90 a year to read online. This is a new policy and I fear they will be losing customers, like myself, that can't or won't pay. I can read most any newspaper in the world, for free. Charging to read online seems, to me, the last gasp of a dying paper. A terrible shame. It was a very vibrant paper in its day.
Maybe you could reach out to those in my area to add to your commentators. For many shut-ins, this would sure fill the void we have felt.
It is empowering to be able to comment and it gives so many people the feeling that their words and thoughts are important enough to be shared with others.
Kudos to you and the Sun Journal. A fine example of what a newspaper should be.
(well, there's gotta be a first for everything, lol.)
I kinda think the best and most qualified do not run because they have to kiss the butt of the radicals to appeal to the religious right nut cases. The best, who have the ability to actually govern, get dragged down into the mire of issues like gay marriage or abortion for example.
I would love to see another Eisenhower run. But I doubt if he could win today with these new radical Republicans calling the shots.
I mail packages all the time (eBay) and never leave the house. I weigh the package and measure it. Then I print out the postage on line and the mailman picks it up. Simple. You can also do this with Fed X and UPS.
As far as the cost of a stamp going up? I believe if you check, we have very low costs here in the U.S. as far as stamps are concerned. In an age of email, I would rather see the cost of stamps go up and the costs to mail packages go down.
But if you get rid of unions, see how fast other jobs deteriorate to compete with China and India. In a global economy it is a fast track downward for workers.
In fact the liberals and progressives have been rending their clothes and gnashing their teeth at the way Obysmal has deserted his primary promises like ending torture, returning Habeas Corpus and on and on. Instead, he has leaned far to the right in the eyes of these delusional liberals. Yet, truth be told, he was already leaning that way well before becoming President.
Don't you know no one will be "elected" President in this country unless they follow the corporate line? That's why Ron Paul will never be "elected". There is only one party in the USA....the corporate party. All the infighting between Pubs and Dims is for show. It is to distract us from the anal intercourse they all do to we the people.
I would keep them far away from this wireless crap from China! Do a little research, for Pete's sake at the horrible way the workers are treated at the Apple plants in China!
All the digital toys in the world won't make one kid smarter than teaching the old fashioned way....with teachers! And it won't teach critical thinking.
This is just a non too subtle way for large corporations like Apple to suck at the government's tit and reduce needed funds for traditional schooling. Then, when the education funds dry up, they can swoop down and privatize the schools with very little resistance.
We can replace a school board. Try replacing a large corporation in charge of school policy.
Don't be distracted by bright, shiny objects. (iPads and other gizmos)
They are only a means to an end. And that end will be the total loss we as citizens have to say about how and what our children and grandchildren will be taught.
Walmart, and the Walton heirs are worth billions and billions, yet they cut health care benefits for their workers to the point that Medicaid is the only affordable option. Paid for by taxpayer dollars.
Once again the little guy picks up the tab for the large corporations that put profits before people. Such a deal!
...that put themselves out there as paragons of virtue are nothing but thugs on the take. They live high on the hog while much of our nation festers in joblessness, misery and poverty. None of them have a plan, with the exception of Ron Paul, to bring back American manufacturing and shore up the middle class.
They speak the language of division, sneering at the least fortunate amongst us. They work the audience up into a frenzy, hitting the "hot buttons" like gay marriage, abortion or welfare and laugh at the poor fools who actually believe their lies.
They act like christian jihadists and tell us we are all going to hell in a handbasket if we do not endorse their beliefs. Yet all the while live the life of luxury and ease whilst so many good Americans see their dreams shattered because of the greed of a few.
Heck. I guess you could say the same about any politician. Most of them are millionaires, after all. And most of them could give a rat's arse about we the people.
Can't say that I do believe in sin. Or the bible either. It's just a bunch of fairy tales made to scare the masses into submission by an old angry white dude in the sky. Childish, really.
What I do believe in is live and let live. Something the gay bashers can't seem to get their heads around. They equate gayness with sin and judge homosexual/lesbian/ transgender people as if they had a right to. We all live in a modern, multicultural world. Fear and loathing of the "other" belongs to those enslaved by their own biases. It belongs to religious jihadists out to demand everyone conform to their narrow, bigoted views.
for all the really great articles and pictures of Norway. Especially the Opera House. It holds a dear place in my memories. My dad was in and directed many plays there with the Pennessewassee Players back in the 1950s. They packed the house!
And I can still smell the bakery smells that permeated the whole building. I am so thankful the town of Norway regained ownership of this landmark. It wouldn't be Norway without the Opera House.
would like nothing better than to destroy unions. They are drooling over the prospect of lowering wages for everyone in fact. They have been chipping away at workers rights for years.
It took blood, sweat and tears to form unions. Labor history shows men and women banding together against greedy corporations so that they might have better working conditions like a 40 hour work week, sick leave, overtime and a safe work place. And unions have raised working standards for ALL workers, union or not.
Maine Heritage Policy Center is an enemy of working people. So is the Chamber of Commerce. They are dedicated to the destruction of the middle class. They would take us all back to a time when disasters like the Triangle Shirtwaist fire were commonplace. Do we want that in Maine? I don't think so.
about Paula Deen is her products are cheaply made in China and have even been recalled, the cast iron frying pans specifically. I'll stick with my Lodge cast iron, made in the USA or buy an old Griswald on eBay before I cook in some crap made in China.
Keep Americans working! Buy made in USA. (when you can.)
This is NOT and never has been a Christian nation. It has always been secular, like it or not. I have no problem with your beliefs, just don't tell me lies.
"Onward Christian Soldiers" as a theme song sounds to me you would like to see the Crusades here in our country. Would you kill those that do not believe as you do? Do you want a Taliban style government that gives harsh punishment, even death, to those that do not tow the religious line?
There are many forms of religion in our country just as there are many races of people. To think that only one religion or only one race is the correct one is bigotry, pure and simple.
Baldy would have given all the corporate welfare (our tax dollars) to Kestrel without blinking an eye or asking the hard questions that Gov. LePage asked. And when Kestrel went belly up, he would have "spun" it to his advantage.
I didn't vote for LePage but I thank him for his due diligence in this instance.
with these "fly-by-nighters". They never play with their own money, but rely on corporate welfare or taxpayer dollars and when they go bust who is left holding the bag? Yup, the taxpayer.
Hell, just give 600 people the 100 million. That would boost the economy when those dollars were spent. ; )
For many, grief is a very private thing. The media will keep this tragic story alive because it sells - that's their job. But it is the dogged work of police, not the media that will find her, or not. They will get to the truth about what happened to this little girl. Rely on it.
he hadn't given a tax break to the wealthy when he came into office. It is perfectly clear he is using this "shortfall" as an excuse to destroy the DHHS.
This isn't Marden's, Mr. LePage and your bullying those in need will come back to haunt you.
It's very obvious you haven't done your research on these meters. Let me give you 2 websites that will lead you in the right direction. Unless, of course, you want big technology and welcome big brother and all that entails. Some of this info might be dated as it has been out there quite awhile for those curious about what all the hoopla was about.
We paid the $40 up front and we pay the extra $12 a month. I take great pleasure in knowing our electric bill is still lower than our neighbors and we are helping someone to keep a job. The new "smart" meters measure infinite amounts of usage that the old analog ones do not. I don't know why this is so except maybe all the appliances with "instant on" get metered even though their usage is very small.
CMP will come and change the frequency of the meter if you are getting interference on your TV. My neighbor had this done. I have read that "smart" meters also screw up garage door openers and security systems.
He may have one or two good ideas and he may seem less nutty than the others running for President but he is still nutty IMHO. And yes, a dangerous crank.
There is no one running (and this includes Obismal) that I will vote for. I plan on writing in a vote for Bernie Sanders - Independent, VT.
Really? Are you willing to do without a standing Army? Airforce? Navy? Marines? Your taxes support them, too.
You sound like a shill for Fux Gnus.
Oh, and the next time you are cited for a ticket, please be sure to tell the police officer that he had better be appropriately grateful. I'm sure it will make his day.
If you are going to correct someone, please be sure you are right. Foxes is a word. Lillian Hellman wrote a play called "The Little Foxes" which was made into a 1941 movie starring Bette Davis. I could use other examples.
People from near and far come to Maine because it is so beautiful. I had a cabbie in London who told me his family get over here as many times as possible. He said. "Maine reminds me of what our country used to be like - green and peaceful. Try to keep it the way it is because you can never get it back once it is gone."
Him and his wind power "task force" have destroyed and are in the process of destroying ridgelines and mountaintops all over Maine. Where is his "concern" about the views in those places?
Restore it by any means possible. It wouldn't be Norway without the Opera House. It is part of Norway's history and could be made a valuable asset once again. I remember when the Penny Players used to put on plays there. It once was a vital and thriving place for many activities. Just don't turn it into apartments.
with Mr. Smith 100 percent. My husband worked long and hard hours plowing snow in the winter and paving roads in the summer, among other things. In other words, he earned his retirement and a good chunk of his pay went into his retirement account.
Lay off the "little guy", Sun Journal and start digging into the reasons why this state is worried about money. Spendthrift politicians are a good place to start.
I agree with Mr. Carter. Conservation would serve the people of Maine far better than the destruction of our scenic mountains. I wish he were our Governor.
Wind tubines are not about supplying energy. Not in any meaningful form. Their output is so fluctuating that they are a detriment to the grid and reliance on wind as a source of power will cause more blackouts. This fact is being denied by wind proponents but anyone can read "The Wind Farm Scam" by John Etherington and know that wind as a power source is environmentaly and economically counter productive.
What wind power is is about making money. Lots and lots of money. And when there is that much money at stake people have a way of justifying their actions. Those in political power are used to using other people's money and accepting donations and "gifts". In a situation that is bogus to begin with, it does not surprise me that Baldacci and Company opt to look the other way when illegal dealings enrich their buddies. They have been on the take so long, it is just business as usual.
This is a nasty business, this wind business. It takes nasty people to run it and reap the profits. Until honest people start to blow the whistle nothing will change.
There are some shifty dealings going on with First Wind. Good for Rumford to extend the moratorium. Sounds like this Belanger fella should be replaced by somebody who thinks of the citizens first.
My doctor recommends them. I am nearly seventy and my good chloresterol is high and the bad is very low. I just bought a case of sardines to last a while. Guess I'll have to get the foreign ones, but not from China! One of the Scandinavian countries probably.
I remember sardines and crackers for lunch, maybe with some tomato soup, all the way through school.
Everything changes but it doesn't mean we have to like it. No Crown Pilot crackers and now no sardines. Sad. I feel especially sad for the workers. I hope they find work.
Have you been to the top of one of mountain ridges that have been destroyed forever? If not, I suggest you do that before you write anything about wind energy. And go to Mars Hill and talk to the people there. Then come back and give us your editorials and I, for one, would be more inclined to take your work seriously.
See for yourself the utter devastation of once beautiful places atop some of the most scenic parts of Maine. Understand that the men responsible for this destruction stand to make millions of dollars in federal and state subsidies. Understand, too, that none of the fickle trickle of power generated will go to Maine. Maine does not need this power. We have more than we use. We export power. So, who benefits?
Certainly not ratepayers who will see their rate increase to double or triple the amount they pay now. Certainly not Maine businesses who are struggling to stay afloat. The beneficiaries will be people like Angus King of Independence Wind, Reed and Reed, and Ciambro who erect them, and a few local politicians who have been bribed by taking "favors" from big wind. This is a nasty business backed by a mafia-type mentality and backed by some of the most powerful men and women in and out of state government.
As for Mr. Davies, who is supposed to be an advocate for the ratepayers, he is nothing but a sock puppet for Baldacci, who, you may remember, has stated his intentions to enter the wind energy business in some way. Baldacci wants his "cut" too, and has plans to ensure it. In my long life following Maine politics, I have yet to see a governor so transparent in his greed that he would sell out the state and her people, while destroying our largest and most important tourism industry that employs thousands and adds millions into our state budget.
Shame on the Mahoosuc Land Trust for accepting money for the destruction of Kibby Mountain. It is bad enough to see Maine's mountaintops destroyed for wind power, but it is even worse to see a group who is supposed to be preserving the land to accept dirty money from it. Shame on them all.
but it is not moral. And anyone who says it is has his head up his kazoo. There should be no place in Maine where gambling goes on. It's a losers form of entertainment at best.
Somebody's been drinking the green Kool Aid again. If you think industrial wind energy is free you have your head up your "you know what". Millions of dollars have been given to the wind industry in the form of subsidies (our tax dollars). You think they would be sniffing around Maine or anywhere else for that matter, using their own money? Believe much in the Easter bunny? AND do you pay an electric bill? You do? Then be prepared to see it double or triple.
Listen up, bub. Rhode Island PUC just turned down the "deal" coming from the wind industry setting up shop on Block Island. WHY? Because the rates for electricity users would have quadrupled!!! Rhode Island businesses would have left the state in droves, ya nimwit.
Free energy? The only thing free is the space between your ears, to be or not to be.
Why do you suppose wind proponants are blocking attempts to get clean, renewable energy from Quebec Hydro? Why will industrial wind farms cause our electricity rates to double or triple? Who stands to profit from the subsidies (our tax dollars) given to industrial wind? Why is our Maine government willing to destroy our environment which brings in millions in tourist dollars?
Simple. Follow the money. And the next time your government says, "We are the government and we're here to help," you can tell them where to put their "help".
And nuts to your subsidy sucking schemes to enrich yourself by destroying beautiful places in Maine. Places that can never be cleaned up and put back the way they were. Places where the mountain top or ridge is blasted and leveled and clearcut of trees that take CO2s out of our atmosphere and give back oxygen. Places where huge amounts of herbicides are applied to eventually find their way into our lakes, streams, ponds and other waterways, poisoning fish and fowl alike. Places where once the wildlife were abundant and migrating birds depended on for survival. And don't give me that crap about, well, they are going to die anyway in a changing climate. What heartlessness you show us. What craven greed. Animals and other species will adapt or not in a changing climate. Killing them off to line your pockets with filthy lucre shows Maine people you are certainly not thinking of any life except your own. What a selfish man you are, Mr. King.
Tatoo their foreheads with sticker info. Or, from the ones I've seen, maybe their butt cheeks. Use nice thick needles or a branding iron. Then watch the macho men yell bloody murder. I bet the state could get lots of volunteers to do the job for free!
are a major threat to the deer herd and the fragmentation of our forests and the mega-spraying of herbicides, pesticides and fungicides and the poisoning of our lakes, streams, ponds and wetlands are a major threat to our deer herd. But the governor and Angus say we must have trade offs for "green" energy. What a pair they are. How full of b.s. they are.
is a very smart way to go. It gives people the time needed to get educated about the Industrial wind companies false promises and lies they spew in order to take control of Maine's mountains and ridgetops. Once the massive 400 foot plus turbines are in place it is too late for people, wildlife and the environment. And a moritorium is a great starting point in writing and enacting an ordinance regulating placement of those turbines. Better to deal with town rules than to rely on rules set by the wind industry.
but our government calls it "protectionism" and says we can't manufacture products here in a global market. Well, to hell with the global market. What's wrong with making shoes, for instance, giving many people a job and putting a high tarrif on shoes made in China or East Bungledink? I'll bet, given the option most people here would support businesses with a Made in the U.S.A. stamp especially if the price was the same or even better than foreign made.
