The United States Senate today will have the opportunity to right a wrong and help fulfill a promise made by President Bush to Africa during his State of the Union speech.Sen. Mike DeWine, a Republican from Ohio, is expected to offer an amendment to the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill that would increase funding for global […]

Don’t be fooled by last-minute Republican feuds over whether up to $10 billion slated for Iraq should be a “loan.” The uneventful passage of President Bush’s new $87 billion package continues a shocking pattern of “debate” in which the central issues are barely mentioned. The timidity Democrats displayed in refusing to make a stand over […]

Political rancor on the normally bipartisan Senate Select Committee on Intelligence threatens to scuttle a far-reaching probe into the failures of prewar intelligence on Iraq.Such a probe is desperately needed. Too many questions remain unanswered, and the administration’s role in hyping the threat posed by Iraqi weapons of mass destruction has not be clearly determined.The […]

Voters should reject Question 2 on the Nov. 4 ballot.Like the proposed Indian casino in Sanford, Question 2, which would authorize slot machines at harness racing tracks, is a bad deal for Maine.The question on the ballot makes a lot of promises. It says funding from the slots would help seniors and the disabled buy […]

Bangor Daily News, Oct. 18It is a bit simplistic to blame federal fisheries regulations for the sinking of the Candy B II, as the boat’s owner did Wednesday. The 46-foot boat was fishing for scallops when it disappeared last week in 200-foot deep water 50 miles southeast of Nantucket. The cause of the boat’s sinking […]

I guess I touched a nerve.That much seems apparent from the dozens of responses to my recent column about a hospital in Abington, Pa., where a white man asked that no black doctors or nurses be allowed to assist in the delivery of his child. The hospital agreed, a decision I lambasted.Which has produced the […]

Madeleine Albright’s attitude is “when in France, do as the French do.” The former Clinton secretary of state unloaded on President Bush from Paris the other day. Albright maintained that “it’s difficult to be in France and criticize my government,” but quickly got over it. “Bush and the people working for him,” she said, “have […]

Nathaniel Travis Heatwole smuggled box cutters, bleach, matches and clay, fashioned to look like plastic explosives, past security and onto two Southwest Airlines flights.The contraband remained hidden in the bathrooms on the planes for five weeks, even though the 20-year-old college junior sent an e-mail message to the Transportation Security Administration telling them his name […]

BAGHDAD – It’s too late for the Bush team to get United Nations help in stabilizing Iraq. Only Iraqis can help them at this point.But a week in Iraq makes clear that the administration is muffing the chance to get the help from Iraqis that it needs.Nowhere is this more evident than in the way […]

The following is part of a continuing series analyzing political advertising this campaign season. Political action committee: Maine Coalition for Racing and AgricultureParty: nonpartisanTV ad: “Prescription Drugs “Length: 30 secondsProducer: Campaign Strategies Inc., Houston, TexasMarket: Statewide, televisionAnnouncer: Elderly woman’s voiceVisuals: Ad begins with a close-up of prescription bottles. The scene then shifts to an elderly […]