Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign slogan, “Build That Wall,” has achieved iconic status as a shorthand for the cultural divide between those Americans who see immigration as integral to our national character and a southern boundary wall as immoral and those who view immigration as a threat to our way of life and an open […]
Rearview Mirror
Posted inPerspective, sj-web
Climate change needs action not denial
The federal government’s Fourth National Climate Assessment, released the day after Thanksgiving, puts an exclamation point to what most of us already knew. This country (not to mention the rest of the world) faces an existential threat from climate change that is far more grave than North Korean nukes, unfair Chinese trade practices, Russian-cyber meddling […]
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Posted inPerspective, sj-web
Question 1 asks Robin Hood to fund home health care
Whoever coined the phrase “the road to hell is paved with good intentions” must have had the Maine People’s Alliance in mind. The Alliance’s modus operandi is to identify a big socio-economic problem, then gather enough signatures to place a citizen’s initiative proposal on the ballot to solve the problem — typically via a program […]
Posted inPerspective, sj-web
Rearview Mirror: Brickman needs real collaboration to treat what ails CMHC
Central Maine Healthcare has been ailing for some time. The question is whether Jeff Brickman, the CEO hired two years ago to lead the financially troubled system to solvency and sustainability, is curing its problems or aggravating them. It’s impossible for an outsider like myself to accurately assess the situation at CMHC, but the highly […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Janus decision upsets union balance
In a stunning decision on June 27, the U.S. Supreme Court, in the case of Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, held it a violation of First Amendment free speech to legally compel public sector employees to pay fees to unions which represent them in collective bargaining and grievance proceedings. The […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
It's time to repeal the 2nd Amendment
Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where a mass shooting earlier this month claimed the lives of 17, are planning a march on Washington in March to protest gun violence. They want this school massacre to become a turning point in the elusive quest for government action on gun control. These […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Cooperation in the Twin Cities
COLAC (the Coalition Opposed to Lewiston-Auburn Consolidation), the organization which led a successful grass-roots campaign against November’s referendum to merge the cities of Lewiston and Auburn, and Auburn’s new mayor, Jason Levesque, who vowed during his candidacy not to serve if the referendum passed, are now hoping to use social media and public relations to […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
What happens in Vegas …
The National Rifle Association never tires of lambasting proposed legislation to regulate firearms as a nefarious conspiracy to keep guns out of the hands of “law-abiding citizens” while stoutly maintaining that only unfettered access to such weapons can make the country safer from gun violence. Hence the NRA bumper-sticker slogan, “Guns don’t kill people. People […]
Posted inPerspective
Governor’s background may give clues to angry outbursts
In the wake of fierce controversy over his profanity-laced phone message to a Democratic state legislator, Gov. Paul LePage has apologized and promised to seek “spiritual guidance,” but Republican Senate President Mike Thibodeau is probably closer to the mark in urging LePage to get professional counseling. During his tenure as governor, LePage has frequently made […]
Posted inPerspective
In first lady, Nancy Reagan found the role of a lifetime
Whether you loved her or hated her, Nancy Reagan was an American queen. In the democratic world of 20th-century politics, everyone politely pretended the first lady was merely a devoted wife, supporting her beloved Ronnie in anything he wanted to do. That was certainly true, but there have been plenty of first ladies who loved […]