NEWPORT, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage and several department heads gathered for a town hall meeting at Nokomis Regional High School on Thursday evening, where the topic of focus kept coming back to education.
“John Adams had a quote … that was ‘Education for our citizens had to provide two things.’ It has to provide an avenue to earn a living and it has to provide an avenue to live in a civil society. And, quite frankly, … I think we have a disconnect,” said LePage. “We have a disconnect because we failed miserably in the last two decades in the work force component.”
LePage elaborated by saying students need to be better prepared for the work force through schoolwork, which isn’t happening now, he said.
LePage said he likes to build furniture as a hobby, and geometry is needed for that.
“You know geometry if you can cut angles and put furniture together. It’s just called something different,” he said.
Department of Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen also acknowledged the need for education reform.
He said the graduation rate of a four-year high school student in the state is 82 percent.
“We can’t have a prosperous economy with that kind of percentage,” said Bowen. “We have to build a better system.”
LePage said his administration has looked to other countries to see how they educate their students.
“We group kids together by age,” said Bowen. “We lock them into that system until college. A lot of kids are just not where they need to be [because their minds don’t mature at the same rate].”
LePage mentioned energy as another key topic when he was making his way through various towns in Penobscot County.
“Mainers are paying $326 million per year above the average American for our energy,” said LePage.
He targeted wind power as a major contributor for that high number.
“It’s a big number. Why? Because we have some groups in Maine that are greedy. We have people in Maine who say that wind is the answer. And it is the answer for people who lobby for wind,” said LePage. “Wind is costing us dearly. It’s costing us jobs, it’s costing us investment and it’s costing us big.”
He also took a shot at former governor Angus King, who is running for U.S. senate.
“The king of the wind cartel is running for the U.S. senate,” said LePage, who received applause and laughs from the audience.
Another area of concern that is costing Mainers money is prescription drugs, and the abuse that relates to it, said LePage.
“Maine leads the country … in prescription drug abuse,” said Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary Mayhew. “The root of that is also our prescribing practices within the provider community. We also need to look at the protocol for when certain prescriptions, like Oxycontin, are being prescribed. We have an epidemic for overprescribing that’s leading to abuse.”
LePage mentioned a way to control and monitor prescription drugs, but physicians are reluctant to join the program.
“Drug abuse in the country is not shrinking — it’s growing,” he said. “Methadone clinics for profit don’t work.”
Another frequent topic was roads. LePage said talks of the East-West Highway is ongoing.
“There’s a lot of work being done in that area,” he said. “The dialogue between the Atlantic provinces [of Canada] and the province of Quebec [is ongoing]. We are working with them and talking with them.”
LePage said he likes to build furniture as a hobby, and geometry is needed for that.
“You know geometry if you can cut angles and put furniture together. It’s just called something different,” he said.
So thats why he is obscessed with CUTS!
Dlbrt can’t you come up with something better than this? All the people that are so down on LPage will say anything to cut him down. He’s trying to fix the mistakes of his predecessors and there are sure a lot of those!
He’s trying to push the agenda of the Maine Heritage Policy Center…who might have a goo idea or two…but not all of them. Never does one group have the right idea on all issues. Besides, if he really were trying to fix the mistakes of the past, he won’t gain much ground if he continually makes his own mistakes as well.
They’ve had their dose of HATERADE, and this is what you get.
LePage has a remarkable ability to ‘connect’ with school kids, his audience that pointy headed liberals don’t. They got the message, even if the haters didn’t.
the only thing I have seen him fix is getting two family members jobs…..what about the rest of the people out there? He has done nothing except go after our most neediest people, the ones without a voice..He is a bully in every sense of the word.
YAH HE IS.
you must be a bleeding heart!
well, if wanting our neediest people to be able to be housed and fed, guess I am. You should be thanking God its not you in their shoes.
Thank you Governor LePage for your wisdom in seeing the corruption of the wind industry.Both the Maine Department of Environmental Destruction and the Public
Utilities Commission are a digrace to every Maine citizen who loves Maine’s
great Natural Beauty and wants to avoid much higher electric rates.
These two public semi-governmental departments act like Kings with no accountability and should be ashamed of themelves for selling out to
greedy wind developers whose only purpose in life is to rape the forests,
pristine wilderness lakes and mountain ridges of Maine for their own greedy
self-serving purposes.
The apparent corruption in the State of Maine is becoming more obvious with
every passing day.
Shame on these so-called public servants! They are only serving the needs
of the nature destroying, greedy, corrupt wind developers!
Hopefully the Supreme Court in the Great State of Maine will show more
wisdom and foresight than these two agencies.Thank you Governor LePage for seeing through the corruption of the wind industry! They are nothing more than parasites feeding off of Maine and American taxpayers!
The corruption is on the part of the horrid corporate right wing who are walking toadies for the oil and gas industry who own them.
Whatever one thinks of the Governor, he has it right regarding Big Wind.
I can’t comprehend why the legislators still can’t get it! Big money and what I would consider inappropriate relations between state legislators and official with wind proponents makes LePage’s family ties insignificant.
Not too well thought out or convincing, as debates go.
Until he gets his relatives off the state payroll he has no business talking about corruption. Imagine how people would scream if a democrat hired their relatives.
Taken from CREW’s “Family Affair” report:
Rep. Pingree’s campaign committee, Pingree for Congress, paid her business and paid her daughter and son-in-law for media services. Chellie Pingree (self) and Hannah Pingree (daughter): Rep. Pingree and Ms. Pingree are owners of Nebo Lodge, Inc., in North Haven, ME.
