Screening to save lives and dollars
To the editor:
Colorectal cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer and the second most common cause of cancer deaths in the country. This year alone, an estimated 133,000 people will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer, and nearly 50,000 will die from the disease. Compounding the tragedy is the fact that colorectal cancer is one of the most preventable forms of cancer.
Half of colorectal cancer deaths could be prevented each year if every individual age 50 and older received recommended colon cancer screening. Unfortunately, many people are deterred from getting screened by co-pays and other patient costs. The new health care law waives co-pays for people with private insurance, but Medicare patients can still get hit with a surprise bill if a polyp is found during a routine screening.
I’d like to thank Senator Susan Collins for recently co-sponsoring the Removing Barriers to Colorectal Cancer Screening Act and I encourage other members of Congress to do the same. By removing this barrier to screenings, we could potentially save thousands of lives, reduce suffering and reduce cancer costs in Medicare.
Karin Howe, volunteer
American Cancer Society
Wade
National Park: The real deal or not?
To the editor:
Recently there has been a blitz of activity promoting the development of a National Park and Recreation Area near Baxter State Park, sometimes referred to as Katahdin Woods and Waters. The development of this park as proposed has serious implications for the people of Maine. Before we allow the National Park Service to take over this land, we should carefully consider both present day and future implications.
I believe that there are three important questions the people of Maine should consider before allowing this proposal to move forward.
1. Do we want to give land that belongs to the citizens of Maine to the federal government, to be controlled in perpetuity by powers outside our state and possibly counter to our best interests?
2. Are the promises made of access to the land, development of the land, and future job growth in the area realistic and truthful?
3. Will the project provide revenue to the people of Maine equal to or better than what is or could be provided by the lumber and tourist industries?
I already see serious problems with the proposed Park and Recreation Area.
1. Once the federal government, under the auspices of the National Park Service controls the land, they can close it down as they did in 2013. According to the National Park Service, the 16-day sequester shutdown in October of 2013 caused Acadia National Park to lose almost 200,000 visitors and $16 million in spending, a 67 percent decrease from the average for the years 2010-12.
2. The people who are promoting the takeover of Maine land by the federal government and promising increased revenue to the area, are the people who worked to block the East-West Highway which would have brought people, money, and businesses to the area.
3. Before land was acquired for this park, the area was open to hunters, snowmobiles, hikers, campers, etc. Once bought by the park promoters, roads were closed, shelters were dismantled, and no-trespassing restrictions were enforced. Some of the restrictions have recently been removed to encourage favorable views of the proposed park, but there is no evidence that the underlying desire to restrict use of this land has changed.
4. A survey of the money generated in the other five New England states by the National Park Service ranges from $47.57 to $72 per visitor, with an average of $52.83 and a median of $55.47. These are all established sites and an estimate of $56 per visitor to arrive at the $21 million projected for the proposed Katahdin Park without any developed amenities seems highly unlikely for many years.
5. Once the park is formed, environmental regulations would stop the development of most industries in the area. There have been promises that special exceptions could be made for development of this land; only a fool would trade an asset on unwritten promises, and the federal government does not have a very good track record of keeping promises.
Victoria Bucklin
Appleton
Political correctness
To the editor:
Over the last month a great number of people have voiced their concerns about certain comments made on Facebook, claiming among other things wanting apologies and resignations. For those who had or have an axe to grind you got your minute of fame.
At the core of this issue is what our president is doing with extremists in Iran. Do any of you remember this is the country that has stated the slaughter of six million Jews is a figment of our imagination? The same country that has stated that the destruction of Israel and the United States is their mission in life?
Negotiating with Iran about their attempt to produce atomic weapons is the stated purpose. Negotiating with extremists has been attempted before. France and Russia had an agreement with Hitler that Germany would not attack them. We all know what happened in the Second World War. Hitler and the Nazi Party were extremists, a minority of the German population. Japan and its extremists slaughtered millions more as it ran through the Korean Peninsula, China, Indochina, the Philippines along with countless other islands. It’s part of history. Extremists offer only their perspective and the consequences are devastating.
