Censored artist speaks
I was not surprised when told of the closing of the art show at the University of Southern Maine in Portland. It was expected, knowing the nature of those in power, here in the so-called United States of America. I had hoped that we could have made it to Friday, September 15, for the opening events, before the hammer fell.
Censorship and the denial of free speech are the norm here in the land of the free and home of smoke and mirrors, where the large majority of people abdicate their citizenship for consumerism, and wallow in the denial, as children in the Middle East walk among cluster bombs that literally litter the landscape of Lebanon.
Cluster bombs, anti-personal bombs, made right here in the USA, made to maim and cripple people, are scattered among the children beyond the horizon of Sunday afternoon football, in the US of A.
Most Americans don’t know about the manufacture of these horrendous weapons here in America, but they know about the first and ten and gaining ground on the gridiron.
The cruel irony of that is that the children who lose their hands and feet will forever be terrorized by the pomp and pageantry that so entertains the American people. The indiscriminate killing of civilians will not get in the way of a good football weekend, here in the “home of the brave.”
So, yes, they will call me a terrorist and deny my freedom of expression, because the majority of these good Americans cannot handle the truth. But the whole world is watching.
The rest of the world knows who the real terrorists are.
Thomas Manning
US Penitentiary-Hazelton, West Virginia
Food consequences
Thanks for Brian Duff’s enlightening article on the horrors of foie gras. It is only through informative articles like his that people will learn that what they eat has consequences.
Although the article focused on the abhorrent treatment of innocent ducks and geese who are tortured for gastronomical pleasure. there are also other important issues to consider. Other adverse consequences of eating animals also include a fatter body mass, higher cholesterol and blood pressure which can lead to cancer, heart attack and stroke. (Maine ranks #1 in New England in obesity rates and also has the lowest life expectancy.)
Finally, there has been increased attention paid lately to global warming (it’s scary hot today). Factory farms and the transportation of the animals “produced” there contribute significantly to global warming by using massive amounts of petroleum products and by emitting greenhouse gases. Go vegetarian: it’s the best thing you can do for yourself, the animals, and the planet!
Don Kimball
South Portland