Enough of this "we have to be competative in a world market" bullsh*t. It's time to get back to basics.
Wonderful analogy! Just like Andy DuFree you have chipped away at the wall that threatens to imprison us all. There are many others who are working to that end. Never feel alone. And may we all meet somday on that bright sunny beach called Libertad de Viento.
Environmental groups take big buck from corporate sponsors like Reed & Reed who stand to make big bucks erecting wind turbines.
They have been tainted and I will no longer support them. They have sold out the vision of Gov. Baxter and others who saw the need to protect our environment, not sell it to the highest bidder. Shame on them!
Cost efficient? Ha! Denmark gets 20% electricity from wind. Their electricity rates are the HIGHEST in the EU. In our own country, California had to scurry around and build MORE backup power plants to use when the wind doesn't blow. Maine will have to do the same. All paid for of course by higher electricity bills and higher taxes. AND not one megawatt of this so-called "green" energy will stay in the state.
Not one coal-fired powerplant has been shut down IN THE WORLD because of wind generation. Not one. Nada. The generation of wind as energy takes tremendous backup. These backup plants must be ready in an instant to cut in when the wind does not produce needed wattage. Sort of like keeping your car idling for when you need it. All that idling is an ineficient use of power and adds tons of CO2s in the process. Now THAT'S brilliant logic for ya!
Is this Rob Gardner? The partner of Angus King who together plan, along with others, to clearcut thousands of acres in Maine woods for their wind farms? With the state's blessing, I might add.
Thousands of hunters will just have to find another state when Baldacci and his wind cronies are done with the job of Industrial Wind onshore.
Thousands of fishermen will just have to find a different coastline to lobster and fish when Baldacci and his wind cronies erect thousands of wind turbines in coastal waters.
Baldacci is doing a land grab and a coastal grab - sort of like eminent domain - and we will just like it or lump it, I guess. Too bad. Maine used to attract lots of people who enjoyed time hunting and fishing. Those days are over if Balcacci has his way.
Look up LD 1810 and see what it does to our coast. Disgusting.
But, like I asked, is this the same Gardner? No way to tell from this article.
Small, privately owned windmills are not the same thing as the 400 foot plus towers going up around the state - industrial wind towers.
If someone has the money to install one of these mini towers and realizes that wind is very erratic and has the means to do constant servicing and gets approval to put one up, let them fight it out with their neighbors when the blades ice up and throw off large chunks through anything in their path, then let 'em have their fun.
A good 16 inches of insulation in the attic will save about as much money, but then insulation can't be seen and bragged about. Not "sexy" enough. Yup, windmills are old fashioned and went out with the hoop skirt, save hardly anyone any money, but the bird kill is interesting.
Protecting Maine's treasured landscapes? Creating healthy rivers? In the past, yes. Now? Not so much.
How does blasting the tops of mountains and ridgelines, clearcutting vast areas of forest, dumping thousands of gallons of herbicides and erecting 400 plus foot turbines, visiable for miles and miles in every direction "protect" a treasured landscape?
How does causing silt and mudslides to clog up our waterways, the herbicide and oil leaks of the turbines create a healthy river?
If anything is out of "synch" it is Mr. Houston's thinking.
It is destroying the environment in order to save the environment. And it kills. All the herbicides dumped onto our mountaintops to retard growth will kill off rare alpine plants that have been there for centuries.
All the fluid leaks (these turbines leak like a seive) will find their way down the mountainside to poison fish, fowl, and animal life.
Thousands of migrating birds and bats will be chopped up by the rotor blades and raptors like the bald eagle, falcon, osprey will be eliminated, no longer soaring majestically over the ridgetops.
Fragmenting the forest with blasting and access roads causes mass migration away from these areas by deer and other larger animals of our forests and the infrasound emitted by the turbines makes that migration permanent. No animal can withstand the constant drumming and low vibrating hum the turbines make.
Wind power is a scam. A few will be enriched by the destruction. You know who they are. Challenge them to be honest about what they are doing to our state. With millions of dollars set to line their pockets, they will lie. They care about money above all else.
These are the ivory towered elitists I am talking about. They support and encourage job loss. And they are all bought out by big business. All politicians are.
Canada has plenty of herring. They don't stop at the border. The decision to close the plant is part of the plan to lease out all of the coast to industrial wind. The factory was in the way.
Ivory-towered elitists have run this country into the ground job-wise. They have never had the experience of working a day in their lives with their hands and yet they are making the decisions that rob us of the ability to produce goods for sale. We need industry back here in the good old U.S.A. Enough with this world trade crap. It's time to demand our jobs back.
Our so-called governor, Mr. Baldacci, another neo-liberal elitist, is set to destroy the fishing industry here in Maine with the passage of LD 1810 which would tell lobstermen, shrimpers, scallopers and all who make a decent living on the ocean to get lost. Why? Because he is going to lease all of our coastline to the foreign wind companies to come in here and ruin the fishing and boating jobs. That bill, if passed, would make it impossible for fishermen to work in waters they have worked for generations. Baldacci would sell us out to make a few powerful companies rich at the expense of hard working Maine people. Hmmm. I wonder if the jobs lost at Stinson's sardine cannery had anything to do with this takeover. Ya think?
First selectman Bob Ellis must be congratulated for looking out for the people of Avon first and this moratorium is a great opportunity to craft an ordinance for the good of their community. Way to go, Mr. Ellis!
We in Maine are so foutunate to have the forests that we have and this is a perfectly reasonable bill to ensure the safety of all trees.
Remember the Dutch Elm disease that attacked trees that lined the streets of most Maine towns? If we can do something that would prevent something like that from happening again our state will be better for it.
Thanks for taking the time to help people become aware of what is happening to our beautiful state! It is hard to believe that our own government would do this to the people and the environment of Maine. But I guess to them and people like Angus King the name of their game is MONEY MONEY MONEY.
They will kill off Maine's biggest industry, tourism, and all the tax revenue it brings into the state for their own profit and to hell with the small businesses and the people who make their living in tourism and tourism related jobs.
This is such a shortsighted and destructive road our government has decided to take. It will be a real job killer and a terrible and irreversable destruction of our environment.
The next time Baldacci or King or anyone else spouts off about how many jobs Industrial wind power will bring to our state, ask them what about the jobs lost in tourism.
tron, take a pill, dear. Baldacci is not a greedy Republican money grabber. He is a greedy Democrat money grabber and just wait until the rate payers and tax payers get a load of the electric bill he and his wind mafia buddies will be giving us. I swear, they must be on crack or something.
I'm with Lenny on this one and I'm a liberal minded person. Leftwing? I don't know about that. I always thought you couldn't fly with just one wing. The science just isn't there for the Global Warming Mafia and they know it.But they try to scare the bejeebus out of us with their dire predictions when the weatherman can't even get it right. The group of people pushing an unproven theory onto us are the same people going around pushing Industrial wind down the throats of gullible folk by telling them it is "green". Baldacci and sock puppets like Angus King just want to make money and to hell with the people in Maine. Baldacci can take his wind machines and insert them up his b*tt.
Thanks, Andy. Well written and many valid points. It has made this reader stop to consider and to change my mind about loud bikes. I support your efforts.
Those who promote Industrial wind power stand to make millions at the expense of small businesses and householders who can not afford to see their light bills doubled or trippled! to pay for this. They are also blocking cheap, clean hydro power from Canada that would compete (and win) with their expensive, environmentally destructive wind turbines.
Tourism is Maine's biggest industry. It brings Maine millions of dollars in revenue. We will see a huge decline in tourism when all the beauty spots are blighted with 400 plus foot towers. But do people like Angus King or Gov. Baldacci care? No. They will lie to us and laugh all the way to the bank.
Not one killowatt of this wind power will stay in Maine. It will not benefit Maine people in any way. It will all be shipped out of state on a transmission line costing the Maine people 1.5 billion dollars.
No new business will be attracted to Maine when they figure how much it will cost them for electricity.
No coal-fired electricity producing power plant has ever been shut down in the world, none, because of bringing Industrial wind onto the grid. In fact, more backup plants will have to be built as more Industrial wind power is in the mix because it is so unreliable.
Industrial wind is a scam of the highest magnitude and the proponents of it are nothing but con men, shysters, tricksters, carnies, snake oil salesmen, and the quicker they are unmasked for the damage they are doing to Maine the better.
Destroying our forests here in Maine causes great amounts of CO2 to be released
into the atmosphere. If the con artists have their way, 50 thousand acres will need
to be clearcut to support the turbines, access roads, substations, and high voltage transmission lines.
Tourism is Maine's bigest industry. Kiss that goodby if we "destroy the village in order to save the village."
Maybe those for Industrial wind can afford to see their light bills triple but most small businesses can't and most householders can't.
Also, remember this: Those promoting Industrial wind power are blocking cheap, renewable hydro power from Canada. Why? It will compete with their expensive, feckless, environmentally damaging plans to erect turbines on every rdigeline, hilltop and mountain top as far as the eye can see.
Very misleading article. For instance, it states that in 1968 Defense made up 46% of the budget and now it only makes up for 19% of the budget. Nowhere does it say that we are spending more now than in 1968, when, in fact, we are. Much more.
Tying defense spending to GDP is bad policy.
Go to: http://costofwar/ and see for yourself how much the two wars are costing the nation, the state, or your town or city. Then discover one of the reasons we are in a dangerous recession if not depression.
I knew Matt Eddy when he was a planner in Bath. He didn't do good things for the taxpayers there. Nor Brunswick, either, where he went next. These Tax Increment Financing (TIF) deals should be outlawed.
I agree with macmac, if there is a wind moratorium in place, Dixfield should not be dealing with those who seek the development of Industrial Wind.
northwoods, you are so right! And once they realize how bad they are there is nothing they can do about it. Very sad that our state has being run by a bunch of neoliberal morons who care nothing about anything except their profit.
If we can hold them off long enough the subsidies will run out and their free money will be gone and so will they. A statewide moratorium is a great idea.
They would not. The endangered linx is a perfect example.
And the bald eagle. Also, many alpine flora, some of which we do not know about. These alpine flora have been there since the Ice Age receded.
The industrial wind people care only for their profit. Outside of marching en mass to Augusta with torches and pitchforks to get their attention the best we can hope for is that enough people take the time to become well informed, start writing letters to editors and exposing the corrupt and often illegal shenanigans going on. It is illegal to kill a bald eagle. It is illegal to kill songbirds, even, but these bast*rds are getting away with it. They have deep pockets. Poor towns need money. Need I say more?
This is what happens to a mountaintop: The whole area has to clearcut.(causing the loss of carbon sink and raising carbon dioxide level) Access roads have to be built wide enough to support trucks 150 feet long for the blades. The tops of the mountains have to be leveled by blasting and excavation and huge pads have to built with steel and cement for the foundations. (Remember, this is not done by hand-lots of gasoline and deisel, causing CO2s to rise.) The area around each turbine has to be packed hard and roads from one turbine to the next have to be built. In order to insure no vegetation will grow, massive spraying of herbicides is needed. High voltage lines have to be erected to connect all the towers and connect into the grid. A sub-station must be built to house all the equipment, etc. And don't forget all the massive transportation for all the parts and equipment, from foreign countries in many cases.
The motors of the turbines need a huge amount of fluids to keep them working. In cold weather, these fluids must be heated with electricity or they turn to gel. And the strobe lights are run from electricity. The fluids often leak and during a power outage, the whole thing shuts down. The wind must be blowing between 25 to 55 miles per hour. 25 to get the rotor blades started and not over 55 or the internal brake system will shut the works down. If these brakes fail, and they can and have, the rotors spin, uncontrolled, and eventually the tower collapses. You can see this happen on U Tube. And while you are at U Tube, check out Nettie Pena's videos, "They're Not Green".
What do you think will happen to our lakes and streams and wells when all this destruction and poison makes it way down the mountainside? The mudslides will kill trout and other fish. The herbicides will poison everything in their path.
Deer and moose are not found anywhere near where these things are built. Migrating ducks, geese and songbirds are being killed and maimed by the tens of thousands by the blades. Other small game like the foxes flee these areas leaving a vast Dead Zone.
Just like the vehicles we drive, these machines eventually wear out. 20 to 25 years if well maintained is the industry average. Even if the areas destroyed by the building of these towers could be cleaned up, where is the money to do this going to come from? Or are they going to continue to rot and rust, leaving a blight our children and grandchildren will not thank us for.
And all this and NOT ONE killowatt of energy will be kept in maine. ALL of this will be exported onto the New England grid. Mainer's electric bills will double or triple to pay for all this. And once the government's subsidies dry up, the limited liability corporations will be long gone, laughing all the way to the bank about the rural hayseeds they suckered.
Excellent points, Al. It's always amazing how much cheerleading these groups and the state of Maine do for a boondoggle like this - which the taxpayer eventually ends up paying for.
Just wait until you see your light bill go up 100 to 200 percent to pay for those idiotic wind farms and the new transmission lines needed to export the power out of state!
It's damned funny they are so concerned about the noise of motorcycles passing sombody's house a couple times during the summer and yet do NOTHING to address the CONSTANT noise emitted from wind turbines being erected too close to someone's house.
Maybe all the motorcycle clubs should get together and ride past Baldy's house at 2 AM a few times and see how he likes it!
Isn't is amazing how hostile the press is to Maine people!! The NERVE of this so-called reporter, Eileen Adams, taking the side of the hucksters and snake oil salesmen - the THUGS, CROOKS AND LIARS who are destroying our state just to enrich themselves. The NERVE or her saying we don't have any rights!!!
Our state is being taken by eminent domain over the objections of thousands of Honest, hard working Maine people and she doesn't even have the DECENCY to report their side.
Industrial wind power is a scam of the highest magnitude. It would not even exist if it weren't for the huge subsidies (that's our taxdollars) given out. The proponents of wind power are like the snake oil salesmen of yesterday or the rainmakers who used fear as a tool against the gullible.
Industrial wind power will destroy our forests and as everyone knows forests remove CO2s from the air and give us, in return, oxygen. To clearcut thousands of miles of forest is insanity.
Maine does not need the pitiful amount of power these wind turbines produce. We already export a surplus into the New England grid. And, let me be clear about this -ALL of the power produced will be exported out of state and our electric rates will go up to pay for the new high voltage lines needed to export it. So, we pay twice for something not needed, once with our tax dollars and again when we see our electric bills doubled or tripled.
Wind power went out along with the hoop skirts because it is unreliable.(25 % in the best of times) The wind does not blow all the time and backup power plants must be kept running in reserve which adds more CO2s (carbon dioxide) into the atmosphere. Add in the CO2s generated in the building and transporting the turbines, the massive amount of blasting, the building of access roads and transformer substations and the spraying of herbicides which will leach into our waterways and wells and you get the picture - Maine people are being taken for a ride big time.
