My 2 Cents on 2009 Maine Elections

This year our elections bring several important issues to the fore. I'm using today's post to highlight my opinions on the Citizen Initiatives on this year's ballots, which include:
1. Equality... The same rights for all - "People's Veto" seeks to rescind Maine's "Gay Marriage" law. And so...It's defeat will strip any doubt from Mainers' intent to recognize that consenting adults have the right to join in legal  married partnership regardless of what sex any of the participants are - without diminishing traditional unions or religious traditions.
2. Municipal Excise Taxes... the taxes that pay for local road and bridge repair... that sometimes seem exorbitant (especially to those who own used vehicles that cost lots of $$$ when new) - but how else do we cover the cost of local roads?
3. State vs Local Educational Priorities... While the original idea of  school district consolidation to save money by eliminating redundancy, was a good one, like many plans of this nature, when it was all said and done the savings found were not great enough to offset the disruption such a plan causes... and the fines levied on those towns that could not comply are a travesty! Personally I prefer that local education remain firmly in the hands of the communities and believe consolidation works against that priority.
4. "TABOR"... a tax cap that sounds good on paper but can't work in reality. This is another issue of local control. Communities need to have full power to address their own priorities. When costs are decreed by a formula - local involvement diminishes. Democracy only succeeds with citizen participation. Local government needs to be MORE interactive NOT less! State wide formulas for local costs are not a good idea - especially when based on population #s - a small rural area has different priorities from a large urban one. The passage of these sort of tax-cap plans always result in diminished social welfare within small communities.
5. Medical Marijuana... This one simply makes sense to me.  In medical use, the "drug" Marijuana has less cost and side effects than most current pharmacology and it's many benefits for those suffering from anxiety, pain, nausea, glaucoma... are well documented. Legality should not even be an issue - this is a naturally occurring plant not some man-made drug to regulate!
I'd like to go even further than this regarding Cannabis -  IMHO Hemp needs to be legalized in all it's forms. The economic ramifications alone are reason enough. I'd love to see hemp cultivation for cloth, rope, and paper return to it's once lucrative contribution to rural economies. The saving of our forests alone is reason enough!
6. $71,250,000 Bond Issue... I see no reason for Maine taxpayers to go into debt to pay for infrastructure that will largely profit out of state interests and corporations. (And in the dredging of the Sears Island harbor area - have a deleterious affect on a vital estuary) In the case where in state businesses would profit - such infrastructure should be part of their own profit-expense plan  rather than come out of the pocket of their fellow citizens! If more than one industry would benefit - let them work together to fund their own profit.
7. Increase the Time allowed to certify citizen petition signatures... Why not? In these busy times I say as long as the deadline is reasonable for getting the initiatives on the ballot - there is no downside to giving certification all the time it needs.

After the Rain

This morning as I walked by the shore, I was aware of how incredible the colors are the morning after a rainstorm.

Yesterday was a classic stormy day. The sky was a deep slate all day and the rain never let up. It was a day for hot chocolate and hunkering down. I was fortunate in that my niece (freshly home from California by way of NYC) had come up from Portland for a weekend visit, so I had good company! We chatted, watched movies and did a lot of laughing. Other than her quick visit to Wasses Hot Dogs (the famous Rockland delectable) we stayed put - warm and dry... It was a day to ignore the out of doors ... so going out this morning felt like seeing the world anew. Every color was pumped as every object and surface - washed by yesterday's rain - gleamed in the early morning sun. It was one of those visual experiences impossible to capture because part of it's charm is the contrast to the day before! I'm not sure if the colors seem more intense because they are set against a brilliant blue sky - or because the rain actually revitalizes the foliage, but the end result is delicious. Every orange, red, gold and green seems to be supersaturated. Shadows are in tones of Cobalt and Indigo and form exotic patterns everywhere. It is one of those days when you FEEL the color  - not just see it! It is like Harvest personified. Days like these I feel enormously grateful - I may not be rich, or famous, or powerful, or whatever measures a "successful" life, but I am incredibly blessed to live with such incredible beauty at my doorstep!

Poetry for an inward day

It's a grey and rainy fall day, parrot is napping and not a lot of traffic on the road... so I'm reading old journals and found two of my poems worth typing up...

