And Another Thing …

Bangor Daily News reporter Sharon Mack writes that LD 2001 would, if approved, raise the fines on those convicted of blueberry theft. A first offense of less than $100 worth of berries would be a Class E crime with a possible $5,000 fine. More berries stolen, and the fine could approach $10,000. Under cover of night, according to growers, thieves can fill a box with blueberries in three minutes, stow 10 boxes in a car trunk, and make $500 for half an hour’s work. We’re imagining a YouTube video of blueberry thieves madly raking away under the moon, risking serious fines and a criminal record. Why not work that hard during the day?

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Who would have guessed that in the year in which “change” is the political currency of choice, Ronald Reagan, first elected president 28 years ago, would loom large over this presidential contest? Republican candidates such as Fred Thompson – now departed from the race – and others have laid claim to the Gipper’s legacy. And now the Democrats are invoking the Great Communicator. In a recent interview with a Reno, Nev., newspaper, Sen. Barack Obama noted that Mr. Reagan “changed the trajectory of America in a way that … Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not.” And: “I think it’s fair to say that the Republicans were the party of ideas … in the sense that they were challenging conventional wisdom.” If he were alive today, President Reagan might have referred the matter to a Screen Actors Guild lawyer, claiming his act was being stolen.

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Speaking of elections, why were state governments so concerned about convicted felons having the right to vote? Florida recently adopted a rule change allowing convicted felons to vote. Previously, felons lost voting rights for life. Virginia and Kentucky are the only two states that still ban felons from voting. With voting participation hovering at about 50 percent, are we really punishing criminals by denying them voting rights? Don’t we want to encourage them to become good citizens? Do felons secretly hold their own conventions and decide to vote for a particular candidate who promises more weightlifting equipment and better food in prisons?

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So why did the $4.6 billion sale of Central Maine Power’s parent company, Energy East, to a Spanish utility firm get such little play in Maine media compared to the sale of Verizon’s land lines to FairPoint? Electricity, it seems, as a utility has become secondary in stature to new kids on the block like DSL. And it’s not as if one needs electricity to work any of those devices connected to broadband.

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Despite a valiant, passionate and sincere effort to gather enough signatures to force a statewide vote on repealing Gov. Baldacci’s school consolidation law, Lawrence “Skip” Greenlaw was unable to make the 55,000-signature threshold. Apparently the signature gatherers were scattered too sparsely across the countryside and refused to find a centralized location from which to work and plan.