I got some thrilling news from Florida recently: my friend Fawna is going to be a mom. She’s going to be a great one too, since she’s selfless, creative, responsible, kind, and above all, patient. But before she and her husband embark upon the business of feeding, clothing, nurturing, socializing, educating, housing, bathing, and chauffeuring […]

In a few days, Mainers will go to the polls and have the opportunity to right a wrong. In addition to voting for candidates, we will once again be asked to weigh in on ranked-choice voting (RCV). I am asking you to vote “no” to prevent further chaos in Maine’s election system. There are a […]

Each Spring, a School Committee-approved budget is presented to the Biddeford City Council for their action to finalize the School Department’s budget. Again this year, the citizens of Biddeford will be provided an opportunity to vote on the school budget on June 12, 2018.  The total increase to taxpayers will be $18,135.69, which will result […]

It’s been a long time since a common rite of passage among our nation’s men was to put on a uniform and defend your nation, community, and family. Yet at a time of increasing hyperpolarization in our country, as well as the deteriorating state of our nation’s youth in mind, body, and soul, national military service may be an idea […]

Reasoning by historical analogy is dangerous. Georges Santayana notwithstanding, history does not repeat itself. Rather, the value of history is in what we learn from the past. Failures are as instructive as successes, if not more so. From the day Islamic Jihadists struck the World Trade Center almost 17 years ago, those favoring and those […]

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently made a surprise announcement: he will be reevaluating U.S. asylum policy regarding survivors of domestic violence. A reversal of current policy would mean that people fleeing domestic violence in their home countries no longer qualify for asylum in the U.S. This is yet another attempt to codify the Trump […]

Mrs. Forrest has always been a compulsive feeder. Before she retired, she was cooking for the Mule Barn truck stop’s customers, and is singularly responsible for about three flabby tons of avoirdupois on this nation’s truck drivers, and may have been marginally responsible, third-hand, for a cardiac event or two. But now she’s retired, and […]

Government is too complicated. People dislike government that is remote, bureaucratic and burdensome.  Some conservatives believe we live under “the administrative state,” many regulations are written by anonymous agency staff. Is government under the control of bureaucrats who cannot be held politically accountable and probably have a liberal agenda? An easier and more obvious explanation […]

As a former Maine, Democratic legislator from 2004-2012, I had a bird’s eye view of both the governing and political process during those years. I was one of those who didn’t give Ranked Choice Voting a favorable recommendation when it first found its way into the statehouse. I thought it would be confusing, costly and […]