The secretary of defense is right, of course, that the Iraq occupation – actually a continuation of the war – will be a long slog. True enough. Never mind that his remark was in a private memo that somehow was leaked to the press. The leak may well… Read More
They turn to gold this time of year. The hackmatacks, also known as tamaracks and larch, are one of Maine’s minor forest species, but they are notable for several reasons. Hackmatacks are one of the few deciduous conifers, meaning they drop their needles, just as… Read More
Howard Dean, the Democratic front-runner for president, repeatedly talked about attracting to his party the guys “in the South who drive pickup trucks with Confederate flag decals on the back.” When the other candidates eventually noticed the problem with this thinking, he first defended his comment, then backtracked… Read More
Calling it “one for our soldiers” the House Friday gave its approval to a much-debated Defense Authorization bill that includes, among other things, small increases in military pay and benefits. The Senate is expected to pass the bill early next week, giving President Bush a nice Veterans Day… Read More
Half of American families invest money in mutual funds, so while the recent news about late trading, market timing and other illegal practices by companies that manage such funds may have sounded like a bunch of financial gibberish, the implications could be big for the average investor. Mutual… Read More
Nearly four years of fighting over which government – state or federal – would oversee federal water-quality standards throughout Maine was answered again last week, with the state granted the authority. The Penobscot Nation and Passamaquoddy Tribe, which protested the state’s oversight over their territories and which had… Read More
Tuesday’s election should be remembered as a vote for con-tradiction. Voters statewide resoundingly rejected a proposal to build an Indian-owned casino in southern Maine with the promise of 10,000 jobs and $100 million for the state, but supported the installation of video slot machines at harness racing tracks. Read More
Voters put Maine back to where it was six months ago on Question 1, the tax-relief measures. But with another session of the Legislature arriving before a second version of this vote appears at the polls, lawmakers should work with municipalities to devise a fairer school-funding plan for… Read More
State lawmakers pay particular attention to Congress whenever its votes affect state tax revenues. They do this partly from self-interest and partly because Congress seems to pay so little attention itself. A new moratorium on taxing Internet-access services, scheduled for consideration in the Senate tomorrow, worries governors and… Read More
The standard practice for lawmakers unsure of themselves, informationally or politically, is to form a commission to study an issue at length and produce, if the commission finds answers, a short report with the solutions presented therein, or if it cannot find answers, a long report that circles… Read More
The protest against comments by Lt. Gen. William Boykin, a senior Pentagon official, could have calmed by now had Secretary Donald Rumsfeld not waffled on the inappropriateness – in fact, the harmfulness – of the remarks. It was not until President Bush made a clear statement that turning… Read More
While today’s election may look unimportant because there are no races for president, governor or Congress to decide, it is far from it. Two ballot questions will have major impacts on Maine for years to come. If you care about property taxes and school funding, go vote. If… Read More
Twice in recent weeks, Maine and a dozen other states, plus several cities and environmental groups, have gone to court to compel the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate carbon dioxide emissions and to challenge changes in the Clean Air Act that allow plants to make major upgrades without… Read More
French fries are under attack again, this time by Consumer Reports. The magazine’s November issue says McDonald’s has yet to make good on its promise to reduce its fries’ trans fat by using a new oil. So, says the magazine, “its not too much of a stretch to… Read More
B on Question 1 While options A and B on this question seem much the same, they are not. Both seek to offer property tax relief to Maine citizens while increasing state funding for education to 55 percent, but they would do this in very… Read More
The need for a fresh look at the way sports are played in Maine high schools and middle schools should be raised delicately. Without a few specific examples of boorish behavior by athletes or parents pointing to a reason for such an examination, many people associated with sports… Read More
The need for a fresh look at the way sports are played in Maine high schools and middle schools should be raised delicately. Without a few specific examples of boorish behavior by athletes or parents pointing to a reason for such an examination, many people associated with sports… Read More
If there was one thing that made sense in Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s speech last week about his misguided decision to intervene in the case of Terri Schiavo, it was his encouragement that others take steps to ensure that they not end up in the same horrible situation. Read More
In addition to statewide questions on the ballot Tuesday, Bangor voters will be asked two others: whether to extend the number of consecutive terms from two to three that a city councilor may serve and whether to impose similar limits on the Bangor school board. The notable oddity… Read More
Even environmentalists expect the Senate’s scheduled vote on climate change today to fail. Perhaps Sens. John McCain and Joseph Lieberman will get 40 senators to support their Climate Stewardship Act, which sets caps on the electrical power, industrial and transportation sectors for carbon dioxide and five other industrial… Read More
