The President of the United States of America appointed Dan Savage to head up his anti-bullying campaign. Evidently President Obama believes it is okay to fight bullying with bullying. As Americans, on this one issue right here, we need to get beyond any nonsense of free speech, etc. as this is a mandated expression of the White House, of Barack Hussein Obama, of the presidential office of this country, a reflection upon our society. To use the foul and despicable language to degrade and abuse the Hole Bible for the purpose of supposed bullying is many things but it is one thing that should NEVER come with approval from any president of the United States. You listen and you decide where you are at on this one.

According to a report published at The Blaze, if the presidential election were held today, former President George Bush advisory and strategist, Karl Rove, predicts that President Obama would easily win reelection.

Rove suggests that Mitt Romney will need to win states that are expected to go to Obama and as such, the battle may form along the lines of party politics and big labor.

Republicans Proposing a $5 Million Tax Increase to Sustain Out-of-Control Welfare System

PORTLAND – Lance Dutson, Chief Executive Officer of The Maine Heritage Policy Center, today issued the following statement on the current supplemental budget debate in Augusta, and the proposal to stop the scheduled draw-down of the Dirigo Assessment:

“For decades, the people of Maine watched as the Democrat majority in Augusta used gimmicks and double-talk to heap an unbearable burden on the backs of taxpayers, while extending the hand of government into every sector of our lives.”

“The people of this state finally said ‘Enough!’ when they elected a new majority to run this state government. The expectation was that Republicans would march into Augusta and turn back the tide on the crushing regulation and tax burden that had amassed over the years. In many ways, the new leadership has done just that.”

“However, the budget process has fallen prey to a troubling dynamic. Instead of being driven by the principles of lower taxes and fiscal responsibility, legislative leaders seem focused on decorum and consensus with a group of individuals that have already proven themselves poor stewards of Maine’s economy. Republicans were not sent to Augusta to coddle the likes of John Martin or Peggy Rotundo. They were sent to Augusta by the people of this state to clean up after them.”

“Now it appears this dynamic of cordiality has so blinded members of the Appropriations Committee that they are considering the unthinkable – using a tax increase on working Mainers to avoid making common-sense changes to Maine’s welfare system. This is an outrageous dereliction of the GOP mandate, and one that will not be suffered lightly by the already-suffering taxpayers of this state.”

“This effort to fund the continuation of an out-of-control MaineCare system on the backs of health insurance ratepayers is unacceptable. The Maine Heritage Policy Center stands strong with Governor LePage in his efforts to roll back decades of irresponsible growth in our welfare system, and will work in the coming days to ensure the voice of Maine taxpayers is not ignored through this process.”

In Hans Christian Andersen’s tale “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, a vain, and yes stupid, emperor hires two tailors to make him clothes. The tailors present the emperor with “new clothes” telling him that only stupid people or those unfit to be king could not see the clothes and think him naked. Of course the emperor can’t see the cloth and fearing someone will discover his stupidity, wears his “new clothes” in public. One has to wonder if the Task Force, appointed by the Maine Legislature to discover why non resident hunters don’t want to come to Maine anymore, is presenting the Joint Committee on Inland Fisheries and Wildlife new and invisible clothes.

Through the course of this discussion on what the Task Force will research and make for recommendations, I have reported on the contents of the very belated minutes of those meetings – here, here and here. In addition, readers can go to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife website and find information unearthed and presented by the Task Force.

Alas, the Task Force has made its recommendations to the Maine Legislature. The Final Report includes the following recommendations:

• MDIFW must work collaboratively with the Office of Tourism to develop a marketing plan promoting Maine as a destination for Nonresident hunters; and in all areas of outdoor recreation.

• Funding should be allocated to survey current and recently lapsed Nonresident hunters, using a qualified market research firm specializing in natural resource and outdoor recreation issues; to find out what these customers want, why they have lapsed, and what barriers there are for travel to Maine as a hunting destination.

