Victory may not be possible for the United States in Najaf.Certainly, the United States is vastly superior militarily to the forces of Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army, which has been occupying the Imam Ali Shrine in Najaf’s old city.Political, cultural and religious considerations are preventing a purely military victory, and there doesn’t appear to be a […]

Lewiston is well within its rights to investigate the allegations against a city worker, who is accused of abusing his authority and is facing related criminal charges.Abdiaziz Ali, 34, is a caseworker for the city. Criminal charges allege he used his position to solicit sex from a local woman. Ali was issued a summons on […]

A group calling itself “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth” is attacking Sen. John Kerry, challenging his war record and the circumstances of the medals he earned during his time in Vietnam.The most incendiary claims of the group – which is backed by big donors to the Republican Party – have been debunked by FactCheck.org (Aug. […]

President Bush has rightly taken time to visit the devastation caused by Hurricane Charley in Florida.It’s not unusual for the president to comfort the victims of a natural disaster and bring promises of federal aid to help rebuild communities. Such activities are part of what presidents should do.To date, however, the president has failed to […]

There’s just no winning. Even when you win.An investigation into the state’s small claims legal system by the Sun Journal has found that winning a judgment often falls short of actual justice.According to estimates from the clerks, who are in the best position to know, maybe one-third of the people who win their cases actually […]

The federal budget is in serious disrepair. Currently, deficits are hovering around $500 billion a year. And if the tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 are made permanent, they will add about $5 trillion to the nation’s debt over the next decade.Rhetoric aside, it is not clear that either presidential candidate is prepared to […]

Bangor Daily News, Aug. 13 With a lot of help from Apple Computer Corp., ninth-graders in at least 33 Maine school districts will continue learning with the help of laptop computers this fall. It is a temporarily positive outcome to a disappointing process in the last legislative session, but it’s no way to run a […]

There are fundamental and serious flaws with the tax cap legislation that goes to voters in November.Supporters of the ballot initiative, who met with the Sun Journal editorial board Wednesday, recognize the problems and say they would support changes once the question has passed.The most important part of the proposed law – the limit on […]

Critics of Maine’s program to provide students with laptop computers jumped on last week’s release of standardized test scores.For the sixth year in a row, scores on the Maine Educational Assessment tests remained flat. Eighth-graders, who have had access to personal laptop computers for about three semesters, didn’t improve their scores.It would be a mistake, […]

Daniel R. Asselin was drunk when the car he was driving struck and killed 18-year-old Mark Blanchette. That was just over eight years ago, on Aug. 13, 1996.Asselin, whose blood-alcohol level measured 0.21 – more than twice the legal limit – was convicted of aggravated drunken driving and was sentenced to four years in jail.At […]