CLICKBACK ON TAXES, FLAGS

What’s the point of Patriot’s Day? Should Acadia’s beauty be exploited for jobs? Share your thoughts at ClickBack by going to www.bangordailynews.com and looking for the ClickBack logo. Some posts will be printed on Friday’s OpEd page.

State and municipal employees had Monday off, but mail was delivered and most banks were open. For most people, Patriot’s Day was just another workday. Is the holiday commemorating the start of the Revolutionary War outdated? Only Maine and Massachusetts celebrate it and to a diminishing extent. Is it time to retire this holiday?

American colonists were urged to dump their tea into Boston harbor to oppose a British tax. A Maine newspaper wondered if readers should dump their soda, beer and wine to protest a new state tax on the drinks. Does wasting beer this way make sense? Will the tax encourage you to drink less? Should lawmakers have raised the cigarette tax instead?

Is the U.S. flag so sacred that it can’t be used in art projects? A University of Maine at Farmington student made American flags out of plastic and duct tape on the floor of the school’s student center. She asked people to either step on the flags or walk around them. The project led to a protest by a veterans group. The student said the point was to make people think about how the feel about the flag. Are there better ways to get people thinking? Did the protesters miss the point?

An Italian landowner has proposed a major resort for the Schoodic Peninsula. Are hotels and a golf course next to a section of Acadia National Park appropriate? Will ecotourism like this bring sorely needed jobs to Down East Maine? How should local officials balance the need for jobs with protecting the scenic landscape that brings tourists to the area?

Our pets are full of potentially harmful chemicals and stores are pulling plastic bottles off their shelves for fear of the chemicals they contain. Is our world too toxic? Maine lawmakers recently passed a law requiring closer attention to a host of chemicals. Is it too late? Or are we overreacting to chemicals that have been used for generations?

Should the government reinstitute airline regulation? Overcrowded airports, massive delays, airlines going out of business, ever increasing fares, whole fleets being taken out of service for failure to perform inspections. This all prompts reader Richard to ask: Has deregulation really improved service?

Let the dog out, set your drink down and go to www.bangordailynews.com and hit the ClickBack logo to answer these and other questions or to pose your own.