The gun control debate highlights my main deficiency as a lawyer. I did not have a moral objection to learning to talk out of both sides out of my mouth – that is, argue either side of a case. I did not have a problem billing my time by the hour. With that training, any […]

On my way down to New Jersey to pick up my mother for the holidays, I drove Interstate 84 past Newtown, Conn., where there was no joy this past holiday season. Once again, the combination of a high-powered firearm and a mentally ill person produced a bloody massacre. Anyone with an ounce of human decency […]

Edgar Allen Beem claimed Gov. Paul Lepage has shown nothing but contempt for public school teachers, students, administrators and schools (The Universal Notebook, Jan. 14). Gov. LePage has consistently made funding public education a priority. He increased funding for public education by $63 million in his first two-year budget. Gov. LePage increased funding for Maine’s […]

Edgar Allen Beem seems to think that taxing guns and ammo will do the job (The Universal Notebook, Jan. 21). Someone ought to tell him that they are already taxed, through the Pitman and Robertson Act of 1937. And part of that tax comes back to the states. He has forgotten to mention (as most […]

I recently read a Forecaster piece by Edgar Allen Beem in which he raged against the popularity of online courses and what a scourge this trend is on education (The Universal Notebook, Jan. 14). And in the Jan. 25 issue, Mike Langworthy expressed the same bias for classroom-based face-to-face teaching and learning. The provocative title: […]