Think about it. We do not use electricity to run our vehicles and most of us do not use electricity to heat our homes. Maine uses mostly hydro-power and natural gas from Canada.
Our children and grandchildren will be paying for years when these turbines cease to run (20 years or so) and the cleanup begins by removing these derilict turbines from our land. And even then, the damage will be done to the land that will never recover fully.
All this to enrich a few at the expense of the rest of us.
Keep your nose out of politics, keep your influence for your parishoners or someday you just might be paying a tax bill the same as the rest of us.
There is a separation of church/state in this country. Our forefathers, in their wisdom, wrote our Constitution and Bill of Rights. It protects you. Better keep it that way, don'tcha think?
Anytime our government meets in secret it may be a win-win for them but a big lose-lose for the citizen. You can call it a "retreat" all you want, but it is still done in secret which ought to be against the law.
If we had a governor who didn't cater to his rich cronies and actually gave a damn about the little guy he would know that a modest tax increase on the wealthy is in order. But no, he is going to make the rest of us suffer just so he can hobnob and schmooze around with the elites. He and Angass are the worst governors we have ever had. And they are both in with the SCAM of industrial wind which will result in us paying higher light bills. Angass even has the brass ones to tell us to use clean energy - he who ran all over the country for 9 months in a 40 foot RV.
Bullpuckey. Our country is in a mess because we spend over half the budget on war. The illegal war in Iraq and the unwinnable and unending war in Afghanistan. And we are in a mess because we do not produce anything. We are a debtor nation with a crushing trade imballance. China could buy us in a heartbeat. The only reason they don't is because they wouldn't find enough idiots elsewhere to buy their cheap crap at Walmart.
Serious investment in clean energy? Sounds like Angass or Baldy selling the SCAM of industrial wind. As soon as the subsidies dry up Big Wind will be gone the way of the snake oil salesman. Conservation of our resources and hydro are a good fit for Maine. Blasting mountaintops and clearcutting an area the size of 39,000 football fields is not.
Maine government, unlike the federal government, does not have the ability to print money. Right now, we have a governor obsessed with NOT raising taxes. What this means is that our roads and bridges go unrepaired and our schools cut teachers and programs. The elderly and the disabled people will see their home care shredded and many will be forced into nursing homes (which cost far too much for many) or face homelessness.
I live in the most beautiful state in this union. I do not think it is unreasonable to pay taxes to assure that we all have a quality of life to be proud of. Unless you are a millionaire, this petty bickering about taxes is rediculous. And watch your property taxes rise when towns and cities need the money the state refuses to raise. Firemen do not work for free. Roads do not plow themselves.
We have elected an elitist governor who is beholden to his elitist and rich cronies. He does not care for ordinary citizens. He will never raise taxes on his rich constituents, the people who give huge sums to get people like him elected. He does not care about our quality of life, only those who grease his palm. He is a moral coward.
Tourism is Maine's largest industry. I wonder how many jobs and how much tax revenue we will be losing because of these horendous wind turbines.
Hunting and fishing also add jobs and tax dollars to our economy. The building of these turbines and the access roads and the high voltage transmission lines will fragment and destroy the habitat needed for deer and other wildlife and the herbicides and silt will polute our waterways, rivers streams and lakes.
Dylan Voorhees and members of the NRCM must be forced to address these issues.
CMP is putting in that upgrade to carry all the power out of state that the Industrial Wind farms make, which is almost nothing and which the Maine taxpayer and ratepayer will be paying for.
Ruth, I would pull up those stakes in the middle of the night and fight them. I would even go so far as to chain myself to my shade trees. Don't just roll over and let them get away with it without a fight. Get your picture in the papers. Let everyone know who the bad guys are.
And don't let anyone call you a NIMBY. Chances are they are just ignorant.
Join the Citizens Taskforce on Wind Power - Maine, and share your story. We are all in this together.
Take pictures! And read up on the health risks of living near high voltage power lines.
Snow acts as a buffer, insulation, for many plants, trees and even wildlife. Without the protection of a good snow cover many perennial plants will die off and roots of apple trees and maple trees will die. These are good cash crops in Maine.
Be prepared to pay more for maple syrup and apples come harvest time.
There is a reason why snow is beneficial in the environment we are in. Sure, it is easier on us humans but we are not the only living things on this planet.
On the plus side, the deer will be more abundant come hunting season. If they are still around after Industrial Wind scares the bejeezus out of them.
Thank you Jonathan Albrecht for speaking out. These 400 foot monsters (wind towers) destroy our quality of place and destroy the quality of place for untold numbers of wildlife, birds and fish. The blasting of ridgelines, the clearcutting for access roads and transmission lines, the herbicide runoff into our waterways will forever change the natural beauty of Maine. And all for a tiny amount of unreliable power that no Mainer will benefit from. And our rates will rise to pay for all this. It is criminal! The wind power industry is a SCAM and would not even exist were it not for the huge subsidies given by government - our tax dollars!
Enough already! Norway, take the building and think twice before you allow another private business or person to own it. This is a landmark building of great value to your town. Treat it as such.
Here is a quote: "We don't need to build walls, we need to build bridges. We don't need protection, we need opportunity. But in a world of stiff compitition we also need more than free trade. We need fair trade with fair rules. That's why I fought for NAFTA which effectively opened Mexico's and Canada's markets to American products and for GATT which is helping to level the playing field for American companies abroad. In all, since 1992 we have negotiated more than 200 trade agreements - 21 with Japan alone".
Source: "Between Hope and History", by Bill Clinton, page 34-35 Jan. 1, 1996.
Sorry, jalbrecht1, Clinton and Gore fought for NAFTA and lobbied congress hard to get it passed. They even brought in Carter to lobby members of congress to pass it.
I agree with tron. We live in a police state now. This law just adds another nail in the coffin where our Constitution and Bill of Rights are slowly being burried.
Ahem. It was Clinton who signed NAFTA into law with the backing of the Republican party and 103 (I think) Democrats. It was fought tooth and nail by many in congress to no avail. Bush had run out of time for ratification which Clinton signed on Dec. 8, 1993.
People have marched in the streets to get NAFTA and CAFTA repealed. But, you won't hear much about that on U.S. tv. Almost all of our media is owned by large corporations who profit from cheap labor and lack of environmental and safety standards. The same corporations who buy our members of congress, federal and state.
I agree with you - globalism is destroying our country. It is destroying many countries. Just look at Haiti for instance. Read about how they became so poor. The IMF (International Monetary Fund) and the WTO (World Trade Organization) have been set up to pauperize nations so that cheap labor is always in abundance.
And I agree with you - the Federal Reserve should be abolished.
Thank you, Elaine, for taking the time to thank these men at the public works. My husband worked for the public works in a different town for 18 years so I know, first hand, about the long hours plowing snow and keeping the streets safe for workers and shoppers.
I join you in your thanks to the public works crew in Auburn.
These neo-liberals, of which Baldy is one, do not give a damn about anything that does not make a profit. Cutting aid for people in desparate situations or clear cutting thousand of square miles of forest for his buddies in Big Wind - same thing to those creeps, crooks and liars.
He is setting our state on a backwards course which we all will end up paying for.
Want to see real, rampant greed? Look into your friendly CEO of a large corporation or bank. Don't blame the unions for wanting a weeks wages that will support a family. Blame the heads of corporations who take billions out of economy and shelter it, tax free, in offshore banks.
Cut the damned military budget in half. Get the hell out of wars that will last for decades and never be winable. Bring back industry and jobs to the U.S.A. and tax the hell out of industries that move out of country and hide their money in offshore banks. We build nothing much here anymore except weapons of mass destruction or mass destraction. Enough.
I'm not convinced that global warming or climate change is manmade. People like Al Gore scare me more than the "terrorists" and it is possible that he wants us to change our lives just so he can feel good about flying all over in jumbo jets scaring the bejebus out of us and making a profit by selling us on the idea of alternative energy like industrial wind "farms".
In Maine, the area of 39 thousand football fields are being destroyed because the neo-liberals believe wind power is gonna save us. Ballony! All that forest being destroyed will cause our rates to go up and all the power will go out of state. And what will it do to our tourist industry? And what about the hunters?
Check out what the people at Mars Hill think of wind power. It has ruined their lives. But don't take my word for it. Go to http://www.wind-watch.org/ and see for yourselves.
Recent Comments
Not so wonderful.
Town leaders are not power hungry. They have banned fireworks because they are dangerous. Our fire chief knows in a town with housing and trees so close together the use of fireworks can only spell disaster. Fireworks are going to get into the hands of a bunch of yahoos who care nothing about anything except their own thrills. The laws banning the use of fireworks protects people and property from those who refuse to be considerate of others.
They don't hire just anyone.
There is a lot of background checks. Transportation is a must. Neat, clean clothes and shoes. An attitude of a go-getter. They also look for team players, willing to sub when there is a need. Intelligent, personable and honest and dependable.
And they drug test. Frequently.
I doubt if they would hire anyone on welfare.
Mike,
Please read the column. It explains why Zimmerman did what he did and why the liberals want to lynch him. Your right, this discussion has nothing to do with Zimmerman, but it does give reasons why there will be a coming race war (in his opinion) and hits the nail on the head. Don't for one moment think Fred is a liberal or that the column is more liberal whining.
Go ahead, I dare you. I double dare you.
Read what Fred Reed has to say...
Read what Fred Reed has to say about all this at
www.fredoneverything.net/Zimmerman.shtml
There is a lot of truth in what he says.
I tend to agree with him in this instance. Surprise, surprise.
ps. Fred in no way can be called a liberal.
Agreed!
Lock this sicko up or next time might be fatal for someone.
Thanks Jason.
Not an Oscar nominee for sure. But, whatever floats yer boat, as they say.
What is it about?
Not a clue from the letter writer. Except it was shown at a baptist church.
Prunes.
You should try them because you are full of it!
Trivialize government, my foot! You want to drown it in a bathtub.
We should have a rich, healthy government working for the citizens, NOT the corporations who offshore jobs and pay no taxes. We need regulations that benefit working folks, not CEOs in ivory towers. Regulations that ensure we get clean food and water. Regulations that give us clean air and a healthy environment. Regulations to protect workers (and all of us) from needless injury. Regulations that give us the 40 hour workweek with overtime thereafter.
But you would have us go backwards instead of forward. You want to have every man for himself and to hell with anyone else. That's not a very enlightened attitude. It is very selfish. Typical G.O.P. bloviation.
Prunes. And plenty of "em.
Plenty of articles from Monsanto...
...and you buy into their propaganda. Ha!
No one is asking for the government's "power" to enforce 19th century farming. There are plenty of modern ways to grow crops that do not poison the soil, the pollinators, and the animals who eat genetically modified organisms, including us.
How easily you diminish the agonizing deaths of India's farmers. Decent family men who only wanted to improve their harvests. Men who bought the seeds and the lies of Monsanto. This is not ho-hum news. This is a national tragedy for India. Anyone who sides with the corporations is despicable.
You don't read much do you, Mr Hall.
A simple Google search will tell you Monsanto is the cause of mass suicides in India - upwards of 200,000. You see, genetically modified seeds cost 1,000 times more than conventional seeds but the farmers have been told there would be massive crops from these "magic" seeds. Farmers go into debt to buy these seeds and when the crops fail the farmers commit suicide by drinking insecticide. This is a terrible way to die.
So, you can rant all you want, but corporations like Monsanto are indeed horrible. They are selling death.
Thank you, Suzanne
We all need to be reminded that without a clean environment we have nothing and our children and grandchildren and those that come after us will live in misery, if at all.
This goes beyond politics. We all breath the same air and drink the same water and eat the same food, basically. We cannot separate ourselves from Nature. We are part of it.
Happy Birthday!
from Queenie.
Oh, really?
Sorry, but my B.S. meter is sounding off. You state, " ...three times the cost of a privately owned company." That's just not so. In the army, people used to get training for different jobs they could get after they got out. Now, private companies like Halliburton or Blackwater (or whatever it calls itself now) have taken over many jobs. I believe there was quite a stink raised when it was found out that Halliburton was charging the government $20.00 per meal ( or more) to feed the troops in Iraq. And look at the shoddy work done by private contractors on the barracks they built for the troops - wiring, plumbing, you name it, that had to be redone at government expense.
Despite the scare stories we hear about Canada's health care system, I can say for sure that all my relatives in Canada wouldn't want our private system run by insurance and drug companies that deny coverage to people who have paid their premiums and then get sick. Insurance companies put profit before people all the time. And the drug prices here are much higher than in most of the world. Why is that? Profit.
Overhead for private medicine runs about 35%. Medicare and Medicaid, about 3%.
When presidential hopeful, Romney was governor of Massachusetts, he put through a plan just like this Obamacare you right wingers are always whining about. It is working for them. Of course, now, he is running away from that as fast as he can, the lying s.o.b.
During the Little Ice Age......
....the Thames in London froze over. Artists have painted the scenes of horse and sleigh, people, skaters on this frozen river. And I seem to remember seeing artwork depicting starving people eating roots and stuff, gaunt animals (if they hadn't been eaten) and street fights over scarce food.
As far as warmer temperatures being fine here in Maine during the winter, not so fast. Our climate has kept many unwanted nasties away, like poisonous snakes and bugs. Our state has many ski resorts that would go bust. The maple syrup business would go bust. Our apple growers would go bust. And who knows what kind of plant diseases would become rampant or what a warmer winter would do to the forests. Then there are the human diseases that flourish more in warm, moist climates.
We may not like to shovel the stuff but snow is a needed groundcover for many bulbs and perennials.
I love the winter. It is Nature's fumigator. Just think of black flies and mosquitoes year round. Yikes!
Seal the lead paint.
I have lived in some crappy apartments in my lifetime. As soon as I had kids I would wash everything down and seal the paint. Especially anything they could reach. There are good booklets to help renters be lead free. It takes a little work but the benefits were worth it. Both kids always tested lead free. And I had nice fresh woodwork.
I am amazed, sometimes by the lack of gumption some tenants have to just fix a problem themselves. No pride and looking for someone else to do the work - free.
You calling our president ...
....a communist dictator is insane. You are so filled with hate it is burning you up. I feel sorry for you.
Queenie
The picture you see here is my best friend, Queenie. She is a lot older now than in that picture and over the years we have had many a conversation about lots of stuff. She doesn't talk much except to say "Mama" and "Out" (which sounds more like owl.) She doesn't go out, really, just on to the screened deck where we watch the birds.
A while back I had really high blood pressure. My doctor was worried. About the same time, we had an infestation of fleas. Determined to rid Queenie of fleas, and not wanting to use poisons, I groomed her every day, sometimes 2 or 3 times a day. She would roll over and let me tackle her belly. We got rid of every flea, never had any back and my blood pressure dropped back to normal. When my doctor asked what I did to bring my BP down I told him I groomed my Queenie and he said he had heard of that happening before.
Never underestimate the healing power of pets. It is the strength of love and devotion. It is a friendship like no other.
You are so right, Frank. That friendship never falters.
And you tell others to grow up?
I don't see anyone else here blaming a puppet or a make believe parrot or anything or anyone else for what they say. That is juvenile.
