January 14

Letters to the editor: Critique of Hostess workers half-baked

(Continued from page 1)

click image to enlarge

The Hostess Brands Inc. products that were made in Biddeford included: CupCakes, Sno Balls, mini CupCakes and a variety of Wonder and J.J. Nissen breads. Employees of the Biddeford plant went on strike because Hostess was misappropriating pension funds, not because they wanted higher wages, a reader says.

2012 File Photo/Gregory Rec

In the next few months, there will be more arguments for diminished investment in programs that actually help people and our increasingly fragile planet. I would urge people to question such arguments.

Eisenhower's words of April 1953 were true then, and are still true today. Can we afford to continue to be so reckless?

Tom Kircher

Biddeford

Popularity of 'Chainsaw' may signal mass madness

At all IMAX theaters and many others, the movie "Texas Chainsaw" is being shown, touted also to be in 3-D to add to your viewing experience. This movie is the No. 1 grossing (and gross) movie in the country presently.

Have we all gone so mad that the dismemberment of human beings is the theme of a vile form of movie entertainment? What next? A film version of the Newtown, Conn., and Aurora, Colo., tragedies for our debased viewing pleasure?

Linda Cornish Rioux

Old Orchard Beach

Gun rights facing threat; critics cite dubious data

The Jan. 5 Portland Press Herald had an above-the-fold piece ("Open carry law: Police chiefs in Maine seek tighter rules") regarding the police chiefs in Maine looking at open-carry laws, to give them more authority to stop and question those who carry openly.

My guess is that it will not stop there, but they will further attempt to meddle with the Second Amendment rights that guarantee our freedoms.

Further, two writers of letters published that day ("Easy access enables gun tragedies") show considerable ignorance of the facts about assault rifles.

One said he didn't understand the need for semiautomatic rifles capable of firing hundreds of rounds. Many of Maine's favorite deer rifles are so capable. Then he uses the term "clips," which is incorrect; clips are used by the military in rifles of a bygone time as today's AR-15 uses magazines.

The other letter writer doesn't think that hunting requires "high-powered, high-capacity military weapons designed to kill." Again, her ignorance is showing and is indicative of the common misunderstanding of the public at large.

The .223-caliber rifle that is being used by the military is not designed to kill but to wound. The military has long known that to wound is a more effective military tactic than killing.

The .223 is not a high-powered cartridge. Most knowledgeable gun people know that it is considered a varmint cartridge, less powerful than what most Maine hunters use for deer hunting.

Lastly, the second letter writer says we have "regulations for just about everything, but very few governing the sales and use of guns." Wrong!

There are more than 20,000 gun laws in the USA, and that is part of the problem. There are so many they are ignored by the perpetrators in each and every incident. Adding more will not change the outcomes. It will only make the liberals feel better.

George A. Fogg

North Yarmouth

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