Enough with the dark money
On a recent visit to the Camden area, I couldn’t help but notice the addition of a “Collins” sticker on every stop sign. This prompted me to read former state Sen. Mike Thibodeau’s recent BDN column on the dark money that is already flowing into Maine’s U.S. Senate race, and I couldn’t agree more.
I guess it was inevitable that the poison that runs through far too many campaigns nationwide would eventually seep its way into Maine, but it’s discouraging. It is equally discouraging that the current negative campaign being mounted by this group, 16 Counties, is being operated by at least one person who used to work for one of the candidates running against Susan Collins.
Even more discouraging is that whomever is paying for the attacks gets away with staying in the shadows. Why hide? If you are willing to stand by your beliefs, come out of the shadows and convince me to stand with you!
I miss the days when candidates ran on their records and offered new ideas for leading us forward, rather than the personal attacks, misleading claims and downright lies we have today. I will proudly cast my vote for our gracious and credible senator, Susan Collins.
Ann Marie Dalton
Hampden
Fighting metastatic breast cancer
In 2019, an estimated 41,760 women and 500 men will die from breast cancer in the United States. Approximately 90 percent of breast cancer deaths are as a result of metastatic disease. Metastatic breast cancer is cancer that has spread from the breast to the bones, lungs or other distant parts of the body. There is no cure. The average life expectancy of an individual with metastatic breast cancer is three years.
There is currently a bill in both the House and Senate, the Metastatic Breast Cancer Access to Care Act, that would go a long way to assure that women and men living with metastatic breast cancer have access to the support and medical care they need. This important legislation would provide individuals with metastatic breast cancer who already qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) immediate access to support and medical care. Under current law, these individuals must wait five months for SSDI and 24 months for Medicare benefits to take effect.
On behalf of breast cancer advocates across Maine, we would like to thank Rep. Jared Golden, Rep. Chellie Pingree and Sen. Angus King for each signing on their support of the Metastatic Breast Cancer Access to Care Act. Their ongoing support of the advocacy initiatives of our local, Maine and national breast cancer coalitions is appreciated.
Bethany Zell
Caribou
Climate change criticism
Congratulations and thanks to Matthew Gagnon for his Sept. 26 BDN column, “Why climate change skeptics still exist.” It’s remarkable that all the apocalyptic predictions of climate doom (Al Gore and many others) over the past 30 years have come to naught. Now they must make predictions for many decades in the future so we naysayers won’t be around to criticize.
The term “climate change denier” is weasel words. It implies that climate has never changed before humans started their dangerous meddling. Must have been those cavemen with their campfires that brought about the melting of the great ice sheets that once covered our continents?
And one more little irritant: The BDN never misses a chance to worry lobstermen and others about temperatures in the Gulf of Maine rising “ faster than 99.9 percent than the rest of the planet’s oceans.” Could it possibly be related to the fact that about 80 percent of the Earth’s volcanic eruptions take place beneath the surface of the seas? But that possibility wouldn’t fit the narrative that we’re doomed if we don’t change our ways.
Alan Boone
Bangor