AUSTIN, Texas – It’s the All-American Blame Game! A Finger-Pointing festival. A perfectly circular firing squad of, “Told you so.” Bureaucrats perfecting their CYA moves. Politicians jumping on the opportunity to make points against the other guys. And so’s your old man.U.S. officials quickly blamed a Canadian plant for touching off the mess. Mel Lastman, […]

Let me tell you where I come from. Born in Southern California, but that’s not what I’m talking about. Both parents from Mississippi, but I’m not referring to that, either.I mean before that. Before Mr. James Crow laid down his law. Before raiders and slave traders dropped anchor in West Africa. I’m talking about where […]

Lawmakers will meet Thursday in a special session. One of the two jobs on the agenda is to approve a “tax reform” plan that would be added to the ballot this November to compete with an initiative put forward by the Maine Municipal Association. Neither plan gives us cause for applause.The MMA’s referendum wants to […]

Recently I took my daughters to Baltimore-Washington International Airport for their trip back home. Their flight left at 6:20 a.m., which meant rising at 3:45 a.m. to get to the airport at least 90 minutes ahead.Even in those wee hours, a platoon of white-shirted, blue-trousered officers from the federal Transportation Security Administration scanned, wanded, opened […]

Preventing panic. That’s the goal.But we’re not talking about New York City or Cleveland last week in the wake of the country’s largest blackout. We’re not talking about the distribution of aid in Liberia after U.S. Marines landed. We’re not even talking about the California recall effort that calls into question the political system in […]

There’s some good news out this month from the First Amendment Center.According to a recent survey, conducted with American Journalism Review, attitudes toward the First Amendment are returning to pre-Sept. 11 levels.The shock of a massive terror attack on the United States left many people shaken and willing to trade some level of freedom for […]

I know, I know – it’s hard to imagine that a campaign launched with a reference to a bikini wax can end up elevating political discourse. But the truth is that Arnold Schwarzenegger has an arguably historic chance to transform the Republican Party and thereby shift America’s political center of gravity in ways that would […]

Democrats forced a bond package through committee last week without support from Republicans.Negotiators for the two parties remain tied up. Democrats seek a bond of $93.8 million while Republicans want to limit the package to about $83 million. As negotiations ended last week, Speaker of the House Patrick Colwell put forth a new deal, adding […]

So, how much do you need?Would a million do it for you? Could you get by on 10? A hundred? How about $400 million in cash?It is, of course, the all-American daydream. We’ve all had it, all stood in the shower or driven down the highway mentally spending some obscene pile of money that falls […]

Bangor Daily News, Aug. 9 With the decline of the stock market, low interest rates and rising taxes and medical costs, many Maine seniors are feeling financially pinched. A growing number are turning to a fairly new financial product, the reverse mortgage, to use the equity in their home to pay bills they would otherwise […]