Thanking Collins
On behalf of AARP’s 230,000 members in Maine, I am writing to thank Sen. Susan Collins for signing on as a co-sponsor to the Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act, S.2189.
Age discrimination in the workplace is an increasingly serious problem. Regrettably, in 2009 the U.S. Supreme Court made things worse by imposing a much higher burden of proof on those workers who allege age discrimination than on workers who allege discrimination based on
race, sex, religion or national origin. The result is that a growing number of unemployed individual workers who have been discriminated against because of their age are unable to seek justice.
Further, it can mean that more older workers are choosing to remain silent about their age discrimination claims. Older workers who lose their jobs have a much harder time finding employment again. The average period of unemployment for an older worker lasts an average of 56 weeks. This is an extremely long time, especially in today’s challenging economy.
The Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act is bipartisan legislation introduced to restore the vital civil rights protections for older workers, which were severely narrowed by the 2009 Supreme Court decision. The act will ensure equal opportunity for older workers, and Collins should be commended for signing on to this important and timely legislation.
John Hennessy
AARP Maine Advocacy Director
Portland
Gun, people control
An OpEd in the Bangor Daily News on Dec. 20 called for repeal of the Second Amendment.
I worry that this may be in store for our nation: “This year will go down in history. For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration. Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future!” That was Adolf Hitler in 1935, about the time he was hatching plans for his Jewish friends. Note the code words “civilized” and “safer streets,” which often are used by anti-gunners over here.
Anyone who has run afoul of the Transportation Security Administration knows how government can run amok. Government grows big and powerful and oppressive. That is its nature. Control of people is its job, and the bigger it gets, the better it can do that job of harassing old white-haired ladies in line for a flight to visit relatives.
What government agencies are likely to become is the main reason Americans want to keep our Second Amendment. Though I fear it is too late, and our government has gotten too big, too powerful, too unmindful of our rights, any small impediment — a speed bump, if you like — to that government’s total control over mind and body is welcome.
John Hubbard
Bangor
Fiscal choices
Our country’s fiscal dilemmas aren’t a cliff, just an obstacle course and a series of choices. Wouldn’t the best choice be one that benefited the most people and did the least damage to the economy?
If we cut more from the Department of Defense and little or none from human-needs programs, such as education and health care, we get fewer job losses, a stronger economy and a less harmful effect on our country. Polls confirm that almost all of us want less of our tax money going
to the Pentagon and more for education, health care, veterans benefits, the environment, etc.
If we raise taxes just on the wealthy who make $250,000 or more, we could reduce our budget deficit and hurt our economy much, much less. It’s time to shift the burden to those who get paid the most but don’t work any harder than anyone else.
So, why is there a debate in Congress? It’s obvious what will do the most good for the largest number, what most voters want their tax money spent on and what will hurt the economy the least. Just do it.
Larry Dansinger
Monroe
Veterans benefits
If you are young and able then VA medical benefits are great.
At 85, handicapped, without transportation, how do you get to a clinic or Togus when you live 200 miles away?
I need a new pacemaker, but that means an impossible trip to Boston. We need access to local medical facilities at VA expense.
William Shorey
Millinocket
Snowmobile ‘happy trails’
I read with interest the recent story about Elliotsville Plantation announcing that its lands east of the East Branch of the Penobscot are open to snowmobiling. Some of the 14 miles of trail that Elliotsville lands provide between Millinocket and Matagamon are crucial north-south links for local snowmobile clubs, and we should all be enthusiastic about this announcement.
I, for one, am also enthusiastic about Elliotsville’s pledge to keep the Lookout Trail open for the foreseeable future on the new property it recently acquired on the west side of the East Branch.
Many riders enjoy the beautiful views of Mount Katahdin afforded by this route. I applaud Elliotsville’s willingness to listen to the snowmobile community and for protecting our access to the Lookout Trail.
Brian Wiley
East Millinocket
Hey, Mr. Wiley, why don’t you walk your lazy butt out there and look at Mount Katahdin? You want to ride out to see it? Rte. 95 is not a good enough view for your lazy self? You are a lazy american and must ride out to see it? Why can’t you walk?
are you being sarcastic?