• Based on the data generated from this market research, marketing tools, strategies and training must be provided to Maine’s hunting industry partners, including guides, outfitters, sporting camps, B & Bs, and other state agencies such as Office of Tourism and Department of Conservation; to multiply the effect of the marketing plan.

• New hunting licenses, ‘repackaged’ licenses, or licenses that feature new privileges or opportunities appear to be one of the greatest factors with the potential to positively affect any kind of license sales. The Legislature and MDIFW must take a closer look at ways to accomplish and implement this initiative in a timely manner.

• Maine must do more to promote its lands open to hunting statewide, and the ease of access to them. Paper collateral such as maps and brochures, and online information that can be shared by state agency and hunting partners’ websites, must be developed, distributed and kept current.

The Task Force is naked! The Task Force is naked! But don’t look now, but the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW) and the Maine Legislature are also naked! Naked I tell you!

The Legislature and the MDIFW all made recommendations prior to this Task Force’s work and the Task Force has made their final recommendations and none of them once addressed the topic in a serious fashion that perhaps, just perhaps, the reason non resident hunters won’t come to Maine to hunt is because there are NO DEER to hunt.

While it was briefly discussed during Task Force meetings, it was quickly dispelled as something they were not interested in including in their discussions. Forget that it is the only element of things that were blamed that directly correlates to the decline in non resident hunters. In other words, as the state’s deer population began to shrink, and yes I must say it here, because of poor management, so also did the number of non resident hunting license sales.

However, the Task Force, the Legislature and MDIFW have all chosen to think people can really see their new clothes. Instead of facing reality, the recommendations are to market a product that does not exist and is of little or no interest to big game hunters who pay the big dollars. The idea is to “repackage” hunting license options. As the old saying goes, you can put lipstick on a pig but it’s still a pig.

If there was any controversy to the Task Force’s discussions it was the idea that Sunday hunting should be recommended along with allowing non residents to hunt on the resident only day. In the end, even those were bypassed.

The best thing the Legislature can do with these recommendations is to file them away somewhere until such time, if ever, the day comes when there are deer to hunt. Maybe if the Legislature was truly committed to Maine’s deer problem, which is directly related to the no non resident hunters problem, they would get to work to actually fix it. It’s simple really. First, sit down and determine whether the number of jobs and businesses that would be saved and/or created by investing in dealing with real issues, is worth the investment. If the Legislature and the rest of the state determine they are committed to the investment and the MDIFW should recommend that $500,000 is needed to kill coyotes as a viable means to begin a herd rebuilding, then the Legislature should commit to that investment. Yes, it really is that simple.

They have not and more than likely will not because the Governor, MDIFW and the Legislature are NOT fully committed to saving the hunting industry. Interesting in that the industry provides a very handsome tax revenue to the state and the hunters necessary to keep the industry going, pay their own way, while the state reaps the benefits. Now, their commitment is non existent. If the Maine Government is not interested in helping out when help is needed, then perhaps the government should butt out of fish and game business.

I suppose therefore, the hunting industry is the goose that lays golden eggs.

Tom Remington

Magicians, Massages, DJs, Luxury Hotels and Political Groups Among Vendors of Quasi-State Agency

PORTLAND – The Maine Heritage Policy Center (MHPC) today released a disturbing list of vendors of the Maine State Housing Authority (MSHA). The vendor list, which details recipients of MSHA expenditures, contained hundreds of organizations and businesses that seem to stray far from MSHA’s mission to provide affordable housing to impoverished Mainers.

The MSHA vendor list – published on MHPC’s news site, TheMaineWire.com – contains hundreds of luxury hotels and bed and breakfast inns, including Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, the Ritz-Carlton in Boston, the Woodstock Inn in Vermont, the Caribe Royal in Orlando, and many more. Also included on the list are professional DJs, entertainers, a massage therapist, martial arts instructors, ski resorts, water parks, and a magician.

MSHA has apparently given taxpayer funds to political groups as well – including EqualityMaine, Maine Equal Justice Partners, and the Sierra Club.

