Immigration will change Europe in ways it can't foresee

PORTSTEWART, Northern Ireland — The Daily Telegraph's headline is meant to shock, or at least get the attention of Europeans apathetic about the threat they face: "A Fifth of European Union Will Be Muslim by 2050."

L-A should focus, build, on the good

The economy is weak, and people are generally in a sour mood. In fact, there's even a national index — the Gallop Healthways Well-Being Index — that quantifies it. It hit an all-time low late last year for reasons we know all too well.

Creating Maine’s future at USM

The only sure thing about the current economic crisis is that it will eventually end. As we prepare for the post-recession economy here in Maine, we must not lose sight of the fact that the value of an educated citizenry is indisputable to employers, public servants, parents and students themselves.

Dogs couldn't care less about dogma

My wife and I took our dog to the neurologist the other day. Yes, the neurologist. For a dog.

I'm sure it sounds extravagant, but Cosmo had been having unexplained seizures, so we took him in for an MRI and a spinal tap after a batch of the normal, cheaper tests.

Could health care reform become 'Obama's Iraq'?

This is the August of President Obama's discontent. His proposed health care overhaul is taking a beating in the polls. Town hall meetings have been disrupted by angry voices, only some of whom were paid to be there.

As Obama fights to get back in front of a signature issue of his presidency, he should find no comfort in how much his troubles remind one former White House aide of George W. Bush's biggest overseas headache: Iraq.

Health care debate comes down to a matter of trust

The debate — OK, the shouting match — we are having over "health-care reform" is about many things, including cost, who gets help and who does not and who, or what, gets to make that determination. Underlying it all is a larger question: Is human life something special? Is it to be valued more highly than, say, plants and pets? When someone is in a "persistent vegetative state" do we mean to say that person is equal in value to a carrot?

Woodstock at 40: At least we gave peace a chance

On Saturday, it will be 40 years since 400,000 hippies descended on Max Yasgur's dairy farm for a concert.

Jimi Hendrix performed, as did Richie Havens, the Who, Janis Joplin, Joe Cocker, Joan Baez, Santana, and Sly and the Family Stone, among others. It was billed as three days of "peace and music." It became a generational signpost: Woodstock.

Obama's legions try to silence health care critics

Like Richard Nixon, Barack Obama wants to govern on the strength of a silent majority, although with a twist. Obama wants the majority that opposes or questions his policies to stay silent.

Don't waste your breath trying to reason with the rich

I know I should be mortified by the lobbyist-organized mobs of angry Brooks Brothers mannequins who are now making headlines by shutting down congressional town hall meetings. I know I should be despondent during this, the Khaki Pants Offensive in the Great American Health Care and Tax War. And yet, I'm euphorically repeating one word over and over again with a big grin on my face.

Finally.

Finally, there's no pretense. Finally, the Me-First, Screw-Everyone-Else Crowd's ugliest traits are there for all to behold.

Public not ready to swallow unwritten Obamacare package

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius wrote an op-ed column for The Washington Post on Tuesday in defense of the Obama administration's efforts to "reform" health care. She wrote: "President Obama and I are working closely with Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate and health care experts to make sure we get the details of health reform right. But we can't let the details distract us from the huge benefits that reform will bring."

Driving while texting — an idea whose time is done

 

The amazing thing about the debate over the need for laws to ban texting while driving is that there is a debate over the need for laws to ban texting while driving.

Past nuclear horrors, future nuclear hopes

On August 6 and 9, 1945, the United States dropped a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima and one on Nagasaki, Japan. The bombs destroyed both cities in a flash and killed approximately 250,000 people.

Today, Sunday, Aug. 9, Physicians for Social Responsibility and Lewiston Mayor Laurent Gilbert will hold a ceremony at the Bernard Lown Peace Bridge to remember the victims of those bombs and express hope for a world free from nuclear weapons.

Two roads, two Maines

There's a saying in this state - "The Two Maines." The typical separations are the haves and have-nots, north and south, inland and rural versus coastal and populous. There's a saying that could become appropriate to Maine: "The Two Roads."

It's been awhile since a state leader has risen above these divides to implement a type of united strategy. So, with the gubernatorial contest heating up, we should start testing the candidates about the critical issues that divide Maine, starting with transportation.