During the 2008 election cycle, Rep. Pingree’s campaign committee paid the lodge
$4,061 for lodging and catering.
Cecily Pingree (daughter): During the 2008 election cycle, Rep. Pingree’s campaign committee paid Ms. Pingree$1,750 for video production services.
Jason Mann (son-in-law):99 During the 2008 election cycle, Rep. Pingree’s campaign committee paid Mr. Mann$1,925 for media production services.
Start Screaming!
Were those all paid by the state (and our tax dollars) or were they paid by the campaign and the donors to it? I have little use for Pingree as she’s too far left for me, however there’s a big difference between a campaign paying related parties and state employees hiring related parties.
Resorting to the “two wrongs make a right” defense is silly. All I get from your comment is that since a democrat did it its OK for the Governor. I’m saying it’s wrong no matter who. BTW, comparing a campaign committee to the Maine state public payroll are two different things.
Lepage throws vague accusations around about state workers with no facts to back it up, because this Violette fellow got caught up in his greed and was not under any oversight, or the ones who were suppose to watch him failed miserablely, the pig of a governor generalizes and calls all middle management state workers corrupt? He best look in the mirror at his corrupt values and appreciate the hard working people who work for the state! In the past few months, I have had to contact several state departments, and while it was sometimes difficult to get a live person, when I did, they were helpful and polite. He should put forth some facts and then fire these people if they are truly corrupt. I bet he won’t be singing this song much longer…what a boss. I pity the people who had to work under him at Marden’s.
Angus Ka-Ching is partnered with the Yale University Endowment with his wind farm scam. For years, Yale hid behind the shell company “Bayroot”, named after a college drinking game.
Well while Yale preaches to us about carefully stewarding the planet, they have been perhaps Maine’s most vicious liquidation harvester. They have left moonscapes in their wake. The Yale Endowment has gotten big financial returns and fancies itself as the smartest guy in the room. Slimiest is more like it.
Angus meanwhile preached to us about our carbon footprints but what about his multiple large homes and the 40′ gas guzzling RV he drove around the U.S. for almost a year. Angus “Do as I say, not as I do” King is a huge hypocrite and impostor.
Some info on Yale:
http://www.windtaskforce.org/page/doe-loan-record-hill
LeBUFFOON and is right wing cronies are against wind because they are bought and paid for by the oil and gas companies. Case closed.
tinserblic. this is for you. have you looked at the wind farm perposal? we will not be using any of the power that comes from these wind mills in our homes. but we have to lose or land that we all use to hunt,fish, hike,bird watch, for nothing. it will only support about 15 jobs year round. if we could recive the benifits from wind than most people are for it including lapage. we need to change the perposal so we recive the power from the wind mills in or state.
The real buffoon is TINSERBLIC; since he has been bought and paid for by the unions and woefully ignorant of these facts:
>Oil companies made 7 cents on each gallon of gasoline sold.
Taxes on each gallon average 48 cents.
>Every time Democrats restrict drilling or pipelines it costs government in revenue and that ripples down into major things like bridge and road maintenance, forcing borrowing to pay for things which once came from fuel taxes. Obama’s grandstanding is crippling traditional government services.
>Electric cars have yet to be assessed their share of taxes. How’s that for a JOLT?
> Key Democrats on Congressional committees receive tens of millions in Oil & gas contributions. Blanche Lincoln, AR, $736,091; Dan Boren, OK, $699,440; Jim Matheson, UT, $341,997; Mike Ross, AR, $331,300; Rick Boucher, VA, $323,017; and of course. Sen. Mary Landrieu of LA a major Dem. backer of the oil & gas industry.
> in sharp contrast, Labor unions contribution almost 90% of their $49m in 2011 to Democrats and their state lackeys. Top receipients in 2011-12 were Rep. Janice Hahn, CA; Kathleen Hochul, NY; Betty Sue Sutton, OH; Shelley Berkley, NV; and Mazie Hirono, HI.
They are all women; talk about getting ‘bought n’ sold’, why the sexist approach UNLESS WOMEN CAN BE MORE EASILY MANIPULATED?
A woeful rant…..
you seriously believe that? you do realize that in order to “use ” wind there has to be a backup of the same capacity in order to cover for when the wind doesn’t blow . and it has to run 24/7. because they can just flip a switch and have it come on. its not reliable period. so knowing those facts…and the cost of looking at them- why do you think lepage is in big oils pocket? or does he realize the waste it really is? case closed x2
Isn’t Havards endowment back near $40 billion??? The interest on that is more than all the welfare in Maine. Why is it only 5% of people from poor families are enrolled Yet 80% come from upper class? Hint Hint it has a lot more to do with money than IQ or how hard these kids work.
So oil and coal companies have no lobbying/cartel groups? Funny, I see a lot of their ads on TV.
They don’t want to get rich either?
Wind has zero to do with oil or coal as here in Maine we burn neither of those to make electricity.
hahahahahahaha
Ummm. You need to think or read more. I have no idea what your point is but your statement is very very wrong.
http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/states/electricity.cfm/state=ME
Did you even read that reference?
The 2% for coal fired power comes from power in the NE grid, that Maine has no control over. In glaring contrast in the rest of the U.S., 50% of power comes from coal fired plants.
12% comes from Petrol. fired plants; but most of that comes through the grid.