MHPC attained the list as part of a Freedom of Access Act request. MSHA released the list of vendors, but has so far refused to release dollar amounts or dates of the transactions. MHPC originally requested this data in June of 2011, but MSHA has repeatedly delayed the release of more detailed information.

“The pattern emerging from MaineHousing is troubling, to say the least,” said Lance Dutson, Chief Executive Officer of The Maine Heritage Policy Center. “Exorbitant salary increases, indiscriminate bonuses, and questionable expenditures on luxury hotels and hundreds of items outside of the scope of their mission – this is almost the exact pattern we saw with the Maine Turnpike Authority.”

“No government agency should be outside the realm of accountability, and Maine Housing’s operations are a clear example why. I urge the legislature to take swift action to empower the Maine Housing board to rein in what appears to be a pattern of abuse of taxpayer funds.”

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PORTLAND – A report released today by The Maine Heritage Policy Center (MHPC) shows that raising taxes to fill the estimated 121 million dollar DHHS budget gap for this year would lead to the loss of more than 6,400 Maine jobs. As lawmakers work to decide how to fix the structural problems that have led to this massive shortfall, ultimately they will have to decide whether to decrease spending or increase taxes. The MHPC report indicates that a tax increase of this magnitude would cost Maine taxpayers $631 in lost personal income per household, or a total of 6,463 private sector jobs.

“Raising taxes to temporarily smooth over this problem would be a critical mistake,” said the author of the report, MHPC Chief Economist Scott Moody. “Maine’s private sector is already in a precarious situation, and we can’t afford to make it even more difficult for Maine’s families and businesses to get by in these tough times. A better solution is to address the structural budget problems that have led to this deficit and reduce government spending going forward.”

The report explains that the cost of a tax increase goes far beyond the initial price tag, showing that a $121 million tax increase would ultimately remove $351 million in personal income from the Maine economy, a net cost nearly three times larger than the initial tax increase. The additional tax burden would further shrink the private sector in Maine, where private sector share of personal income is already at an abysmal 64.1 percent, ranking Maine 39th in the country.

“Taking more money out of the private sector and funneling it to government will further damage our economy,” said Moody. “What we need in Maine to turn the economy in a positive direction is investment from our businesses and entrepreneurs. New taxes will keep people from investing and keep new jobs, the very thing we need most of all, from being created.”

“Decades of increased welfare spending have put us in this position, and we can no longer afford the tax-and-spend ways of the past,” said MHPC CEO Lance Dutson. “Progressive special interests and the welfare industry want to raise taxes on hard-working Mainers to protect their revenue streams, even if it means lost private sector jobs. Raising taxes is the last thing Maine can afford to do right now. Instead, we should focus on reducing government spending to get us headed in the right direction.”

Download the Full Report Here (PDF)

What is being described as some as “a tongue lashing”, Maine Senator Olympia Snowe talks to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner about the problems with the Obama Administration and who they are listening to or getting their information from. Sen. Snowe encourages Sec. Geithner to get out and talk with the person on the street and discover what they want and expect.

While Snowe’s lecture was far from a tongue lashing, it can mostly be perceived as a bunch of whining and complaining while offering nothing constructive. Oh, she said all the things one would expect from a politician. She said all the right things, as if that would somehow accomplish something.

There was one moment in which I think Sen. Snowe was headed in the right direction. She spoke of the people not daring to do anything because of so much uncertainty. I assumed she was referring to people spending money and/or hiring new employees. For this, I believe she is correct. I think there exists in this country some capital that is waiting to be spent and invested into business, jobs and growth, but with this administration people just don’t dare to make that move out of fear the government will steal the money or railroad the effort.

Perhaps we are staring down the barrel of a gun that’s loaded with poor leadership, uncaring and uncertainty. This is a classic example of how perception can make or break an economy.

*Editor’s Note* The following is a press release from Friends of Highland Mountains. It is followed by a copy of one speech delivered by David Miller, a resident of Lexington Township, to Governor Paul LePage.