Use Maine's natural resources responsibly

As a state representative, I am afforded a bird's-eye view on happenings around the state. This year, water extraction received a lot of attention, both in Augusta and in local communities. Although all manners of user rely on Maine's vast groundwater resources, one of the very smallest and most responsible users is getting particular attention — Poland Spring.

Health care, an unhelpful war of words

The following editorial appeared in the San Jose Mercury News on Wednesday, Aug. 5:

America is long overdue for a serious debate about health care. Too bad it's not happening now.

Oh, there's lots of talk. People in power, pundits in the media and interest groups in the medical and insurance fields are expounding vigorously on the nation's health-care needs. But they're talking past each other to their own audiences, not listening to one another, let alone directly answering concerns – a political Tower of Babel.

Looking ahead to Obama's next pick

If more senators thought like Republicans Lamar Alexander, Lindsey Graham and Mel Martinez, tribal warfare would be in retreat on Capitol Hill, and that would help the country. Votes determined by blind party loyalty turn us into a nation of R's and D's, not Americans.

Those three and a few other GOP senators have pledged to vote this week to confirm Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. Unlike Texas' Republican senators, Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn, they stepped outside their comfort zone and backed someone who doesn't share their beliefs.

Rediscovering Hathaway

Mention the name "Hathaway" in Maine and one is likely to think "shirt." That's not the way it should be.

After all, there's no longer a Hathaway Shirt Company and though Bill Hathaway is no longer a senator, he has returned to Maine this summer, carrying a legacy more enduring than the clothing that once put Waterville on the map.

Car-swap program shows how blind Washington is

Ce qu'on voit et ce qu'on ne voit pas. That may exhaust my French phrase quota for the year, but it's worth it. The saying is the title of an essay by 19th-century French economist Frederic Bastiat and means "that which is seen, and that which is not seen."

Bastiat's essay is most famous for the "parable of the broken window," in which a young boy shatters a shopkeeper's window and, after some initial outrage, the villagers conclude that the rascal helped the local economy. Why?

Cash for Clunkers program proves popular

The following editorial appeared in the Kansas City Star on Thursday, July 30:

The "Cash for Clunkers" program unveiled recently has a good shot at accomplishing its big goals.

The program will help the environment by getting up to 250,000 older passenger cars, sport utility vehicles and trucks off American roads. They will be replaced with far more fuel-efficient models, which will reduce harmful emissions belched into the air for many years.

After recent killings, Iran's hard-liners question the regime

Neda Agha-Soltan's memorial ceremony took place Aug. 30, 40 days after she was shot through the chest during a demonstration in Tehran.

Neda was the music student whose face became the symbol of the Iranian revolt after a graphic video of her death circulated on YouTube. Police dispersed thousands who gathered at her grave, yet their chants reflected the advance of Iran's opposition to a more intense level.

Assisted suicide will lead U.K. down slippery slope

While America debates whether the federal government should dictate which insurance policies and medical treatments it will allow us to have, in the U.K., the conversation has "advanced" to the approval of assisted suicide.

Conservative caught trying to manipulate race

"You are such a racist nigger." — reader e-mail

To answer your questions: yes, the e-mail is quoted in its entirety. Yes, it's authentic; I received it a year or so ago. And, no, it is not unique in its sentiment, its coarseness or its deafness to irony. That note has always struck me as a stark benchmark of our slide into racial incoherence.

Obama's arrogance helps Republicans win back public

By all accounts, Barack Obama's father, the Kenyan student studying in America, was cocksure and impressed with his own talents. The arrogance gene must be dominant. Obama clearly has it.

And that, more than any other factor, is driving his summertime swoon. Hubris made him reach for too much, too soon; brazenly overpromise about the effects of his program; overestimate his control of events; think the golden touch of his brilliant team could solve intractable problems; and believe his words could trump reality.

Partisan politics undermines efforts for health care reform

For those still clinging to quaint notions of the American ideal, these have been a faith-shaking 10 years. Just as evolutionary science once got in the way of Creationists' catechism, so has politics now undermined patriots' naive belief that the United States is a functioning democracy.

A test for trucking

Increasing the federal highway truck weight limit on Maine's interstate highways has always been one of my top priorities in the Senate. But, to say that it has been difficult would be an understatement.

That is why I am delighted that, after a lot of hard work, I have convinced my colleagues on the Senate Appropriations Committee to approve a one-year pilot project to exempt Maine's interstate highways from the 80,000 pound federal truck weight limit.