A few decades ago, actors playing nitwits on television were all the rage. The mere appearance of buffoons like Ed Norton, Maxwell Smart, Barney Fife, Ted Baxter, Hans Schultz, Gilligan or Otis the town drunk brought forth gales of canned laughter, and most likely elicited similar responses from the actual human beings sitting at home […]

Another University of Maine men’s hockey season ended on Saturday night, and if that’s news to you, you’re far from alone. Unless you were willing to go way out of your way, the Black Bears’ Hockey East tournament quarterfinal at Providence was unavailable to see or listen to for the population of southern Maine; gone […]

        thumb”¢nail (thum’nail’)         …2. anything quite small or brief,         as a small drawing or short essay Thumbs up to all those who showed their Irish spirit by attending St. Patrick’s Day events. Whether it was a corned beef dinner or attending a performance of Irish dance, many Mainers mark the […]

On one side are the pragmatists: Republicans who want to be part of the governing process and accept compromise as the price of participation. On the other are the purists, who prefer playing gadfly to governing and equate compromise with betrayal. That fault line runs right through the middle of the GOP today, and it […]

Let me get this straight: Congress isn’t concerned that the National Security Agency is spying on Americans, but allow the CIA to spy on a Senate committee and it becomes a major intrusion? The fact they vote their own wages and perks, exempt themselves from Obamacare, feed at the trough of big business, reduce or […]

Together with eight other lawmakers, Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Tom Coburn, R-Okla., recently introduced a bill to eliminate the mandate for corn-based ethanol. This proposal came in late January, just weeks after the Environmental Protection Agency announced plans to reduce the ethanol fuel requirement. Both moves are reckless and unjustifiable. The nation must break […]

A wind energy deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars is now in jeopardy because the Maine Public Utilities Commission erred in approving the venture. In a recent article written by Naomi Schalit of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, the reporter explained the complex deal, which amounted to $361 million in loans and […]