Neither of our female companions would agree to sleep with Eric. So I said I would.He laid down on his side of the bed, I laid down on mine and turned off the lights. After a few moments, my breathing slowed and I started to drift, floating in that weightless place between not yet sleep […]

The late composer-entertainer-raconteur Oscar Levant famously said about a former general and president, Dwight D. Eisenhower: “Once he makes up his mind, he’s full of indecision.”Levant might as easily have been talking about the 10th “little Indian” in the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination, retired Gen. Wesley Clark.Last Thursday, Clark tried to explain his […]

Time and money. None of us has enough of either, and the state’s school systems are no exception. But that’s not a good reason to postpone the state’s Learning Results requirements.A proposal by Education Commissioner Susan Gendron would delay some requirements by a year. This year’s freshman class would have been the first required to […]

An open letter to France’s Jacques Chirac:Dear Jacques:Don’t overplay your hand.The opening of the U.N. session gives you leverage for concessions from President Bush in exchange for a resolution blessing international help in Iraq.Given the toll – in money and men – that the postwar period there is taking on the United States, he has […]

The following is part of a continuing series analyzing political advertising this campaign season.Political action committee: Think About ItParty: nonpartisanTV ad: “Honest debate”Length: 30 secondsProducer: Glover Park Group, Washington, D.C.Market: Statewide, television (similar ad on radio)Announcer: Woman’s voiceVisuals: Ad begins with a clip of the CasinosNO! (opponents) ad, featuring former district attorney Janet Mills. Soft, […]

It’s not as if one is ever particularly eager to spend $87 billion. After all, $87 billion is, to use the technical term favored by those who move in the world of high finance, a whole bunch of money.Still, I must confess that I find it rather frustrating to discover that most Americans are against […]

President Bush went before the United Nations Tuesday, seeking assistance and reconciliation, but offering little in terms of concessions that might end a stalemate that has kept the international organization on the sidelines in Iraq.He was answered by unrealistic demands from the leaders of Germany and France. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder told reporters that he […]

“Facts,” John Adams said, “are stubborn things,” and last week, we heard two of them.American investigators have found no evidence of smallpox germ bombs in Iraq, and the president admitted Iraq was not behind mass murder of Sept. 11, 2001. Sounds a lot like what we learned, much too late, about North Vietnam’s attack on […]

Sen. Susan Collins got her answer about the Labor Day spike in gasoline prices. Remarkably, it’s exactly the same answer that the industry already had rolled out – and rolls out every time prices make a big jump in a short time. We’re not satisfied.In late August and early September, gas prices rose by 25 […]

The following is the first in a continuing series analyzing political advertising this campaign season. Two Maine television stations took the following ad off the air after it was called deceptive by casino supporters. The ad is back on all stations.Political action committee: CasinosNO!Party: Non-partisanTV ad: “Deceptions”Length: 30 secondsProducer: Stevens, Reed, Curcio and Potholm, Alexandria, […]