It wasn’t really all that long ago that it was commonplace to sit down in a restaurant, even in the non-smoking section (often designated by a line on the floor) and be surrounded by tendrils of cigarette smoke from the person seated behind you. Once the health implications of second hand smoke became known, things […]
Forecaster opinion
Posted inPortland Forecaster
Forum: Guards, Reserves continue to proudly serve country during pandemic
Our country is facing its most serious medical challenges in more than a century. Fortunately, amazing groups of people are helping us cope with the pandemic. They range from medical personnel and first responders to transportation and food supply workers. Another group includes 24 Maine National Guard soldiers and airmen who were trained in April […]
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Posted inForecaster Opinion
Over Easy: The Three Musketeers lose one
My first cousin died a few weeks ago. He was 79 years old. As death goes, his was quiet. Couple of years ago we saw each other for the first time in decades, at a family reunion. Since then he’s intruded in my thoughts at odd times. I’ll remember how he used to hold his […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
The Universal Notebook: Do we really have to believe all women?
For reasons probably having to do variously with male lust, human nature and political dirty tricks, allegations of sexual misconduct seem to surface predictably when a political candidate rises to the top of the heap. Often these allegations are decades old, but they get reheated if it looks as though a man may advance to […]
Posted inForecaster Opinion
Life Unwound: Let’s stop ‘shoulding on ourselves’
I should drag out the trash for pick-up. I should learn new tech tricks. I should Facetime with my kids and grandkids. I should contact frail folks in town. I should sign up for that online sugar detox class. I should spring clean and clutter-clear. I should answer those texts. I should call my sister. […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Here’s Something: Pandemic exposing liberal lies, Part I
Mainers have heard their fair share of cockamamie stories, hair-brained schemes and far-fetched ideas, but never have so many silly notions been exposed for the outright lies they are than during the coronavirus pandemic. There have been so many untruths advanced by the liberal mainstream media and the Democratic Party for so many decades now, […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
The Universal Notebook: Things have been worse
In case you didn’t know it, the 1918 Spanish flu was far worse than the coronavirus. As of this writing, some 76,000 Americans, including 62 people in Maine, have died of COVID-19. In 1918, 675,000 Americans died of the Spanish flu, including 5,000 Mainers. The Spanish flu was something of a misnomer for an influenza […]
Posted inForecaster Opinion
Mainewhile: Our response to the virus is what we make it
This is the week that Maine, and much of the rest of the nation, has begun to open up. Everyone out there seems to be wishing for, hoping for, a return to “some sort of normal,” even as we all realize “normal” is gone for good, and even as we realize we might not be […]
Posted inForecaster Opinion
Over Easy: Notes from the underground in the time of coronavirus
March 17 – Three days I have been in voluntary quarantine here in my condo. I’m not complaining. I’m too old for the front lines and the sight of a needle makes me nauseous. But stay at home? Piece of cake, as they say. I miss my wife, who was visiting her mother when the […]
Posted inUncategorized
Forum: Scarborough legislator’s update on the state’s response to COVID-19
For most of us here in Maine, this has been a trying time. Many of us are feeling nervous about the future, or even the present. We are facing all sorts of stresses in this, the biggest public health crisis of our time. For some people, bills are piling up while little income is coming […]