There are amazing views of Katahdin on Quimby’s lands. Even better views to the east on and near Rte 11 in Stacyville. The best views in eastern North America.
J. Hennessy, L. Dansinger, W. Shorey: good letters.
Larry: Plain and simple, Boehner and McConnell don’t care what the majority of the citizenry wants nor do they care what people think about them. They are 100% Plutocratic.
John Hennessy – In this nightmarish economy, the Feds are delighted to see older workers get the axe compared to younger workers. The reason is an older worker will be forced to go into their IRA early and that of course yields tax revenues. The younger person has no such recourse so the government loses more dollars when a young person is not working. The older person withdrawing early from his IRA is taxed high – as ordinary income. As the government continues to spend like drunken sailors, I wonder if they realize that once all unemployed baby boomers are bled dry as such, they will run out of this fountain of tax dollars.
There is something to that. There is a lot of tax money just siting there waiting to be grabbed. Don’t forget there are a certain number of Democrat Progressives that want to grab your IRA money and distribute it to you as they see fit. The plan is that you get it when you get your SS check. In the meantime they get to use it.
Sounds more like a privatization plan of the Rs.
At least give me the choice to opt out and invest my own $$. Unfortunately, current withdrawals are funded by current deposits and the system would collapse if people we allowed to opt out. Remind me, what do we call a scheme like this (Madoff could tell you)?
I’d be glad to see people opt out if they would stay out. Of course if the economy were to take a nose dive or they had invested in an ‘Enron’ and lost their nest egg. I’m sure they will be lined up at the door asking for readmittence.
Not if we enforce the opt out. And anyone placing their entire nest egg in one company (Enron) should not be managing their own money. But that’s the way life is: unless you want a nanny state to protect everyone from themselves.
In this life there are a lot of sharks out there. They are natures perfect eating machines. The people who ran enron were sharks. Yeah sharks. Not that I want a ‘nanny state’. I want a state that looks after it’s own, that may not come up to your high standards.
That is exactly my problem with Social Security. Given the current “fiscal cliff” and debt ceiling fiasco, I don’t trust the government to manage my money properly. As it is now, they don’t actually invest it. We’re all much better off managing our own finances if we’re capable.
John Hubbard, what group will be safe from your envisioned ‘New America’?
Would it be the ‘Right Wing Evangelicals’? They seem to have taken control of Congress.
John Hennessy- If it makes you feel any better, all workers are treated like crap these days, not just elderly workers. Greed has everyone on the run these days. It has decimated unions, destroyed our middle class, and turned the American dream into a nightmare for millions of people. Our wages have continued to fall for the last 20 years. We are the first generation of Americans to have a lower standard of living than our parents did. “American” companies are now embracing communism and it’s cheap third world labor. A working man doesn’t have a single friend in Washington or Augusta. And, we have a couple of dim wits in Washington holding up a budget deal over tax cuts for the only people who are profiting from off shoring American jobs, AKA the top 1%! Things are a mess for all ages, not just the elderly.
You obviously are not older, out of work and looking for a job. It’s not just difficult, it’s impossible. “You’re over-qualified.” Doesn’t that mean I applied for the job, I’m obviously qualified, I want the job, why won’t you give me a chance.” Answer (Not said out loud): Because we can hire an unqualified person for a lot less money.
Hyperbole, anyone?
Mr. Shorey . .contact Mike Michaud and put a bee in his bonnet . .and keep adding bees until something happens! I’m a Nam Vet and not bashful about advocating for other Veterans as well as myself!
The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation.” President/General George Washington
Brian Wiley (a firm supporter of Roxanne Quimby’s North Woods National Park proposal,by the way)
The use of the lookout trail will continue until the easement that was negotiated with the Forestland Group by the Bowlin Matagamon SS club runs out.
After that time, it will be up to the new landowner to allow sled and ATV usage.
I don’t have much hope for that since everything else on the west side of the river including logging,primitive camps, roads, hunting, ATVing and snowmobiling have been taken away.
