Other Voices
OTHER VOICES
How dangerous are national security leaks? Let’s find out
on May 22, 2013, at 10:58 a.m.
It’s hard to feel comfortable with the Obama administration’s aggressive pursuit of national security leaks. Last week, the Justice Department acknowledged seizing phone records from Associated Press reporters in connection with a leak concerning a 2012 counterterrorism operation in Yemen. This week, we learned that Fox News correspondent James Rosen’s ...
OTHER VOICES
Demoting Jamie Dimon won’t fix JPMorgan’s poor governance
on May 21, 2013, at 5:07 p.m.
Should the board of JPMorgan Chase force Jamie Dimon, the bank’s chairman and chief executive officer, to give up one of his jobs? Governance watchdogs, shareholder advisory services and public pension funds say yes. Other large shareholders, some prominent academics and the bank say no. We agree that JPMorgan, a ...
OTHER VOICES
Myanmar needs the right help to manage its Mandela moment
on May 20, 2013, at 4:44 p.m.
Activists complain that President Barack Obama, who welcomes Myanmar’s President Thein Sein to the White House this week, is embracing the former general too soon, before he’s proved his reformist bona fides. In fact, Obama is late to the party. Nowadays international businessmen, academics and aid workers throng Yangon’s dilapidated ...
As North Pole melts, U.S. Arctic policy needs to heat up
on May 19, 2013, at 10:08 a.m.
The recent decision by the Arctic Council, led by the eight nations with Arctic territory, to accept China, India, Japan and three other countries as new observers points to the region’s growing importance. It’s also a sharp reminder of the need for the United States, the council’s biggest player, to ...
OTHER VOICES
Revising the terms of war against al-Qaida
on May 17, 2013, at 11 a.m.
The Obama administration’s political and legal authority to wage war against al-Qaida has steadily eroded. Both liberal and conservative members of Congress have challenged the administration’s lack of transparency in conducting drone attacks against alleged al-Qaida operatives in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. Foreign allies as well as adversaries have asked ...
OTHER VOICES
Europe’s strained union
on May 16, 2013, at 2:20 p.m.
The European economic crisis has ceased making headlines. Yet it grinds on, bringing sluggish growth, unemployment and falling incomes to much of the continent — with little prospect of short-term relief. Now comes fresh evidence that hardship is having political repercussions: A Pew Research Global Attitudes Project survey documents “a ...
OTHER VOICES
White House’s war on journalists
on May 15, 2013, at 11:17 a.m.
Attorney General Eric Holder has said that he doesn’t want the Obama administration’s leak prosecutions “to be his legacy.” But he has also trumpeted the cases — six and counting — in response to criticism from Senate Republicans. This shouldn’t be a source of pride, even the fake point-scoring kind. ...
OTHER VOICES
GOP politics of dysfunction
on May 14, 2013, at 11 a.m.
It’s no surprise that Senate Republicans grouse about Obama administration policies on enforcing civil rights laws or limiting greenhouse-gas emissions. They are entitled to their policy views. It’s a different matter for Republican leaders to manifest their views by blocking confirmation to Cabinet positions of the officials in charge of ...
OTHER VOICES
Hurdles in reforming U.S. food aid
on May 14, 2013, at 10:55 a.m.
Among the more laudable ideas in President Barack Obama’s budget for fiscal 2014 is a plan to modernize and reform the $1.5 billion U.S. food aid program. Obama would end “monetization,” the inefficient practice in which the federal government buys commodities from U.S. farmers and ships them abroad to governments ...
OTHER VOICES
Housing recovery opens window to fix homeowner tax breaks
on May 13, 2013, at 11:51 a.m.
The U.S. housing market continues to recover. The number of homeowners who are newly delinquent on their mortgages has fallen to pre-2007 levels. Housing prices also rose 9.3 percent in February for the biggest year-to-year advance since May 2006. To top it off, Fannie Mae, the government-owned mortgage financier, today ...
OTHER VOICES
Disclosing political spending makes sense for shareholders
on May 11, 2013, at 1:17 p.m.
Two years ago, an idiosyncratic band of 10 law professors wrote to the Securities and Exchange Commission asking it to require public companies “to disclose to shareholders the use of corporate resources for political activities.” Their immodest proposal has since become a popular cause: The proposed rule has generated half ...