There are 1.5 billion Muslims in the world today. Intelligence organizations estimate that a fifth of Muslims are radicals, extremists — 300 million Muslims that are in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, North America, and the Far East. There are nearly as many extremists as there are American citizens. Remember their stated mission is to destroy the United States, 9-11 is a perfect example of their commitment this extremist group.
To negotiate with these extremists is a grave error in judgment. These are the people who are slaughtering Christians because of their faith. We are negotiating with these people, remember that.
And now if we make a comment about our position against negotiating with radicals we are branded bigots. To follow blindly and let our world become exposed to an Iran with nuclear weapons is not the path to follow. Their is no level of political correctness that will stop Iran once the extremists have their nuclear weapons.
Tom Deschaine
Presque Isle
Ethics should be on the Washington, D.C. menu
To the editor:
Senator Susan Collins’ clarion call for “civility in Washington and communities” (S-H 4/8) is hopeful, and inspires some questions in my mind that I hope other citizens are wondering about and beginning to discuss.
Washington has had prayer breakfasts for a long time, but despair seems to be thickening. Can bipartisan lunches reverse, or even modify the demands and controls of the gargantuan, money-obsessed lobbies in Washington and State capitols?
Will the lobbyists be invited to these lunches to share thoughtful discussions of ethics and/or the teachings of Jesus, and how to morph the pervasive spirit of competition into selfless cooperation? Or will they use these lunches for brawling over big bucks and power? If so, we’d better start talking at the grassroots level about societal transformation. Such talk will simultaneously transform individuals.
Sen. Collins is rightfully calling for a change of mass values, a change of heart and interests. But what could spark such a change short of the “coming of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory?”
There’s an ancient Chinese proverb that says, “Pain makes man think; thinking makes man wise, and wisdom makes life enjoyable.” Accordingly, the Indian spiritual master Meher Baba is correct: “All suffering is God’s labor of love,” and he has a popular pamphlet in circulation titled, “Travail of the New World Order.”
That certainly doesn’t mean we should inflict pain on ourselves or on others. It means we must eventually contemplate the source or cause of all pain and uproot it everywhere in the world. Such activity is the greatest source of soul enrichment and eternal, real liberation. If I may again quote Meher Baba, “Real happiness lies in making others happy.”
Are those partisan politicians and soul-sold lobbyists and their corporate dictators yet sickened enough of decadent greed and corrupting power to follow the lead of the most conscientious politician in Washington — Sen. Susan Collins — to live for creating a utopian world? It’s a good topic for bipartisan lunches.
Val Vadis
Westfield
Ill conceived legislation
To the editor:
Fellow citizens of Maine, your Constitutional rights under the Constitution of the State of Maine are under attack at the State Legislature right now! LD 754 and LD 1084 before the Committee on Veterans and Legal Affairs, and their similar bills, LD 703 and LD 753 before the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee propose to remove the rights of the citizens of this state where wildlife issues are concerned.
Make no mistake … these bills are not about Maine’s wildlife – they are about removing the rights of Maine citizens under the Constitution! Every Maine citizen should be outraged and alarmed at this ill-conceived and malicious attempt to remove our rights in this state. We did not send our Legislators to Augusta to remove our Constitutional rights!
Article 1, Section 2 of the Maine State Constitution makes it clear that “all power is inherent in the people …” In fact, the Constitution of the State of Maine is clear throughout the document that the people of Maine have certain rights, and those rights are to be retained by the people.
Contact your legislator today and let them know that you do not support removing any rights of any of Maine’s citizens under the Constitution of this state. As citizens, we can’t afford to let this one slip past us! Who knows what other Constitutional rights we might lose in the future if we take no action to stop this.
Dr. Dena L. Winslow
Presque Isle