The 14 miles of snowmobile trails that have been designated on the east side of the river are nothing more than an attempt to bribe the local clubs into supporting her misdirected socialistic agenda..
You, personally, were complicit in this endeavor when you tried to use your self imposed leadership of the local clubs to push this agenda by assuming that we all would follow, for whatever gain that you had been promised.
ANYTHING that Roxanne Quimby promises can, and will be, taken away by a Washington bureaucracy put in charge of our local affairs by a national park designation.
John Hubbard: The second amendment is not going to be repealed. That said, our need for expanded firearms control cannot and should not be compared to what went on in Nazi Germany. Disarming the population of all firearms in preparation for a dictatorship is not the same as enacting restrictions on semi-automatic assault weapons and high capacity magazines in order to control the violence of rampage shootings against the public.
The government is not some alien machine intent on taking over the US. We are the government. We the people, and for the last 40 years we have been listening almost exclusively to those insisting on the rights of individuals to own firearms designed to kill large numbers of people. It is now time for us, the government, “We the People” to show some concern for the rights of the public to be safe from assault and death from these weapons in the hands of individuals.
Our country has enough nuclear weapons to literally destroy the planet and you’re imagining that your home supply of firearms is what’s keeping our government in check?
And then selfishly trying to block any discussion of public safety re: firearms after children and underpaid educators were gunned down in their school and invoking the holocaust to do so? That’s disgusting. We can obviously have talks about safety without it leading to a full on firearm ban and concentration camps — use your brain here.
John Hubbard makes a common mistake in believing that “government” is something alien; something outside of ourselves trying to manipulate and/or destroy us. It isn’t. The government is us. We are the government as in “We the People”. And for the last 40 years we the people have listened almost exclusively to those insisting on their individual right to unrestricted weapons ownership. Now semi-automatic assault weapons and high capacity magazines are available to almost anyone and innocent people can be simply mowed down in public places.
It is time for us, the government, “We the People” to start being more concerned about the rights of the public to be safe from these types of weapons.
Comparing our situation, where violence is being visited on innocent citizens because of a supposed “right” to own weapons designed for war, with a country that removed all guns from all citizens in order to establish a dictatorship smacks of propaganda. There is no comparison.
We can regulate weapons in this country for the public good without infringing on individual rights and without childish comparisons to Germany in the early 20th century. We can do this because “We the People” are the government.
I agree about gun control: more strict regulation does not violate the second amendment. But remember that “We the people” majority opinion is great until you are in the minority. To be honest, I am thankful we have the constitution to protect us from the frequently scary opinions of the majority.
Thanks, John Hubbard. The 2nd Amendment is not about deer-hunting (although I’m glad it protects that, too). It is about assuring our essential liberties as a free people.
Mr Shorey,
I understand the problem for the elderly have to go to the VA for medical treatments. I know from experience taking my 86 year old farther-in- law to the Doctors (VA) is almost includes the entire day by the time we leave and get back to his place. I am very fortunate because I live close to a VA clinic in Bangor, and receive all my medical treatment at the VA clinic. I don’t know what the answer is because there is only so many clinics in Maine. Sad to say the Federal government can’t afford to keep up with the rural veterans in Maine and probably all over America. Thank you for writing your letter to the editor.
Mr. Hubbard, you undo what would would have been a perfectly reasonable rebuttal to Mr. Klose, by invoking Godwin’s law. Please. The Nazi/Socialism nonsense is not going to help convince any reasonable minded people.
Repealing the 2nd amendment is not the answer. Nor are completely un-regulated gun markets. Enough with the fanatical extremism.
Apparently I wrote another word BDN automatically deletes a post for – Naz1 was it?
Mr. Hennessey, you had a perfectly good rebuttal to Mr. Klose, but you ruined it by invoking Godwin’s Law. Striking the entire first paragraph would be a dramatic improvement. Nonsense about Hitler and Socialism might play well to the far right wing choir, though it will do nothing to convince the sensible, reasonable minded reader. In fact, it will serve to do the opposite.
Repealing the 2nd amendment is not the answer. Nor is a gun market that is free from regulation. Enough with the far left and far right brands of extremism.