Do you favor a $19,000,000 bond issue to make repairs, upgrades and other facility improvements and enhance access for students with disabilities and upgrade classroom equipment at various campuses of the University of Maine System; the Maine Maritime Academy; and the Maine Community College System, which was formerly… Read More
Do you favor a $63,450,000 bond issue for improvements to highways and bridges, airports, state-owned ferry vessels and ferry and port facilities and port and harbor structures; development of rail corridors and improvements to railroad structures and intermodal facilities; investment in the statewide public transportation fleet and public… Read More
Do you want to allow a casino to be run by the Passamaquoddy Tribe and Penobscot Nation if part of the revenue is used for state education and municipal revenue sharing? . googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes… Read More
Do you favor a $6,950,000 bond issue for the following purposes: $2,000,000 to construct and upgrade water pollution control facilities, providing the state match for $10,000,000 in federal funds; googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner… Read More
Do you want to allow slot machines at certain commercial horse racing tracks if part of the proceeds are used to lower prescription drug costs for the elderly and disabled, and for scholarships to the state universities and technical colleges? . googletag.cmd.push(function () {… Read More
The late Barbara Tuchman is best known for her narrative histories of both world wars and the Chinese revolution. But her 1984 book, “The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam,” holds special interest for Americans struggling over what to think about Iraq. She started… Read More
1A Citizen Initiative: Do you want the state to pay 55 percent of the cost of public education, which includes all special education costs, for the purpose of shifting costs from the property tax to state resources? 1B Competing Measure: Do you want to lower… Read More
The Senate’s vote this week to join the House in ending the decades-old travel ban to Cuba was a nod to the reality that the prohibition did nothing to unseat Fidel Castro and instead allowed him to describe the United States as his country’s oppressor. Though the White… Read More
The reported tentative congressional agreement to provide something like a drug benefit under Medicare while driving seniors into less stable, higher-cost care is no agreement at all. In their desperation to get a Medicare package, Senate negotiators are giving into the House on details of the bill they… Read More
A recent news story noting the lack of funds for the state’s laptop program in its middle schools has one policy analyst observing that the laptops may not be in the next budget because “states want to cut things that aren’t going to directly affect the classroom.” That… Read More
Mention of whooping cough often harkens to an earlier era. The illness, officially called pertussis, was once a scourge that killed many children. Today, it can be treated with antibiotics although it can still be life-threatening to infants who are developing muscles and air passageways. Read More
As an act of civil disobedience, Nathaniel Heatwole’s hiding box cutters and other items in airplane lavatories was misguided. The North Carolina college student should be punished for his actions, but his expressed mission – to alert airline and federal authorities to weaknesses in airport screening procedures –… Read More
The murder last month of Colby student Dawn Rossignol was a horrible tragedy. The fact that her accused killer, Edward Hackett, knew that he should not be out of jail because he could commit such a crime makes her death even harder to take. Fingers… Read More
Gov. Baldacci is in Ireland this week, on a mission to learn about that country’s economic successes. Ireland several years ago became famous for its roaring Celtic Tiger economy, but then discovered housing shortages in its major city and population loss and continued poverty in its rural areas. Read More
President Bush has rightly chosen conciliation rather than bluster and coercion in dealing with the prickly issue of North Korea’s nuclear weapons plans. In a policy shift designed to restart the stalled six-nation talks, he said he was willing to commit the United States to a written guarantee… Read More
Environmentalists and Democratic senators should not expect Utah Gov. Michael Leavitt’s nomination to head the Environmental Protection Agency to be rejected. But they, and Republican senators, too, should put the president’s choice to head the beleaguered agency on notice that EPA’s recent record on environmental issues is not… Read More
Some leading Democrats are eagerly – even desperately – looking for a liberal voice to offset the many conservative mouthpieces who have all but monopolized segments of the media. As a liberal answer to Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity, these Democrats are said to have settled… Read More
On the day the Bush administration won an international victory by convincing the United Nations Security Council to approve the creation of a multinational force to police and rebuild Iraq, it suffered a minor setback at home with Senate approval of a plan to make $10 billion of… Read More
It is a bit simplistic to blame federal fisheries regulations for the sinking of the Candy B II, as the boat’s owner did Wednesday. The 46-foot boat was fishing for scallops when it disappeared last week in 200-foot deep water 50 miles southeast of Nantucket. The cause of… Read More
A novel approach to national health care reform sits in Congress, where it may or may not survive pending deliberations by a Senate-House conference committee. The proposal, a bill by Sens. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, and Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, won Senate approval in June. Its… Read More
