The other day, I received a letter from “Johnny.”“I have read your article on slavery and the blame for it,” he wrote. “I acknowledge that some branches of my family owned slaves and participated in that institution. I acknowledge that my ancestors fought in the Civil War on the Confederate side. I accept blame for […]

Massive media suffered a setback in Congress on Thursday. The House of Representatives, despite a veto threat from the Bush administration, overwhelmingly approved legislation to undo some of the damage done by an overzealous Federal Communications Commission.The vote, 400-21, shows the groundswell and bipartisan nature of opposition to FCC rules that would allow the country’s […]

The first time George W. Bush got a good look at Israel it was from the air. The year was 1998. Ariel Sharon, who was foreign minister at the time, wanted the governor of Texas to see the literal dimensions of Israel’s problem. He took the future president on a helicopter ride to see at […]

Tom Kean gets it. Or at least most of it.He’s chairman of the national commission studying the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and he grasps how crucial it is to understand and suppress terrorism’s root causes instead of simply trying to destroy the terrorists.“To defeat and destroy our enemy,” he said recently, “we must understand more […]

A pox has been lifted from Iraq. The curse that was Qusai and Odai Hussein has been removed, courtesy of the 101st Airborne and U.S. Special Forces.While it is distasteful to celebrate the demise of other human beings, the people of Iraq, and all people who value justice, in this case should be forgiven this […]

The drug industry has created a new resource to help Maine residents gain access to programs that provide low-cost and free drugs to the needy.Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America has started a Web site in Maine to help people locate and participate in Patient Assistance Programs. Some of these programs have been around since […]

Tony Blair’s address to Congress last Thursday (July 17) was the first by a British prime minister since Margaret Thatcher in 1985, and only the fourth such address in our history. Maybe they should drop in more often to remind us of what many appear to have forgotten.Sounding like a motivational speaker, blending wit and […]

Congress is considering a request from the Department of Energy to spend about $68 million on research into new types of nuclear weapons.Advocates of these “mini-nukes” tout them as a solution to several battlefield problems, including the destruction of heavily fortified and deeply buried bunkers. Hardened bunkers, like those in Iraq and North Korea, are […]

Like father, like son? Well, not exactly.To be sure, many Democrats hope and some Republicans fear the second President Bush could emulate his father’s dubious example. Beset by economic woes, he went from being the popular liberator of Kuwait to a defeated former president in a single year.There are some surface similarities.But if there is […]

The shocking mix of fiscal madness and duplicity President Bush unveiled with his updated budget last Tuesday is more than depressing. It shows this Bush to be a thousand times less responsible a national steward than his father.The deterioration in the nation’s fiscal outlook since Bush took office is stunning. In April 2001 the Bush […]