Almost 22% of Maine’s power comes from Hydro; and the lowest electric rates come from the remaining three municipally owned hydro plants in Kennebunk, Presque Isl, and Madison. How does a bit over 1 cent sound vs. the est. 53 cents/KWh for wind power(real cost)?
I did. He said “we burn neither of those to make electricity.” He was being disingenuous. 14% is not zero.
In Maine we burn at most 1% coal (Rumford) and less than 2% oil (Cousin’s Island once in awhile).
That means we burn virtually none of those fuels. Your 14% is fiction.
Seriously? People are accusing me of not reading my own link and then you say this. It is not about if it is produced in Maine or not. The important thing is if it is USED in Maine the U.S. Energy Information Administration says about 2% percent of our energy comes from coal and 12% from petroleum. That is 14%. Even the poster just above me that is on your side said that. Just think a little before you talk.
You don’t have good reading comprehension. Your source is seven years ago and oil is now 2% in Maine. It’sd about the same low # actoss the whole U.S. I believe. Stick to areas you know something about. This is not one of them.
So you think only 2% of the national energy is produced by burning petroleum?
For electricity, yes. As I originally stated. ”
Wind has zero to do with oil or coal as here in Maine we burn neither of those to make electricity. “
Little problem with your comment — there is no municipal hydro plant in Presque Isle
LOL – Are you a graduate of LePage Is Are Children Learnin’ University?
Wind power in Maine costs $53 per MWh – which is 5.3 CENTS per kWh.
Winds power opponents = math challenged.
yessah
You need an energy education.
See EnergyPresentation.Info.
Come back when you understand the issue in a basic form.Below is a link that will help you with the basic science.
It is read by many knowledgable folks , and it is very well done.
http://www.slideshare.net/JohnDroz/energy-presentationkey-presentation
Guess again.
“‘Mainers are paying $326 million per year above the average American for our energy,’ said LePage.”
This story is a mess. There’s the above quote that, even if actually said, should have been left out because it was clearly an error. Then there is the garbled mess in the second paragraph in which quotation marks seem to have been randomly sprinkled in. Then this cringe-worthy gem: “LePage said talks of the East-West Highway is ongoing.”
“Is”? Really?
No, he said it. I was there. He just didn’t elaborate.
I suspect that drinks were served at dinner prior to this meeting.
LePage starts babbling incoherently and using atrocious grammar at that point in many of these meetings.
Bowen’s silly, idiotic ideas about “self paced learning” in schools are just plain unrealistic, undoable, unmanageable, and foolish. Here we go again with some person touting some silly new fashion in education. What is this fool thinking? Eliminate age-based classrooms? Eliminate letter grades? Have every single kid be on an individualized plan? UNDOABLE. RIDICULOUS. DUMB idea. First, it is unmanageable, so it won’t happen. There isn’t time for that. Next, kids need to be with their peers, and mountains of research over decades show that whole-class and group-based learning is powerful and necessary. We need classroom and school COMMUNITIES, not a collection of individuals all on completely separate plans. That is just plain silly. LePage says he wants to get kids ready for the real world, right? Is the real world “self paced”? NO! College isn’t. Trade schools aren’t. The military isn’t. Law school isn’t. Medical school isn’t. Sports teams aren’t. Is the world of work “self paced”? NO! You work with others on a schedule with deadlines every day. We already have learning standards with curricula connected to them and multiple batteries of standardized and local common assessments. This “self paced” nonsense with endless testing is just another silly fashion that WILL NOT HAPPEN. So Bowen needs to get out of la la land and into the REAL world. If parents want “self paced” education for their kids, then homeschool them or pay tuition and send them to a Montessori school. PS: And, some kids NEED TO BE PUSHED because they are unmotivated. So much for the “self paced” NONSENSE.
It is obvious that you don’t know much about child development, education or this proposed alternative. By the looks of your rant, I am convinced that the way that we have been doing school hasn’t worked too well for us. It’s time to duplicate what others have been doing for decades and then perhaps our schools can produce students who can write full sentences and cohesive paragraphs.
students aren’t being taught much more than to take their tests well so the administrators can feel good about themselves. its all about data, data, data…the new buzz word in education
Some kids are punished by the school system. My son had a 3rd grade science fair . One kid who had a mother in jail and an uneducated father had no project. He was crying . Why could the teacher who knew this not help the kid???? I was real angry (coming from poor uneducated parent’s myself ) I understood this all to well. Other kids that had projects at graduate school level got A’s . You just know thier parents did the projects for them. I would say those kids should have been failed for cheating. Same thing with Homework some kids have parents that “HELP” them with homework . I see in my son school some of his classes grades are 50% homework 30% test scores. They system we have now is designed for kids who are already punished in life to be further punished in school . A Bias In favor of kids from educated parents and against kids from poor uneducated one’s. When grade have little to do with test scores and a lot to do with projects some people could not afford or have the education to help thier kids. You wonder why some kids are unmotivated by school work . I will tell you schools do thing to make these kids feel Dumb and make other kids feel smart even when they did not earn the right . A lot of this comes down to self efficacy . We have some Great teacher’s who hands are tied by the system and can not make waves because they need a job to take care of thier own family .
So a better alternative is do not waste any time or money on kids who can keep up let them drop out of school go to jail or be on welfare and we can support them??????????????????? Not every kid is born with the same abilities . Some can make it with the right help. If you are poor and not gifted I guess you should just stop wasting tax payer money going to school. Lets spend it on all those upper middle class kids in AP classes . Maybe the can get into Harvard instead of UMO. Sound like a great plan . This whole NCLB has made things much worse. Let teachers teach it is not perfect but every Idea we have tried has failed .
