In this era of great angst, hand-wringing and outright anger over the status quo problems of our government at all levels — local, state and national — the biggest problem facing America is not among those being elevated to national spectacles by the screaming mobs on the left or the right. The same holds true […]
Our View
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Correction: Fuel tax indexed
An editorial Tuesday said the Maine gas tax has not been increased since 1999. While the Legislature has not increased the tax, it was indexed to inflation in 2003 and has increased about a penny a year since then. It is currently 29.5 cents per gallon.
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Excess charges can’t be used to bar public access
Applause is in order for Jack Cashman, the new chairman of the Maine Public Utilities Commission, who apologized last week to a journalism organization for grossly overbilling a request for records. He showed refreshing candor. The Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting had requested copies of the e-mails sent and received by former PUC Chair […]
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No-tax pledge may leave roads in rough shape
Is it even worth asking anymore whether candidates for office will raise taxes? Much to no one’s surprise, all five declared candidates for Maine governor have come out against raising taxes, according to a recent Associated Press poll. Can you even recall the last time a candidate for office favored a tax hike? Maybe we […]
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We all need courage to face child obesity data
Among all the threats our children may one day face — everything from terrorism to global warming — the most serious may be the one we seem most reluctant to face: childhood obesity. The Boston Globe reported last week that about one third of Massachusetts school students tested so far are overweight or obese. Massachusetts […]
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Engineers can’t blame the road for collapsing
There’s no way around it: The collapse of Route 136 was a very costly screw-up that will affect businesses and residents for months to come. What’s more, it was only luck that prevented workers or travelers from being killed. So jeers to the Maine Department of Transportation for not taking full responsibility for the faulty […]
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Lights out for workers at last U.S. bulb plant
President Barack Obama is at his oratorical best when he talks about the “green jobs.” “When folks lift up the hoods on the cars of the future, I want them to see engines stamped ‘Made in America,’” he said in August. “When new batteries to store solar power come off the line, I want to […]
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Florida pastor should relent on torching Qurans
Concern is growing in the Muslim world over the proliferation of “fatwas,” according to a recent National Public Radio story. Unqualified clerics are popping up on Islamic TV and popping off on all sorts of subjects. The latest involved a “much-ridiculed” breastfeeding fatwa which, according to NPR, “proposed that a woman could work alongside an […]
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Toughening drug laws won’t solve the problem
Unless he has some new research we’ve been unable to locate, Portland police Chief James Craig’s idea of increasing the penalty for first-time cocaine possession is a bad one. The chief recently told the Portland Press Herald that he wants to make the penalties more severe to keep Portland from following in the footsteps of […]
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Life goes on, despite storm and high heat
A heat wave and a hurricane in the same week. That’s got to be a record. We’re surprised nobody has used the little hammer to break the glass door on the cliche box to deploy . . . pause for drum roll . . . “The Perfect Storm.” Do you ever get as tired as […]