A majority of the residents of Highland Plantation and Concord and Lexington Townships are expressing opposition to the wind development plans of former Governor Angus King’s Highland Wind LLC and Iberdrola Renewables, a subsidiary of Spain-based Iberdrola SA, and the largest operator of wind turbines in the world. Highland Wind LLC is backed by the Yale University Endowment.

In an ongoing petition effort, a majority of the voting age residents have, so far, signed petitions stating their opposition to industrial wind development within their respective communities. In Lexington, seventy-seven percent (77%) of residents have already signed. Many of the communities’ non-resident property owners have also shown their opposition by signing the petition.

In 2010, Ignacio Galan, chairman of Iberdrola Group, told the Portland Press Herald that “If Maine signals that it’s no longer friendly to wind power, the global energy company will expand elsewhere.” Alan Michka, a resident of Lexington says “The Concord and Lexington petitions make it clear that these communities are not friendly to Iberdrola’s plans. Hopefully, Iberdrola will make good on their threat to expand elsewhere. Certainly, they’re not welcome here.”

Many Maine towns have passed ordinances that effectively restrict wind power development within their borders. Plantations and unorganized townships such as Concord and Lexington, however, have no legal means to protect their communities with such ordinances.

“If 51% of the registered voters in any Maine town came out against a wind development, it would not be permitted,” says Karen Pease, another Lexington resident. “It simply would not be built. Period, end of story. In this case, we have 77% speaking in opposition. Rural areas of Maine have been targeted for industrial development, and citizens who live here were not allowed to have a say before these Unorganized Territories were rezoned. Our communities have spoken decisively. We do not want grid-scale wind facilities to be built within our borders. We must not be disenfranchised simply because we live in rural Maine.”

At the conclusion of the press conference, copies of the petitions will be delivered to Governor LePage’s office along with a letter asking the Governor to use his executive powers to remove Highland Plantation, Concord and Lexington from the state’s Expedited Permitting Area (EPA), thereby fully restoring the voice of residents and property owners in the future of their communities. Removal from the EPA does not prevent wind energy development, but requires the developer to secure approval for a change of zoning, an action that allows the residents to weigh in on the proposed change. Petition results and an appeal for support will also be delivered to key legislators, state agencies and the Somerset County Commissioners in an effort to draw their attention to the residents’ effort to protect their community from the negative impacts of industrial scale wind development.

Copy of Speech by David Miller

My name is David Miller; I am 69 years of age and currently live in Lexington TWP, Maine. I am married to my high school sweetheart Linda Drake and we have 4 children and 10 grandchildren. We both grew up here in Maine as had our forefathers. I joined the Navy right out of high school and retired from it after a wonderful career. After, I worked for the Department of the Navy as a contractor through TRACOR, Inc. where I became the Lead Engineer for the Submarine Tomahawk Program. After that program was completed, I then moved over to McLaughlin Research Corp as a contractor where I became a Project Manager for the Fast Attack Submarine Periscope Program of the Electromagnetic Division, Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Newport, RI. My wife and I returned to our native state of Maine to retire after over 39 years with the Navy.
We came “HOME” to retire and enjoy our great love of the outdoors. We love all the traditional Maine sports and have been happy with our decision to return to Maine after so many years of absence. That was until our state government sold us out to foreign and domestic interests and greed. Our state representatives passed legislation that affected those of us who choose to live in the Unorganized Territories’ of Maine, which took away our rights by restricting the authority of the Land Use Regulation Commission to represent and protect us from massive wind development that will destroy our heritage and way of life. It will also destroy our rural economics and forever change our landscape.

Our residents do not want this massive destruction of our way of life (sic) and is reflective in the fact that over 75% of our Lexington citizens have signed petitions to stop this development. As a past President of These United States said “Tear Down That Wall” we say “Don’t Tear Down Our Mountains”.

Respectfully,

David Miller

Lexington TWP, ME 04961