There is little disagreement, in Congress at least, that the United States should spend somewhere close to the $87 billion requested by President Bush to rebuild Iraq. The biggest question is where the money should come from. The New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman hit… Read More
Whatever you may think of today’s Russia and its president, Vladimir V. Putin, his recent advice to the United States and the Bush administration is worth considering. In an interview with The New York Times last week, he warned that the United States now faces in Iraq the… Read More
Last month, the United Way of Eastern Maine launched its annual fund-raising campaign with hopes of raising $2.4 million. The money will be used to support 74 health and human services programs at 45 partner agencies. Last year, the agency received more than $3 million… Read More
Gov. John Baldacci’s press conference today about the dangers of lead should be unnecessary. The ill effects of the heavy metal, long outlawed in paint and gasoline, have been known for decades. It has also been known for years that a simple test can detect elevated lead levels… Read More
The most radical thing about Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian lawyer who won the Nobel Peace Prize last Friday, is her view that there is no conflict between Islam and fundamental human rights. This is no doubt a tough stance to take for a woman who has been jailed… Read More
Writing in a commentary for The Washington Post last week, which was reprinted in newspapers around the country, including this one, Secretary of State Colin Powell laid out the administration’s reading of the interim report of chief weapons inspector David Kay. Angered by what it viewed as the… Read More
It is frightening to think that people may put their lives at risk rather than take a test to determine if they are at risk for a disease. But this is precisely what happened to Hampden resident Bonnie Lee Tucker’s daughter. For fear that a positive result would… Read More
The Food and Drug Administration is right to be concerned about the sharp rise in the number of counterfeit drugs being sold in the United States, but the federal government should not confuse the increase in these drugs with the reimportation of lower cost prescriptions. Read More
At the risk of sounding ungrateful for the federal assistance going toward the economically straitened Katahdin region and elsewhere across Maine: Could the feds hurry things along? The National Emergency Grants from the Department of Labor have been hugely appreciated. Maine in the last year… Read More
For 20 years, Mental Illness Awareness Week, concluding today, has been used to lessen the stigma of mental illness, tell families how to recognize signs of illness and direct them to places that can offer diagnoses and treatment. That many people now recognize these illnesses is due in… Read More
Sprawl has long been a buzzword in Maine. It has been used to defeat a forestry referendum and to stop development projects. But, for all the talk about sprawl, little was done to stop it. That’s why it is encouraging that Gov. John Baldacci is investigating ways to… Read More
We’ve heard raves about coffee from Guatemala, from Hawaii, from Brazil, from Jamaica, from Guatemala. But never from Cambodia, the poor little country that hardly knows how to export anything but tears. Well, Cambodian coffee may be on its way to the world market, thanks… Read More
A proposal to require affluent Medicare recipients to pay more for the health insurance has been around for several years, but it gained fresh importance last week as Congress tries mightily to find a compromise Medicare reform that will pass. Means-testing premiums – not benefits – has been… Read More
The advisory council working on the merger of the Departments of Human Services and Behavioral and Developmental Services is nearing the end of its work. Accounting consultants are going over the departments’ books now, looking for further signs of trouble. The court has given Maine – meaning DHS-BDS… Read More
There is something quaint about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s devotion to his adopted home state of California and his desire to give something back to the land that he rightly says made him the celebrity he is today. Now that he has been elected governor, the Austrian born former bodybuilder… Read More
Congress has tried for 10 years to develop a sensible energy bill that would address complex and shifting energy demands and very real environmental worries while anticipating the likely course of energy markets in the coming decades. Given the way the Energy Policy Act of 2003 looks as… Read More
Medical triage is an emergency system of rationing care on a battlefield or disaster scene where the injured outstrip the healthcare personnel and facilities. It involves assigning priorities for treatment. The United States right now is in a similar situation, in its disposition of military manpower and in… Read More
Usually when a project is described as “unprecedented” and “visionary” it isn’t either. In the case of the multifaceted plan announced yesterday to remove two dams and improve five others along the Penobscot River to open hundreds of miles of habitat for sea-run fish, the glowing adjectives are… Read More
Many physicians have feared and hated what they used to call “socialized medicine,” but change is in the air. Doctors are busier than ever. Their costs keep rising. Mountains of paperwork take up increasing time and attention. Above all, they are watching, some with dismay, as health care… Read More
Most Americans, polls said, were supportive of President Bush’s overall performance until he made the mistake last month of leveling with them on Iraq. He then watched his poll numbers slide to near the lowest rating of his time in office. What shook the public perhaps was that… Read More
