Gov. Paul LePage’s recent Department of Health and Human Services budget speaks to the failure of his administration to create jobs and implement a catalyst for economic recovery. But most importantly, the governor uses this budget just as he did in January 2011 to play Maine people against each other. This tactic seeks to blame […]

Last month, Portland’s major daily newspaper, The Portland Press Herald, reviewed its top stories of the year. Many of them were negative stories about Gov. Paul LePage (his remarks about the NAACP, his removal of the mural from the walls of the state Department of Labor, etc.). In the same month, the paper ran one […]

I will concede one point of Mark Verrill’s sickening Dec. 22 letter regarding the “celebration of gay, lesbian, and transsexual lifestyles” at Greely High School: having a Christmas tree in the school isn’t completely obscene, as long as all other beliefs are equally represented. That is where my tolerance of intolerance ends. I do not […]

My heart goes out to Christine Rousselle. Imagine working at Walmart and having to spend “hours upon hours toiling away “serving a “questionable clientele” she considered beneath her dignity to serve. She was forced to observe alleged misbehavior on the part of some recipients of financial aid. She describes “generations of families” appearing at her […]

On Christmas Eve, I once again had the pleasure of being witness to the odd ritual known affectionately (to some) as the Yankee Swap. Growing up in northern New Jersey, I’d never heard the word “Yankee” associated with holiday gift giving. Sure, I’d heard of Yankee Doodle and the New York Yankees, but these had […]

Gov. LePage’s proposal to cut funding to assisted living facilities such as ours, as reported last week by The Forecaster’s Amy Anderson, is a penny-wise, pound-foolish plan. The Chebeague Island Commons, like almost 160 similar providers in Maine, offers care to elders who can no longer live in their own homes. A portion of our […]

I wish to take up the call from a Dec. 22 letter and express my opinions to School Administrative District 51 about Ally Week, the event that reportedly “celebrated” gay, lesbian and transgendered lifestyles. I asked my daughter (a freshman) about it. She reported that they had “dot day,” when you could choose to wear […]