“In this world nothing can be said to be certain but death and taxes.”That’s as true today as it was when Benjamin Franklin first wrote it in 1789, especially since so much of the nation’s health care bill is now paid through taxation.Europeans and Canadians are more aware of the link between health care and […]

Tax Freedom Day is the date after which we no longer work to pay taxes, and we typically view it in the abstract; i.e., by measuring the number of days we toil for the growing Leviathan. It is liberation day.But this year reminds us of the role war plays in bloating government, and how war […]

There are not enough skilled health care workers to meet Maine’s needs. And, as Maine ages and sickens, the situation will get worse if employee numbers don’t climb.Too few skilled workers mean that hospitals and nursing homes now require employees to work overtime, raising the at-work stress level in an already stressful environment and prompting […]

The motoring public deserves the same attention to safety as the flying public. Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta’s office recently held a high level meeting aimed at increasing truck weights above the current 80,000 gross vehicle weight. In so doing the secretary disregards the fact that his own DOT has stated that heavier, longer combination […]

Sen. Olympia Snowe, as dainty as she looks, is really tough to push around.She demonstrated her doggedness again Friday by standing firm on the tussle over federal tax cuts. The president favors a 10-year $726 billion tax cut, which he believes will plunge money back into the struggling economy.Snowe argued that size cut is too […]

Harassment and violence based on sexual orientation is a violation of the Maine Civil Rights Act.The Christian Civic League of Maine may not like that, but it is the law.That means the Attorney General’s Office is entirely within its authority to hold a conference today to teach high school students how to recognize and respond […]

Smoking is not allowed in government buildings, which protects public employees from harmful secondhand smoke.In most private businesses, employees are also protected because employers are convinced smoking diminishes employee health, which leads to lost work time and higher medical expenses.Oddly, while smoking is prohibited in restaurants to protect waitstaff employees, there is no such protection […]

Damperon newbusinessIf Maine believes development of alternate sources of energy is important, it should fund research directly from the general fund or with tax credits.It should not double the existing 75 cent monthly surcharge on our electric bills, as has been proposed in the Legislature.Maine already suffers from high energy costs because there is next […]

In recent years the world has experienced a technological revolution that has changed the way we live, work and play. From e-mail to cell phones to our ability to buy airline tickets on the Internet, technology is making us more productive and efficient, and raising our standard of living. Transportation is no exception. Today, new […]

I was raised in South-Central Los Angeles, a poor and gritty black enclave. My neighborhood wasn’t in no tourist brochures.Small wonder. South-Central was storefronts covered by graffiti, jobless men gathering on street corners, heavy iron bars on windows and doors. It was drive-by shootings, public drunkenness and open-air drug markets. It was dying too suddenly, […]