Fall in the Woods

Fall in the woods, 

leaves shadow shifting

A pond, ringed by trees, 

punctuated by lily pads, 

shimmers it's reflections

... and the world flies by 

unknowing of the miraculous only steps away 

The Gift of Seeing

I want - I need -  I visualize;

A house along a shoreline lies

it's view of water, forest, marsh

absent the artificial harsh

bestows a soft and dreamy view

allowing life lived softly too

Receptive, open, full of awe

for Natures bounty - Beauty's law

Within this home I live my life 

a world apart from illness, strife

Allowed, inspired, creating art

and food and play 

for health and heart

In quiet bliss at Nature's hand,

in stewardship with this fine land,

I live and love and have my being, 

and share with all 

the gift of seeing.

Counting Fish

This weekend we once more journeyed to the Searsport area to get familiar with the machinations of seining. We gathered quite a crowd of interested onlookers young and old as we set up on a private beach and learned how best to deploy our beach seining nets. We were not interested in fishing for anything to keep or eat, but were there instead to begin to gather scientific information as to the density and diversity of fish that use the shallow waters around Searsport as refuge and haven.
Not surprisingly, it being fall and the shores being heavily forested, our most abundant catch was leaves! Shyly hidden among the harvest of  colorful foliage were a dozen small (1.25" to  2.5") almost transparent fry of (as yet) undetermined species and several krill. Each seining we caught more of the same and those wielding the nets became more proficient at controlling them. It was a beautiful day, though a bit chilly and the men in the water were thankful for the protection of their waders and neoprene wetsuits!

Several in the audience became involved as the nets moved through the shallows to the shore. Both small children and adults who rushed in to see what was in the nets were thrilled by the tiny fish and krill we landed, and just as happy to see them all returned  to the ocean once they'd been counted.
The real counts will begin later this fall when volunteers come together to help deploy the larger 60' net off the beaches around Sears Island. It is exciting to have such fun while doing something we believe will prove helpful to protecting the future of these vital coastal estuaries!

A daytrip to Marshall Point

Today my sister and I traveled down the peninsula to Marshall Point Lighthouse. The wind was kickin' up something fierce and the sky was a tapestry of clouds. Wildflowers were bent over as the wind ripped across the point and traced constantly changing patterns on the water. Though I attempted to capture the action on video, the sound of the wind tearing past completely overpowered the sounds of waves and ocean. It was a classic fall day on our coast and when the clouds parted the blue was blindingly beautiful!

The light keeper's flags showed the wind's power most clearly as they stretched out in the wind , whipped around in the currents, and snapped back with a CRACK! to extend the stars and stripes over and over again as the wind wildly changed direction.

As we prepared to leave, a lobster boat moved across the bay, silhouetted against the sea like an illustration for a fisheries magazine. My sister exclaimed "Could there possibly be a more beautiful day!" to which I could only smile... Our Maine Coast  is always beautiful, and in fall it is almost always exceptional - outdoing itself day after gorgeous day!

Sears Island Expedition

Yesterday (glorious fall day!) my sister and I decided to explore more of Sears Island. Our plan of approach rather than following the shore per usual, was to walk up the center of the island via the cell-tower road and out to the seaward shore from there... trouble was there was no path/trail we could find that led to the shore! So we began coming back along and following trails that branched off. We never found a trail that gave even a view of the water until we were almost all the way back to the causeway! From there we headed out around the other side of the island to the "jetty" "tumble of rocks" "peir footing" or whatever one calls the mass of granite blocks facing the mainland... We never made it to the southern seaward shore as both of us were fairly done-in after 5 hours of continual hiking!
My next plan of approach will be sea kayaks.
I am amazed that 100s of years of use have not forged sporadic trails to the waters edge all around the island! Other islands I have known (inhabited and uninhabited) only accessible by boat, all had such exploratory trails. I am wondering if it because the island has a belt of wetlands around it's perimeter? We found fern beds each time we started shoreward... the island would seem to be a moose paradise!

Reform and Renewal

I haven't posted for several days... Probably because so much of what I see in the world seems borne of chaos. I am saddened and furious at the same time about several issues...
Health Care Reform is a prime example. There is no talk of Single Payer when it is the only system that will bring costs under control, recompense physicians fairly, eliminate our ridiculous drug programs and malpractice suits, AND actually provide all Americans with Health Care. Instead, the talking heads and politicos jaw endlessly about insurance and how we must include the cads in the reform package... INCLUDE them??? - they are writing the mess! Health Care in America is quantified by wealth not health... let freedom ring.

"Environmental" issues are a big focus of my angst too... I wish people would stop calling those who believe in sustaining and abiding with nature "environmentalists" when what we really are is stewards. There is no "ism" to the issue. Either we use our intelligence and awareness to sustain the natural balances that sustain us... or we trade the eternal  providence of nature for the transitory superficiality of our own devices.