You don't have to know them.
Way back when, lots of people were against interracial marriage and there were laws against it. Time has a way of changing society. Those who cannot accept change are the ones who must grow up.
I stated....
...how about giving homophobia a rest. That was not an attack on you, unless you suffer from homophobia.
It is your problem...
...If you are having a problem with it.
Do you mean....
....like when the law was changed so that people couldn't own slaves? Or when Maine changed the law to allow women to vote? Things like that?
A new Republican president?
Ain't gonna happen, bub. Corporate America and the pentagon have the stooge in place they can depend on.
How about....
....How about giving homophobia a rest?
I disagreed because....
.......well, politicians lie. Obama may be the latest example, but for many of us, after 8 agonizing years of Bubba, we wanted to believe that someone would get us back to sanity.
Didn't happen. We still torture. War by drones has escalated. Still no Habeas Corpus. Still in the pocket of big agro and pharma. I could go on and on.
My point being that your slogan is in error. How is a voter supposed to know beforehand what kind of a government they elect will turn out once elected?
Worse?
By whose standards? We never had a governor who said "Kiss my butt" before and acted like a teenager. We did not have an onslaught against the neediest while benefiting the greediest. We did not have a government run by people who wanted to disenfranchise voters and erode public education. And we had jobs.
I don't know you.
You got that right, Doug. But I know your kind. Flim flammers. Snake oil salesmen. Rainmakers. Con artists. All as phoney as a three dollar bill.
You can't have it both ways. You can't "hear the cry of the children" and then propose bombing them off the face of the planet. Or "wooping" them as you call it. How spiritual is that?
Do they beg for donations?
What a simple-minded philosophy you espouse. And you can't even spell angels. What a farce.
Coward.
Just what is my kind of thinking? You don't even give specifics. And you never dared to address me directly. You would lose this argument and you know it. You are a phoney warmonger who preys on the ignorant for money.
That is disgusting.
You do not dare to say it......
You do not dare to say the word kill. Woop them? Just what the hell does that mean if not kill them, huh? You are no man of God, that's for sure. And, you can't even spell -- "their" should be there as in over there. You are a phoney, Dougie boy. A phoney who preys on the ignorant. Jesus Party indeed. Jesus would kick you in the butt for using His name to troll for $$$$$$. And He would also kick you again for being a warmonger.
You have some racket going Mr. Taylor.
But the food served at one of these "meetings", sooner or later, is going to be crow. You can pander to the gullible and ignorant and rake in the $$$$$ but most of us know out here in reality land that anyone can call themselves a preacher. And I'm calling you out, coward. You don't dare to reply to me. Have I struck a nerve?
Bunk and hokum.
Pure revisionist history. John McCain was not trying to make the "enemy" like us when he got up on the stage and sang, "Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran." I suppose he can plead senility. And do you think President Obama thinks the "enemy" will like us by using torture?
What both parties are doing is making generations of people who hate us. Just like we would hate anyone who killed our folks in their homes. All the Pentagon is doing is making more "nasty folks" and eventually they will strike back. If my daughter bled to death in my arms I would be justified in seeking revenge from her murderer(s). Thousands of parents, civilians leading peaceful lives, have seen the horrible ways their children have died in their arms, bleeding to death, burnt by white phosphorous, raped, mutilated or struck by shrapnel. And children have witnessed their parents being gunned down while shopping in the markets or attending religious services or just trying to lead a normal life.
These people were not our enemies. We are making them so.
Extrodinary?
Ever heard of televangelists? All right-wing warmongers. Keeps those checks coming in. $$$$$$
Did they ask him?
Did the people ask him to be there on his "mission"? Or is he, too, trolling for converts to fatten the till.
You call yourself a Christian?
Whatever happened to "Blessed are the peacemakers." ? Sounds to me you are saying what you know will be popular with the knuckledraggers. Sort of like trolling for dollars for the collection plate. Hmmmmm?
"just" for whom?
When was the last one? Probably WW2.??
Isolated "events" ?
Hardly. There are plenty of "events" that prove you wrong. You can watch our "courageous" troops sniper people and even dogs on the streets on U Tube. Just for "fun". And while you are doing research, read a book or two by Chalmers Johnson and what our brave boys are doing to the people in the Phillipines - rape of girls, hit and run while boozed up. They are terrorizing those people. Most of these stories never get reported in the mainstream media because, like you, people refuse to look honestly at what we, as a nation, have done and are doing to the civilian populations in so many places, not just Iraq and Afghanistan.
And when a story breaks like the latest rampage by that deranged Army Sgt., Robert Bales, who killed, took a break, went out again to kill some more children and adults, you would stifle the press from reporting. You seem to think we should not learn the truth.
Not all of us have blinders on. We see American Imperialism as a threat to all of us, here and abroad. Blowback will be horrendous when it comes.
Bush was wrong, you know, when he said, "They hate us for our freedoms." On the contrary, they hate us for invading them for oil as in Iraq, or for trying to force our way of life on them and destroying their civilizations. Our cowboy mentality is not welcomed. We are not liberators from oppression. We are the oppressors. We support dictators until they stand in the way of our aggression. Then we destroy their nation, causing millions to flee and live their lives in misery and suffering. We use white phosphorous on these people. And depleted uranium causing untold numbers of stillborn and malformed children and rendering the ground unsuitable for life.
But you would censor the press and call them irresponsible. Nothing to see here, move along. That is the act of a coward who is afraid of the truth.
My husband is retired Army. He could tell you about the horror of what we did and are doing much better than I. He served this country believing the lies. He does not believe them any more.
Yes, I am sure.
"Some of these refineries" - which ones? I named mine, you name yours.
Too expensive to upgrade? That is a crock. They won't upgrade because it will cut into their profits.
Natural gas? I wouldn't want it in my house or in my car. I'm not alone.
Don't you know the prez is in the pockets of big oil?
This article misses an important point.
The point being the refineries.
Sunoco chair until May, Lynn Laverty Elsenhans tried to kill off a Shell refinery in Bakersfield, CA when she was the chair of Shell Oil Products. She did succeed in snuffing out Marcus Hook refinery in PA in December and she will close the massive Sunoco refinery in Philly in June if she is not stopped.
Conoco Phillips and Hovensa have closed the Trainer refinery near Philly and the St. Croix refinery that provided fuel to the Northeast.
As fuel prices rise, these companies are closing refineries essential for producing fuels. Why? The cost to the Northeast will be appalling. 36,000 job loses and 560 million in lost tax revenue that goes to cities, schools and states.
The Dept. of Energy has warned that if the Philly Sunoco refinery closes as planned in June, the Northeast will have gasoline and fuel oil shortfalls and price hikes.
So, again, why? Companies are closing refineries in the nation's most lucrative fuel market so they can jack the price up even more. They supply 40% of gasoline, 60% of diesel, 45% of home heating oil.
Higher prices = huge profits.
And higher prices for everything that depends on these fuels for delivery, like food for example.
How many more people will go hungry, go without needed prescriptions, or simply freeze to death just to feed the greed of these companies? This is murder!
And since the Supreme Court has ruled that corporations are people, and there are laws against murder, these companies must be stopped from shutting down the refineries for the sake of more and more profit.
Agreed
You're on a roll Mark.
Agreed.
Well, there's a first time for everything, isn't there? :)
Mr. Leahy,
I gave you a disagree, not because we do not need to change the way Washington does business - we do. But if you think old Angus is "independent" in the true sense, he is not.
In this case, old Angus is only independent in the sense that he only looks out for himself. He is a millionaire, not that there is anything wrong with that, but he soaks the taxpayers for a scam and has been on the government tit for as long as I have known him.
He feathers his own nest just like the rest of the politicians in D.C. How "independent" is that?
Mr Thibeault
What gives you the right to tell a stranger how to manage their life? Because that is just what you are doing.
It is none of your damned business. You may think just because you are male that gives you the right to be paternalistic and domineering over women, but that thinking went out with the hoop skirt.
Unless it is your family, you have no right to decide for anyone in any matter whatsoever if it does no harm to you.
It used to be only little old ladies stuck their noses in where it was not wanted. Now it is men like you who seem to be the busybodies at a hen party. Cluck clucking and tsk tsking over someone else's business.
So stick to your own knitting and let other families make their own decisions about what is best for them.
And don't give me the B.S. about dragging the good old USA down the path of sin and moral turpitude. We reached the end of that path years ago when we decided it was ok to kill millions for oil or other natural resources. We are a country that runs on killing for profit. We make war machines and weaponry but little else. We support huge armies of mercenaries at an astronomical cost to all taxpayers who cannot even afford to send their kids to decent schools.
And yet you and your kind despise anyone who goes on welfare or food stamps because two or three jobs don't earn enough to pay for food, fuel, medicine, shelter and other needs. You know what? When the Navy was stationed here, many were on food stamps just to get by. And the wounded troops left to languish and suffer in horrible conditions after their service because they have been used and spit out by the good old USA.
Why aren't you out on the streets and writing letters to the editor about the millions of young men and women used like so much cannon fodder? Or isn't that sexy enough for you? 'Cause that's all it boils down to. Sex. And by taking away a woman's right to make her own decisions or by calling her a murderer or a slut and worse and demeaning her for her own personal choices is your way to impose your morality on a stranger. Think of it. You have no right to walk into a stranger's house and demand that they live as you do. No right at all. And yet you think you do. How crazy is that?
Keep your thoughts about other people's lives to yourself. And get a life of your own.
Heath & Madore......
...have been spending way too much time together. And way too much time thinking about sex - other people's, not their own.
Hey, guys, there are magazines out there if you are that interested.
Geeze, it's Spring! Don't you have some chores to do around the house? Like, cleaning out the closet? Hmmmmmm?
His business partner.........
Rob Gardiner who used to be at Maine PBS. I don't know why this paper failed to mention that.
More Lunacy
With all due respect, repeating GOP talking points doesn't cut it, truth-wise. The American Civil Liberties is as much a terrorist group as the Taliban? Surely you jest. They don't take away rights, they ensure ALL people's rights are not trampled on by a few boneheads who want to take us back to the 1950's and 1960's when lynching was a popular sport. Can you spell KKK? Now THAT was a terrorist group.
We live in a multicultural world. We all must respect each other and get along. Of course, if you WANT to go back to the "good old days" feel free to do so. But don't hide your prejudice and hate under a white sheet of ignorant drivel.
Answer this one question: Who took away Habeas Corpus besides Lincoln during the Civil War?
Hint: It wasn't the ACLU.
Backyard windmills are midgets
The type of windmill Angus is schlepping are 45 stories high! 450 feet high! Have you seen them? They seem like monsters from "War of the Worlds".
Have you ever felt, not heard but FELT the oncoming arrival of a vehicle with deep bass speakers? A sound so low and powerful that it interrupts heart rhythm? It's called ultrasound. It has been used as a form of torture because it can drive a person insane. Think what it does to the birds and animals that used to live in these places where windmills have been built. Doe have given stillbirth. And the herbicides used to keep back any growth near these towers have poisoned all life, including human life from well water. Mudslides and erosion have polluted streams, rivers and lakes with silt and herbicide runoff.
Angus King, among others, is causing huge "dead zones" to form in our state so that he can enrich himself. He won't be here in 20-25 years when these monstrosities begin to rot and buckle, burn out and simply shatter. Who will clean up his mess?
You know what? I don't think he gives a good goddamn.
Harm to scenic and visual and more!
Cell towers have harmful affects on the health of those living near them. Especially children. Any wireless technology, cell phones, smart meters, wireless game boxes, etc. disrupt the normal cells in living things.
I wonder how many people use these things that are complaining about the tower and do not know the dangers of wireless technology. It isn't anything manufacturers or companies that sell this crap are willing to divulge to the public. They would never admit their products do harm.
The Otisfield planning board should be tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail. Shame on them!
Or in a carrier on their rooftop...
...a la Romney!
I would certainly give more credence.....
..... to the word of Dale McCormick over anyone at the Maine Heritage Policy Center, a right-wing think tank, and Bruce Poliquin who would like a little less light shed on his affairs.
But mostly I would take Dale at her word before our lying Gov. LePage, who, in the style of Pontius Pilate, keeps his hands clean while Jon Courtney get his bill passed this summer which will change the statute that only the Gov. can fire her.
Friends of Dale know the real reasons why the "Bubba Patrol" want her out and it has nothing to do with management "style".
We need more people like Dale, who cares about the the people she serves and less like LePage, Poliquin, and other assorted wackos who serve the one percenters with tax giveaways and nepotism.
Yogurt
If you get diarrhea, replenish the good bacteria in your gut with yogurt. It works.
And if you must take an antibacterial drug, do not stop taking it until it is all used up. Otherwise you just increase the chances of producing drug resistant nasty bacteria - the kind that kills.
Wash your hands. Every time after you go shopping or anywhere outside the home, wash your hands with plenty of HOT water and soap. And wash your hands after you blow your nose or sneeze into a tissue. Or after going to the bathroom.
Demand that any children wash their hands immediately when they arrive for a visit.
Keep the handle of the toilet bowl clean.
These things work for our family. I am 70, my husband is 76 and we are never sick.
The day I see a kid drop.......
.......his/her phone, tablet or other gizmo and pick up a shovel is the day my dog has kittens in the oven and we call them biscuits. Impossible.
Every ordinary snowstorm is now call an EVENT. As in, "We are having a weather EVENT". 3 inches of light powder is made out to be an earth shattering EVENT. Local weather forecasting should be illegal.
Sample: "It's really coming down out there, Bob." Camera cuts to a downtown street corner, "It sure is, Ray! Looks like it might last all night!!" Every storm. Same chuckling, idiotic banter.Same "end of the world" music in the background. As if we didn't know it was winter and it sometimes snows.
Thanks for the letter, Rolande. It brought back some great memories of Maine before the yuppies took over.
It tells me more people
watch Fux Gnus.
No. That's not what he said.
He said drown it in a bathtub. That's not any form of government. That's anarchy.
And, what do you mean, "where people could run it rather than politicians." ?? And just what would be the merits, may I ask.
And women..
...picking up their dirty underwear.
Paul
You need to go to U Tube and listen to some of the speeches by Bernie Sanders, senator from Vermont, independent. I think you will find someone who does care about the working folks.
Ah yes,
Old Grover Norquist who said, "I just want to cut government down to a size where we can drown it in a bathtub." Nice. And so patriotic. NOT. He is an enemy of all Americans - unless you are in the top one percent income bracket.
I heartilly agree!!
The loss of BNAS will be felt for decades, if not longer. 6,000 jobs gone up in smoke. And the loss of the commissary as well. Many retired depended on it to stretch their budgets. Our senators and our representatives just rolled over and played dead. THEY don't need to work for a living nor do they have a budget to worry about. Elitist bunch of bast**ds, all.
King promoting himself........
....as the "sensible center" is like me promoting myself as Cleopatra.
And, as old Cleo used to say, De Nial is not just a river in Egypt.
Pompous, arrogant, lying, self-serving neo-liberal in the same mold as Clinton without the hormones.