OTHER VOICES
The repercussions of inaction in Syria
on May 10, 2013, at 4:57 p.m.
Opponents of U.S. intervention in Syria are adept at citing the risks of a more aggressive U.S. effort to bring down the regime of Bashar Assad. Weapons given to rebel fighters might end up in the hands of extremists, the skeptics say. U.S. air attacks or the creation of a ...
OTHER VOICES
How the Heritage Foundation is twisting the immigration debate
on May 09, 2013, at 1:49 p.m.
Former Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., now leader of the Heritage Foundation, knows that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office is likely to judge that immigration reform — including eventual citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants — will be a shot in the arm for the U.S. economy. After all, the CBO ...
US drone strikes are winning the war in Yemen for al-Qaida
on May 08, 2013, at 10:54 a.m.
It was a contradiction that perfectly captured the essence of the U.S. drone war against Islamic terrorists: Just as we learned that strikes in Yemen had resumed after a three-month hiatus, a Yemeni journalist gave heartrending congressional testimony about an attack that killed five in his village of Wessab. “The ...
Fixing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
on May 07, 2013, at 10:59 a.m.
Among the many pieces of unfinished business remaining from the financial crisis, none is more important than reforming mortgage finance. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored enterprises that own or guarantee more than $5 trillion worth of U.S. mortgages, have been under direct federal control since their collapse in ...
OTHER VOICES
After fragile gains, trouble in Iraq
on May 06, 2013, at 10:46 a.m.
The regional sectarian war that has always been one of the greatest dangers of the crisis in Syria is alarmingly close to erupting. To the west of Damascus, Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah militia has publicly committed itself to defending the regime of Bashar Assad, and Syrian opposition sources say it has ...
OTHER VOICES
Approve Keystone now
on May 05, 2013, at 12:02 p.m.
The most significant entry logged during the just-ended 45-day comment period on the State Department’s second environmental-impact report for the Keystone XL oil pipeline came from the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA called for more study on the greenhouse-gas emissions involved, the risk of spills, alternative routes for the pipeline ...
‘Unreasonable’ restrictions on Plan B
on May 03, 2013, at 3:24 p.m.
When U.S. District Judge Edward Korman ruled last month that the government had to allow unrestricted, over-the-counter access to the emergency contraceptive Plan B, it seemed as though the Obama administration had stumbled its way out of a political quandary. Scientists say that the drug is safe for over-the-counter sale; ...
OTHER VOICES
Obama’s policy without coherence
on May 02, 2013, at 12:29 p.m.
The muddle that is President Barack Obama’s policy on Syria has grown still muddier. On Tuesday the president backed away from a “red line” he had drawn on the use of chemical weapons by the regime of Bashar Assad, setting the threshold for proof of a violation in such a ...
Dealing with Guantanamo, again
on May 02, 2013, at 12:04 p.m.
President Barack Obama was eloquent Tuesday in describing why the situation at the Guantanamo Bay prison is “unsustainable.” He was justified in blaming Congress for frustrating his effort to close the facility. But he was disingenuous in failing to acknowledge that his own actions — or his own inaction — ...
Man accused of killing Glenburn teen denied bail, has received death threats, attorney says
Family remembers Nichole “CoCo” Cable, warns of social media dangers
Kyle Dube arrest, murder charge surprising to some who know him
Glenburn woman gets 18 months for embezzling $100,000 from beagle rescue group
Man linked to Boston bombing suspect killed by FBI in Florida
Nichole Cable: In our minds, hearts
Guest Post: “I’m about ready to name my daughter Revolution.”
How to humble a wing nut
Bucksport’s Wood enjoying the professional cage in MMA bouts
Unity Raceway heading in new direction when track opens for season Sunday
Former Dexter, Nokomis coach Pratt takes Mount View football post
UMaine’s Fransoso overcomes injuries, turns passion for baseball into stellar career
Houlton makes plans for new hockey boards at Millar Civic Center
Fun, informative or just plain strange: 8 museums in Maine worth a road trip
Bangor veteran of World War II exemplifies the way life should be