UMO doesn’t exist.
You are right about the name. I wish it did not exist . Different name same place. Where they can give a coach $240k a year with benefits . Just a freaking waste of money.
“John Adams had a quote … that was ‘Education for our citizens had to provide two things.’ It has to provide an avenue to earn a living and it has to provide an avenue to live in a civil society. And, quite frankly, … I think we have a disconnect,” said LePage. He then goes on to blame this disconnect on failing schools…as if they’re responsible for raising children. Wake up politicians and parents, education begins and dies or thrives in the home not in our schools.
Mr. LePage, could this disconnect in civil society be because our children see so many adults running around saying things like “Kiss my butt?” Just saying Paul, an honest man wouldn’t run around quoting some of this countries greatest leaders in history if he had already shown us repeatedly that he has absolutely nothing in common with them or their quotes.
“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it
everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.”
― Groucho Marx
—–
“He knows nothing; and he thinks he knows everything. That
points clearly to a political career.”
― George Bernard Shaw
—–
“In religion and politics people’s beliefs and convictions
are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a brass farthing.”
― Mark Twain
——
“Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating
good and evil passes not through states, not between classes, nor between political parties, but through every human heart”
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
—–
Lets not blame it all on parents. The economy has a lot to do with it. Was a time when a mom could stay home with her kids when they are young dad made a decent income. Now it’s a single mom having to work 2 jobs just for a place to live and feed her kids. Poverty causes more social problems than you can imagine lack of good paying jobs causes poverty. It is easy for people to say get a job. I have not seen to many employers that could not find help if they paid decent wages.
You didn’t report this tidbit from the Teabilly King :
“The problem is, middle management of the state is about as corrupt as can be”
Portland Press Herald has a great article about him calling state employees corrupt! He continues to show his hatred for his employess.
A friend that is a custodian for the state told me that Lepage walks by him as if he is above the custodians and won’t even say hello. Custodians that clean the capitol building said Baldacci and King would say hello and thank them.
I guess that claim from December 2010 hasn’t come true:
“Once we take office, Paul will put 11,000 bureaucrats to work getting Republicans re-elected.”
you missed two – three days worth of quotes Gerald.
Yeah – one can only travel so much. I will be at the GOP candidates forum at Camden Hills High School tonight.
With Maine obtaining the unsavory
distinction of being one of the most corrupt and non-transparent
states in the nation, is it any wonder that unethical corrupt
practices from the likes of self-serving Rep. Fitts have occurred?
See ‘F’
in national study means Maine ‘ripe’ for corruption”
By Naomi Schalit, Lance Tapley and
John Christie
March 19, 2012 © Maine Center for
Public Interest Reporting
The self -serving parasitic leeches of
Maine’s corrupt politics get away with their self-serving ways
because they know how to scam the public, at the publics expense.
It is time for this to end.
Mr. LePage is right on here.
We need lower electrical rates in
Maine.
Wind is an elitist self-servers scam, ala the King Angus scammer.
OK Mr. LePage…You state that you know your geometry if you can cut furniture angles…fine…then PLEASE cease the use of the screwy idea to determine the ability of Maine students through the SAT. This was a ridiculous idea brought onto this state by the not-so-dream team of Baldacci/Gendron. Put your policies where your mouth was that night and DITCH THE SAT AS THE MEASURE FOR ALL MAINE KIDS!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes I would have to agree . Teaching for a test dose nothing to make kids WANT to learn. SAT is more of a glorified IQ test biased toward the upper class.
Governor LePage may not be refined when it comes to grammar and speech, but he is a master at honing in on the problems that have plagued this wonderful state for far too long. As with any other form of social deviancy that affects the human psyche, recognition of the core problem lies at the crossroad of change. The governor has done remarkably well to get us this far. Now it remains to be seen if a number of disinclined, self-serving Legislators have the character and integrity to deal honestly with the facts this time around.
—–
Exactly. There hasn’t been any. Oh Wait! I guess he was able to progress the careers of his daughter and brother-in-law.
—–
morgonen if i give you a bag of poop and come back in a year or two will it change in to something great or will it be a bag of poop still. ya thats what i thought. cant expect greatness from nothing. look around the country you think we are the only ones in this boat. there are a lot more jobs than there was last year at this time.
—–
have you gone to the store to buy a big bag of poop for your garden yet? Its not cheap.
He is doing away with decent paying jobs and replacing them with lower paying ones. Maine dose not have the highest unemployment but it dose have the slowest income growth. Hmmmmmmm. Like they did with the electrician license deal. Weaken worker comp laws. 47% of all work place accidents are by people with less than 2 years on the job for electrician . Now that helper so not need as much supervision that rate will go up. That being said they will pay less in worker comp. Win Win for big business . It will just end up hurting people trying to make a living.You can mark my words price will not go down for work but profits will go up for bigger contractors. Any extra jobs will be made because less experienced helpers take more man hours but make less money.
—–
The progress comes from beginning to drain the cesspool left behind from King & Baldacci and 40 years of Democratic rule in Augusta. I love the way LePage confronts problems and speaks his mind like a lot of common every day Mainers. He may not be polished and graceful, but he is forcing us to confront and discuss the issues because another side of the issues is brought forward compared to the stagnant status quo in Augusta. Keep shaking things up, Governor!
