Daily news reports hide what may be the real news. By focusing only on the day’s events, we may be misled and miss the underlying reality. This possibility arises on the most central issues these days. Most important is the war between Israel and Hamas, a terrorist group. Nothing good can be said about Hamas, […]
opinion
Giving Voice: A tribute to volunteers and staff, the heart of Oasis Free Clinics
As my term serving as board president for Oasis Free Clinics comes to a close, I find myself reflecting on the extraordinary individuals who form the backbone of our organization. It’s these moments of introspection that make me realize the profound impact our staff and volunteers have made, not just on the community we serve, […]
Just a Little Old: Maine’s senators must stand up for Democracy
Let’s start with a pop quiz. What well known American said the following words on Veterans Day? “In honor of our great veterans on Veterans Day, we pledge to you that we will root out the Communists, Marxists, racists and radical-left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country, lie, steal and […]
LC Van Savage: Old curtains
Do you ever get a weird sort of feeling when you pass a home that’s obviously dying? You know what I mean; houses long empty that are dark and shadowy even though the sun is shining brightly? Houses that stare out at the world with window eyes that can no longer see, their panes jagged […]
Tom Purcell: How to restore the gift of giving
Here’s an unpleasant holiday statistic: Average Americans are giving significantly less to their favorite charities this year than they did just four or five years ago. Average Americans have long been among the most generous people on Earth. But this year, thanks to an economy disrupted by covid, soaring interest rates and three years of […]
The Maine Idea: Destroying consensus is easier than building it
The recent death of Sandra Day O’Connor recalls the seemingly lost art of consensus-building. As the many appreciations appropriately noted, she was the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court and the last justice to hold elective office. O’Connor was Ronald Reagan’s initial high court pick. Later judicial selections by Reagan and his […]
Elwood Watson: The end of the Republican Party
Waterloo. The apocalypse. The Titanic. These are just some of the terms observers are employing to describe the current state of the Republican party. For many, there is a deep-seated sentiment the party of Abraham Lincoln is coming apart at the seams and imploding at Armageddon-like speed. Talk of political parties facing impending doom is […]
Christine Flowers: I’ve tried to warm up to this pope, but he’s left us behind
On March 13, 2013, Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina was elected by the College of Cardinals to succeed Jozef Ratzinger as pope. Pope Francis was the third non-Italian, after Karol Wotyla of Poland and the aforementioned Ratzinger, to lead the church in over 500 years. There was a great deal of celebration and expectation at […]
The Conversation: New England stone walls lie at the intersection of history, archaeology, ecology and geoscience, and deserve a science of their own
THE CONVERSATION — The abandoned fieldstone walls of New England are every bit as iconic to the region as lobster pots, town greens, sap buckets and fall foliage. They seem to be everywhere — a latticework of dry, lichen-crusted stone ridges separating a patchwork of otherwise moist soils. Stone walls can be found here and there […]
The Conversation: Santos, now booted from the House, got elected as a master of duplicity — here’s how it worked
THE CONVERSATION — U.S. Rep. George Santos, a Republican from New York, was expelled on Dec. 1, 2023 from Congress for doing what most people think all politicians do all the time: lying. Santos lied about his religion, marital status, business background, grandparents, college, high school, sports-playing, income and campaign donation expenditures. Santos’ fellow members of Congress — a professional class stereotypically considered by the public to […]
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