A detestable and thoroughly unlikeable Virginian who is convinced Mainers are stupid. He is destroying thousands of acres of Maine and convincing people like Jason that wind power is "green". The only green is the green lining his pockets.
This man does not deserve to represent Maine.
Mrs. Brule,
If your kids went to a Madrasas, would you still be asking for a hand out in the form of a tax break? Because if you get help that way, then expect other religions to follow suit.
I remember my first day of school...
.... in this sweet building! How I loved going to school there. I can still smell the chalk, clay and crayons.
There was a back door and at recess we played in the shadows of the Gingerbread House. There was a swing set and I think I remember a see saw. Our teacher(Miss(Mrs?) Morrison, I think) would ring a school bell and we would all come back in, eager to resume our schooling.
I wish all kids could experience a one-room school house for their first days. Whatever Norway can do to preserve this building, I say do it! The Arts Center has done it proud and those of us who can still remember when say thank you!
Wait. You brought up the topic...
paying for a program you don't like. We ALL pay taxes that include things we don't like. War is a perfect example.
This is where you lose me, Al.
It isn't the cost of the program I am averse to. I explained my reasons below.
I tend to agree with Al........
.......on this one. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a complete Luddite when it comes to technology, I am, after all, typing this on my computer.
BUT when former Gov. King had this brainstorm about laptops I remember thinking and I still think it is just another neo-liberal wet dream - full steam ahead and don't stop to think of the consequences. Allowing kids to bring home a laptop instead of using a computer lab setting is just asking for trouble. It benefits no one, especially the kids, to think that there is a shortcut to knowledge and wisdom. There isn't.
A computer is nothing more than a tool. It shouldn't become a crutch. It takes hard work and years of study to feel the joy of accomplishment. I think computers shortchange the kids, and many adults in this sense. And it gets people of all ages to rely on technology to solve all our problems. It can't.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Good question Paul.
When did chastity and dignity disappear from our language? When pornography and Viagra were accepted as mainstream, no big deal, ways of achieving an erection. It used to be that gentlemen did not discuss their sexual accomplishments, or lack thereof, in public. And those same men, unless they are homosexual, need a woman partner. Imagine that! So half of all those hamsters running around copulating are men! And many of them are devious (date rape pill) in their attempts to be "pro-creative". Unable to bear children, men can impregnate hundreds of lucky women in a year if his stamina holds up. (pun intended.)
The question about chastity and dignity should apply to both sexes. Unfortunately, the onus of birth control has been on the woman. That's just a fact of life. Rapists rarely take the time to don a condom, and yet without their semen, a woman couldn't "get herself pregnant".
Maybe if men started to act like they are responsible in sexual matters, women wouldn't have to shoulder all the blame and shame you guys like to get away with. Until then, and before you start hanging the Scarlet Letter around the necks of women, try a little chastity yourselves, guys.
Robin
What a beautiful picture! Thank you for that first sign of Spring!
Harvey
You poor thing. If you are against abortion, don't get one.
But I will let you in on a secret: If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.
Sorry Arthur......
Kids graduating from high school nowadays have far, far less of an education than we had way back in the 1950s. Colleges have to teach remedial reading among other subjects because kids are "graduating" as dummies. No language skills, reading or writing skills, no hard science, geometry, trig and calculus. No Latin. And no civics. History is a joke as a subject in today's schools. I have grandchildren. I have seen the textbooks.
What kids today receive in school is a watered down version so as not to challenge the slow learners. The "feel good" and "politically correct" crowd have turned education in this country into a joke.
Mitt Romney set the precedence.....
........with Romney Care in Massachusetts. A fact that he is trying very hard to run away from.
Maybe the difference is....
.....that most of us understand that the Flintstones is a cartoon. Evangelicals call it Reality TV.
The God gap is growing wider?
70 years of wisdom here. (give or take a couple of years in the 1960s.)
Most of my friends are into social rot. No more behaving. Let it all hang out. They are a fun bunch.
On the other hand, those who think we are all going to hell in a handbasket are a bunch of bores. They are so preoccupied with telling others how to live that they have no time for fun. Party poopers.
And let me tell ya something. At my age it isn't just the God gap that is growing wider. Pass the brownies, will ya?
Angus King?
The Angus King that takes subsidies (taxpayer dollars)for his windmill scam? A scam that privatizes profit and socializes the costs. THAT Angus King? Hasn't he got his hands full destroying Maine's environment?
What's his plan? Turn Maine into a parking lot for Massachusetts?
Tourism is Maine's biggest industry. Windmills as far as the eye can see will cause thousands to lose jobs as businesses close because people from away come here for our pristine beauty, not to see just another industrialized and polluted vista. If he can't understand that simple fact, if he cares more about promoting himself and his wacko scam and not about the unique place we are and the people who live here, then he does not deserve to be a senator. We have enough people from both sides of the aisle with their hands out for our tax dollars who do not give a damn about us. Why add another?
My b.s. alarm just went off.
Try making it on minimum wage for awhile, Rev. I'll bet your lifestyle as well as your opinion just might change. No, on second thought, probably not.
Dan.......
I signed in so that I might comment on this excellent article but found you have said it much better than I ever could. "...gaggle of rear-bussing supporters..." Love it.
One payer health care for all.
Private health insurance takes about one third, 33 cents, off the top of every dollar spent. Wouldn't it make more sense to have a one payer system that only takes about 6 cents off every dollar spent? We have that system already set up, it's called Medicare.
But don't mandate it. Let people enroll if they wish, and let those who are opposed to government run programs continue to enrich the insurance companies (with their history of denying coverage) and Big Pharma.
Grrrrrrr....
I meant, do they serve people of all ages, not do they serve old people. Might be kinds tough.
Raw fish is great!
As long as you know where it comes from. I might give this a try. Do they serve old people?
There are way too many...
There are way too many people on the planet now. Natural family planning is a hit and miss remedy to limit the population explosion in many parts of the world with the dire consequences being malnutrition, starvation and disease as basic needs like clean water are being exhausted.
And, on a local level, when people have children they cannot afford, welfare roles go up and we all pay. And children born into a poor family have much less chance of making it to being productive adults.
If the pope wanted to relieve human suffering he should promote the rule, "two for two".
Blame it on....
...the futures market, I guess. Meanwhile Detroit keeps building those 8 cylinder gas guzzlers, so you can blame it on demand. There's lots of that, too.
But I'm still going to drive my truck when I need to. I'll be damned if I get a bicycle and one of those funny pointed-headed helmets just to go shopping. And I wouldn't look too fetchin' in Lycra, I can tell you. Talk about your "split ends"!
Maybe if demand for gas goes down the price will follow. But then we've got the summer coming up before you know it and the price always goes up then..... and they say it's only going to get worse. $5.00 a gallon in a year or so.
Arghhhhhh!!!!!
Shucks.
For a minute there I hoped this bill meant the removal of LePage. Darn it.
I agree.
I smell a rat, too. A big fat hairy dictatorial sewer rat.
Terrible!
LD 1830 is nothing more than a backdoor attempt to dismantle any and all environmental regulations protecting our fair state. It is a give away to big agribusiness and logging outfits, notorious for hiring migrant, temporary workers. It is a bad deal for the tourist industry, who rely on our clean environment that vacationers love. There will be no cost savings. The one commissioners job will be replaced by two deputy commissioners. And the cost to our environment will be tremendous.
Another rape of our state by those who see no worth, no intrinsic value in anything unless there is a profit to be made. Typical, small-minded, short-sighted and tragic.
When the Catholic church is ....
run by women I might listen to what they say about contraceptives. Until then they can kiss my butt.
Hang on just a second there,
Mr. Theriault. You state that, "The Catholic Churches role is not to adopt its moral beliefs to current cultural mores....."
You are forgetting your own history. On July 20th, 1933, Cardinal Secretary of State, Eugenio Pacelli (later to become Pope Pius Xll) signed a document, The Concordat between the Vatican and the Nazis.
But don't believe me. Just go to...
www.nobeliefs.com/nazis.htm
There are many pictures of priests, bishops, etc. "adapting its moral beliefs" to the reality of Hitler.
Agreed.....
100%. Great letter, Mr. Curtis.
Lame
Feeble and uncalled for, Ronald.
Absolutely not.
In fact, if white collar criminals actually did the time for the crime we just might be able to clean up the gov'mint. Both sides of the aisle, of course.
Why should the color of a man's shirt make him immune to punishment?
If only there was a pill...
to make us all smarter. Gee, but then we wouldn't be here, would we.
But you are right about the seniors. I am one, so I should know. Most of my friends (all 2 of them, in fact) drive while barely being able to see over the steering wheel. You've seen them I'm sure. Looks like the car is being driven by a fluffy white dog hanging on for dear life. Just the top of its head showing. And then you get four of them in the same beige sedan and they are all yacking it up and then they wonder where the hell they are and why are they there and why that rude man with the smashed in rear end is yelling at them.
Half of them are blind. Half are clueless. I used to belong to both halves until I had my cataract operation.
Throw da bums out!
They are called public servants.HA! What a joke. They do not serve the majority, only the ones who can afford to give big bucks to their re-election.
It's time we did a little "spring cleaning" and stop the hand outs to the vermin lurking in dark corners who do nothing but suck at the gov'mint tit.
Clean sweep!
Dan,
You had better bone up (pun intended) on birth control pills. They can be very useful in controlling hormonal imbalances. And I did not say Dole used Viagra. I said if old geezers like him
Glib talk.
Poor spelling. Don, not dawn.
Agreed,
the man is a waste of space, but it probably is going to cost the taxpayers more with him sitting in jail.
Yes it does,
doesn't it?
I do. Obama is a bully.
On a much larger scale than LePage ever dreamed of.
I'm talking about tens of thousands of Iraqi families killed by drones. (A cowards weapon.)
I'm talking about spying on citizens who use first amendment rights to protest. Who else but a bully would treat fellow countrymen and women as if their views were suspect?
I,m talking about his stand against medical marijuana. And against gay marriage.
Bully much?
Maybe if some old geezer...
like Bob Dole, who did advertisements for Viagra, didn't use it, there would be less need for contraceptives.
And, who's to say that an unplanned pregnancy isn't a medical problem?
Whose data and analysis?
Mr. Payne, it would seem your data and analysis depend on your paycheck. You are getting paid to support them.
Maybe that is why you can say with a straight face that wind power is "green".
Feeling remorse and embarrassment?
Only because he got caught!
Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Sorry Jason, but they do destroy nature.
Just ask the birds, including eagles, and bats that fly into these spinning blades. Just ask the fish that die from the runoff of all the herbicides used to maintain the cleared sites. Ask deer and other large game who are poisoned by the herbicides when they browse. Ask all the small critters blown up by dynamite when the blasting of ridges and mountaintops begins. Ask people who get sick from poisoned well water. And, ask the trees, who give us oxygen in return for CO2s. They are living, breathing life forms, too.
All dead or dying from wind turbines.
Dan....
You hit the nail on the head.
How about reading this?
"The Wind Farm Scam" by John Etherington. You can get a copy on Amazon. Or, a library might have a copy.
The bottom line in my own words: Wind power was sold to the public on the promise that it would replace other, dirtier forms of energy. And that it would reduce global CO2 levels.But, because wind can't generate steady output it necessitates back up power. Power that must be kept running at the ready to switch over to on a seconds notice. (You can't power up a coal fired plant to produce electricity within moments.) This negates any savings of greenhouse gas emissions.
Wind can't replace coal, gas, oil or nuclear - it depends on them to guarantee supply when needed. The people who work the grid, those people at the switches, must be ready at a moments notice to switch over to conventional power supplies, which must be run constantly to be able to give us constant power. And yet they are mandated to use wind power when available, which makes for much switching, back and forth, constantly. Their job must be like air traffic control on a larger scale.
Look at it this way -- it is a hot August afternoon. Not a flicker of breeze anywhere. You settle in the couch in your air conditioned room to watch TV. But there is no TV and there is no air conditioning. Why? Because there is no wind. So, without the constant backup (remember, wind power can't be stored to be used later) we would have brownouts and blackouts just when more power is needed most.
I, along with others on both sides of this issue debated Angus King in a public hearing. Let me just say that no matter how charming the man may be, no matter how pat he has his spiel, how glib he assures the public, the man is running scared. And that is because he knows the moment people get really educated to the scam, he is toast. And he and his subsidy sucking buddies will be left in the dust. This is precisely why Gov. Baldacci et al fast-tracked the legislation that allowed this to happen. The public was left blind-sided and out of any consideration. It became fact before the facts were known.
Senator Alfond must be naive....
....if he didn't see this coming. The bible thumpers have been salivating at the chance to get hold of tax dollars to fund their schools as far back as I can remember.... the Constitution be damned.
Thanks, Al
I grew up in Norway. Went to kindergarten through high school there and graduated in 1960. I go back now and then. Boy! Has it changed! I miss the old Rex theater on Cottage street. Us kids sure had fun going to movies back then. Ten cents and then twelve cents. Those were the days. I read the Norway Advertiser once a week just to keep up with some of the news.
You're right! Shame on the Brunswick Times Record.
For those that call themselves...
...Christians, may I remind you what Christ said? Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers you do also unto me.
And, If a man be hungry, feed him. If he be thirsty, give him drink. If he is cold, give him your cloak. If he is tired, give him a bed.
I did not quote verbatim as these lessons I learned years ago and my memory ain't what it used to be. But you get my meaning, I hope.
If, as so many on this site have said, we are a Christian Nation, then why is it so evil in the eyes of many for this country to actually follow the words of Christ Himself?
Hello Anthony and Pattie,
As you can verify, I am from Brunswick. You may ask what I am doing, commenting in a Lewiston newspaper. I have been here awhile because you have a great newspaper. I make it a habit to stop here at least once a day. I found the verification process fair and easy to sign up for.
My local paper, The Times Record, charges about $90 a year to read online. This is a new policy and I fear they will be losing customers, like myself, that can't or won't pay. I can read most any newspaper in the world, for free. Charging to read online seems, to me, the last gasp of a dying paper. A terrible shame. It was a very vibrant paper in its day.
Maybe you could reach out to those in my area to add to your commentators. For many shut-ins, this would sure fill the void we have felt.
It is empowering to be able to comment and it gives so many people the feeling that their words and thoughts are important enough to be shared with others.
Kudos to you and the Sun Journal. A fine example of what a newspaper should be.
I agree!
(well, there's gotta be a first for everything, lol.)
I kinda think the best and most qualified do not run because they have to kiss the butt of the radicals to appeal to the religious right nut cases. The best, who have the ability to actually govern, get dragged down into the mire of issues like gay marriage or abortion for example.
I would love to see another Eisenhower run. But I doubt if he could win today with these new radical Republicans calling the shots.
No need to drive at all
I mail packages all the time (eBay) and never leave the house. I weigh the package and measure it. Then I print out the postage on line and the mailman picks it up. Simple. You can also do this with Fed X and UPS.
As far as the cost of a stamp going up? I believe if you check, we have very low costs here in the U.S. as far as stamps are concerned. In an age of email, I would rather see the cost of stamps go up and the costs to mail packages go down.
Certainly not.