—–
Looks like the panel was the same size as the audience. As usual, Penguin looked angry and awkward when speaking.
“Mainers are paying $326 million per year above the average American for their energy.” has to be the looniest quote yet from “His Immenseness.” It also demonstrates his willingness to throw around fictitious numbers in a context that makes absolutely no sense. He is apparently comparing an aggregate against an average and using big numbers to hyperbolize his point. Anyone with even half a brain can see that his quote is complete horse pucky.
With Maine obtaining the unsavory
distinction of being one of the most corrupt and non-transparentstates in the nation, is it any wonder that unethical corruptpractices from the likes of self-serving Rep. Fitts have occurred?
See ‘F’ in national study means Maine ‘ripe’ for corruption”
By Naomi Schalit, Lance Tapley and John Christie March 19, 2012 © Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting
The self -serving parasitic leeches ofMaine’s corrupt politics get away with their self-serving ways because they know how to scam the public, at the publics expense.
It is time for this to end.
Mr. LePage is right on here.
We need lower electrical rates in Maine.
Wind is an elitist self-servers scam, ala the King Angus scammer.
I guess I don’t understand how wind power is costing us jobs and money? Could someone explain that to me? How is wanting lower electrical rates a bad thing?
I think that it was another “bully like” moment to say negative things about Angus King. He doesn’t have to like him or his ideas, but to publicly slander him is not okay when you are in the position you are in.
We have a disconnect in education because of all the testing and such that we have to do. When NCLB came into play, things actually got worse, not better. Teachers are stressed out trying to meet each little standard, and it gives little time to allow students to “discover” how to learn. Something that I believe is very important. LePage talks about how we need to fix education, yet the education budget is cut year after year. You can’t continue to cut funding if you expect things to improve.
Constructing and operating wind farms requires that you don’t hire workers to build them or operate them – and you magically fire workers somewhere else every time a turbine goes up.
Wind farms not only do not pay taxes and royalties to local communities – they magically suck tax dollars out of those communities.
So sez Koo-Koo logic in LePageland.
yessah
Check out the rates for Madison power(hydro) or Kennebunk Power(hydro) and then the subsidized rates for wind and the mounting costs to maintain wind farms or replace their power when the wind drops or the farm is shut down by severe weather.
I don’t understand your thinking….it’s kinda like saying the govt. should make crappy cars because fixing them will create a lot of jobs. F.I.A.T. all over again.
I agree – government-owned municipal power companies are the way to go.
They produce cheap power for their local customers.
More government-owned power to the people!
right on
yessah
http://www.slideshare.net/JohnDroz/energy-presentationkey-presentation
“John Adams had a quote … that was ‘Education for our citizens had to provide two things.’ First, that is not a quote by anybody but Paul LePage. Certainly Adams never said that. Adams didn’t speak in broken english. Second, while I understand what Le Page is trying to say “John Adams had a quote” in addition to being factually incorrect, makes no sense.
John Adams did say, “Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
I agree. Didn’t the Governor hire his daughter and his brother-in-law? Isn’t that corruption at the top? Is that one of the facts you are talking about?
—–
Thier is no shortage of Electricians thier is a shortage of jobs that will pay a living wage. Now that we do not need as many licensed electricians we can hire HS. Kids and take work away from the middle class. How is this new law going to help kids to become licensed when it will not create more work just lower paying jobs????? Why would anyone in thier right mind go to college to become a licensed electrician when licenses are not needed. I am a small electricial contractor and I get more calls from Licensed electricians looking for work than I get calls for jobs From the yellow pages . No shortage of electricians just shortage of work.
Was this reporter even at the meeting? Check out the Portland Press Herald and the Sentinel for the real remarks he made about state employees middle management without giving any specifics. If that is going on, he should have been doing something about it. How would you like to be a middle management state employee who works their butt off going to work today? This guy is reprehensible! Please do yourselves a favor and check out the other paper’s article about Lepig’s visit to Newport…..this reporter for the BDN must have gone out for a smoke when the gub was talking about the state employees! for shame, BDN, for shame!
The real problem with schools is poor kids do not tend as well on average and we have many more poor kids now . Fix that problem and the rest will be easy. We are doing nothing to make decent paying jobs. Except maybe in education. We are so worried about AP classes and sending kids to college that we do not have the energy to focus on the kids that will drop out. Upper Middle class kids on average will always do well. Teach these kids real lessons in like not just remembering facts that might not even be facts. Many time when I was In school i would get thing marked wrong because I would put the right answer not what was taught . I remeber being taught Gold is a better conductor than copper . Copper is a much better conductor than Gold. Just one example. Maybe all those gold plated HDMI cable sales men wanted to profit on education by teaching kids wrong??????????????????????????????????????????????
Poverty is the greatest obstacle to overcome in our public schools. From an opinion piece in 2010:
A seminal research study by Todd Hart and Betty Risley has shown that children’s early language experiences vary widely, depending on the income and education of their parents.
Certainly, there are exceptions, but the children from homes with the lowest income and least educated parents heard 30 million fewer words spoken to them from the time they were 6 months old to the age of 3 than those with the highest educated parents.
Moreover, the children of the most educated families had larger vocabularies than the parents of the poorest children.
Not only were there many fewer words, but the majority of the words the lowest income children heard were prohibitions (e.g., “Sit down.” “Be quiet.”) Other research has shown consistently that these “management” words do nothing to increase reading ability.
30 million fewer words by the time they are three years old. 30 million.
