Down at the sale barn Saturday, the think tank had coagulated there with coffees to go to celebrate spring. Doc and Dud had their dogs with them, while Bert and Dewey and Steve went stag. Dud tried to start a conversation, but the loudspeaker soon drove them outside, where they arrayed themselves on dropped tailgates […]

This year’s elections will be confusing and possibly corrupt.   Voting used to be a routine process in which people had confidence.  But the ways it is being undermined have only recently begun to be understood, raising real questions about just how “free and fair” elections really are. Begin with the obvious Russian efforts to undermine […]

One of the more important issues that remains for this Legislature to tackle, before adjournment in mid April, is conforming Maine’s tax code to the new federal tax code. Why is this so important? Conforming Maine’s tax code with the federal tax code, which we have done for many decades, simplifies the filing process for […]

Math tutoring for elementary school students is at the center of my state’s continuing budget fights. The governor wants to raise taxes for new school programs, including math tutoring. The Republicans, particularly those in the Senate, are not interested in raising taxes. One of the many things I have wondered in the midst of these […]

This past week, I hit the road for our third “Back to Our Roots” RV tour, driving across Michigan, Ohio and now Kentucky. As always, these tours are an opportunity to escape the noise of Washington and hear directly from the American people. While Congress continues its work on the Farm Bill, rural prosperity, and […]

At no time in U.S. History was globalist rule challenged more than in the 2016 presidential election in both major political parties.  Democratic enthusiasm clearly went to Bernie Sanders, not an establishment candidate, and not to long-term establishment candidate Hillary Clinton who is believed to have used the DNC to eliminate opponent Sanders who had […]

Editor, I am a resident of Simpson Road in Saco and an abutter to the property that  may well become the new home of The Ecology School.  Since no one can do  NIMBY better than an abutter, I will try to live up to my reputation. There are two main issues here that I would […]

President Trump this week has begun a tit-for-tat trade battle with China that has sent the stock market into a spiral and left economists and policymakers on both sides of the aisle scratching their heads. It all began several days ago when China implemented approximately $3 billion in tariffs in response to the steel and aluminum tariffs implemented by […]

There’s something so satisfying about getting out of bed when the world is still dark and quiet and resting. Making the coffee gives us time to scratch and think. Well, scratch, anyway. Most of that thinking will start after about the third cup of coffee. But it’s a quiet time. A private time. When the […]

People say they want change. Politicians promise it. Barack Obama offered change “we can believe in,” for fear of leaving the false impression that he meant to alter America democracy. Donald Trump offered change by making proposals that broke with traditional policies. It’s possible that he means to alter American democracy. Even if many, or […]