Opinion
CONTRIBUTORS
The second-term slump
By John Dickerson, Slate on June 19, 2013, at 5:26 p.m.
President Barack Obama’s poll numbers are sliding. Around Christmastime, his average approval rating, according to RealClearPolitics, was nearly 54 percent, 12 points higher than his average disapproval rating of 42 percent. Now his numbers have flipped. His average approval rating at 46.6 percent is roughly 2 points lower than his disapproval ...
CONTRIBUTORS
GOP, Dems actually agree on facts
By Cass R. Sunstein, Bloomberg News on June 19, 2013, at 2:21 p.m.
“You are entitled to your own opinion, but not to your own facts.” This quotation, often attributed to Daniel Patrick Moynihan, rightly suggests that while it is perfectly legitimate for people to have different political views, they should not be making up the facts. Yet a lot of survey evidence ...
LETTERS
Thursday, June 20, 2013: Maine’s workforce, health care and wind power
on June 19, 2013, at 2:13 p.m.
Live and retire I am writing in response to the June 14 BDN article, “Is Maine’s population too old and white to be sustainable?” While it is important to prepare for the possibility of labor shortages due to baby boomers retiring and decreased numbers of younger workers, there are workforce ...
EDITORIALS
A vote against the budget is a vote for a state shutdown
on June 19, 2013, at 1:36 p.m.
Five Republican state senators and 23 GOP members of the Maine House demonstrated their understanding of shared sacrifice and compromise for the common good when they voted June 13 in favor of the two-year state budget deal crafted by a unanimous Appropriations Committee. By joining all but a handful of ...
CONTRIBUTORS
Susan Collins: Why Congress should reform federal court
Just last month, William Kayatta of Cape Elizabeth was formally sworn in as a U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals judge. During the investiture ceremony, Bill acknowledged that it was the result of my tireless advocacy, over more than a year, that he was able to overcome political obstacles to ...
CONTRIBUTORS
From Aroostook to York, how small businesses are driving the rural economy
By Virginia Manuel on June 19, 2013, at 12:35 p.m.
In rural America, the local community drives the rural economy. Money spent and invested locally rolls through a community and generates even more economic benefits. That’s why rural small businesses are critical to strong rural communities. And it’s why U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, is pleased to join with ...
CONTRIBUTORS
Pregnant women and the workplace
By Diana Reese, The Washington Post on June 19, 2013, at 7:39 a.m.
Heather Myers was fired from her job at a Wal-Mart store in Salina, Kan., for keeping a water bottle nearby — even though she was pregnant and simply following doctor’s orders to drink plenty of liquids. Her case is far from unique, according to a report released Tuesday by the National Women’s ...
CONTRIBUTORS
Clarence Thomas’ legal time machine zooms to 1789
By Noah Feldman, Bloomberg News on June 19, 2013, at 7:23 a.m.
Don’t let the U.S. Supreme Court’s very contemporary cases on gene patenting and same-sex marriage fool you: At least one justice is still living in the 18th century and doesn’t care who knows it. Justice Clarence Thomas followed his astonishingly consistent originalism in Alleyne v. U.S., joined by the court’s ...
Wednesday, June 19, 2013: Bears, clean elections and Eliot Cutler
on June 18, 2013, at 5:09 p.m.
Bear facts I believe Katie Hansberry is on a personal crusade that overshadows the good that the Humane Society of the United States is known for and which most of us support. In voicing her own opinion in a June 13 BDN OpEd titled, “Give voters chance to end bear ...
GEORGE DANBY | EDITORIAL CARTOONIST (blog)
Bike, baby! Bike!
on June 18, 2013, at 5:02 p.m.
The bike option as a mode of transportation or for exercise is having a surge in popularity. Rent-a-bike in Boston and a pilot program in Portland has promise – to save gas and decrease traffic problems.
CONTRIBUTORS
Cleveland turns backlogged rape kits into stream of indictments
By Amanda Marcotte, Slate on June 18, 2013, at 4:37 p.m.
The shocking case of Ariel Castro, who kidnapped three young women and held them for years as rape and torture objects, fascinated the nation when it broke last month. But Cleveland has had a problem with residents living in fear of sexual predators for a while now. As Phillip Morris ...
CONTRIBUTORS
The cost of requiring more renewable power
By Carol Weston on June 18, 2013, at 4:22 p.m.
Phil Bartlett doesn’t know much about the costs of the renewable portfolio standards, but he does like to huff and puff about conspiracy theories. In a June 4 OpEd, he conjured up dark, sinister forces aligning themselves against his pet environmental regulations. Among them he cites Americans for Prosperity. As ...
EDITORIALS
LePage fails to surprise on Medicaid expansion
on June 18, 2013, at 4:21 p.m.
In unsurprising fashion, Gov. Paul LePage on Monday vetoed legislation to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. We didn’t expect him to be open to the idea of extending health insurance to tens of thousands of Maine’s poorest. We expected him, as he wrote in his veto letter, to ...
OTHER VOICES
What we don’t know about gun violence might be killing us
on June 18, 2013, at 3:50 p.m.
How do criminals get their guns? Are there observable patterns to gun crime? Who is at the greatest risk of injury or causing injury to others from firearm use? Which gun-safety practices are most effective at preventing accidental injury? The answers to these and other basic questions remain difficult and ...
CONTRIBUTORS
Don’t shy from chance to cover more people, reform care
By Amy Madden on June 18, 2013, at 1:06 p.m.
I recently testified before the Maine Legislature in support of LD 1066, a bill that would cause Maine to accept federal funds to insure more than 69,000 low-income Mainers. I spoke as a family medicine physician and as a member of the Maine Medical Association. My practice is Belgrade Regional ...
KATHLEEN PARKER
Crisis of faith in government
By Kathleen Parker, The Washington Post on June 18, 2013, at 11:28 a.m.
It is reassuring that in the midst of so much government dysfunction, the IRS has resolved the question of when and whether to tax tanning beds under the Affordable Care Act. Do not be concerned about that giddiness you feel. You are not having a nervous breakdown but are suffering ...
CONTRIBUTORS
We don’t understand female politicians
By Amanda Hess, The Washington Post on June 18, 2013, at 7:40 a.m.
In 2012, the number of women serving in the U.S. Senate reached a historic high: 20 out of 100. And so we continue to debate about the low representation of women in political office, and the debate continues to hinge on the differences between men and women: Some argue that ...
CONTRIBUTORS
Obama’s gamble in Syria
By Fred Kaplan, Slate on June 18, 2013, at 7:29 a.m.
It’s hard to assess President Obama’s decision to send arms to the Syrian rebels because we still don’t know what kinds of arms he’s sending, how long he’s willing to keep the stuff flowing, or what kind of outcome he’s seeking—both to the civil war in Syria and to the ...
Tuesday, June 18, 2013: Misleading OpArt, virtual therapy and Dennis Dechaine
on June 17, 2013, at 5:50 p.m.
Bear OpArt misleading On June 12, the BDN published an OpEd, “Give voters chance to end bear hunting cruelty,” written by Katie Hansberry, a lobbyist with the Humane Society of the United States. Above the OpEd was a BDN staff artist’s depiction of a scary looking trap called the Newhouse. ...
GEORGE DANBY | EDITORIAL CARTOONIST (blog)
Bangor ballot
on June 17, 2013, at 4:53 p.m.
Your vote does make a difference.














