I had been looking forward to spending some time after work on Saint Paddy’s Day over at the Wonderbar Restaurant on Washington Street in Biddeford. For those of you unfamiliar with it, it is an Irish pub and the owner, Vincent Keely, is an immigrant from Ireland, albeit about 60 years ago. He’s also a […]

The Concord (N.H.) Monitor, March 10: In many ways, the United States is built on myths. That’s not to say the nation’s history is a lie, but the facts are not pristine. If they were, the historian’s job would be easy. The task for journalists, sometimes referred to as “historians of the moment,” is equally […]

“You take stuff from different places, and sometimes you stick a line in because it rhymes, not because it makes sense.” ”“ Van Morrison St. Patrick’s Day arrives at the front gate of spring here in New England, with arms outstretched and a buzzed”“up grin. A holiday that stands at the helm of March. The time […]

I wonder what our founders would have thought of this: “Last fall, FIRE (the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) mailed warning letters to more than 300 public colleges and universities that maintain unconstitutional speech codes … explaining that their institution could be sued if it continued to ignore legal obligations under the First Amendment” […]

Thirty-three years ago, we had President Ronald Reagan, Johnny Cash, Bob Hope. Today, we have President Barack Hussein Obama, no cash, no hope. Conrad Boisvert, Old Orchard Beach

The events that March came on a gale of fury, and with furious speed: the “Bloody Sunday” civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, the confrontation at the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the tense meeting between Gov. George C. Wallace of Alabama and President Lyndon B. Johnson. And then, a half-century ago Sunday: the greatest speech […]

Every two years the Maine Legislature passes a new, balanced, state budget. The budget is a document that reflects our values and our priorities. I, along with my colleagues on the state’s budget writing committee, have spent the past month holding public hearings in review of Gov. Paul LePage’s proposed $6.5 billion budget. We’ve heard […]