Commentary

• Bills target taxes, nuisance bears and legislating while drunk

  January 22, 2021 by Jill Goldthwait on Commentary, Opinion

  COMMENTARY: “Former National Football League wide receiver Irving Fryar came out of a rookie orientation with the following advice to his colleagues: ‘We’re going to have some idiots come out of this room. Those of you feeling good about yourselves, stop it. You ain’t did nothing yet,'” writes Columnist Jill Goldthwait this week. “Legislators should heed his words. Despite the thrill of winning an election, the swearing-in ceremony and taking your very own seat in a historic chamber, it is easy to forget you have yet to do any of the work you promised when you ran for office.”

• Reaffirming the foundation of our democracy

  January 15, 2021 by Guest on Commentary, Opinion

  By Sen. Susan Collins Editor’s Note: This is a transcript of Sen. Collins’ remarks on the Senate floor in support of Congress’s certification of the Electoral College votes. She spoke hours after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol Building Jan. 6.  Mr. President, let me begin my remarks tonight by expressing my heartfelt …

• Maine case a cautionary tale on presidential pardons

  January 15, 2021 by Guest on Commentary, Opinion

  By Paul Mills President Trump’s recent pardoning marathon has shed new light on an often overlooked sphere of presidential authority. As one of the few powers that the White House can exercise without either congressional or, so far at least, judicial oversight, it’s worth taking a look at how some of our other presidents have …

• The failed Orange Coup

  January 15, 2021 by Guest on Commentary, Opinion

  By Roger Bowen Protesters were angry that their candidate, whose campaign colors were orange, had lost the November 2004 election because election monitors and others had claimed, correctly, that the election had been rigged by the incumbent’s cronies. The protesters demanded another election. It was held in early 2005 and this time the opposition candidate …

• Let’s be thankful for small miracles

  January 8, 2021 by Guest on Commentary, Opinion

  By Durin Chappe Recently, while superintending my daughter’s remote schooling from our sunroom, I glanced over her shoulder at the adjacent blueberry field as two bright orange-clad figures ambled across it and into the woods. These were my parents, beginning a walk that they had announced to me earlier. In addition to blueberries, the land …

• President Trump’s positive impact

  January 1, 2021 by Guest on Commentary, Opinion

  By Phil Grant Many of us want to sincerely thank President Donald Trump for his tireless efforts to make this a better country. Few presidents have been able to accomplish what Trump has in four short years.  Trump is one of a kind. We could use a lot more of him and his outstanding leadership …

• The ghosts of Christmas past in Maine

  December 25, 2020 by Guest on Commentary, Opinion

  By Paul Mills “Always winter, but never Christmas,” wrote C.S. Lewis some 70 years ago.  He was not, of course, speaking of our own COVID-19 time, but he could have been speaking of most of Maine’s history until the middle of the 19th century.  Why then was Christmas not observed? The answer lies in the …

• The Confederate Mental States of Trump

  December 25, 2020 by Guest on Commentary, Opinion

  By Todd R. Nelson Secession lives — secession from truth-based governance. And by con or coup, deceit or control, we remain sadly vulnerable to division. Lincoln’s more perfect union proves elusive. It’s an extension of the Trump administration’s “alternative facts” in the pursuit of power. We have crossed the Rubicon of mere political, economic or …

• It didn’t have to be this way

  December 18, 2020 by Hugh Bowden on Commentary, Opinion

  We no longer have a democracy. We’re losing thousands of lives a day to a pandemic that never should have gotten to this stage. We have an economy in shambles, with millions of Americans wondering where their next meal will come from and how they will keep a roof over the heads of their children. …

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  Playing by the rules on the Union River

  December 18, 2020 by Guest on Commentary, Opinion

  By Dwayne Shaw and Brett Ciccotelli Recently, Brookfield Renewables, the owner of the Ellsworth and Graham Lake dams, issued a press statement that has angered locals and further muddied the waters regarding their intentions to comply with state and federal water quality and fisheries regulations. What is clear is that Brookfield has decided its profits …

• America’s Gordian knot

  December 11, 2020 by Guest on Commentary, Opinion

  By Michael Hall It is time to cut the Gordian knot of taxes that threaten to strangle America and replace them all with a BTU (British Thermal Units) equivalence tax. Not a carbon tax, though similar. Senate Republicans can lead the way with the Biden administration to make it happen. Every government needs to raise …

• Just wear the mask, we’ve got everything to lose

  December 11, 2020 by Guest on Commentary, Opinion

  By Roger Bowen “Driving my car on a back road without much traffic is pure freedom. I’ll be damned if I will ever support seat belt laws that constrain my physical and psychological freedom. Besides, if I am ever in a traffic accident, I expect to be thrown free and seat belts make that impossible.” …