A major grant to the Maine Medical Center Research Institute promises improved treatment for a wide range of disease and demonstrates again that Maine has a strong future in high-tech research. The staff at the Scarborough institute deserves credit for this important national achievement. The… Read More
Citizens for Excellence in Maine’s Elementary Schools is a little less grand than its name suggests but no less important. It is, its founder, Thomas Collins of New Harbor says, a new group few in number. But its value is that it undertook these important questions: What factors… Read More
The assertions about Iraq’s weapons capabilities before the war were definitive. On Oct. 7, 2002, President Bush said: “The evidence indicates that Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program. … Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof, the smoking gun that could come… Read More
The Brewer City Council this morning is expected to decide whether to put a question on the November ballot asking residents whether they approve of slot machines at harness racing facilities. The councilors have only had only days to decide whether to support the referendum vote. That is… Read More
Except for that pesky jobless economic recovery looming beyond graduation, campus life for college students looks especially splendid these days. Lavish new student centers with more amenities in one building than many small Maine towns contain, food that appears a notch or two above edible, suites that have… Read More
While drawing out a court battle is not a good way to ensure that the state’s mentally ill are well cared for, the Baldacci administration’s decision this week to appeal a judge’s ruling to place the state’s mental health system into receivership has merit. It will be debated… Read More
The news late last month that Maine remains one of the oldest states in the nation didn’t grab a lot of headlines, but it should have. The state’s average age rose from 38.8 to 39.4 between 2000 and 2002, making Maine the third oldest, behind Florida and West… Read More
Can 50 million Americans be denied a more peaceful supper hour after placing their names on a federal do-not-call registry? Don’t bet on it, even if the U.S. District Court in Colorado says the registry, set to begin today, violates the First Amendment. The court… Read More
Suddenly, Washington finds itself tangled in a brand new puzzle: Who leaked the fact that the wife of an embarrassing whistleblower was a CIA agent? At its worst, the leak could ruin her career or even endanger her life. It could also mean felony charges against the leaker. Read More
Senators, both Democrat and Republican, are right to ask how the Bush administration plans to spend the $87 billion it has recently requested to rebuild Iraq. Their list of questions is long and grows with close scrutiny of the spending request. While it is easy to quibble over… Read More
A new page of information was added to the Maine Attorney General’s Web page this month with little fanfare. But the information, on end-of-life issues, marks a huge step forward for state government on a difficult topic we must all address at some point. No… Read More
Watching students drive the quarter mile from their apartment to the University of Maine campus, only to spend more time circling the lot looking for a parking space than it took to “commute” to school, it is no wonder there is a parking problem on the Orono campus. Read More
With Saddam Hussein still at large, whipping up resistance and sabotage in taped messages believed to be authentic, his loyalists and al-Qaida terrorists from other countries continue to attack the U.S. occupying forces and any Iraqis and foreigners seen as collaborators with the occupation. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld… Read More
The first referendum question voters will see on their ballots in November will also be the most attractive. Question 1A asks whether voters want “the state to pay 55 percent of the cost of public education, which includes all special education costs, for the purpose of shifting costs… Read More
Below are some of the hundreds of tax exemptions Maine currently offers and the amount of revenue they would have provided to the state this year. To pay for Question 1A without cutting other state programs, exemptions worth $245 million would have to be removed in the first… Read More
George Smith, the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, is right: University of Maine funds and supplies should not be used to advocate for a referendum that would ban bear baiting. But, following the same logic, state resources – those of the Department of Inland Fisheries… Read More
How come President Bush recently abandoned the administration’s line that Saddam Hussein was partly responsible for the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001? The reversal came in a White House effort to clarify a statement by Vice President Dick Cheney the day before. Mr. Cheney… Read More
Let’s hear it for autumn, often considered the best of all seasons. It officially started Tuesday, but the nip in the air suggested that it was already under way a couple of weeks ago. What makes fall so special? First, there’s fall food. The sharp… Read More
Many special-interest groups see last month’s massive, and as yet unexplained, power outage as the perfect opportunity to lobby for inclusion in an already massive energy package pet projects that they say would have been sure to avoid such an event. Drilling for oil in the Arctic National… Read More
Of course, fishermen would like a more stringent Amendment 13, the latest update to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan, to go away. But wishing it so, does not make it so. The plan was found faulty in 2001 by a federal judge when it… Read More