I would have to agree. The issue to me is some of these kids could or would catch up but we tend to label them as slow learners . I was really slow in the younger grades. Well I will never be able to wright a coherent doctoral paper dose not mean I am stupid. In some ways I am smarter than some people with much higher education than I have. Education seems to focus on test scores and keeping to elite looking good. It does little to keep most interested in learning. Some things you can not measure on a test. Even though I only took algebra 1 one I bet I could beat a lot If not most teachers at finding cubed roots without a Calculator . Or understanding math in everyday life.
Why do the car builders use gold for the contacts in the air bag mechanisms if copper is a better conductor? Could it be that copper tarnishes? I have no idea, but you seem like you may know.
Yes gold is I big more corrosion resistant. That being said you have major corrosion at the back of your TV set you have much bigger problems than you HDMI cables or coax cables. Silver is a better conductor than copper . Tarnishes less . I am just saying those $100 cables they sell for you TV are not much better than the $10 ones. I think big business in some ways controls education either directly of indirectly . We teach these kids all kinds of math but nothing about credit cards or interest. Why do we not teach kids useful thing like 0% for 6 months is a worse deal than 18% in most cases unless you can pay it off in 6 months . Or most rent to own places will charge you 4 to 5 times as much as things cost buy the time you are done. We want kids to learn facts just not how to be able to apply them in the real world or think.
You went to the school of hard knocks didn’t you Bob? Thanks for the info.
Ya I consider myself one of the lucky ones. Just some of the nonsense that is taught in school is just that nonsense . Most educators took PSY101 . In that class it was taught that IQ change much Foolishness . Some slow kids are smarter than some smart kids they just have not caught up. Not all kids will be rocket scientists . Education In some ways does not teach people how to think it teaches what to think. Like global warming is caused by burning fossil fuels . All well in good but many theories say oil is not a fossil fuel . Finding methane on one of Saturn’s moons proves methane Dose not have to be Biologically related . Why do the teach all this unproven stuff as fact????
LePage’s comments on renewable energy again displays his willful ignorance.
Wind is the cheapest form of new electrical energy – it even beats coal-fired power in the Midwest.
http://www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/04/wind_power_stays_aloft_in_rene.html
The Vinalhaven wind project reduced electricity costs for Fox Island Coop by 15% during its first year of operation.
http://www.foxislandswind.com/proddata.html#year1
LePage wants to force Maine ratepayers to buy “cheap” electricity from Hydro Quebec.
Vermont currently pays $69 per MWh for electricity from Hydro Quebec.
http://energizevermont.org/2011/04/burlington-free-press-psb-approves-power-deal-with-hydro-quebec/
According to the Governor’s Office of Energy Independence and Security, electricity from the Rollins wind project here in Maine costs $55-65 per MWh.
Hydro Quebec is operating, building or planning 3,100 MW of wind power capacity – to produce low-cost electricity for export to US markets.
http://www.hydroquebec.com/distribution/en/marchequebecois/parc_eoliens.html
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2008/05/05/hydroquebec-idUKN0540400220080505
In Europe and the US, wind power REDUCES spot and wholesale prices of electricity.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/18/markets-iberia-power-idUSL6E8FIEM520120418
LePage want us to send our Hard Earned to his cronies in Socialist Quebec to buy wind power at inflated prices when we could produce it cheaper here in Maine.
Worst governor evah.
Yessah
See EnergyPresentation.Info.
You need a basic energy education, the above presentation is very popular with knowledgable folks, and is correct in its factual data.
http://www.slideshare.net/JohnDroz/energy-presentationkey-presentation
“Maine leads the country … in prescription drug abuse,” said Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary Mayhew. “The root of that is also our prescribing practices within the provider community. We also need to look at the protocol for when certain prescriptions, like Oxycontin, are being prescribed. We have an epidemic for overprescribing that’s leading to abuse.”
Please address the very real issue of drug running from ‘pill mill’ states. Stop blaming just the providers of Maine.
How about clamping down on the legal drug pushers who ooze in to MD offices everywhere intent on selling them the latest snake oil? We banned cigarette advertisements – it’s time to ban pharmaceutical ones too.
A lot of these drugs are being run up here from MA, FL, CT, etc. Let’s not just blame the locals here please.
Corruption? Maybe that’s why he hired his daughter and his brother-in-law, to root out corruption.
I think he may have added “corruption” by hiring family members….not kosher in this climate…hey, I have a degree…maybe I could get hired as his daughter’s assisstant..an assistant to the assistant….and live rent free in the gov’s mansion til his term is over and then we’ll all move to FL!
Your reading teacher needs to be replaced:
Vermont’s contract with Quebec hydro Power states that “The starting price for the electricity will be $58.07 per megawatt-hour” see Burlington Free Press article you referenced.
Least expensive electricity is produced by consumer owned community hydro plants:
Houlton Water Company 7.94 NB (thru 3/31/13)
Van Buren Light & Power 8.06 NB (thru 2/28/13)
Madison Electric Works [3*] 6.78 NextEra (thru 12/31/12)
Kennebunk Light & Power 8.70
http://www.maine.gov/mpuc/electricity/standard_offer_rates/current_sorates_cou.html
Delivery rates are much lower for consumer owned hydro, reducing the total bill almost in half.
Wind power has long distance transmission charges that raise the ‘delivery’ portion of the bill…on FOX ISLANDS charges 17.38 cents for delivering their wind power. OUCH!
It is you that needs remedial reading.
