Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

November 1, 2012

Letters to the editor: 'Vile' views prompt call for boycott

 I want to thank Bill Nemitz for bringing to light Linda Bean's extreme right-wing views and agenda ("Linda Bean evokes Hitler in rant on Obama," Oct. 26).

This great country allows individuals to express their opinions, however extreme and vile. In this country, consumers can also express their contempt for such extreme and vile views by choosing where to spend their hard-earned money.

I would urge Mainers and those from away who find her views distressing and painful to boycott Linda Bean's Perfect Maine (ironic "Perfect Maine").

Linda Bean has also soiled the prominent Bean family name. I hope that this is not what Maine is becoming; then again, Paul LePage is governor.

Dave Jones

Yarmouth 

Obama ignores deficit; Romney will rein it in 

After I intently watched all four presidential and vice-presidential debates, the choice for the election has become starkly clear.

We live in an uncertain time. Terrorist attacks, financial meltdowns and large-scale disasters caused by weather all require collective resources to ensure national stability.

We must ensure our nation is on sound financial footing. How can we react to events when we are strapped by more than $16 trillion in national debt?

President Obama has not displayed a sense of urgency in getting the debt under control. His idea of taxing the rich to solve our problems will not work. Even if the rich were taxed at 100 percent, it would only be enough to run the government for a few short months.

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are serious about putting us on the right course. Their ideas of making the tax code simple and cutting wasteful spending (like Solyndra) will begin the long process of balancing our budget. The clear choice is Romney/Ryan.

Keith Pulsifer

Yarmouth 

Volk too far to the right to represent Scarborough 

Amy Volk is too extreme for Scarborough.

In a town that takes great pride in its school system, Volk proposed legislation that would pay parents (out of tight school budgets) to send their children to religious schools.

She sponsored far right-wing, American Legislative Exchange Council-inspired legislation to create virtual charter schools (funded from already stressed school budgets). Volk tried to personally benefit from her own legislation. Virtual charter schools have proven to be profitable to the owners, not the students.

Volk is anti-woman and anti-choice, proposing legislation that would have created "personhood" for a fetus.

Amy Volk has voted in support of the extreme right-wing tea party administration of Gov. Paul LePage 92 percent of the time. This is an appalling record. We cannot stand by and let Volk and LePage ruin Scarborough.

Paul Aranson will return Augusta to real Maine values. I've already voted for Aranson. I hope you will, too!

Matthew L. Powell

Scarborough

Transportation, water bonds key to prosperity 

The Maine Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers urges Maine residents to please vote "yes" on Questions 4 and 5.

In 2008, the Maine Section ASCE released a report card grading the condition of Maine's infrastructure. In that report, Maine's infrastructure received grades from a high of B-minus for airports to lows of D-plus for municipal wastewater and bridges and D for roads.

Significant investment is needed to keep our roads safe, to make our ports competitive, to improve our railroads and to keep costs low for Maine businesses. There are two questions on the upcoming ballot that will help Mainers fill this investment gap and move our state closer to building a solid foundation for our economic future.

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