The 5-year-old looked up at his mother and said, “Mommy, I’m hungry.”

“No, dear,” she replied, “you are obviously unable to read the newspaper or you would understand that you are suffering from ‘food insecurity.’ “

“What’s that?” he asked.

“Well,” she began, “that is when you think you want food but you are not sure if it is available to you under your present short- or long-term circumstances.”

“Is that why my tummy hurts?” he asked.

“No, dear, again you don’t understand. Your tummy hurts because there is not enough food in it.”

“Is that why I am hungry?”

“How many times do I have to tell you, you are not hungry, you are food insecure.”

“Who says I’m not hungry?”

“Our government says so, darling. A few years ago it became politically correct to refer to hunger as food insecurity. Hunger was seen as so Third World that it was embarrassing to refer to people in the richest country in the world as going hungry. It made us look poor at best and, at worst, insensitive to the needs of our people. How tacky would that be?”

The point of this story is that thousands of people across Maine woke up this morning unsure how they would provide sufficient food for their families. People who work on the front lines to provide assistance with meals are feeling the pressure of doubled demand in the past year.

A U.S. Department of Agriculture report, released last month, showed that 195,000 Mainers — nearly 15 percent of the state’s people — struggle with food insecurity. But people who want jobs are hungry and calling hunger “food insecurity” doesn’t change the situation or make it better.

We need to put our people back to work. Job security trumps food security every time.

Tom Foley

Cumberland Foreside 

Bills to be filed in Congress to halt abortion funding 

As a taxpayer, I am opposed to hundreds of millions of my hard-earned tax dollars being used to fund abortion and abortion providers, such as Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in America.

That is why I urge citizens to contact our elected leaders and join with Susan B. Anthony List’s Stop Abortion Funding campaign (online at www.stopabortionfunding.com) that is working to submit and pass two pro-life bills that would end all federal funding of abortion.

The “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” a bipartisan bill to be sponsored by Reps. Chris Smith, R-N.J., and Dan Lipinski, D-Ill., would create a government-wide statutory prohibition on abortion funding, including problematic provisions in the health care bill.

The “Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act” would ensure that private groups, including Planned Parenthood, do not receive federal dollars under the Title X federal family planning assistance program.

According to the Government Accountability Office, abortion providers have received over a billion dollars in the past seven years alone.

I signed a petition at the website to let my representative in Congress know that I expect her to co-sponsor and vote for these two bills.

I shouldn’t have to be complicit in the destruction of innocent human life when I pay my taxes.

Robert Poissant

Gorham

Westbrook’s a well-policed city, and that counts a lot 

I commend the work the Westbrook Police Department is doing.

Chief William Baker is absolutely correct when he says, “It’s our job to be vigilant in the presence of people with criminal histories.”

I thank him for doing his job. It’s a sad day when the people who uphold the law have to defend themselves against people who constantly break the law and have criminal records a mile long. Where is the common sense in this?

Do some people really think that we are all so stupid or naive to believe that they were innocently working in a club at 1 a.m.?

People with criminal records or out on bail waiting for their day in court want us to believe they were working hard to help open a strip club for all our benefit? Please, we all know a con when we see one.

There is a saying that I grew up with and would like to pass on: “Birds of a feather flock together.”

The people who work hard every day to keep corruption out of our cities and towns, the people with young families who live by the law and teach their children to respect it, we are the ones being harassed!

It’s time we stand up to bullies. It’s time to stop them from polluting our communities. It’s time to speak up, everyone.

Yvonne Graffam

Gorham 

Corrupt public figures need to be permanently fired 

This is about the great Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., who is corrupt like a lot of public people. These people are supposed to be above reproach, whether they are teachers, police, ministers, politicians, sports stars, etc.

As far as I am concerned, when these people break the law, they need to pay dearly. Fire them right now: They are gone, done, and all their benefits are gone, too. Let’s set an example for the young to see, a good example — not the one we are setting now.

Also, let us never let them get back into the profession that they disgraced.

Earl Harnden

Windham 

Shades of Sherlock Holmes: The case of the silent Lab 

In the Linda Dolloff case, District Attorney Stephanie Anderson was criticized for wondering what Jeffrey Dolloff’s Labrador retriever was thinking as the assault was happening.

The real question is, how could an alleged intruder make a silent entry with a Lab in the house?

Any visitor, especially at night, would be greeted with a raucous welcome/alarm that no one could sleep through.

Call it “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.” It’s elementary, my dear Watson.

Jack Ridge

Scarborough