But if you get rid of unions, see how fast other jobs deteriorate to compete with China and India. In a global economy it is a fast track downward for workers.
Right to work ...for less.
With no benefits, sick time, paid holidays, etc., etc., etc.
The only economy this would help is the corporate bottom line..profits!
Just another right-wing ploy to destroy the middle class.
That's BS.
In fact the liberals and progressives have been rending their clothes and gnashing their teeth at the way Obysmal has deserted his primary promises like ending torture, returning Habeas Corpus and on and on. Instead, he has leaned far to the right in the eyes of these delusional liberals. Yet, truth be told, he was already leaning that way well before becoming President.
Don't you know no one will be "elected" President in this country unless they follow the corporate line? That's why Ron Paul will never be "elected". There is only one party in the USA....the corporate party. All the infighting between Pubs and Dims is for show. It is to distract us from the anal intercourse they all do to we the people.
If I had kids in school...
I would keep them far away from this wireless crap from China! Do a little research, for Pete's sake at the horrible way the workers are treated at the Apple plants in China!
All the digital toys in the world won't make one kid smarter than teaching the old fashioned way....with teachers! And it won't teach critical thinking.
This is just a non too subtle way for large corporations like Apple to suck at the government's tit and reduce needed funds for traditional schooling. Then, when the education funds dry up, they can swoop down and privatize the schools with very little resistance.
We can replace a school board. Try replacing a large corporation in charge of school policy.
Don't be distracted by bright, shiny objects. (iPads and other gizmos)
They are only a means to an end. And that end will be the total loss we as citizens have to say about how and what our children and grandchildren will be taught.
"....some large businesses
reduced their health care benefits...."
Walmart, and the Walton heirs are worth billions and billions, yet they cut health care benefits for their workers to the point that Medicaid is the only affordable option. Paid for by taxpayer dollars.
Once again the little guy picks up the tab for the large corporations that put profits before people. Such a deal!
Republican Presidential hopefuls...
...that put themselves out there as paragons of virtue are nothing but thugs on the take. They live high on the hog while much of our nation festers in joblessness, misery and poverty. None of them have a plan, with the exception of Ron Paul, to bring back American manufacturing and shore up the middle class.
They speak the language of division, sneering at the least fortunate amongst us. They work the audience up into a frenzy, hitting the "hot buttons" like gay marriage, abortion or welfare and laugh at the poor fools who actually believe their lies.
They act like christian jihadists and tell us we are all going to hell in a handbasket if we do not endorse their beliefs. Yet all the while live the life of luxury and ease whilst so many good Americans see their dreams shattered because of the greed of a few.
Heck. I guess you could say the same about any politician. Most of them are millionaires, after all. And most of them could give a rat's arse about we the people.
LOL!!!!!
I read that article, too! Spot on!!!
I seem to remember Bush saying....
it would be easier to rule if he were a king.
Where was your outrage then, John?
Nope
Can't say that I do believe in sin. Or the bible either. It's just a bunch of fairy tales made to scare the masses into submission by an old angry white dude in the sky. Childish, really.
What I do believe in is live and let live. Something the gay bashers can't seem to get their heads around. They equate gayness with sin and judge homosexual/lesbian/ transgender people as if they had a right to. We all live in a modern, multicultural world. Fear and loathing of the "other" belongs to those enslaved by their own biases. It belongs to religious jihadists out to demand everyone conform to their narrow, bigoted views.
Ain't gonna happen.
I'll say it...
You ARE discriminating. That makes you a bigot.
Lobsters,
shrimp and clams! Oh my!!!
There goes the seafood industry!
So, Roger...
every time you had sex within your marriage it was for reproduction?
Just who is being sensitive here? Seems to me your bible pounding has clouded your ability to think straight.
A sin?
Being gay is a sin? Are you living in the Dark Ages?
Thank you Leslie Dixon...
for all the really great articles and pictures of Norway. Especially the Opera House. It holds a dear place in my memories. My dad was in and directed many plays there with the Pennessewassee Players back in the 1950s. They packed the house!
And I can still smell the bakery smells that permeated the whole building. I am so thankful the town of Norway regained ownership of this landmark. It wouldn't be Norway without the Opera House.
The wacky right-wing conservatives
would like nothing better than to destroy unions. They are drooling over the prospect of lowering wages for everyone in fact. They have been chipping away at workers rights for years.
It took blood, sweat and tears to form unions. Labor history shows men and women banding together against greedy corporations so that they might have better working conditions like a 40 hour work week, sick leave, overtime and a safe work place. And unions have raised working standards for ALL workers, union or not.
Maine Heritage Policy Center is an enemy of working people. So is the Chamber of Commerce. They are dedicated to the destruction of the middle class. They would take us all back to a time when disasters like the Triangle Shirtwaist fire were commonplace. Do we want that in Maine? I don't think so.
What is really remarkable...
about Paula Deen is her products are cheaply made in China and have even been recalled, the cast iron frying pans specifically. I'll stick with my Lodge cast iron, made in the USA or buy an old Griswald on eBay before I cook in some crap made in China.
Keep Americans working! Buy made in USA. (when you can.)
For the umteenth time....
This is NOT and never has been a Christian nation. It has always been secular, like it or not. I have no problem with your beliefs, just don't tell me lies.
"Onward Christian Soldiers" as a theme song sounds to me you would like to see the Crusades here in our country. Would you kill those that do not believe as you do? Do you want a Taliban style government that gives harsh punishment, even death, to those that do not tow the religious line?
There are many forms of religion in our country just as there are many races of people. To think that only one religion or only one race is the correct one is bigotry, pure and simple.
Baldacci would have...
Baldy would have given all the corporate welfare (our tax dollars) to Kestrel without blinking an eye or asking the hard questions that Gov. LePage asked. And when Kestrel went belly up, he would have "spun" it to his advantage.
I didn't vote for LePage but I thank him for his due diligence in this instance.
Maybe it takes one to know one.
It's all a game...
with these "fly-by-nighters". They never play with their own money, but rely on corporate welfare or taxpayer dollars and when they go bust who is left holding the bag? Yup, the taxpayer.
Hell, just give 600 people the 100 million. That would boost the economy when those dollars were spent. ; )
Link?
Mike, do you have a link where I can read this? Or is this just your opinion?
Activist judges........
I thought it was settled that this country does not want "activist" judges. Regulating morality is like herding cats. Can't be done.
I get a kick out of Justice Thomas deciding for the rest of us what is moral. Ye gods! LOL.
Romney.....
The poster boy for the pathology of greed. Sickening.
Not intentionally cruel....
For many, grief is a very private thing. The media will keep this tragic story alive because it sells - that's their job. But it is the dogged work of police, not the media that will find her, or not. They will get to the truth about what happened to this little girl. Rely on it.
We would have had a balanced budget if....
he hadn't given a tax break to the wealthy when he came into office. It is perfectly clear he is using this "shortfall" as an excuse to destroy the DHHS.
This isn't Marden's, Mr. LePage and your bullying those in need will come back to haunt you.
This is an excellent idea, Kim..
I agree it would send a very powerful message. Right now I am in tears reading about this. Such a tragedy. I pray for their families and loved ones.
Bob.......
It's very obvious you haven't done your research on these meters. Let me give you 2 websites that will lead you in the right direction. Unless, of course, you want big technology and welcome big brother and all that entails. Some of this info might be dated as it has been out there quite awhile for those curious about what all the hoopla was about.
http://smartmetersafety.org/
www.windtaskforce.org/page/smart-meters
So far, out government hasn't denied us a right to self educate. Let's hope those sites help you.
We opted out
We paid the $40 up front and we pay the extra $12 a month. I take great pleasure in knowing our electric bill is still lower than our neighbors and we are helping someone to keep a job. The new "smart" meters measure infinite amounts of usage that the old analog ones do not. I don't know why this is so except maybe all the appliances with "instant on" get metered even though their usage is very small.
CMP will come and change the frequency of the meter if you are getting interference on your TV. My neighbor had this done. I have read that "smart" meters also screw up garage door openers and security systems.
Ron Paul - less nutty..
He may have one or two good ideas and he may seem less nutty than the others running for President but he is still nutty IMHO. And yes, a dangerous crank.
There is no one running (and this includes Obismal) that I will vote for. I plan on writing in a vote for Bernie Sanders - Independent, VT.
Oh my!
Thanks, Jason, for making my day! Very funny! (In a yucky kind of way.)
Any kind of public employee?
Really? Are you willing to do without a standing Army? Airforce? Navy? Marines? Your taxes support them, too.
You sound like a shill for Fux Gnus.
Oh, and the next time you are cited for a ticket, please be sure to tell the police officer that he had better be appropriately grateful. I'm sure it will make his day.
Please!
If you are going to correct someone, please be sure you are right. Foxes is a word. Lillian Hellman wrote a play called "The Little Foxes" which was made into a 1941 movie starring Bette Davis. I could use other examples.
People from near and far...
People from near and far come to Maine because it is so beautiful. I had a cabbie in London who told me his family get over here as many times as possible. He said. "Maine reminds me of what our country used to be like - green and peaceful. Try to keep it the way it is because you can never get it back once it is gone."
They don't call it Vacationland for nothing.
None of the power generated
by wind will go to Mainers. That CMP "upgrade" is for the wind companies to hook up to and send their overpriced power to other states.
Oh, but Mainers get to pay the $1.5 BILLION DOLLARS this "upgrade" will cost.
Anyone who thinks differently has their head up their bunghole. (Or stands to make some big bucks for this flimflam.)
Baldacci is the worst gov. we have ever had!
His term can't end soon enough for me.
Him and his wind power "task force" have destroyed and are in the process of destroying ridgelines and mountaintops all over Maine. Where is his "concern" about the views in those places?
This building is a landmark
Restore it by any means possible. It wouldn't be Norway without the Opera House. It is part of Norway's history and could be made a valuable asset once again. I remember when the Penny Players used to put on plays there. It once was a vital and thriving place for many activities. Just don't turn it into apartments.
No nukes for ME
Hydro is the way to go.
I agree
with Mr. Smith 100 percent. My husband worked long and hard hours plowing snow in the winter and paving roads in the summer, among other things. In other words, he earned his retirement and a good chunk of his pay went into his retirement account.
Lay off the "little guy", Sun Journal and start digging into the reasons why this state is worried about money. Spendthrift politicians are a good place to start.
Excellent column
I agree with Mr. Carter. Conservation would serve the people of Maine far better than the destruction of our scenic mountains. I wish he were our Governor.
Gore?
He couldn't fix a good B.M.
What wind turbines are NOT...........
Wind tubines are not about supplying energy. Not in any meaningful form. Their output is so fluctuating that they are a detriment to the grid and reliance on wind as a source of power will cause more blackouts. This fact is being denied by wind proponents but anyone can read "The Wind Farm Scam" by John Etherington and know that wind as a power source is environmentaly and economically counter productive.
What wind power is is about making money. Lots and lots of money. And when there is that much money at stake people have a way of justifying their actions. Those in political power are used to using other people's money and accepting donations and "gifts". In a situation that is bogus to begin with, it does not surprise me that Baldacci and Company opt to look the other way when illegal dealings enrich their buddies. They have been on the take so long, it is just business as usual.
This is a nasty business, this wind business. It takes nasty people to run it and reap the profits. Until honest people start to blow the whistle nothing will change.
I don't watch TV
I don't even own one. So who's making the stupid assumptions?
Bad science
Bad science, skewed data and Al Gore: Three reasons not to believe in man made global warming.
Thanks, Sun Journal, for this very refreshing and thought provoking piece.
Shifty dealings.
There are some shifty dealings going on with First Wind. Good for Rumford to extend the moratorium. Sounds like this Belanger fella should be replaced by somebody who thinks of the citizens first.
That is a beautiful picture!
Mr. Dillingham got a great shot! Sure brings back memories when we used to go trolling for white perch there back in the 1950s. Thanks, Russ!
I love sardines
My doctor recommends them. I am nearly seventy and my good chloresterol is high and the bad is very low. I just bought a case of sardines to last a while. Guess I'll have to get the foreign ones, but not from China! One of the Scandinavian countries probably.
I remember sardines and crackers for lunch, maybe with some tomato soup, all the way through school.
Everything changes but it doesn't mean we have to like it. No Crown Pilot crackers and now no sardines. Sad. I feel especially sad for the workers. I hope they find work.
I will vote no
also.
I am sick to death
of these bond issues. NO MORE. NEVER AGAIN. NOPE. NOT GONNA HAPPEN.
Thank You!
Oh! Just beautiful! Thank you Russ Dillingham. You made my day!
May they and You live long and prosper.
Ms. Skelton,
Have you been to the top of one of mountain ridges that have been destroyed forever? If not, I suggest you do that before you write anything about wind energy. And go to Mars Hill and talk to the people there. Then come back and give us your editorials and I, for one, would be more inclined to take your work seriously.
See for yourself the utter devastation of once beautiful places atop some of the most scenic parts of Maine. Understand that the men responsible for this destruction stand to make millions of dollars in federal and state subsidies. Understand, too, that none of the fickle trickle of power generated will go to Maine. Maine does not need this power. We have more than we use. We export power. So, who benefits?
Certainly not ratepayers who will see their rate increase to double or triple the amount they pay now. Certainly not Maine businesses who are struggling to stay afloat. The beneficiaries will be people like Angus King of Independence Wind, Reed and Reed, and Ciambro who erect them, and a few local politicians who have been bribed by taking "favors" from big wind. This is a nasty business backed by a mafia-type mentality and backed by some of the most powerful men and women in and out of state government.
As for Mr. Davies, who is supposed to be an advocate for the ratepayers, he is nothing but a sock puppet for Baldacci, who, you may remember, has stated his intentions to enter the wind energy business in some way. Baldacci wants his "cut" too, and has plans to ensure it. In my long life following Maine politics, I have yet to see a governor so transparent in his greed that he would sell out the state and her people, while destroying our largest and most important tourism industry that employs thousands and adds millions into our state budget.
Shame
Shame on the Mahoosuc Land Trust for accepting money for the destruction of Kibby Mountain. It is bad enough to see Maine's mountaintops destroyed for wind power, but it is even worse to see a group who is supposed to be preserving the land to accept dirty money from it. Shame on them all.
power
Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
I once knew about a guy who studdied to become a priest. He didn't become one but he spent 20 years in jail for buggering kids.
Do they teach that stuff in seminary? There must be something in the teaching that makes them think it is acceptable behavior.
I would never go to a church that does not allow marriage or women cleric.
It may be legal......
but it is not moral. And anyone who says it is has his head up his kazoo. There should be no place in Maine where gambling goes on. It's a losers form of entertainment at best.
FREE ENERGY?????
Somebody's been drinking the green Kool Aid again. If you think industrial wind energy is free you have your head up your "you know what". Millions of dollars have been given to the wind industry in the form of subsidies (our tax dollars). You think they would be sniffing around Maine or anywhere else for that matter, using their own money? Believe much in the Easter bunny? AND do you pay an electric bill? You do? Then be prepared to see it double or triple.
