How many of you have read the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, better known as the Iran nuclear deal? I have to tell you, it was a struggle to take seriously anything beyond the preface, the preamble and general provisions, given that it starts off by stating that the agreement is based upon “mutual respect.” […]

Phyllis Austin and Roxanne Quimby are two of my favorite Maine people. I have known Austin, Maine’s leading environmental writer, for close to 35 years, having worked with her on the staff of Maine Times in the 1980s and 1990s. I have met Roxanne, co-founder of Burt’s Bees, just once, but, in the interest of […]

Let me repeat something I’ve previously said: The governor does not have the power to refuse to issue voter-approved bonds. The Maine Constitution says “any measure referred to the people and approved by a majority of the votes thereon … shall take effect and become a law …”  and the governor’s duty is to “take […]

More than a week has passed since Julie McDonald-Smith favored readers with her latest diatribe against “progressives,” claiming all of them plot doggedly to destroy our nation from within. As usual, several astute readers pointed out the errors in her historic cites, confusing 17th-century autocratic colonialism with 18th-century Deism. Is she nostalgic for Calvinist predestination […]

Regarding the founding fathers and religion, reference the July 6 column by Julie McDonald-Smith and last week’s testy responses by Barbara Doughty, Nancy O’Hagan, William Slavick and Dennis Wilkins. Some historians identify seven founding fathers: John Adams, Ben Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and George Washington. Most were raised as Anglicans, […]