I am correct. In 2012 – this year – Vermont is paying $69 per MWh for electricity from Hydro Quebec.
Hydro Quebec is ***offering*** a new contract with an initial ***teaser*** rate of $58 per MWh – which is stll more expensive than lowest rate from Maine’s Rollins wind project. Those initial Hydro Quebec costs can increase at a later date.
The numbers you quote for Madison Electric etc. reflect costs from small and municipal power producers that use existing power plants – that have little effect on ISO pricing and Maine’s Standard Offer rates.
If those entities attempted to build new capacity using conventional power sources – their rates would increase dramatically.
Fox Island power rates have declined dramatically since the Vinalhaven wind project went on line – electricity costs declined by 27% during the first year of operation, which contributed to the overall 15% reduction in power costs to this isolated island.
People are very pleased with this reduction in their power bills.
And…I support local Maine governments establishing municipal power companies – they provide their customers with lower electricity costs – just like government operated Hydro Quebec.
Try again.
yessah
Transmission, transmission, delivery……all the way to Boston.
Boston is insatiable. Let them buy from Hydro Quebec.
Maine does not have enough mountain tops to supply lower New England.
Where does all that power from Mane dams and gas-fired power plants go?
Boston.
Maine’s mountain tops will be altered for the next 100,000 years by global warming.
NIMBY logic fail.
yessah
You’re way off base….well sited wind turbines might break 30% but most are around 23% of face plate capacity; the killer is the inconsistency and unreliability. A hydro installation can go 50 or more years with only minor maintenance; an…d some produce power over 80% of the time; the reliability and continuous output over time far exceed a comparable wind turbine. There is little need for redundancy, i.e. a backup source of power and grid switches for ‘instant’ on power. Here is one technical comparison of the relative efficiencies http://www.gtbay.org/wp-conten… They rated wind at 25% and hydro at 59%. Then you have operating and maintenance costs….Hydro is nearly a perpetual motion machine when compared to the maintenance and replacement problems of large wind turbines. Indeed, recent replacements have reduced the numbers installed, yet increased the output revealing how efficient new turbines have become. Maine has so much hydro capacity it has long exported it to the Boston Market, indeed CMP was founded on that premise.
Sorry – you are way off base. In the real world, commercial wind turbines produce power 70-90% of the time, but not at their rated capacity – and, they have near 100% availability and require little routine maintenance.
Wind power opponents do not understand this.
A 3 MW turbine operating 24/7/365 at 1 MW would have a capacity factor of 33% – even though it was producing power all the time.
Some of us understand this . Others? not so much
Wind turbines are highly efficient. The Betz efficiency (theoretical maximum wind-to-electricity efficiency) of wind turbines is 59%. In the real world, commercial wind turbines achieve 72% of their Betz efficiency, for an overall wind-to-electricity conversion factor of 42%.
This is better than the thermal-to-electricity conversion efficiency of nuclear power plants and conventional coal plants (~30%) and equal to the best state-of-the-art combined cycle gas-fired power plants.
Claims that wind turbines are “inefficient” are just plain wrong.
Wind power opponents also falsely attempt to compare wind turbine capacity factors to other means of power generation. What is the cut-in wind speed of a nuclear power plant? (clue – they don’t have one). What is the thermal conversion efficiency of a wind turbine? (clue – they don’t have one) Attempts by wind power opponents to make these apple and orange comparisons are just a little silly.
Furthermore, real world experience clearly indicates that wind power does not require additional spinning reserve at grid penetrations of 20% or less. This has clearly been the case in Texas, California, Spain, UK and Denmark. Real world experience in Spain and Colorado also clearly indicate wind power can provide 50-60% of grid demand without grid reliability problems.
Some of us do our homework, think for ourselves and understand that global warming – not renewable energy – is the real threat to Maine.
Yessah
Boston is insatiable.
Hydro-Quebec is GREEN.
WIND = 75% does NOT blow + 10-30% loss in transmission. 100 MW = 10 MW
3,100 MW of Quebec Hydro wind power capacity is green?
If so – it is “green” in Maine as well.
Ask Quebec’s First Nations about how “green” those northern Quebec hydro projects are.
and Oh Please…
Grid transmission losses are well known and have been studied for decades.
Transmission losses from all power source are ~7%.
Your numbers are bogus.
Yessah
You are too funny.
Get educated please with the basics.
http://www.slideshare.net/JohnDroz/energy-presentationkey-presentation
Do your science homework.
You are so off base that this little presentation is a good start for you, from a physicist.
Just because some technology is new, doesn’t make it good. We should be focusing on solutions that have been subjected to the scientific method, that PROVES that they have merit.
Wind energy has never been burdened with this scientific requirement.
so . try this.
http://www.slideshare.net/JohnDroz/energy-presentationkey-presentation
Doesn’t it get the ‘dander up’ when
a major public official speaks the truth to wind shills like
you!
“My gard motha, the truth is now being talked about by
the govenah, and it is in public”!
Hot damn, the truth is coming out, and all those squelch clauses of the Wind Scammers are being made useless!
Time for a good ole’ time’ class action state wide suit from wind abutters, against the deepest pockets for damages rendered by the scam. !
Yessah!
LePage does not know what he is talking about and his sycophants know less.
yessah
munbaght, look at this , even the US House is listening now….oh oh wind scammers and self-servers..oh oh! Get educated please.LePage is on target concerning wind scamming in Maine, also, Congress is now getting things set straight!
