Archive for ‘Opinion’

  • US Debt

    It began on Tuesday when a watered down debt program was passed by a Congress that was behaving more like a group of unsupervised three-year-olds than the guardians of our republic. The foreign holders of the national debt were not comforted by the willingness of our politicians to take the nation to the brink of […]

  • Applying For the Circuit Breaker Program

    By Bill Diamond State Senator As of Aug. 1, Mainers can apply for the 2010 Maine Residents Property Tax and Rent Refund Program, also known as the Circuit Breaker Program. This is, in my opinion, the best tax relief program offered by the State of Maine. When people complain to me about taxes, far and […]

  • Big Birds

    A few years ago, a woman in Denmark (our local Denmark, not the country) phoned to tell me she had seen a bird about the size of a great blue heron, except it was all white. She had seen a great egret, a close relative of the great blue heron, who sometimes wanders north after […]

  • Preparing for Alzheimer’s

    By Bill Diamond State Senator, D-Windham On Jan. 1, 2011, the nation’s 78 million baby boomers began turning 65, the age at which they become eligible for Medicare. One of the most serious age-related diseases older people face is Alzheimer’s disease. This is a progressive, degenerative neurological disorder that results in loss of memory and […]

  • “Hey, kids, come down from there.”

    I’ve never been much for titles. I don’t have initials after my name, no epaulets dangle from my shoulders, and my children never call me sir. (In fact, when she was going through a particularly weird phase, my daughter Mandy called me “Brush Pile” for several months. Yeah, I didn’t get it either.) The bottom […]

  • Reading loons

    Our summer visitor arrived on a perfect lake day, when the sky was clear blue, a gentle breeze brushed the shore, and the water was warm enough to go in without a moment’s hesitation. It had been several years since she had been to the lake, and she told us she looked forward to hearing […]

  • A tale of two turtles

    From a strictly herpetological standpoint, our family has always been a bit odd: snakes, lizards, turtles, anything from the order crocodilian, well, we just love them. “All things Reptilian!” is our rallying cry (at least for three out of four of us — the lady of the house, the sensible one, the children’s mother and […]

  • Sizing Up Our Choices

    By Sally Chappell I never imagined so much American culture and history could fit into such a tiny place, but that is the case with Bridgton’s Rufus Porter Museum. If you haven’t already explored this gem of a museum, make a point of visiting sometime this summer to learn about this fascinating figure in Bridgton’s […]

  • Gliding Downwind

    A storm swept through the neighborhood last evening, pelting windows with rain, tossing branches back and forth, and pushing white-capped waves down the lake. When the power went off we lit lanterns and played checkers until the lights came back on. This morning, there were still some big clouds overhead, but a strong northwest wind […]

  • Preserving Maine’s Environment

    By State Senator Bill Diamond Maine is an incredibly beautiful place, and its pristine environment is one of our greatest assets. With the change in parties in power, many people (myself included) were very concerned that a lot of the improvements made in Maine over the last few decades would be lost. I am pleased […]