My mother taught me that polite people do not discuss money, religion, politics, sex or their health in public. But since I am already guilty on several counts and my dear mother has been gone four years, I guess a health column couldn’t hurt. After all, health care is a hot topic these days. This […]

The purpose of jargon is to hide what someone doesn’t want you to hear – “exposed nipple” for instance – in a veil of noncontroversial nonsense, such as “wardrobe malfunction.” Jargon is designed to obscure what’s really being said. In other words, jargon is the Congressman Bruce Poliquin of language. When somebody says something like […]

Last week, I wrote about Israel and the Middle East peace process. While writing that column, the Bible verse, “Peace, Peace; but there is no peace,” came to mind quite often. Everyone is talking about peace and the peace process, but they are far from finding peace in Israel. This week, the phrase running through […]

If a wealthy uncle offered to contribute $10 for every dollar you contributed to repair your house, who among us would turn down the offer? Only a fool. That’s the deal the Affordable Care Act has put on the table: $525 million federal dollars will be provided to the state of Maine annually to expand […]

When I was growing up, I took the Christmas holiday for granted. The only debate was what to eat with my family’s traditional roast pork. Should we have Cuban dishes, such as yuca and black beans, or Spanish dishes like besugo al horno (roast snapper), favored by family members from Spain? Over the years, my […]

South Portland’s attempt to regulate short-term rentals needs to take into account all aspects of the issue, not just the behavior of a few bad tenants. We have owned a vacation rental for nearly 15 years, and in that time we have had a grand total of two complaints. We keep very close touch with […]

Regarding the tax bill coming up for a vote in Congress, the key issue is being lost in all the noise about who benefits the most. The purpose of this bill is not merely to let Americans keep a little more of their own hard-earned money with the hope that they spend it on consumer […]

All of us here at Tri-County Literacy would like to thank everyone who helped make this year’s Candy Cane Festival such a success. Thanks to the creativity and hard work of our staff, our board, and more than 100 volunteers, the Dec. 9 event enjoyed a strong turnout, despite wintry weather. We are very grateful […]