Listen up, bub. Rhode Island PUC just turned down the "deal" coming from the wind industry setting up shop on Block Island. WHY? Because the rates for electricity users would have quadrupled!!! Rhode Island businesses would have left the state in droves, ya nimwit.
Free energy? The only thing free is the space between your ears, to be or not to be.
Clean, renewable energy
Why do you suppose wind proponants are blocking attempts to get clean, renewable energy from Quebec Hydro? Why will industrial wind farms cause our electricity rates to double or triple? Who stands to profit from the subsidies (our tax dollars) given to industrial wind? Why is our Maine government willing to destroy our environment which brings in millions in tourist dollars?
Simple. Follow the money. And the next time your government says, "We are the government and we're here to help," you can tell them where to put their "help".
Nuts to you Angus
And nuts to your subsidy sucking schemes to enrich yourself by destroying beautiful places in Maine. Places that can never be cleaned up and put back the way they were. Places where the mountain top or ridge is blasted and leveled and clearcut of trees that take CO2s out of our atmosphere and give back oxygen. Places where huge amounts of herbicides are applied to eventually find their way into our lakes, streams, ponds and other waterways, poisoning fish and fowl alike. Places where once the wildlife were abundant and migrating birds depended on for survival. And don't give me that crap about, well, they are going to die anyway in a changing climate. What heartlessness you show us. What craven greed. Animals and other species will adapt or not in a changing climate. Killing them off to line your pockets with filthy lucre shows Maine people you are certainly not thinking of any life except your own. What a selfish man you are, Mr. King.
Monty Python skit?
Remember that Monty Python skit, "Dead Parrot"? Thanks for the chuckle, Pirate.
p.s. I consider myself liberal in some things but this health scare bill is for the birds. Oops. No pun intended.
Bikers like tatoos, don't they?
Tatoo their foreheads with sticker info. Or, from the ones I've seen, maybe their butt cheeks. Use nice thick needles or a branding iron. Then watch the macho men yell bloody murder. I bet the state could get lots of volunteers to do the job for free!
Industrial wind farms
are a major threat to the deer herd and the fragmentation of our forests and the mega-spraying of herbicides, pesticides and fungicides and the poisoning of our lakes, streams, ponds and wetlands are a major threat to our deer herd. But the governor and Angus say we must have trade offs for "green" energy. What a pair they are. How full of b.s. they are.
A six month moratorium
is a very smart way to go. It gives people the time needed to get educated about the Industrial wind companies false promises and lies they spew in order to take control of Maine's mountains and ridgetops. Once the massive 400 foot plus turbines are in place it is too late for people, wildlife and the environment. And a moritorium is a great starting point in writing and enacting an ordinance regulating placement of those turbines. Better to deal with town rules than to rely on rules set by the wind industry.
There is a solution
but our government calls it "protectionism" and says we can't manufacture products here in a global market. Well, to hell with the global market. What's wrong with making shoes, for instance, giving many people a job and putting a high tarrif on shoes made in China or East Bungledink? I'll bet, given the option most people here would support businesses with a Made in the U.S.A. stamp especially if the price was the same or even better than foreign made.
Enough of this "we have to be competative in a world market" bullsh*t. It's time to get back to basics.
What's wrong with saying...
No condom? No sex!
Just perfect J Dwight
Wonderful analogy! Just like Andy DuFree you have chipped away at the wall that threatens to imprison us all. There are many others who are working to that end. Never feel alone. And may we all meet somday on that bright sunny beach called Libertad de Viento.
I know.Let's privatize the military!
Halliburton and Blackwater did a teriffic job!
Thanks for the best laugh of the day!
n/t
Our ancestors came to this country
to kill off the natives. THEN they all worshiped the lord and lived in peace and freedom. Jeeze, get it right, gal.
$nvironmental Group$
Environmental groups take big buck from corporate sponsors like Reed & Reed who stand to make big bucks erecting wind turbines.
They have been tainted and I will no longer support them. They have sold out the vision of Gov. Baxter and others who saw the need to protect our environment, not sell it to the highest bidder. Shame on them!
SSDD is WRONG
Cost efficient? Ha! Denmark gets 20% electricity from wind. Their electricity rates are the HIGHEST in the EU. In our own country, California had to scurry around and build MORE backup power plants to use when the wind doesn't blow. Maine will have to do the same. All paid for of course by higher electricity bills and higher taxes. AND not one megawatt of this so-called "green" energy will stay in the state.
Not one coal-fired powerplant has been shut down IN THE WORLD because of wind generation. Not one. Nada. The generation of wind as energy takes tremendous backup. These backup plants must be ready in an instant to cut in when the wind does not produce needed wattage. Sort of like keeping your car idling for when you need it. All that idling is an ineficient use of power and adds tons of CO2s in the process. Now THAT'S brilliant logic for ya!
Nope, looked it up.
Guy named Thomas Gardner signed the papers.
Gardner? More info, please.
Is this Rob Gardner? The partner of Angus King who together plan, along with others, to clearcut thousands of acres in Maine woods for their wind farms? With the state's blessing, I might add.
Thousands of hunters will just have to find another state when Baldacci and his wind cronies are done with the job of Industrial Wind onshore.
Thousands of fishermen will just have to find a different coastline to lobster and fish when Baldacci and his wind cronies erect thousands of wind turbines in coastal waters.
Baldacci is doing a land grab and a coastal grab - sort of like eminent domain - and we will just like it or lump it, I guess. Too bad. Maine used to attract lots of people who enjoyed time hunting and fishing. Those days are over if Balcacci has his way.
Look up LD 1810 and see what it does to our coast. Disgusting.
But, like I asked, is this the same Gardner? No way to tell from this article.
Not the same thing.
Small, privately owned windmills are not the same thing as the 400 foot plus towers going up around the state - industrial wind towers.
If someone has the money to install one of these mini towers and realizes that wind is very erratic and has the means to do constant servicing and gets approval to put one up, let them fight it out with their neighbors when the blades ice up and throw off large chunks through anything in their path, then let 'em have their fun.
A good 16 inches of insulation in the attic will save about as much money, but then insulation can't be seen and bragged about. Not "sexy" enough. Yup, windmills are old fashioned and went out with the hoop skirt, save hardly anyone any money, but the bird kill is interesting.
So,
We're gonna destroy the environment in order to save the environment?
Is this the plan of Baldacci and Angus King and his "big wind" cronies?
Yup.
And who gets to pay for this?
Duh.
And who gets to benefit?
Follow the money.
What he said.
Protecting Maine's treasured landscapes? Creating healthy rivers? In the past, yes. Now? Not so much.
How does blasting the tops of mountains and ridgelines, clearcutting vast areas of forest, dumping thousands of gallons of herbicides and erecting 400 plus foot turbines, visiable for miles and miles in every direction "protect" a treasured landscape?
How does causing silt and mudslides to clog up our waterways, the herbicide and oil leaks of the turbines create a healthy river?
If anything is out of "synch" it is Mr. Houston's thinking.
Wind power is a scam
It is destroying the environment in order to save the environment. And it kills. All the herbicides dumped onto our mountaintops to retard growth will kill off rare alpine plants that have been there for centuries.
All the fluid leaks (these turbines leak like a seive) will find their way down the mountainside to poison fish, fowl, and animal life.
Thousands of migrating birds and bats will be chopped up by the rotor blades and raptors like the bald eagle, falcon, osprey will be eliminated, no longer soaring majestically over the ridgetops.
Fragmenting the forest with blasting and access roads causes mass migration away from these areas by deer and other larger animals of our forests and the infrasound emitted by the turbines makes that migration permanent. No animal can withstand the constant drumming and low vibrating hum the turbines make.
Wind power is a scam. A few will be enriched by the destruction. You know who they are. Challenge them to be honest about what they are doing to our state. With millions of dollars set to line their pockets, they will lie. They care about money above all else.
Clinton, Obama, Baldacci.....
These are the ivory towered elitists I am talking about. They support and encourage job loss. And they are all bought out by big business. All politicians are.
Canada has plenty of herring. They don't stop at the border. The decision to close the plant is part of the plan to lease out all of the coast to industrial wind. The factory was in the way.
What the hell is Allen's?
I couldn't agree more!
Ivory-towered elitists have run this country into the ground job-wise. They have never had the experience of working a day in their lives with their hands and yet they are making the decisions that rob us of the ability to produce goods for sale. We need industry back here in the good old U.S.A. Enough with this world trade crap. It's time to demand our jobs back.
Our so-called governor, Mr. Baldacci, another neo-liberal elitist, is set to destroy the fishing industry here in Maine with the passage of LD 1810 which would tell lobstermen, shrimpers, scallopers and all who make a decent living on the ocean to get lost. Why? Because he is going to lease all of our coastline to the foreign wind companies to come in here and ruin the fishing and boating jobs. That bill, if passed, would make it impossible for fishermen to work in waters they have worked for generations. Baldacci would sell us out to make a few powerful companies rich at the expense of hard working Maine people. Hmmm. I wonder if the jobs lost at Stinson's sardine cannery had anything to do with this takeover. Ya think?
more neo-liberal crapola
When someone mentions "green" jobs, hold on to your wallet folks. For instance,
all the fishermen are in danger of being pushed out from our Maine waters
because Balducki (as in Lame Duck) is set to lease out ALL our coastline to
offshore wind turbine companies from "away" who care nothing for our state
or the people who live and work here.
Impeach Obama and that skinny guy in Disgusta!
Sounds like a nice place to live.
First selectman Bob Ellis must be congratulated for looking out for the people of Avon first and this moratorium is a great opportunity to craft an ordinance for the good of their community. Way to go, Mr. Ellis!
Perfectly reasonable
We in Maine are so foutunate to have the forests that we have and this is a perfectly reasonable bill to ensure the safety of all trees.
Remember the Dutch Elm disease that attacked trees that lined the streets of most Maine towns? If we can do something that would prevent something like that from happening again our state will be better for it.
Great letter Sally!
Thanks for taking the time to help people become aware of what is happening to our beautiful state! It is hard to believe that our own government would do this to the people and the environment of Maine. But I guess to them and people like Angus King the name of their game is MONEY MONEY MONEY.
They will kill off Maine's biggest industry, tourism, and all the tax revenue it brings into the state for their own profit and to hell with the small businesses and the people who make their living in tourism and tourism related jobs.
This is such a shortsighted and destructive road our government has decided to take. It will be a real job killer and a terrible and irreversable destruction of our environment.
The next time Baldacci or King or anyone else spouts off about how many jobs Industrial wind power will bring to our state, ask them what about the jobs lost in tourism.
Thanks Pirate
The biggest chuckle I get is from people who believe this: "We're the government and we're here to help."
tron, take a pill dear
tron, take a pill, dear. Baldacci is not a greedy Republican money grabber. He is a greedy Democrat money grabber and just wait until the rate payers and tax payers get a load of the electric bill he and his wind mafia buddies will be giving us. I swear, they must be on crack or something.
I'm with Lenny on this one
I'm with Lenny on this one and I'm a liberal minded person. Leftwing? I don't know about that. I always thought you couldn't fly with just one wing. The science just isn't there for the Global Warming Mafia and they know it.But they try to scare the bejeebus out of us with their dire predictions when the weatherman can't even get it right. The group of people pushing an unproven theory onto us are the same people going around pushing Industrial wind down the throats of gullible folk by telling them it is "green". Baldacci and sock puppets like Angus King just want to make money and to hell with the people in Maine. Baldacci can take his wind machines and insert them up his b*tt.
Excellent column! Thanks,
Excellent column!
Thanks, Andy. Well written and many valid points. It has made this reader stop to consider and to change my mind about loud bikes. I support your efforts.
Thanks, Diana! Great
Thanks, Diana! Great letter.
Those who promote Industrial wind power stand to make millions at the expense of small businesses and householders who can not afford to see their light bills doubled or trippled! to pay for this. They are also blocking cheap, clean hydro power from Canada that would compete (and win) with their expensive, environmentally destructive wind turbines.
Tourism is Maine's biggest industry. It brings Maine millions of dollars in revenue. We will see a huge decline in tourism when all the beauty spots are blighted with 400 plus foot towers. But do people like Angus King or Gov. Baldacci care? No. They will lie to us and laugh all the way to the bank.
Not one killowatt of this wind power will stay in Maine. It will not benefit Maine people in any way. It will all be shipped out of state on a transmission line costing the Maine people 1.5 billion dollars.
No new business will be attracted to Maine when they figure how much it will cost them for electricity.
No coal-fired electricity producing power plant has ever been shut down in the world, none, because of bringing Industrial wind onto the grid. In fact, more backup plants will have to be built as more Industrial wind power is in the mix because it is so unreliable.
Industrial wind is a scam of the highest magnitude and the proponents of it are nothing but con men, shysters, tricksters, carnies, snake oil salesmen, and the quicker they are unmasked for the damage they are doing to Maine the better.
Destroying our forests here
Destroying our forests here in Maine causes great amounts of CO2 to be released
into the atmosphere. If the con artists have their way, 50 thousand acres will need
to be clearcut to support the turbines, access roads, substations, and high voltage transmission lines.
Tourism is Maine's bigest industry. Kiss that goodby if we "destroy the village in order to save the village."
Maybe those for Industrial wind can afford to see their light bills triple but most small businesses can't and most householders can't.
Also, remember this: Those promoting Industrial wind power are blocking cheap, renewable hydro power from Canada. Why? It will compete with their expensive, feckless, environmentally damaging plans to erect turbines on every rdigeline, hilltop and mountain top as far as the eye can see.
Follow the money.
"As far as health care goes,
"As far as health care goes, I want what my national elected officials get."
Clem, do you want it for just you or for everyone?
Are you advocating National Health Care for all?
I don't think your Senator or Representative would vote for that. They keep the cream off the top the rest of us get what's left.
Very misleading article. For
Very misleading article. For instance, it states that in 1968 Defense made up 46% of the budget and now it only makes up for 19% of the budget. Nowhere does it say that we are spending more now than in 1968, when, in fact, we are. Much more.
Tying defense spending to GDP is bad policy.
Go to: http://costofwar/ and see for yourself how much the two wars are costing the nation, the state, or your town or city. Then discover one of the reasons we are in a dangerous recession if not depression.
I knew Matt Eddy when he was
I knew Matt Eddy when he was a planner in Bath. He didn't do good things for the taxpayers there. Nor Brunswick, either, where he went next. These Tax Increment Financing (TIF) deals should be outlawed.
I agree with macmac, if there is a wind moratorium in place, Dixfield should not be dealing with those who seek the development of Industrial Wind.
northwoods, you are so right!
northwoods, you are so right! And once they realize how bad they are there is nothing they can do about it. Very sad that our state has being run by a bunch of neoliberal morons who care nothing about anything except their profit.
If we can hold them off long enough the subsidies will run out and their free money will be gone and so will they. A statewide moratorium is a great idea.
They would not. The
They would not. The endangered linx is a perfect example.
And the bald eagle. Also, many alpine flora, some of which we do not know about. These alpine flora have been there since the Ice Age receded.
