Opinion

The Universal Notebook: The government is us, governor

“The government is what we call ourselves when we agree to work together,” retired U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., told an audience at Colby College in Waterville last month. The problem of partisan gridlock in Washington, Frank explained, is not a function of Republicans and ...

Edgar Allen Beem • Opinion •
Monday, May 13, 2013 at 2:50 pm
The View From Away: Laughter is the best medicine (followed closely by therapy and psychotropic meds)

One of the more enlightening aspects of my Canadian adventure, and a reason I will have a soft spot for Canada long after this job ends, is the experience of working without the specter of depression looming over my head all the time. The clinical kind, I mean. I still get plenty of the ga...

Mike Langworthy • Opinion •
Monday, May 13, 2013 at 2:30 pm

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Abby's Road: A marriage of opposites

As I was sitting down to write this, my husband began dancing a gleeful jig around our kitchen. Not because he knew I was going to be occupied for the next hour or so (actually, that may have been part of it), but because he’d had a breakthrough. He knew how he was going to use the e...

Abby Diaz • Opinion •
Monday, January 28, 2013 at 12:00 pm
The Universal Notebook: Why Maine needs ranked-choice voting

A recent Public Policy Polling poll suggests that if a three-way race for governor were held today, Gov. Paul LePage, with a solid 37 percent of the vote, would beat any Democratic candidate and independent Eliot Cutler. In a head-to-head race, the poll found that just about any Democrat wins.

Edgar Allen Beem • Opinion •
Monday, January 28, 2013 at 11:40 am
Global Matters: The French collection

There are better ways to spend a Sunday afternoon in Paris than making an impromptu visit to the emergency room in a public hospital, but that’s what I did a few weeks ago following an altercation with a chair at a restaurant in the Marais. I really ought to come up with a better sto...

Perry B. Newman • Opinion •
Monday, January 28, 2013 at 11:20 am
Forecaster Forum: As policy, LePage budget plan is 'fundamentally dishonest'

I love Yarmouth as a community and Maine as the greatest state in the country. And, I’m sure that residents and community leaders throughout our state feel the same way about their towns and cities. But, in my opinion, local municipalities are under attack. Not from the outside, but ...

Steve Woods • Opinion •
Monday, January 28, 2013 at 11:00 am
Letter: Marcoux's experience wasn't unique

I have never seen a stronger, more courageous piece of opinion in your paper than Dana Marcoux sharing his 1970s experience ("'Out' in Maine:...

• Opinion •
Monday, January 28, 2013 at 10:20 am
Letter: New taxes won't prevent gun violence

I am writing this in response to Edgar Allen Beem’s most recent column, “It’s time to tax guns, ammo.” Mr. Beem’s diatribe proves that he has lost all common sense and confirms that he is in the group of people that have no clue as to what they are speaking about whe...

• Opinion •
Monday, January 28, 2013 at 10:10 am
Letter: Who is watching the cable TV monopoly?

When my TV went dark, I called Time Warner and learned there was a deliberate (unannounced) overnight service interruption for maintenance. I missed the end of my show and wasted time reporting the outage, but when I asked for credit, I was told to call back after the interruption to request cred...

Opinion •
Monday, January 28, 2013 at 10:00 am
Forecaster Forum: 'Out' in Maine: How people, times change

Weeks before graduation from my small-town high school in the spring of 1975, I was caught by a state trooper having sex with another man in the woods of Maine. We were minors, exploring our sexuality in the back seat of a Volkswagen bug. The implications surrounding this event changed my ...

Dana Marcoux • Opinion •
Monday, January 21, 2013 at 11:50 am