There is likely no worse situation for Iraq than delegates at the United Nations arguing over how fast a new Iraqi government ought to be put in place – as suicide bombers strike wherever they feel they will inflict the most damage. President Bush’s speech yesterday will not… Read More
In the most dramatic moment of President Bush’s State of the Union Address last January he pledged a surprising $15 billion over five years to fight AIDS in Africa. His pledge represented $10 billion in new money and it caused congressional members of both parties to rise and… Read More
Like a good scientist, Galileo raised many more questions than it could answer, but the spacecraft’s demise Sunday in the Jupiter neighborhood it spent years exploring ended a remarkable mission and provided NASA with a new and intriguing understanding of the Jovian planet and its moons. NASA receives… Read More
The most appealing aspect of referendum question 1A, which requires the state to pay 55 percent of school costs, is its swiftness. It falls like the blade of a guillotine on property taxes, chopping off a substantial portion instantly by mandating that the state pick up hundreds of… Read More
Monitoring wild Atlantic salmon returns in Maine is like riding a roller coaster. This year, the number of fish coming back is up dramatically (the Penobscot River is having the best run in five years), but the numbers are lower than two years ago. But the actual numbers… Read More
Medicare is stuck. A crucial prescription drug benefit and the reform of the health care system for most of the nation’s seniors is hung up on ideology that threatens the essential improvements drafted in Congress. President Bush, who earlier urged the Senate to complete its version of the… Read More
Just the transformation of the rundown building at the corner of Maine and Cleveland avenues into an inviting, refurbished structure is remarkable after all these years. Even more exciting than the former military building’s face lift is what will be housed there. At the Challenger Learning Center of… Read More
It should come as no surprise to Americans, most of whom would rather watch TV than walk the dog, that like ourselves, our pets are increasingly overweight. A recent study by the National Research Council, a branch of the National Academy of Sciences, found that one in four… Read More
Good for Education Commissioner Sue Gendron for being forthright with the difficulty of funding Maine’s ambitious Learning Results program for its schools. She properly said this week that increased state money should accompany increased state standards for Maine’s schools and that some standards would be delayed a year… Read More
A pharmaceutical industry spokesman is right that a plan announced earlier this week by the Penobscot Nation, Maine Council of Senior Citizens and Maine ALF-CIO to set up a system to import prescription drugs from Canada and resell them to the state’s pharmacies is a “bizarre scheme.” What… Read More
China stirred widespread speculation this week with the disclosure that it had moved regular army troops into new positions along its border with North Korea. Press reports from Hong Kong said as many as 150,000 troops were involved. China quickly denied any buildup of troop numbers, but it… Read More
The easiest story to write about class-action lawsuits is the one in which a huge settlement for some minor glitch in a product results in a couple of dollars or perhaps a coupon for each plaintiff and several million dollars for their lawyers. Poland Spring is one such… Read More
Another study, another $30 million plus missing from the Department of Human Services. The further the Baldacci administration looks into the bookkeeping at DHS, the worse the situation looks. Yesterday the governor announced a “funding deficit” of $37 million in the department’s Medicaid account between fiscal year 1996… Read More
The special counsel to Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, David Hegwood, last winter looked at the 490 percent tariff Japan had in place for rice imports and asked, “If one country is allowed to maintain a tariff of that level for a sensitive sector, then why wouldn’t all countries… Read More
As Superior Court Chief Justice Nancy Mills made clear in two tersely worded orders, the second issued last week, the state is not meeting the requirements of the consent decree aimed at improving the state’s mental health system and its flagship institution, the Augusta Mental Health Institute, not… Read More
Maybe the fast in fast food is more about how nimble the company is than how quickly customers receive their meals. Just as interest peaked early this year after a court case and legislation in a couple of states, including Maine, suggested fast-food restaurants were being less than… Read More
When it comes to supporting the state’s fishermen, expectations are high for state government. The state, especially its Department of Marine Resources, is expected to stand up to the federal government and tell regulators that Maine will not follow court-mandated groundfish rules. It is expected to develop an… Read More
Though there are strong feelings in defense of a local pharmacy in Oakland, the public, including a rallying medical community, has no real sense of whether the state’s charges are fair or unfair in this prolonged case. But as the two sides meet yet again next week, the… Read More
Recent news reports of measles outbreaks in Britain coupled with studies showing no link between childhood vaccinations and autism should reassure parents worried about putting their children through the recommended regime of shots. Numbers from the Centers for Disease Control show, however, that not everyone is getting the… Read More
Now that President Bush has reconsidered his go-it-alone policy in Iraq, he would do well to take a fresh look at the goal of the troubled occupation. His efforts to seek broader international support for nation building and peacekeeping are still in an early stage,… Read More