The industrial wind people care only for their profit. Outside of marching en mass to Augusta with torches and pitchforks to get their attention the best we can hope for is that enough people take the time to become well informed, start writing letters to editors and exposing the corrupt and often illegal shenanigans going on. It is illegal to kill a bald eagle. It is illegal to kill songbirds, even, but these bast*rds are getting away with it. They have deep pockets. Poor towns need money. Need I say more?
This is what happens to a
This is what happens to a mountaintop: The whole area has to clearcut.(causing the loss of carbon sink and raising carbon dioxide level) Access roads have to be built wide enough to support trucks 150 feet long for the blades. The tops of the mountains have to be leveled by blasting and excavation and huge pads have to built with steel and cement for the foundations. (Remember, this is not done by hand-lots of gasoline and deisel, causing CO2s to rise.) The area around each turbine has to be packed hard and roads from one turbine to the next have to be built. In order to insure no vegetation will grow, massive spraying of herbicides is needed. High voltage lines have to be erected to connect all the towers and connect into the grid. A sub-station must be built to house all the equipment, etc. And don't forget all the massive transportation for all the parts and equipment, from foreign countries in many cases.
The motors of the turbines need a huge amount of fluids to keep them working. In cold weather, these fluids must be heated with electricity or they turn to gel. And the strobe lights are run from electricity. The fluids often leak and during a power outage, the whole thing shuts down. The wind must be blowing between 25 to 55 miles per hour. 25 to get the rotor blades started and not over 55 or the internal brake system will shut the works down. If these brakes fail, and they can and have, the rotors spin, uncontrolled, and eventually the tower collapses. You can see this happen on U Tube. And while you are at U Tube, check out Nettie Pena's videos, "They're Not Green".
What do you think will happen to our lakes and streams and wells when all this destruction and poison makes it way down the mountainside? The mudslides will kill trout and other fish. The herbicides will poison everything in their path.
Deer and moose are not found anywhere near where these things are built. Migrating ducks, geese and songbirds are being killed and maimed by the tens of thousands by the blades. Other small game like the foxes flee these areas leaving a vast Dead Zone.
Just like the vehicles we drive, these machines eventually wear out. 20 to 25 years if well maintained is the industry average. Even if the areas destroyed by the building of these towers could be cleaned up, where is the money to do this going to come from? Or are they going to continue to rot and rust, leaving a blight our children and grandchildren will not thank us for.
And all this and NOT ONE killowatt of energy will be kept in maine. ALL of this will be exported onto the New England grid. Mainer's electric bills will double or triple to pay for all this. And once the government's subsidies dry up, the limited liability corporations will be long gone, laughing all the way to the bank about the rural hayseeds they suckered.
This state is run by a bunch
This state is run by a bunch of Yup elitists who care nothing about the real people who live decent, hard-working and honest lives.
Next time we go to vote we will remember this.
Thanks, Jan, for taking the time to write.
Gov. Baldacci has turned down
Gov. Baldacci has turned down a statewide moratorium when asked by a group of concerned citizens to do so.
What is he afraid of? Why won't he let the good people of Maine educate themselves about wind power? Seems he has something to hide.
Excellent points, Al. It's
Excellent points, Al. It's always amazing how much cheerleading these groups and the state of Maine do for a boondoggle like this - which the taxpayer eventually ends up paying for.
Just wait until you see your light bill go up 100 to 200 percent to pay for those idiotic wind farms and the new transmission lines needed to export the power out of state!
It's damned funny they are so
It's damned funny they are so concerned about the noise of motorcycles passing sombody's house a couple times during the summer and yet do NOTHING to address the CONSTANT noise emitted from wind turbines being erected too close to someone's house.
Maybe all the motorcycle clubs should get together and ride past Baldy's house at 2 AM a few times and see how he likes it!
Isn't is amazing how hostile
Isn't is amazing how hostile the press is to Maine people!! The NERVE of this so-called reporter, Eileen Adams, taking the side of the hucksters and snake oil salesmen - the THUGS, CROOKS AND LIARS who are destroying our state just to enrich themselves. The NERVE or her saying we don't have any rights!!!
Our state is being taken by eminent domain over the objections of thousands of Honest, hard working Maine people and she doesn't even have the DECENCY to report their side.
I wouldn't hire her to clean toilets.
Industrial wind power is a
Industrial wind power is a scam of the highest magnitude. It would not even exist if it weren't for the huge subsidies (that's our taxdollars) given out. The proponents of wind power are like the snake oil salesmen of yesterday or the rainmakers who used fear as a tool against the gullible.
Industrial wind power will destroy our forests and as everyone knows forests remove CO2s from the air and give us, in return, oxygen. To clearcut thousands of miles of forest is insanity.
Maine does not need the pitiful amount of power these wind turbines produce. We already export a surplus into the New England grid. And, let me be clear about this -ALL of the power produced will be exported out of state and our electric rates will go up to pay for the new high voltage lines needed to export it. So, we pay twice for something not needed, once with our tax dollars and again when we see our electric bills doubled or tripled.
Wind power went out along with the hoop skirts because it is unreliable.(25 % in the best of times) The wind does not blow all the time and backup power plants must be kept running in reserve which adds more CO2s (carbon dioxide) into the atmosphere. Add in the CO2s generated in the building and transporting the turbines, the massive amount of blasting, the building of access roads and transformer substations and the spraying of herbicides which will leach into our waterways and wells and you get the picture - Maine people are being taken for a ride big time.
Think about it. We do not use electricity to run our vehicles and most of us do not use electricity to heat our homes. Maine uses mostly hydro-power and natural gas from Canada.
Our children and grandchildren will be paying for years when these turbines cease to run (20 years or so) and the cleanup begins by removing these derilict turbines from our land. And even then, the damage will be done to the land that will never recover fully.
All this to enrich a few at the expense of the rest of us.
Reverand Taylor, Keep your
Reverand Taylor,
Keep your nose out of politics, keep your influence for your parishoners or someday you just might be paying a tax bill the same as the rest of us.
There is a separation of church/state in this country. Our forefathers, in their wisdom, wrote our Constitution and Bill of Rights. It protects you. Better keep it that way, don'tcha think?
Anytime our government meets
Anytime our government meets in secret it may be a win-win for them but a big lose-lose for the citizen. You can call it a "retreat" all you want, but it is still done in secret which ought to be against the law.
If we had a governor who
If we had a governor who didn't cater to his rich cronies and actually gave a damn about the little guy he would know that a modest tax increase on the wealthy is in order. But no, he is going to make the rest of us suffer just so he can hobnob and schmooze around with the elites. He and Angass are the worst governors we have ever had. And they are both in with the SCAM of industrial wind which will result in us paying higher light bills. Angass even has the brass ones to tell us to use clean energy - he who ran all over the country for 9 months in a 40 foot RV.
Bullpuckey. Our country is in
Bullpuckey. Our country is in a mess because we spend over half the budget on war. The illegal war in Iraq and the unwinnable and unending war in Afghanistan. And we are in a mess because we do not produce anything. We are a debtor nation with a crushing trade imballance. China could buy us in a heartbeat. The only reason they don't is because they wouldn't find enough idiots elsewhere to buy their cheap crap at Walmart.
Serious investment in clean
Serious investment in clean energy? Sounds like Angass or Baldy selling the SCAM of industrial wind. As soon as the subsidies dry up Big Wind will be gone the way of the snake oil salesman. Conservation of our resources and hydro are a good fit for Maine. Blasting mountaintops and clearcutting an area the size of 39,000 football fields is not.
Maine government, unlike the
Maine government, unlike the federal government, does not have the ability to print money. Right now, we have a governor obsessed with NOT raising taxes. What this means is that our roads and bridges go unrepaired and our schools cut teachers and programs. The elderly and the disabled people will see their home care shredded and many will be forced into nursing homes (which cost far too much for many) or face homelessness.
I live in the most beautiful state in this union. I do not think it is unreasonable to pay taxes to assure that we all have a quality of life to be proud of. Unless you are a millionaire, this petty bickering about taxes is rediculous. And watch your property taxes rise when towns and cities need the money the state refuses to raise. Firemen do not work for free. Roads do not plow themselves.
We have elected an elitist governor who is beholden to his elitist and rich cronies. He does not care for ordinary citizens. He will never raise taxes on his rich constituents, the people who give huge sums to get people like him elected. He does not care about our quality of life, only those who grease his palm. He is a moral coward.
Run Sarah Run! I miss the
Run Sarah Run!
I miss the comedy show she starred in.
Tourism is Maine's largest
Tourism is Maine's largest industry. I wonder how many jobs and how much tax revenue we will be losing because of these horendous wind turbines.
Hunting and fishing also add jobs and tax dollars to our economy. The building of these turbines and the access roads and the high voltage transmission lines will fragment and destroy the habitat needed for deer and other wildlife and the herbicides and silt will polute our waterways, rivers streams and lakes.
Dylan Voorhees and members of the NRCM must be forced to address these issues.
Exactly! Let Nature take its
Exactly! Let Nature take its course and enjoy whatever comes our way.
What's a super bowl?
What's a super bowl?
macmac, have you joined the
macmac, have you joined the Citizens Taskforce on Wind Power - Maine? We are all in this together. And together we can fight.
Impeach Baldacci
CMP is putting in that
CMP is putting in that upgrade to carry all the power out of state that the Industrial Wind farms make, which is almost nothing and which the Maine taxpayer and ratepayer will be paying for.
Ruth, I would pull up those stakes in the middle of the night and fight them. I would even go so far as to chain myself to my shade trees. Don't just roll over and let them get away with it without a fight. Get your picture in the papers. Let everyone know who the bad guys are.
And don't let anyone call you a NIMBY. Chances are they are just ignorant.
Join the Citizens Taskforce on Wind Power - Maine, and share your story. We are all in this together.
Take pictures! And read up on the health risks of living near high voltage power lines.
Snow acts as a buffer,
Snow acts as a buffer, insulation, for many plants, trees and even wildlife. Without the protection of a good snow cover many perennial plants will die off and roots of apple trees and maple trees will die. These are good cash crops in Maine.
Be prepared to pay more for maple syrup and apples come harvest time.
There is a reason why snow is beneficial in the environment we are in. Sure, it is easier on us humans but we are not the only living things on this planet.
On the plus side, the deer will be more abundant come hunting season. If they are still around after Industrial Wind scares the bejeezus out of them.
Two books to read: The Wind
Two books to read:
The Wind Farm Scam by John Etherington
Wind Turbine Syndrome by Nina Pierpont, MD.
Impeach Baldacci
Thank you Jonathan Albrecht
Thank you Jonathan Albrecht for speaking out. These 400 foot monsters (wind towers) destroy our quality of place and destroy the quality of place for untold numbers of wildlife, birds and fish. The blasting of ridgelines, the clearcutting for access roads and transmission lines, the herbicide runoff into our waterways will forever change the natural beauty of Maine. And all for a tiny amount of unreliable power that no Mainer will benefit from. And our rates will rise to pay for all this. It is criminal! The wind power industry is a SCAM and would not even exist were it not for the huge subsidies given by government - our tax dollars!
Impeach Baldacci!
Enough already! Norway, take
Enough already! Norway, take the building and think twice before you allow another private business or person to own it. This is a landmark building of great value to your town. Treat it as such.
Here is a quote: "We don't
Here is a quote: "We don't need to build walls, we need to build bridges. We don't need protection, we need opportunity. But in a world of stiff compitition we also need more than free trade. We need fair trade with fair rules. That's why I fought for NAFTA which effectively opened Mexico's and Canada's markets to American products and for GATT which is helping to level the playing field for American companies abroad. In all, since 1992 we have negotiated more than 200 trade agreements - 21 with Japan alone".
Source: "Between Hope and History", by Bill Clinton, page 34-35 Jan. 1, 1996.
Sorry, jalbrecht1, Clinton and Gore fought for NAFTA and lobbied congress hard to get it passed. They even brought in Carter to lobby members of congress to pass it.
Not socialists, PistonJay,
Not socialists, PistonJay, FASCISTS.
I agree with tron. We live in
I agree with tron. We live in a police state now. This law just adds another nail in the coffin where our Constitution and Bill of Rights are slowly being burried.
Ahem. It was Clinton who
Ahem. It was Clinton who signed NAFTA into law with the backing of the Republican party and 103 (I think) Democrats. It was fought tooth and nail by many in congress to no avail. Bush had run out of time for ratification which Clinton signed on Dec. 8, 1993.
People have marched in the streets to get NAFTA and CAFTA repealed. But, you won't hear much about that on U.S. tv. Almost all of our media is owned by large corporations who profit from cheap labor and lack of environmental and safety standards. The same corporations who buy our members of congress, federal and state.
I agree with you - globalism is destroying our country. It is destroying many countries. Just look at Haiti for instance. Read about how they became so poor. The IMF (International Monetary Fund) and the WTO (World Trade Organization) have been set up to pauperize nations so that cheap labor is always in abundance.
And I agree with you - the Federal Reserve should be abolished.
Thank you, Elaine, for taking
Thank you, Elaine, for taking the time to thank these men at the public works. My husband worked for the public works in a different town for 18 years so I know, first hand, about the long hours plowing snow and keeping the streets safe for workers and shoppers.
I join you in your thanks to the public works crew in Auburn.
These neo-liberals, of which
These neo-liberals, of which Baldy is one, do not give a damn about anything that does not make a profit. Cutting aid for people in desparate situations or clear cutting thousand of square miles of forest for his buddies in Big Wind - same thing to those creeps, crooks and liars.
He is setting our state on a backwards course which we all will end up paying for.
He is a disgrace.
I can't read the article!
I can't read the article!
Yes, Big Brother is alive and
Yes, Big Brother is alive and well in the USA. Little by little our right to privacy is being taken away. It is a death of a thousand cuts.
Where did the volcanic
Where did the volcanic activity occur?
The Tamboro eruption in 1815 -- east of Java.
Want to see real, rampant
Want to see real, rampant greed? Look into your friendly CEO of a large corporation or bank. Don't blame the unions for wanting a weeks wages that will support a family. Blame the heads of corporations who take billions out of economy and shelter it, tax free, in offshore banks.
Cut the damned military
Cut the damned military budget in half. Get the hell out of wars that will last for decades and never be winable. Bring back industry and jobs to the U.S.A. and tax the hell out of industries that move out of country and hide their money in offshore banks. We build nothing much here anymore except weapons of mass destruction or mass destraction. Enough.
Then tax the rich until they say Momma.
I'm not convinced that global
I'm not convinced that global warming or climate change is manmade. People like Al Gore scare me more than the "terrorists" and it is possible that he wants us to change our lives just so he can feel good about flying all over in jumbo jets scaring the bejebus out of us and making a profit by selling us on the idea of alternative energy like industrial wind "farms".
In Maine, the area of 39 thousand football fields are being destroyed because the neo-liberals believe wind power is gonna save us. Ballony! All that forest being destroyed will cause our rates to go up and all the power will go out of state. And what will it do to our tourist industry? And what about the hunters?
Check out what the people at Mars Hill think of wind power. It has ruined their lives. But don't take my word for it. Go to http://www.wind-watch.org/ and see for yourselves.