Letters

Published
January 30, 2015

Letter to the editor: Critic of deceptive statistics no stranger to exaggeration

Oh, the irony! In his letter of Jan. 28 (“Climate-warming statistics often intentionally deceive”), David Dilley strongly suggests, twice, that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA are lying with statistics. But he himself exaggerates by nearly a factor of three with the very first statistic he puts forward: the percentage of Earth’s surface […]
Published
January 30, 2015

Letter to the editor: Money from big business corrodes Keystone pipeline debate

The influence of big business on members of Congress, particularly Republicans, is too evident in the effort to push through the Keystone XL Pipeline bill. Americans’ dependence on foreign oil is rapidly declining. The need for a pipeline that only serves the export goals of oil industries should be a red flag that proves big […]
Published
January 30, 2015

Letter to the editor: Man who refocused his faith overlooked Catholic activism

It is good that Jay Russo’s “second baptism has affirmed a refocused faith” (Jan. 23). Too bad he didn’t make a similar commitment as a baptized Catholic. I am not a member of St. Maximilian Kolbe in Scarborough, the church that Mr. Russo used to belong to, but I am familiar with the many fine […]
Published
January 30, 2015

Letter to the editor: Instead of doctors, let’s pay politicians based on quality

I read with interest “Obama wants doctors’ pay linked to quality of care” (Jan. 27). President Obama wants to overhaul the way doctors are paid. He wants to tie their fees to the quality of care. He wants to cut wasteful spending. He wants to reward providers based on value. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if […]
Published
January 30, 2015

Letter to the editor: No need to fix how Maine’s constitutional officers are chosen

It’s curious that changing the method of selecting Maine’s attorney general and secretary of state wasn’t a pressing matter in 2011, when Paul LePage first took office. Strange, too, that a self-proclaimed proponent of small government would propose the creation of the new office of lieutenant governor, an executive position with no real role in […]

Published
January 29, 2015

Letter to the editor: Boehner’s breach of protocol embarrasses party member

The U.S. Constitution requires candidates for the U.S. Senate to be 30 years old, but it doesn’t require them to be grown-ups, and it ought to. Perhaps it wasn’t an oversight on the part of the Founders – perhaps they and their compatriots were all grown-ups and behaved accordingly, and it never occurred to them […]
Published
January 29, 2015

Letter to the editor: State of the Union’s dark side ought to be changed

Do you agree with President Obama that the “State of the Union is strong”? If it were, would the crimes and criminals responsible for the greatest financial calamity to roil the world’s economies since the Great Depression still not be held to account? Would 95 percent of the economic gains since the nadir of the […]
Published
January 29, 2015

Letter to the editor: Columns on Maine budget are recommended reading

The Portland Press Herald has recently published three interesting and revealing columns about the proposed 2015 Maine budget. I urge Maine citizens to read them. • Mike Tipping’s Jan. 10 commentary (“LePage proposes under-the-radar corporate tax giveaway”) referred to corporate tax breaks that raise important questions and will require our legislators to do some serious homework […]
Published
January 29, 2015

Letter to the editor: Higher speed limit costs money, lives

I like to drive fast as much as the next person. Yet every time I see the new 70 mph speed limit signs on 295, I can’t help feeling as though we’ve struck a devil’s bargain. Sure, we might shave a few minutes off our commutes, but along with those delightful extra moments, the people […]
Published
January 28, 2015

Letter to the editor: Higher minimum wage is least we should do

Porter Leighton’s Jan. 9 letter (“Mayor’s minimum-wage idea ignores laws of economics”) contained a number of factual errors. The first error was implying the mayor is unschooled in economics because he proposed increasing Portland’s minimum wage. It’s more likely the proposal was made because it’s a sure thing for increasing economic activity and ultimately getting […]

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Letters