Lisa Linowes of windaction.org presented excellent
testimony in Washington D.C. before the: U.S. House of Representatives
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on
Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee on Energy and Environment
Impact of Tax Policies on the Commercial Application of Renewable Energy
Technology Testimony of Lisa C. Linowes April 19, 2012 Background and
Purpose Energy policy in the United States calls for the aggressive
deployment of renewable generation which has led to an explosion of
expensive renewable resources that are variable, operating largely
off-peak, off-season and are located in rural areas with limited
transmission. By the end of 2011, nearly 47,000 megawatts (MW) of
on-shore wind was installed in the United States representing less than
3% of total electricity generation in the country. Based on the
interconnection queues of each grid region in the US, industrial wind is
the dominant renewable resource representing more than 90% of the
proposed generating capacity of all renewable energy projects in the
United States. My testimony looks at recent trends in the US wind
industry including the impacts of advancing significant wind resources. I
also examine the effect of the production tax credit and Section 1603
in driving growth….. Read more – Transcript of entire testimony is
attached and at the link below: http://www.windtaskforce.org/p…
http://www.slideshare.net/JohnDroz/energy-presentationkey-presentation
READ, LEARN!
You are too funny.
Get please with the basics, then expand.
You seem teachable.
http://www.slideshare.net/JohnDroz/energy-presentationkey-presentation
Reading, writing and arithmetic are the subjects that are basic for every child to learn. Children do not need fancy technology to learn those subjects. How did the teachers of the past teach children these subjects so well? Sometimes it pays to look back at something that was a success. Getting these subjects under their belts, children will succeed in learning their other subjects also.
If Mr LePage is going to use quotes from historical figures to support his agendas he should at least be accurate in his use. Adams real quote was ” There are two types of education. One should teach us how to make a living. And the other how to live. ” Mr LePage’s attempt to corrupt the true quote to make it meet his agenda lacks in honesty.
John Adams also said ” I must study politics and war that my sons may have the liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture,commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statury, tapestry and porcelain.” So maybe he would not be in agreement with Mr LePage’s philosophy on education.
Mr LePage’s continual reference to making furniture and geometry is the same old apples and oranges. Making furniture would require a knowledge of angles but geometry is far more than a knowledge of angles. Stating that making furniture is learning geometry makes about sense as saying that learning geometry will teach one how to make furniture. Not !
We as a society need both the furniture maker and the mathematican. Not all of us are cut out to be furniture makers any more than all of us are cut out to be mathematicans. What we need our education system to do is encourage and enable our citizens to make the most of the aptitudes and ambitions they have.
Truer words were never spoken about wind power. Wind power represents less than 1% of the energy used and is not a reliable source of power. In the meantime it is ruining the look of our state to the benefit of a greedy few.
Education needs first and foremost to concentrate on teaching our children to read with good word recognition programs in place because the “whole language” method favored for the last twenty years is not adequate to teach most children to read. Without good reading skills we are letting down a whole generation of people both in the areas of living in a civil society and getting a job. This is shameful and needs to be addressed immediately.
Lepage promised to fix the road from Newport to Bangor if the people would vote for him. I guess that was just one more of Lepage’s lies.
The Education system will never be fixed… Once politicans find a platform to run on, they never fix it. Schools contain a large voter block. if it was fixed what would politicans claim they were running on..
It’s all about money baby, never about the kids.. Ask the teachers unions where the betterment of the kids show up in their contracts……
P.S. The supers have way to much power over the future of the Teachers. Fire them all
Fire them all? do you mean the teachers? How about we fire the administrators whose only job is to report “things are great” to the school boards. Kids spend more time getting prepped for these darn tests to show how well the schools are doing with them….like life after high school is one big MEA or SAT…..many of them can’t even write in cursive in high school! take a trip to a school before you start blathering about firing the teachers, they are at the bottom of the ladder when it comes to blame.
LePage is on target concerning wind scamming in Maine, also, Congress is now getting things set straight!
Lisa Linowes of windaction.org presented excellent
testimony in Washington D.C. before the: U.S. House of Representatives
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on
Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee on Energy and Environment
Impact of Tax Policies on the Commercial Application of Renewable Energy
Technology Testimony of Lisa C. Linowes April 19, 2012 Background and
Purpose Energy policy in the United States calls for the aggressive
deployment of renewable generation which has led to an explosion of
expensive renewable resources that are variable, operating largely
off-peak, off-season and are located in rural areas with limited
transmission. By the end of 2011, nearly 47,000 megawatts (MW) of
on-shore wind was installed in the United States representing less than
3% of total electricity generation in the country. Based on the
interconnection queues of each grid region in the US, industrial wind is
the dominant renewable resource representing more than 90% of the
proposed generating capacity of all renewable energy projects in the
United States. My testimony looks at recent trends in the US wind
industry including the impacts of advancing significant wind resources. I
also examine the effect of the production tax credit and Section 1603
in driving growth….. Read more – Transcript of entire testimony is
attached and at the link below: http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blog/show?id=4401701%3ABlogPost%3A38546&xgs=1&xg_source=msg_share_post
The thing I like the most about Governor LePage is he is going out and speaking his mind and engaging people about the issues facing Maine. This stirs up debate, which is healthy and leads to better public policy when all sides are involved. After 8 years of smarmy Angus King leading all the Yuppies in collective mesmerization and 8 years of Baldacci leading everyone to snooze while the slick Democratic operatives did their damage, it is refreshing to see LePage get people riled up on both sides.