“One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president and nine Supreme Court justices – 545 human beings out of the 235 million – are directly, legally, morally and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country. I can’t think of a single domestic problem, from an unfair tax code to defense overruns, that is not traceable directly to those 545 people.” – Charley Reese, a journalist for 49 years.

That quote is perhaps the longest I have ever had but it fits this column to a T. One can google Charley Reese and find the entire article that he wrote about 545 out of 235 million. The amazing fact is that we, for the most part, elect most of those 545 that can never seem to solve the problems of this once-great nation. What’s even worse is that many keep getting re-elected term after term and does anyone want to guess who is doing that?

By the way, the best definition I found for moronathon was a group of people who get together for hours and accomplish nothing. By God, if that doesn’t fit government then what does? Just in case someone doesn’t have a clue as to what the three-ring circus is, please remember how our federal government is set up with the legislative, executive and judicial branches. All one has to do is look at Vice President Biden once again bashing the Bush administration for the problems that America faces today. Hey Joe, good job in keeping the moronathon going while your boss shuts down air traffic around Mount Desert Island that could have brought in some serious tourist dollars if, in fact, there really are any tourist dollars left to spend.

P.S. Can someone in Washington tell me what President Obama’s vacation in Maine cost the taxpayers? The one thing that all politicians seem to have in common is the fact that someone else is always to blame for our problems. As my friend Tommy Gleason would say, there’s a whole lot of finger-pointing going on but no one is pointing at themselves.

A good example is the rezoning plan for parts of South Windham that the town councilors tossed out the window like a bag of rotten potatoes. How many times did we hear it’s what the Windham Comprehensive Plan has for denser housing in parts of South Windham? The only problem is most who live there want their land to remain in the farm zone and they deserve to be angry at town staff and committees trying to change what they purchased and especially the land around them. They didn’t move to Windham to have several close neighbors. Don’t you like the term of tabled permanently but open to future discussion? In other words, look for this to come around again in the future when our local government thinks that we are sleeping once more.

I never thought that the present Windham council would have an image problem but it’s a problem that I am hearing about more and more so I wish that they would begin a process to correct it. Most of what I am hearing involves the appointments of developers to the Planning Board and the Land Use Ordinance Committee. Perhaps Councilor Busque stated it best in last week’s edition of this paper where he stated, “there were few applicants for the land use ordinance committee and that preference was given to those with land use experience.” I heard from some citizens that the questions that they were asked gave them no chance to be on the committee.

When one looks back at when the majority of this council was elected, please remember the flashing electronic signs with four names of the winners of that election. It is an image problem that permeates all of the present council decisions and for me, enough so that it is a problem of ethics.

Lane Hiltunen lives in Windham.