Friday, December 11, 2015

Reflections

Another weekend is upon us, and, if Todd Gutner on WCSH6 has the forecast anywhere near right, it'll be a super weekend.  For you snow (ski) lovers, it might be a challenge and you'd probably disagree, but as I approach Old Age, it is welcome.

I've spent many a moment this week thinking of something to put here and several starts have ended with cancellations.  So here are just some random thoughts to wonder about.

A couple of mayoral elections in Maine have made me wonder if Maine voters are beginning to look more closely at the decisions being made by the very liberal side of the Democrat cause.  In Portland, I was pleased that Ethan Strimling was elected Mayor over the incumbent.  Both Strimling and the outgoing mayor are Democrats, but at least Strimling has shown a willingness to listen to both sides and work with both sides to accomplish goals.  I don't live in Portland so the election doesn't really affect me, except I'll miss his input in the super Voice of the Voter debates on Channel Six.  They haven't been the same since he left.  Nevertheless, good choice for Portland voters.

The other was in Lewiston where the Republican incumbent beat the Democrat challenger in a run-off election.  Lewiston, with a huge majority of Democrats, would have turned even further to a socialistic city if the Dem had won.  That could still happen, though, as the voters had elected four strong Dems to the Lewiston City Council during regular elections in November.  Those four openly announced support for the Dem candidate in the run-off and that may have awakened the voters.  "What have we done here?" they may have asked and returned the incumbent to the position.  His authority, however, is limited.

Some Democratic state legislators have continued their assault of Governor LePage.  First, they have successfully forced an public hearing at least on the Governor's attempt to protect, in his view, your tax money to go to a charter school, a school that hired the Maine House Speaker to run.  That assault accomplished, the Democrats have filed more requests for action against the Governor.  The Republicans, on the other hand, say all the governor was alleged to have done was hard-nosed politics.  When this is all over and once again a democrat is elected governor, I hope that party will remember about just "fun" getting even can be.  And if the Republicans want to get nasty during the upcoming hearings, the Dems could rue the day they started this kind of attack on the governor.
        
If you don't live in  Scarborough, The Police Department has taken on the challenge of heroin addiction head on and instead of just finding addicts and throwing them in jail, they are inviting addicts who really want help to come to the police station and simply ask for it.  No judgments of the users, the police officers simply begin a working process to find the addicts a place to get real help.  The program started just last October and has now helped at least 80 addicts find a place and helped fund, through community money support not tax dollars, the beds around Maine and the nation to give honest help to the addicts.  It seems the number seeking support grows by at least one daily.  So I offer my congratulations to the Scarborough Police Department for leading Maine into an honest way to help the addicts find a release from addiction.

My wife asked an interesting question concerning our "Right to know."  We both really believe in the right, but she was wondering out loud after watching the news, "Why do we consistently tell those attempting to infiltrate us just what we are doing so they can find alternatives?"  I didn't have an answer.  Being sort of a strong believer in the Constitution and a former journalist, among other things, I do believe in our so-called Right to Know, yet her question makes sense.  We announce our every move to combat ISIS and other problems.  You can bet there are many people reporting to groups our plans so the others' can be altered.  Interesting question.

Finally, did you hear on the news this morning that ObamaCare is now several million dollars in the hole?  And that's just in Maine alone.  It could mean some changes in the health care industry and probably will lead many of us to say, "So much for ObamaCare and affordable health care!"  Also, some insurance companies are already dropping out of offering ObamaCare which will lead to even more expense for people.  Is this an "I told you so" moment?

Dave

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